"Boom!"
Yun Shan hovered in the air, his Dou Zong aura sweeping across the entire battlefield like a storm.
His icy gaze locked onto Lin Chen, filled with the detached indifference and murderous intent of someone under control.
Below, the Misty Cloud Sect disciples seemed to have found their backbone and cried out, "Old Sect Master!"
But many more were so oppressed by the terrifying tension in the air that they could barely breathe.
"Destroy the formation, and you die."
Yun Shan's voice was utterly devoid of emotion as he joined his fingers like a sword.
A condensed azure sword aura tore through the air, its shrill whistle accompanying its thrust straight at Lin Chen's brow!
This strike far surpassed Yun Shan's own strength. It was clearly infused with the bizarre power bestowed on him by the Soul Hall.
"Master Lin, look out!"
Jia Xingtian was the first to react, lunging forward in a blur.
The golden spear in his hand, wrapped in surging Dou Qi, slammed viciously into the azure sword aura.
Though Jia Xingtian was a Dou Zong, he was still weaker than Yun Shan, whose strength had been enhanced by the Soul Hall's power.
The instant the spear collided with the sword aura, the golden Dou Qi was torn apart.
The spear shuddered and rang out. Jia Xingtian staggered back three steps, his arm numb.
"Old friend Yun Shan, wake up!"
"Controlled by the Soul Hall, how can you face the ancestors of the Misty Cloud Sect?"
Jia Xingtian roared and charged forward again, raising his spear.
The spear turned into several streaks of golden light, striking at Yun Shan's vital points.
Yun Shan remained expressionless and leaned aside to evade the spear.
His azure Dou Qi gathered into a fist, which he slammed into Jia Xingtian's chest.
Jia Xingtian hurriedly raised his spear crosswise to block.
With a muffled thud, he was blasted backward, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
Seeing this, Hai Bodong's icy-blue Dou Qi erupted at once.
Countless ice spikes rose from the ground, sealing off Yun Shan's escape routes.
At the same time, he gripped an ice blade and shot toward Yun Shan's flank like a streak of light.
"I'll help you!"
But Yun Shan's strength had already become something else entirely. With a casual wave, he shattered the ice spikes.
A wind blade formed from azure Dou Qi shot toward Hai Bodong.
Hai Bodong managed to delay him for only a moment before he could no longer dodge.
The wind blade cut into his arm, instantly staining his sleeve red with blood. His aura weakened as well.
After forcing the two men back, Yun Shan thrust out his sword fingers. "Boom!!!"
Another condensed azure sword aura tore through the air.
With a sharp whistle, the sword aura shot straight at Lin Chen's brow!
"Extreme Wind: Meteor Kill!"
This strike was far beyond the level Yun Shan should have been capable of!
Yet, facing the furious attack of a One-Star Dou Zong, Lin Chen merely snorted.
He didn't even use the Yuantu Abi Twin Swords. He simply raised his right hand and slowly spread his fingers.
"Buzz!"
The dark-red Blood Sea Domain expanded outward from him in an instant.
But this time, it didn't spread over a wide area. Instead, it condensed to the extreme, covering only ten zhang around him!
The domain's color was so deep it was almost black, and it was so viscous it seemed nearly solid. The pressure within it was terrifying to the extreme!
Yun Shan's lightning-fast azure sword aura entered the ten-zhang blood domain, and its speed plummeted.
The sword aura was as if trapped in a boundless quagmire, struggling to move forward!
The light on its surface rapidly dimmed as the viscous blood fiend energy relentlessly eroded and wore it away!
By the time it reached Lin Chen, only wisps of breeze remained.
Lin Chen gave a casual slap, and the breeze vanished completely.
"What?!"
At last, a flicker of emotion appeared in Yun Shan's indifferent eyes: instinctive shock.
His full-power strike as a Three-Star Dou Zong had been dispelled so effortlessly?
"A puppet enslaved by others dares to act so arrogantly in front of me?"
Lin Chen took a step forward, his figure as elusive as a ghost.
He crossed the distance between them in an instant and appeared right in front of Yun Shan!
He was so fast that Yun Shan had no time to react!
