Soul Hall Attacks, Main Quest Activated

The Profound-Rank Soul Envoy's cold voice carried a hint of madness.

Staring at the exhausted Xiao Yan, he slowly advanced step by step, a look of delight on his face.

He hated geniuses the most!

"In this godforsaken backwater, I never expected you to actually be a genius. What a pity you ran into me. Struggle all you want—fill your soul with unwillingness!"

Easy there, brother, keep talking. Give me some more intel!

Savoring the information in the other man's words, Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. Villains really did die from talking too much.

First, Dou Qi Continent seemed to be one of those classic places where strength rapidly inflated after moving to a new map. This guy was probably part of some organization.

Second, this fellow had not merely happened to pass by. He had come specifically for Xiao Yan.

Third, he was probably someone who messed around with souls.

Staring at the black figure before him, Xiao Yan took a light sniff and caught a strange odor in the air.

Its composition was far too complicated—neither human nor ghost.

The aura around him was the same abnormality Xiao Yan had sensed within those people's souls earlier.

Immersed in analyzing the information, Xiao Yan ignored the Soul Envoy.

Yet in the other man's eyes, this was simply a genius's bad habit.

"You seem to rely heavily on that soul-burning flame. That's right—even Heavenly-Rank Soul Envoys are restrained by your flames, let alone a mere Profound-Rank Soul Envoy like me.

"But you are already exhausted. Even if I gave you time to recover, you have overdrawn your strength. How could you erupt again in such a short time?

"What else is there to say when a tiger falls onto the plains? Slain by a lone ghost like me, your unwillingness will surely make your soul even more delicious."

As he spewed trash talk, the Soul Envoy's smile grew increasingly sinister. Why could those geniuses fight above their rank? Even as a Da Dou Shi, he had been defeated by a Dou Master fighting above his rank!

He was unwilling! He was jealous! He wanted to grow stronger step by step! He had sacrificed his entire family in a blood ritual, endured countless hardships, and even forced himself into neither-human-nor-ghost state, only to become a Dou Ling!

So why could a genius achieve it so easily?!

"..." ×2

Is this guy insane? Xiao Yan transmitted through his soul.

He fits Brother Xiao Yan's definition of a brainless villain perfectly...

Holding hands, Xiao Xun'er was briefly surprised by the voice in her mind and the secret technique transmitted along with it. She quickly accepted it, then shook her head as if it were only natural.

She no longer held the vigilance she had at the start. Xiao Yan's bearing put her at ease; she only needed to quietly watch him perform.

After furiously mocking him through their encrypted communication, Xiao Yan was nearly unable to hold it together when he saw that inexplicable fellow still crazily exposing his own secrets.

Soul Hall, Soul Envoys, Jia Ma Empire being a backwater, the opponent's low status within his organization despite being a Dou Ling, and so on.

After listening for a while and seeing that the man had stopped divulging information and started spouting meaningless nonsense instead, Xiao Yan shook his head and sighed.

"Are you done?"

The Soul Envoy suddenly froze, and the face beneath his hood instantly twisted in fury.

This was exactly the kind of disregard geniuses showed!!!

"What the hell are you so proud of?! Die!"

After an exceptionally piercing shriek, vast amounts of black mist poured out from within the black robe.

It transformed into dozens of wailing souls.

Concealed by those soul bodies, black chains shot out like venomous snakes, attacking Xiao Yan from all directions.

If Xiao Yan had not possessed Samadhi True Fire, which damaged souls, then all the dead spirits within the Jia Lie Clan Grounds would have become his aid. Newly deceased souls facing the murderer who killed them would be even more ferocious in battle.

But that was only a slight pity, and the Soul Envoy did not take it to heart. It had merely happened by accident anyway. With Xiao Yan's soul, he would be far better off than with those worthless scraps that required him to mash together souls before they could take form.

Seeing Xiao Yan remain so calm, the Soul Envoy's anger rose another threefold. The boy was still acting so arrogantly even at death's door!

