Soul Palace

Biodata

Objectives

• Collect powerful souls: Most externally dispatched Protectors receive soul-collection missions that must be completed before they return. Alchemists are preferred targets because their soul power generally exceeds that of other cultivators at the same strength 238 284 360.
• Capture Yao Chen: The Palace helped Han Feng ambush his teacher specifically to obtain Yao Chen’s soul. Capturing him promises substantial rewards and possible promotion for a Protector 107 108.
• Acquire the Tou She Ancient God Jade: Blood River is sent to seize the Xiao Clan’s jade, while Xiao Yu later publicly announces that he holds it to draw the Palace’s attention toward himself 356 380.
• Seize Heavenly Flames: Mu Gu and a large supporting force attempt to obtain the Three Thousand Burning Flame through the Pill Gathering and an attack on the Star Domain 284 297 303.
• Support the Soul Clan’s larger plans: Xiao Yu suspects that the continent-wide soul harvest is intended to raise someone’s soul to the Emperor Realm, enabling them to unravel the jade’s secret. This is presented as his deduction, not a confirmed explanation from the Palace 395.

Organization and Leadership

Hierarchy and Internal Culture

• Palace Master: Hun Miesheng leads the organization and possesses early Five-Star Dou Sheng strength 385.
• Heavenly Venerates: Numbered senior figures include Gu You, the Second Heavenly Venerate, and Blood River, the Fourth Heavenly Venerate 354 356.
• Dou Zun elders: Venerable elders form the Palace’s backbone; deploying ten reinforcements for the Three Thousand Burning Flame represents a major commitment of strength 297.
• Protectors: Documented ranks include Heavenly Protector and Earth-Grade Protector. Protector Wu belongs to the latter category 60 107.
• Branch hall masters: Several are seriously injured during the failed attempt to capture Yao Chen’s soul 107.

The Palace values strength above loyalty or the lives of low-ranking members. Protectors conceal their collection sites from one another, fearing betrayal by colleagues seeking promotion. Protector Wu’s death consequently goes unnoticed and uninvestigated for three years, despite Xiao Yu’s earlier fear that it would bring immediate retaliation 93 238.

Known Members

Territory and Facilities

• Hidden locations: Even Hai Bodong’s investigation uncovers little about the Palace’s whereabouts. The Jia Ma Empire is considered too weak to have dealings with it 214.
• Northwest network: Four Protectors operate among the region’s first-rate factions. All are Dou Zong, with the strongest at Five-Star Dou Zong 238.
• Heavenly Dipper Halls: The Hall of Man is one of these halls. It stores collected soul origin until the Heavenly Mansion Alliance razes it 385.
• Sealed palace complex: A Palace leadership scene takes place in a separate world containing mist-covered mountains, exposed bones, and black-and-red halls. Thick black chains extend from the central hall into the ground, surrounded by mist that gradually assumes human shapes 381.
• Branch halls: Numerous branches remain targets during the Alliance’s later offensive; their destruction contributes to the Palace’s withdrawal from the Central Plains 393.

Abilities and Methods

Soul Collection

The Palace specializes in obtaining soul forms, initially through covert captures and later through open abductions, wars, and massacres 284 354 374.

• Targets include alchemists, powerful cultivators, and entire civilian populations 360.
• The Hall of Man’s accumulated soul origin allows Xiao Yan to raise his soul to Heaven Realm great perfection after its destruction 385.
• Without direct Soul Clan support, the Palace avoids attacking the Pill Tower’s core figures because of the Little Pill Tower Ancestor’s strength 360.

Nine Forests Hundred Soul Devouring

Protector Wu uses this Soul Palace secret art while devouring a soul inside a barrier 113.

• Yao Lao and Medusa regard its completion as a serious threat 113.
• The technique carries severe side effects and demands a substantial price from its user 114.
• Xiao Yu interrupts it with the Heaven-Shrouding Astral Fiend Great Hand Seal 114.

Ten Thousand Soul Devour Life Formation

Seven Soul Palace Venerables combine their power through this secret formation, producing enormous chains and skull-shaped attacks 298.

• Its combined power exceeds the sum of the participants’ individual strength 298.
• The chains are described as capable of killing an Eight-Star Dou Zun or grievously injuring a Nine-Star Dou Zun 298.
• Xiao Yu withstands the attack with the Golden Light Dao Flame, then destroys the formation and its seven users 298.

Infiltration and Information Security

• Disguised operatives: Investigators enter Sacred Pill City with their auras concealed, appearing no different from ordinary people 303.
• Soul restrictions: A captured investigator explodes when Xuan Kongzi attempts to search his soul. Xuan Kongzi subsequently breaks the restriction on another captive using a special method 303.
• Local intermediaries: Protectors maintain connections with regional factions, including Xie Biyan’s Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect 236 238.
• Intimidation: Members invoke the Palace’s retaliation to threaten opponents, as both Protector Wu and Blood River do when facing Xiao Yu 114 356.

