The Soul Hall's Good Days Were Coming

Back Mountain.

After having the three elders lead teams to the two great families to clean up the aftermath, Xiao Yan stopped concerning himself with the follow-up matters. The chief culprits had been executed; the rest posed no threat.

After sharing steamed dumplings and wontons with Xiao Xun'er, then talking heart-to-heart for two hours, Xiao Yan returned to the back mountain full of energy.

Turning the two Soul Essences in his hand, Xiao Yan fell into thought.

One had condensed from the third-tier magical beast Anaconda, while the other belonged to that whoever-it-was. Xiao Yan did not care what that Soul Hall Soul Envoy was called. He was just a minor lackey, nothing important.

After Samadhi True Fire burned away his soul, Xiao Yan had also obtained some fragmented intelligence.

Even without following Mencius's judgment of stripping someone of their humanity based on morality, Xiao Yan had stripped that fellow of his humanity. Neither human nor ghost.

That person no longer counted as human.

Rather than a human, his life form was more like a beast's.

Xiao Yan was somewhat of a clean freak, so even though he could have, he had not refined that group of enemies into materials. Instead, he developed a small skill and added an automatic species-recognition setting to Samadhi True Fire: humans would be reduced to ashes, while non-humans would be put to full use.

And the thing had actually been automatically classified as non-human.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. That damned Soul Hall turned people into ghosts."

Smacking his lips, Xiao Yan placed both Soul Essences on the table before him, then removed the seal he had placed over the Ancient Ring after eating with Xiao Xun'er.

The old thing had better not listen in on their heart-to-heart talk. Young people were hot-blooded, and disagreements were inevitable. A few verbal clashes while chatting were perfectly normal.

Ahem.

As for that, Xiao Yan believed he was still a good boy. Unfortunately, there were too many female demons, and he could not withstand their sharp tongues. He could only imitate the World-Honored One and cut flesh to feed the hawk, letting them taste a little sweetness.

"Old man, what's going on? Why have you been playing dead for so long? Does the Soul Hall have an old flame of yours?"

He had been thinking about trying the Pythagorean theorem again next time, but Yao Lao had not emerged for ages, while his soul fluctuations were especially intense. Xiao Yan immediately grew suspicious.

That should not have been the case. Although they had agreed beforehand that Xiao Yan would handle this incident entirely on his own, the old man's reaction was still rather abnormal.

Although Yao Lao had been pretending not to exist and they had not communicated much, there had still been some soul communication throughout the process.

For example, Yao Lao had pointed fingers at Xiao Yan's grandstanding.

But what was most abnormal was that after the Soul Hall's fluctuations appeared, Yao Lao had fallen silent, and his soul fluctuations had become much more intense than before.

Especially after that whoever-it-was appeared.

Yao Lao had only communicated with him briefly. After confirming that Xiao Yan could handle it, he had fallen silent again.

Yet his soul fluctuations remained intense. Xiao Yan deeply suspected that he was fighting himself internally.

Normally, after Xiao Yan had intimate contact with a confidante, this improper old man should have jumped out at once to boast about his past exploits and tease him a little.

For this improper old man to become proper today, the matter had to be huge.

Xiao Yan felt that he needed to reassess the Soul Hall's level. Judging by the Soul Envoys' ranks, with each rank counted as one level, even a Heavenly-Rank Soul Envoy was only a Dou Emperor. He had thought their highest combat power would be no more than a Dou Zong.

Yet it could make Yao Lao react like this...

Xiao Yan felt as though his crow's mouth had come true. Earlier, he had been wondering whether some soul-body villain might come looking for trouble, and now it seemed he had really run into one.

"Sigh, they are a colossal force. At first, I thought they were searching for traces of me, but from the looks of it, it seems you are the one they have targeted."

With a sigh, Yao Chen's figure slowly emerged. His brows were tightly furrowed as he shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Sigh, I never expected these people to exist even in the Jia Ma Empire. They rarely come here, so why this time..."

"So it really is an old acquaintance of yours chasing you?" Xiao Yan refused to let it go.

