Hun Changqing stared at the blood shadow he had pinned down with a single finger, his eyes gleaming with a strange light. He could sense the immense and vast soul power contained within this blood shadow, formed from countless souls.
At this moment, all those countless souls had merged into one. Although this blood shadow, like those blood-red souls, would disintegrate and vanish on its own after a while, Hun Changqing still had a way to salvage it if it were just a single target; he would only need some materials.
Thinking this, Hun Changqing slowly shifted his gaze from the blood shadow to the Dragon Venerable behind it, who was currently looking utterly astonished. His eyes were filled with greed, and in an instant, a fierce light shot out.
"Hehehe... You're quite confident in this malevolent spirit? Then let it play with you!"
A piercing, sharp laugh rang out from Hun Changqing's mouth. Before the Dragon Venerable could grasp the meaning of Hun Changqing's words and was somewhat stunned, wisps of black energy instantly surged from Hun Changqing's finger that was pointing at the Blood Shadow's fist. The black energy then surged wildly from the Blood Shadow.
As the black energy entered, the Blood Shadow's body trembled violently. A deep, dark light flashed in its originally scarlet and terrifying eyes. Then, it slowly lowered its fist from Hun Changqing's head, turned around, and an incomparably chilling aura emanated from it. A vast and boundless soul power gathered in the blink of an eye, firmly locking onto the Dragon Venerable in the sky.
Seeing this, Hun Changqing's lips curled into a chilling smile. The Soul Palace was ultimately just a subordinate force of the Soul Clan. Aside from the clan members serving within the Soul Palace, the remaining recruits from outside were given flaws in their fighting techniques and formations, making them easily countered by the Soul Clan.
Before becoming a Dou Huang, Hun Changqing had worked in the Soul Palace, so he naturally possessed these countermeasures. With these countermeasures, Hun Changqing could naturally seize control of the blood shadow condensed from a simplified, abridged version of the Soul Clan's terrifyingly powerful formation—the Myriad Soul Devouring Spirit Formation.
Above, seeing the blood-red shadow facing him and locking onto him with its aura, the Dragon Venerable was terrified, his eyes wide with disbelief. Unable to accept what was happening, he cried out,
"This... how is this possible?! This is a formation I've accumulated over nearly a hundred years to obtain from the main hall! How could you possibly control it like this! What have you done! Who are you?!"
It's not hard to understand why the Dragon Venerable was losing his mind and going into a frenzy. After all, anyone would be devastated if a formation they'd painstakingly built up over a century and imbued with such high hopes were simply taken away.
"Heh heh... go!"
Hun Changqing clearly wasn't going to satisfy the Dragon Venerable's curiosity. He sneered and waved his sleeve at the Dragon Venerable. The blood-red shadow then transformed into a streak of crimson light, hurtling towards the Dragon Venerable at an incredible speed.
Seeing the blood rushing towards him, the Dragon Venerable's pupils constricted sharply. He immediately abandoned his concern about controlling the blood shadow, gritted his teeth, and stomped his foot into the void, retreating rapidly to dodge the blood shadow's attack.
However, this blood shadow, which he had painstakingly crafted with countless efforts of his mind and soul, was not so easily avoided. Its speed was astonishing; before the Dragon Venerable had even taken a few steps back, the blood shadow had already appeared before him as if by teleportation, unleashing a powerful punch carrying terrifying explosive energy, aimed directly at the Dragon Venerable's head.
Seeing the oncoming blood-red fist, the Dragon Venerable felt a strong aura of death, his heart trembled, and he quickly twisted his body, shifting several points, before erecting an energy barrier to protect himself. The
blood shadow's fist slammed into the Dragon Venerable's energy barrier, a violent energy shock accompanied by a deafening roar emanating from the center of the impact. With a
cracking
sound, the Dragon Venerable saw cracks appearing in the energy barrier he had erected. Terrified, he dared not continue the stalemate with the Blood Shadow. He stretched out his hand and flicked his fingers, shooting a beam of battle qi at the Blood Shadow. The Blood Shadow was momentarily stunned by the attack. Seeing this, the Dragon Venerable dared not linger and quickly retreated, putting distance between himself and the Blood Shadow...
Hun Changqing watched as the Blood Shadow regained its footing and chased after the Dragon Venerable, a cold smile appearing on his face. This Blood Shadow was supported by the great formation and possessed immense soul power gathered from countless souls, more than enough to deal with the Dragon Venerable. He still remembered that there was a Star Venerable in this branch hall, at least a fifth-level Dou Zun, who put considerable pressure on Hun Changqing. There was no need to waste Taiyin True Qi on this Dragon Venerable.
After watching the two figures chasing and fleeing for a moment, Hun Changqing gradually withdrew his gaze and focused it on the dark figures on the steep rock face. These figures, still reeling from the shock of the Dragon Venerable's defeat, found Hun Changqing's gaze upon them.
In an instant, these dark figures were terrified, feeling as if their souls were about to leap from their heads. They abandoned all efforts to maintain the great formation, each unleashing their battle wings. A few guardians even took to the air, attempting to escape and return to the black hall to seek the protection of the hall master.
"Hehehe... Your souls are of very high quality; I can't let you go..."
Hun Changqing sneered, watching the fleeing crowd, uttering a chilling utterance that felt like death itself whispering in their ears. Their fear and panic intensified, and for a moment, their speed surpassed their limits, increasing even further.
However, the limits they had broken on the brink of death were utterly insignificant to Hun Changqing. They couldn't change their impending fate. Hun Changqing suddenly waved his sleeve, and black mist instantly billowed up, filling the sky. Then, countless pitch-black chains, like densely packed black serpents, surged out from the mist, locking onto and shooting towards each fleeing black figure.