"Burning Karma Palm!"
A hand wreathed in dense blood fiend energy and wisps of Red Lotus Karma Fire seemed to move slowly.
In truth, it was faster than the eye could follow as it struck toward Yun Shan's chest.
Yun Shan's pupils contracted. He frantically channeled his Dou Qi.
Layer upon layer of azure wind shields formed before him!
But every one of those defenses was as good as nothing before that palm!
"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft!"
As the palm passed, the wind shields shattered layer by layer like fragile glass!
Finally, the palm struck Yun Shan squarely in the chest!
"Thud!"
With a muffled impact, Yun Shan's body convulsed as if struck by a heavy blow.
He spat out a mouthful of blood laced with blackness!
The aura around Yun Shan instantly weakened, and his body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
His eyes were filled with disbelief and a flicker of struggle.
Lin Chen's palm had not only grievously injured his body.
A purifying force had also surged into him, clashing violently with the Soul Hall restriction deep in his soul!
"Old Sect Master!"
The Misty Cloud Sect disciples below cried out.
Lin Chen pursued him like a shadow, catching up to Yun Shan in an instant.
His right hand clamped directly onto Yun Shan's crown!
"Soul Hall puppet technique, break!"
Lin Chen growled. Pure Red Lotus Karma Fire flowed from his palm.
With utmost care, it entered Yun Shan's head and bore straight toward his Soul Origin!
"Ahhhhhh—!"
Yun Shan let out an agonized scream, his body convulsing violently.
Black blood began to seep from all seven orifices!
Deep in Yun Shan's soul, a complex black sigil resisted the purifying flames with all its might.
It radiated a cold, wicked aura. It was the Soul Hall's method of control!
"Still resisting?"
Lin Chen's gaze turned cold, and he increased the flow of the flames.
Red Lotus Karma Fire was the bane of all wickedness and soul control in the world!
As the black sigil burned beneath the flames, it hissed and gave off wisps of black smoke.
Its markings blurred and faded at a visible rate!
A moment later, a faint crack sounded.
The black sigil deep in Yun Shan's soul shattered completely and vanished into nothingness!
"Ugh..."
The convulsions stopped. The coldness and indifference in Yun Shan's eyes quickly faded away.
They were replaced by boundless exhaustion, pain, remorse, and bewilderment.
He coughed violently and looked at Lin Chen.
His voice was hoarse and dry:
"Th-thank you, Master... for saving my life..."
"Yun Shan... has failed the sect... and Yun'er..."
With the control lifted, Yun Shan had regained his senses.
But his soul was injured, and his body was gravely wounded, leaving him extremely weak.
"Where is Yun Yun?"
Lin Chen let go and asked coldly.
"Back Mountain... the forbidden grounds... the secret chamber beneath the cold pool..."
"..."
Yun Shan answered with difficulty, his eyes full of remorse.
Lin Chen didn't look at him again. He turned his gaze toward Back Mountain.
His soul force surged out in an instant, blanketing the area. He quickly located a place sealed off by peculiar energy.
Lin Chen flashed into motion, turning into a streak of light as he shot toward Back Mountain.
He left Jia Xingtian, Hai Bodong, and the others to deal with the Misty Cloud Sect disciples who still stubbornly resisted.
They also had to reassure the ordinary disciples, who were at a loss.
At the forbidden grounds in Back Mountain, two Peak Dou Emperor guards sent by the Soul Hall stood outside a stone chamber sealed in ice.
Before they could react, two blood-red sword energies appeared out of nowhere and pierced their brows. They died on the spot.
Lin Chen smashed the icy stone door with a punch.
Inside the chamber, Yun Yun was bound by several pitch-black energy chains.
Her face was pale and her aura weak, but fortunately, she had suffered little physical harm.
When Yun Yun saw the black-clad youth standing in the doorway, backlit, her beautiful eyes widened at once.
They were filled with disbelief, delight, and complicated emotions.
"Mas... Master Lin?!"
Lin Chen waved his hand, severing the energy chains.
A gentle stream of Dou Qi entered Yun Yun's body, soothing her disordered aura.
