77: Soul

“Buzz—!”

A pitch-black spatial rift, nine zhang high and edged with turbulent Chaos currents, tore open before everyone like the ferocious maw of an ancient Vicious Beast! Standing before the rift, Li Xuan, the Grand Hall Master of the Spirit Martial Hall, wore a purple-gold Daoist robe that flapped loudly despite the lack of wind. He was surrounded by an almost materialized Dao aura, seemingly integrated with the world around him! His sleeve, like a cloud hanging from the sky, suddenly swept out—

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!”

A thousand streaks of brilliant light, containing profound spatial coordinates, poured down like a breach in the Nine Heavens Star River, accurately sinking into the depths of every Prodigy's glabella, branding an indelible Void Realm mark!

“This mark is the guide for your return journey. Sixty days from now, the Spirit Martial Hall will use it to retrieve you.” Li Xuan's voice was as indifferent as ten thousand years of profound ice, yet it contained the supreme majesty of judging all heavens. “The Soul Ruins Secret Realm is as vast as the Minor Thousand Worlds. Once you enter, you will be scattered far and wide; meeting each other will be as difficult as ascending to heaven! Opportunities and good fortune... depend entirely on your own Luck and methods!”

His profound gaze, which seemed capable of seeing through eternity, swept over the crowd, finally pausing on Lin Yuan for a moment: “Remember! Here, the Soul Spirits can only be harmed by Divine Thought and Spiritual Artifacts! Physical Body strength...” His voice carried an undeniable warning, “is virtually useless in this place!”

Lin Yuan lowered his gaze, resting it on the ancient scabbard at his waist. Inside the scabbard, the chaos heavenly extreme sword was emitting a low, excited hum, its body trembling slightly, as if it had sensed the aura of Soul Spirits deep within the Secret Realm that made its Bloodline surge. A terrifying, restrained fluctuation, enough to make the Soul tremble, faintly seeped out!

“Rumble—!”

Space suddenly twisted into a violent vortex! A thousand Prodigies didn't even have Time to cry out before they were instantly dragged into the bottomless dark rift by an overwhelming, irresistible Devouring force! Lin Yuan felt all light, color, and sound vanish before his eyes. His Divine Thought felt as if it had been thrown into a Chaos grinding mill, tearing and shattering... only to be forcibly reshaped by a mysterious power in the very next instant!

—

“Bang!!!”

With a dull crash like a meteor hitting the ground, Lin Yuan slammed heavily onto a patch of dead black scorched earth! His body sprang up instantly like a coiled spring. His Rank Nine Divine Thought immediately spread out like an invisible net, vigilantly scanning this utterly bizarre world!

The sky was a solidified, nauseating dark crimson, like a gigantic, dried demon's hide covering the firmament. In the distance, countless broken Peaks floated silently beneath the bloody canopy, resembling severed limbs torn apart by the giant claws of gods and devils. The air was filled with a bone-deep aura of decay and malice; every breath felt as if billions of vengeful Souls were shrieking and tearing inside his lungs!

Buzz—!

Just then, dazzling blood light suddenly erupted deep within Lin Yuan's retina! Countless runes flowing with crimson luster poured down like a torrential waterfall:

[Ding—! Soul Ruins Origin System... Loading complete!]

[Host: Lin Yuan]

[Rank: 1 (0/100 million EXP)]

[Divine Thought Strength: 100 Yu (Rank 1 divine sense tree)]

[Equipment Bonus: 800 Yu (chaos heavenly extreme sword, High Grade Spiritual Artifact)]

[Talent Bonus: 100 Yu (Primordial Dao Body)]

[Law Bonus: 112.95 Yu (Chaos/Time/Space/Devouring... Law stacking)]

“One hundred million EXP... just to level up once?!” Lin Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted. The thirty-thousand-meter Divine Thought giant tree in his Sea of Consciousness rustled without wind. “One hundred Ranks to reach the Peak... the energy needed for this Rank Nine divine sense tree to reach Perfection... is like a whale swallowing the Star Sea!”

Just as he was about to check the System's other mysteries, the edge of his Divine Thought perception sharply trembled! In the churning gray mist in the distance, dozens of pale white phantoms silently drifted out like ghosts! Their forms were ethereal and unstable, seemingly condensed from the purest vengeful mist. Deep within their hollow eye sockets, chilling pale Soul flames flickered!

[Rank One White Soul Spirits x 50]

[combat power: 1 Yu/each]

“Mere wandering Souls actually possess 1 Yu of Divine Thought combat power...” A trace of cold surprise flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes. “The Soul Clan's attainments in the path of the Divine Soul are truly shocking! Human Prodigies need to condense a Rank Three Divine Thought Seed to the Peak just to possess 1 Yu of power...” A chilling curve appeared at the corner of his mouth. “No wonder only a thousand of the strongest Prodigies were chosen! Ordinary people entering this place... are no different from lambs falling into a purgatory blood pool!”

Amidst the cold laughter, Lin Yuan didn't even draw his sword! He pressed his index and middle fingers together on his right hand and casually drew a line toward the gray mist!

“Clang—!”

A terrifying Sword Qi, condensed like substance, black as ink, and tearing space at its edges, swept out roaring like the breath of an apocalypse Demon Dragon!

“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—!”

Silent annihilation! Fifty white Soul Spirits couldn't even stir a ripple before they were instantly swallowed and decomposed by the destructive sword light, turning into wisps of white smoke, which were greedily absorbed by the divine sense tree in Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness!

[Killed Rank One White Soul Spirits x 50]

[EXP + 500,000]

[Current EXP: 500,000 / 100 million]

“...” Lin Yuan watched the slowly crawling number on the panel, his mouth twitching fiercely. “Five hundred thousand? I need to kill ten thousand of them just to level up once? This efficiency... is outrageous!”

