Battle Against a Three-Ring Evil Spirit Master

The group fell into silence, with only the sound of the old woman sobbing in the courtyard.

"It's my fault he's gone." Jie'en's weak voice sounded just like he felt at that moment: lost and helpless.

"What were the features of this mysterious Spirit Master, and do you know where he was headed?" Yake Entu asked.

"Features..." Jie'en tilted his head, beginning to recall. "Oh! Yes, he wore a hood, his face was deathly pale, and his eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn't rested in a long time."

Upon hearing this, Qian Yun felt a sudden jolt of alertness, thinking to himself, Isn't that the typical appearance of an Evil Spirit Master?

Yake Entu nodded calmly. "Did he reveal his destination?"

Jie'en shook his head helplessly. "He didn't say where he was going, but he did ask me about a place called the Oukai Jungle."

The group exchanged glances; this place was exactly the final destination of their current journey.

"Alright, we have the situation now. If it's possible, we will help you look for your nephew." Yake Entu nodded, accepting the task.

The sudden promise left Jie'en in disbelief. Once it sank in, he knelt on the ground. "Thank you, thank you! I never dared to hope that a Lord Soul Master would be willing to help us."

"Get up. It is the duty of our Martial Soul Hall to eliminate threats to the people. Since that Spirit Master dared to impersonate us, he must pay the price!" Yake Entu said with a firm tone. He glanced at the two hopeful elders, then shifted his tone. "However, you must also prepare for the worst. After all, he has been missing for so long, and the Oukai Jungle is close to the Star Dou Great Forest—anything could happen."

The meaning behind Yake Entu's words could not have been clearer.

Jie'en clenched his fists and nodded silently. "I actually understand all of this, which is why I didn't dare to trouble you all."

At night, the two youngest members, Qian Yun and Hu Liena, were assigned to the same room.

Qian Yun sat on the edge of the bed, sorting through the miscellaneous items in his backpack, and asked Hu Liena:

"What do you think about what happened this evening?"

Hu Liena pondered for a moment, frowning, and leaned in to whisper in his ear: "Why do I feel like this was the work of an Evil Spirit Master? Jie'en's description sounds exactly like how they dress."

Qian Yun nodded in agreement. "I think so too, and I suspect both Jie'en and the captain know it. Jie'en is probably afraid of being accused of harboring an Evil Spirit Master, so he's pretending not to know."

Hu Liena asked with some confusion: "But if he knows it's an Evil Spirit Master, why not just say so? It's not his fault."

Qian Yun shook his head. "His words were clearly steering the target toward an Evil Spirit Master, but we can't rule out that the guy just happens to have that standard look. In any case, we shouldn't blindly trust his description, and we need to be ready for a fight tomorrow."

Hu Liena said, surprised: "You don't mean that we might run into him, do you?"

"It's possible. Regardless, it's always better to be careful when out in the field."

"Fine."

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, the group set off.

This time, the backpack on Hu Liena's back was much smaller.

The reason was that she had used some of the less useful items in her bag to pay for last night's lodging. Out of caution to avoid showing off their wealth, the two had not brought any Soul Tools, so this wasteful decision was unavoidable—a lesson learned.

By noon, the group had arrived at their destination: the Oukai Jungle.

Their mission was to wipe out a nest of Thousand-Face Monkeys that had rioted for unknown reasons and were threatening the surrounding towns!

Upon reaching the designated location, the captain, Yake Bo'en, began assigning tasks.

Because they had always been a complete team with tacit coordination, the fact that Qian Yun and Hu Liena had just joined made the distribution of tasks a problem.

Yake Bo'en thought for a moment and gathered everyone together.

"I've just looked at the terrain, and the nest of Thousand-Face Monkeys is still inside. To wipe them out as quickly as possible, I've decided to use an eight-sided encirclement tactic. I will handle one side alone, and the rest of you will pair up. Once the perimeter shrinks, we will merge into a four-sided encirclement. When I give the signal, we strike together—I want none of them left alive!" Yake Bo'en drew a diagram on the ground with a stick and issued the tactical arrangement decisively.

"Any questions?" Yake Bo'en scanned every face.

"No!"

"Good. Go ahead and pair up."

As expected, no one chose Qian Yun and Hu Liena; the members chose partners they were more familiar with.

The newcomers, Qian Yun and Hu Liena, were left as a pair by default.

Watching the team members leave in their respective groups, Hu Liena shook her fists at their backs. "Hmph! Big deal. Once you see our strength later, we'll see who the real heavy hitters are!"

"Let's go too." Qian Yun didn't express much; the result was within his expectations.

"Wait." Yake Bo'en suddenly called out to them.

Qian Yun turned back to see Yake Bo'en waving at them. After the two walked over, Yake Bo'en flashed a wide, toothy grin and said quite enthusiastically: "Haha, Amiga, Boli. Don't take it to heart; they were just considering that you two are a pair."

Such a hollow explanation was worse than saying nothing at all.

Qian Yun asked directly, "Did the captain call us over just to say that?"

"Uh, of course not." At this, even Yake Bo'en's thick skin felt a bit awkward. "Well, the perimeter is set, but there's one spot left that no one is guarding. Take a look."

