The retreat of the deputy hall chief of the Hall of Souls before a fight had clearly exceeded the expectations of Xiao Yan’s group. Hence, he was allowed to tear space and flee before anyone could react.

“This fellow is really quick to run...” Xiao Yan stared at the spot where the deputy hall chief had fled and frowned, but that frown quickly relaxed. The deputy hall chief of the Hall of Souls was not an ordinary person. He had the strength of an advanced three star Dou Sheng. If Zi Yan wasn’t accompanying them today, an extremely miserable battle would definitely have broken out. Moreover, even after experiencing such a battle, Xiao Yan was not confident he could truly kill the deputy hall chief like he had killed the First Tianzun. After all, the strength of the deputy hall chief was far from what the First Tianzun could compare with.

“Although it is not difficult to defeat him, I am not able to stop him if he chooses to flee with all his strength...” Zi Yan also felt a little helpless. If an advanced three star Dou Sheng expert insisted on fleeing, she would not be able to stop that expert, and this deputy hall chief of the Hall of Souls was extremely cautious. He had simply fled before even fighting. Therefore, Zi Yan would not be able to retain him.

“Forget it. It doesn’t matter if he escapes. The Hall of Souls will sooner or later guess that we are the ones responsible for this matter. The alliance and the Hall of Souls are at odds with each other. Some time earlier, the Hall of Souls had launched an attack on the alliance. Time and time around, we will have return them the favor. Otherwise, outsiders might think that our alliance can only be suppressed by the Hall of Souls and act cowardly...” Xiao Yan nodded. His finger gently rubbed his Storage Ring as he faintly laughed. Being able to capture the First Tianzun and obtain the Sea Heart Flame meant that he had gained a lot during this trip. Moreover, they had even destroyed a branch hall of the Hall of Souls. This kind of loss was something that even the Hall of Souls would not be able to easily accept.

“You should also finish off the remaining people. Do not allow any of them to escape...” Xiao Yan glanced at the experts from the Hall of Souls who were fleeing in all directions as both the Little Fairy Doctor and Qing Lin gave chase. After which, he turned to the battleground between Yao Lao and Saint Gu You. The Saint Gu You had already fallen into a disadvantage at this moment. Even his aura had became a little weary. Although he tried to act tough with his words, he was only a high level Ban Sheng. It was impossible for him to fight with Yao Lao, who was an elite Dou Sheng. It was only a matter of time before he was finished off.

“Pay attention to Gu You. Do not allow this old ghost to flee...”

“Aye.” Zi Yan nodded. Her delicate figure moved and rushed forward. She became a huge dragon that charged over to a herd of goat. Wind swept all around. Within a short minute, those experts from the Hall of Souls were completely killed by her.

Xiao Yan was too lazy to split his attention to handle this one-sided slaughter. He lowered his head to look at the large hall below. After which, he clenched his hand and the Heavy Xuan Ruler appeared in a flash. He ruthlessly slashed at the large hall. A thousand-foot-large flame pillar erupted and split the large hall apart, revealing countless black chains inside. A couple of spiritual light clusters hung on the ends of those chains.

The corner of Xiao Yan’s eyes involuntarily twitched upon seeing the tens of thousands of spiritual bodies. These bastards from the Hall of Souls were using these souls as nourishment!

Xiao Yan gently waved his hand. A frightening wind blew like a wild storm. Those chains were shattered apart and the souls within those light clusters opened their eyes at this moment. They looked around them in a frail and lost manner. After which, wildly joyous spiritual fluctuations were emitted. Although they were unaware of what exactly had happened, they could taste freedom. They had been locked in this place for an unknown number of years as prisoners. At times, even death itself had become their only hope...

“All of you should leave. Do not allow the Hall of Souls to capture you again.”

Xiao Yan softly sighed. He then spoke as he watched those souls. Some of them seemed to be so happy and excited that they were tearing up.

Numerous souls lingered in the sky. Some knelt to Xiao Yan while other deeply bowed to him. Finally, they charged out of the barrier with a whistle and crazily headed to the outside world.

Xiao Yan involuntarily shook his head as he watched those souls flee. He was just about to turn around when a thought suddenly passed through his heart. His eyes looked at the hall that had turned into ruins as he vaguely sensed a strange fluctuation from deep within it. He hesitated for a moment before he slowly landed. He gently waved his hand as a frightening wind sent a thousand-foot-large rock pillar flying.

Xiao Yan swiftly dug deeper. The ruins parted to reveal a large pit in the blink of an eye. There was a five-foot-large light cluster suspended in the pit. The light cluster was transparent. Its exterior was attached to tons of black chains. The other end of these chains had been connected to those souls that had fled earlier. This light cluster was the thing that had formed from those spiritual bodies earlier...

“This is...”

