Unlike the smooth landing he had imagined, Xiao Yan felt the Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow come to a rather hurried stop.
Xiao Yan flashed out of the pavilion. All he saw were the passage and the void, not the secluded noble clan he had imagined.
The Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow had stopped because several figures stood ahead. The one in front radiated a ghostly blue-green glow. One glance was enough to make nausea rise in Xiao Yan's throat.
The figure behind him was shrouded entirely in Black Mist, an eerie sight. Xiao Yan could barely make out a human shape within it, and black-purple rays occasionally shot from the haze.
Bringing up the rear were four Soul Hall Protectors Xiao Yan had seen before. They had tried to capture Xiao Yi Xian outside the Jia Ma Empire. There had originally been five, but Yan Di had killed one with thunderous speed.
People from the Soul Hall?
Yan Di, too, lost his usual air of indifference. He eyed the figures blocking the Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow with open wariness.
"Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate, what are you doing here?"
The figure glowing ghostly blue stepped forward. Xiao Yan saw that his face was mottled with rotting flesh, while his eyes held only lifeless desolation, devoid of any spark. Coupled with his sickening aura, the sight was especially repulsive.
"I'm here to wait for you, of course. Heh, heh, heh." His hoarse voice sounded like a ghost from the depths of hell.
With that, Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate pointed at Xiao Yan from afar. An indistinct mark gathered on his fingertip, too hazy to make out. The instant he aimed it at Xiao Yan, the once-quiet mark began to churn. A familiar sensation stirred in Xiao Yan's right hand. Even when he forcibly pressed it down,