232: Lure them in and then kill them!

Dust billowed, and gravel rained down like a downpour.

It took a good while for everything to settle back down.

This entire section of the ring road was a mess, looking as if it had been struck by a meteorite.

Dead silence.

A total, deathly silence.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed intently on the center of the gradually dissipating dust.

White Charm sat slumped on the ground, staring at the ruins with a face full of despair.

Big Brother blew himself up... That god-like, demon-like Ye Chen should be dead too, right?

Thinking of this...

She breathed a slight sigh of relief.

However.

When the last wisp of dust drifted away with the wind.

The moonlight spilled down once more.

Everyone, including the despondent White Charm, saw their pupils suddenly shrink.

Inconceivable shock crawled across everyone's faces!

What were they seeing?

At the center of the explosion, a charred giant crater with a diameter of over fifteen meters had been blasted into the ground!

The soil and asphalt at the edge of the crater had been melted by the high temperature, taking on a glass-like texture.

And right in the center of that giant crater... a figure still stood there quietly.

Ye Chen.

The casual clothes on his body were spotless, and not a single strand of his hair was out of place.

His hands were still tucked into his pants pockets.

It was as if that terrifying self-detonation just now had been nothing more than a playful tap on his chest.

He's fine?

He's actually fine!

How is this possible???

The Blade and Sword Duo looked at each other, their minds completely in disarray.

They had seen too many geniuses.

They had originally thought... that Yan Qingwu would be the only peerless genius one could hope to encounter in a hundred years.

But the young man before them told them that there existed something even more terrifying than a genius in this world... a monster!

Ye Chen stretched, picked up the suitcase, and walked step by step to stand before White Charm.

“So...”

“What about you?”

“Are you going to follow your brother's example, blow yourself up, and show off your integrity?”

“It just so happens I have a bit of time, so I can play with you.”

“Come on?”

Well... he did indeed have a bit of time.

The auction was still ongoing, and Bai Wanqing and Chu Niubi hadn't sent any news yet!

Before the auction ended, he could be considered to have time.

White Charm's whole body trembled violently, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her head, and she snapped out of it instantly!

Self-detonate?

Big Brother's self-detonation with his Heaven Realm cultivation hadn't even scratched this person!

She and her brother were of similar strength; what other result could there be for her self-detonating besides blowing herself into ashes?

Dignity?

Integrity?

Faced with absolute power and the fear of death, these things were as fragile as bubbles!

“No! Please don't!”

“Mr. Ye! I beg of you! Spare me! Spare my miserable life!”

White Charm suddenly slammed her head against the ground, making a thumping sound.

“I know I was wrong! I truly know I was wrong!”

“I'll change! I'll definitely turn over a new leaf! From now on, I'll start anew and never do evil again!”

She looked up, her seductive face now covered in tears and snot, filled with desperate pleading.

“As long as you spare my life, I'll do anything!”

“I can be your slave! I'll work like an ox or a horse for you!”

“I can also become your woman! You can play with me however you like! My body, my soul, they are all yours!”

“I beg you... give me a chance! A chance to be a new person!”

Ye Chen looked down at her from above, his gaze calm and steady, showing neither disgust nor pity.

He had originally intended to directly finish off this woman whose hands were stained with blood.

But White Charm's last sentence, 'my soul is yours,' caused a slight stir in his heart.

Keeping her... perhaps she might still be of some use?

At the very least, she should know quite a bit about the Soul Hall and the key inside this buddha head.

Thinking of this...

Ye Chen stopped his pace and stood before White Charm.

“Tell me, why must your Soul Hall have this buddha head?”

Hearing this, White Charm felt as if she had caught a life-saving straw and quickly answered hurriedly.

“Because inside this buddha head, there is a key hidden!”

“A key to open the bronze gate!”

“bronze gate?” Ye Chen raised an eyebrow, “What bronze gate? Where is it?”

White Charm did not dare to hide anything.

“It's... it's an ancient bronze gate deep within the Kunlun Ruins!”

“It is said that one needs to collect nine different keys to open it.”

“And legend has it that opening that gate will lead to... the Gate of Immortality!”

The Gate of Immortality?

A sharp light flashed in Ye Chen's eyes.

He continued to press: “How many keys does your Soul Hall have now?”

A look of bitterness appeared on White Charm's face.

“To answer Mr. Ye, we... don't have a single one.”

“If this mission had been successful, the one in your hand would have been the first.”

“But now... it is naturally yours.”

Ye Chen sneered upon hearing this.

“If you lie to me, you will die a very miserable death.”

“You should know that I have many ways to make you speak the truth.”

White Charm's body shook violently, the fear in her eyes intensifying. She hurriedly pointed her finger to the sky and swore a solemn oath.

“Mr. Ye, please be the judge! Every word this slave says is the truth!”

“If there is even half a false word, I am willing to be struck by lightning, have my soul scattered, and never be reincarnated for all eternity!”

She bit her lip, as if she had made some kind of decision.

“If... if you still don't believe me...”

“This slave can hand over my Natal Soul to you!”

“From now on, my life and death will be within a single thought of yours, and I will never dare to deceive you again!”

The Natal Soul was the source power of a Heaven Realm expert.

Once given to someone else, it was equivalent to personally handing over their weakness to the other party.

From then on, one's life and death would not be their own; it was more terrifying than the most cruel restriction.

But in order to live, White Charm could no longer care about that much.

