Layered Schemes

Xiao Qianjue, Qu Wuyang, and Wen Tailai had finally been "brought to justice."

To the people of the Fragrance Sect, this could be called a joyous occasion of heaven-shaking magnitude.

Yet this time, after the Fragrance Sect Master Shi Wanhai returned, he did not hold any lavish celebrations or grand feasts. Instead, he shut himself away in a secret chamber within the sect with He Ping, Hu Shiqi, and the others, and began refining the Three Owl Seal.

This secret chamber was where Shi Wanhai ordinarily cultivated in seclusion. It lay a hundred zhang underground. He Ping, Shi Wanhai, and Hu Shiqi each sat in one position. Within the triangular space, three skulls were being burned by a mass of emerald-green flames, letting out agonized howls.

"Shi Wanhai, may you die a horrible death! Killing us was not enough—you even want to refine our primordial spirits into a magic artifact!"

"Unable to tell loyalty from treachery, you are unworthy of being Sect Master!"

"How hateful! When you were first made Sect Master, your strength was not enough to command respect. If the three of us had not given you our full support, how could you have secured your throne?"

These three skulls were the skeletal heads of the elders Xiao Qianjue, Qu Wuyang, and Wen Tailai. After they were killed, their yin spirits and souls had nearly scattered. Shi Wanhai had summoned them back through a secret sacrificial art. Only cultivators who had reached the Dao Entry realm possessed souls firm and substantial enough for this; for ordinary people, once they died, their souls would disperse completely and could never be called back.

"Hahaha, why would the three elders say such things?"

Shi Wanhai laughed heartily. "This Sect Master has always borne the three elders' great kindness and virtue in