Soul-Chasing Seal -- Farewell, Fellow Daoist!

Soul-Chasing Seal—Fellow Daoist, This Is Where We Part! That incomparably arrogant voice rang through the entire city like a thunderclap!

"Who dares touch This Seat's ghost pet?!"

Before the words had even fallen, a figure wreathed in dense ghost qi was already standing in the sky above Blackstone City.

The newcomer wore a black robe patterned with golden lines and held a deathly white banner even taller than he was. The pressure of Foundation Establishment Early Stage was released without the slightest restraint, and the air over the entire city seemed to freeze solid.

He merely waved the Ten Thousand Soul Banner in his hand at random, and ghostly shadows filling the sky surged forward as one!

The thin city-protection formation that had just lit up above the city was like something pasted together from paper. It did not even last a single breath before shattering with a sound!

"Senior, spare my life!"

Inside the city lord's manor, Li Song was so frightened that he sprawled on the ground, kowtowing again and again.

"Hmph. A herd of penned-up blood food thinks itself worthy to speak with This Seat?"

The black-robed demonic cultivator gave a sneering laugh, his eyes filled with cruelty.

"No matter. This Seat is in a poor mood today, so I'll use the living souls of your entire city to make up for This Seat's losses!"

He swung the Ten Thousand Soul Banner violently, and dense, countless ghostly shadows poured out from within it, blotting out the sky and covering the earth, just about to begin a massacre.

"I'll start with you ants!"

Ghostly shadows howled down from the sky, about to turn the entire city into a ghost domain!

Now!

At the very instant the black-robed demonic cultivator activated his magic treasure and his mind was most focused, Zhao Hao struck decisively!

He made no sound at all, but his action was deadlier than any words could have been!

The Sword Control Technique at Minor Accomplishment was driven to its limit, and the low-grade second-rank spiritual weapon, the Ghost Bone Sword, did not let out even a single sword cry before it transformed into a pure black line and silently stabbed straight toward the black-robed demonic cultivator's back!

"Mm?!"

The black-robed demonic cultivator instinctively sensed a fatal chill. In horror, he forcibly interrupted his spellcasting, and his body shifted half an inch to the side at an inconceivable angle.

Pch!

The black line flashed past and vanished.

The black-robed demonic cultivator's entire right arm, the one holding the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, was severed cleanly from the shoulder, blood spraying wildly!

"Ah—! My hand!"

The intense pain made him let out a shrill, miserable howl.

When Wu Tang and Sun Ze saw this, how could they hesitate? They immediately seized this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity!

The green flying sword and the blood-colored flying wheel, one on the left and one on the right, turned into two streaks of flowing light. Carrying sharp killing intent, they instantly sealed off all of the black-robed demonic cultivator's paths of retreat!

"You're courting death!"

The black-robed demonic cultivator was both shocked and furious. His left hand formed an incantation gesture, and a bone shield made of black qi instantly took shape before him, barely blocking the two men's attacks.

But he was also blasted backward by that tremendous force. Blood and qi churned inside him, and he had already suffered internal injuries.

Not even in his dreams had he imagined that in this tiny mortal city, there would actually be three Foundation Establishment cultivators!

"Do you know who I am?!"

Seeing the three of them surround him in a triangular formation, the black-robed demonic cultivator clutched his severed arm and roared, fierce in appearance but weak at heart.

"I am an inner disciple of Ten Thousand Soul Hall! If you dare lay a hand on me again today, then in the future, the elders of my sect will surely hunt you to the ends of the earth, extract your souls, refine your spirits, and leave you forever unable to reincarnate!"

Ten Thousand Soul Hall!

The moment they heard those three words, the light of the green flying sword beneath Wu Tang's feet faltered, and the blood-colored flying wheel controlled by Sun Ze also slowed by a few degrees.

That was Ten Thousand Soul Hall! One of the three demonic sects of the Northern Lands! A top-tier sect with a Nascent Soul True Lord holding down the fort!

