Grey Rock Town, noon.
This once-peaceful town, famous for producing high-quality building stone, had now been reduced to a dead town.
Thick smoke still lingered among the shattered walls and ruins.
Broken furniture and clothing littered the streets, along with pools of shocking dark red.
The air reeked of charred debris, blood, and a nauseating stench of decay.
Dozens of bodies lay in neat rows in the town square, covered with white sheets. Staff were still registering and collecting them one by one.
A group of security officers in the Spirit Pagoda's gray-blue uniforms stood in two rows with their heads bowed, taking a furious tongue-lashing.
"A bunch of good-for-nothings! Useless trash!"
A burly, middle-aged man with a face full of hard flesh and a thick beard looked livid.
"The Spirit Pagoda pays you a high salary every month and equips you with the best Soul Tools. Is that so you can eat your fill and wait to die?!"
He pointed furiously at the bodies being collected nearby, his voice trembling with rage. "Just a few Evil Soul Masters at the Soul Ancestor level! Three of them! A mere three! They slaughtered an entire street right under the noses of dozens of you, then swaggered off! Where the hell is your pride?! Huh?!"
"Captain..."
A young security officer looked aggrieved as he tried to explain. "It's not that the guys didn't fight with everything they had. Those Evil Soul Masters were just too wicked."
"If you couldn't catch them, then you couldn't catch them! And you still have the nerve to make excuses?!"
The captain interrupted him furiously, veins bulging on his forehead.
"Open your damn eyes and take a good look! Look at all the people lying there! They're the citizens whose taxes support you! Every cent of your salary comes from their taxes! And what did you do? You let them die such a miserable death!"
The officers fell silent, guilt and resentment mingling in their faces, but not one dared speak again.
In the middle of that oppressive silence—
RUMBLE—!!!
A tremendous roar drew closer, like a giant beast bellowing!
A powerful current of air pressed down from above, kicking up dust and debris!
Everyone stared upward in shock. A sleek, silver-painted high-speed assault mecha, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen, was diving down from the clouds!
The mecha landed steadily, and its hatch slid open.
A crimson figure stepped out with unhurried ease.
She wore a long dress like a blaze of flames, and her red hair was loosely tied back. Her flawless face stood out among the smoke-shrouded ruins like a blooming yet icy rose.
She made no effort to release her Soul Power, but simply standing there, with the bearing of one long accustomed to authority and looking down upon all living things, seemed to freeze the air across the entire square.
The security captain's pupils shrank to pinpricks. His fierce expression froze, replaced by disbelief and overwhelming dread.
He hurried forward, then abruptly stopped three steps away from the woman and bowed deeply.
"H-Heavenly Phoenix, Your Excellency! Why... why have you come in person?"
Only then did the other officers react. They snapped to attention and saluted, but their eyes kept drifting toward that crimson figure despite their best efforts.
Such beauty, such bearing, such a high-ranking personage—they could only look up to her in the news on their Soul Tool screens!
Leng Yaozhu didn't look at them. Her gaze calmly swept over the ravaged town, and she spoke in a cool voice. "I heard Grey Rock Town was slaughtered by Evil Soul Masters, and the ones who escaped still haven't been caught. I came to take a look."
Her tone wasn't stern, nor did it carry any blame, but cold sweat was already running down the security captain's forehead.
With Heavenly Phoenix herself looking into the matter, it meant the incident had reached the Spirit Pagoda's highest ranks!
He was probably about to lose his position as captain!
"Y-Your Excellency, please be assured! We're doing everything we can to hunt them down! Those Evil Soul Masters are extremely cunning. They may still be hiding somewhere nearby! I've already sent more people out. There's no need for you to trouble yourself..." He was so flustered that his words tumbled over one another.
"Don't be nervous." Leng Yaozhu interrupted him calmly. "I'm not the one who'll take action."
She turned slightly, revealing the two figures behind her.
The security captain froze.
The other officers froze too.
Two... little kids?
One was a boy with black hair and black eyes, strikingly refined features, and an unusually calm expression. He looked no older than six or seven.
The other was a little taller, a girl with black hair and a black dress. Her features were just as delicate, but as cold as frost. She looked about ten.
The security captain's mind went blank for a full three seconds.
"Your Excellency, you mean..."
"They're my disciples." Leng Yaozhu's tone was indifferent. "They'll be responsible for this mission to eliminate the Evil Soul Masters."
BOOM—!
Those words exploded in the officers' hearts like a heavy Soul Cannon shell!
They stared wide-eyed at Luo Yang, then Yuanen Yehui, then Leng Yaozhu. They wondered if they'd misheard—or if Her Excellency was making a joke so cold it could freeze them solid.
These little tykes, barely bigger than beans, were going to catch Evil Soul Masters?
Those Evil Soul Masters had slaughtered an entire street and wiped out a fully equipped Soul Master guard squad!
At least one of them was at the Soul Emperor level!
Were these kids here to get themselves killed?!
The security captain swallowed and asked cautiously, "Your Excellency, I absolutely don't mean to look down on the two little... little geniuses. It's just that Evil Soul Masters are vicious and use bizarre methods. The Soul Emperor leading them, in particular, has a great deal of combat experience. If something were to happen to either of the two geniuses..."