Xiao Yan frowned as he looked at this light cluster. He could sense an extremely terrifying spiritual fluctuation within the light cluster. Moreover, this spiritual fluctuation was extremely pure. There was not one impurity mixed within it.

“This is the essence of a soul...” Yao Lao’s voice was transmitted from behind Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan turned his head and saw Yao Lao descend from the sky. That old ghost Gu You had quickly been finished off after Zi Yan intervened. Hence, Yao Lao was free to look around.

“Soul essence...” Xiao Yan slowly muttered. At this moment, he naturally understood something. The soul was the basis of life. All living creatures possess a soul and deep within the soul was a hint of soul essence. This was the foundation for the formation of a soul. It could be described as the most mysterious but purest energy in the world.

“Such a large amount of soul essence requires at least a million souls...” Yao Lao’s expression was a little complicated as he said, “This soul light cluster should be the collection of the Man Hall over the years. The deputy hall chief was in such a hurry to escape that he failed to even bring such an important thing with him...”

“A million souls.” Xiao Yan softly exhaled. The methods of this Hall of Souls were indeed vicious. In order to obtain this soul essence, they had to consume a million souls. Moreover, this was only the Man Hall. There were still quite a number of branch halls across the Central Plains. Those places would likely also possess such a mysterious thing.

“This Hall of Souls is really the scourge of the entire continent...”

“They are indeed a scourge...” Yao Lao was unable to hide the hatred on his face. This Hall of Souls used all sorts of methods to attain its despicable goals. Such a mysterious and cruel method was little different than obtaining the blood or flesh of a living person. Moreover, this method was perhaps even more vicious.

“I wonder just what the Hall of Souls is planning to do by gathering so much soul essence.” Xiao Yan knit his brows. He felt that this soul essence definitely involved a grand scheme.

“Absorbing the soul essence will strengthen one’s Spiritual Strength. If one possesses an extremely vast amount of soul essence, one might be able to step into the legendary ‘Di State’ if one is lucky...” Yao Lao slowly explained.

“Does teacher mean... that someone from the Hall of Souls, no, the Hun clan is planning to raise his Spiritual Strength to the ‘Di State’? Is this the reason why they have been capturing souls? To remove the soul essence from them?” Xiao Yan asked with a startled voice.

“This is likely the case, but I cannot be certain. They planned to get me to submit to them when I was captured by the Hall of Souls back then. It seems that they require my alchemist skills to help them do something, but I did not agree to help them. Hence, I do not know just what they needed me to do. Based on my guess, it should be related to this soul essence...” Yao Lao fondled his chin and spoke with a frown.

Xiao Yan knit his brow upon hearing this guess. These various signs indicated that the Hall of Souls seemed to be preparing something. The collection of souls to refine soul essence seemed to be one step of many.

“These people, just what are they planning to do...”

Xiao Yan had once met the Demon Saint Huang Quan. This peak expert had trained until his soul had reached the Di state, but based on what his lingering soul fragment had said—even if one’s soul reached the Di state, one would not be able to reach the Dou Di class. Perhaps, the thing that he mentioned to be missing in this world was the key to resolve this mystery.

“Could it be that the thing that Demon Saint Huang Quan claimed to be missing was soul essence?” Xiao Yan shook his head while feeling at a loss. He sighed. He did not have a clue even after thinking about what he meant. All he could say was, “What should we do with this thing?” Xiao Yan was naturally talking about the soul essence in front of him. This thing was something that the Man Hall had formed after much difficulty. Its value was extremely great and unmeasurable. There was no telling just how many alchemists would go crazy if this thing were to brought to the outside world.

“This was created from slaughtering an unimaginable number of people. It should not exist in this world. Since it has already been formed, there is naturally no reason to abandon it. You should take it. Your spiritual level is currently at the advanced Heavenly State. There is still a ways to go to the perfect Heavenly State. This will definitely help you to snatch the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame...” Yao Lao hesitated for a moment before replying.

Xiao Yan was startled upon hearing this suggestion, but he did not put up an act. He turned his head and looked at the spiritual light cluster. With a wave of his hand, he shattered those chains. After which, his hand slowly touched the surface of the light cluster and softly said, “I will help take revenge for all of you...”

The soft sentence suddenly caused the faint luster to send a signal. There seemed to be many different messages being emitted from the soul light cluster.

Xiao Yan quietly accepted these messages. Far too much soul essence had been gathered within this light cluster, so there was no form of intelligence within it. Only some hatred, unwillingness, and other emotions that existed before the complete death of a soul remained. It was extremely difficult to completely refine these emotions. If one were to randomly absorb them, they would end up warping one’s mind. However, that single sentence from Xiao Yan seemed to have quietly resolved these hidden negative emotions. This could be considered another form of intelligence that had formed by this soul essence. Even when they died, they would use their final strength to make things difficult for those who killed them. Although it appeared easy to resolve these emoti, those from the Hall of Souls would never utter such words...