47: Soul Search! The location of the Soul Palace's lair has been found.

"The words 'Saint-Grade' struck like two bolts of Nine Heavens divine thunder, fiercely slamming into the crowns of everyone present."

Protector Wu's voice was sharp, filled with endless fear and despair.

However.

The owner of that golden hand covering the sky did not give him a chance to continue his performance.

The owner of the hand seemed to find this fly's buzzing a bit annoying.

Five fingers gently closed.

"Squish—"

A soft sound, like crushing a tomato.

Protector Wu's "Physical Body," composed of black mist, didn't even last a second before being squeezed directly into a wisp of primordial black smoke, dissipating into the air.

But it wasn't over yet.

The hand did not stop there.

The slender fingers hooked slightly.

A palm-sized, transparent phantom, still struggling frantically, was ripped straight out of that cloud of black smoke!

That was Protector Wu's Soul Origin!

"No... No!!"

The Soul phantom let out a silent roar, its distorted face filled with terror.

He wanted to self-destruct his Soul and take his enemy down with him.

But he discovered that he couldn't even self-destruct.

An irresistible force of imprisonment locked him tight.

That golden hand gripped the tiny Soul phantom as if it were holding an unruly firefly.

Then.

Under everyone's stunned gaze.

The hand slowly, with a hint of disdain, retracted into the pitch-black rift above the firmament.

The rift closed slowly.

The sky returned to clarity once more.

It was as if that hand, capable of crushing stars, had merely been a collective hallucination.

...

Yunlan Sect was deathly silent.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Yun Shan, slumped on the ground, felt the hope and ferocity on his face freeze, replaced by unprecedented dullness and confusion.

His final trump card.

That Protector Wu, from the terrifying organization "Soul Hall" in the Central Plains, who seemed omnipotent in his eyes...

Just like that...

Gone?

Snatched away directly from thousands of miles away as if he were a chick?!

Without even being able to put up a fight?!

Yun Shan's faith collapsed at this moment.

He felt as if his worldview had been pressed to the ground and rubbed repeatedly by a hundred mud-stained, smelly shoe soles.

If Xiao Chen splitting him into critical injury with a ruler had shocked him and felt unbelievable, then the hand from just now brought him... despair.

A kind of thorough, utter despair, where he didn't even have the qualification to look up.

"Saint... Saint-Grade..."

Yun Shan muttered to himself, his eyes unfocused, a stream of murky drool leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Behind that Xiao Chen... actually stands a Saint-Grade?"

"Haha... Hahahaha..."

He suddenly began to laugh hysterically, laughing until tears flowed out.

"I, Yun Shan... and my Yunlan Sect... what kind of monster have we provoked..."

...

Meanwhile.

A thousand miles away, at Hidden God Sect.

Li Daoxuan was still sitting on that dilapidated armchair.

His right hand extended, fingers splayed.

Hovering above his palm was a constantly struggling, twisting, transparent phantom.

It was the Soul of Protector Wu, whom he had just snatched back.

"Jie jie jie... (Let me go!)"

Protector Wu's Soul let out a silent roar, its illusory face filled with terror.

He couldn't understand.

How could he, a dignified Protector of Soul Hall and a Peak Dou Zong (Peak Nascent Soul) powerhouse, fall in such a godforsaken Eastern Wasteland?

How could there be a Saint-Grade old monster here?!

The intel was wrong!

The Hall Revered Master screwed me over!

"Revered Master is mighty!"

Shi Tian, beside him, watched with glowing eyes, his drool almost dripping out.

"Revered Master, can this thing be eaten? It looks all bouncy, like jelly."

Li Daoxuan: "..."

He flicked Shi Tian on the forehead.

"Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating."

"This is a Soul body, not jelly. You'll get a stomachache if you eat it."

Li Daoxuan looked at the "jelly" still struggling frantically in his hand with disdain, his brow furrowed.

"So noisy."

He formed a spell with his left hand.

A golden rune was instantly struck into Protector Wu's Soul.

"Soul Searching Technique!"

"Ah—!!!"

A shriek, so shrill it didn't sound human, suddenly exploded in Li Daoxuan's palm.

Protector Wu's Soul phantom was instantly stretched and twisted, and countless chaotic memory fragments were violently read by Li Daoxuan, like a fast-forwarding movie.

The structure of Soul Hall...

The missions of Soul Hall...

All the strongholds of Soul Hall in the Eastern Wasteland...

The purpose of Soul Hall collecting Souls...

After an incense stick's time.

Li Daoxuan withdrew his hand.

And Protector Wu in his palm was no longer struggling.

That Soul phantom became extremely dim, its eyes dull, drool flowing from the corner of its mouth, giggling like an idiot.

Clearly, it had been searched into a fool.

"So that's how it is."

Li Daoxuan digested the information in his mind, a flash of realization in his eyes.

"This Soul Hall is truly a cancer."

According to Protector Wu's memories, Soul Hall had branches across the entire continent, and their purpose was to collect powerful Soul bodies everywhere to feed a certain sleeping "Hall Revered Master."

And their branch in the Eastern Wasteland was hidden in an underground abyss not far from the Yunlan Sect.

Not only were tens of thousands of Souls imprisoned there, but it also stockpiled all the resources Soul Hall had plundered in the Eastern Wasteland for hundreds of years.

"Hidden underground?"

Li Daoxuan rubbed his chin, a "kind" smile curling the corner of his lips.

"Hidden quite deep."

"However, now it's mine."

He flipped his wrist, and that long-dusty [Soul Summoning Banner] appeared in his hand.

Li Daoxuan picked up Protector Wu's Soul, which had been searched into a fool, and shook it at the Soul Summoning Banner.

"Go on, you."

He tossed it casually.

Protector Wu's Soul let out a cheer of relief, turned into a stream of light, and drilled into the Soul Summoning Banner.

"Hum—"

The Soul Summoning Banner trembled violently.

On the surface of the banner, the few previously listless vengeful spirit attachments, upon sensing the pure Soul Power of Protector Wu, seemed as if they had been injected with adrenaline and began to devour frantically.

And Protector Wu's Soul phantom was hung at the very top of the banner pole by an invisible force.

It became the... main Soul attachment of this semi-finished Magic Treasure.

[Ding!]

[Soul Summoning Banner absorbed a high-quality main Soul, quality improved!]

[Current Rank: High Grade Spiritual Artifact (Upgradeable)]

Li Daoxuan shook the banner in his hand with satisfaction.

Hmm.

After hanging this new attachment, the overall class of the banner had improved quite a bit.

In the future, when going out to fight, he wouldn't even need to do it himself.

Just wave the banner and release Protector Wu, this Peak Nascent Soul thug; who could withstand that?

"Perfect."

Li Daoxuan put away the Soul Summoning Banner, in a great mood.

He turned his head to look at his three Disciples, who were still dazed, and that dog that was still playing dead.

He cleared his throat.

He didn't speak.

Instead, he used his Divine Sense to transmit his voice to all four of them at once:

"Don't just stand there stunned."

"I have the location."

"Disciples, it's time to work."

"Bring your sacks, and follow me to... raid their home!"