The Conspiracy Behind the Disappearances, Mad Experiments in the Dark

While Ling Yun was being tortured to the point of near death by the old man in the back mountain, the atmosphere in the council hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was extremely heavy. Sect Master Ning Fengzhi sat in the main seat in the center, holding a newly delivered confidential report in his hand, his brows furrowed. Poison Douluo Dugu Bo, who usually had a nonchalant expression, sat to the lower seat, but his face was unusually serious at this moment.

"Sect Master Ning, this matter seems far more bizarre than we initially thought," Dugu Bo said, pointing to a large map spread out on the table.

Ning Fengzhi put down the report in his hand and sighed, "Old Poison, tell me in detail."

Dugu Bo drew a circle in the southwest direction on the map with his finger. "Xue Qinghe sent word that strange things have happened in three towns in the southwest recently, with people disappearing one after another. At first, the local officials were incompetent and thought it was just bandits coming down from the mountains to rob people. But I sent a few clever men to investigate, and they found that it wasn't like that at all."

Ning Fengzhi pressed further, "What strange things did you find out?"

"It's too strange. There's not a trace of a struggle," Dugu Bo sneered. "Not a single tile fell from the houses in the village; they're perfectly fine. In some homes, the food is still on the table, the warmth just dissipating, as if the family suddenly evaporated. But the strange thing is that the entire village is completely deserted; not a single living soul can be found. It's spotless."

Ning Fengzhi's expression grew increasingly grim. "Could it have been done by those ruthless Evil Soul Masters?"

"Most likely." Dugu Bo said, pulling a broken stone with dark red stains from his pocket and tossing it on the table. "My men retrieved this near a village where something happened."

Ning Fengzhi picked up the stone, smelled it, and frowned. Although several days had passed, there was still a faint, nauseating smell of blood on the stone. "This blood smell is wrong; it's not ordinary blood."

"That's right." Dugu Bo nodded. "I personally examined it. The residual energy fluctuations here are very strange, completely different from the Soul Power of a regular Soul Master. What's most worrying is that we found a large number of tire tracks nearby."

Ning Fengzhi's eyes narrowed. "You mean, someone loaded the entire village into a truck and drove away?"

"Yes." Dugu Bo stood up and pointed to several dotted lines on the map. "And look at the direction these tire tracks are heading. They didn't dare take the main roads; they were all winding their way around those remote, desolate paths. It seems they're converging on the same secret location."

The hall was eerily quiet. Ning Fengzhi tapped the table lightly with his fingers, his mind racing. "To be able to move so many people so quietly, and even evade the patrolling soldiers, there must be a huge organization behind this. If they really are Evil Soul Masters, capturing so many living people must mean they're plotting something big."

Dugu Bo snorted, his entire body radiating murderous intent. "I don't care about their Nasty Plot. Since I've run into this mess, they won't have any peace."

Just as he finished speaking, footsteps sounded outside the door, and Ling Yun walked in with Xiao Wu and Dugu Yan in a carefree manner.

"Uncle Ning, Senior Dugu, what important matter are you two plotting in the room?" Ling Yun asked with a smile as soon as he entered the room.

As soon as Ning Fengzhi saw him arrive, he quickly waved and said, "Ling Yun, you've come at the right time! Come and take a look at this." He pushed the map toward Ling Yun.

Ling Yun peeked out and glanced at the map. When he clearly saw the three disappearance locations circled in red on the map, his playful grin vanished instantly. He traced the paths between the locations with his finger, his mind racing. After a while, he suddenly stopped, letting out a cold laugh, "Interesting, very interesting."

Dugu Bo leaned closer and asked, "Kid, what tricks have you Detect?"

Ling Yun pointed to one of the routes used to transport people and said, "Look, these three villages seem quite far apart on the surface, and have nothing to do with each other. But if you put the distance between them together with the rugged terrain around them, the problem becomes clear. These three places are all adjacent to those remote, dilapidated roads, and there are secret passages between them that completely bypass those big cities and checkpoints. What does this mean? It means that the other side didn't just act on impulse to kidnap people; this was premeditated, and they had scouted the route long ago."

Ning Fengzhi nodded in agreement. "That's what we deduced just now too."

Ling Yun shook his head. "Uncle Ning, things are probably more serious than you think." He raised his head, his deep blue eyes flashing with a cold light. "Think about it, if they just wanted to capture some ordinary people to do hard labor, would they go to such lengths and carefully plan their route? I seriously suspect that their real target isn't ordinary people, but Soul Masters."

Dugu Bo's heart skipped a beat. "Soul Master?"

"Right." Ling Yun tossed the map back onto the table. "Can the quality of an ordinary person's blood energy be the same as that of our Soul Masters? If these people really are Evil Soul Masters, the reason they're going to such lengths to capture people is definitely because they're collecting special 'materials' needed for some kind of evil cultivation technique."

At this point, a name involuntarily popped into Ling Yun's mind— Tang San. And the Holy Spirit Cult, which had gone down a dark path and completely transformed into a heretical sect. "It seems some people are just born troublemakers, never willing to stay still for a moment." Ling Yun tapped the table with his fingers and began issuing orders.

"Senior Dugu, I'll have to trouble you to continue investigating these clues, focusing on the places where bloodstains remain. We must find out where they ultimately transported the people."

