Breaking into the Holy Spirit Cult Branch Hall

Lin Mo was just preparing to leave the Sea of Consciousness when a sudden disturbance came from Electrolux's Divine Sense fragment.

He raised his head, looking upward, just as a ray of ashen-black light flew straight into Lin Mo's palm.

Following right behind it was Electrolux's somewhat ethereal and shifting voice.

"You are going to suppress the Evil Soul Masters in three days, right? As for necromantic magic, I have already imparted everything I can remember to you."

Lin Mo watched as the ashen light in his hand gradually lengthened, transforming into the Undead Staff that Electrolux frequently grasped in his hand.

"I am researching some things these days, and I am afraid I will stay within the Divine Sense fragment for a long time, unable to come out. You can use this staff to cast necromantic magic to the maximum extent. Any Evil Soul Master below the Titled Douluo level can be suppressed through necromantic magic."

Hearing these words, Lin Mo was immediately overjoyed, cupping his fists and bowing directly.

"Many thanks for your help, Teacher."

"Alright, alright, there is no need for such formalities between the two of us as master and disciple. Hurry and get out there, don't you all still have class today?"

Hearing these words, Lin Mo bolted upright from the bed.

"You're finally awake! Did something happen?"

Having regained his clarity, Lin Mo looked at Huo Yuyao, who had already changed into her school uniform. Today, she had even tied her originally loose long hair into a high ponytail.

"How is it? Does it look good? Am I suited for tying this high ponytail?"

Looking at the bouncing young girl standing before him, Lin Mo smiled faintly.

"I think it suits you very well. You look a bit more vibrant this way; with your long hair down, you look a bit more cute and well-behaved."

"Ah, r-really?"

Hearing this unsparing praise, Huo Yuyao grew somewhat shy. She covered her eyes, peeking embarrassedly at Lin Mo through the gaps in her fingers.

"Mm-hmm. Then-then which version of me does Brother Xiao Mo like more?"

"Eh?"

"N-nothing at all!"

Wuuu wuuu~ What on earth was I just asking?!

Huo Yuyao battered her own little face continuously in her heart.

"No matter which version of you it is, I like you very much. After all, our Little Yao is the cutest."

Lin Mo's single sentence struck right at Huo Yuyao's little heart.

Her face, which had merely been glowing red, now flushed red all the way to her ears and the back of her neck.

W-we... Brother Xiao Mo said he likes me!

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the Ice Empress inside the Sea of Consciousness were also utterly shocked.

"Whoa! Did this kid finally figure it out?"

"Why did he suddenly say something like that?"

Just as both of them looked at Lin Mo with a sense of disbelief, Lin Mo struck a puzzled expression instead.

"What's wrong with you? Why is your face suddenly so red? You aren't coming down with a sickness, are you? That doesn't make sense either; a Soul Master's physical constitution has always been very good."

Seeing Lin Mo's expression and hearing those words of his, the two soul beasts inside the Sea of Consciousness let out a long sigh.

"Heh."

"Incredible."

"Yet Little Yao doesn't seem to have noticed Lin Mo's expression at all."

"This child seems to have fallen right in..."

Just as they had said, Huo Yuyao at this moment remained completely immersed in her shyness and failed to notice the other's expression. Seeing him approach, she merely waved her hand and said she was fine.

Seeing that she indeed seemed fine, Lin Mo didn't say anything more. He glanced at the wall clock and discovered that there was less than ten minutes left before class.

"Alright, there's no time left. Little Yao, we have to go, we're going to be late."

Hearing the two words "late," Huo Yuyao hurriedly looked toward the wall clock.

"No-no way, aren't we about to be late? Even if we ran over right now, we'd still be late!"

The young girl hurriedly dragged Lin Mo out the door, thinking to exhaust all her soul power to charge toward the classroom, only to be stopped by Lin Mo.

"What is it, Brother Xiao Mo? If we don't hurry, we might really be late. Though at this pace, I'm afraid we're going to be late anyway."

"Don't worry, leave this to me. I'll just happen to show you a new move I learned."

That's right, what Lin Mo wanted to display was precisely the Sword Control Flight he had mastered yesterday.

He summoned the Mystic Sword, causing it to hover just above the ground, and then stepped onto it with both feet.

"Uh-oh, the length doesn't seem quite enough."

Actually, the Mystic Sword could be considered a medium-to-long type of longsword, but because Lin Mo himself had only just learned the technique, he had to stand right at the center point to ensure the stability of the flight. This made it seem as though the longsword couldn't accommodate a second person.

Lin Mo glanced at the somewhat astonished Huo Yuyao.

