Nine Treasures Glazed Ning Yurong

After all, the Evil Soul Master who slaughtered Wind Snow Village possessed the Ten Thousand Soul Banner as his martial soul; he merely extracted souls, leaving behind no gruesome scenes.

But what of the carnage on the road before them?

Tsk, tsk, tsk. To put it bluntly, several intact chicken cutlets had been violently dismantled, lying heroically in a massive puddle of ketchup.

His mouth twitched as he realized he was associating this with something rather unpleasant, and Xue Mingqing closed his eyes.

He looked toward Wang Chao, who stood beside him with a stern, humorless expression.

"What is the situation here?"

Hearing Xue Mingqing's question, Wang Chao shook his head with a darkened face.

"I don't know, but it is likely that another caravan encountered a soul beast attack."

Hearing this, Xue Mingqing nodded in agreement.

After all—

He looked at those mangled "chicken cutlets" again, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

Death is the end of all grievances; usually, people just turn and leave after a kill. Who goes around chopping people into pieces?

If this wasn't the work of a soul beast, what kind of deep-seated hatred would drive someone to such lengths?

As his gaze swept the area, Xue Mingqing suddenly froze.

For there, amidst the blood-stained wreckage, he saw a highly distinctive totem.

The totem of the Nine-Section Glazed Pagoda.

This caravan that had been attacked belonged to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect!

Realizing this, Xue Mingqing raised an eyebrow. During the era of the Peerless Tang Sect, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had always been notoriously wealthy.

If there were any survivors nearby, especially direct descendants of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect...

Xue Mingqing didn't even dare to imagine how generous the reward from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect might be!

One had to know that even as the Young City Lord of Blizzard City and the adopted son of Xue Ningxian, he didn't have much liquid cash at his disposal.

If he could secure a bit of "extra income," it would be perfect for him.

Having weighed the pros and cons, Xue Mingqing looked at Wang Chao beside him and said in a gentle tone.

"Uncle Wang, could I trouble you to take the men and search the surroundings to see if there are any survivors?"

Wang Chao nodded. Xue Ningxian had already instructed him that if Xue Mingqing's request was reasonable, he was not to refuse.

Turning around, Wang Chao waved his hand.

"You heard him! Move out and see if there are any survivors!"

As his voice fell, the mercenaries who had been circling the carriage immediately sprang into action. Including Wang Chao, there were six of them, each heading in a different direction to search.

As for Xue Mingqing, he looked at those "chicken cutlets" and stroked his chin.

He walked over slowly, reaching out toward one of the pieces.

He wanted to confirm the nature of their wounds; perhaps he could identify which soul beast had caused this?

However, before he could touch them, the seductive voice of Feng Qingyang echoed once more within his sea of consciousness.

"Don't look. They were killed by a Four-Eyed Demon Fox."

Hearing this, Xue Mingqing raised an eyebrow and asked the voice in his mind.

"Teacher, how do you know? Didn't we just encounter them? Why do you sound as if you knew all along?"

After Xue Mingqing finished speaking, Feng Qingyang, who usually replied to him in seconds, did not respond immediately this time.

He waited for a long time, but the voice of Feng Qingyang did not sound again in his mind.

At this, Xue Mingqing frowned slightly—not out of dissatisfaction with Feng Qingyang, but simply...

He was becoming increasingly curious about Feng Qingyang's origins.

After all, whether in the first or second generation of Douluo, there had never been anyone named Feng Qingyang.

With wind-attribute power and sinister, ambiguous methods that were neither entirely righteous nor evil, he had been in his mind since the day he transmigrated. This didn't look like someone native to the Douluo world at all.

Could it be...

That Feng Qingyang, like him, was a visitor from another world?

Realizing this, Xue Mingqing's eyes lit up. He cleared his throat, preparing to continue probing for information.

However, just as he was about to speak, a rough voice from a mercenary rang out not far behind him.

"Young Master! Brother Wang! We found a survivor here!"

Hearing this, Xue Mingqing raised an eyebrow, closed his eyes, and swallowed the words he had intended to use to test Feng Qingyang.

He turned around and looked toward the direction of the voice.

At a single glance, Xue Mingqing saw it.

A burly mercenary was supporting a blood-stained, disheveled young girl as they slowly walked over.

The young girl stood a head taller than Xue Mingqing, her clothes soaked through with blood and grime, their original color long since indistinguishable.

Her waist-length silver hair was matted with dust, and her dirty little face obscured her features, leaving only a pair of crimson, jewel-like eyes clearly visible.

Yet, those stunning eyes were currently brimming with a thick, impenetrable sense of panic and unease.

Seeing this, Xue Mingqing's sword-like brows, which carried a hint of maturity despite his youthful face, furrowed slightly.

Taking a few steps forward, he looked toward the mercenary supporting the girl.

"Brother Ma, what's her situation? Where did you find her?"

Ma Han, who was supporting the girl, sighed and shook his head.

"I didn't find her. She heard our voices and crawled out of the pile of corpses herself."

Hearing this, Xue Mingqing's eyes widened instinctively. He turned his head to look at the girl, whose body was still trembling slightly.

Though he didn't speak, the question he wanted to ask was written all over his face—

How did a weak girl like you survive such a brutal attack?

The girl pursed her lips, raised a pale, jade-like hand, and produced an object.

"My name is Ning Yurong... I only survived because of this..."

Hearing this, Xue Mingqing lowered his gaze and saw a damaged soul tool resting in Ning Yurong's palm.

At the sight of it, his confusion vanished instantly.

He recognized it; this was clearly an Invincible Barrier capable of blocking a strike from an eight-ring Soul Douluo. It was no wonder Ning Yurong was the sole survivor.

"Little girl, do you know what it was that attacked you?"

Wang Chao walked over at this moment. He had already confirmed that out of the entire Nine Treasures Caravan, only Ning Yurong had survived.

Everyone else had perished.

Faced with such a tragic scene, he, as the strongest person present, had to be cautious.

At the very least, he had to figure out what had attacked the Nine Treasures Caravan.

At the sound of his voice, Ning Yurong's delicate body shuddered, as if recalling something terrifying.

She closed her eyes, fighting back the redness in her lids, and said in a hoarse, choked voice.

"It was a soul beast... a fox with four eyes..."

"Its speed was too fast. I only saw a flash of blood, and he... they..."

At this point, Ning Yurong's voice was laced with a broken, sobbing tone, and she could not continue.

Crystal-clear teardrops rolled from her eyes, sliding down her soft facial curves and washing away some of the grime, revealing her fair, smooth skin.

Seeing this, Xue Mingqing raised an eyebrow.

A four-eyed fox—wasn't this the Four-Eyed Demon Fox that Feng Qingyang had mentioned? Feng Qingyang had actually been right.

Was this Feng Qingyang's ability to foresee the future... or was it something else?

Narrowing his eyes, Xue Mingqing's thoughts deepened as he prepared to brainstorm.

"The little girl is quite pretty. Have you considered kidnapping her to be your child bride?"

Feng Qingyang's voice rang out at the perfect moment, interrupting his train of thought.

Hearing this, Xue Mingqing blinked instinctively.

He looked at Ning Yurong—

Although her face was obscured, her tall stature, fair skin, and the budding curves of her figure made it clear she was a beauty in the making.

For a fleeting moment, Xue Mingqing actually entertained the thought of putting that possibility into practice.

However—

It was only a thought.

He coughed, suppressing the slight flutter in his heart.

"Don't say things like that. I am a man of honor!"