Northwest of the Sunset Forest, at the end of a riverbed, stood the Black Stone Fortress.
The Dark Blood Alliance's largest branch.
Three Soul Saints and over a hundred Evil Soul Masters refined "materials" into sinister drugs, which nobles then distributed throughout the Heaven Dou Empire.
The night was as dark as ink. Four figures landed on the cliff opposite.
"Three Soul Saints, seven or eight Soul Emperors, a dozen Soul Kings, and nearly a hundred small fry."
Jiang Ce's voice rang out.
"Move."
Four black shadows and an ink-wash figure darted down, slipping into the forest like ghosts.
The gate, cast from fine iron, was half a foot thick.
Yan Lingji raised her hand and struck with her sword. Its tip pierced the metal as easily as tofu.
In just a few strokes, the gate came crashing down.
The four filed inside.
Black-robed guards stood every ten paces along both sides of the passage.
The clones flashed out to either side. Swordlight swept past, and two heads rolled silently to the ground.
At the end of the passage, a stone door stood half-open, with bright lamplight shining through.
Three old men stood on a raised platform. Dark red blood patterns marked their chests, and their auras were formidable—Seven-Ring Soul Saints.
Dozens of black-robed figures formed ranks below, their Soul Emperor, Soul King, and Soul Ancestor rings flashing in various colors.
Yan Lingji kicked open the stone door and strode inside.
"Who goes there?!"
The Soul Saints shot to their feet, their Soul Rings lighting up.
Yan Lingji did not answer.
She released her Martial Soul.
Six Soul Rings rose into the air.
Black, black, black, black, black, black.
Every one of them was black.
The hall fell silent.
"A Six-Ring Soul Emperor?"
One Soul Saint's pupils contracted sharply.
"All Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings? Impossible!"
The standard Soul Ring configuration on the continent was yellow, yellow, purple, purple, with the fifth ring being the first to reach ten thousand years.
It was a rule set in stone for tens of thousands of years.
Yet this woman's first four Soul Rings were all black.
"Monster..." the Soul Saint murmured.
"A monster?"
Yan Lingji chuckled, twirling two Venom longswords in her hands.
"You refine living people into drugs, and you're asking who the monster is?"
Before her words had even faded, Xiaomeng flashed into view.
"Colorless World."
Black and white surged outward, draining the hall of color.
The air froze, and every Evil Soul Master moved dozens of times slower.
"Kill."
Yan Lingji's true body and two clones vanished at once.
The Soul Saints on the platform saw only afterimages.
The first Soul Saint activated his Seventh Soul Ring, and the phantom image of a blood-red bat appeared.
Yan Lingji's sword was faster.
"Pfft—"
Her longsword pierced his left temple and came out through his right.
The bat phantom burst apart, and the Soul Saint collapsed.
The second Soul Saint roared as the phantom image of a Black Iron Rhino wrapped around his body.
"Martial Soul Avatar!"
His skin turned iron gray, his muscles hard as iron.
Yan Lingji's clone swept across him from the front.
"Crack—"
The blade struck his shoulder armor, splitting it and opening a bloody gash.
The Soul Saint sneered. "A mere Six-Ring—"
Before he could finish, Yan Lingji's true body ran him through from behind.
The clone and true body worked together flawlessly.
Venom flooded into him, and the Soul Saint shriveled.
The third Soul Saint was so terrified that his guts turned to water. He turned and fled.
His Martial Soul Avatar became a black leopard, swift as an afterimage.
Xiaomeng's sword was faster.
One strike pierced the back of his head.
The leopard phantom dissolved, and the corpse hurtled more than ten meters.
All three Soul Saints were dead in less than ten breaths.
The Evil Soul Masters below finally broke free of Colorless World for an instant, and Soul Skills of every color came hurtling toward them.
A Soul Emperor unleashed Blood Shadow Slash, a blood-red blade of light splitting the air.
A Soul King summoned a Three-Headed Blood Wolf, and a pack of wolves lunged to bite.
More than a dozen Soul Ancestors joined hands, firing a blood-red beam of light.
Yan Lingji's true body neither dodged nor evaded. She swung her Venom longsword, slicing the blade of light in two.
A clone turned sideways. The Three-Headed Blood Wolf slammed into the blade and was chopped into six pieces.
Another clone swung a sword in reverse, cleaving the blood-red beam apart.
"Too weak."
She launched into a flurry of footwork, weaving through them like a ghost.
