Spirit Realm

After they finished eating, Qin Lie and Chu Li sat in the same spot and used spirit stones to recover their strength.

Qin Lie held a few Earth Grade spirit stones in one hand and a Heavenly Flame Crystal in the other.

The blood essences were in the palm of the hand gripping the Heavenly Flame Crystal. These three drops of blood were swiftly absorbing the fiery energy within the Heavenly Flame Crystal.

Inside of Qin Lie’s mind.

Wisps of soul imprints and essence gradually gathered toward his Soul Lake like the threads of a spider web.

The blurry shadow of a True Soul vaguely started to take shape inside of his Soul Lake once more.

The True Soul seemed to contain a weak aura of thunder. There was an obvious, miraculous wave of thunder energy.

Qin Lie was reforming his True Soul.

Even if people mastered a way to shatter their own True Soul, very few would carelessly dare to attempt it. This would still be the case for those poisoned with voodoo toxin—few would decisively shatter their own souls because there was no guarantee they would be able to reform it.

The shattering of one’s True Soul sometimes meant the termination of that soul and the death of its owner.

For Qin Lie, however, the shattering and reforming of his soul was simply a necessary process—a step that he needed to complete at the third stage of Heavenly Thunder Eradication, “Thunder Lightning Soul Refinement.”

The shattering of his soul had been very simple.

The gathering of his True Soul also seemed much easier than he initially thought it would be.

When he focused his mind and examined the process, he could confirm with acute accuracy that his scattered soul imprints were gathering from every corner of his brain in a swift and orderly manner, flowing toward his Soul Lake like rivers flowing to the sea.

Qin Lie’s blurry True Soul grew clearer and more distinct inside his transparent Soul Lake with every passing second.

His True Soul was swiftly reforming!

This lifted Qin Lie’s spirits.

To his surprise he discovered that, not only did his reformed True Soul emanate thunder energy, it also grew stronger and more compact. Quite a lot of energy was stored inside of his soul!

It was just as he suspected. “Thunder Lightning Soul Refinement” was a way to temper, enhance, and essentially cultivate an individual’s True Soul!

According to what Qin Lie knew, methods that allowed one to cultivate and refine their soul were the rarest of any that forces of sects possessed.

Even in the Land of Chaos, the nine great silver forces did not have many ways that allowed Netherpassage Realm martial practitioners to specifically cultivate their souls.

“Thunder Lightning Soul Refinement cultivates and tempers the True Soul with the power of lightning and thunder. It fills the soul with thunder energy to make it immune to thunder, a soul’s natural enemy. Upon being filled with thunder and lightning, the True Soul no longer fears thunder or lightning attacks.. Furthermore, the soul is then able to control thunder itself—it will definitely be interesting when that happens!”

Qin Lie grew increasingly certain that his grandfather had purposely given him Heavenly Thunder Eradication so that he would cultivate this deep and profound spirit art from the start.

This was definitely an extremely powerful and domineering spirit art.

Chu Li had not truly fought the Illusory Demon Sect girls seriously, so he did not spend much spirit energy either and quickly recovered.

Chu Li opened his eyes and carelessly threw away the grayish-white spirit stones in his hand, then idly stared at Qin Lie.

His eyes gradually filled with the light of wonder.

To his amazement, he discovered that Qin Lie’s hair, face, and even nostrils sparked with lightning from time to time.

When Chu Li focused his senses and took in the scene with his soul consciousness, he quickly discovered that Qin Lie’s soul consciousness actually contained a weak aura of thunder.

This discovery shocked Chu Li to the core.

Chu Li came from Terminator Sect, and the sect’s strongest martial practitioner, Forefather Terminator, was skilled in the power of thunder and lightning.

In reality, plenty of disciples in Terminator Sect cultivated thunder and lightning spirit arts.

Chu Li might be an exception since he cultivated a different spirit art bestowed upon him by Forefather Terminator, but he was well aware of the secrets, advantages, and uses of a thunder and lightning spirit art.

He naturally knew that thunder energy was a soul’s natural enemy. Thunder could be used to destroy evil, eliminate wandering souls, and eradicate vengeful spirits.

Almost nothing with soul consciousness that lacked a physical form could escape the blast of thunder and lightning.

A martial practitioner’s True Soul was not an exception. It was also weak to thunder and lightning attacks.

According to Chu Li’s knowledge, Forefather Terminator dared to temper his soul with thunder and lightning only when he had reached the Imperishable Realm.

There were several thousands of people who cultivated thunder and lightning spirit arts in all of Terminator Sect, but Forefather Terminator was the only one who dared to directly temper his soul with thunder to increase its strength.

Meanwhile, Qin Lie was only in the Netherpassage Realm and had just shattered his soul. Yet when he was in the process of reforming it, his soul actually contained the aura of thunder.

This shocked Chu Li to his very core.

Forefather Terminator had to cultivate to the Imperishable Realm before his soul was capable of surviving thunder and lightning.

Compared to Qin Lie, Forefather Terminator was a tortoise that lagged far behind the rabbit.

An hour later.

Qin Lie opened his eyes as a surge of thunder and lightning energy flashed through his eyes. When he saw that Chu Li was staring at him, a look of amazement on his face he asked, “Big Brother Chu, what are you staring at?”

“Are you tempering your soul with thunder and lightning?” Chu Li’s expression was odd.

“Mn.” Qin Lie nodded, but he did not provide an explanation.

Chu Li did not question him about it either, and after a moment of thought, he suddenly asked, “When the Trial is over, and if time allows it, will you come with me to Terminator Sect?”