Then, ignoring the young girl's exclamation of surprise, he directly scooped her up in a princess carry, manipulated the Mystic Sword, and flew them straight toward the teaching building.

"Wuaah! B-Brother Xiao Mo!"

Suddenly picked up and sent floating into midair, Huo Yuyao didn't dare to open her eyes at first.

"Don't worry, you won't fall. Look."

Lin Mo gently comforted Huo Yuyao.

The young girl gradually opened her eyes, feeling astonished as she watched the scenery flashing by beneath her feet.

"Your Martial Soul can actually do this, Brother Xiao Mo?"

"Hehe, actually I only discovered it yesterday myself."

Time passed swiftly just like that, and in the blink of an eye, three days arrived, bringing the evening of the third day-the time he had agreed upon with Nana.

In a small alley two hundred meters outside the school gates, Lin Mo, Huo Yuyao, and Ye Guyi had each changed into a set of black combat attire, primarily for the sake of concealment to avoid drawing attention.

Accompanied by a steady, unhurried sound of footsteps, the three of them cast their gazes toward the mouth of the alley, which served as the only passageway.

Walking toward them was a figure draped in a black cloak, whose appearance was difficult to discern.

"You've already arrived? So fast?"

Seeing the three of them, Nana removed the hood of her cloak.

"Hehe, it's our first time doing this kind of thing, so we're a bit nervous. We thought it best to arrive a little early."

"Is that so?"

Nana replied as she watched Huo Yuyao scratch her head in mild embarrassment.

Toward this young girl who tied her bright blue hair into a high ponytail, Nana held a very high degree of goodwill-after all, the other party had even handed her a tissue when she was crying.

"So what method do you guys actually plan to use to sneak inside?"

Ever since she left the dormitory that day, she had not communicated with the two of them at all. Therefore, up until now, she still wasn't sure what method the two-no, now three-of them should use to sneak in.

"Little Yao."

Lin Mo snapped his fingers.

Huo Yuyao immediately activated her Martial Soul, and her second Thousand-Year Soul Ring slowly emerged from beneath her feet.

"A-a Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"

"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"

This time, it wasn't just Nana; even Ye Guyi was utterly shocked.

When she rendezvoused with the two of them, they had already returned from acquiring their soul rings. During the classes that followed, although they frequently ate together and the like, they had never engaged in sparring matches, so she genuinely had no idea that Huo Yuyao's second soul ring was actually a thousand-year one.

"And judging by the hue, it has to be at least three or four thousand years old, right?"

Before Nana could finish speaking, the three people in front of her suddenly vanished as if they had disappeared.

"Eh?"

She looked left and right in disbelief, but apart from some piled-up, cluttered scrap items, there was nothing else in the entire alley.

"W-where did you go?"

The next second, the three of them reappeared before her.

"This is my second soul skill, Simulation. It can effectively use soul power to conceal or transform anything within a thirty-meter diameter."

"Little Yao just used this soul skill to simulate all of us as your shadow. As long as there isn't a powerhouse above the Titled Douluo level, it is absolutely impossible for anyone to see through it."

"Such a heaven-defying soul skill. It really is unexpectedly convenient for infiltration, searching, and investigation."

"Hehe."

"Alright, time's about up. It's time to set off, and time to let those wretches guilty of reckless murder taste the consequences they deserve."

Ye Guyi furrowed her brows tightly. She held zero affection for Evil Soul Masters.

"Indeed, let's move."

Following Lin Mo's command, Huo Yuyao's soul skill activated once more, and the three of them transformed back into Nana's shadow.

And just like that, the group quickly arrived at the Holy Spirit Cult Branch Hall.

Looking at its utterly unremarkable exterior-established furthermore in a location leaning toward the urban district-all of them found it rather hard to believe.

"I-is this really the Holy Spirit Cult Branch Hall? You completely can't tell."

"Shh."

Interrupting Ye Guyi's shocked words, Nana tapped on the door in what sounded like a rhythmic pattern.

Absolute silence reigned within the doorway, but the next second, a mark suddenly materialized on Nana's hand before slowly fading away.

Once the mark lit up and subsided, the large doors were slowly pulled open from the inside.

Unlike the external streetscape, the moment a mere crack opened along the inner side of the gates, one could already feel that malevolent, sinister aura emanating from within the Holy Spirit Cult Branch Hall.

"This aura is truly uncomfortable."

"It really is the Holy Spirit Cult."

"Detestable! To be able to establish such a stronghold right inside the city, just how massive are they?"

Nana slowly walked inside the building. Nearly forty people were already lined up orderly in the main hall. All of them wore hooded cloaks that obscured their faces, and even when Nana walked in, only a handful of individuals who appeared to hold higher ranks glanced at her.

