"Ha ha ha…"

Han’s eerie laughter echoed through the hall, leaving the four sinister cultivators bewildered.

Who is this guy? Never encountered a young man like him before.

"Two broken souls, two brutes, a bunch of weaklings, and you think you can stir up trouble?" Han laughed again, "I could wipe you all out with a wave of my hand!"

The white-haired man shook his head, a look of contempt crossing his face. He began chanting incantations and weaving hand signs, drawing upon the surrounding energies of the world and the eerie ghostly forces.

Daoist magic! And powerful magic at that!

Seeing this, Yun Duo quickly prepared to leave her physical body, but Han had already stepped forward through the throngs of ghostly spirits, leaving her with only his back.

"Don’t interfere. Trust me."

Yun Duo froze in confusion.

"Why bother? Why rush toward death?" Han shook his head, his tone almost mocking.

He stopped, hiding his fist behind his back, and then swung it forward.

Sunlight Fist!

In an instant, the world lit up. The darkness of the ghostly realm was replaced by blinding light, banishing all the shadows.

The sunlight was everywhere!

"Ah!"

The cries of pain were followed by the sounds of metal crashing and bodies hitting the ground, echoing through the temple.

Moments later, the overwhelming light faded, and the hall returned to its previous state. The ghostly realm had completely disappeared.

Yun Duo held her eyes, tears streaming down her face.

Han, on the other hand, stood next to the four defeated cultivators, hands clasped behind his back, gazing outside the temple.

The four evil cultivators lay sprawled on the floor, their limbs twisted in unnatural angles, shattered beyond repair, their bodies ruined.

"Pathetic. Too weak," Han said casually.

One of the guardians of the evil cultivators screamed in agony, his face twisted with pain as he clutched his eyes.

The two cultivators, their faces ashen and their eyes blank, seemed almost delirious, unable to speak.

"That’s a technique made specifically for your kind," Han said calmly.

"My eyes! My eyes!" Yun Duo cried, her voice tinged with desperation. "Han, I can’t see! My soul’s blind!"

"Don’t panic, it’ll be fine soon," Han reassured, tearing pieces of cloth from the bodies of the defeated cultivators and stuffing them into their mouths.

It didn’t take long before Yun Duo’s vision returned, though her eyes were a bit red. She ran over to Han, looking at the subdued cultivators in awe.

"Han, what kind of power was that? It’s incredible!"

"Just a little trick," Han said with a humble smile.

[Talismans: Light of the Sun Talisman]

[Daoist talisman, contains a spell that releases intense foreign sunlight upon activation, blinding and obscuring the vision of all living beings except the talisman’s wielder. One-time use.]

This was a talisman Han had obtained earlier, which he had originally thought was just a "flashbang" of sorts.

But as Han’s understanding of soul cultivation deepened, he realized the potential of this seemingly harmless item—it had real destructive power!

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The key was the Light of the Sun Talisman, which could unleash foreign sunlight. Though it was still sunlight, it was different from the natural kind!

Who wouldn’t be afraid of sunlight if their soul left their body before the Daydream Stage?

Han had discovered a whole new world—who said auxiliary talismans couldn’t be lethal?

As long as you don’t give up, there’s always a solution!

Under the blazing light, the white-haired man and the frail old cultivator collapsed, their souls gravely wounded.

The two guardians, unable to see, could do nothing as their charges screamed in pain, giving Han the perfect opportunity to strike.

With his iron rod, Han knocked down the muscle-bound warriors, who were helpless against his attack.

The Light of the Sun Talisman had a limit to how long its blindness effect lasted, but for cultivators of a lower realm, it was more than enough.

Yun Duo looked at Han, her eyes filled with admiration.

He was simply amazing!

"Do you have any rope?" Han asked casually.

"Huh? Oh, let me check." Yun Duo rummaged through her spatial pouch, quickly pulling out a length of rope strong enough to bind a warrior.

After quickly binding the four evil cultivators, Han grabbed the Soul-Devouring Flag. Much of the ghostly energy inside had been vaporized by the sunlight, leaving only a few stronger ghosts behind.

Han regretted it a bit—he had lost some pure soul energy.

But the surviving spirits were far stronger than the weaklings he had encountered earlier, and the loss wasn’t as significant.

"Is there any way to remove the marks on this artifact?" Han asked.

Yun Duo nodded, pulling out a small vial from her pouch.

She opened the bottle and dripped a mysterious liquid onto the Soul-Devouring Flag.

"This is Soul Corrosion Water—designed specifically to corrode the master’s mark on an artifact."

Impressive. Yun Duo wasn’t just rich, she was legendary.

With the soul of the artifact’s master badly injured, the Soul Corrosion Water worked quickly, making the Soul-Devouring Flag ownerless.

Han used the Soul Transformation Mirror to purge the remaining ghosts, sending their souls to a peaceful afterlife.

"I wonder what the upper limit is for the Soul Transformation Mirror," Han mused, dragging the four evil cultivators back toward Black Cloud Town.

As they made their way, neither Han nor Yun Duo noticed the soft breeze in the sky, as a white cloud drifted toward Black Cloud Town, and a black dress shimmered within it.

The search of the four evil cultivators had been thorough. Aside from the Soul-Devouring Flag and the Blood Wheel Artifact, they also carried some gold, silver, weapons, and a bronze lamp.

But no Daoist manuals.

Why didn’t they carry any? What kind of villains were these? Not professional at all.

While on the road, the white-haired man, still groggy, slowly came to his senses. When he felt the overwhelming damage to his soul and his crippled body, he sighed heavily.

Though his mouth was still gagged, the sound of his distress was palpable.

Han glanced at him and removed the cloth from his mouth.

"Anything you want to say?"

"Victory belongs to the strong, defeat to the weak. What’s there to say? Do what you will, ask whatever you want." The white-haired man gazed into the sky, his eyes empty.

"I guess this is the end for me."

"What a shame. I’ll never return home, never avenge my enemies…"

Ah, so this one had a tragic backstory.

But Han wasn’t interested in his story.

"You enslaved souls, forcing them to suffer endlessly. The souls of their loved ones would have relished the chance to end you themselves."

The white-haired man sneered.

"I’ve tortured and drained the souls of hundreds, what can they do?

The strong can take from the weak."

"You used to be weak."

"And that’s why I lost everything. That’s why I chose to become strong!"

Han finally understood—the white-haired man was a victim of his own suffering, someone who had decided to inflict pain on others to overcome his own.

He chose to wield his blade against those weaker than himself.

Whether it was the innocent women and men killed by Huang Shiren, or the women of Shan Shui Temple violated in their sleep by the evil monk, or even the countless innocent lives the white-haired man had slaughtered—these were the reminders of what this world truly was.

Han didn’t want to become another weakling slain by the whims of the powerful.

"You’re not from Black Cloud Town, are you?"

"We’re from Tianyang County, operating within Tianyue County. We came here after hearing about the earthquake in Black Cloud Town."

So they were ruthless outsiders after all.