Infighting in the Hall of Souls

"Has the Hall of Souls set its sights on you?"

Xiao Xuan knew that those directly under the Hun Clan were unlikely to roam the continent, but the same might not be true of the Hall of Souls, the organization they had created.

"Senior, you know how terrifying the Hall of Souls is too! Our Heavenly Snake Mansion can only do its utmost."

Venerable Snake spoke with some bitterness.

In his view, powerful as these two Dou Sheng seniors were, they would still find it troublesome to face the Hall of Souls, the continent's foremost power.

And it would not be for their own sake, either.

Whether they would intervene was anyone's guess.

Venerable Snake sighed inwardly. He had thought this was the moment the Heavenly Snake Mansion would rise to greatness, but he had not expected it to be a time of calamity as well.

I can only hope that, for the sake of the inheritance he took from the Heavenly Snake Mansion, Senior will offer some protection to its direct descendants!

What power could escape once the Hall of Souls had set its sights on it?

Even so-called cooperation meant being swallowed whole, bones and all.

They had always been very careful to keep their distance before, but that was no longer possible.

Two Hall of Souls elders had already appeared.

They were determined to get what they wanted.

They're taking advantage of my old age!

"This junior has a request. When you leave, could you take some of my juniors with you?" Venerable Snake asked with a hint of hope. "You need not provide them with cultivation resources. Just find a place to settle them."

Venerable Snake knew the terrifying means a Dou Sheng possessed. If Senior intervened, nothing could possibly go wrong.

The Heavenly Snake Mansion would naturally not sit and wait for death, but even if it used every means at its disposal,

it would likely still lack the strength to stand against the Hall of Souls.

"Heh!"

Xiao Xuan chuckled. He had sensed that the two Soul Hall Protector puppets he had set in place earlier had also come with the people from the Hall of Souls.

That made things much easier to arrange.

He would use the Heavenly Snake Mansion as the board on which to place his pieces.

"You little fellow, do you have so little confidence in me? It's only the Hall of Souls."

His tone was utterly casual. The Hall of Souls was merely a front the Hun Clan maintained in the open. When it came to true experts, it probably could not produce a single High-Level Dou Sheng.

"Senior, your strength reaches the heavens. This junior was as shortsighted as a mouse."

Venerable Snake immediately seized the opportunity. Whether it was true or not, he would grasp at any hope.

"I have other plans for the Hall of Souls. As for you, draw them out quickly!"

"I'll give you another means of protecting yourself!"

"From now on, your Heavenly Snake Mansion will come under Qing Lin. Once my disciple's strength has improved, she will come and take charge of you."

"Any objections?"

As Xiao Xuan finished speaking, Qing Lin let a trace of the Ancient Heavenly Snake's presence show at just the right moment.

To these humans who had received the Ancient Heavenly Snake's legacy, it was as though they had come face-to-face with their ancestor.

"This... has this young lady received the inheritance from the deepest reaches?"

Venerable Snake would never have paid a mere Dou Emperor any mind, but a Dou Emperor who could make even him feel some pressure? She was unquestionably the best master for the Heavenly Snake Mansion.

As for whether Miss Qing Lin was a direct descendant of the Heavenly Snake Mansion, that no longer mattered.

Besides, he had no choice in the matter.

"All of the Heavenly Snake Mansion is willing to honor Miss Qing Lin as our leader!"

Without any fuss, Venerable Snake gave a young girl a deep bow.

Still looking somewhat puzzled, Qing Lin hid behind Xiao Xuan, not quite used to it.

Pleased that Venerable Snake knew what was good for him, Xiao Xuan gathered the world's primordial Qi at his fingertip into a tiny sword and sent it into the space between Venerable Snake's brows.

If he encountered danger, he only had to trigger it, and no one below Dou Sheng would survive.

Xiao Xuan was supremely confident.

With his hands behind his back, he waited for the Hun Clan's people to arrive.

Venerable Snake quietly departed.

A considerable portion of the Heavenly Snake Empire was already shrouded in roiling black Qi, yet, strangely, not the slightest sign of anything amiss could be seen from outside.