Only when the resentful souls came within thirty feet of him did Xiao Yan finally move slowly. His recovery speed was far from ordinary. Though he believed he had not cheated, Xiao Yan had to admit that he had not turned his cheats off.

Moreover, Samadhi True Fire was the unified sublimation of essence, energy, and spirit. Recovery on every level built upon itself, rising ever higher.

During all that trash talk, enough Samadhi True Fire had already recovered to support another minimum-power use of the Flame Splitting Wave-Cleaving Ruler.

Whoosh!

To the Soul Envoy's shock, a flicker of Samadhi True Fire ignited in Xiao Yan's palm once more—seemingly harmless, yet in truth exceedingly dangerous.

Xiao Yan smiled faintly at that whoever-he-was, then directly raised his hand and wrapped all the Samadhi True Fire around Xun'er, forming a protective barrier.

This time, he had truly squeezed out every last bit of his remaining strength.

"Sorry to disappoint your expectations and make you underestimate me, but let me broaden your horizons..."

As the Soul Envoy looked on in wild delight, Xiao Yan lightly flipped his right hand. More than a dozen jade bottles immediately floated up before him. With a snap of his fingers, dozens of pure white pills emerged, radiating a rich medicinal fragrance and carrying a feeling as though they could purify everything as they pulsed before him.

Under the other's stunned gaze, half the pills spontaneously ignited, turning into streaks of pure white flame that rapidly flowed into Xiao Yan's body and transformed into pure energy.

As for the other half—

"...Even if I were completely exhausted, where did you get the nerve to waste so much breath on me?

"What the hell are you barking about?"

With a grand wave of his hand, dozens of Samadhi Pills tore through the air and howled toward the Soul Envoy.

Then, without even looking back, Xiao Yan took Xiao Xun'er's hand and strode away.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

Behind them, flames soared into the sky, thick smoke billowed, and explosions mingled endlessly with miserable screams.

Xiao Xun'er could not help turning back. Within the flames, the Soul Hall Soul Envoy's body was almost instantly engulfed. The vicious soul bodies no longer wore savage expressions; as though freed, they were sent on by the flames.

When she turned back again and looked up at Xiao Yan's face, Xiao Xun'er's gaze lingered for a long time.

"Hehe, well? How was that?"

Xiao Yan chuckled, instantly ruining the somewhat romantic atmosphere as he lightly tapped the tip of Xiao Xun'er's nose.

"...Hmph! Brother Xiao Yan didn't even check whether there would be any future trouble."

"Hey, real men never look back at explosions!

"And besides, I never retrace my steps."

Puffing out her cheeks, Xiao Xun'er was about to say something when Xiao Yan spoke again.

"I was so busy handling serious business that I'm starving now. Xun'er, are you hungry?"

The abrupt turn left Xiao Xun'er momentarily stunned. But thinking of Xiao Yan's rather erratic, spur-of-the-moment personality, she soon smiled brightly.

"Sure. What should we eat later?"

"Yeah, what should we eat?"

Xiao Yan sank into thought, but as he pondered, he suddenly remembered something important.

A moment later.

Jia Lie Clan Grounds.

Xiao Yan returned once more.

"Ahem, I almost forgot the thrilling looting part."

Xiao Xun'er followed behind him speechlessly, arms folded across her chest, head tilted as she rolled her pretty eyes.

"Didn't you say you never retraced your steps?"

"Hehehe, special circumstances call for special measures." Xiao Yan did not care at all. His soul power spread out in full as he poked around here and there with great enjoyment.

Under his control, the earlier flames had retained Samadhi True Fire's original special effect of harming only souls and not physical bodies.

Only enemies were hurt; treasures were not.

He picked up quite a few Storage Rings along the way.

Soon, they arrived at the place where Na Geshui had died. Staring at the item on the ground, Xiao Yan was immediately stunned.

"Wait, this guy really wasn't human?!"

It was a crystal similar to Beast Soul Essence.