"It's all right now."
Lin Chen's tone was still calm, but compared with his earlier coldness, it held a trace of warmth that was hard to notice.
Yun Yun felt power flowing through her body once more.
Looking at the young man who had rescued her from peril yet again, she felt a thousand words rise in her chest.
In the end, they became just one sentence: "Thank you... Thank you..."
Just then:
"Heh, what a touching scene."
Three cold, ethereal voices rang out abruptly, coming from three directions like ghosts.
In the next instant, three terrifying auras no weaker than Yun Shan's descended.
Their auras locked down the entire forbidden area of Back Mountain!
Space rippled slightly, and three figures clad in the Soul Hall's signature black robes emerged.
They formed a triangle around Lin Chen and Yun Yun.
Their auras were cold and sinister. All three were Three-Star Dou Zongs!
They were the three Soul Hall Dou Zongs who had secretly controlled Yun Shan!
"I didn't expect you to break even the Soul Fiend Puppet Technique."
"Kid, it seems you have quite a few secrets."
The black-robed man in the middle spoke in a hoarse voice, his words dripping with greed.
"Hand over your Heavenly Flame and your soul, and you might suffer a little less."
The black-robed man on the left sneered.
"That woman seems to have a good constitution too. We'll take her back to offer to the Venerable."
The black-robed man on the right looked Yun Yun over.
Yun Yun's face turned pale at once, and she instinctively moved closer to Lin Chen.
Three Dou Zongs! The Soul Hall had actually dispatched such powerful forces!
Lin Chen shielded Yun Yun behind him and calmly swept his gaze over the three men.
A cold curve tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"I've waited long enough. You finally decided to come out and die?"
"Arrogant!"
The black-robed man in the middle barked, "Form the array! Soul Locking Soul Snatching!"
The three men changed their hand seals at the same time, and billowing black fog poured from their bodies.
The fog instantly spread across Back Mountain. Countless twisted, resentful souls shrieked as they charged out from within it.
The resentful souls formed a massive black cage, trapping Lin Chen and Yun Yun inside!
The black mist not only blocked the energy of heaven and earth, but could also directly attack and devour souls!
Yet, faced with the Soul Hall's combined technique—enough to make an ordinary Dou Zong despair—Lin Chen neither dodged nor retreated.
He slowly closed his eyes. In the next instant, they snapped open!
"Vmmm!!!"
An indescribably sacred will of flame, one of purification and judgment, erupted from within him!
"Red Lotus... Possession!"
Lin Chen murmured. The bewitchingly beautiful Red Lotus Karma Fire no longer wrapped around his body.
Instead, it instantly fused with him!
"Boom!"
Lin Chen's hair stirred without a breeze, its tips instantly turning into burning, blood-red flames!
In his eyes, two exquisite red lotuses slowly revolved!
Faint red lotus patterns appeared across his skin!
The aura surrounding Lin Chen surged wildly, as if riding a rocket!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
He rose straight from One-Star Dou Emperor to the level of Peak Dou Emperor, albeit temporarily!
And this power contained the utmost properties of purification and incineration!
At that moment, he seemed to be the very incarnation of the Red Lotus Karma Fire!
"What?!"
The three Soul Hall Dou Zongs cried out in unison.
They could feel that the resentful-soul black mist they had released had met its natural enemy in the flames surrounding their opponent.
The resentful souls shrieked in agony and began dissolving on their own!
"Spiritual attacks? You're trying to play with fire in front of me?"
Lin Chen's voice was cold as he raised a hand.
He didn't even need to control it deliberately. The Red Lotus Karma Fire burning around him spontaneously transformed into countless tiny fire lotuses.
As if alive, the fire lotuses lunged at the resentful souls and black mist!
"Ts-ts-ts-ts!!!"
Like cold water poured into boiling oil, wherever the karma fire passed,
all the resentful souls and black mist were purified and vaporized in an instant, like snow beneath the sun!
The seemingly terrifying prison of souls couldn't even hold for a single breath before collapsing completely!
"Impossible! Our soul power..."
The three Soul Hall Dou Zongs groaned at the same time as the backlash struck.
