Evil Soul Master

Night fell.

On the Heaven Dou Plains outside Heaven Dou City, a carriage rolled steadily onward.

A full year had passed since Xuan Ye Earl's entire clan had been exterminated and Zhang Lexuan had personally slain her enemy. Throughout that year, Ye An and Zhang Lexuan had remained in the Body Sect, cultivating diligently without once leaving.

Another half year passed in the blink of an eye. Once Zhang Lexuan broke through to rank fifty soul power, the two finally left the Body Sect, intending to head to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for a Soul Ring while traveling abroad.

Though Du Busi was somewhat worried, both Zhang Lexuan and Ye An had made remarkable progress over the past year and a half.

Ye An had initially attained the realm of Unity of Heaven and Man and had successfully created his own Soul Skill. Zhang Lexuan's physical constitution had also improved immensely, while her soul power had risen from rank forty-five to rank fifty in just a year and a half.

Thus, Du Busi ultimately agreed to their request to travel and hunt for a Soul Ring in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Of course, agreeing was one thing. The necessary safeguards would still be in place.

Golden Body Douluo Jin Peng, with a cultivation of rank ninety-six, and Blood Shadow Douluo Yu Bo, at rank ninety-five, were tasked with following Ye An and Zhang Lexuan in secret to protect them.

Ye An was well aware that Jin Peng and Yu Bo were accompanying them, but he had no intention of relying on the two.

After all, this trip was merely a simple excursion. Their main purpose was to help Zhang Lexuan acquire her fifth Soul Ring. With Ye An and Zhang Lexuan working together, dealing with a Soul Beast with twenty or thirty thousand years of cultivation was not as dangerous as it sounded.

At least, that was how Ye An saw it.

The Silver Rank Second Awakening of his Body Martial Soul had already given him the ability to fight above his rank, not to mention that the age of all three of his Soul Rings exceeded a Soul Master's limits. Combined with Unity of Heaven and Man and his self-created Soul Skill... his current strength would be no weaker than that of a Soul King.

And with Zhang Lexuan added to the mix, that made two Soul Kings.

So long as they did not provoke any Soul Beasts with exceptionally high cultivation, they would not face much danger.

"Judging by the distance, we should still be some way from the Star Dou Great Forest. At our current pace, it will probably take several more days to arrive."

As he spoke, Ye An lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside at the sky.

The moment his words fell, a faint breeze drifted past.

Ye An's nostrils twitched lightly, and his brows instantly furrowed.

The wind seemed to carry... an extremely strong scent of blood!

Over the past year and a half, Ye An had often sought guidance from the Titled Douluo of the Body Sect in order to refine his self-created Soul Skill. He had also dealt with Blood Shadow Douluo Yu Bo on many occasions.

Blood Shadow Douluo, the third strongest expert of the Body Sect, possessed blood itself as his Body Martial Soul.

Thanks to Yu Bo, Ye An had become exceptionally sensitive to the smell of blood. Zhang Lexuan, seated beside him, had clearly caught the scent as well, and her expression shifted slightly.

"This smell... seems to be coming from the southeast."

The southeast... that was the direction of the Lingdou Mountain Range?

A thoughtful look immediately appeared in Ye An's eyes. After the Heaven Dou Empire split into the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire, the Dou Ling Mountain Range had become the borderland between the two nations, a region neither empire was willing to invest much in.

"Sister Lexuan, let's go take a look."

Ye An and Zhang Lexuan exchanged a glance, then immediately headed toward the source of the bloody scent.

Before long, the two spotted a small village.

From afar, the village looked even more dilapidated than Guler Village, where Ye An had grown up. Most of its homes were thatched huts, with only a handful of mud-brick houses.

As they drew closer, an even stronger smell of blood drifted from the village, accompanied by the stench of charred flesh.

In an open area at the center of the village, a bonfire seemed to be gradually dying out, yet it still illuminated the scene around it.

What met their eyes were dozens of corpses. Several had been burned black, and the pungent odor came from those bodies. More of them, however, had completely shriveled up, as though every drop of blood had been drained from within them.

Other than those dozens of corpses, there was not a single person in sight.

At the sight, both Ye An and Zhang Lexuan's pupils contracted slightly.

This scene... was clearly no accident. It had been caused by someone.

A suspicion immediately formed in Ye An's mind. Someone capable of such an atrocity was most likely an Evil Soul Master.

The only question was what rank this Evil Soul Master was.

"It should have been the work of an Evil Soul Master... Judging by the bonfire still burning, the Evil Soul Master who did this probably has not left the village yet, or... has not gone far."

Zhang Lexuan quickly reached the same conclusion. "And judging from the targets he chose, he should not be very strong."

Ye An nodded faintly.

These corpses had all belonged to ordinary villagers. In such a remote village, some people might not even know what a Martial Soul was. If this Evil Soul Master targeted such helpless commoners, his strength might indeed be limited.

But... perhaps he had chosen ordinary people in a remote village precisely because he did not want to attract attention.

Compared with the first possibility, Ye An felt the latter was more likely.

After voicing his thoughts, Ye An and Zhang Lexuan exchanged another look and began carefully making their way into the village.

Though Ye An could not yet be considered a spiritual-type Soul Master, the Second Awakening of his Body Martial Soul had made his spiritual power stronger than Zhang Lexuan's. He immediately spread out his senses and carefully felt out their surroundings.

Soon, the two arrived beside the corpses.

"Be careful, Sister Lexuan. Evil Soul Masters have all sorts of strange methods. The killer may have tampered with these bodies."

Zhang Lexuan nodded lightly, then exhaled. "Most of the corpses have had all the blood drained from their bodies. Only three were burned. His target... seems to have been blood."

The instant she finished speaking, Ye An's eyes narrowed slightly, and a pearly white gleam flashed across his right hand.

The next moment, a bone blade as white as jade appeared in Ye An's hand.

"Come out!"

Though Zhang Lexuan reacted a step slower than Ye An, she also released her Martial Soul at once.

As a cool moonlight poured down, two yellow, one purple, and one black Soul Ring slowly rose beneath Zhang Lexuan's feet.

"Cackle, cackle, cackle!"

"I merely came back to admire my magnificent masterpiece once more. Who would have thought I'd receive such an unexpected delight?"