“What for?” Qin Lie asked in surprise.

“I’d like to recommend you to someone,” Chu Li said with a grin. “Relax, I won’t harm you. I just think that you should meet him at least once.”

“No problem,” Qin Lie agreed.

“Ready?” Chu Li stood up.

“Ready!” Qin Lie also stood up.

“Let’s go!”

……

Deep within a lush forest.

Ye Yihao sat in the center of a leaf of an ancient tree, a dark expression on his face. He narrowed his eyes and looked as if he were sensing something with his mind.

The Eight-winged Centipede Queen coiled around his heart wriggled slightly, seemingly transmitting some sort of news to him.

A few newly arrived Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners garbed in pitch black robes stood quietly beneath the ancient trees. They resembled black ghosts.

Off to the side, martial practitioners of the Xiahou Family, Lin Family, and Su Family were enthusiastically chatting, discussing the best way to deal with enemies who would come to them.

“There is no need for you to go on the offense at all. You only have to stay here and wait for them to fall into our trap,” Ye Yihao suddenly said from his position amidst the tree leaves.

“The senses of my voodoo insects are much more acute than yours, so they will search the forest for life signatures of foreign martial practitioners The second they discover a foreign martial practitioner, the insects will poison them with voodoo toxin. As soon as the foreign martial practitioners realize the toxin has entered their bodies, group after group will automatically come to our doorstep one after another, looking for me.”

“That would be best.” Xiahou Yuan chuckled strangely, his bald head shining in the dark environment.

“A person among the Illusory Demon Sect was poisoned with the voodoo toxin. They will come to us as well,” Ye Yihao said darkly, his expression strange. “Speaking of which, that Xue Moyan of Illusory Demon Sect shares a deep connection with your three great families.”

“How so?” Xiahou Yuan sat up straight.

Su Yan and Lin Dongxing also showed interest as they raised their heads and looked at Ye Yihao, waiting for his explanation.

“Xue Moyan’s mother is called Mo Lingye, and her father… is most likely Xue Li!” Ye Yihao exclaimed.

Xiahou Yuan and the others shuddered, asking at the same time, “How is that possible?”

“Big Brother Ye, are you sure you’re not mistaken? We have heard a little about that Xue Moyan as well, but she should be quite old, right? Mo Lingye and Xue Li are people from a thousand years ago. Even if they had a daughter, she shouldn’t be young enough to participate in the Trial.” Su Yan looked doubtful.

“This matter is a little complicated to explain. In the Heavenly Slaughter Continent, Illusory Sect Demon is our sworn enemy. While we were investigating their young elites, we discovered this information through a secret channel. However, I can guarantee that this information is true!” Ye Yihao said confidently.

“If Xue Moyan truly is a remnant of Blood Fiend Sect, your Black Voodoo Cult could have exposed her at any time. As long as this information is out in the open, she and the other Blood Fiend Sect survivors would have nowhere to hide!” Xiahou Yuan did not understand.

“Illusory Demon Sect and Blood Fiend Sect were quite close to each other in the past, and Yu Lingwei is quite protective of Xue Moyan. We also do not have solid evidence. Additionally, we don’t want this information to leak too soon, so we can only keep quiet about it.”

Ye Yihao’s eyes were dark and cold. “This woman may very well carry the burden of reviving Blood Fiend Sect on her shoulders, and Blood Fiend Sect could be said to have once owned the entire Heavenly Calamity Continent. In comparison, everything your three great families own once belonged to Blood Fiend Sect. Do you understand what you have to do?”

“She will not leave the Trial alive!” Xiahou Yuan exclaimed murderously.

The eyes of Lin Dongxing and Su Yan glowed with a venomous look reminiscent of poisonous snakes locking on to their prey.

“Ding!”

The sword token hanging at Xiahou Yuan’s waist suddenly emitted a low tone.

“It’s Luo Chen’s group!” He grinned savagely. “I guess it’s about time they showed up! Hehe, I didn’t think he’d be faster than Chu Li.”

“Kill whoever arrives first!” Amidst the leaves, Ye Yihao narrowed his eyes and indifferently said, “All of you, spread out and find a good place to hide. The Xiahou Family will be the only ones to stay here. We will await our first group of prey!”

“Understood!”

The martial practitioners of Black Voodoo Cult, the Lin Family, and the Su Family all began to move out.

This place was filled with ancient trees, the branches and leaves of which covered both the sky and the ground. It was all too easy to find a place to hide.

All of these people vanished in an extremely short amount of time. They all hid their auras as well.

Xiahou Yuan and a few other Xiahou Family martial practitioners stayed in the same spot and waited for Luo Chen’s arrival, their eyes shining with a cold, venomous luster.

“Ooooo!”

Just as Ye Yihao hid himself and Luo Chen was about to arrive, the Black Voodoo Cult token hanging from Ye Yihao’s waist rang as well.

“Well met!” Ye Yihao licked his lips, eyes filled with violence. He looked like a beast that thirsted for blood.

The token’s ringing sound meant that Chu Li’s group was now within a fifty kilometers.

“We’ve finally tracked him down!” Fifty kilometers away, Chu Li cried out excitedly, “Let’s see where else that bastard Ye Yihao could run off to!”

“Oooo! Ding!”

The Black Voodoo Cult token and the Heavenly Sword Mountain token hanging from Qin Lie’s waist rang at almost the same time.

When he touched the token and examined it, Qin Lie’s face distorted into an indescribably odd expression.

Both Luo Chen and Ye Yihao were in the same direction!