Wailing Banshee

The Holy Spirit Cult had occupied the Evil Demon Forest for many years, and its understanding of this forest far exceeded outsiders' imaginations.

Though it did not dare claim to know the core region like the back of its hand, it had long since mapped the distributions of high-level Soul Beasts in the mixed region and parts of the outer regions in detail.

Thus, Feiyan had a clear objective. Rather than wandering about like a headless fly, she spent only most of a day finding her target in a secluded valley thick with deathly aura.

It was a Soul Beast that was translucent grayish-white all over, shaped like a gigantic banshee.

It floated in midair, surrounded by the mournful wails of cold, resentful souls. Wherever it passed, vegetation withered and life was extinguished—an millennium Soul Beast, the Wailing Banshee. It was an exceptionally pure and powerful death-attribute Soul Beast, around eleven hundred years old, perfectly meeting Ye Xishui's requirements.

Although Castorice possessed a terrifying constitution that brought death with a touch, Ye Xishui had not demanded that she kill it herself.

Ye Xishui was strict, but she was not an unreasonable devil.

She might have been able to contend with a century-old Soul Beast through the traits of her constitution, but against a millennium Soul Beast with ranged attacks and powerful soul skills, Castorice currently had almost no chance of victory. Forcing her to hunt it would be no different from sending her to her death.

"Little Saintess, step back. Watch me."

Feiyan's petite figure stepped forward, a strange smile appearing on her face.

She did not unleash any earth-shattering Soul Power fluctuations. She merely raised her small hands, clad in exquisite lace gloves.

The next instant, countless nearly invisible crimson threads, as fine as hairs, spread from her fingertips as if alive and silently filled the surrounding space.

Martial Soul, Marionette!

This was an extremely bizarre and rare spiritual control-type Martial Soul.

The crimson threads coiled around the Wailing Banshee like venomous snakes in an instant.

The threads did not act upon its body. Instead, they directly penetrated its energy form, wrapping around and binding its soul core.

The Wailing Banshee let out a shrill, piercing howl as deathly aura erupted around it, attempting to break free.

Yet those crimson threads were extraordinarily tough and carried a force that eroded the soul.

Feiyan's fingers moved gently like those of the most dexterous puppeteer. The Wailing Banshee's enormous body, condensed from deathly aura, became like a puppet controlled by invisible hands. Its movements instantly turned stiff and distorted, while the death energy it had gathered continuously collapsed under the threads' interference.

This was one of the key reasons Feiyan was called an Evil Soul Master.

Her Martial Soul could not only control living creatures' bodies, but directly interfere with and enslave their souls.

She could strengthen herself by using the threads to absorb the life force and soul power of those she controlled. To orthodox Soul Masters, such an ability was undoubtedly utterly evil.

Under the absolute suppression of a level ninety-seven Super Douluo, even a Wailing Banshee known for being bizarre and troublesome had no ability to resist.

"Go on, little Saintess. Kill it."

With one hand on her hip, Feiyan, who had not even manifested her Martial Soul, nodded at Castorice.

Although the Sun Moon Empire had now developed Soul Tool technology that could preserve Soul Rings and allow those who had not made the kill to absorb them, Castorice was right here, so there was no need for such a Soul Tool.

Moreover, Feiyan was also a traditional Soul Master and did not particularly enjoy using Soul Tools.

Without the slightest hesitation, Castorice slowly stepped forward and removed the purple gloves from her hands.

They were glove-type Soul Tools Ye Xishui had prepared for her, Soul Tools that restrained her death ability, custom-made by Ye Xishui specifically for her.

After all, Castorice could not control her body of death. It was always inconvenient in daily life, which was why she had these gloves.

As a Soul Engineer close to the tenth rank, making such Soul Tools was not difficult for Ye Xishui.

As Castorice's fair palm touched the Wailing Banshee's body, purple-black deathly patterns instantly crawled across its entire form.

In mere moments, its struggles grew weaker and weaker. Finally, amid its miserable wails, its enormous body of deathly aura collapsed with a crash into specks of grayish-white light. In the place where it had been, a Soul Ring flashing with deep purple light slowly condensed and hovered in the air.

That purple was deep and pure, representing the power of a millennium Soul Ring.

With the Wailing Banshee's death, Feiyan withdrew the crimson threads.

"Little Saintess, absorb it. This is the Supreme Cult Leader's test for you. Don't disappoint her, and don't make me... come all this way for nothing."

There was a trace of barely perceptible anticipation in her tone.

Castorice looked at the purple Soul Ring radiating dense deathly aura and took a deep breath.

She could feel the Chrysos Heirs bloodline within her body faintly boiling, while in her mind, a barely detectable ripple came from the dormant consciousness of Ronova, the Archon of Death.

In the secluded valley of the Evil Demon Forest, deathly aura permeated the air.

Castorice sat cross-legged beside the grayish-white energy left behind by the Wailing Banshee. She took a deep breath, and the air laden with decay and chill poured into her lungs, making her even more clear-headed instead.

She closed her eyes, sank her thoughts into her body, and began guiding the power hidden within.

As her Soul Power circulated, a deep, ghostly radiance emerged from her body.

Immediately afterward, a palpitating phantom slowly condensed behind her—it was her Martial Soul, Ronova, the Archon of Death.

Unlike the holy mystery of Yin Chen's Archon of Time, Ronova's phantom radiated an entirely different aura.

She possessed long silver-white hair as cold as moonlight, yet her pupils were pure gold. Upon closer inspection, the depths of those golden eyes did not hold round pupils, but slowly rotating golden hexagrams that emitted an ominous glow.

She wore an elegant, intricate black robe adorned with dark red patterns like dried blood, full of Gothic strangeness and beauty.

Her overall bearing was dangerous and coldly beautiful, carrying the pride of one who looked down upon the life and death of all living things.

Most eye-catching of all, behind her phantom spread a pair of enormous wings formed from pitch-black feathers.

Embedded across those wings were countless eyeballs of varying sizes and pupil colors.

These eyeballs seemed to possess independent life, quietly watching the outside world, filled with indescribable mystery and terror.

Scarlet Douluo Feiyan, standing guard nearby, was seeing Castorice's Martial Soul with her own eyes for the first time.

Though she had already learned its name from Castorice, witnessing this Martial Soul phantom that radiated extreme death and ominousness still caused a trace of shock and gravity to flash through her crimson eyes.

This Martial Soul... truly deserved the name Archon of Death. Its stature and strangeness far surpassed the ordinary.

Castorice did not delay. Using her own Soul Power as a guide, she carefully reached toward the hovering millennium Soul Ring that radiated deep purple light.