Every disciple under its banner cultivated secret ghost-path arts, their methods strange and unfathomable. On top of that, they were famously protective of their own and would repay even the smallest grudge! Provoking one was the same as poking a hornet's nest!

Wu Tang's heart tightened. This trip of his was only to attend the Alchemy Assembly; he had no desire to provoke such a huge disaster for no reason.

Sun Ze's eyes were filled with even greater terror. His lifespan was nearing its end, and he had gone out to seek opportunities, not to seek death!

Seeing the dread on their faces, the black-robed demonic cultivator's heart settled, and arrogance and savagery appeared on his face once more.

"Afraid now? Too late!"

"Today, not one of you three should even think of leaving!"

He thought he had already successfully intimidated them.

However, the instant his words fell—

In that brief single breath while Wu Tang and Sun Ze hesitated—

A black sword-light, swifter and colder than before, swept past his eyes once more without the slightest warning.

The expression on the black-robed demonic cultivator's face froze forever in that moment of shock and incomprehension.

A fine head shot up into the sky.

The headless corpse hung stiffly in midair for a breath before plunging straight down.

Zhao Hao withdrew the Ghost Bone Sword without a trace of expression.

To him, only a dead enemy—one with whom he had already forged a death feud—could keep a secret.

But just as the headless corpse was about to hit the ground, a sudden change erupted!

A strange blood-red seal shot violently from the crown of the corpse's head!

The seal was so fast it reached the extreme, as if ignoring the distance of space. It drew a streak of blood through the air and pierced straight through the protective spiritual shield that had formed of its own accord over Zhao Hao's body!

Zhao Hao only felt a chill at his chest. Then an utterly yin-cold aura, like a maggot gnawing at the bone, branded itself firmly onto his chest!

"The Soul-Chasing Seal! It's the Ten Thousand Soul Hall's Soul-Chasing Seal!"

The dread on Wu Tang's face suddenly turned to terror, and his shrill voice exploded over the City Lord's Estate!

Sun Ze was even more frightened, retreating again and again. The way he looked at Zhao Hao was as if he were looking at a dead man.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, you..."

Wu Tang's lips trembled. He actually yanked that pitch-black Heavenly Demon Contract scroll from his storage pouch and, ignoring the backlash, forcibly poured spiritual power into it!

"Touch this seal and death is certain. The Golden Core elders of the Ten Thousand Soul Hall will follow the seal here! Our contract is void from this moment on!"

The scroll burst apart in his hand with a boom, turning to flying ash!

After doing all this, Wu Tang did not even dare glance at Zhao Hao again, let alone the demonic cultivator's corpse on the ground and the scattered magical artifacts. He directly rode his flying sword, not once looking back as he turned into a streak of blue light and fled for his life into the distance!

Sun Ze said nothing either. The blood-colored flying wheel beneath his feet flared brilliantly, and with the fastest speed of his life, he fled in panic in another direction.

The allies who had fought shoulder to shoulder only a moment ago scattered and fled in every direction in this instant, terrified of being implicated in even the slightest way.

In the blink of an eye, only Zhao Hao remained above the City Lord's Estate, along with a corpse on the ground that still held a trace of warmth.

Zhao Hao lowered his head and reached out to tear open the front of his robe.

A palm-sized blood-colored mark shaped like a vicious ghost was branded onto his skin. It was still writhing faintly, giving off a bone-piercing chill that sank deep into the soul.

He was silent for a moment before slowly descending. He picked up the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and the storage pouch from the ground one by one and tucked them away, then a fireball spell swallowed the corpse, the severed arm, and the head that had rolled away.

After doing all this, he touched the mark on his chest that seemed like a living thing. Then his gaze fell on the pale-golden screen only he could see.

In the [Status] column, the words [Heavenly Demon Contract] had already dimmed and vanished. Replacing them was a brand-new, deadly entry.

[Soul-Chasing Seal].