CHAPTER 82: SOUL DESTRUCTION JADE HOOD

The white-robed figure looked on with a faint smile as the air shimmered and warped from the intense heat of the blazing inferno raging down below.

There was definitely something strange down there, but it would be impossible to search through the entirety of such an enormous area, so burning it all to the ground was the quick and simple solution.

By burning everything and destroying all plant life in the area, whatever was down below would be completely deprived of the life energy that it desired.

Even all of the bodies of water in the area were going to be baked to the point of evaporation!

He descended from the sky, then sat down on a distant mountain summit to observe the fire, constantly keeping an eye out for any abnormal occurrences.

The fire burned all the way into the afternoon without showing any signs of abating.

Right as night was about to fall, a furious roar rang out in the distant sky.

"Yang Luoyu! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

A black spot in the distance quickly raced onto the scene, revealing itself to be a black-robed figure, who lashed out with his whip, sending it hurtling directly toward Yang Luoyu.

Yang Luoyu burst into laughter as he sprang back to several thousand feet away.

"What's gotten you so worked up, Jiang Wuwang? It's not like I'm burning your ancestral grave or something!"

The black-robed figure was Divine Cracking Whip Jiang Wuwang, a warrior that was ranked even higher than Yama Flute Yang Luoyu on the Cloud Weapon Archive, but he was a member of the Church of the Self-Righteous.

Jiang Wuwang raced toward Yang Luoyu while lashing out with his whip, but the latter merely focused on taking evasive measures, refusing to engage in direct battle.

"I'm getting outta here! You can stay and put out the fire, Jiang Wuwang," Yang Luoyu chortled, then sped away into the distance as a streak of white light.

"Get back here!" Jiang Wuwang yelled, but Yang Luoyu was already far gone.

Jiang Wuwang turned to look back at the enormous fire raging down below with a frustrated grimace.

There was no way to put out an inferno of this magnitude, and it had already been burning for close to an entire day, so there wasn't anything to be salvaged anyway.

Furthermore, it would take too long to clear up such a massive area, and if Yang Luoyu were to return with reinforcements, then that would land him in huge trouble.

With that in mind, Jiang Wuwang was at a complete loss for what to do.

***

Inside White Cloud Warrior Academy, Gao Qingyu, Huang Yifan, and Meng Hejun were gathered together, seated in a triangular formation with Wei Zihao at the center.

At the moment, Wei Zihao had a terrified look on his face, having no clue why the three figureheads of the academy were sitting around him.

The three of them were communicating with each other through voice transmission, and this matter had been kept strictly confidential between the three of them, with the exceptions of Fang Che and Old Man Shen, of course.

Meng Hejun was looking at Wei Zihao with a hint of forlorn sympathy in her eyes.

"Have you secured the Soul Destruction Jade Hoods, Mistress Meng?" Gao Qingyu asked.

"I have. Two of them."

"Two? Why?"

"Master Nine told me to take two. He said that one may not be enough."

Both Gao Qingyu and Huang Yifan were stunned to hear this.

"We have to act right away as soon as we receive the signal. At this point, all of Wei Zihao's meridians and important arteries have already been tainted, so there's no way to separate him from the malicious entity in his body. The only thing that could save him now is if he possesses sufficient mental fortitude to endure the pain of having his soul shattered, and his conviction must not waver at all throughout the entire process."

The three of them heaved a collective internal sigh.

Perhaps there would be hope for someone else, but mental fortitude and strength of will clearly weren't Wei Zihao's strong suits.

"I wonder how things are going over there. Does the body down there really belong to the warrior that was once ranked second on the Cloud Weapon Archive? I recall that it had taken Master Xue an almighty struggle to put an end to his life all those years ago."

"It most likely is."

"Why was the body buried there? This is our territory!"

"I've been looking extensively into the geographic properties of that area, and while it appears unremarkable on the surface, there's a chance that it's the point of convergence for all of the water veins, yin veins, earth veins, and dragon veins of the seven southeastern states, as well as the four seas and three rivers. But that's only a possibility. I'm assuming that's why that location was chosen."

Huang Yifan was stunned into silence upon hearing this.

The Church of the Self-Righteous had clearly already figured this out long ago, while they were still forced to make assumptions by consulting maps, and this feeling of constantly being one step behind was very frustrating.

"How does the Church of the Self-Righteous know so much?" Gao Qingyu mused in a perplexed voice. "It's as if they have the heavens on their side, while we're completely in the dark about so many things! What secret could they possibly be hiding?"

