The Bishop Blocks the Road: "Hand Over the Spirit Bones, and I'll Spare Your Life"

"A ninety-thousand-year Spirit Bone alone could raise a major sect to prominence, let alone a hundred-thousand-year one!"

"Hmph! We have to take it!"

But the captain now stood atop the canopy, pale and trembling.

Because he had seen it.

He had seen two pillars of light reaching into the heavens with his own eyes!

"C-Captain..."

Behind him, a younger spirit master spoke in a shaking voice.

"T-Two Spirit Bone manifestations?"

"He's already absorbed two Spirit Bones?"

"One hundred thousand years and ninety thousand years?!"

The captain's pupils contracted. He swallowed hard.

He had seen no more than three Spirit Bones in his life.

And the best of those three had been only twenty thousand years old.

But this boy?

One person.

Two bones.

Both over ninety thousand years old!

"Impossible..."

The captain stared blankly and muttered.

Had he seen it wrong?

Had some spirit skill affected him and created those manifestations?

Was some ancient Soul Tool hidden on the boy?

He considered one explanation after another, then ruled each one out.

He searched through forty years of experience as a spirit master.

He searched through Spirit Hall's scriptures...

But he found nothing that could put his mind at ease.

Just then, he raised the Recording Crystal in his hand, hoping for a clearer look.

Crack.

His hand shook.

The costly crystal ball fell straight from the tree and shattered across the ground.

The other team members exchanged looks, too stunned even to reach for it.

The captain looked down at the fragments, his face turning from pale to flushed.

At last, he slumped onto a branch.

"Captain, are we... still going after him?"

Seeing this, the young spirit master could not help asking again in a low voice.

The captain looked toward the valley, his lips trembling.

He was silent for a long time.

Only then did the captain slowly speak.

"Like hell we are!"

"He absorbed two Spirit Bones that quickly. We're not taking that risk..."

The whole squad exchanged looks again and fell silent.

The report reached Spirit Hall's senior officials in Heaven Dou City, leaving them stunned and incredulous.

"Two spirit masters wet themselves on the spot... The captain even dropped the crystal ball. The whole squad froze up in the trees, too afraid to move, let alone keep pursuing Lu Yuan..."

Inside the branch hall's council chamber.

A middle-aged man in purple robes listened to the report, his face darkening.

Wesley.

The bishop of Spirit Hall's Heaven Dou branch, a level-eighty-one Soul Douluo.

He rose, and his Soul Power spilled outward, pressing down on the nearby deacons until their faces went pale and their knees weakened.

"A pack of useless fools."

"A brat driving a beat-up handcart scared you that badly?"

The deacons beside him kept their heads down, hardly daring to breathe, much less argue.

Greed and ruthlessness flashed in Wesley's eyes.

Two Spirit Bones.

One hundred thousand years.

Ninety thousand years.

The mere thought was enough to drive a Soul Douluo mad.

"Send out the order."

Wesley swept his sleeve aside and spoke with finality.

"Gather twenty Soul Kings and three Soul Emperors. You're coming with me to the exit from the Star Dou Great Forest's outskirts toward Heaven Dou City!"

"The boy will have to pass through there when he comes out."

"I'll block him myself!"

The next day, on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

At the only official road leading out toward Heaven Dou City.

Twenty Soul Kings and three Soul Emperors blocked the road completely.

Wesley stood at the front, grim-faced, waiting for Lu Yuan to emerge.

Then one Soul Emperor sidled up with a fawning smile. "My lord bishop, does that boy really have two Spirit Bones?"

"Without a doubt." Wesley sneered. "He rammed the hundred-thousand-year Three-Headed Crimson Demon Hound and the ninety-thousand-year Sky-Shaking Marsh Bull to death himself."

"Hiss!"

The spirit masters around him drew sharp breaths and began talking among themselves.

"He really rammed them to death all by himself?!"

"One hundred thousand years and ninety thousand years?! That's terrifying!"

"Who is this boy? Just how strong is he?"

As they talked, they stared down the road into the Star Dou Great Forest, greed in their eyes—and a trace of wariness.

Just then, the roar of an engine came from the distance.

Rumble!

The low, muffled sound drew closer, like some great beast growling.

Everyone fell silent and looked up at once.

At the far end of the road, a black, fourteen-wheeled steel behemoth with a vicious Armor-Piercing Ram welded to its front slowly came into view.

Big Luck!

Lu Yuan sat in Big Luck's driver's seat.

Wesley's eyes narrowed, then he let out a cold laugh.

He strode forward, unleashing his Soul Douluo-level pressure toward Big Luck. His voice boomed like thunder as he ordered:

"Boy! Get out!"

"I know you have two Spirit Bones!"

"One hundred thousand years and ninety thousand years. You can't hold on to both by yourself!"

He raised a hand and pointed at Lu Yuan in the cab. He continued, each word edged with killing intent.

"Hand over the Spirit Bones, and I'll spare your life."

"Otherwise... I'll bury you and that beat-up handcart together here on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest!"

Behind him, the twenty Soul Kings and three Soul Emperors shouted together, their voices rising like a tide.

"A worthless brat driving a wreck thinks he deserves two Spirit Bones?! Hand them over!"

"Hahaha... I hear you've already absorbed them. What a waste! Dig them out yourself, right now..."

"Hand them over quietly! Maybe the bishop will even leave you with an intact corpse!"

Their taunts rang with greed and contempt, punctuated by bursts of laughter.

To them, the brat had simply gotten lucky and happened to ram a few injured Spirit Beasts to death.

With a Soul Douluo leading twenty Soul Kings and three Soul Emperors, crushing him would be no harder than crushing an ant.

Inside Big Luck's cab.

With one hand on the steering wheel, Lu Yuan bit into a piece of grilled beef and watched the arrogant faces shouting at him through the windshield from the road ahead.

He tossed the last bite of beef into his mouth, rolled down the window, and leaned halfway out without saying a word.

Seeing Lu Yuan stick his head out and remain silent, Wesley mistook it for fear. A smug smile spread across his face.

"What's wrong? Scared?"

"If you are, hand over the Spirit Bones like a good boy, and I might still..."

He did not finish.

Big Luck's two headlights suddenly blazed to life.

Two blinding beams cut through the shadows that blocked the sun and struck Wesley square in the face at the front of the road.