Chapter 384: Half a Soul Destroyed
For the next few consecutive days, more and more corpses were floating in the sea. This made all the martial pract.i.tioners begin to panic.
The destination of this large s.h.i.+p, which had set sail from the Scarlet Tide Continent and pa.s.sed the Flowing Cloud Continent and the Heavenly Fate Continent along the way, was Spirit Eagle Island.
Throughout the journey, martial pract.i.tioners had boarded and disembarked from the s.h.i.+p. Not only did the number of people not decrease, it continued to grow.
There was now a total of around three hundred martial pract.i.tioners on the entire s.h.i.+p. Most of them were in the Natal Opening Realm, the Manifestation Realm, and the Netherpa.s.sage Realm, and were heading toward Spirit Eagle Island to take a detour toward Sea Moon Island.
Sea Moon Island was a very special place.
There was an intermediate spatial teleportation formation on that island, which could be used to make multiple transfers and reach the Heavenly Wither Continent in the Land of Chaos.
Forces in the Heavenly Wither Continent arranged for people to take charge of occupying Sea Moon Island. They bought rare spirit materials from other areas on one hand, and sold high grade spirit artifacts from the Heavenly Wither Continent on the other.
Because of this, all forces from the Scarlet Tide Continent, the Flowing Cloud Continent, and the Heavenly Fate Continent would arrange for people to head to Sea Moon Island and sell rare spirit materials or buy specific materials and high grade spirit artifacts.
The giant golden chariot of Eight Extreme Temple, the Flowing Gold Firecloud Tent of Profound Heaven Alliance, and the crystalline war chariot of Joyful Union Sect were specially made on Sea Moon Island for a huge sum and then brought over to the Heavenly Wither Continent.
Sea Moon Island was known as the center of commerce to many of the surrounding continents. The fresh blood of a Scarlet Spirit Turtle and the Spatial Spirit Stones that Song Tingyu helped Qin Lie get after going through some of her channels were also purchased from Sea Moon Island.
All of the three hundred odd martial pract.i.tioners on the s.h.i.+p actually wanted to arrive at Sea Moon Island by going through Spirit Eagle Island.
The territory of water that surrounded Spirit Eagle Island wasn’t always peaceful. Some vicious, dest.i.tute people would specifically pillage the s.h.i.+ps that pa.s.sed by.
Although some of the larger forces nearby relentlessly surrounded and killed them, those people were quite crafty. If the situation got too intense, they would behave for a while. Once everything calmed down, they would emerge once more to do evil.
When the people on the s.h.i.+p gradually saw more floating corpses up to this point, they understood that the “pirates” might have started to run wild again and that things weren’t looking good.
In the evening, Qin Lie opened the window to look at the bright red sea illuminated by the glow of sunset. He became lost in thought.
“Whoosh whoos.h.!.+”
Xue Li suddenly flew out from the Soul Suppressing Orb. He solidified into a burst of light that resembled a ball of fire which constantly flickered before Qin Lie’s eyes.
Xue Li’s soul became extremely blurry, as if it were going to be dispersed by the wind.
He frantically twisted and turned, inaudibly shrieking as if he were being tortured.
Qin Lie turned pale in horror, his eyes wide. He looked at Xue Li and clearly felt that this ball of Xue Li’s soul was gradually growing weaker.
His soul was similar to ball of flame that was about to go out. It gave off the feeling that his mind and soul would soon be entirely extinguished.
“Save me! Save me!” Xue Li, no longer capable of saying human words with his mouth, could only beg Qin Lie for help through his feeble soul consciousness.
Qin Lie’s expression changed drastically, but he didn’t know how to help.
“How can I save you?” he urgently asked.
“Use the power of thunder and lightning to seal me! Suppress me within the orb once more!” Xue Li silently screamed.
Qin Lie acted immediately.
Once his mind took action, serene blue rays of thunder and lightning covered Xue Li’s soul layer by layer like binding chains.
He watched Xue Li closely, controlling the Soul Suppressing Orb with his soul consciousness and pulling at Xue Li’s soul with his mind.
A ray of light shot out from the Soul Suppressing Orb, pulling Xue Li’s injured soul, which was now bound by thunder and lightning, inside of the orb.
When Xue Li’s soul came to rest inside of the Soul Suppressing Orb once more, a gentle light shone from the the orb’s interior and onto his injured soul.
Xue Li’s frantic state of mind suddenly became calm, and he immediately stopped struggling.
After some time, Xue Li angrily shouted until his voice went hoa.r.s.e, pausing at every word. “Jiang Zhuzhe... as long as I live, there will come a day that I settle the score for the pain you’ve caused me and pay it back ten times… a hundred times… a thousand times over!”
“What happened?” Qin Lie inquired through his soul consciousness.
Within the Soul Suppressing Orb, Xue Li was shrouded in thunder and lightning. He was also wrapped in a gentle light. His expression, which was terrifyingly fierce, gradually became calm.
