On the outskirts of Sunset Forest, in a secluded hollow at the mouth of a cave,
a dozen or so black-robed men stood scattered about.
Under their cloaks were vicious faces. Short blades hung at their waists, and their cuffs were stained with blood that would not wash out.
Before long, three more black-robed men emerged from the cave.
Unlike the others, they bore dark-red, blood-colored patterns embroidered across their chests, the designs spreading up to their necks as Soul Power faintly rippled around them.
Their auras were powerful, and an unnatural red gleamed in their eyes. All three were Six-Ring Soul Emperors.
Most of the dozen or so guards at the entrance were Soul Kings.
A dozen or so Soul Ancestors stood farther away, carrying Soul Beast corpses into the cave.
Most of those Soul Beasts were young—newborn Nether Wolf pups curled among the bodies, their fur still carrying the milky scent of their mothers.
There were also several pregnant females, their bellies swollen high as they were dragged roughly along.
A thick, foul stench filled the air.
An old voice came from beneath a black robe, edged with impatience. "Why are those people taking so long?"
"Keeping things discreet takes time," another deep voice replied. "This batch was brought through three towns along the border to avoid Spirit Hall patrols."
"Hmph! The Black Tiger Mercenary Group was slaughtered a month ago, and Spirit Hall grew suspicious. We've been forced to hide in this godforsaken corner. How comfortable was that manor outside Heaven Dou City?"
"Damn it! Who exactly ruined the Dark Blood Alliance's plans?"
"The flames that burned the Black Tiger Mercenary Group were highly unusual, and the Soul Power aura was different too. Yet we still haven't found the culprit. The higher-ups have pressed us three times already. If we can't deliver the goods, you and I will be thrown into the furnace."
"Enough." The leading elder cut off the argument and glanced toward the mountain path. "Let's finish this batch first. The higher-ups want enough Blood Spirit Pills for a hundred people. This batch gives us fifty, barely. We'll capture more next time."
"They're here."
A group of armored men, acting like mercenaries, hurried over.
They were escorting more than a dozen wagons. Behind them, huge iron cages were covered with black cloth, and something alive could be seen moving faintly inside.
The convoy stopped at the cave entrance. A mercenary captain stepped forward and bowed. "Elder Zhao, Elder Hai. The goods have arrived."
"Spare me the pleasantries. Bring them over."
The black cloth was roughly ripped away—
Inside the iron cages were dozens of elderly people, women, and children, bound with ropes.
Their clothes were in tatters, their bodies covered in bruises and whip marks, old wounds layered beneath fresh ones. Some of their wounds had festered.
Their eyes brimmed with fear and despair.
An old woman clutched her grandson tightly to her chest, trembling all over.
As a young woman was dragged from the cage, she cried out, "Please, I beg you, spare my child—he's only three!"
The mercenaries lashed at them with whips, driving them into the cave.
A child fell and was kicked in the waist. He let out a scream, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Impatient, a mercenary seized him by the hair and dragged him inside like a chicken.
The cries gradually faded underground.
"Are these goods fresh enough?" The black-robed elder narrowed his eyes.
"Rest assured, Elder Zhao. We captured them from border villages and towns over the past two days without alerting Spirit Hall. Thirty-seven in all. With the ones we already had, that makes fifty."
"Fifty will barely do. Young bodies have the purest spiritual essence, and their medicinal effects are three times those of adults. Last time, we refined Blood Spirit Dew from those two little ones, and the higher-ups didn't leave us a single drop."
"Accept your fate. Once we finish this batch, we'll move to three temporary sites and head north."
"This isn't Heaven Dou City. Do we really need to go to all this trouble?" one black-robed man grumbled.
"Shut up!" Elder Zhao snapped. "If you draw Spirit Hall's attention again, neither of us will escape unscathed. The matter with the Black Tiger Mercenary Group still hasn't blown over."
The man was still disgruntled. He muttered under his breath, "What's there to fear? Nobody comes to this forest..."
His voice abruptly cut off.
At the edge of the clearing, ten figures had appeared among the trees without anyone noticing—
No wind stirred, no footsteps sounded. They seemed to have materialized out of thin air like ghosts.
A silver-haired girl in ink-wash robes held an ancient-looking sword, her icy bearing as cold as frost. The horsetail whisk tassel on its hilt swayed despite the still air.
With her were nine curvaceous women in black dresses, eight of them wearing vermilion-and-gold flame masks.
Behind each of the nine women swayed nine snowy-white fox tails, while their fluffy fox ears quivered in their hair.
All the black-robed men froze at once.
The one at the front wore no mask, her face bewitchingly beautiful, like a calamity in human form.
Though the other eight had half their faces hidden behind masks, they had the same stunning figures, their black-and-red dresses draped over graceful bodies.
Any one of them was enough to drive a man mad.
"They all have exactly the same Beast Martial Soul?"
"Everyone, be on your guard!"
Soul Rings of different colors rose into view: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black—Six-Ring Soul Emperors, with the rest Soul Kings and Soul Ancestors, their lights shimmering all around.