A vast, magnificent complex of buildings served as the Hall of Souls' temporary base.

There were two elders at the Dou Zun level, as well as more than ten protectors!

"Does the Heavenly Snake Mansion really have foundations beyond ordinary people's imagination? You old bastard had better not be lying to me."

"What does it matter? Since the Heavenly Snake Mansion has endured for so many years, it's bound to have some secrets. Even if it doesn't, its sect's stores will be enough."

The two elders discussed the matter among themselves, paying no heed whatsoever to the thoughts of the Heavenly Snake Empire's countless inhabitants.

"In the previous battle, Venerable Snake didn't match the earlier rumors! It seems he's already drawn on his sect's foundations. Otherwise, there's no way he could have recovered his vitality. Should we strike early?"

"No hurry, no hurry. I've invited another elder. With the three of us joining forces, the Heavenly Snake Mansion won't escape even if it sprouts wings."

"How do we divide the spoils? I don't want to give any of mine up."

One of the Hall of Souls elders frowned.

"It's fine. He only recently advanced to Dou Zun, so we can just give him a little to send him on his way. It's also a precaution."

The other Hall of Souls elder remained calm.

Within the Hall of Souls, too, the strong preyed on the weak.

"You two, I'm here."

Just then, a black-robed figure swept past and descended into the Hall of Souls' base.

"Now that you're here, let's set out and strike!"

"Afterward, we'll make a puppet of the Heavenly Snake Mansion, and its remaining disciples will secretly follow the Hall of Souls' lead."

The Hall of Souls had always relied on the same few methods.

But with countless experts putting their strength behind them, those methods were extremely effective.

Elsewhere in the Heavenly Snake Empire, Venerable Snake was still considering how to lure the enemy when he was startled to sense several powerful presences not far away.

The Hall of Souls had sent more experts.

There were three Dou Zun!

His expression changed drastically, but Venerable Snake gritted his teeth and went to meet the threat head-on instead.

He would use himself to lure them to the forbidden grounds.

Senior was there and would never allow those Hall of Souls scoundrels to cause trouble.

Hoo~

It had been a long time since his blood had surged like this. For the sect!

Venerable Snake raised all his Dou Qi.

"Meet the enemy!"

With that shout, everyone in the Heavenly Snake Mansion sprang into action.

They faced death as though returning home.

The old ancestor would deal with the Dou Zun experts, but the rest would have to fight the Hall of Souls protectors with their lives on the line.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Snake Mansion held the advantage of terrain, and its Dou Zong and Dou Emperors emerged one after another, so they could keep the enemy occupied.

But as for the old ancestor...

The Heavenly Snake Mansion's master had an intensely worried look in his eyes, along with sorrow.

Was the sect truly going to be destroyed and its people wiped out?

Fight!

A great battle was on the verge of breaking out.

At the forbidden grounds, Xiao Xuan's soul power had naturally allowed him to gauge the Hall of Souls' arrivals long ago.

But without a great battle, how could the pieces he had planted be driven in any deeper?

Of the two Soul Hall Protectors he had enslaved back then, one was Protector Xue and the other Protector Bai.

By now, Protector Bai had used the enslavement mark to break through to Dou Zun, while Protector Xue, though still a little short, had reached Nine-Star Dou Zong.

Once this "great battle" was over, they would presumably be able to advance openly into the Hall of Souls' upper ranks.

Perhaps they might even have a chance to go to the Hun Clan.

That would be very interesting.

"Shall I act?"

Mo Xuan was eager to give it a try. He had no fondness for the Hall of Souls' whelps either.

If Xiao Xuan had not said there was no hurry, the Hall of Souls' forces on the continent would probably already have been uprooted.

A High-Level Dou Sheng had the strength to do it.

But he could only run rampant for a time. After all, the Hun Clan had quite a few High-Level Dou Sheng as well.

"No hurry. I gave that little snake sufficient means; they'll be triggered later."

Xiao Xuan smiled casually and continued watching Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin spar.

Their control over their own strength was still quite lacking.

"You're the only one with the leisure for that!"

Unable to suppress his urge to join the excitement, Mo Xuan tore open a Space Wormhole.