Their eyes filled with shock and disbelief!
Their soul attacks had been completely countered by their opponent—and even purified in return?!
"This fire is strange! Hold nothing back! Kill him with physical attacks!"
The black-robed man in the middle roared. All three brought out their weapons at once.
A White Bone Banner, a Black Mourning Staff, and a Soul Locking Chain!
All three weapons radiated sinister energy. They were clearly evil objects that had devoured countless souls!
The three joined forces, driving their wicked weapons as a sky-swelling black aura surged around them.
Like three venomous dragons, they attacked Lin Chen fiercely from three directions!
Yet Lin Chen only watched them impassively.
"Cloaked in sin, you shall suffer the punishment of being burned by karma."
He formed a simple hand seal.
"Red Lotus... Purify the World!"
"Boom!!!"
At the center of Lin Chen, an enormous blood-red lotus phantom suddenly bloomed, blotting out the sky!
The red lotus revolved slowly, and endless blood-colored flames swept in every direction like a tsunami!
These were no ordinary flames, but Red Lotus Karma Fire, made to burn away sin and purify evil!
The immeasurable sins clinging to the three Soul Hall Dou Zongs and their wicked weapons shone before the karma fire like beacons in the night.
They became the finest fuel for its flames!
"Ahhh—!!!"
Screams so shrill they hardly sounded human erupted from the three men!
Their attacks hadn't even reached Lin Chen before their bodies and weapons caught fire!
The flames didn't burn them from the outside. They ignited from the sins buried in the depths of their souls!
The countless souls they had devoured and the countless atrocities they had committed now became kindling for the karma fire!
"No! What is this fire?! My soul!!"
"Elder, save me!!"
"Spare me! Master, please spare me!!"
The three struggled frantically, trying to extinguish the flames with Dou Qi.
But the Dou Qi only made the karma fire blaze more fiercely, like gasoline!
They rolled on the ground, yet couldn't put out the burning agony that sprang from their souls!
Their bodies rapidly dissolved in the karma fire, leaving not even ashes behind.
Their souls were repeatedly scorched and purified by the flames, until at last they turned into the purest particles of energy and vanished into the world.
In barely a dozen breaths, the three Soul Hall Dou Zongs were thoroughly purified by the Red Lotus Karma Fire amid endless pain and despair. Their bodies and souls were utterly destroyed!
The forbidden grounds on the Back Mountain fell silent once more.
Only the slowly fading phantom of the red lotus and the faint lingering scent of purification in the air bore witness to what had just happened.
Standing behind Lin Chen, Yun Yun clutched her red lips with her jade-like hand.
Her beautiful eyes were wide with incomparable shock and awe.
Three powerful Dou Zongs had just... vanished like that?
Just how terrifying was Lin Chen's strength?
Hai Bodong and Jia Xingtian were both utterly dumbfounded!
They hadn't even found an opening to launch a sneak attack, and the enemy had already been wiped out by the master in an instant?!
The karma fire around Lin Chen slowly receded, and his hair and eyes returned to normal.
His aura also fell back to One-Star Dou Emperor, though his face had turned slightly pale.
The Red Lotus Possession consumed a tremendous amount of energy, especially when purifying the souls of three deeply sinful Dou Zongs at once.
Lin Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the weakness within him.
Just then, his brow furrowed slightly as he glanced toward the place where the three Soul Hall Dou Zongs had disappeared.
Three extremely faint black marks remained in the empty space there, so subtle they were almost impossible to detect.
The marks were silently trying to slip into space and escape.
"Hmph, a Soul Hall mark?"
Lin Chen raised a hand. The Red Lotus Karma Fire flashed, and the three marks were utterly incinerated.
But at the instant the marks were destroyed, in a distant, unknown, mysterious space,
a blurred figure sitting atop an endless sea of souls suddenly opened his eyes inside a gloomy grand hall.
A flicker of suspicion and cold killing intent crossed his gaze.
"The tracking marks were destroyed? Even Sha You and the other two fell over there..."
"It seems this brat really does have some secrets!"
"Looks like it's time to get these old bones moving!"
Before you continue