"This is... Soul Chains! Ah!"
"No!" "You...you're an elder?! Why are you attacking us?! No!"
In an instant, the pitch-black chains bound and restrained the fleeing Soul Envoys and Protectors with incredible speed. The terrifying corrosive power of the chains against their souls instantly caused them to let out chilling, shrill screams.
At this moment, they realized that the chains binding them and corroding their souls were none other than the Soul Chains they usually used when collecting souls, only these Soul Chains were vastly different in power from theirs. Seeing these familiar Soul Chains, they were all terrified.
At this moment, everyone looked at Hun Changqing with fear, confusion, and shock. They never expected that the person who had attacked the Soul Palace was actually an elder of the Soul Palace. They couldn't understand why an elder of the Soul Palace would attack them.
However, no one could answer their questions. Soon, their souls were forcibly extracted from their bodies by Hun Changqing's pitch-black chains, and then the chains quickly pulled the souls of these Soul Envoys and Protectors back into their bodies.
The chains returned to the rising, swirling black mist behind Hun Changqing. Faintly, from within the mist emanated intense, agonizing screams, a mixture of despair, resentment, and hatred.
Above, the soulless bodies of the Soul Hall's Soul Envoys, their eyes vacant, expressions blank, their battle aura dissipated, plummeted from the sky like tattered sacks, crashing onto the dark earth with dull thuds.
"Hehehe..."
Hun Changqing slowly drew the black mist into his body, then toyed with the container holding the souls of the Soul Hall's many Soul Envoys, sensing the soul energy within. He nodded in satisfaction, letting out a sinister, chilling laugh.
Then, Hun Changqing slowly raised his head, fixing his gaze on the Dragon Venerable who was using combat techniques to interfere with the Blood Shadow while retreating rapidly. A hint of mockery flashed in his eyes. Hun Changqing's figure then became illusory and gradually disappeared from the spot, his aura completely dissipating as well.
The Dragon Venerable, unable to completely distance himself from the Blood Shadow, had beads of cold sweat on his forehead, his face incredibly grim. In the past, the stronger the Blood Shadow he had placed his hopes on, the more he would sense it. But this Blood Shadow's target was him, making its strength incredibly troublesome and giving him the urge to curse.
This Blood Shadow wasn't just formed from the souls he had collected over the past hundred years; it was primarily composed of the soul of the former deputy hall master of this branch hall, a one-star Dou Zun. Combined with the enhancement from the previous grand formation, it was only a matter of time before this Blood Shadow defeated the Dragon Venerable.
The Dragon Venerable knew in his heart that he couldn't possibly fulfill the Palace Master's order to capture Hun Changqing with his own strength. Only by asking the Palace Master for help could he possibly save his life. Although he was terrified of the Palace Master and feared his punishment, compared to his own life, such punishment was insignificant.
The Dragon Venerable had made up his mind. He then gathered all his battle qi into his palm, and a jet-black palm print slowly appeared on his body. He then fiercely slammed it down on the blood-red shadow approaching him.
Blood Shadow's fist collided with Dragon Venerable's palm print. Although the palm print shattered after blocking Blood Shadow's fist for a moment, it gave Dragon Venerable a chance to catch his breath. Dragon Venerable dared not delay and hurriedly shouted for help to the huge black figure,
"Palace Master! Help..."
However, before Dragon Venerable's cry for help could finish, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his throat. His voice stopped abruptly, and his throat moved, only able to make a "gurgling" sound. Dragon Venerable's eyes were filled with confusion as he looked down at his throat.
When Dragon Venerable's gaze fell, he found that his neck was now a bloody mess. Five slender, long fingers formed claws, piercing through his neck. The original white color of the fingers had been stained crimson with blood, and small, white, broken pieces of bone were attached to the blood.
The Dragon Venerable slowly turned his head to look at Hun Changqing behind him, his eyes filled with confusion and astonishment. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but his throat was completely crushed by Hun Changqing, and he couldn't make a sound, only letting out a series of "hehe" sounds, as if he wanted to ask when Hun Changqing had appeared behind him and why he couldn't sense anything amiss even when Hun Changqing made his move.
But obviously, Hun Changqing wouldn't explain so much to a dying man. Seeing the Dragon Venerable's eyes gradually dimming and becoming empty, Hun Changqing once again swiftly extracted the Dragon Venerable's soul from his body with the chains.
Then, he surged with Taiyin True Qi, and streams of silver gas rose from Hun Changqing's hands, flowing into the illusory soul of the Dragon Venerable in his hands. The moment the Taiyin True Qi entered, the Dragon Venerable's soul let out a horrifying wail, as if it had experienced the cruelest torture in an instant, its sound extremely miserable.
A moment later, as the screams of the Dragon Venerable's soul gradually subsided and his entire soul turned a dazzling silver, Hun Changqing pointed out again, and the pitch-black death energy surged into it once more.
Then, Hun Changqing's hands formed a series of hand seals, and he drew a small incision at his fingertip, allowing a drop of silvery blood to fall into the soul. As the blood dripped, black and silver energy rose within the Dragon Venerable's soul, ultimately transforming it completely into a pure Yin Demon.
With the formation of the Yin Demon, Hun Changqing did not stop; instead, he quickened his pace, his fingers repeatedly striking the blood-red shadow standing motionless in the air, its form somewhat blurred due to energy depletion, having lost its target after the Dragon Venerable's death.
As Hun Changqing pointed his finger, Blood Shadow's body trembled violently. Then, streams of soul energy began to emanate from its body, faintly dissipating. Seeing this, Hun Changqing dared not delay, swiftly stuffing the Yin Demon, crafted from the Dragon Venerable's soul, into Blood Shadow's body.