“It seems... I need to find some ‘hard currency’.” Lin Yuan's eyes flared with sharp light, and his Rank Nine Divine Thought was unleashed without reservation, sweeping over a thousand-li radius like an invisible, monstrous tsunami!

In the Divine Thought feedback, a “Soul Nest” was instantly locked onto—it was a giant valley piled high with billions of pale white skeletons. Broken Dragon bones and shattered giant beast skulls shimmered with ghastly white light under the dark crimson sky, resembling an entrance to Hell! Inside the valley, hundreds of white Soul Spirits drifted aimlessly like unconscious phantoms. But in the deepest part of that skeleton valley, a phantom figure, entirely emerald green and with a Soul body condensed almost into substance, was particularly conspicuous! It was coiled atop an ancient beast bone the size of a small hill, surrounded by a dense green Soul glow, like the monarch of this land of death!

[Rank One Green Soul Spirit · Elite]

[combat power: 10 Yu]

“Ten Times the power of the White Souls...” Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. The divine sense tree in his Sea of Consciousness swayed gently. “But... still an ant!”

Swish!

Lin Yuan's figure seemed to merge into the Void Realm as the Space Law activated! With a single step, a distance of a thousand li... shrank beneath his feet! In the next instant, he appeared like a descending Demon God, hovering proudly above the dome of the skeleton valley! His cold gaze swept down; the hundreds of white Souls were like an ant colony, and the green Elite was greedily absorbing some residual Soul Power essence from the beast bones!

“Noisy.” The indifferent words rang out!

“Clang—!!!”

The chaos heavenly extreme sword finally left its sheath! A brilliant sword light, seemingly capable of splitting Chaos and severing star rivers, poured down like the Nine Heavens Galaxy, instantly illuminating the entire skeleton valley as bright as day!

“Rumble—!!!”

Wherever the sword light reached, skeletons turned to dust, and the earth was ripped into ravines! Three hundred and fifty white Soul Spirits... were instantly annihilated under the supremely Yang and mighty destructive Sword Intent before they even had Time to struggle!

[Killed Rank One White Soul Spirits x 350]

[EXP + 3,500,000]

“Roar—!!!”

The green Soul Spirit coiled on the beast bone suddenly looked up! In its hollow eye sockets, two masses of ghastly green Soul flame instantly flared up! Its misty chest cavity abruptly tore open, letting out a sharp roar filled with endless malice, powerful enough to rip apart the Divine Soul:

“Human—! Desecrator—!”

Responding to it... was Lin Yuan's cold and merciless sword edge!

The sword tip twisted slightly! A streak of Sword Qi, a hundred Times more condensed than before, pitch-black and profound enough to seemingly swallow light, arrived instantly like the Grim Reaper's scythe, disregarding spatial distance!

“Hiss—!”

Like a hot knife slicing through butter! The green Elite Soul Spirit, along with the giant beast skeleton it was coiled on, was split in two by the destructive Sword Qi! The dense, almost liquid emerald Soul Power surged wildly into Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness as if finding its way home!

[Killed Rank One Green Soul Spirit · Elite x 1]

[EXP + 100,000]

[Current EXP: 4,100,000 / 100 million]

“Better than nothing...” Lin Yuan shook his head slightly, just about to move—

Boom!!!

In the distant sky, a deep blue pillar of light suddenly erupted, piercing the dark crimson firmament and running through the universe! Its brilliance and intensity were clearly visible even hundreds of li away, like a lighthouse in the darkness, radiating fatal temptation and... danger!

“Rank One... Blue Soul Spirit?!” Burning Battle Intent instantly ignited in Lin Yuan's eyes. “Finally... something interesting!”

His figure once again merged into the spatial ripples, speeding toward the deep blue pillar of light! As the distance rapidly closed, a massive ancient city, which had long since become a ruin, lay prostrate on the scorched earth like the remains of a giant beast! Broken walls and crumbled tiles narrated the tragedy of the past.

Even more Soul-shaking was the scene within the city: thousands of white Soul Spirits, like a Puppet army controlled by an invisible force, were lined up in fifty stern, neat phalanxes! Standing prominently before each phalanx was an Elite Soul Spirit radiating ghastly green light! And in the very center of the ruined city, atop a relatively intact black platform—

A figure, entirely deep blue and with a Soul body condensed like profound sea ice, stood towering! It radiated a terrifying Soul pressure far exceeding all other Soul Spirits. Deep blue Soul flames burned fiercely in its hollow eye sockets, like two cold moons of the underworld, overlooking its kingdom of death!

[Rank One Blue Soul Spirit · Commander]

[combat power: 100 Yu]

[Trait: Command (Can perfectly direct low-Rank Soul Spirit legions)]

[Probable Drop: blue soul crystal (Contains pure Soul Origin, can be exchanged for items)]

“Now this... looks like something!” Lin Yuan's mouth curved into an excited arc. The chaos heavenly extreme sword at his waist sensed the aura of a powerful enemy and emitted a hungrier, more high-pitched humming tremor!

Almost the exact moment Lin Yuan appeared!

The Blue Commander on the high platform suddenly turned its head! Its pair of deep blue Soul pupils instantly locked onto Lin Yuan, who was hovering in mid-air! Its Soul flame surged! Vast Soul Power frantically condensed and compressed in its hand, instantly transforming into the phantom of a deep blue Soul Spear, wreathed in the wails of vengeful Souls and radiating Soul-freezing cold!

A Soul Roar, containing endless killing intent and a declaration of death, exploded throughout the ruined city like billions of vengeful Souls howling in unison:

“In! Va! Der!... Die!!!”

“Boom—!!!” The deep blue Soul Spear... tore through the air and arrived!