Relationships

• Soul Clan — Parent power. The Palace acts on its behalf, but the two organizations are distinct; Dou Zun constitute important Palace personnel, while the clan possesses substantially stronger experts 60 297 354.
• Pill Tower — Long-standing enemy and defender of the alchemists the Palace targets. Their rivalry escalates from covert captures and regional reprisals into alliance warfare 292 305 374.
• Yao Chen / Yao Lao — A prized soul target and bitter enemy. His escape from the original ambush costs the Palace numerous Protectors and injures branch hall masters 107 108.
• Han Feng — Collaborator in the ambush against Yao Chen. A Palace Protector later rescues him after his first defeat by Xiao Yan 107 290.
• Xiao Yu and the Northwest Alliance — Opponents whose preparations are shaped by the threat to the Xiao Clan. Xiao Yu kills Palace experts, enslaves others, and uses controlled agents to mislead its leadership 214 238 357.
• Xiao Yan and Starfall Pavilion — Targets because of Yao Chen, Xiao Yan’s suspected role in the loss of eleven elders, and his revealed Xiao Clan ancestry 331 354.
• Heavenly Mansion Alliance — Principal wartime opponent, initially uniting Starfall Pavilion, the Pill Tower, Flower Sect, Burning Flame Valley, and other factions. The Ancient Void Dragon Clan and Nine Netherworld Python Clan later join its side 374 386.

History

Ambush of Yao Chen

Years before the main conflict, the Soul Palace joins Han Feng in a secret ambush against Yao Chen. Although his body is lost, his hidden methods allow a weakened remnant of his soul to escape. The Palace suffers heavy casualties during the attempt but continues pursuing him 107.

Protector Wu and the Misty Cloud Sect

Xiao Yu initially fears that Gu Clan assistance to someone surnamed Xiao will expose the supposedly extinct ancient Xiao Clan to Protector Wu. The threat instead resurfaces when Xiao Yan’s Buddha’s Fury Fire Lotus reveals the Bone Spirit Cold Flame’s aura, alerting Wu to Yao Chen’s presence 60 107.

Wu pursues the Xiao cousins and confronts Yao Lao. Xiao Yu ultimately kills him with his self-created hand seal, but remains concerned that the Palace will discover the death and destroy the Xiao Clan 108 114 118.

Northwest Protectors

Xiao Yu establishes the Northwest Alliance partly to provide organized protection against the Palace. After tracing a familiar aura through Xie Biyan, he discovers and enslaves Iron Protector and three other regional Protectors 214 236 238.

These captives reveal why Wu’s death has brought no investigation. Xiao Yu subsequently leaves them in the Northwest to alert him if additional Palace experts arrive 238 246.

Pill Gathering and Star Domain Operation

Mu Gu enters the Pill Gathering, seeking both the championship and access to the Three Thousand Burning Flame. Xiao Yan defeats him in the final contest, but the Palace proceeds with its armed operation 292 294 297.

The loss of eleven Venerable elders enrages a senior Palace figure and prompts a covert investigation. Unable to locate the missing forces, the Palace retaliates by hunting alchemists in the Pill Region; the Pill Tower answers by killing operatives caught causing trouble. These clashes continue for a year 303 305.

Attacks on Starfall Pavilion

The Palace suspects Xiao Yan’s involvement in the disappearance of its elders and attempts to eradicate Starfall Pavilion. Yao Chen severely wounds the Third and Fourth Heavenly Venerates, while Xiao Yan kills the Eighth and Ninth 331.

A later attack led by Gu You leaves Yao Chen injured. Tian Leizi and Xuan Yi help repel him. By this point, the Palace knows Xiao Yan’s ancient Xiao Clan ancestry, adding the clan’s jade to its reasons for targeting him 354.

Open Soul Harvest and the Gale Empire

The Palace’s collection campaign expands from secret abductions into increasingly open operations across the continent. In the Northwest, the Ghost Soul Sect conquers the Gale Empire and threatens the Northwest Alliance; its connection to the Palace is confirmed during the ensuing fighting 354 355.

Xiao Yu captures Blood River and learns that his assignment is to seize the Xiao Clan’s jade. Rather than kill the surviving Palace personnel, he enslaves them, allowing the organization to believe its Northwest soul-collection operation remains intact. Blood River returns with false information about the jade 356 357.

The Gale Empire’s entire population is lost to the Palace’s campaign 360.

Alliance War and Withdrawal

The Heavenly Mansion Alliance forms to oppose the Palace, initially producing a prolonged stalemate. Yun Yun and Chen Ye strengthen its position, while Xiao Yan’s forces destroy the Hall of Man 374 380 385.

After the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame conflict, all-out war erupts. Yun Yun protects the Northwest, forcing the Palace’s lackeys to concentrate their wars elsewhere. Medusa, the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, and the Nine Netherworld Python Clan join the opposition, and the Palace begins losing ground without stronger reinforcements from the Soul Clan 386.

Xiao Yan’s return at late Five-Star Dou Sheng further shifts the balance. Alliance forces destroy numerous branch halls and inflict devastating losses, eventually forcing the Palace’s remaining members to vanish from the Central Plains. Their destination is unknown 393.