Yao Chen: (눈_눈)

His old face fell. Yao Chen rubbed his brow, and at the mention of an old acquaintance, he inexplicably thought of that filthy thing, Mu Gu. He was immediately disgusted.

However, his earlier emotions were indeed interrupted at once.

That reaction made Xiao Yan's eyes widen. He had only wanted to keep Yao Lao from sinking into negative emotions and interrupt his train of thought, yet he had unexpectedly gained something extra.

So there really was a love-and-hate storyline.

His teacher's earlier life had indeed been spectacular. It was probably enough to write an entire novel about.

Xiao Yan's eyes immediately opened even wider, blinking eagerly as he waited for Yao Lao to tell him the story.

After killing Mu Gu ten thousand times in his heart, Yao Chen met Xiao Yan's gaze, pressed his lips together, and fell silent. Only after a long while did he speak.

"Kid, I originally planned to tell you these things after you became stronger. For you as you are now, it is still too early.

"As for that Soul Envoy, you do not actually need to care about him. He is merely a minor lackey in the Soul Hall. No one will care if he dies.

"But what I am entangled with is no trivial matter.

"If you want to know, then I can only tell you in advance. You need to think it through."

Yao Lao paused as he spoke, his gaze exceptionally serious.

"But I must remind you that the forces implicated behind this matter are simply too great, far beyond a sect like the Misty Cloud Sect. Once they detect my whereabouts, those who come will not be that sort of trash, but Dou Zongs, perhaps even Dou Venerables.

"You truly do not need to get involved..."

Before he could finish, Xiao Yan directly interrupted him and stared straight into Yao Lao's eyes.

"Tell me. Where is their nearest stronghold?"

Yao Chen froze. He had guessed that there was a high chance Xiao Yan would choose to stand with him, and he had even considered that Xiao Yan might choose to refuse.

Inside the Ancient Ring, he had gone through an intense inner struggle. In the end, thinking of Xiao Yan's honesty, he had decided to tell the truth. Whatever the outcome, he could accept it.

But Xiao Yan's words were something he had never anticipated.

"Tell me their nearest stronghold. I'll collect a little debt for the two of us first.

"I'm very grateful to that whoever-it-was for letting me realize today that such a great enemy exists."

Xiao Yan smiled faintly, his entire body carrying a distinct air of spirited resolve.

"So I won't only learn who my enemy is much later."

Staring directly at Yao Lao, Xiao Yan spoke with exceptional seriousness.

"A gentleman's revenge can wait ten years; a petty man seeks revenge from morning to night. I, Xiao Yan, do not consider myself a good person, but I can still repay a drop of kindness with a spring of gratitude and clearly distinguish favor from resentment.

"Since they bear such a great grudge against us, since they reduced my teacher to this state, and since they dare target me, then even ten years from now, I will make them tremble in fear and guard against my revenge from morning to night."

"And even without Teacher, I would inevitably clash with them. Since they dare target me, they can forget about living in peace.

"Perfect. Master and disciple, united against a common enemy. We'll settle old grudges and new debts together. Teacher, I, Xiao Yan, will bear your grudge!"

Yao Chen's gaze had already become somewhat unfocused, while Xiao Yan laughed freely, wild and unrestrained.

"As for gathering experts and immense power...

"Heh. Teacher, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. They have no idea what kind of person they have provoked!

"Three years. Within three years, I will definitely help Teacher vent his anger first, and vent mine as well!"

"Besides, now that I think about it, encountering them is a good thing." After speaking with bright eyes, Xiao Yan suddenly chuckled and changed the subject. "Teacher, the opportunity for your recovery has arrived."

Handing over several Soul Essences, Xiao Yan's smile was brilliant.

After transmigrating here for so many years, he was finally about to encounter the great villain and begin the main quest.

Then let him see exactly what this Soul Hall was!

If they were weak, that would be fine. He would shoulder through it with hard work and sweat. But if they were strong, then he was sorry.

Xiao Yan was about to give them a little taste of a cheater's shock.

Not disabling it didn't count as enabling it!