Li Zha clambered onto the dock, panting. His little face was flushed red, and he wiped away his sweat.
"Hehe, I set the nets out early for Dad. Now he won't have to go out to sea tonight, and he can sleep a little longer."
Li Zha, who had only just turned five, patted his little belly, then took off running toward the village.
He was only five, so of course he wasn't allowed to row a boat out to sea alone.
But Li Zha already had his excuse ready. Mom always said she'd been pregnant with him for a full three years, so he was actually eight, not some five-year-old little squirt!
Besides,
he was already much taller and stronger than other children his age. Even some ten-year-olds without Soul Power might not be able to beat him in a fight.
Li Zha knew that while fishing a few days ago, Dad had been bitten by a bullhorn shark. Not only had it torn a large chunk of flesh from the back of his hand, it had also taken a segment of his little finger.
Dad was injured, and Mom was in poor health.
Li Zha felt he ought to shoulder some of the pressure on his family.
If he got scolded later, so be it.
With that thought, Li Zha ran all the way to the village entrance, only to suddenly notice something was wrong.
"That's weird. Why is the village so dark? Did all the uncles and aunties go to bed this early today?"
Li Zha was puzzled.
Ahead of him, every house in the village had its lights off, leaving everything pitch-black. Even the village's Soul Tool streetlights had gone out.
Luckily, the sky was clear tonight, and Li Zha knew the village well.
A little moonlight was enough for him to feel his way home.
When he reached his front door, he found his own house dark too.
"Huh, Mom and Dad are asleep too? Great!"
Li Zha secretly rejoiced. Now he wouldn't have to explain to Mom where he'd been.
With that thought, Li Zha took out his key to unlock the door, but found it wasn't locked. It opened with a push.
Li Zha went inside and instinctively reached for the switch on the wall, only to find that the lights didn't respond when he pressed it.
"Are the lights broken?"
Li Zha was puzzled.
Boom!
Just then,
a blaze suddenly rose from the center of the village. Unlike ordinary flames, it was an eerie blood-red.
Huge blood-red flames surged upward, with what looked like howling skeletal apparitions drifting from their tips.
Standing inside the house, Li Zha could now see by the firelight that no one was home at all.
"Is the village holding a bonfire party?"
Li Zha shut the door and hurried toward the blood-red pillar of flame.
When he reached the blaze,
Li Zha found himself at the ancestral hall by the village entrance.
Outside the ancestral hall,
Li Zha saw a huge, oddly shaped pile of firewood arranged on the ground.
At the center of the pile was the blood-red pillar of flame he'd seen earlier.
The woodpile was shaped like a lotus, yet also resembled a tree.
It was built from thick pieces of wood, but Li Zha was too far away to make out what those large pieces actually were.
Li Zha grew even more puzzled. There was only a bonfire here, with no villagers in sight.
"Where is everyone?"
Just then,
a withered, pale hand settled on Li Zha's shoulder. It was covered in leathery old skin and age spots.
"Little one, who are you looking for~?"
A grating voice rang out, like a knife scraping glass. Li Zha instinctively frowned, finding the person's voice terribly unpleasant.
Li Zha turned, only to find the person behind him completely concealed beneath a black robe. He couldn't even see their face.
Li Zha didn't even know when this old person had appeared. The hand on his shoulder felt like a steel bar, gripping him uncomfortably tightly.
Judging only by the voice and build, Li Zha guessed this must be an old woman.
"Granny, I'm looking for the uncles and aunties in the village. Why isn't anyone here?"
Behind Li Zha,
the black-robed Soul Master, hunched like an old woman, gave a hoarse chuckle. Several Soul Rings immediately appeared beneath her feet.
One yellow, one purple, and two black.
"Don't be afraid, child. I'll take you to them right away."
As the hoarse voice spoke, a Yellow Soul Ring beneath her feet flashed. A phantom ghost hand emerged from the black robe and reached for Li Zha.
The black-robed woman smoothly drew out a Ghost Banner. Countless human-faced apparitions howled upon it, trying to break free, only to be dragged back inside.
The black-robed Soul Master grinned viciously. "Your whole family will be reunited very soon."
"Okay." Li Zha nodded.
The next moment, the black-robed Soul Master's smile froze.