But it was already too late.
"Sisters, shall we see who can kill the fastest?" Yan Lingji's original body parted her red lips.
"Sounds good."
"Hehe."
All nine figures vanished at once.
The leading Soul Emperor's pupils contracted as he released his Martial Soul—
A three-meter-tall blood-red wolf appeared behind him.
"Sixth Soul Skill, Black Wolf Roar!"
Black-and-red sound waves blasted out in a fan-shaped arc. They had once shattered the protective Soul Power of a Soul Emperor of equal rank.
But the sound waves swept through empty air, hitting nothing.
"What a weak sound attack." The voice came from behind him.
He spun around in horror. A streak of pitch-black swordlight bloomed before his eyes.
"Pfft—" Venom's longsword pierced through the back of his head and out between his brows.
His six Soul Rings flashed wildly, and the giant wolf's phantom collapsed.
Venom surged inside him, devouring his memories, Soul Power, and life force.
His body shriveled rapidly until he was nothing but skin and bones. He collapsed and crumbled apart.
A Six-Ring Soul Emperor was equivalent to a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, but Jiang Ce didn't want to eat people. He only drained their blood and life force, converting five percent.
The lifespan of the Venom on Yan Lingji's original body rose from five thousand five hundred years to six thousand five hundred years.
The other two Soul Emperors reacted a little faster.
"Sixth Soul Skill, Black Blood Turtle Shield!"
"Sixth Soul Skill, Blood Harvest!"
A phantom tortoise shell lit up, and a black scythe blazed with bloody light.
Yet beneath Venom's longsword, the tortoise shell was as flimsy as paper. The sword tip pierced through the defense and stabbed into its owner.
The scythe was severed by a black flash, and the blade cleaved through its wielder's body.
They, too, were devoured by Venom, shriveling as they fell.
In the space of a few short moments, more than a dozen black-robed men—
including three Soul Emperors and thirteen Soul Kings—
were all dead.
Several Yan Lingjis rushed into the depths of the cave. The sounds of blades striking and screams rang out one after another, then abruptly stopped.
Deep within the cave, flames flickered.
Human bones burned in braziers, fat sizzling as a charred stench filled the air.
A huge blood pit lay at the center, filled with viscous blood. Clots and scraps of flesh floated on its surface.
The pit was soaking with the corpses of countless Soul Beasts—bellies split open, pups decapitated, mothers with their eyes gouged out.
Many pregnant females had been nailed to wooden stakes, their bellies slashed open and their young ripped out alive. Their eyes remained open as they uttered silent wails.
Dense blood-red runes had been carved around the rim of the pit, dissolving flesh and blood into a mist,
which was absorbed by crystal vessels hanging from the ceiling and condensed into a viscous crimson liquid—
that was the "Treasure Medicine."
It was brewed from the life force of living people, Soul Beast flesh and blood, the placentas of pregnant women, and the marrow of young children.
Taking it could forcibly raise one's Soul Power, but the price was a drastically shortened lifespan and a deranged mind, leaving the user a bloodthirsty madman.
The elderly people, women, and children who had been dragged here were already at the edge of the pit. Their clothes had been stripped away, runes covered their bodies, and their limbs were bound to stone pillars.
A young woman struggled desperately, the ropes digging into her wrists as blood dripped down.
Her three-year-old baby lay on a stone platform opposite her, still fast asleep.
The bound captives huddled together, watching all this in terror.
Yan Lingji flicked the beads of blood from her sword. Her fox tails swayed gently, and the killing intent in her eyes had yet to fade. "We shouldn't have killed them so quickly."
"They deserved to be hacked to pieces."
Even Xiaomeng, the Daoist Heavenly Sect's master, who believed in the Daoist principle of non-action, was moved by the sight.
To think they'd forcibly refined Blood Poison Pills using the lives of elderly people, women, and children.
It was utter madness.
Jiang Ce's voice rang out coldly:
"Get rid of everything. Leave no one alive. Burn it all."
Outside the cave, the sun was setting.
Nine dark figures emerged from the entrance, a blazing inferno roaring behind them.
The fire swallowed the blood pit, the runes, and the crystal vessels. Human bones burst apart in the flames.
The captives were rescued. Most stared blankly, unable to speak.
Only one old woman, clutching the three-year-old baby, knelt on the ground and kowtowed again and again.
Yan Lingji fell silent for a moment, then gazed toward Heaven Dou City.
Its lights shone bright, its songs and dances continued, and no one knew what had just happened in the shadows of this forest.
"My king, that Black Cloud Chamber of Commerce..."
Jiang Ce cut her off, his voice cold:
"They've all been dealt with."
Jiang Ce didn't consider himself a righteous man.
But even he couldn't be so utterly mad.
These evil Soul Masters deserved to die!
"Have a few of your clones escort these elderly people, women, and children somewhere safe."
"The rest of you, go deal with the other branch as well."
"Yes!"
"Master!"
Before you continue