The Soul Realm lay in the Northern Region of the Central Plains, a world unto itself.
It was an independent spatial plane, absent from ordinary geographical maps.
As a world contained within its own space, the Soul Realm could not be reached through ordinary space wormholes. To enter, one needed a Spatial Jade Slip unique to the Hun Clan, or a Hun Clan expert had to personally tear open space and create a passage.
It was home to the Hun Clan, one of the Ancient Eight Clans, and gathered some of the greatest fighting forces on the Dou Qi Continent.
Today, the Soul Bell rang long and loud. After a thousand years of peace, the Soul Realm had fallen into a rare uproar, as though something inconceivable had happened.
After all, the Hun Clan's Soul Bell only rang without cease when the clan faced a crisis of life and death.
The last time the Soul Bell had tolled throughout the Soul Realm was a thousand years ago.
That day, Clan Leader Hun Tiandi had personally struck the Soul Bell, delivered a prewar rallying address, recalled the clansmen abroad, and declared war on the Xiao Clan. The entire Hun Clan army had swiftly assembled.
Then, with iron steeds and gleaming spears, they had swept forward unstoppably. Under Hun Tiandi's command, the Soul Clan Army had slain Xiao Xuan, invaded the Xiao Realm, and slaughtered every Xiao Clan expert. Not one of the clan's tens of millions of descendants had survived.
Without a real beating, the Xiao Clan had no idea where it stood. It always thought itself the greatest clan, and even its words sought to press everyone else beneath it.
That Nine-Star Dou Saint of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Xuan, had spent every day hopping about, fancying himself the foremost man on the Dou Qi Continent and thinking he was quite the dish.
But once the Hun Clan made its move, it shook the Xiao Clan so hard that even the yolks in its eggs broke apart. Even the Gu Clan's support had been useless.
The ancient records of the six clans called the war between the Hun Clan and the Xiao Clan the Soul Xiao War. Only the Hun Clan's records called it the Xiao Slaughter War.
Because from beginning to end, it had posed no difficulty whatsoever.
Where Xiao Xuan secluded himself, where he attempted his breakthrough, when to strike, how to prevent his escape, how to force him to self-destruct, and how to keep the Xiao Clan's ally, the Gu Clan, from becoming too deeply involved-everything had been part of the Hun Clan's plan.
"The Soul Bell is ringing here today. Could the Clan Leader have decided to move against the Gu Clan?" asked a Hun Clan Dou Sheng who had participated in the Xiao Slaughter War, astonished.
"Wonderful! After destroying the Xiao Clan, our clan has lain dormant for a thousand years. It's time to make this continent tremble again."
"I can feel my bloodline stirring. The Gu Clan's bloodline must taste delicious too. Their women won't be any worse than the Xiao Clan's," remarked a somewhat sleazy-looking Five-Star Dou Zun of the Hun Clan. Back then, after every Xiao Clan expert had fallen, he had been among the first to charge into the Xiao Realm. His group had taken turns abusing the beautiful women of the Xiao Clan's main line, humiliating them to their hearts' content.
"Hahaha! Back in the Xiao Realm, I was just a little too slow, and I ended up behind more than a hundred people in line. By the time my turn came, the Xiao Clan's eldest princess was bleeding nonstop down below. Her eyes could only roll back, and she didn't even have the strength to scream."
As the Hun Clan experts gathered at the Soul Clan Plaza, they chatted in groups of three or five about those bygone days.
"Hun Li, back then your squad cut off thirty-eight thousand Xiao Clan men's heads, eight hundred more than ours. Shall we compete again in the coming Gu Slaughter War?"
"Hahaha! A competition it is. My blade is simply faster than yours. But let's agree first: the same old rules. If I win, you'll have to hand over three thousand Gu Clan women as the stakes."
"You old bastard, you still have a taste for that. Back then, you abducted some of the Xiao Clan women and brought them to the Soul Realm, raping and whipping them day and night. You even trained them into bitches and turned them into human swine. You must have toyed with them for several hundred years."
