Stripping the Soul Bone! Hu Liena

In a hidden corner of the imperial palace, Shi Nian was tightly bound to a specially made chair. Steel needles had been forcibly driven through acupoints all over his body, leaving him unable to move even a finger.

His eyes had already gone numb, yet the silver-haired figure seemed to have no intention of sparing him. She took out her pair of Black Dragon Claws once more.

With two swishes, the piercing hum of blades rang out, especially harsh within the confined space.

Shi Nian's pupils trembled violently, and his face turned deathly pale.

"Please, spare me! Lady Saintess, I'll never dare provoke Spirit Hall again!"

"Spare you?"

A sinister smile curled across Bing Jiu's beautiful face as she tapped his forehead.

"I quite like this Illusion Wisdom Skull. To take it, I need your life. But this Saintess is kind by nature, so I'm still willing to give you a chance."

Bing Jiu spread her hands. "Guess how many fingers you have on your hands right now."

"Ten!"

Shi Nian did not realize anything was wrong and answered without hesitation.

"Mm, correct."

Bing Jiu nodded approvingly.

Shi Nian was instantly overjoyed, and a look of relief appeared on his face.

But the next second...

Whoosh!

A black gleam mixed with violet lightning flashed past. Shi Nian's grotesquely twisted face suddenly froze as he lowered his head to look.

His two hands had vanished in an instant!

How was that possible?!

"Oh? Looks like you answered wrong."

Bing Jiu toyed with the black gleam in her hand. Within that darkness, Shi Nian could clearly see his own two hands.

His eyes bloodshot, Shi Nian no longer cared about anything and opened his mouth to curse.

Yet before he could make a sound, Bing Jiu clenched her fist. The black gleam immediately vanished, only to reappear inside Shi Nian's mouth.

Shi Nian opened and closed his mouth wildly, his face contorted in agony, but not a single sound came out.

This... my, my tongue!

Shi Nian's pupils contracted sharply.

This woman had actually stolen his tongue! When had she done it?!

"Painful, isn't it?"

Scarlet pupils bloomed in the darkness. To Shi Nian, Bing Jiu now looked like a true demon!

Shi Nian opened his mouth wide. Terror made him desperately want to roar, but he had no way to vent it, only strange, muffled cries escaping him.

Bing Jiu forcibly tore the Illusion Wisdom Skull from his head, skin and flesh included. After washing it clean, she carefully placed it in a box. Wiping the blood from herself, she decided she had had enough fun and turned to leave the room.

Tuoba Xi, who had been listening outside with his hair standing on end, shuddered when he saw Bing Jiu emerge.

"Um, S-Saintess..."

Bing Jiu could not help laughing when she saw him like that.

"Hahaha, Uncle Tuoba, don't worry. I won't do that to you."

Tuoba Xi had just breathed a sigh of relief when Bing Jiu continued.

"But that's only if you don't betray me."

Tuoba Xi's entire body trembled. Bing Jiu tapped his wrist and shoved a poisoned knife into his hand.

"Deal with him. Continue as we discussed beforehand. Don't let anything slip."

"Yes!"

A chill ran down Tuoba Xi's back as he hurriedly turned and left.

He was certain that Bing Jiu had absolutely not been joking just now!

As the Pan-continental Advanced Soul Master Competition continued, the matches in Spirit City also entered the schedule.

Inside the Papal Hall, a woman with a splendid figure and an exceedingly soft, seductive appearance entered the hall. She dropped to one knee and spoke to Bibi Dong on the raised platform.

"Teacher."

"Mm, Nana, no need for formalities."

Bibi Dong was reading a letter in her hand. On the table beside her lay many more opened letters, their pages crumpled from being read over and over again.

Hu Liena naturally understood that they were all letters Bing Jiu had written to Bibi Dong, and sorrow immediately surfaced on her face.

Why did Teacher always care so much about her, instead of me?

I'm so outstanding. Why does Teacher always fail to see it? Could it be because I've never received recognition from the Worship Hall, one of Spirit Hall's three great halls, and thus cannot become Spirit Hall's true Saintess?

At the thought of this, Hu Liena's fists clenched tightly.

Of the three Spirit Hall divisions, one only needed the recognition of two to be named the Spirit Hall Saintess.

But only someone recognized by all three divisions could become the Saintess Spirit Hall presented to the continent!

In Spirit Hall's history, only two people had ever achieved this.

One was her teacher, and the other was Bing Jiu!

"Nana, how has the training been going for you and your brothers?" Bibi Dong suddenly asked.

Hu Liena snapped back to her senses and hurriedly reported the Spirit Hall Elite Academy's current progress to Bibi Dong.

Bibi Dong nodded approvingly after listening. "Very good, Nana. Remember this: this time, our Spirit Hall will offer five Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones as rewards."

"Five!"

Hearing that number, Hu Liena could not help but be startled.

"Didn't you say there would be three before? Teacher, if we offer five Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones, even Spirit Hall..."

"You mean, you might lose?"

Bibi Dong raised her head, and her gaze turned incomparably cold in an instant.

Hu Liena retreated several steps, sweat running down from her forehead as she hastily dropped to one knee.

Bibi Dong snorted coldly a few times and waved her hand.

"Actually, losing doesn't matter either, because to obtain these five soul bones, they will still have to defeat Bing Jiu's Spirit Hall evaluation team."

"You may leave, Nana. Sometimes, you should learn more from Little Jiu. Though her cultivation is below yours, she can already shoulder the burden of Spirit Hall on her own."

"...Yes."

Hu Liena left the Papal Hall in a daze.

She truly wanted to ask why it was Bing Jiu again this time, and what was so great about her.

But in the end, she did not ask, because she already knew the answer anyway. But...

"Hiss... why?"

Hu Liena clutched her head in pain. "I clearly know all of this, so why can't I remember any of it at all?"

Heaven Dou City

This was the final day of the Heaven Dou regional preliminaries—the day Tang San and Bing Jiu had agreed upon.

The sky had only just begun to brighten. Bing Jiu was still asleep, hugging the cat-eared Dugu Yan, when she heard Tang San downstairs shouting through a loudspeaker.

"Saintess, wake up!"

Bing Jiu blinked and woke groggily...

No, was something wrong with this guy?

With no other choice, Bing Jiu had previously given Tuoba Xi and Ling Yuan a strict order not to beat Tang San up, so she could only get up and deal with him herself.

By the time they arrived at the Great Spirit Arena, Dugu Yan was not embarrassed in the slightest. She had slept on Bing Jiu's back the entire way, and only now did Bing Jiu wake her with a slap.

"Wuwu—Master, I think I just heard a dog barking to wake me up."

Tang San: ...

"I'm the dog?" Tang San looked at Dugu Yan with killing intent filling his eyes.

She dared call him a dog? Dugu Yan, you have earned yourself a death sentence!

"Enough," Bing Jiu said helplessly, waving her hand.

"That dog is one I raised. It definitely wasn't you."

Was that emphasis really necessary?

Ling Yuan covered her mouth, nearly laughing out loud.

Wasn't that basically saying that dog was him?

Tang San did not catch the meaning at all. Instead, he nodded with a look of complete agreement. "Mm, I knew that dog wasn't me."

This was ridiculous...