"I Won't Sympathize With You, But I Wish You..."

The ground began to collapse, and black hands stretched out one after another, slowly crawling free until their full bodies emerged.

Dozens of corpse puppets!

Their overall strength was probably around that of Soul Elders.

"Go! My little darlings, it's time for your performance! Haha, my years of work are only missing one good medicine—just one good medicine!"

Hiss! Roar!

The three leading corpse puppets charged at Gu You.

It seemed this battle would be troublesome...

Gu You frowned slightly, no longer concealing his strength in the slightest as he unleashed it at full force!

Four purple soul rings rose beneath his feet simultaneously.

"Charge! My corpse puppets, seize this brat, and you shall gain eternal evolution!"

Roar!

The old man's voice rang out again. The corpse puppets became even more frenzied, their auras abruptly growing several points stronger.

His first soul ring lit up—Creation Conversion Fire! A complete enhancement of the fire attribute.

Gu You had no reason to fear the old man. From what he understood, this entire area should have long since been sealed off.

One could enter from outside, but could not leave from within!

There were only two ways out: either deal with the culprit who had created this area, or destroy every evil soul mark so that the energy summoned by the evil soul marks throughout the area would be greatly reduced, leaving them unable to maintain the faint spatial restriction within this place.

So he could only fight!

The fire blade in his hand began to split apart, forming four or five fire blades around him. Under Gu You's mental control, the flames on those blades grew increasingly brilliant.

Go!

The fire blades thrust forward. The split blades turned into crimson streaks and viciously pierced toward the three corpse puppets charging ahead.

They collided in an instant.

The corpse puppets were pierced through one after another. It was not just the three leading corpse puppets—the ones behind them were also caught in the attack. Gu You surged forward, thrusting his fire blade straight at the old man.

"How is that possible?!"

The evil soul master's eyes widened. The corpse puppets he had raised for years had all been instantly killed by the boy before him?

Even if all four soul rings were thousand-year rings, he should not have possessed such terrifying strength!

"Old fool, look at how little you know."

Gu You smiled and accelerated.

"Fifth soul—" The evil soul master still tried to resist, but unfortunately, Gu You's fire blade had already stabbed straight toward his face.

"Look at that child. He's so frighteningly ugly. His martial soul is actually a rag doll? Haha."

"Innate Soul Power level six? Why is my child only level four, while that ugly child has such talent?"

"Little freak! Little freak!"

Memories flashed past, one after another...

"Doggy, you're hungry, aren't you? Here, have some." The little boy broke the bread in his hand into two halves and offered one to the puppy sitting beside him.

The puppy wagged its tail and swallowed it in a single bite.

"Sigh, why does everyone hate me? Am I really that ugly?" The little boy looked at the puppy.

But when the puppy saw the little boy's face, its wagging tail suddenly stiffened.

Woof! Woof! Woof...

It barked furiously at the little boy...

"Why? Why does everyone treat me like this? What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?! Is being ugly a crime? I refuse to accept it! I refuse!" Black energy gradually emerged from the boy's body, while darkness slowly filled his mind. His martial soul underwent an evil evolution—Dark Corpse Puppet!

Splat—

"You will all pay the price! Just like this village—every last one of you!" The boy fixed his cold gaze on the yapping puppy.

After that, the boy turned the puppy into a puppet, summoning it for his use every day.

"Look. Isn't it obedient...?"

"Ah!"

In the outside world, the evil soul master let out a savage scream. A massive amount of spiritual power enveloped Gu You and surged into his mind.

"Resistance without knowing your own limits!"

Gu You snorted coldly and exerted more force. The fire blade pierced through!

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

"Lord Sea God, save me, save me~"

Two soul rings flickered beneath the boy's feet, his gaze cold and merciless.

"My darlings, you've all done so well. Kill everyone here and turn them all into my puppets. I will use the Supreme Evil Spirit Art to seal this place. Then, you and I will have peace."

Countless small animals that had been made into puppets snarled as they bit and lunged at the "innocent" humans.

"Enforcement squad! Hurry and call the enforcement squad!"

A voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.

Yet at those words, the boy merely curled his lips into a wicked smile.

"I've prepared this plan for so many years. Did you really think I hadn't considered that? It's useless. You're all going to die, all going to die!"

"Ah—!"

"You'll pay the price! You'll pay for this..."

"Oh? Is that so? Then I'm truly looking forward to that day. The only pity is that you won't live to see it. You'll all become my corpse puppets. I was never the ugly child you called me. I'm a human being—a human being with dignity!"

Amid the mental fluctuations, countless fragments of memories flooded Gu You's mind. After piercing through the old evil soul master, he flashed backward, surprise on his face.

He had seen some of the old evil soul master's memories. What surprised him was that the old man had not died. His vitality was absurdly tenacious—Gu You's fire blade had stabbed directly into his face and pierced through his skull.

"Haha, you saw it all! You saw it all! It was them—it was them who forced me into this!" The old evil soul master's face was no longer recognizable, brain matter and blood spilling out, yet his mouth could still move.

"I truly envy geniuses like you. I really, truly envy you. Haha!"

"I always knew that retribution would come someday, but I never expected it to come so quickly. Nor did I expect that it would be brought about by my renewed greed. If I hadn't wanted to turn you into a corpse puppet, perhaps I could have lived a while longer."

"But you wouldn't have given me that chance. I knew that, too."

"But don't think I created this place. I don't have that ability. After I die, I hope you can do me a favor and bury these corpse puppets."

"It won't quell their rage, but at least it will give my life a decent ending. I truly hope that in my next life, I can be like you too!" The old evil soul master knelt and bowed, then breathed his last.

The evil soul mark in the room from before exploded, leaving behind dust and a lingering glow.

"I won't pity you, but... I hope you'll be a genius in your next life."

Gu You brushed the dust from his clothes.

Looking at the corpses of the corpse puppets around him, he sighed.

"You're pitiful too. Unfortunately, I can't change anything. The only thing I can do is lay you to rest."

"What is righteousness? What is evil? Perhaps I don't understand either, and there may not be a true answer. But I know that as long as I do what I believe is right, that is enough." Gu You gathered all the corpse puppets in one place.

Then, using Creation Conversion to create earth, he made pit after pit, buried the bodies, and covered them over.

During the process, Gu You also set the old evil soul master's corpse on fire.