"Hahaha! The pleasures of it aren't for outsiders to know. How could other women on the continent compare to daughters bearing a Dou Di bloodline? To tell you the truth, I've always wanted to collect the legitimate daughters of every clan's main line and have them activate their clan marks while they help me vent my lust..."
"Hahaha!"
"Hahaha, you really are something!"
The Hun Clan's great hall.
A young man dressed in plain white robes stood imposingly at the highest point of the hall.
His black hair fell to his shoulders, a lustrous jade pendant hung at his waist, and he held a silver folding fan. His handsome, refined features made him resemble a scholar unconcerned with worldly affairs.
This man was the Hun Clan's Clan Leader-Hun Tiandi.
Apart from its Dou Di ancestor, he was the most powerful Clan Leader in the Hun Clan's history.
His cultivation as a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint often made people overlook his unparalleled intellect and fathomless cunning.
"Void, what do you think?" Hun Tiandi asked, his brows knitting in a rare frown.
Beside Hun Tiandi stood a black-robed young man who vaguely gave the impression of being his equal.
He was the Heavenly Flame ranked second on the Heavenly Flame Ranking-the Nihility Devouring Flame.
Mysterious black runes covered the Nihility Devouring Flame's body, and eerie black flames coiled around him, creating a stark contrast with Hun Tiandi's scholarly appearance beside him.
"Spirit devouring has always been kept secret. There hasn't been a single leak in thousands of years. In my view, for this Hun Mieba to understand it so clearly, there must be a traitor among the Hun Clan's upper ranks." The Nihility Devouring Flame's eyes were like black holes, and an ancient, eerie aura radiated from him.
"Clan Leader, Lord Void, we have searched the Hun Clan's entire register. Never mind the upper ranks-there isn't a single clansman named Hun Mieba anywhere in the Hun Clan."
Below them, a Hun Clan Dou Sheng responsible for the clan register knelt prostrate on the floor and spoke in a trembling voice.
Every Hun Clan Dou Sheng of five stars or above was present in the great hall. Those below five stars could only await orders in the plaza of Soul Saint City.
It was not that they were unimportant. There were simply too many of them. Though the Hun Clan's great hall was already grand and imposing, it still could not hold them all.
There were especially large numbers of one-star Dou Sheng.
"So who exactly is this Hun Mieba? Could he be one of you?" Hun Tiandi's calm voice rang out.
The Dou Sheng in the hall were already filled with dread, their foreheads covered in fine beads of sweat.
"Clan Leader, we are utterly loyal to the Hun Clan. We have no reason to betray it!" The gathered Dou Sheng immediately dropped to their knees and cupped their hands.
They knew their own affairs best. Their Clan Leader might look like a scholar on the surface, but no one could match his ruthlessness or the depths of his cunning.
"Enough. Get up, all of you. I was merely making a casual remark." Hun Tiandi gave the Nihility Devouring Flame a meaningful glance and said, "We can investigate the mole in the Hun Clan gradually. Right now, the most important matter is how to face the six-clan alliance."
The Nihility Devouring Flame's heart abruptly tightened, but he promptly said with an air of indifference, "They've certainly grown bold, daring to attack the Soul Realm. This is just as well. We can catch them all in one net and spare ourselves the trouble of dealing with them one by one."
"Lord Void is right. Unless we show them a little color, they won't know how much they truly weigh."
"Exactly, Clan Leader. For thousands of years, our Hun Clan has always attacked others. Since when has it been anyone else's turn to attack us?"
"With our Hun Clan's current strength, even an alliance of six clans is nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs. In my opinion, this alliance of theirs will never amount to anything..."
Hun Tiandi coldly surveyed the people below him, a trace of chill flashing through his eyes.
Who had managed to cause such a major upheaval in his thousand-year plan with nothing more than a leaflet?
This feeling of being unable to see through the situation infuriated him.
Hun Tiandi had a vague feeling that he had somehow gone from the player moving the pieces to a piece on the board.
And he did not even know who his opponent was.
Hun Tiandi's gaze once again swept toward Void beside him.
Could you be staging this whole thing yourself?
Hun Tiandi wondered inwardly.
Before you continue