The Holy Ghost Cult's Plan

After finishing off all the heavily injured evil soul masters who no longer had the strength to struggle or resist, Xu Tianming reminded Zhang Lexuan, who was on the verge of victory:

"Leave one alive first. Don't kill them all just yet."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lexuan, who had been preparing to use the remaining soul power in her body to unleash a major attack and take out the enemy before her, immediately calmed the soul power that had been raging within her.

Instead, she maintained a balanced output of soul power and used a soul skill capable of suppressing her opponent.

The seven-ring evil soul master had already expended a great deal of soul power in his battle with Zhang Lexuan. Now, suddenly faced with this terrifying suppressive force, fear finally surfaced in his eyes.

Retreat! I have to retreat immediately!

Once that thought arose, the evil soul master recklessly released what little soul power remained in his body, trying to break free from Zhang Lexuan's suppression.

He was confident that as long as he could break free, he would be able to escape with his life!

The desperate struggle of a seven-ring evil soul master was certainly not to be underestimated. If Zhang Lexuan had been at her peak, suppressing him would have posed no difficulty at all.

However, the thirty percent of soul power restored by "Night Soul Transfer" had already been reduced by half during the recent battle. If this evil soul master could continue struggling at this intensity for over a minute, she truly would no longer be able to hold him down.

Thus, she immediately entertained the thought of killing this evil soul master on the spot.

It would be a pity if they could not obtain the information they wanted, but that was still better than letting this heinously sinful evil soul master escape alive.

Before acting, however, she involuntarily turned to look at Xu Tianming beside her.

"I'm about to lose control of him. If you don't have any solution either, then I'll kill him right now!"

Xu Tianming did not answer immediately. Instead, he quickly walked to Zhang Lexuan's side and, beneath her puzzled gaze, placed his hand on her back.

Zhang Lexuan instinctively assumed that the youth was trying to take advantage of her. Yet the seven-ring evil soul master was still being suppressed by her power, leaving her unable to divert too much attention. Besides, this youth had indeed saved her life, and he was rather handsome as well...

With all those factors combined, Zhang Lexuan simply closed her eyes and resigned herself to whatever Xu Tianming intended to do. She would consider it repayment for his life-saving grace. So long as he did not go too far, she could pretend nothing had happened.

Yet what happened next completely overturned everything she knew.

A cool sensation suddenly emerged from the spot on her back where the youth's hand rested. In her perception, the exhaustion accumulated from prolonged battle was rapidly being dispelled by that cool feeling. At the same time, the soul power within her, which had once again been nearing depletion, was swiftly recovering.

But none of that was the important part.

The important part was that after this cool sensation appeared, her martial soul actually seemed to be faintly resonating with it!

"Don't overthink it. Suppress this person first!"

The youth's voice reached her ears. Although Zhang Lexuan's heart was full of doubts, she forcibly suppressed her curiosity and obediently followed his instruction, using the newly replenished soul power in her body to further strengthen her suppression of the evil soul master.

Faced with Zhang Lexuan's seemingly endless supply of soul power, the seven-ring evil soul master was ultimately unable to escape his fate of being subdued. The soul power in his body was completely exhausted, leaving him with no room to struggle or resist.

"D-Don't kill me. I'll cooperate with whatever you want to know. As long as you spare my life, I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Hearing this, Xu Tianming almost laughed.

Only now he wanted to beg for peace and mercy? Wasn't that a little late?

Though that was what he thought, he said instead:

"Fine. As long as you cooperate obediently and tell me everything I want to know, I'll be merciful and spare your life."

Zhang Lexuan dearly wished to chop this evil soul master into mincemeat, but since Xu Tianming had already spoken, she found it inappropriate to voice an objection and could only remain silent for now.

"I'll cooperate! I absolutely will! Ask whatever you wish..."

"You seem to belong to an organization. I won't ask which organization it is. Tell me, why does your organization have so many high-ranking soul masters gathered around the outskirts of the Evil Demon Forest?"

Hearing that it was not an especially sensitive question, the evil soul master inwardly breathed a sigh of relief before answering without reservation:

"So many of us gathered here because we were carrying out a mission assigned by the organization. It just so happened that one of our companions was being pursued, and after receiving his distress signal, we rushed over to support him..."

"A mission? What mission exactly?"

This question made the evil soul master hesitate. But when he saw the threatening look in Zhang Lexuan's eyes, he involuntarily shuddered and hurriedly told the truth.

"You know the fourth prince of the Sun Moon Empire, right?"

At those words, Zhang Lexuan looked confused, while Xu Tianming and Meng Hongchen, who had just approached, both tensed inwardly.

After calming Meng Hongchen with a look, Xu Tianming kept his expression unchanged.

"Get to the point. Don't waste my patience!"

"Yes, yes... The organization ordered us to find out the exact strength and talent of the Sun Moon Empire's fourth prince by any means possible. I heard that he possessed innate full soul power, but the organization only assigned us the mission and did not provide us with a detailed portrait of him...

"The Sun Moon royal family has protected that fourth prince very well. Our people have no way to approach the royal family's inner circle without being noticed. But the organization's intelligence was recently updated, stating that the fourth prince might go out to hunt soul beasts within the next few days. So our members were dispersed among the major soul beast forests throughout the Sun Moon Empire, and we happened to be assigned to lie in wait in the Evil Demon Forest..."

As the evil soul master explained, Xu Tianming's fists clenched involuntarily.

Damn Holy Ghost Cult!

There was no need to think about it. The only large evil soul master organization active within the Sun Moon Empire was the Holy Ghost Cult.

Xu Tianming had not expected that before he had even begun looking for trouble with these sewer rats, the rats would come looking for trouble with him first!

Fortunately, the Sun Moon royal family's confidentiality measures were excellent. Otherwise, if those mad dogs from the Holy Ghost Cult had learned the specifics of his situation, he would likely never know peace again!

Although the Holy Ghost Cult intended to cooperate with the Sun Moon Empire, that was only possible under the premise that their strength was equal, or even that the Holy Ghost Cult was stronger.

If the Holy Ghost Cult learned his exact circumstances, Xu Tianming was certain that those mad dogs would either try every possible means to recruit him or spare no expense to crush him in the cradle before he had fully grown.

Thinking of the possible consequences of being targeted by the Holy Ghost Cult, a ruthless gleam immediately surfaced in Xu Tianming's eyes.

"Since you mad dogs are so eager to die, then let's see whose methods are superior!"

"If I remember correctly, Shrek Academy's Dragon God Douluo is nearing the end of his life. If he learned where the Holy Ghost Cult's headquarters was, would he be willing to burn himself freely one last time before he died..."