"Then that's their fate." Leng Yaozhu answered crisply, without the slightest hesitation.
The security captain opened his mouth, but ultimately forced the words back down. He didn't dare, and he had no right, to argue further.
Facing this Vice Pagoda Master, who could decide the course of his career with a single word, he had no choice but to remain silent.
Yuanen Yehui, standing beside him, had been slightly tense ever since she stepped out of the mecha.
She had never seen a scene this tragic.
The forms beneath the white sheets, the dark red stains that had seeped through them, the survivors who had lost their loved ones and now sat slumped on the ground with hollow, numb eyes...
It was as if she had returned to the day her mother died. The scene had been just the same.
Her face was pale, and her fingertips were cold.
Just then—
A warm hand gently took hers.
Yuanen Yehui shivered slightly and turned her head.
Luo Yang smiled. He said nothing, but the warmth of his palm seemed to make a silent promise:
Don't be afraid. I'm here.
Yuanen Yehui froze for a moment. Then the chill and fear rising from the depths of her heart faded away.
She gently squeezed his hand in return and didn't let go.
A moment later.
Leng Yaozhu briefly laid out the mission.
Luo Yang and Yuanen Yehui would team up and enter the dangerous areas where the Evil Soul Masters might be hiding. They had to personally kill at least three targets.
She would follow them covertly the entire time. Unless they faced certain death, she wouldn't interfere.
Luo Yang and Yuanen Yehui exchanged a glance and nodded together.
In the next instant, Leng Yaozhu vanished without warning, as if she had never been there at all.
Watching the two small figures disappear, the officers finally couldn't hold back.
"Holy crap, has that woman lost her mind?!" a young officer whispered. "She's sending two little kids after a Soul Emperor-level Evil Soul Master? That's like sending lambs into a tiger's den!"
"Shh! Do you want to die? That's Heavenly Phoenix!"
Another officer hurriedly covered his mouth, though he couldn't help muttering, "Still... it really is outrageous. When I was seven, I was still playing in the mud."
"I can't make heads or tails of what goes on in the minds of important people." A third officer shook his head. "Maybe that's the difference between geniuses and ordinary folk. Geniuses need to be tempered by life and death. Ordinary people just need to stay alive."
After two seconds of silence—
"Let's bet!"
A sharp-faced officer who looked like he knew all the latest gossip suddenly called out in a low voice. "Come on, let's make a wager! I bet those two little kids won't make it to noon! Three to one!"
"Damn, you're heartless! But... I'll bet twenty Gold Soul Coins they won't last an hour!"
"I'll put down fifty. They'll be so scared they'll cry before they even get near the Evil Soul Masters!"
"Pah, you're underestimating Heavenly Phoenix's judgment. I'll bet ten Gold Soul Coins they make it back alive, but fail the mission!"
The security captain glanced over from a distance but didn't stop them.
Deep in the ruins, half an hour later.
Luo Yang slowed his pace, his gaze sweeping the surroundings like an eagle's.
This area was part of the "Orange Alert Zone," which hadn't yet been completely searched. All around them stood collapsed houses and heaps of debris that were hard to identify.
Yuanen Yehui followed close behind him, slightly to his side.
They continued forward in silence for a while without encountering any danger.
As Yuanen Yehui witnessed the devastation along the way, she seemed to think of something. Her expression darkened. "Luo Yang, tell me... if one day I became someone you didn't recognize and did lots and lots of bad things, would you still be my friend?"
"Silly, no matter what you became, we'd still be friends."
Luo Yang smiled. "Besides, if that day really came, then it wouldn't be your true nature."
He knew what Yuanen Yehui was worried about: her Martial Soul, the Fallen Angel.
Once she reached a certain age, the Demon Plane would descend upon Douluo Continent through Yuanen Yehui's Second Martial Soul.
The disaster it caused might be even more terrifying than that of an Evil Soul Master with Limit Douluo cultivation.
Yuanen Yehui nodded firmly, warmth welling up inside her that she couldn't put into words.
Luo Yang smiled.
The Demon Plane was indeed a major threat to Yuanen Yehui, but who said the Demon Plane was the only one allowed to wreak havoc on Douluo Continent? Why couldn't they turn the tables and occupy the Demon Plane instead?
Besides, he'd noticed that many spirits in the town had yet to dissipate.
Those spirits undoubtedly met the conditions for him to purify them.
And to reach the number of spirits needed to revive a second powerful figure, he might only have to purify every spirit in the town.
At the thought, Luo Yang couldn't help feeling excited.
Bibi Dong, the first powerful figure he had revived, had undoubtedly been a great help to him.
Now he was eager to find out who the second one would be.
Just as the two silently pressed onward—
"Ugh... sob... h-help..."
A weak, tearful girl's voice drifted from the ruins of a half-collapsed house ahead, as faint as a thread.
Luo Yang's gaze sharpened, and he raised a hand to signal them to stop.
"Someone's there." Yuanen Yehui lowered her voice, ready to fight at any moment.
"Let's take a look. Watch for an ambush," Luo Yang said briefly.
Staying alert, the two crept toward the direction of the voice.