Breaking a Rule

The third day.

Ye Xuan went out for a while.

He did not return until the small hours of the morning.

By daybreak, an incident that shocked the entire city occurred within Soto City.

In the center of Soto City, a pile of corpses belonging to various spirit masters was on display. Most importantly, these spirit masters were all notorious criminals, essentially well-known figures in Soto City.

Beside this pile of corpses stood a sign.

Written upon it were the words:

"For those who commit crimes, Spirit Hall shall show no mercy."

When the people in the city saw the words on the sign, the common folk rejoiced. Some spirit masters with crooked intentions were intimidated and temporarily set aside their schemes.

Among the crowd of onlookers were two acquaintances of Ye Xuan.

These two were none other than Flender and Yu Xiaogang.

Looking at the sign, Flender asked in confusion, "Xiaogang, do you think this was done by people from Spirit Hall?"

"If it were done by anyone else, why would they give such credit to Spirit Hall?" Yu Xiaogang naturally did not believe that anyone who had done such a good deed would willingly hand over the credit.

"Although these people weren't particularly strong, they were hiding in the city, and it isn't something an ordinary person could do to ferret them out. I fear this was done by that kid, Ye Xuan," Flender speculated.

"He is in Spirit Hall. If he is only helping Spirit Hall do these things, that would be fine, but I fear he might be doing other things as well," Yu Xiaogang warned.

"Ye Xuan shouldn't be that kind of person. Xiaogang, why are you so hostile toward him?" Flender was somewhat puzzled as to why Yu Xiaogang inexplicably disliked Ye Xuan.

"He is definitely not a good person; he just hides it quite well," Yu Xiaogang said.

"Why?" Flender asked, unconvinced.

"Just a feeling," Yu Xiaogang replied.

The main hall of Spirit Hall.

Subordinates rushed to find Sading to report the situation.

"Interesting. This Young Master Ye is truly capable. We are indeed not worthy of speaking with him, and I don't know how much longer it will take for people from headquarters to arrive," Sading remarked with a sigh.

"Bishop, he went to the library again today. This Young Master Ye is even more studious than expected; he really is a strange person," the person reporting the news sighed.

"He is indeed a person unlike any I have ever seen," Sading said.

Ye Xuan spent a month in Spirit Hall reading every book available there.

During this month, Ye Xuan guided Zhu Zhuqing in her cultivation, and she made rapid progress.

The reason Ye Xuan was in such a hurry to finish all the texts here was simple: he knew that Sading and his men would send word to the Spirit Hall headquarters.

With someone as strange as him, it was impossible for the Spirit Hall headquarters to ignore him completely.

Whether he would be allowed to stay here once the people from Spirit Hall arrived remained to be seen. Therefore, he had to absorb all the knowledge here first.

Having finished reading them, Ye Xuan could consider his harvest quite bountiful.

Today, he sat quietly in his room, closing his eyes to sense and perceive the laws of heaven and earth in this world.

After a long while, Ye Xuan felt his consciousness enter a gray, hazy space. In this space, a pair of cold, sharp eyes were fixed upon him.

Suddenly, Ye Xuan felt a black shadow lunging at him with incredible speed and terrifying killing intent.

Ye Xuan turned instantly, his sword qi condensing into a blade in his hand. With the sword in his grip, he blocked the attacker's strike.

The attacker was a man with a fierce expression. Beyond the terrifying killing intent in his eyes, there was a trace of divine might—a trace of might that seemed to demand Ye Xuan's submission.

His body was covered in dark red demonic patterns, his eyes were blood-red, and in his hand was a blood-colored longsword.

His sword clashed with Ye Xuan's, and after a brief moment, both retreated dozens of steps.

Ye Xuan stared at him and asked, "Who are you? No, what god are you?"

"This Seat is the Asura God, here to eradicate a heretic." After the opponent spoke, he lunged again with his sword.

The killing intent condensed into ice, encircling Ye Xuan.

Hm? Not the real body. As Ye Xuan felt the sword strike toward him, he understood instantly that this could only be considered an avatar of the Asura God, and the power it possessed was not particularly strong.

Since this was the mental world, Ye Xuan would not fear him in the slightest.

Ye Xuan raised his hand, his thoughts shifting slightly, and he instantly summoned numerous flying swords to strike at the Asura God.

Their swords collided in the air. In a short time, they had exchanged hundreds of blows, while Ye Xuan continuously probed the attack patterns of this Asura God avatar.

After a dozen or so exchanges, Ye Xuan was certain that this was not even an avatar of the Asura God. It was more like a manifestation derived from the laws of this world, and its purpose was to eradicate him, the heretic.

Conversely, if Ye Xuan killed this "Asura God," he could break a portion of the laws, and the power he could command would become even stronger.

After observing for a moment, Ye Xuan stood still, but the sword intent on his body began to grow wildly.

At this moment, the "Asura God" merged with his sword and charged directly at Ye Xuan.

Just as he was about to reach Ye Xuan, the space-time around them suddenly froze.

The Asura God also froze in place, and Ye Xuan's soul, as if leaving his body once more, arrived before the Asura God.

Ye Xuan raised his hand and pointed a finger, and in an instant, countless sword energies burst forth from his fingertip, pouring directly into the Asura God's forehead.

After a moment, the Asura God's body exploded, raining swords down through the air as Ye Xuan's soul returned to his body within this consciousness space.

Then, this consciousness space began to crack inch by inch.

Power constantly overflowed from it, which Ye Xuan absorbed in an instant.

These energies were all converted into Ye Xuan's spirit power; when he had originally obtained his second spirit ring, his spirit power had not increased, remaining at level 20.

But the power he was absorbing now was entirely spirit power.

Ye Xuan's spirit power reached level 30 in an instant.

If not for the restriction of his third spirit ring, his spirit power would have continued to rise.

Ye Xuan made a preliminary estimate that his spirit power alone had likely reached the level of a Spirit Saint.

Of course, the improvement of his martial soul was secondary; the most important thing was that the restrictions on his own strength had lessened, allowing him to wield more power.

If he were to face Tang Hao again now, he was confident he could win with ease.

He stood up and checked the time outside; it was already dusk.

Just then, Zhu Zhuqing's voice came from outside.

"Brother Ye, the bishop and the others are here to see you."

"Coming." Ye Xuan replied and walked out of the room.

Arriving in the courtyard, Ye Xuan discovered that besides Bishop Sading, there was also a Title Douluo.

This Title Douluo exuded a sinister aura from his entire body, and given his strength and temperament, Ye Xuan guessed the man's identity in an instant.

Bishop Sading hurriedly stepped forward to introduce him: "Young Master Ye, this is Elder Gui of our Spirit Hall."

"Young Master Ye, I am Elder Gui Mei of the Elder Hall. I have come from Spirit City to consult you on some matters." Gui Mei stepped forward and spoke in an indifferent tone.