Taking stock of the spoils, a place to form a Nascent Soul, and a late-stage Great Cultivator!

"Aah, aah, aah-"

The cultivators' souls were forcibly drawn out and subjected to a brutal Soul Search. It was no different from stirring their brains with red-hot iron rods, and the pain was utterly unbearable.

They wailed incessantly. Even when they tried to beg for mercy, they could not express a coherent plea.

Standing behind the scarred cultivator, the blood-robed Demon Cultivator and True Person Poisonmist watched everything in silence, trembling like cicadas in winter.

They exchanged a glance, each clearly seeing the fear in the other's eyes.

The Sage Lord was far too savage-

Indeed, he had even refined his own dead son into a Corpse Puppet just to keep him by his side. What wouldn't he do?

Who would dare provoke someone like that?

Soon, the souls' wails began to fade, and silence returned.

The souls of the stationed Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators had been utterly annihilated by the brutal Soul Search.

Only the Core Formation Steward's soul remained relatively solid, though his consciousness had descended into chaos after the Soul Search.

The scarred cultivator, too, showed no further reaction, sinking into an eerie silence.

Only after a long while did he finally react, saying "Very good" twice-

Then he casually formed a hand seal, unleashing a surge of pitch-black demonic qi. It transformed into black cords that tightly bound the Core Formation Steward's soul before he tossed it in front of the blood-robed Demon Cultivator and True Person Poisonmist. His voice betrayed neither joy nor anger. "Had this bastard not abandoned his principles and opened the formation early to let that green-robed cultivator leave, blinded by the sight of money-that man would already be in my hands, and my great vengeance would be fulfilled!"

"So I will leave this man's soul to you to work on. Make