Spirit Realm

Just as Qin Lie had wanted to control Xue Li through his soul, Xue Li also wanted to turn Qin Lie into his soul slave.

Blood Fiend Sect had a secret art that tempered blood slaves. The caster would infuse their own soul's fiendish energy into the victim's, thereby eroding it away. Afterwards, they would slowly gain control of their blood slave. In the end, their victim would become a bloodthirsty heretic, losing themselves completely.

The technique unleashed by Xue Li putting a quarter of his soul in Qin Lie’s head was exactly this secret art!

Once the secret art started working, Qin Lie’s mind would slowly succumb to the bloody world and Xue Lie would take control of him slowly over time. He would end up as Xue Li’s bloodthirsty slave.

In his opinion, he should have no issue controlling a minuscule martial practitioner like Qin Lie with only a quarter of his soul.

Unfortunately, not only did he not expect Qin Lie to cultivate a technique that specialized in destroying souls, like Heavenly Thunder Eradication, he also did not expect his mind to hide such a fantastic treasure like the Soul Suppressing Orb.

Soul suppressing, soul suppressing. The Soul Suppressing Orb was its name, and its existence was to suppress a soul!

The purifying light unleashed from within the Soul Suppressing Orb was fatally suppressive to all soul type energies!

The moment the light had started shining, Xue Li already noticed that something was wrong. He instinctively felt fear and was ready to evacuate immediately.

However, just as he was about to escape the Soul Suppressing Orb, he realized that this treasure hidden inside Qin Lie’s mind was definitely not as simple as he thought.

The orb’s space had closed the exit and bound him inside!

He even had the illusion that the orb’s binding powers were far more terrifying than the shackles formed by the spirit diagrams inside the spirit pattern pillars!

He struggled continuously, but in the end, he was unable to escape the orb’s world, his soul only growing weaker under the purifying light.

At this moment, the corruptive force he was using on Qin Lie was rapidly fading away.

At long last, Qin Lie had finally escaped the world of the blood sea.

The moment he regained his mind, the first thing Qin Lie did was to activate Heavenly Thunder Eradication and attack this portion of Xue Li’s soul.

The thunder and lightning of Heavenly Thunder Eradication could destroy all evil. It would destroy vile souls and tormented spirits, and it was a fatal threat towards all soul type heretics.

“Rrmmb!”

Amidst the thunder’s roar, a bloody fog appeared from the shadow of that quarter of Xue Li’s soul. It was crying terribly.

Xue Lie turned shocked and fearful for the first time.

He could never have imagined that not only did Qin Lie cultivate a very rare power of thunder, he even had an awesome treasure like the Soul Suppressing Orb inside his head.

The bloody wisp of his remnant soul was now trapped inside the Soul Suppressing Orb’s world. It had no way to escape at all, and now he was being assaulted by the thunder and lightning. It was only a matter of time before he would be extinguished completely...

“Kid! Stop! Stop it!” Xue Li’s remnant soul cried out terribly.

With a thought, Qin Lie caused those bolts of thunder and lightning to instantly freeze.

In his own world, Qin Lie’s soul consciousness had formed into a blurry, white shadow. The white shadow was in the shape of his own appearance. In addition, lines of lightning surrounded him as the thunder remained hidden overhead.

Qin Lie’s soul shadow was now right beside Xue Li’s bloody shadow. He coldly looked at him and said, “Old senior, it seems that you did not obey our promise of obediently surrendering your soul. It seems you are not worthy of my trust. In that case, I can only exterminate this portion of your soul. Why don’t we have your true body be sealed inside the spirit pattern pillar forever.”

“I admit my defeat! Kid! I surrender!” Xue Li’s remnant soul twisted. “I will relinquish this portion of my soul and surrender completely. I will let you seal and imprison me!”

“Even if you surrendered now, the situation has already changed.” Qin Lie controlled the thunder and lightning and launched it at the bloody wisp. “This is a quarter of your soul, but it was so strong that I nearly collapsed. Hmm, I think that this portion isn’t too safe…”

“Brat, when you’re given an inch, don’t take a foot!” Xue Li howled.

“Senior, I am now giving you two choices.” Qin Lie said without any emotion whatsoever, “Either you surrender another quarter of your soul and merge it with your current one, so I can seal them together. Or, I can destroy this soul of yours and have your remaining soul and true body be sealed inside the spirit pattern pillar. Just wait. Perhaps in a thousand or maybe even several thousand years later there will be another person like me who can unlock all of your seals.”

“You dare!” Xue Li’s remnant soul twisted wildly.

Qin Lie said nothing and restarted Heavenly Thunder Eradication once more. He then used the lightning to attack the blood colored remnant soul once more.

“Rrmmb! Clap clap clap!”

Amidst the blasting thunder and shooting lightning, Xue Li cried out horribly as wisps of blood mist spewed out of his soul.

That blood mist was his soul’s energy. Once they faded, they were immediately absorbed by the Soul Suppressing Orb’s inner space before disappearing into the pitch black orb at the center of his forehead. Afterwards, it slowly blinked with a tint of scarlet luster.

Qin Lie was deeply shocked on the inside.

He realized this quarter of Xue Lie’s soul was even scarier than the entire soul of the Rank Four Soul Devouring Beast. The Soul Devouring Beast’s soul was gone the instant it entered the Soul Suppressing Orb and was absorbed into the deeper space inside.

The Soul Devouring Beast’s main soul seemed to have no ability to resist at all inside the Soul Suppressing Orb.

But this Xue Li—even though it was just a quarter of his soul—was able to exist inside the Soul Suppressing Orb for so long!

