An Encounter with a Group of Evil Soul Masters: Experience Teaches Best—One Lesson Is Enough!

By the time the two sides parted ways, it was nearly midnight.

The streets of Mingdu were still brightly lit, but the crowds had thinned considerably.

At the moment of parting, both Ye Guyi and Orange wore proper smiles, as if they had thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the conversation.

However, the moment she returned to the hotel, Ye Guyi's expression darkened at once, like a clear June sky suddenly covered by storm clouds.

Instead of returning to her own room, she grabbed Jiang Nannan and followed Li Changqing straight into his room.

Without looking back, Li Changqing walked to the window and stood with his back to them. In a calm tone, he asked, "What is it?"

Ye Guyi stood by the door with her arms folded, looking none too pleased. After several seconds of silence, she finally asked, "Don't you have anything to say?"

Li Changqing turned around and looked at the words I'm very unhappy written all over her face. Completely baffled, he asked, "What could I possibly have to say?"

Standing beside Ye Guyi, Jiang Nannan hesitated before quietly reminding him, "Sister Guyi means... about Sister Orange."

Hearing that, Li Changqing swept his gaze over their faces before calmly asking, "Are you saying that I need to report to you every time I know someone?"

The moment he said that, the two of them were left speechless.

If they said yes, that did not seem quite appropriate.

After all, their relationship with Li Changqing was, at most, that of friends. It was nowhere near the point where he needed to account for everything he did.

But if they said no, they could not shake the discomfort in their hearts. It was like a stone lodged in their chests, leaving them utterly miserable.

Ye Guyi opened her mouth, wanting to retort, only to realize she could not find a suitable reason at all.

Anxious and angry, her cheeks flushed red. In the end, she could only throw out resentfully, "Blockhead!"

With that, she spun around and stormed out of the room. Her hurried, heavy footsteps revealed just how unsettled she was.

Jiang Nannan watched Ye Guyi's retreating figure and let out a soft sigh.

Then she walked up to Li Changqing. After hesitating for a moment, she still softly said, "Changqing, I can tell that Sister Guyi's feelings for you... are very different from how she feels about others."

She did not directly say, "Ye Guyi likes you," but her meaning could not have been clearer.

Li Changqing did not answer. He merely turned around and looked out at Mingdu's nightscape, leaving Jiang Nannan with a silent back.

Seeing how unmoved he was, Jiang Nannan sighed inwardly.

Knowing there was no point in saying more, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The three of them spent nearly another week in Mingdu, wandering through every street and alley, sampling all the local food, before finally leaving the city of technology and exotic charm with great reluctance.

The carriage traveled along the main road toward Shrek City. The atmosphere inside was somewhat more delicate than on the way there, though it remained harmonious overall.

However, an accident occurred during their journey home.

When the carriage entered a hilly region, a faint scent of blood drifted through the air ahead.

Li Changqing frowned slightly. After having the coachman stop the carriage, he led the two girls toward the source of the smell.

After crossing a hill, the sight before them made Jiang Nannan gasp sharply.

In the valley below, a village that had once been peaceful and tranquil had become a living hell.

Homes were burning, thick smoke billowed into the air, and corpses lay scattered everywhere. Blood dyed the ground red.

Several figures in black robes moved through the village, letting out piercing, sinister laughter from time to time. They were clearly carrying out a merciless massacre.

Evil soul masters.

Li Changqing stopped. His powerful spiritual power spread outward like an invisible spiderweb, shrouding the entire village as he carefully investigated it.

A moment later, he withdrew his spiritual power and said to the two beside him, "Be careful. Watch out for traps."

After what happened to her mother, Ye Guyi was especially cautious and solemn now.

Rather than charging in impulsively as she had before, she first carefully examined the surrounding terrain and environment.

Only after confirming that there was no ambush did she slowly nod.

Experience teaches best. One lesson was enough.

The painful lesson last time had already taught her the meaning of restraint and caution.

Jiang Nannan, meanwhile, was simply nervous and uneasy.

She stayed close to Ye Guyi, her palms lightly sweating.

Before this, she had never truly encountered evil soul masters. She had only heard of their atrocities in class.

Now that she was seeing it with her own eyes, the impact on both her senses and her heart left her struggling to adjust.

Standing at the front, Li Changqing calmly gazed at the burning village below and said, "Stay close to me. Don't get separated."

With that, he took the lead and headed toward that hellscape.

The moment the three entered the village, the overpowering stench of blood hit them head-on, nearly suffocating them.

The earth beneath their feet was soaked in blood, sticky and heavy when stepped on.

Villagers' corpses lay strewn along both sides of the road.

Some had their eyes wide open, unable to rest in peace.

Others were mutilated beyond recognition, too horrible to look at.

Flames danced across shattered rooftops, crackling amid the groans of breaking wood, making the ruins seem even more like hell.

Jiang Nannan's gaze fell upon a woman's corpse curled up in a corner by a wall.

She was a young mother, still clutching an infant tightly in her arms. Both mother and child had long since drawn their last breath.

Her face turned pale in an instant. Her stomach churned violently, and she could no longer hold it in. She rushed to a tree by the roadside, bent over, and began to retch.

Nothing came out. She only kept dry heaving until tears streamed from her eyes.

Ye Guyi stood behind her and gently patted her back without saying a word.

Because she knew that in the face of such a shock, any words of comfort would be weak and meaningless.

She had walked this same path herself. Only after seeing far too much death and misery had she gained her current composure.

Li Changqing stood several steps away. Only when Jiang Nannan's retching gradually subsided did he slowly speak, his voice calm and devoid of emotion. "Nannan, you will encounter many things like this in the future. Get used to them as soon as possible."

Jiang Nannan straightened up and wiped the grime from the corner of her mouth and the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

She took several deep breaths, trying hard to steady her churning stomach and trembling heart.

Then she turned to look at Li Changqing. Though her face was still pale, there was a new trace of resolve in her gaze as she softly nodded. "I understand."

Li Changqing said nothing more. He turned and looked toward the center of the village.

There, an evil aura so dense it had nearly solidified churned like an enormous black vortex, constantly devouring the life energy around it.

In an open space at the center of the village, seven or eight black-robed evil soul masters sat cross-legged in a circle.

Dozens of fresh corpses were piled in the center. Blood flowed along the grooves in the ground, gathering into an eerie crimson formation that emitted a dark red glow.

The evil soul masters were using forbidden arts to absorb the life essence and resentful power left behind by the dead, using them to increase their cultivation.

The air was filled with a nauseating stench of blood and evil, accompanied by the evil soul masters' low chants, like hymns from hell.

A short distance away from the crimson formation sat a figure entirely different from the other evil soul masters.

That person was not participating in the bloody cultivation. Instead, he sat alone on a bluestone, his eyes closed as though resting.

He wore a pitch-black robe, and a hood obscured most of his face, making his features impossible to see clearly.

Yet judging by the aura emanating from him, he was clearly far more powerful and composed than those evil soul masters who were cultivating.

He did not take part in this feast. He simply sat there quietly, as if waiting for something.

Or perhaps he simply disdained such a low-level method of cultivation.

Just then...

Whoosh!

A brilliant golden beam tore through the air.

It cut through the blood-soaked air like a meteor, carrying a majestic force that seemed capable of purifying everything as it shot straight toward the evil soul masters who were cultivating!

Wherever the golden light passed, the evil aura in the air vanished with a sizzling sound like snow splashed with boiling water, leaving behind only pure, clean air.