Spirit Realm

“What connection does that Qin Lie have with her? It’s very strange, she seemed to think highly of him. Is there something… between them?”

Little fatty Kang Zhi narrowed his little eyes and had a rascally smile as he snickered. “Is she attracted to Qin Lie? Haha, Qin Lie might be a bit lacking compared to me but he looks pretty handsome. Maybe he is just right for that woman’s tastes?”

“Just a bit lacking compared to you?” Zhuo Qian laughed. “You mean in terms of physique? Mn, you are a bit more in this area. Tu Ze, Chu Peng, and Han Feng cannot compare to you. In our hearts, you are the heavy-weight.”

“Kang Zhi, you are the strongest in this area.” Chu Peng pinched the flesh at his waist and said laughingly, “You grew another size recently.”

Kang Zhi’s smile became awkward.

“It’s probably that Qin Lie helped her in killing the Soul Devouring Beast.” Zhuo Qian looked in the distance and said in a low voice, “The people of Internal Affairs have sharpened themselves through a bloody experiences and their hands are dripping in blood. The more beautiful the woman that holds a high position in the Department of Internal Affairs is, the stronger they are.”

Speaking more on this, Zhuo Qian paused and sighed. “I hope he doesn’t interact anymore with the woman from Internal Affairs. These kinds of people usually have complex histories and easily goes to extreme lengths. If one interacts with them for a long time… Qin Lie could be affected. This is not of any benefit to him.”

After she said this, everyone became silent and considered what she meant in her words.

The Profound Nether Beast slowly stopped.

Dressed in closely-fitting black tights, Xie Jingxuan came down from the Profound Nether Beast with a cold expression. She did not turn her head and said coldly, “You, come down.”

Qin Lie jumped off.

Xie Jingxuan’s brow creased as she looked down at him with cold eyes. “Is the Soul Devouring Beast alive or dead?”

Qin Lie did not instantly respond and used a wisp of his mind consciousness to examine the inside world of the Soul Suppressing Orb. Inside it, he could faintly discern the presence of the Soul Devouring Beast, but when he focused to search for it, it was nowhere to be found. He didn’t know where exactly it was hiding.

He was certain that the Soul Suppressing Orb had absorbed its soul and temporarily sealed it inside the orb, so it could not come out and commit evil.

But why the Soul Suppressing Orb had done so, what its goal was, he did not know.

“It was destroyed by the thunder.” After a moment of silence, he started to explain, “At that time, my thunder and lightning permeated your body and chased it out of your mind. The moment it left your eyes, I gathered all the thunder power and killed it instantaneously. Not one bit of the soul escaped.”

Qin Lie’s grandfather had sternly warned him to never leak the secret of the Soul Suppressing Orb, so he had to conceal it.

Xie Jingxuan’s eyebrow jumped as she looked coldly at him. “Is that really the case?”

“Yes.” Qin Lie’s face was honest.

Xie Jingxuan was silent, and after a while, she suddenly said, “From my point of view, the Soul Devouring Beast was not forced out of my mind by the power of the lightning and thunder, but... sucked out by a strange force. My mind was not clear then, but at the very least, I know that the attractive force came from you, or maybe a certain object on your body...”

Her expression suddenly became cold. “Am I right?!”

A pressuring ripple of power was suddenly draped over Qin Lie’s body like a cage or noose!

This power was hard to see with the naked eye, but it caused Qin Lie’s body to suddenly become extremely heavy as though he were holding up a mountain. He wasn’t even able to move.

Xie Jingxuan’s eyes were icy, her beautiful face full of sternness. That terrifyingly sharp scythe appeared in her hand.

This very moment, her presence was intimidating and was a great shock to Qin Lie.

“You’re mistaken.” Sweat beaded on Qin Lie’s forehead. His back trembled slightly, but his expression was firm as he shouted, “That’s only your imagination!”

A faint purple flower that was composed of pure power suddenly formed on Qin Lie’s body.

Looking from the outside, it was as though a strange purple flower had bloomed on his body, causing him to currently look extremely strange.

The purple demon flowers were like a terrifying lock that imprisoned Qin Lie’s body and sealed his physical strength, so it was difficult for him to move.

“I do not believe that it was just my imagination.” Xie Jingxuan had a cold expression. “Also, I felt you peeking at my memories! You went into the deeper levels of my memory!”

“That was caused by the soul of the Soul Devouring Beast.” Qin Lie grit his teeth, his expression sorry. His knees gradually bent as though he was almost at the limit of what he could tolerate.

After the purple flowers bloomed, they gradually tightened and strangled him, suffocating him as well.

“So you really did enter the deep levels of my memory. What did you see?” Xie Jingxuan’s eyes became even icier.

“I saw a helpless little girl, saw her being forcibly left behind by her father on the Nether Battlefield, saw her fighting alone against the Nether Realm’s spirit beasts...” Qin Lie’s expression was twisted, but when he recalled what he had seen, his voice became strangely calm as he said lightly, “I felt the terror she felt then, felt the panic and helplessness when she was abandoned by her father, experienced the sorrow she experienced then...”

As he spoke, the picture of the little girl crying set into his mind. A soreness came into his heart, and he even temporarily forgot the heavy pressure on his body.

Xie Jingxuan suddenly became silent.

