Undead Manifestation

"A Yi, what do you think?" Qian Xunji asked Huang Tieyi, who stood to one side looking at a loss.

"Your Holiness, I can't make that decision, can I?" Huang Tieyi said cautiously.

"What if you could?" Qian Xunji asked with a smile, watching how stiffly Huang Tieyi stood.

"If I could decide, I'd want both..." Huang Tieyi said, his face flushing red.

"Hahaha! You're not greedy at all, are you, kid? You want both..." Qian Xunji said, at a loss for words.

"Kid, there's nothing wrong with a strong man having three wives and four concubines. But can your body handle it?" Golden Crocodile Douluo asked, his gaze sharp.

"A man can't say he can't..." Huang Tieyi said, his neck stiffening.

"Get lost..." Qian Xunji snapped.

Inside the carriage, Huang Batian sat nervously and handed Qian Xunji the proposal he had written for the Body Academy.

Qian Xunji flipped through Huang Batian's Body Academy proposal, pretending to read it carefully. He had been outside the room when Huang Tieyi first proposed the plan. Huang Tieyi's words—one general's success was built on ten thousand bones—had cleared away his confusion. What did the Angel God's life before she became a God have to do with Spirit Hall today, or with the Qian Family's faith?

The Qian Family worshipped the Angel God only because her legacy was to drive away darkness and bring light to the world. The rest was bullshit. As members of the Angel Clan, the Qian Family needed the right spiritual totem, not an actual Angel God.

He had heard the Body Academy plan, and after thinking it over on his return, he had come to approve of it. It would let Spirit Hall gather more Soul Masters and give him greater power. Why would he object?

"This proposal is good, but it isn't comprehensive enough. Body Martial Souls have attributes too. I don't need to tell you how to make use of the power those attributes bring. But you must consider their drawbacks before the academy opens.

"We can't have another case like Dugu Bo, poisoning himself and those close to him. And if someone's Martial Soul turns out to be that part of the body, we need to decide whether to train a lecher, cripple his Martial Soul, or support him for the rest of his life." Qian Xunji closed the Body Academy proposal and tapped it with his fingers.

"Your Holiness, surely no one has a Martial Soul there?" Huang Batian asked uncertainly.

"The world is vast and full of strange things. Who knows?" Qian Xunji shook his head. "I hope not, but what if there is? We need to prepare for the worst and set out a clear plan."

"Yes, Your Holiness. May I call on other Soul Masters in Spirit Hall with Body Martial Souls to teach?" Huang Batian asked.

"Once we're back, I'll discuss it with the Great Enshrined and settle the matter," Qian Xunji said.

"Thank you for your support, Your Holiness the Pope," Huang Batian said excitedly.

"The Body Academy. Very interesting. Then I wonder if this old man..." A deep voice came from the distance. Before the speaker could finish, the ground shook violently.

Huang Batian immediately pushed open the carriage door and released his Martial Soul, the Silver Saint Body. He stared ahead, his face full of vigilance.

A gigantic foot lay across the road ahead. Huang Batian followed it upward with his gaze and saw an old man roughly ten meters above the ground, arms folded across his chest, looking down at them with disdain.

"May I ask your title, senior?" Qian Xunji asked calmly as he stepped out of the carriage.

"I am Heavenly Cripple Douluo..." As the old man spoke, his left leg kept shrinking until he stood at an ordinary person's height. "My Martial Soul is this left leg, known as the Heavenly Crippled Leg. You little white-haired old man have some interesting ideas. Pope, my boy, could I teach at the Body Academy?"

"Absolutely not!" Huang Batian answered before Qian Xunji could speak.

"You little old man, you must be tired of living. Believe me, I'll kick you to death!" Heavenly Cripple Douluo said coldly.

"Heavenly Cripple Douluo, did you think hiding your true aura would keep me from knowing who you are?" Huang Batian said, his gaze hard. "You're one of the six masked men the Evil Soul Master Zhong Hunmie brought with him."

"Hahaha! Sharp eyes, little old man!" Heavenly Cripple Douluo laughed, his face full of disdain. "So what if you know? If you'd kept quiet instead of resisting me, only you would have died. Now all of you will die..."

"Sakura Four Ghosts, attack..." A cloud drifted across the sky. Zhong Hunmie sat lazily on a chair of bones. "I'd planned to visit your Spirit Hall and have some fun. I never thought you'd be so uncooperative..."

"Jade-Scale Purple Mist Formation!" Dugu Bo's voice rang out from the carriage behind them. The moment Zhong Hunmie appeared, Dugu Bo had stepped out, released his Martial Soul, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, and used an area Soul Skill. The mist spread outward from him, leaving a three-meter radius around him unaffected. Beyond that, it was fiercely corrosive.

Zhong Hunmie hovered in midair on his chair of bones, unconcerned by the poisonous mist spreading from beneath Dugu Bo's feet. He stayed fairly calm even when he saw tree after tree corrode. But when he saw the mist eating through the Sakura Four Ghosts' deathly aura, he could no longer keep his composure.

"Quick! You four, stop..." Before Zhong Hunmie could finish, the poisonous mist raced along the deathly aura and engulfed the Sakura Four Ghosts. They screamed in agony. Within a few breaths, nothing remained of them but bones.

"Zhong Hunmie, you didn't think I'd come unprepared for you, did you?" Qian Xunji said calmly. "Others may not smell the peculiar scent you Evil Soul Masters carry, but I can. The reason we've sat idly in the carriage and traveled so slowly was to wait for you. I didn't expect you to be so timid that you'd only show yourself now."

"Qian Xunji, how very clever of you. Very clever!" Zhong Hunmie said through gritted teeth. "But so what? You don't think I chose this place at random, do you..."

A mocking smile crossed Zhong Hunmie's face. He took out a map and pointed at the ground. "Twenty thousand years ago, this forest was a battlefield. Countless Soul Masters and Soul Beasts corrupted by demonic energy lie buried here. I'm curious how you'll deal with them once their resentment awakens."

"Resent... Hate... Awaken..." Behind Zhong Hunmie, a masked Titled Douluo held a staff topped with a bone skull. His Ninth Soul Ring lit up beneath his feet. As he chanted, an eerie green light shone from the skull's empty eye sockets. "Ninth Soul Skill—Undead Manifestation!"