Ye Chen's eyes flickered with a hint of thought upon hearing this.

This woman was a Heaven Realm expert.

She would be almost invincible in the secular world, right?

If he had her Natal Soul in hand, he wouldn't have to worry too much; instead, she could better protect his family.

Well... she wasn't ugly either, still possessing a certain charm, quite pleasing to the eye.

Ye Chen pondered for a moment and asked.

“Fine!”

“I'll give you a chance.”

“Tell me, within the Soul Hall, how many more 'Impermanence Envoys' of your and Hei Sha's level are there?”

Seeing that Ye Chen's tone seemed to have softened, White Charm quickly replied.

“To answer Mr. Ye, the core combat power of the Soul Hall, besides the Hall Master and the two Deputy Hall Masters, consists of twenty 'Impermanence Envoys'.”

“The Soul Ferrying Emissary is ranked twentieth, Hei Sha is ranked ninth, and I am ranked eleventh.”

“Now that Hei Sha and the Soul Ferrying Emissary have fallen, and since I have already submitted to you, I am no longer counted among them.”

She cautiously added, “So, there should be seventeen Impermanence Envoys left in the Soul Hall.”

“Seventeen?”

Ye Chen nodded, “Your desire to survive is quite strong.”

White Charm squeezed out a flattering smile that looked worse than crying.

“Even an ant clings to life; this slave just doesn't want to die.”

Ye Chen smiled slightly.

“Listen well, I'm giving you a task, which is also a chance.”

White Charm's heart tightened: “Please give your orders, Mr. Ye. This slave will go through fire and water!”

“Take those seventeen people...”

Ye Chen grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, “And lure them all here.”

White Charm was stunned and subconsciously asked back: “Lure... lure them here? Mr. Ye, you... what do you want to do?”

Ye Chen's smile became even more brilliant, but his words were shocking.

“What am I doing?”

“Naturally...”

“Luring them here to kill them all.”

White Charm: “???”

Yan Qingwu: “???”

The Blade and Sword Duo: “???”

All the Yan Family elites: “???”

Wait... they didn't hear wrong, did they?

What did Ye Chen say?

Lure the remaining seventeen Heaven Realm experts of the Soul Hall... all here?

And then... kill them?!

Holy crap!

He's completely taking the unconventional path, not playing by the rules at all... Ignoring the 'seen-a-ghost' expressions on everyone's faces.

Ye Chen looked at White Charm and asked indifferently.

“What?”

“Are you unwilling to do it?”

White Charm's whole body shuddered, and she snapped back to reality instantly!

Then.

She nodded like a woodpecker, nodding frantically.

“I... I can! Of course I can!”

“This slave... guarantees to complete the mission!”

“I will definitely lure those seventeen heinous bastards one by one, all before you!”

At this moment, for the sake of survival, how could she still care about any sense of camaraderie or the Soul Hall's cause?

Hei Sha was dead, and the Soul Ferrying Emissary was dead too. She, White Charm, didn't want to be the third!

Everything else... to hell with it!

As long as she could live, let alone luring her colleagues to their deaths, even if she were told to kill them herself, she wouldn't hesitate!

Ye Chen nodded in satisfaction.

“Very good.”

“In that case, hand over your Natal Soul first.”

He paused and held up three fingers.

“Then I'll give you seven days.”

“After seven days, if I don't see anyone, or if something goes wrong with the plan...”

“You know the consequences.”

“Yes!” White Charm bit her lip, “This slave... guarantees to complete it!”

As her voice fell.

She took a deep breath, slowly closed her eyes, and formed a strange hand seal in front of her chest.

With the changes in the seal, the pale white mist around her emerged again, but this time it didn't spread. Instead, as if drawn by an invisible force, it converged frantically toward her heart!

“Ugh...”

White Charm let out a muffled groan of pain.

Immediately after.

A wisp of crystal-clear, black misty energy drifted out from her chest.

That was the Natal Soul Source of a Heaven Realm expert, the core of their spirit and cultivation!

The black Soul Source wobbled and floated in front of Ye Chen.

Ye Chen reached out his finger and tapped it lightly.

The Soul Source seemed to have found its home, instantly sinking into his brow and disappearing.

In an instant.

A strange sense of connection was established in Ye Chen's sea of consciousness.

He could clearly sense White Charm's existence, her location, her status, and even the current fear and submission in her heart.

More importantly... with a slight movement of his will, he could feel that he could trigger that wisp of Soul Source at any time, causing White Charm's soul to scatter and her body and spirit to be destroyed in an instant!

Absolute control!

“Go on then.”

Ye Chen felt satisfied and gave White Charm a casual wave of his hand.

“Remember, you only have seven days.”

“Yes! This slave will not fail the Master's trust!”

White Charm felt as if she had been granted a great pardon and struggled to climb up from the ground.

Then.

With a 'whoosh,' she turned into a white afterimage and, after a few leaps, vanished into the distant night.

It wasn't until White Charm's figure had completely disappeared.

“Wait... wait!”

Yan Qingwu seemed to wake up from a bizarre and absurd dream.

She suddenly took a step forward, looking at Ye Chen in shock.

“You... you just let her go like that?”

“She is the White Impermanence Envoy of the Soul Hall!”

“An evil cultivator who kills without blinking, a heinous person!”

“Who knows how much innocent blood is on her hands!”

“You clearly could have killed her, to avenge those wronged souls and rid the world of a scourge!”