Up on the viewing platform, two figures sat quietly in chairs. Unlike the people down below, they wore long robes and masks, completely concealing their appearances.

"You've arrived, Nana."

The person seated on the left spoke in a much deeper voice.

"You've improved quite a bit again. Not bad."

As for the person seated on the right, their voice was much sharper. Upon closer inspection, the figure on the right appeared even taller and leaner.

"Greetings, Grand Holy Spirit. Greetings, Second Holy Spirit."

Nana bowed successively to the figures on the left and right, while simultaneously signaling to the three hidden behind her regarding the identities of these two figures.

Suddenly, the person seated on the right furrowed their brows slightly, just about to open their mouth, when a tall figure with a hunched back emerged from behind the curtains.

He paid no heed to the crowd below shouting the three words "Greetings, Elder" in unison, but instead acted as though nothing were out of the ordinary as he seated himself in his rightful master's chair.

As he walked past the Grand Holy Spirit and Second Holy Spirit, both of them stood up and bowed in greeting.

He sat down in the main chair, sweeping his gaze across the crowd below before locking onto Nana, who stood at the very back.

"Hmph, you carry the aura of the living on you."

The moment his words fell, a spectral hand materialized out of thin air, lunging straight toward Nana.

"???"

"We've been discovered..."

Crap, did this old man use a cheat code? Wait, no, did the original plot write about the protagonist getting discovered? Did it? Oh crap, it's over, it's completely over-do I not remember because we brought too many people along?

The three of them disguised as shadows held completely different thoughts internally. Ye Guyi and Huo Yuyao leaned heavily toward pessimism; they hadn't expected to be exposed this quickly, and the doors behind them were clearly locked by a strand of soul power.

The highest level on their side was only Ye Guyi at rank 42. Setting aside the opponents up top-the Soul Saint sitting at the very peak and the two Soul Emperors-the nearly forty people down below were universally at the Soul Ancestor level.

Damn it, we were discovered after all. No, since we've been exposed, forget it. We'll have to fight with everything we have later. We must force the door open first and let them get out. As long as we contact the academy, there has to be another way.

Just as Ye Guyi, hiding within the shadow, prepared to make a move...

A slightly deep voice echoed out from the shadow.

The gigantic hand that was about to grab Nana was directly shattered apart by mysterious runes flying outward continuously from the shadow.

"Capture her!"

"Good grief, Nana, how dare you betray us? Just wait for your parents to suffer eternal torment because of you!"

The figures on both sides of the viewing platform erupted with angry voices.

"Is that so..."

Accompanied by the shocked gazes of the crowd, a grey-haired, grey-eyed youth wearing ancient black robes and clutching a scepter-whose mere appearance made their entire bodies tremble-slowly stepped out from behind Nana.

Upon closer inspection, he was clearly a youth, yet that pair of grey eyes was filled with profound vicissitudes, and his short grey hair fluttered continuously amidst that dense, oppressive aura of death.

Clearly seeing that the youth was considerably taller than Nana, everyone watched as he stepped out without making the slightest sound, nor generating any fluctuations of aura.

The youth gripped the scepter, which was embedded with a skull atop its peak, and tapped its base lightly against the ground.

The next second, the nearly forty black-robed figures who had still been wearing expressions of bewilderment or rage all collapsed to their knees in unison.

And as the youth triggered the scepter's function, his entire body radiated three distinct auras: death, light, and life.

"S-such a dense aura of death! How can this be?"

"T-this degree of deathly aura... I-I've only ever felt it from those few elders. No, it's even inferior."

The Soul Saint seated in the master's chair trembled slightly at the fingers. The overwhelming force of death emitted by Lin Mo caused him to instinctively begin succumbing to submission.

"You all certainly possess quite the audacity, daring to touch even me."

Lin Mo's voice sounded aged and weathered, yet carried an extreme detachment.

Watching the subordinates who should have been obeying their commands now all kneeling before a stranger, both Holy Spirits were filled with fury. They abruptly stood up, preparing to strike.

"What? Unconvinced?"

Lin Mo slowly raised his staff and struck the ground once more.

An even more majestic force of death pressed the two individuals-who already possessed six-ring strength-directly down onto the ground. Even the Soul Saint who previously possessed a towering physique found himself hunching over significantly under this applied pressure.

Good thing I left a backup plan. A staff containing a wisp of Teacher's origin power is truly useful. To deal with people like these who don't even have a Titled Douluo, I don't even need to fully activate it. Just leaking out the tiniest bit is enough to grind them into the dirt.

That's right, Lin Mo had long since prepared for both outcomes.