What? You Dare Refuse?

"Yes." Zhao Lie nodded. "I was following that boy with four team members the whole time. We all saw him drive a Martial Soul that looked like a handcart straight into a hundred-thousand-year Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound, killing it. Then he absorbed its Spirit Ring."

Zhao Lie saw the shock on Barak's face and continued, "My four team members can testify too. We'd stake our lives on it. Every word we've said is true."

Barak's flushed face turned pale. After a moment of silence, he turned to the guards at the door. "Take him to get some rest!"

Two guards helped the Black-clothed Deacon away for treatment.

The Black-clothed Deacon was drenched in sweat, but he let out a long breath of relief. Someone had finally cleared his name.

Barak turned and walked to the back of the hall. From a cabinet, he took out a transparent crystal ball the size of a fist.

It was a Memory Projection Crystal made by Spirit Hall, capable of storing and playing back images.

"Activate the crystal ball! I want to see the recording." Barak fixed his gaze on Zhao Lie as he spoke.

He was still trying to find proof that Zhao Lie had lied.

But Zhao Lie had nothing to hide. He stepped forward without hesitation and placed his right hand on the crystal ball.

A stream of memories instantly poured into it.

The crystal ball gradually lit up.

It projected images onto a white wall, playing back scene after scene through Zhao Lie's eyes.

A pitch-black handcart roared as its engine drove it into the hundred-thousand-year Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound. It smashed two of the beast's heads and absorbed a dark-red hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring.

There was also a vast, dark tide of beasts. Under the boy's control, the handcart charged through them like a steel monster, killing Spirit Beasts and sending them flying one after another.

Everyone in the hall stared at the scenes before them, dumbstruck.

Barak gritted his teeth as he watched the images in the crystal ball, unable to say a word.

At last, the image froze on the handcart speeding away.

Barak slowly came back to his senses. His hands shook, and the crystal ball nearly slipped from his grasp.

A few seconds later, he jerked his head up, fervor flashing in his eyes.

"Move!"

Barak strode straight toward the exit, his voice ringing with resolve. "Gather everyone! That boy's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone must belong to Spirit Hall!"

"And whatever method he used to kill the hundred-thousand-year Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound must belong to Spirit Hall as well."

Within a short time, seventy Soul Masters had assembled.

Barak led them personally. The force included two Soul Emperors, fifteen Soul Kings, thirty Soul Ancestors, and more than twenty Soul Elders and Soul Grandmasters. Every elite fighter of the Southwest Branch Hall had been mobilized.

They mounted the fastest Horned Horses and followed the route Zhao Lie had provided, traveling day and night.

At dusk on the third day, they finally cornered Lu Yuan in the hills on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. He was cultivating to raise his Soul Power.

The sun was setting, and fiery clouds stretched across the sky.

Lu Yuan sat atop the cab of Big Luck, holding a sizzling, grease-dripping cut of roasted meat. He ate with gusto, oil coating his lips.

He had just made another circuit of the Star Dou Great Forest's outskirts and run down a few more Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts that had failed to get out of his way. He was in a good mood. His driving skills were getting better and better.

Lu Yuan had also reached level 59.

With the help of his Martial Soul Truck, his strength was comparable to level 75.

Once he activated Full-Load Rampage with Big Luck fully loaded, he was invincible against anyone below level 96.

And that was before he used his spirit skills or the button that increased his speed. Those would make him even stronger.

Just then, a crowd of figures suddenly appeared on the hill ahead.

There were at least fifty or sixty of them.

At their head rode a burly, middle-aged man in white robes, a Six-Winged Angel badge pinned to his chest.

From atop his tall Horned Horse, he looked toward Lu Yuan with a cold, confident smile.

Barak.

Lu Yuan did not know him, but his attire and arrogant expression made it clear he had not come with good intentions.

Lu Yuan took a bite of meat and shook his head. "Looks like someone else is here to pick a fight."

In the blink of an eye, the group arrived before him.

Barak pulled on the reins and rode a few steps forward, stopping about twenty meters from Big Luck.

He pointed at Lu Yuan, his voice cold. "Boy, I'm Barak, bishop of Spirit Hall's Southwest Branch Hall! I know you obtained a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone in the Star Dou Great Forest. Hand it over, and I can let you join Spirit Hall and enjoy the treatment of a core disciple. Otherwise..."

A meaningful look crossed his face. "You should know what happens to those who oppose Spirit Hall."

Lu Yuan chewed his greasy meat, his face expressionless as he sized Barak up.

Spirit Bones came mainly from Spirit Beasts, but not every Spirit Beast left one behind after death.

Ordinary Spirit Beasts generally had only a one-in-a-thousand chance of dropping a Spirit Bone, perhaps even one in ten thousand.

Spirit Beasts over a hundred thousand years old, however, almost always yielded one.

Of course he had a Spirit Bone from the Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound. It was sitting in the Cargo Box.

Lu Yuan had not absorbed it yet. He knew absorbing a Spirit Bone was no easier than absorbing a Spirit Ring.

When he absorbed the hundred-thousand-year Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound's Spirit Ring, he had already felt as though his body were being torn apart. Without his powerful resolve and the help of the Chaos Origin Returning Heart Method, he might not have endured it.

Even with them, absorbing the ring had nearly cost him far more and proved far more difficult.

A Spirit Bone of such an advanced age, one brimming with such violent power, would bring pain and pressure far beyond what the Spirit Ring had inflicted.

Lu Yuan was no fool. He knew he should raise his strength as much as possible before attempting to absorb the Spirit Bone.

Once Barak finished speaking, Lu Yuan spat the bone from his meal onto the ground.

Still sitting atop the cab, he wiped the grease from his hands.

"Are you done?"

Barak frowned. "What? You dare refuse?"

Barak had not come just for Lu Yuan's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. He also wanted the method or special skill Lu Yuan had used to kill the hundred-thousand-year Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound. Better yet, he wanted to take control of the boy and make him serve his own ends.

Spirit Hall itself did plenty of good. It traveled from place to place awakening Martial Souls and provided many Soul Masters with a guaranteed income.

But some people used their authority for personal gain and advancement, committing every manner of wrongdoing. In turn, they drew in others who had once been decent enough, corrupting them too...