Spirit Realm

“Hao Jie, why did you… suddenly choose to believe Qin Lie?”

Cang Ye looked at Hao Jie curiously after she saw Thamur’s soul shadow merging back into and making a swift escape.

Gan Xing and Liu Yang had gone after Qin Lie to persuade him to return.

The rest of them knew that their relationship with Qin Lie was so-so at best, so they didn’t bother following after them.

They were all puzzled by Hao Jie’s sudden decision to attack his own squadmate.

For whatever reason, Hao Jie’s suspicion was suddenly dispelled after his brief clash with Qin Lie. In fact, he turned around and attacked the loudest member of his squad immediately and without warning.

Caught completely off guard, that Bloodthirst Family member was instantly suppressed by Hao Jie before the smoke of soul presence started exiting his eyes and nose. It proved that Qin Lie’s deduction was correct—Thamur had planted some soul servants in their group.

“I just figured out some things, that’s all,” Hao Jie replied indifferently.

It was clear that Hao Jie didn’t want to discuss the subject any further. There was no way they were getting any useful info out of him.

“It looks like we’ve made a mistake.” Ming Xu of the Light Family frowned.

Cang Ye sighed quietly. “I hope Gan Xing and Liu Yang can persuade him to return.”

Ming Xu shook his head and said, “Even I wouldn’t have come back in his position.”

Regret entered Cang Ye’s eyes.

……...

Gan Xing and Liu Yang chased after Qin Lie for a moment.

However, they could neither see Qin Lie nor sense his presence despite chasing for a long time. They were just about to give up when Qin Lie suddenly showed himself to them.

“They just confirmed that you were right!” Gripping a Darklight Stone in her hand, Liu Yang said excitedly the moment she saw her, “Cang Ye and Hao Jie had just forced the two soul servants to expose themselves! The families will believe you now, Qin Lie. You don’t have to leave!”

Gan Xing also added, “We really do need you, Qin Lie.”

“Even if they hadn’t suspected me just now, I still would’ve left you all.” Qin Lie said apologetically. “To be honest, I haven’t been entirely honest with you all… but I don’t mean anything ill towards you.”

“I trust you,” Liu Yang said seriously.

“I trust you too,” Gan Xing expressed.

Qin Lie smiled at them and explained, “I know you trust me, but the same can’t be said for everyone else, right? Also, I can’t guarantee that something worse wouldn’t happen if some of my secrets were exposed. That’s why I’d rather not cause any dissent and leave the families to fight the Abyss Devils as one united force.”

“What can’t you tell us?” Gan Xing asked.

Qin Lie thought for a moment before smiling wryly, “I’m really sorry, but I can’t say anything for now.”

“What are your current plans then?” Gan Xing looked surprised.

“Maybe I’ll head over to the Origin Sea and aid you all with the Group Ignition Blood Art after you start fighting against those Abyss Devils.” Qin Lie smiled before continuing, “But for now, I’d like to be alone.”

Gan Xing’s eyes lit up a little. The fact that Qin Lie promised to help them at a critical moment meant that Qin Lie wasn’t planning to cut ties with them completely.

It meant that Qin Lie was still on their side.

“Okay then. I won’t force you to come back with me if you don’t want to. Just take good care of yourself, okay?” Gan Xing pondered for a moment before continuing, “Whatever the secrets you’re hiding from us are, I’m sure we can think of a way to solve it.”

“Thank you,” Qin Lie said sincerely.

“You and I don’t need such pleasantries.” Gan Xing also smiled.

“Remember to watch out for Thamur!” Qin Lie gave them one last advice, ignoring Liu Yang’s begging look and walking back into the darkness.

When Gan Xing and Liu Yang lost track of Qin Lie entirely, they sighed inwardly and returned back to the God Race squads.

……...

At Frost Desolation Abyss.

Qin Lie’s Soul Beast avatar was curled up inside a ring of giant ice pillars. Its huge eyes were filled with dark woven light.

He had analyzed almost all of the soul fragments and scattered memories he had extracted from Sirene.

Many Soul Race secret arts he thought he couldn’t figure out in the past had suddenly become clear and easily understandable thanks to these new memories.

Unfortunately, he still knew nothing about the Soul Race’s First Prince, the Soul Suppressing Orb and the secrets of the Soul Race.

Everything he learned from the memories were related to the Soul Race’s inheritance and secret arts.

His attempts to discover the Soul Race’s power structure and the important figures in the Soul Race were futile thus far.

“Let’s see if I can send some refined soul energy to my original soul.” His Soul Beast avatar started working.

Tendrils of visible soul light burst out of the Soul Beast avatar’s pupils and vanished from Frost Desolation Abyss suddenly.

Spatial ripples could be seen where the soul light had vanished into. It was as if they had slipped into some unknown space.

At the same time.

Right after he left Gan Xing and Liu Yang, Qin Lie’s footsteps suddenly came to a stop.

His eyes glowed with unnatural light.

At the same time, his Soul Lake began rippling slowly.

Somehow, his Soul Beast avatar had managed to overcome the barriers of space and send tendrils of refined soul energy into his Soul Lake.

The soul energy he had used while battling Hao Jie and doing other things was quickly replenished thanks to it.

In just a dozen or so seconds, Qin Lie’s spirit had completely recovered.

“Finally! Finally, I don’t need to worry about running out of soul energy!”

It took a lot of soul energy to study the ancient spirit diagram in the fourth space of the Soul Suppressing Orb.

It also took a lot of soul energy to study the physical changes that came with his new realm and his spirit arts.

Even spying on other lifeforms in this Origin World with his soul consciousness took up soul energy, much less battling another opponent.

He didn’t need to worry about his health and his flesh and blood energy because he had a Flesh Filling Tombstone. His soul energy reserves were the only thing that really worried him.

Now that he could replenish his soul energy through the Soul Beast avatar anytime he wanted, his combat strength had just gone up by leaps and bounds.

“The God Race is inferior when it comes to the souls. Even if Hao Jie has infinitely flesh and blood energy he can use thanks to his Flesh Filling Tombstone, there’s no way he can replenish his soul energy in such short time,” Qin Lie thought to himself.

Now that he and his Soul Beast avatar had connected once again, now that he could use his Flesh Filling Tombstone without reservations, there was no longer anyone he feared in this Origin World!

Suddenly, he felt a great desire for the Origin Crystal.

“It looks like I can turn that Origin Crystal into my Soul Altar!”

When he learned of the Origin Crystal and the Origin World’s new function from Serine’s confusing soul memories, his eyes suddenly flashed with greed.