“I’ll give you one last chance to answer my question or else don’t blame this princess for being heavy handed…” Yuying said unhappily while creases began to form on her brow as she faced the severed soul in front of her.
“Ha, try your worst! I’ve been alive long enough to know that your words are hollow and that killing me is out of your capabilities! It is but a matter of time before you lose the ability to contain me and my comrades and soon you will fall under our mercy.” The severed soul said while laughing maniacally.
“Yo-you got me… To completely destroy a severed soul and extinguish it from existence is indeed out of my current capabilities…” Yuying said with a frown in a soft voice which caused the severed soul along with is comrades to laughing ever so more loudly while uttering all kinds of mocking phrases at her.
As powerful as Yuying was and as far as her knowledge regarding souls delved, it was still extremely hard for her to completely extinguish a severed soul. The only reason as to why the severed soul that attack Ai was scattered to oblivion was because it wasn't too powerful and was caught off guard by Ai’s innate soul defense.
But for the group to destroy the group severed souls caught within Yuying’s tune chains would be an entirely different story. More than likely they would fail in quickly finishing things and the rest of the severed souls on the island would be alerted and a series of terrible events would thus ensue.
That is of course of a certain someone named Zhang did not possess a particularly powerful weapon in his arsenal, a weapon that allowed him to slaughter a dozen saints and hundreds of thousands of souls in the Underworld.
“However, what is out of my capabilities isn't out of the capabilities of my husband.” Yuying laughed in a devilish manner, causing the severed souls to instantly quiet down.
Without even needing to wait for Yuying to ask him to do so, Zhang ignited a flickering black dragon flame in the palm of his hand and casually with a wave of his hand made it shoot toward the severed soul.
Despite being able to sense the fearsomeness of Zhang’s soul devouring flame, and struggling to the utmost of its abilities, the severed soul remained tightly bound in place due to Yuying’s chains of runes.
As the one true bane of all things comprised solely of essence once the fist-sized flame that shot out of Zhang’s palm embraced the severed soul, a pain filled howl reverberated into the air. Feeling it’s very being slowly fading away, the severed soul’s previously haughty and almighty tone that it had used to talk to Yuying was replaced by a pleading and yielding one.
“Pl-pl-please spare me!” The severed soul begged, much to the surprise of its comrades.
With its cries for mercy falling on deaf ears, it took but a few moments before the severed soul felt its life nearing an end and just at the moment the black flames that engulfed it disappeared without a single trace.
“Will you answer my questions now?” Yuying asked with a smile on her face while looking at the wisp of smoke that was the severed soul. Compared to its previous state in which it was highly visible, the severed soul currently appeared as if it could be dispersed to the winds with a single motion of Yuying’s hand.
Along with its sorry looking state, the severed soul’s attitude was now entirely different as it proceeded to answer Yuying’s questions the moment she asked them.
“Wha-what would you like to know? I will answer your questions to the best of my ability, just please spare me...” The severed soul asked in a stutter.
“Tell me how it’s possible for there to be so many severed souls on this island. Usually encountering one or two of your kind in this type of plane is already a rarity. Under normal circumstances when this many severed souls are gathered in one place; the Underworld would have sent a team of reapers to retrieve you all.” Yuying said, finding it odd that the severed souls on this island were about to avoid being detected by the Underworld.
“Tha-that is because of the…” The severed soul began to speak but stopped before giving Yuying the information she wished to attain.
“Speak or hold your tongue for the rest of eternity…” Yuying said as creases began to appear on her brow once again.
“Th-there is an Ethereal Point on this island! In the north, most point of this island there is are a pair mountains and at the peak of the highest mountain, there is an Ethereal Point. Through the use of a powerful array, the severed souls on this island cannot be detected by the Underworld.” The severed soul said, fearing Yuying’s wraith.
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“An Ethereal Point…If we can harness the power of the Ethereal Point we can all become high saints and then there won't be anyone around to be afraid of any longer.” Zhang mumbled upon hearing the frightened words emanating from the severed soul.
“I would advise against going there… The Ethereal Point is where the majority of the severed souls are gathered. If you go, there then you all will be slaughtered. Even if you can conjure that black colored fire, there are too many of us there for it to be any use.” The severed soul said, pretending to care about Zhang and the beauties in the hopes of being allowed to go free.
“No wonder the Sea Beast Sect was able to practically rule over the Eastern Sea… With an Ethereal Point, they could have bred numerous powerful experts to bolster their forces with.” Ling said as she looked off into the distance toward the northern side of the island where the outline of large mountains could faintly be seen.
“I've told you what you wanted to know, will you let me go now?” The severed soul asked, after feeling the mood slightly lighten.
“Who says I was finished asking questions? Tell me where the treasury of the Sea Beast Sect is.” Yuying said.
“Treasury? That place was looted hundreds of years ago. Why would you bother going there?” The severed soul replied promptly.