The ice in her eyes gradually disappeared and turned into a very complex expression.

With furrowed brows, she looked at Qin Lie’s face. It was terrifyingly twisted due to being strangled by the purple demon flowers, but when she saw that, while Qin Lie’s tone was calm, his eyes clearly showed soreness and sympathy...

A certain soft part of her heart seemed to have been plucked, so she closed her eyes.

The pressure put on Qin Lie’s body instantly retreated. The purple demon flowers also disappeared. Qin Lie instantly collapsed as he was rid of the heavy burden, his body soaked in sweat and dishevelled as he panted heavily to adjust.

“You did not collapse under my power and managed to keep standing. It seems that you have many secrets on your body. The strength of your body is stronger than the great majority of martial practitioners in the Natal Opening Realm that I have seen. The spirit art you cultivate must be unique in refining your body.”

Xie Jingxuan closed her eyes again, her expression still cold but not harsh.

“No matter what you are concealing from me, you better have truly killed that Soul Devouring Beast. If that Soul Devouring Beast comes out again and does evil,” she glanced at Qin Lie, “then I will not ask anything of you and will simply kill you to prevent further trouble.”

Finishing, she mounted her Profound Nether Beast and left while saying with her back to Qin Lie, “Your mission this time has ended. I will communicate with Nebula Pavilion and they will award you ten thousand contribution points.”

“Ten thousand contribution points!” Qin Lie’s eyes lit up.

……

“Mister Liang, why isn’t there a soul crystal? That object is extremely rare, and it can only be from from soul-type beasts like the Soul Devouring Beast. Without the soul crystal, this Soul Devouring Beast’s value is greatly diminished.”

Ban Hong and the other generals of Dark Asura Hall were dismembering the enormous body of the Soul Devouring Beast. They cut out and organized its bones, muscles, veins, eyes, and teeth. However, he just felt regret at not finding the soul crystal.

“If the Soul Devouring Beast was completely smelted by the Eight Extreme Trigram Fire Formation, the memories and impurities in the soul would be burned away which would form a pure soul crystal. Everyone knows that soul crystals can increased soul power, so we all know the value of the soul crystals. Due to this, we use the Eight Extreme Trigram Fire Formation when we try to kill Soul Devouring Beasts.”

Liang Zhong had a helpless expression as he stood beside the Soul Devouring Beast’s body. “But events do not proceed as planned. This Soul Devouring Beast was killed by the thunderbolts. Thunderbolts are the bane of all evil souls and tormented spirits. The soul was killed instantaneously by thunder and lightning which left no trace behind. Naturally, it would be difficult for a soul crystal to form. “

He looked in the direction that Gao Yu left. “When that boy retreated at the time, I was also curious, but now I understand. That guy... he knew what Qin Lie would do and was afraid that the thunderbolt would kill the Demon God’s shadow, so he disregarded our shouts and left prematurely.”

“Ah, it is such a pity not to have smelted out the soul crystal.” Ban Hong was extremely pained. There was only the soul crystal in his mind, and he could not accept Liang Zhong’s words.

“It is already very fortunate to kill the Soul Devouring Beast. Not getting the soul crystal is only because our luck is not extremely exceptional.” Xie Jingxuan came back on the Profound Nether Beast. She had resumed her usual coldness and said, “The Soul Devouring Beast is dead, we have completed our mission. There is no need to stay here.”

“You guys prepare and meet up with us to leave this mountain valley later.” Liang Zhong understood her meaning and nodded as he said to Tu Ze, Xiong Ba, and the others. “We will open up the path ahead and you can just follow. We will protect you so you can safely leave this mountain valley surrounded by spirit beasts.”

“Understood!” Na Nuo, Xiong Ba, and Tu Ze confirmed in unison.

“There is a Mystical Cold Jade vein under the cold spring inside the valley. The vein goes down and should have a good amount of Profound Cold Jade.” Xie Jinxuan looked at Tu Ze and said, “We found the vein, and it now belongs to your Nebula Pavilion to harvest. The accomplishment will be put on Qin Lie’s head. Tell your brother to award him with ten thousand Nebula Pavilion contribution points.”

“Ten thousand contribution points!”

Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian, Kang Zhi, and the people from Crimson Flame Association and Water Moon Sect all exclaimed in union with shocked gazes.

Ten thousand contribution points was a considerable amount of wealth in Nebula Pavilion. This many contribution points would be enough for Qin Lie to use all the cultivation rooms of Nebula Pavilion, borrow all kinds of high quality books from Scripture Tower, and even buy some pretty good spirit artifacts...

The previous year in the Arctic Mountain Range, he had heavily wounded the elder of Shattered Ice Manor, Wu De, with the help of the Demon Wolf King and inflicted heavy losses on Shattered Ice Manor. He had also rescued Tu Ze and the others before that and assisted them in killing many Shattered Ice Manor martial practitioners...

The contributions of those years put together was just three thousand.

Liu Yan had been able to buy a Common Grade Five Hexagonal Shield with two thousand contribution points, and those two thousand points were saved over several years...

Even the hall masters and elders of Nebula Pavilion could not obtain ten thousand contribution points easily. They needed at least one or two years.

The total duration of Qin Lie's trip was just a bit over a month, travel time included, yet he acquired ten thousand contribution points. How could the crowd possibly accept that?