The phantom ghost hand swept through Li Zha. It should have pulled an ordinary person's soul straight out, yet this time it caught nothing.
The phantom ghost hand passed straight through Li Zha's body, as though the child had no soul at all.
"This is..."
The black-robed Soul Master's eyes widened.
How could a person have no soul?
No, it wasn't that he had no soul.
There was something within this child that could resist her Soul Skill!
Just then,
a faint Lotus Dharma Body appeared beneath Li Zha's skin. Like a treasured pagoda, it protected his soul, utterly disregarding the effects of her ghost hand!
"Good, good, good! I only passed through here to replenish my Soul Power. Who would have thought I'd encounter a born prodigy immune to soul attacks!"
The black-robed Soul Master had already realized
that Li Zha hadn't awakened his Martial Soul yet, which was why the Lotus Dharma Body remained concealed.
By her conservative estimate, Li Zha's Martial Soul was at least a super Martial Soul, and one with a rare soul attribute at that. His Innate Soul Power would start at level nine at the very least!
The black-robed Soul Master put away her Ghost Banner and said with a smile,
"Come, little one. Granny will take you to your mom and dad."
Li Zha obediently nodded.
The black-robed Soul Master took Li Zha's hand and walked toward the bonfire.
After discovering Li Zha's astonishing talent, she changed her mind and decided to take him as her disciple. A born prodigy like him could follow her branch's path of absorbing souls while completely ignoring its side effects!
Before long, he might even contend for a place among the Holy Spirit Cult's Four Heavenly Kings!
Of course, before that,
she had to find a way to brainwash the child and leave herself a means of controlling him.
The black-robed old woman led Li Zha up to the bonfire. Only then did he notice that the large pieces of firewood were suspended in midair.
But the darkest place was beneath the lamp.
He couldn't make out what they actually were at all.
"Here, little one. Have something to eat. Your mom and dad will be here soon."
The black-robed old woman handed Li Zha a meaty hock.
"Thank you, Granny."
Li Zha thanked her, bit off a mouthful of cooked meat, and praised it.
"Granny, what kind of meat is this? It's so tasty!"
The black-robed old woman bent over and quickly drew runes at Li Zha's feet. "Do you like it? If you do, there'll be plenty more in the future."
"Yes, yes!"
Li Zha quickly gnawed at the hock.
The old woman's runes were nearly complete too.
Just then,
a sudden thunderbolt struck from the sky, its searing white light illuminating their surroundings.
Li Zha abruptly froze in the middle of chewing the dried meat.
All at once, he saw exactly what the woodpile before him was.
"These are... people?!"
Li Zha saw it clearly now. This thing that looked like a woodpile was actually made from a great many people!
With a glance, Li Zha discovered they were all people from his village. But all the uncles and aunties had their eyes closed, their faces pale, as though every drop of blood had drained from them.
Li Zha was so frightened that the meaty hock fell from his hand.
He looked down,
and discovered, to his horror, that the hock at his feet had a palm. It wasn't a cloven hoof, but five fingers.
For some reason, one of the little fingers was missing a segment.
It looked just like Dad's little finger after the bullhorn shark had bitten off part of it.
Could this be...?
Li Zha's mind exploded with a boom!
Li Zha turned numbly and looked at the black-robed old woman behind him.
"Hehe, did you notice?"
The black-robed old woman sneered. "Don't worry. You won't end up like these human materials. You're special. In the future, you may even far surpass me."
Li Zha still stared blankly at her.
"All right, the formation is complete. Become part of my Holy Spirit Cult!"
The old woman spread her arms and threw back her head, laughing as the blood-red formation beneath her feet began to flash.
But just then,
a winged Soul Tool flew through the sky and hovered above the village.
A regal woman wearing a black uniform jumped straight down.
A phantom phoenix manifested behind her.
"You beast!"
The black-robed old woman visibly froze. "You're... Her Excellency Heavenly Phoenix, Leng Yaozhu? Why are you here?!"
Leng Yaozhu didn't respond at all. She extended one hand and pressed down, and the black-robed old woman's body was instantly annihilated.
Her Ghost Banner crumbled to dust along with her, allowing countless souls to fly free.
Among them,
two souls circled Li Zha for a long time, seemingly reluctant to leave, but in the end, they had no choice but to dissipate.
Before you continue