“This old demon’s true realm may be scarier than I had expected.” As he thought this, Qin Lie grew increasingly cautious and focused his entire mind to call down Thunderblitz.

After a while, the cries of Xue Li’s blood colored, remnant soul grew weaker. He might be brutal and fearsome without bounds, but inside the Soul Suppressing Orb’s world and without a corporeal body, he also couldn’t bear Heavenly Thunder Eradication’s attacks upon his soul.

—And this was the result when Qin Lie’s realm was not powerful, when his Heavenly Thunder Eradication had yet to be cultivated to a truly superb state.

If Qin Lie could directly attract the thunder from Ninth Heaven to fall down, then Xue Li’s remnant soul would probably dissipate with a single strike.

“You’ve won, kid, you’ve won! I’ll surrender the other portion of my soul to you!” Xue Li cried out in agony.

He had no choice but to bend his back.

After just a short amount of time, he could feel that his soul was about to disintegrate. If this soul fragment was to disappear, he would need at least a few hundred years to fully recover!

“Isn’t this nice, now?” Qin Lie did not go overboard and stopped his attack right then. He had even decreased his pressure slightly. “Senior, I do not plan to shackle half of your soul forever. I only need you to follow me for thirty years. I can swear right now that I will return your soul to you and will give you your freedom after thirty years!”

“Thirty years? Just thirty years? Kid, are you for real?” Xue Lie exclaimed in an odd tone.

“That’s right, thirty years of time!” Qin Lie confirmed.

“Why didn’t you say that earlier!” Xue Li yelled angrily, “If it’s just thirty years, then I can still afford to wait!”

While he said this, his true body inside the spirit pattern pillar also let out a relieved expression. “It’s just thirty years…”

Yet another crimson wisp flew out of the center of the forehead of his true body, out of the pillar and into Qin Lie’s head, entering the Soul Suppressing Orb inside.

“Zzzt!”

The moment the strand of blood had entered the Soul Suppressing Orb, it immediately turned into yet another bloody remnant soul. The two souls slowly merged into one another, and after a while, they took upon Xue Lie’s appearance.

This soul was the equivalent of half of Xue Li’s soul. With half of his soul imprisoned, Xue Li would not dare to act carelessly. It would also truly reassure Qin Lie.

“Put down all of your defenses,” Qin Lie said.

This half of Xue Li’s soul slowly turned invisible, becoming fainter by the second...

Then, Qin Lie changed his spirit art.

Inside the Soul Suppressing Orb, an ice crystal ball was formed.

Then, the outer layer of the wall of ice was covered with an earthen yellow halo. This was the power of the earth.

Next, small streaks of lightning surrounded the outer layer of the halo with the rampaging energy of thunder, forming the third layer of the seal.

Once all of this was finished, a finger-sized hole appeared at the center of the rumbling and crackling light ball. “Go on in.”

Xue Li’s invisible soul looked once at the light ball before obediently flying inside the hole.

Once his soul had entered into the light ball, the hole fused as the light ball became complete once more.

The inner layer was made of frigid ice, which was harmless to Xue Li’s soul. The second layer was composed of the power of earth, and the outermost layer possessed the power of thunder and lightning.

This three layered seal would not be able to trap even the tiniest fragment of Xue Li’s soul in the outside world. He would be able to go in and out of it any time he wanted.

But inside the world of the Soul Suppressing Orb, Xue Li’s soul was suppressed, as if there was a huge mountain on top of him. He could not escape the orb at all, and if he tried to do anything, Qin Lie would notice the very next moment.

In that case, the three layered seal he had applied inside the Soul Suppressing Orb was enough to stop Xue Li from acting carelessly.

“Now, I can unlock your seal without worry.” Qin Lie opened his eyes and swallowed a Mind Focusing Pill. He stared straight at the spirit pattern pillar ahead of him.

“Qin Bing, d-did a strand of blood just enter your forehead?” Tang Siqi quickly asked when she saw him opening his eyes.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry. If the sect master and three great reverends came over, just tell them that I’ve figured out the final magic of the spirit pattern pillar and am researching it now. Tell them to give me some time.” Qin Lie notified her once and closed his eyes once more.

Tang Siqi had a whole stomach of doubts she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t find an angle to go at it.

It was already noon.

Shadows began to approach Armament Sect’s outer sect entrance from every angle.

Seven Fiends Valley’s Shi Jingyun, Cloud Sky Mountain’s Wu Tuo, Dark Shadow Tower’s Liang Yangzu, and Dark Asura Hall’s Yuan Tianya had all appeared.

“Hall Master Yuan, was Lang Xie killed?” Wu Tuo immediately asked the matter he was most concerned about when he walked forward before Yuan Tianya.

Shi Jingyun’s expression was heavy as he also looked towards Yuan Tianya. It was obvious that he was also very concerned about the matter.

“Lang Xie escaped with severe injuries.” Yuan Tianya’s expression was indifferent. Following behind him were his subordinate commanders. “Lang Xie should not have the ability to fight for the time being. He should not be able to interfere with our next operation against Armament Sect.”

“Lang Xie will always be a hidden threat as long as he isn’t dead!” Liang Yangzu interrupted with a dark face, “He is the most terrifying person in Armament Sect. If this man is alive, even if we eliminate Armament Sect, we will not enjoy any peaceful moments in the future.”

“No, Lang Xie cannot threaten us. No matter how strong he is, can he be stronger than the people above us?” Yuan Tianya looked towards the sky and said cooly, “The operation against Armament Sect was ordered by people from above. If we really cannot take down Lang Xie, then naturally the higher-ups will send their own men to take care of things.”

The moment he said this, everyone’s expressions had relaxed. Suddenly, they thought that Lang Xie was no longer a threat.