"From the look of you, are you ready to die?"
"It's fine. Just be more careful in your next life."
Gu Yuan spoke with a smile, and Ah Yin went pale with fright.
Wait, was he really going to kill me?
Against the powerful Gu Yuan, she truly had no ability to resist at all.
I'm done, I'm done. I've really gone too far this time.
Senior is furious. My little life is forfeit!
"Please calm your anger, Senior. Please, please give me a chance to make amends."
Even Ah Yin's voice was trembling.
She was genuinely afraid that Gu Yuan would bring down a single finger, and then she would be off to meet her great-grandmother.
Seeing that Ah Yin really was badly frightened, Gu Yuan finally said, "I'm teasing you. Did you really take me for some great demon?"
With that, he turned to look at Tang Hao and the others.
Ah Yin swallowed and finally managed to steady herself, grumbling inwardly.
Would someone who wasn't a great demon casually slap two hundred elites of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan to death?
Of course, she absolutely dared not say any of that aloud.
If she really said it, she might end up dead as dead could be.
"Y-you, what exactly do you want?"
Tang Hao was in a miserable state.
After being immobilized, he could do nothing but speak.
He could only watch as Gu Yuan teased Ah Yin right in front of him.
While Gu Yuan was teasing Ah Yin, his heart was filled with fury.
He felt as though he had lost something very important, as though something that had originally belonged to him had been snatched away.
That feeling was unbearable.
"You said you're the Clear Sky Sect's young master, so I can't kill you?"
Gu Yuan pointed a finger, and the bodies of Tang Hao and the Clear Sky Sect's six guardians dropped to their knees uncontrollably.
They even knelt in a neat row.
"No matter how high your cultivation is, if you really dare lay a hand on me today, the Clear Sky Sect will never let you off!"
Tang Hao's voice and expression were stern, the fury and smugness in his eyes plain for all to see.
In his view, Gu Yuan had not killed him yet because he must fear the Clear Sky Sect's power.
Sure enough, the prestige of the world's number one sect was useful.
Whatever trouble he ran into, all he had to do was invoke the Clear Sky Sect's name.
Gu Yuan felt like laughing.
People from the Clear Sky Sect always had this inexplicable confidence.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had already been beaten into sealing its gates, so why were the Clear Sky Sect's people still refusing to behave?
Were they not afraid of having their sect wiped out?
Ah Yin stood cautiously beside Gu Yuan, feeling that this was her chance to make up for her mistake with a meritorious deed.
She decisively raised her hand and slapped down.
With a smack, she nearly gave Tang Hao a concussion.
"Insolence! How dare you be so rude to Senior! Watch yourself, or even the Clear Sky Sect behind you will be destroyed!"
After taking a solid slap across the face, Tang Hao was utterly stunned.
From childhood until now, no one had ever dared treat him like this.
And now the person hitting him was Ah Yin, making it even harder for him to accept.
"You dare..."
"Why wouldn't I dare?"
Ah Yin cut him off outright and snorted coldly. "You still haven't recognized him? The Clear Sky Sect's people really are useless."
"The senior standing before you is none other than the powerful expert from Spirit Hall who killed Yu Yuanzhen with one finger and instantly slew two hundred elites of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with a single palm strike in Spirit City not long ago!"
The moment she said that, Tang Hao's words caught in his throat.
All seven stared, dumbfounded.
What?
The person before them was actually that mysterious expert from Spirit Hall?
The Clear Sky Sect had its guesses about that mysterious expert.
He was very likely a rank ninety-nine Titled Douluo, and might even have reached rank one hundred and become a god!
They had actually provoked an existence like that.
Would killing them not be effortless for such an existence?
And the Clear Sky Sect probably would not dare retaliate either.
For one thing, his cultivation was far too outrageous; for another, Spirit Hall was not something the current Clear Sky Sect could contend with.
The number of Titled Douluo revealed that day had shocked every Soul Master faction.
"Weren't you so arrogant just now? Not so arrogant anymore?"
Ah Yin spoke with a smile, then cautiously stole another glance at Gu Yuan.
Only after seeing that he was not angry did she relax.
It looks like I've really made up for my mistake!
"That's enough. Since you've fallen into my hands, say bye-bye to this world."
"Can't say it? The world can say bye-bye to you instead."
With that, he snapped his fingers.
"No..."
Tang Hao shouted, but his voice could not carry out at all.
His body was dissipating, starting from the soles of his feet and gradually turning into motes of light that vanished between heaven and earth.
The other six were the same, looking at one another in terror.
The process was not fast, but that was precisely what made it most terrifying.
Watching their companions of many years disappear bit by bit before their very eyes, just what sort of power was this?
Once all seven had completely vanished, Gu Yuan pointed a finger.
Seven souls abruptly floated in the air.
His attack just now had not erased their souls; instead, he had preserved them.
Reduced to nothing but souls, the seven struggled desperately, yet could not escape no matter what.
Even Ah Yin could see their translucent soul forms.
"Senior, are these souls?"
Ah Yin was very curious. This was her first time seeing human souls, and she found it quite wondrous.
Just how terrifying was this senior?
He could actually imprison human souls.
It was truly an unheard-of method.
"That's right. They are souls."
"Then why did you keep their souls, Senior?"
She did not understand. Since he could imprison souls, he should also be able to destroy them.
Why was he still keeping them now?
"They offended me, so naturally, they must receive a little punishment."
"The annihilation of their bodies was only the beginning. Next, their souls will burn in Nether Ghost Fire for a million years, then dissipate on their own after those million years."
As his words fell, a mass of blue-green flame appeared in his palm.
It was clearly a flame, yet the instant it appeared, it made one's hair stand on end.
When the seven soul forms saw the flame, they cried out in even greater terror.
That was an instinctive fear arising from their souls.
The Nether Ghost Fire flew out of Gu Yuan's palm and enveloped the seven soul forms.
The seven souls swallowed within it did not disappear, but howled shrilly.
"Senior, d-does this flame specifically target souls?"
Ah Yin's body trembled.
She was not dead yet, but that flame gave her the sensation of death, and even her own soul was afraid.
Gu Yuan smiled faintly. Nether Ghost Fire did indeed specifically target souls.
If an ordinary soul so much as touched it, even the soul of a rank ninety-nine Titled Douluo would be reduced to ash all the same.
However, his control was excellent, so it would certainly burn for a million years.
Making Tang Hao's soul burn for a million years counted as a small punishment.
Putting away the Nether Ghost Fire, he casually waved a hand, and a peculiar ripple flashed past.
Everything in the room returned to how it had been before Tang Hao and the others entered.
The furniture, floor, ceiling, and everything else that had been damaged all returned to normal.
"Is this a method involving time?"
Ah Yin muttered to herself, recalling some legendary Soul Beasts.
Certain special Soul Beasts could wield the power of time.
But they did not seem capable of anything this outrageous.
Yet Gu Yuan could do it with ease.
Just like those scenes he had shown her earlier, which seemed to have drawn on the power of time as well!
Gu Yuan did not answer, instead looking toward the spot where the seven men's bodies had been annihilated.
Seven streaks of golden light had already emerged there, ultimately condensing into multicolored crystals that dropped to the floor.
Primordial Origin Crystals!