Yake Bo'en pointed to the entrance on the diagram on the ground.

"Captain, you aren't looking down on us, are you? We may be young, but our strength is no worse than the other members! Who would come to the entrance?!" Hu Liena could no longer hold back. Ever since they joined the team, they had been treated as a joke, and now that they were executing a mission, they were still being assigned menial labor.

"This... this is..." As a rough man, Yake Bo'en could only scratch his head, feeling guilty in the face of the fuming Hu Liena.

He couldn't exactly say that they were too precious and he couldn't afford to pay for it if something happened to them. If he said that, what would the other members think?

Qian Yun glared at him. Although he was also angry, the operation had already begun, and now was not the time to make a scene. "Alright, Boli. The captain has his reasons for doing this. As team members, we just need to execute the orders. I believe that once the captain sees our strength, he will definitely entrust us with more important tasks, right?"

Qian Yun's words were airtight, especially the way he emphasized the word "strength."

Yake Bo'en could only offer a sheepish laugh in response.

Once Qian Yun and his companion returned to their positions, the operation officially began.

At the entrance of the encirclement, hidden within a small thicket, Qian Yun and Hu Liena listened to the commotion growing louder in the distance, then looked at the scene before them, which was as calm as still water.

Hu Liena gritted her teeth in frustration. Qian Yun knew this was not the right time to speak to her, but as he pushed aside the bushes, the sight before them left them both stunned.

Lying right in front of them was the corpse of a monkey; by the looks of it, it was their target, the Thousand-Face Monkey!

However, the operation had only just begun, so who had killed this monkey? Furthermore, the state of the Thousand-Face Monkey's remains clearly suggested it had been drained of all its blood.

As Qian Yun pondered this, he seemed to sense something.

"Watch out! Xiao Na, dodge!"

The two reacted with lightning speed, leaping away while instantly manifesting their martial souls!

The moment they moved, the spot where they had been standing suddenly exploded, sending dirt flying and leaving behind a large crater.

After landing, he donned the Crown, and his mental energy began to radiate outward from him, surging forth with such speed that it instantly flattened the surrounding Blue Silver Grass.

"To the left!"

"Second Soul Skill, Fox Fire!" No sooner had the words left her lips than Hu Liena unleashed a ball of flame.

This was her second soul skill, possessing a powerful ability to erode mental energy, and it even came with a tracking function.

The flickering Fox Fire eventually landed on a curtain of shadows and vanished without a trace.

Qian Yun and Hu Liena remained highly focused, not daring to let their guard down for a second.

"Heh heh." A grating, unpleasant laugh echoed through the air.

Hearing that laugh, the two, already on high alert, felt their hearts sink. Any soul master appearing here and attacking them could only be the three-ring Evil Spirit Master mentioned yesterday.

"I wondered who had come, but it turns out to be just two little brats?" The gloomy voice sounded again. As he spoke, Qian Yun and Hu Liena finally caught sight of his true form.

"Is that...?" Hu Liena saw clearly that the person being used as a mount by the black-robed man was likely Jie'en's nephew.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Qian Yun asked. He could not yet discern the martial soul of the Evil Spirit Master before him, but the two yellow soul rings beneath his feet were on full display.

Compared to the vigilance of Qian Yun and his companion, the mysterious man appeared relaxed and at ease. He replied, "And who are you, and why are you here?"

Qian Yun did not answer; his first soul skill was ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice.

The mysterious man glanced at the soul rings at their feet, his tone rising slightly. "Oh, I was wondering how two little brats dared to come looking for me. So, you're relying on two hundred-year soul rings?"

"Hmph, Spirit Roar!" A nearly transparent wave of light erupted from Qian Yun's chest without warning.

"Heh, overestimating yourselves." Facing this rapidly approaching soul skill, the second ten-year soul ring at his feet flashed.

"Clang—"

The Spirit Roar struck him, yet it produced the sound of metal clashing against metal. This was the effect of Spirit Roar: it ignored eighty percent of physical defense and possessed immense mental piercing power.

"Pfft, cough, cough!" The mysterious man spat out a mouthful of blood. When he looked up again, his scarlet eyes were filled with shock.

He had assumed that even if two two-ring brats possessed hundred-year soul rings, he, a soul elder who had just broken through to level thirty-seven, should have no trouble dealing with them. Yet, Qian Yun's attack had felt like a giant hammer, jarring his internal organs out of place. And that was even after he had used his second soul skill to defend against it.

While he was still dazed, a pink mist suddenly began to rise before his eyes. Following that, as a three-ring soul elder, his mind began to drift into a trance.

"Something's wrong! Go, horse!" The mysterious man squeezed his legs against the "horse" beneath him, and Jie'en's nephew bolted toward the edge of the mist.

Hu Liena, who had already shifted her position, smiled faintly. "Hmph, do you think you can run?" Her crimson eyes locked onto Jie'en's nephew.

"Ugh." Jie'en's nephew collapsed instantly. He was merely an ordinary person; though young and strong, he could never withstand the Fox Charm bolstered by Qian Yun's soul power.