On an immensely vast plaza.
Stone pillars a thousand feet tall rose into the sky, black chains spreading from them like spiderwebs. Countless clusters of light floated at the ends of these chains, each containing an illusory soul.
Some wore numb expressions, their eyes holding nothing but endless despair. Others wailed bitterly, screaming without pause. Among them, quite a few souls cursed like mad, venting their hatred in words steeped in venom.
Chen Cang strolled alone through this hellish plaza, turning a deaf ear to their curses and abuse.
This plaza lay beyond the iron gate at the end of the passage. Thanks to his status as a Protector and an eighth-tier alchemist, Chen Cang enjoyed considerable freedom in this branch hall. Extreme Ice Old Ghost and the other two had even brought him here for a tour.
Apparently, only this Soul-Seizing Plaza qualified as a rare spectacle. There really was nothing worth seeing elsewhere in the branch hall.
When Chen Cang first saw the Soul-Seizing Plaza, even his prior mental preparations had not kept his hair from standing on end.
After all, knowing about something was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was another.
Fortunately, as the days passed, Chen Cang came here every day. After seeing it so often, he gradually grew numb and accustomed to it.
Walking through the plaza without expression, Chen Cang could clearly sense with his soul perception that streams of mysterious power were being extracted from those clusters of light. They flowed along the spiderweb-like Soul-Locking Chains into the ground, then vanished.
Without having read the script, it would have been hard to understand the Soul Hall's actions.
But Chen Cang knew that the Soul Hall was extracting these souls' soul origin!
Something even he coveted was now no more than