“If something as important as an Ethereal Point as gone unnoticed after all of this time, I’m sure that a sect as powerful as the Sea Beast Sect must have a secret stash of treasure or two hidden somewhere where people wouldn’t be able to find them.” Yuying said with a chuckle, while Zhang’s interest was piqued.
“Yea, I’m sure if anyone had been able to locate something such as an Ethereal Point this island wouldn’t be in the sorry state that it is currently in.” Lingqi interjected after a moment’s thought.
“Tell me where the treasure is or else I’ll disperse your soul.” Zhang said to the severed soul while a black colored flame ignited in his palm. When it came to treasure, anything that stood in Zhang’s way would either have to make way or be turned to ashes.
“The-the most important treasure of the sect was placed in a room near to where located in the same place the Ethereal Point is!” The severed soul answered, fearing for its life.
“Thank you for answering all of my questions, you may go now.” Yuying said with a smile before making a series of hand signs, causing the black colored chain of runes binding the particular severed soul that she had been conversing with to extrude an eerie greenish glow.
“Wha-what is this?! You just said that you’d let me go!” The Severed Soul cried out in a panicked voice.
“Of course, I’m letting you go now. Please tell father that I’m well. Also for talking to me in such a haughty manner earlier, I hope you enjoy your stay in one of the eighteen floors.” Yuying laughed as she retrieved the Samsara Gate Medallion that hung from her waist and held it in front of the severed soul.
In a flash, a bright colored light enveloped the surrounding area and the severed soul that dared to anger the ninety-ninth princess of the Underworld was sent away.
“With my insignia imparted onto his soul, father will be sure to give him vip treatment.” Yuying giggled devilishly.
“Alright let’s finish things here and then plan our next move. Since I’m not sure if we should rejoin the group or head straight to the Ethereal Point where we can break through and become high saints.” Zhang said as he waved his hand and ignited five more soul devouring flames that quickly shot toward the remaining severed souls.
“It did say that there would be many severed souls gathered in the area around the Ethereal Point. If their numbers are too great my array would be rendered useless and then we might be in a bit of trouble.” Yuying said as the ghastly wails of the dying severed souls made their way into her ear.
“Without your array to hold them, I’m not sure that the full potential of my fire can be drawn out. If I end up having to conjure too many of these things, I don’t think we would be able to last long.” Zhang said.
“If we rejoin the main group, at least we can use the Black Thorn Coral or the wyverns to fight. Or if we are attacked by severed souls, at least there will be other people there to help take away a bit of the burden that we would otherwise have to face on our own.” Ling stated.
“How about rejoining the group first and seeing where the tomb is located and from there we can decide on what to do.” Lingqi suggested.
“What do we do if we run into more of those things?” Ai asked.
“As long as there aren’t too many we can promptly handle them. If they aren’t in their soul form anymore and have gained bodies, then that would make things even easier for us. Since possessing another person would have definitely depleted a great part of their strength.” Yuying said.
“Okay then let’s head back to the main group and then figure things out from there.” Zhang said as he lifted the Dragon Heart Necklace that was usually dangling from his neck into the air where it released a powerful suction force and gathered all of the black flames that was released moments ago.
Just like in the Underworld, Zhang used the black flames to basically steal away all of the essence that made up the severed souls and stored it away into the Dragon Heart Necklace for later use.
“Be sure to pretend that we don’t know anything about there being severed souls on this island. Sometimes it is best to play the fool than to know too much.” Ling reminded, feeling that it would be disadvantageous for the group if they let on about their discoveries.
“Yes, while we are in the light the enemy is in the dark it is best to feign ignorance.” Zhang said as the group proceeded to leave.
“As a precaution, take a few of these and activate them if you feel that you’re in danger. With a tiny bit of essence, these talismans will erect a small barrier that might prove to be useful.” Yuying said before passing out three white colored talismans to the other beauties and to Zhang.
Once the talismans were given out, with a wave of her hand Yuying made the barrier that she had erected earlier disappear as the runes that littered the ground faded away without leaving single a trace behind.
Backtracking the path, they traveled, Zhang and the beauties slowly made their way back to where the main group was gathered. Upon their return, Zhang and his wives could see a clear difference in the group, compared to when they had initially set off to look for treasure.
From what Zhang, could tell, within the respective parties within the larger group, there was no, even more, division. Over the course of their travels to reach Sea Beast Island, Zhang had made it a habit of his to observe the other groups that he and the beauties were traveling with so with a mere glance he could tell that something was wrong when he saw people who were usually very talkative and at the center of their respective groups, sitting along by themselves.
“That one over there and over there, they are acting differently from how they usually act. That guy over there usually sits in the lotus position with his left leg tucked underneath his right leg. That one over there usually always has a bottle of wine in his hands. That woman over there is usually always fawning over that man over there, however, today she’s sitting with the two men who she usually avoids talking to.” Ai said to the group through her divine sense as she spotted abnormalities in the behaviors of those within the larger group.
Compared to Zhang’s observations, Ai’s was on an entirely different level. As her favorite pastime, Ai would often watch people’s interactions with each other.