The System Reappears

Watching everyone leave, Xie Tianxiao let out a sigh.

This was the power of the strong. Just one sentence from him had sent Lan Cangshan and the other Dou Wangs into excitement for ages!

If he had fused with an ordinary Dou Zhe when he first transmigrated here, whether he would even be alive now would have been uncertain, much less meeting Dou Wangs like Lan Cangshan.

Then, Xie Tianxiao lifted Hunting Guardian from the ground with one hand and said teasingly,

"Sorry, I was so busy talking to them that I forgot about you. If you have any last pleas for mercy, say them quickly. Perhaps I might spare you?"

Ding!

The moment Xie Tianxiao finished speaking,

an electronic synthesized voice rang out.

[Special lifeform detected. Devour?]

A screen appeared before Xie Tianxiao, displaying a line of large words!

Seeing the system prompt suddenly appear, Xie Tianxiao was greatly startled. Strange. The system hadn't reacted for so long—why did it suddenly give me a prompt now?

There aren't any Heavenly Flames nearby either, and it says special lifeform.

Wait!

The system notification had appeared after he touched Hunting Guardian...

Could it be?!

While Xie Tianxiao pondered this, Hunting Guardian's face turned pale. He said fearfully, "Venerable Dou Zun, your cultivation is unfathomable. Offending you was a crime deserving ten thousand deaths."

"However, what you may not know is that every member of the Soul Hall has their own life plaque."

"Once we die, the Hall Master will know. When that happens, even with your strength, you will face great trouble!"

Hearing Hunting Guardian's words, Xie Tianxiao temporarily suppressed his shock and did not select the system prompt. Coming back to his senses, he nodded and said,

"You are right. I know that Soul Hall members possess such things as life plaques, but what I do not understand is which branch hall oversees your life plaque?"

When Hunting Guardian heard Xie Tianxiao clearly mention the Soul Hall's life plaques and ask which branch hall he belonged to,

he assumed Xie Tianxiao feared trouble and did not wish to offend the Soul Hall over his death. He immediately relaxed and replied, "Thank you for sparing my life, Venerable."

"The branch hall I belong to is located six thousand li south of the Heavenshade Mountains, in a forest called Soul-Burial Ravine. Since it borders several small nations, I am responsible for guarding this region."

"I see. It isn't far from here."

Xie Tianxiao nodded inwardly, then cast Hunting Guardian a cold glance.

"I think you have misunderstood something. I merely wanted to ask for the branch hall's location. When did I say I would spare you?"

A mere Soul Hall Guardian dared to threaten Xie Tianxiao with the Soul Hall. He truly did not know the meaning of death.

"What?"

Hunting Guardian was startled and anxiously said, "Venerable Dou Zun, what do you mean by this?!"

What did he mean?

Xie Tianxiao gave him a cold glance and continued, "Don't worry. The people from your branch hall will soon go down and keep you company!"

"Also, my title is not Venerable. It is Devouring Owl."

After whispering those words beside Hunting Guardian's ear, Xie Tianxiao did not wait for him to react before silently saying in his heart,

"System, begin devouring."

Ding!

[Devouring...]

"Aah!!!"

A scream tore through the sky as Hunting Guardian's body rapidly shriveled before Xie Tianxiao.

In just a dozen seconds, Hunting Guardian turned to ashes. Only his black robe remained, scattering into the heavens and earth!

Ding!

[Devouring complete!]

"Phew..."

"Finally, no one's around. Being strong is really exhausting. One careless move and I'll ruin my image."

Xie Tianxiao exhaled a long breath and sighed inwardly.

Originally, Xie Tianxiao had only come here to obtain some free resources.

He had not intended to directly offend the Soul Hall. Although he possessed the strength of a Half-Saint, he was worried that after killing the small ones, the big ones would come.

One after another—if they eventually sent a Dou Saint after him, wouldn't he be finished?

But man proposed, and the system disposed. After seeing the system prompt, Xie Tianxiao changed his mind.

Because after the system devoured Hunting Guardian, his soul power had actually increased by a trace. This made him urgently want to visit that Soul Branch Hall and try devouring more Guardians!

"Not bad, not bad. The system really is incredible. It actually pushed my peak Mortal Realm soul forward by a tiny step!"

"And that was only after the system devoured a Dou Zong Guardian."

"If it devoured Soul Hall members at the Dou Zun level, or even Dou Saint level, wouldn't my soul realm directly advance into the Emperor Realm?!"

