Yun Chen strolled alone down a country path, a blade of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth as he hummed a tune, clearly in an excellent mood.
"Little Scumbag, oh, I love you~ Hand over your mommy's soul bone~ Stir-fried Blue Silver Emperor in my left hand~ Braised Xiao Wu bunny in my right~ What a treat~ What a treat~"
Honestly, Yun Chen's singing was pretty awful. He was tone-deaf, after all, and the song barely had a melody. He had simply cobbled it together.
"Hiss... Stone Family Village... another two kilometers south, and I'll reach Holy Soul Village..."
Yun Chen took out his map and carefully checked his current location. He had only one purpose on this trip: to search the mountain behind Holy Soul Village for Ah Yin's soul bone.
As for why Yun Chen dared to come to Holy Soul Village and search for the soul bone so openly, that was naturally because Tang Hao was already dead.
Yes, dead.
Three years ago, after Yun Chen proposed that plan, Spirit Hall had indeed taken action. But Tang Hao was no pushover either, and he had noticed Spirit Hall gathering information on soul masters on a massive scale.
Tang Hao had flown into a rage, and our dear Tang Hao had taken his big hammer and smashed the Spirit Hall Branch in Notting City. Such a commotion naturally drew the attention of Spirit Hall's higher-ups—and Qian Renxue in particular.
Honestly, Yun Chen had no idea whether their dear Tang Hao was genuinely stupid or just pretending. Once he discovered the problem, couldn't he have simply taken Tang San and fled? Instead, he just had to smash the Spirit Hall Branch. Wasn't that directing everyone's attention straight at himself?
It was precisely this act that led Qian Renxue to dispatch several worshippers to investigate. Tang Hao truly did regard Tang San as his hope for the future. The moment the worshippers arrived in Notting City, he revealed himself and lured them away.
Of course, this time the Worship Hall had sent Mighty Lion Douluo and Golden Crocodile Douluo into action. With his half-crippled body, Tang Hao was no match for them. Three worshippers joined forces and easily cornered him in a canyon.
Just as Tang Hao was about to die, a dazzling red light blocked the fatal blow for him and instantly inflicted severe injuries on Golden Crocodile Douluo.
Unfortunately, Qian Daoliu had been watching quietly from the shadows. The instant that red light appeared, he stepped out and directly invoked angel divine power.
"God of the upper realm! How can you interfere in the mortal world?"
The red light seemed to hesitate, perhaps considering whether to kill Qian Daoliu as well. In the end, he abandoned that decision. And with it, he abandoned Tang Hao.
The Angel Holy Sword descended, bringing the life of the peerless prodigy Tang Hao to a premature end.
As for Tang San... no one looked any further into the matter. Or rather, the Worship Hall's attention had been thoroughly captured by the strange red light that appeared around Tang Hao. After all, according to Qian Daoliu himself, that red light was unquestionably genuine divine power.
When Yun Chen learned about this, he fell silent for a long time.
At the time, only one thought occupied his mind.
You were supposed to keep those conspiracy theories as theories! How did they turn out to be real? The Shura God really is backing Tang San?
Still, Yun Chen wasn't particularly panicked. Whatever else happened, he had already secured his ticket to godhood.
He had already activated the Sea God's inheritance token. With Yun Chen's talent, coupled with the Sea God's eagerness to leave, wouldn't inheriting the Sea God godhood be a breeze?
But the person Yun Chen might now have to face was Tang San, potentially bearing the Shura God's inheritance. He had to be careful, careful, and more careful still. The Sea God alone wasn't enough to cure Yun Chen's fear of insufficient firepower.
I heard the power of faith can raise the rank of a godhood. Could I... give that a try...?
Or achieve Dual-God Unity, like Tang San in the original story. But where... would I find a second godhood?
Of course, whatever he considered, his main task now was to get his hands on the soul bone first.
After all, although Asura was currently the strongest God of Law Enforcement, he was still subject to supervision by the other four. He wasn't like Tang San in the later installments of the original story, who truly held absolute power.
The Shura God probably wouldn't act openly. Even if he did act, he would have to be extremely cautious. The fact that Qian Daoliu's intervention alone had been enough to "scare him off" made that clear.
It wasn't that Qian Daoliu actually possessed the strength to frighten the Shura God away. Rather, as the direct divine emissary of a First-Level God—particularly a deceased First-Level God—his name was recorded in the God Realm Nexus. After all, he was responsible for selecting an heir to that deceased god's godhood.
Even if the divine emissary himself knew nothing about it.
But if the Shura God truly killed this divine emissary, he would certainly face impeachment through the God Realm Nexus and trigger a God King-level council.
When that happened, certain things could no longer be concealed.
Besides, the God Kings took turns overseeing the lower planes.
If you played dirty on the Douluo Continent today, someone else might well find out tomorrow.
When that happened, Destruction and the others wouldn't let the opportunity slip by.
"Mm, this is the place..."
Yun Chen climbed up a cliff and gazed at the waterfall towering into the clouds before him. Then he took out his map for a quick comparison. Another check against his memories of the original story was enough to be fairly certain.
After all, the most famous thing about this place in the original story was that Tang San had practiced the Clear Sky Hammer Technique here, using this very waterfall.
"Let me find that hidden compartment..."
The aura around Yun Chen abruptly changed, and his dazzling Golden Eyes shone once more. In the next instant, every flow of soul power around him appeared before his eyes, as though he had gained X-ray vision.
This was Yun Chen's second soul skill, Insight Eye.
This soul skill came from a One-Eyed Golden-Eyed Beast roughly three thousand years old. It used spiritual power to fire a psychic ray, with an additional insight effect that allowed him to see fine details and the flow of soul power.
It was a rare means of psychic attack.
Yun Chen quietly scanned every corner of the waterfall. Suddenly, a strange soul power node appeared in his vision, inside a cliff face at the waterfall's lower right.
"There you are..."
The corners of Yun Chen's lips curled upward. He lightly stepped against the rock face, his figure flashing as a few leaps brought him before that steep wall. He took a deep breath.
Terrifying golden soul power gathered around his right fist, and five sharp golden claws sprang out.
"Dark Gold Terrorclaw! Break!"
The terrifying force instantly shattered the already hollow rock wall before him. Dust billowed, and broken stones flew everywhere.
As the dust cleared, the scene inside the cave gradually emerged before Yun Chen's eyes. Most eye-catching of all was a blue-gold seedling on the ground, wilted and swaying feebly from side to side.
When she noticed someone entering, her first reaction was to extend her vines, trying to touch the visitor.
But the moment she touched Yun Chen, she swiftly recoiled. Her entire plant body trembled, clearly having identified him as a bad person.
Then again, Yun Chen wasn't exactly a good person to begin with.
"How pitiful..."
"The great Blue Silver Emperor, reduced to something as lowly as a weed by the roadside."
"Have some water first."
The Blue Silver Emperor still had many uses for Yun Chen, so he naturally couldn't watch her die like this. Clear water slowly poured from the flask in his hand.
At first, the Blue Silver Emperor refused to accept it. But she seemed to have been thirsty for far too long. In the end, she curled her tiny leaves around the droplets and absorbed them.
I'm sorry, Brother Hao...
He has so much water, and it tastes so good. I really can't help myself... ohhh... it feels so good... I'm all filled up!
Ahem. It was simply that Yun Chen had poured too much water. He had emptied an entire flask over the Blue Silver Emperor.
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