"Let's go."
Lu Ren opened his eyes and strode deeper into the streets.
He had no clear direction, merely following the concentration of Cursed Energy toward the places where negative emotions were strongest.
The denser the Cursed Energy, the darker people's hearts.
The darker people's hearts, the easier it was to find what he sought.
If possible, Lu Ren truly wanted to stay in Mingdu forever. In a place with such dense Cursed Energy, his cultivation should improve very quickly, too.
Ji Juechen followed behind him without a word, like a silent shadow.
The two crossed the bustling main street, passed through the brightly lit commercial district, and traversed the crowded residential area.
The farther they went, the narrower the streets became, the dimmer the lights grew, and the denser the Cursed Energy permeating the air became.
After walking for an unknown length of time, Lu Ren stopped.
He stood deep in a secluded alley, facing an unremarkable wooden door.
The paint on the door had peeled away in patches, and its ring knocker was covered in rust. It looked as though no one had used it in a long time.
The wooden door was set into a gray-brick wall, with a few clumps of withered grass growing along the top, swaying gently in the wind.
Surrounded by towering buildings, the entire courtyard looked utterly inconspicuous, like a grain of sand forgotten in a corner.
Ji Juechen swept his gaze over the door and frowned slightly.
"This place looks a little familiar."
Lu Ren stared at the door, rapidly searching his memories of the original novel.
A moment later, he remembered what this place was.
Ji Juechen looked at him.
"Are there strong opponents here to challenge?"
Lu Ren turned his head, a hint of a smile that was not quite a smile on his face.
"Have you heard of the Holy Spirit Cult?"
Ji Juechen's expression did not change at all.
"Not interested."
"There are plenty of strong people inside," Lu Ren added, his tone light and casual, as though discussing something trivial. "Plenty stronger than you."
Ji Juechen's gaze changed instantly.
It was as though a fire had been lit in those dull, lightless eyes.
"Now I'm interested."
Lu Ren laughed aloud.
This sword fanatic really had not changed.
The Holy Spirit Cult, Evil Soul Masters-he cared about none of that.
He cared about only one thing: whether there were strong people for him to cut down, opponents who could give him a satisfying fight and then let him improve himself.
"Then come in with me and stir up some trouble."
Lu Ren stepped forward, raised his hand, and knocked lightly on the door.
Three long knocks, two short.
The knocking echoed through the silent alley, like some ancient secret signal.
A moment later, faint footsteps came from behind the door.
The wooden door was pulled open a crack from within.
The one who opened it was a young man dressed entirely in black, wearing a conical hat. Black gauze concealed most of his face, leaving only a pair of sinister eyes exposed.
His gaze swept over Lu Ren's and Ji Juechen's faces, and his pupils contracted slightly.
He had never seen either of these faces before.
"Who are you?!"
The black-clad young man's voice was shrill, carrying unmistakable wariness and hostility.
At the same time, faint gray fluctuations of Soul Power began to surge around him.
That Soul Power was bone-chillingly cold, carrying a presence that would instinctively unsettle ordinary people.
Lu Ren did not answer.
He simply raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and clamped them over the black-clad young man's face.
The movement was as swift as lightning. Before the black-clad young man could retreat even half a step, that hand had locked firmly around his entire face.
Immediately afterward, Lu Ren activated Reverse Cursed Technique.
Positive energy gathered in his palm and, disguised as Soul Power, poured into the black-clad young man's body through his mouth.
That warm, pure energy was the finest healing light for ordinary people.
But for Evil Soul Masters...
It was the most terrifying poison in the world.
"Aaaaaah!"
The black-clad young man let out an utterly agonized scream.
His body shook violently, like a fish thrown ashore.
The layer of gray Evil Soul Master Soul Power surrounding him evaporated wildly under the wash of positive energy, hissing like water splashed into boiling oil.
Not only that, his Martial Soul was forcibly activated at that moment, then shattered.
The sound of his Martial Soul shattering was like a mirror being smashed by a heavy hammer.
Countless motes of light burst from his body and dissipated into the night sky, like a silent display of fireworks.
The black-clad young man's body went limp, collapsing to the ground as he lost consciousness completely.
An expression twisted with terror still lingered on his face, as though, in the final instant before losing consciousness, he had seen the most frightening thing in the world.
Lu Ren withdrew his hand and lowered his head to look at his palm.
Then he looked at the unconscious black-clad young man on the ground.
His expression was rather peculiar.
"Well, damn."
He murmured to himself, a flicker of realization passing through his eyes.
"So Evil Soul Masters are pretty similar to the Cursed Spirits in Jujutsu."
The positive energy emitted through Reverse Cursed Technique Release countered Evil Soul Masters even more terrifyingly than he had imagined.
This was hardly healing. It was downright purification.
Still, it could not reach the level shown in Jujutsu Kaisen, where mastering Reverse Cursed Technique Release and pouring that positive energy into a Cursed Spirit's body was enough to kill it instantly.
But even if it was not an instant kill, it was close enough.
With that one simple move, Lu Ren had effectively crippled this Evil Soul Master.
In other words, aside from the Holy Angel Martial Soul, Lu Ren was now the greatest counter to Evil Soul Masters on the entire continent.
Standing behind him, Ji Juechen glanced at the unconscious black-clad young man on the ground, then at Lu Ren's palm.
"Your ability counters them very well."
That was a statement, not a question.
"Looks like it." Lu Ren shook his hand, as though shaking off something dirty. "Let's go. We'll take a look inside."
He stepped over the black-clad young man's body and pushed open the half-closed wooden door.
Beyond the door was a deep corridor, where dim Soul Guidance Lamps cast pallid light onto the walls.
Voices and fluctuations of Soul Power came faintly from the far end of the corridor, and a barely perceptible smell of blood hung in the air.
Lu Ren strode inside.
Ji Juechen followed closely, his right hand already resting on his sword hilt.
The courtyard gate slowly closed behind them, shutting out the last trace of dim yellow light from the alley.
Lu Ren stopped and swept his gaze over the scene before him.
From the outside, this had been nothing more than an inconspicuous, dilapidated little courtyard.
But after he stepped through the door, the view suddenly opened up. The entire courtyard was several times larger than one would judge from outside, clearly the result of meticulous spatial design.
A path paved with gray stone slabs wound ahead, with all sorts of plants growing on either side.
Tall trellises extended from the courtyard walls to the edges of the buildings, dense vines covering every inch of space and weaving an emerald canopy.
Those overlapping layers of vines completely blocked any view from the upper floors of the surrounding buildings.
This was a common arrangement in Mingdu. Towering buildings stood everywhere in the city, and no one wanted their privacy exposed to other people's eyes, so they planted these plants as natural screens.
But now, the atmosphere in this secluded courtyard had changed completely.
The scream from the young man in the conical hat moments earlier could be said to have alerted everyone in the courtyard.
So much so that hurried footsteps came from deep within it, and figures streamed out from every corner, one after another.
Lu Ren quietly watched those people surround him.
Leading them was a tall man wearing a black hood, with only a pair of sinister eyes exposed.
Seven Soul Rings slowly rose beneath his feet.
Two yellow, two purple, and three black-the standard configuration for a Soul Saint.
Behind him, two Soul Emperors stood shoulder to shoulder, likewise wearing black hoods, their gazes as cold and sinister as venomous snakes.
"Who goes there?!"
Before you continue