Every sword thrust pierced a head or heart. Venom devoured their life force, and their corpses shriveled as they fell.
Xiaomeng stood in the center of the hall and drew the Qiuli Sword.
Its blade gleamed white, and its swordlight condensed water into ice. Each streak of sword energy felled a foe.
"Harmony with Light and Dust."
Her figure flickered. Each time she appeared behind an Evil Soul Master, her sword tip had already pierced through his chest.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea,
not a single enemy remained standing in the hall.
All one hundred and twenty-three Evil Soul Masters had been killed.
Yan Lingji flicked the blood droplets from her sword.
Three Soul Saints, nine Soul Emperors, five peak Soul Kings, thirteen Soul Kings, over thirty Soul Ancestors, and more than fifty Soul Elders.
Yan Lingji's true body and two clones each claimed a share of the kills, and the age of the Venom symbiote on each of them rose from eight thousand years to twelve thousand seven hundred years.
Xiaomeng had slain the third Soul Saint and several Soul Emperors and Soul Kings by herself. The age of her Venom symbiote rose from fifty-three thousand years to fifty-nine thousand years.
Yan Lingji's true body and each clone gained about one hundred and sixty-two days of cultivation, while Xiaomeng gained about two hundred and six days.
Adding that to the progress they had already accumulated at their current levels,
Yan Lingji's true body and each clone advanced one level, reaching level 66.
Xiaomeng advanced to level 67.
"The Dark Blood Alliance's headquarters is in an underground cavern on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. Its leader is an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo.
"He has nineteen Soul Saints under him and more than three hundred Evil Soul Masters stationed there. Another nine Soul Saints are scattered across various locations."
"The Black Cloud Chamber of Commerce: its president is Black Cloud Crane, its vice president is Zhao Quan, and its chief steward is Liu Shirong."
"The list of nobles: seventeen families. Three marquises, seven earls, five viscounts, and two barons."
"Above them all—Xue Lingshan."
"A collateral member of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, cousin to the current Heaven Dou Emperor. He's a hereditary duke, and his fief lies three hundred miles east of Heaven Dou City."
"He's the Dark Blood Alliance's greatest shield."
Yan Lingji's gaze turned cold.
"A duke of the imperial family... How interesting."
"We've got what we came for. Burn it," Jiang Ce said.
Azure Nine-Tailed Fox Fire gathered in Yan Lingji's palm. She flung it toward the blood pool.
Flames exploded, tongues of fire spreading to set the runes, human bones, and crystal vessels alight.
"Now let's pay this duke a visit."
Then the Venom behind the four figures surged, spreading into a pair of enormous black wings.
The four figures turned into streaks of black light and disappeared into the night, heading straight for Heaven Dou Imperial City.
But they had only just left the Sunset Forest and were nearing a small road outside Heaven Dou Imperial City when Jiang Ce's voice rang out.
"Wait."
The four figures stopped in midair.
"My king, what is it?"
Yan Lingji asked curiously.
"Could it be that my king wants to have some fun with your servant in the night sky?"
"Hehe, that sounds pretty exciting."
"Yeah, yeah! In the dead of night, does my king want to try something new?"
A tentacle shot out and smacked all three Yan Lingjis on the backside at once. The three women cried out in unison.
Xiaomeng silently watched the three little vixens.
These creatures...
"My king, is that not what you want?"
"There's a heat signature below. It's unusual."
Jiang Ce directly took control of Yan Lingji's body and plunged toward the path below.
In a small copse, a beautiful young girl lay in the grass, looking battered and disheveled.
"Ah, the king's found another beautiful girl!"
Another Yan Lingji landed and curiously leaned closer.
Jiang Ce controlled Yan Lingji's hand, gently lifting the girl's face and wiping away the dust.
She looked familiar.
Very familiar.
Where had he seen her before?
He immediately placed his hand on the girl's head, and black Venom spread into her body.
He read her memories.
The next moment, Jiang Ce froze.
"Na'er?!"
Wasn't this the Silver Dragon King—
The one who'd said that to destroy humanity, she first had to understand humanity, then sealed her memories and took the form of a human little girl?
[The silver dragon fish makes her entrance!]
[Please use the lucky hand that brings you wealth to click on the latest chapter, toss us a few free tickets, and tap "follow." Besides the Snow Maiden who'll appear later, which of the Qin Shi goddesses would you like to see next?]
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