The Sect Master Hall was a complete mess.
The once-pristine floor was now crisscrossed with sword marks, with rubble scattered everywhere.
Beneath the vaulted ceiling, dust danced in the light streaming through the windows. Faint wisps of sword qi still wound through the air, letting out a soft, buzzing ring.
Wu Protector looked utterly wretched as he hovered in the air, swaying unsteadily. Every time he moved, it seemed to take all the strength he had.
He panted heavily. "Damn brat! How can he be so powerful? He actually drove me to this point!"
His once-solid soul form had grown thin and translucent, like a veil that might be swept away by the wind at any moment.
At the stump of his severed arm, blue-green sword qi writhed like a frenzied evil wyrm, wantonly twisting as it devoured his soul power.
Each wisp of soul power he lost felt like thousands upon thousands of steel needles stabbing into his soul. The pain was unbearable.
For the first time, Wu Protector felt the fear of death truly well up inside him.
"No, I have to get out of here!"
His face was etched with terror as he muttered under his breath.
In an instant, his soul form became a dazzling streak of light and shot into the distance at a speed that left one dumbfounded.
As he fled, he roared with all his might, "You little brat, just you wait! Once I've recovered, I'll make you pay!"
Having briefly reached the strength of a five-star Dou Zong by using a secret technique, he now burst forth at full power. His figure was like a meteor streaking across the night sky, gone in the blink of an eye.
Only a blurry soul shadow remained, slowly fading from the air as though it had never been there.
Yun Yun had watched the whole thing from the side, and worry immediately filled her heart. She said to Xiao Fan, "Xiao Fan, we can't let him get away..."
He was a Dou Zong enemy. If they let him escape, the Misty Cloud Sect would face retaliation from a Dou Zun expert!
Xiao Fan, however, remained calm and slowly raised a hand, waving it lightly.
"Don't worry. Let him run for a while. He won't get away."
Xiao Fan stood ramrod straight, his black robe fluttering gently in the breeze, his ink-dark hair neatly tied behind his head.
His whole bearing radiated composure and confidence, as though nothing could ruffle him.
Then he turned his head slightly and glanced at the open space behind him, where Yun Shan had long since vanished.
Clearly, Yun Shan had quietly followed Wu Protector.
The corners of Xiao Fan's mouth lifted in a faint, barely perceptible smile. He murmured, "That works out nicely. It saves me the trouble of dealing with him myself."
After all, he was Yun Yun's master... If Xiao Fan handled him personally, he might plant a thorn in her heart...
Wu Protector had relied on the Soul Hall's secret technique to forcefully increase his speed. Now he had stopped in a desolate place dozens of kilometers from the Misty Cloud Sect.
Bent over with both hands on his knees, he gasped for breath.
"This damn secret technique... I never expected the backlash to be so severe," he muttered.
His soul form had grown even thinner and more illusory, nearly blending into the surrounding mist, flickering in and out of sight.
The backlash from the secret technique had begun...
"Hmph! Just you wait, brat!"
Wu Protector's face was full of fury, his eyes flashing with a vicious light.
"When I get back, I'll make sure to report everything that happened here. I'll say we've found a clue pointing to the Tou She Ancient God Jade. Then they'll send a stronger protector to deal with him. I refuse to believe he can stand against a Dou Zun expert!"
Just as he was lost in thought, his eyes narrowed slightly and he warily looked toward the horizon.
A figure was flying toward him at an unhurried pace. It wasn't moving quickly, but it was clearly headed straight for him.
Wu Protector took a closer look. Wasn't that the subordinate he had just recruited?
"Protector, sir!"
Yun Shan's face was wreathed in smiles, with a hint of servility in his grin and an eager yearning in his eyes.
He flew quickly to Wu Protector and said urgently, "You have to help me! Help me break through and become a Dou Zong!"
Yun Shan wore a gray robe, his hair slightly disheveled and a fawning smile plastered across his face.
It seemed he had staked everything on the chance to become a Dou Zong.
Yet before he could finish speaking, Wu Protector flashed to his side like a bolt of black lightning.
He stretched out a hand, thin and bony as a skeleton's, and seized Yun Shan's head. A ghastly cackle came from his mouth.
"Heh heh heh heh! I'm injured, so you're just what I need to replenish my soul power. I'll use your soul!"
Yun Shan's eyes flew wide open, terror filling them as he struggled desperately and cried out at the top of his lungs, "Protector, spare me! I've been utterly loyal to you!"
He tried to summon the Dou Qi within him to fight back, but he was only a mere Dou Emperor. Before the might of a Dou Zong, he was no more than an insignificant ant and couldn't resist in the slightest.
His mouth opened as if he still wanted to beg for mercy, but his soul had already been forcibly ripped from his body.
After devouring Yun Shan's soul, Wu Protector's expression didn't improve. Instead, it grew even more grave and gloomy.
Frowning, he muttered to himself, "My soul form has grown a little more solid, but it's still far from enough."
He could clearly feel that the Dou Qi within him remained in turmoil. The stinging pain from that strand of sword qi was growing stronger, as though it wouldn't stop until it had torn his soul form to shreds.
"No, I have to find somewhere to retreat and heal."
Wu Protector's face was full of solemnity, and a trace of unease showed in his eyes.
He had an inexplicable feeling that if he didn't calm down and heal soon, his soul might be scattered.
Wu Protector clutched his shoulder and took a deep breath.
But just as he was about to turn and leave, a hand gently patted his shoulder.
He felt a powerful force surge into his body. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
Xiao Fan had appeared silently behind him. He lowered his eyes to look at Wu Protector's soul, a hint of disdain crossing his face.
"Useless. My Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art isn't even interested in devouring you."
In his eyes, this soul was nothing but a pile of worthless dregs, reeking of decay.
"Forget it..."
He would take him back and have Yao Lao refine him into a puppet.
Yao Lao was widely knowledgeable. He had lived for over a thousand years and experienced countless strange encounters, gaining familiarity with all kinds of unusual alchemy techniques, cultivation methods, Dou Techniques, and other secrets of the continent.
Puppet refining wasn't his strongest field, but with his experience, it was entirely possible that he knew a few methods. In a place as complex as the Central Plains, puppets were both weapons of war and symbols of power, so related knowledge would have spread to a certain extent.
Through his travels and exchanges with other experts, Yao Lao had surely come across puppet-refining knowledge and remembered some of it.
As long as one mastered the art of puppet refining and had suitable materials and a means of controlling souls, one could turn a powerful individual into a puppet.
Soul Hall Protectors were powerful in their own right, with formidable Dou Qi and soul power.
If one could capture them, alter their bodies with special materials, and suppress or erase their original consciousness with soul power, they could be refined into puppets.
However, Soul Hall Protectors had powerful souls and fiercely resisted. Refining them into puppets was no easy task and required formidable soul-control abilities. But if the process succeeded, the resulting puppets would be quite powerful.
And Xiao Fan happened to meet all those requirements.
Xiao Fan stored Wu Protector's soul form and Yun Shan's corpse in his Storage Ring, then headed back toward the Misty Cloud Sect.