A cultivator's soul realms were divided into the Mortal Realm, Spirit Realm, Heavenly Realm, and Emperor Realm. Each realm was further divided into low, middle, high, and great completion stages.

Likewise, for alchemists, reaching the Spirit Realm qualified one to refine eighth-tier pills.

Reaching the Heavenly Realm qualified one to refine ninth-tier pills, while reaching the Emperor Realm qualified one to refine Emperor-tier pills.

An Emperor Realm soul could rival an eight-star Dou Saint.

Ordinary people all possessed Mortal Realm souls. Even high-tier alchemists capable of refining sixth- or seventh-tier pills had Mortal Realm souls. Therefore, soul techniques capable of cultivating soul power were extremely precious!

Thus, on the current Battle Qi Continent, aside from certain ancient records containing methods to cultivate soul power, even some high-tier alchemists themselves did not know how to cultivate the soul.

But Xie Tianxiao could directly increase his soul power by devouring Soul Hall members!

Unbelievable!

Simply unbelievable!

"This is perfect. Although I am not an alchemist, if I can raise my soul power to the Emperor Realm, I won't fear even an eight-star Dou Saint!"

Xie Tianxiao clenched his fists inwardly, brilliant light flashing through his eyes.

Excited as he was, Xie Tianxiao was also somewhat puzzled. "Since the system can directly devour special lifeforms like Soul Hall Guardians, why didn't a prompt appear when I first discovered Hunting Guardian?"

"And while this system is good, it never communicates with me. Every time, it only gives me a prompt screen and makes me guess."

"It really is completely irresponsible toward a transmigrator like me!"

Though he said that, Xie Tianxiao was still very satisfied with the system's reappearance.

"Forget it. I'm going to that Soul Branch Hall anyway. I'll see when I get there."

Thinking this, Xie Tianxiao felt somewhat more at ease.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. I still need to enter that Dou Zong cave dwelling. I can't forget why I came here."

"No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. I can't leave what's before me for someone else."

After saying that, Xie Tianxiao's figure flashed and vanished from the spot.

When he appeared again, he was already inside the Dou Zong cave dwelling that everyone had fought over.

Seeing the gold coins and treasures piled up like small mountains, along with heaps of battle techniques and boxes upon boxes of pills, Xie Tianxiao's eyes gleamed.

"Not bad. With this many resources, it's far richer than some Dou Zong factions the previous owner of this body destroyed."

Xie Tianxiao waved his hand and stored pile after pile of gold coins into his storage ring, smiling contentedly at the treasures.

"Oh, there are even several Earth-tier battle techniques and quite a few seventh-tier pills. Looks like he was a high-tier alchemist after all. No wonder he was so wealthy."

Xie Tianxiao swept his gaze over the piles of battle techniques and pills, thinking to himself.

After taking all the gold, treasures, and cultivation resources, Xie Tianxiao examined his storage ring and said joyfully, "This trip was truly worthwhile. Not only did the system increase my soul power,"

"but I also got six Earth-tier battle techniques in total, nearly a hundred Mystic-tier ones, and countless pills of every kind!"

Feeling thoroughly satisfied, Xie Tianxiao rubbed the storage ring on his hand and thought with emotion, "Come to think of it, Hunting Guardian appeared at just the right time."

"If he hadn't acted, how would I have discovered that the system could devour Soul Hall members to increase soul power, or gained the Azure River Empire people's boundless gratitude?"

"What a good person!"

Although Xie Tianxiao did not need to care about that little bit of reputation with his strength, a good reputation gained for free was still better than people slandering him behind his back, wasn't it?

"I've taken everything. It's time to leave."

"Hehe... Soul Hall, here I come."

With that, Xie Tianxiao vanished, leaving behind only the empty Dou Zong cave dwelling.

Meanwhile, deep within a forest called Soul-Burial Ravine, six thousand li away in the Heavenshade Mountains,

a Soul Hall Guardian knelt on a meditation cushion, respectfully reporting to the Soul Hall elder seated at the head.

"Reporting to Honored Elder, Hunting Guardian's life plaque has shattered."

"According to the message Hunting Guardian sent back before his death, that person was at least a Dou Zun expert!"

Some people in the Soul Hall were soul bodies, while others possessed flesh and blood. The original work never made this clear.

I looked it up but couldn't find anything, so I went with my own interpretation.

Also, some readers said that having a Half-Saint go after a Dou Zong was too deliberately showy and not very good.

Thinking about it now, that's true. But I had already written it at the time... there was nothing I could do. I'll speed things up from here, wrap up this side of the story quickly, and head to the Jia Ma Empire.