"Uncle Ning, you need to utilize the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's extensive network of merchant guilds across the world to thoroughly investigate whether there have been any large quantities of goods of dubious origin being secretly transported recently. We're sure we can catch them red-handed."

Speaking of those who had been captured, Ling Yun paused, his eyes becoming incredibly resolute. "As long as they have a breath left, we'll turn the place upside down to rescue them."

Dugu Bo grinned cruelly, "Don't worry, kid, I'm an expert at hiring people to kill." Ning Fengzhi nodded decisively, "I'll go arrange the men right away."

Ling Yun remained silent, staring intently at the markings on the map, inwardly scoffing: Holy Spirit Cult, since you dare to show your faces and cause trouble, then this time I'll see what kind of bewitching potion you're up to.

Meanwhile, in a clandestine underground den in the southwest of the mainland.

Bai Tu sat imposingly on a stone chair, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the armrest. Standing respectfully before him was a middle-aged man in a gray robe. This man was none other than Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster had once deceived many people in the Soul Master World.

However, Yu Xiaogang of today has long lost his former arrogance. He has become a complete cripple. His dantian has been destroyed, and the Martial Soul of that farting Luo Sanpao has long been shattered. Now, he cannot even muster a single bit of Soul Power. Yet, this cripple is now clutching a thick stack of experimental records, his face filled with a madman's fanaticism.

"The theory left behind by the Xiao San is absolutely brilliant, it makes so much sense," Yu Xiaogang said, pointing to a tattered blueprint on the table, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded on sandpaper. "The proper training methods for Soul Masters simply can't digest something that directly absorbs a person's blood energy. They have to create a new circulation path within their bodies, otherwise they'll definitely suffer a qi deviation and die from the backlash of the blood energy."

Bai Tu glanced at him disdainfully and said impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense and say something useful."

Yu Xiaogang's face twitched, but he forcefully suppressed his anger and said with a forced smile, "What I mean is, if we want to turn my apprentice's great theory into reality, we must obtain extremely special 'living materials' for experimentation."

Bai Tu slowly narrowed his eyes, looking at him coldly. "So, you've set your sights on those civilians we've captured?"

Yu Xiaogang nodded frantically. "Not just ordinary people, but it would be best to get more Soul Masters Soul Master, the higher the level the better, their blood energy is vigorous, making them the most suitable research subjects for me."

After listening, Bai Tu suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter full of sarcasm. "Yu Xiaogang, you're really getting more and more shameless as you get older. Didn't you used to talk about 'orthodox theories' and 'Grandmaster demeanor' all the time? How come you've stooped to doing this kind of heinous research by sucking people's blood?"

Yu Xiaogang's face instantly turned a deep shade of liver. He gripped the paper in his hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He gritted his teeth and said, "The Yu Xiaogang who used to pretend to be high and mighty is long dead. Now I'm alive, and I only want to do one thing—prove to the whole world that my theory is absolutely correct."

Bai Tu, too lazy to deal with this madman, casually tossed a newly delivered intelligence report onto the table, "Alright, stop dreaming. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect School has already Frisk something's wrong and started investigating."

Yu Xiaogang suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. "Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

"To be precise, it's that Ling Yun brat who ruined you to this state," Bai Tu added with a sneer.

Upon hearing the name Ling Yun, Yu Xiaogang's features instantly contorted, making him look like a vengeful ghost. "That little beast again!"

Bai Tu's eyes turned cold, and he warned him sharply, "I'm telling you this: you'd better put aside your personal grudges. If you dare to ruin the leader's grand plan, I'll skin you alive!"

Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, but the malice in his eyes couldn't be hidden. "I know the rules." He lowered his head and looked again at the experimental records on the table. "However, since that kid insists on investigating and courting death, let him investigate. Some killing machines, once started, can't be stopped just because he wants to."

Bai Tu stood up, dusted off his clothes, and said, "It's best if you know what's going on." With that, he turned and walked into the depths of the stone house without looking back, leaving Yu Xiaogang alone.

Under the flickering green light, Yu Xiaogang slowly unfurled the tattered parchment scroll in his hand. At the very top of the scroll, written in human blood, were several shocking characters. "The Concept of Devouring Blood Qi and Martial Soul Feeding Back - The Devouring Evolution Theory of the Man Faced Demon Spider."

Yu Xiaogang stared intently at the words, his mouth widening until it revealed an extremely twisted smile. He silently chanted in his mind, "Xiao San, my good apprentice... the work you didn't finish, your teacher will do it even if it costs me my life. Just wait, one day I'll make sure everyone who looks down on me dies a horrible death." His chilling laughter echoed through the basement.

Meanwhile, at this very moment, Norman away, in the back mountain of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ling Yun once again picked up his Shui Han Sword. The cold mountain wind blew across the cliff, and the ten thin threads hanging on the old pine trees twisted crazily in the wind. Ling Yun slowly raised the sword flat. This time, he did not stare at the random thin threads, but cast his gaze to the farther and wider space between heaven and earth.

"Since there are still so many messy things outside waiting for me to clean up..." Ling Yun smiled faintly, his eyes becoming incredibly sharp, "Then I'll take care of these ten broken wires today, and use you guys as practice."

Whoosh! A blinding blue light flashed. A new round of brutal, grueling training had begun.