Spirit City, rear hall of the Pope Palace.
Night had already fallen.
Beyond the tall window frames, moonlight spilled across the white stone floor, cold as a layer of frost.
Di Yao sat before the long table.
Three old files lay spread across it.
One came from the Library Pavilion of the Pope Palace.
One came from the Worship Hall.
The last was an incomplete copy Qian Renxue had sent from the old archives of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family under the identity of Xue Qinghe.
The three old files had originally seemed entirely unrelated.
One recorded ancient soul beasts.
One recorded the abnormal reactions that had once appeared in the Angel Statue.
The last described a death zone deep within the Star Dou Forest that no one had dared enter for years.
Yet after reading them, Di Yao had already pieced them together.
Hu Liena stood beside him, her brows drawing tighter and tighter.
It was not that she had not read them.
She had read them too.
But the information was too fragmented.
So fragmented that it seemed as though someone had deliberately split it apart and hidden it among the old books of different factions.
Even if an ordinary Soul Master obtained one of the files, they would only regard it as a useless legend.
But Di Yao was different.
He was not reading legends.
He was looking for a path.
Hu Liena watched as Di Yao's fingertip came to rest on the final line of the incomplete copy.
There were only seven damaged ancient characters there.
Fusang withers, the sun sinks.
Hu Liena asked softly, "Is this the target you mentioned for your fourth spirit ring?"
Di Yao did not answer immediately.
He raised his hand.
A wisp of dark golden flame burned quietly at his