The trio fell into a grim silence, then heaved a collective sigh.

Meng Hejun turned her gaze to Wei Zihao, then said, "Wei Zihao, it's time for you to learn the truth. Right now, you are in grave peril, and you only have a very slim chance at survival. I hope you can persevere."

Wei Zihao was trembling in fear as he stared at her with a horrified expression.

Meng Hejun gave him a rundown of the situation that he was in, then concluded, "If you can weather this storm, perhaps you'll be able to reach unimaginable heights someday. If you can't, then...

“You must hold firmly onto your sense of justice and ensure that your mind remains clear and uncorrupted. I'm going to give you a jade pendant. When the time comes, I want you to inject your spirit sense into the jade pendant with all your might, and there's a chance that you could survive this ordeal."

Meng Hejun was telling the truth.

If Wei Zihao could weather this storm and survive, then the sky would truly be the limit for him.

"I... I'll do my best," Wei Zihao declared in a feeble voice.

***

Deep beneath the earth, the buried body was abruptly cut off from its source of nourishment, and the blood mist around it was quickly dissipating.

After some time, the body began to spasm, and its jade-like skin turned dried and withered before cracking open as it reverted back to its original state.

Its heart suddenly began to beat, following which its eyes sprang open.

It was a sinister and terrifying pair of eyes that were filled with darkness, and at this moment, they were seething with fury as darkness came pouring out from within in the form of dense, black mist.

"Who ruined my resurrection?!"

It was about to be resurrected and restored to the height of its powers, yet the process had been interrupted at the most crucial juncture, reducing it to this undead state!

Seeing as this place had already been exposed, the Guardians would surely send people to lay waste to the land every day, so it had no choice but to forcibly awaken.

If it were to stay here any longer, it wouldn't even be able to maintain its current state!

The blood and spirit qi of hundreds of thousands of warriors had been converging toward the body, only for over two thirds of it to rapidly evaporate, leaving the body in a state of limbo where it wasn't physically recovered, nor had its cultivation base been restored.

Furthermore, it couldn't maintain this state for long, either, and it had to find another suitable place of habitation as soon as possible. Otherwise, its condition would gradually deteriorate until it was once again reduced to a dried corpse, one that had no chance for resurrection, meaning that its death would be permanent!

Thankfully, it was prepared for such a scenario.

The body stood up within the earth, and a pair of long tusks protruded out of its mouth as it threw a furious punch upward.

The earth trembled violently as the enormous inferno up above exploded.

A clump of soil spanning several hundred feet in radius was flung up into the air before being scattered, and a tattered body rose up into the sky with a piercing screech.

In the instant that the figure soared up into the heavens, the entire world around it seemed to dim slightly.

Jiang Wuwang was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately flew toward the airborne figure.

Meanwhile, a grim look appeared on Yang Luoyu's face as he observed the proceedings from afar, and he immediately sent a message to Meng Hejun using his soul communication jade: "It's come out! We have to act now!"

***

"Who're you?" the dried corpse asked as its gaze settled on Jiang Wuwang.

"My name is Jiang Wuwang, and I was sent to assist you along with several companions, but they're all lurking in the shadows for now."

"How did you incompetent fools allow this to happen?!"

"My sincerest apologies!"

"We have to get out of here. If I hadn't kept a trick up my sleeve, this would be the end of me!" the dried corpse snapped.

Right at this moment, its expression abruptly changed drastically, and darkness began surging out of all of its orifices in a frenzy.

It let loose a heart-wrenching roar as it clutched its hands to its head in agony, and it began plummeting toward the sea of flames down below like a dead weight.

Jiang Wuwang hurriedly swooped down to catch it, only to discover that it had lost consciousness, yet even in its unconscious state, its entire body was still spasming uncontrollably.

What happened? He was fine just now!

***

After receiving Yang Luoyu's message, the trio at White Cloud Warrior Academy immediately sprang into action.

"Hold on, Wei Zihao! As long as your spirit sense remains clear and you retain your sense of justice, you can survive this!"

Three bursts of tremendous soul power descended upon Wei Zihao as the three academy figureheads made one last-ditch attempt to save him.

They were trying to force the malicious entity out of Wei Zihao's body while ensuring his survival.

The space around Wei Zihao began to twist and warp, and his mouth was agape in a silent, horrified scream.

He had no idea what was happening.

All of a sudden, his skin turned as black as ink, and even his eyes had turned pitch black, while darkness began rising up from his face.

At the same time, a sense of all-consuming fury rose up within his heart.