“For a while now, you undid the seal on my soul and allowed me to freely come and go from the orb. I originally thought that this was a good thing. I hadn’t foreseen that this trip would prove the opposite since this half of my soul was loosely connected to its other half in my original body. As a result, when the other half of my soul was refined, burned, and extinguished, this half of my soul experienced it as it had happened, suffering painful torture,” Xue Li replied.
“Be more specific.” Qin Lie wore an expression of respect.
“I followed those artificers to the Heavenly Fissure Continent to help you find the traces of your grandfather, Qin Shan. I went all the way to the Celestial Artifact Sect and was prepared to capture someone and carefully interrogate them.” Xue Li looked dispirited and listless, yet continued to explain through his weak soul intent, “At that moment, I realized I had been tricked and that those artificers knew my ident.i.ty all along. They deliberately lured me to a dangerous place. I saw my junior brother, Jiang Zhuzhe. He worked with those artificers and killed me. I… am already dead.”
Xue Li’s soul calmed down once his words were spoken, but his eyes still flickered with b.l.o.o.d.y rays of extreme hatred.
He was not going to give up!
It wasn’t easy for him to escape the spirit pattern pillars, return to the Land of Chaos after a long, arduous journey, and seek revenge on an enemy from the past.
He hadn’t foreseen that he would be killed again the moment that he saw his enemy once more.
This time, even the other half of his soul had been refined alive!
“Can you tell me more?” Qin Lie was stunned.
Xue Li gloomily recalled the past while slowly recovering
His condition was unusual. As a ball of soul shadow that was constantly fluctuating, he seemed to be working hard to hold something back.
“Jiang Zhuzhe! You definitely wouldn’t imagine that I still possess half of my soul. I still have a chance!” Xue Li suddenly hissed angrily.
“Calm down for a moment!” Qin Lie shouted seriously.
With only half his soul shrunken within the Soul Suppressing Orb, Xue Li unexpectedly faced catastrophe. This half of his soul was shaking violently, as if it were on the verge of crumbling.
“Tell me about what you experienced,” Qin Lie said patiently. “Since things have gotten this far, and the other half of your soul was completely extinguished with your original body, it will be very hard for you to take revenge in a short time. You’ve been by my side all these years and helped quite a lot. Perhaps I’ll be able to help you in the future, but I need to know what happened to you in the past.”
Xue Li frantically howled for a while, then gradually calmed down. After some time, he seemed like he had finally come to terms with his misfortune, and he slowly explained his situation.
“Thirteen hundred years ago, Jiang Zhuzhe and I were both members of Blood Fiend Sect in the Heavenly Calamity Continent. Our master, Mu Yunwu, was the sect master at the time. He had a single daughter called Mo Lingye. She was also our junior sister. Jiang Zhuzhe and I were extremely fond of her, and she was fond of the both of us as well.
“Master could tell that both Jiang Zhuzhe and I were fond of Mo Lingye, but our junior sister couldn’t decide for herself. In order to prevent future trouble, he had Jiang Zhuzhe and I fight to decide who she would marry. I was the one who triumphed in the end, and married Mo Lingye. I also took over for my master as sect master of Blood Fiend Sect and was in the limelight for some time. Those were the happiest days of my life.
“But Jiang Zhuzhe didn’t give up. Since I not only married our junior sister, but also became the new sect master of Blood Fiend Sect, he regarded me as a thorn in his side. In order to defeat me, Jiang Zhuzhe walked the path of evil. Similar to You Hongzhi, he lived by consuming fresh blood, turning himself into a monster that was neither a human nor ghost.
“He secretly consumed the blood of the people in our sect. By slaughtering members of his own sect, his strength dramatically increased in a short period of time.
“The people of Blood Fiend Sect died one after another after having their blood consumed. This made the hearts of our people become anxious. Master investigated this matter personally. As for me, as the new sect master, I naturally spared no expense in investigating as well. In the end, while we were investigating, Jiang Zhuzhe and his allies from Celestial Artifact Sect plotted against me, and he sealed me inside of the twelve spirit pattern pillars.
“Jiang Zhuzhe first consumed the fresh blood of a few members of our sect and forcefully infused me with a mixture of that blood. Splas.h.i.+ng it on my entire body, making it seem as if I were the culprit, instantly made me a sinner to the sect. I became sc.u.m in the eyes of my master.
“He sealed me within the spirit pattern pillars for more than a thousand years!
“I had always been investigating after that, but there were never any results. I was also secretly searching for Jiang Zhuzhe’s whereabouts, yet there still wasn’t any information. It was then that I knew… he had noticed me long ago.
“This time, I was drawn into a dangerous area that he had set up earlier on, and half of my soul was refined by him!
“The other half of me can now be considered completely dead.”
This Chapter"s Teaser