Chapter 52: Returning to Hongjia Village to Collect Resentful Souls

Although the trip to Black Wind Stronghold had not yielded the Earth Vein Yin Marrow, by sheer chance Mo Lin came across Xu Jiaren, who intended to win him over.

Xu Jiaren promised to deliver one catty of Earth Vein Yin Marrow to Mo Lin a month later.

Most of the bandits in Black Wind Stronghold had been slaughtered clean by him, their bodies devoured into his stomach.

Even now, he still felt his belly uncomfortably bloated.

As for their souls, they had all been imprisoned within his Soul-Respecting Banner.

Mo Lin did not possess Xu Jiaren’s lofty moral integrity—what was wrong was not with them, but with this world itself.

Mo Lin could only sneer at such notions.

Heaven and Earth were merciless, treating all living things as straw dogs.

This world would never pity anyone, and the only ones who could push for change were the living beings within it.

If one could not change this world, then one deserved to die—nothing more, nothing less.

For the sake of survival, Mo Lin would not hesitate to choose to let others die.

No—strictly speaking, Mo Lin had not truly let all of them die.

After all, those bandits’ souls were still within his Soul-Respecting Banner, enduring the tempering flames—

Without a touch of torment, how could the souls of mere bandits transform into Resentful Souls?

What Mo Lin found a little disappointing, however, was that perhaps because these souls’ owners had been too ordinary, among the hundred-plus souls, only a little over ten had managed to endure the tempering of the Soul-Respecting Banner without dissipating and truly become Resentful Souls.

Barely one in ten.

It was only thanks to the sufficiently large sample size this time that he was able to derive such accurate data.

Worth mentioning was—

Perhaps because of Pearl’s death, the Bandit Chief’s hatred for Mo Lin had been overwhelming.

The very moment he entered the Soul-Respecting Banner, he transformed directly into a Resentful Soul, thus escaping the tempering process.

This also confirmed for Mo Lin that cultivating the Great Yin Indestructible Bone would never be easy.

Thousand-Soul Resentment Fire, as the name implied, required a thousand Resentful Souls.

But the “yield rate” of ordinary people was barely one-tenth.

Only those who harbored deep resentment toward him, or whose strength was high enough, had a greater chance of becoming Resentful Souls.

In other words, to gather Thousand-Soul Resentment Fire from scratch, one might need ten thousand ordinary people.

Thinking about it that way, the fact that Gong Yang had managed to gather half of Thousand-Soul Resentment Fire before his death was already an astonishing feat.

This meant that in roughly ten years, he had nearly killed five thousand ordinary people—five hundred a year, one and a half a day.

That he could survive under the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring’s pursuit while doing this—Mo Lin could not help but admit, was truly formidable.

Of course, it was also possible that Gong Yang, in order to raise efficiency, had deliberately tortured people before extracting their souls, thus increasing the yield of Resentful Souls.

After all, compared to disembodied souls, ordinary people with bodies could always endure more torment.

But this now left Mo Lin with another question—while waiting a month for the Earth Vein Yin Marrow, where else could he obtain enough Resentful Souls?

“Animals in sufficient numbers?”

Mo Lin shook his head.

Though the mountains teemed with animals, compared to humans, their intelligence was undeveloped.

The probability of producing Resentful Souls was even lower—likely not even one percent.

Moreover, their souls were weaker than those of humans, unlikely to withstand the tempering of the Soul-Respecting Banner.

“What about looking for demonic beasts in the mountains?”

Mo Lin shook his head again.

Demonic beasts with some strength might have intelligence, but the yield might not surpass that of humans.

And demonic beasts with power tended to act alone, making them harder to find and more dangerous to hunt.

“Looks like the target for Resentful Souls still has to fall upon humans.”

Humans liked to gather in groups, their yield was relatively high, and their bodies could be eaten to strengthen his soul—truly a bundle of benefits.

“So then, what human settlements do I know of, ones not too threatening to me, and preferably ones that might even hold resentment toward me?”

After pondering carefully, Mo Lin’s gaze flickered:

“Speaking of which… there really is one, isn’t there?”

The more he thought of that place, the more feasible it seemed.

Without hesitation, he commanded Pearl to crouch down.

Coiling his nearly twenty-meter-long body around Pearl, Mo Lin readied himself.

Then, with a thought, Pearl spread her wings and—staggering under Mo Lin’s hundreds of kilograms—took flight in a certain direction.

“Hongjia Village, snake catchers—hehe, your old man is back.”

Great Qian Dynasty, the capital city, Bureau of Heaven Monitoring, Star Observation Platform.

An old man in plain robes slowly opened his eyes from seclusion.

He stretched his body slightly before stepping out from his closed-door chamber.

The Taoists hurrying about on the Star Observation Platform were shocked at the sight of the elder’s emergence, and each quickly bowed in respect:

“Grand Astrologer.”

“Grand Astrologer.”

The old man addressed as the Grand Astrologer wore a kindly smile, nodding in acknowledgment to each who saluted him.

Finally, he stopped at a simple railing of the Star Observation Platform, gazing out at the scenery he had not seen for a long time.

“Teacher, congratulations on emerging from seclusion.”

A deep voice came from behind him.

At the sound, the old man slowly turned his head:

“Zixian, how long have I been in seclusion?”

The middle-aged man addressed as Zixian bowed respectfully:

“Teacher, counting from the day you entered seclusion, it has been two years and two hundred sixty-nine days—exactly nine hundred ninety-nine days.”

The old man nodded.

“Nearly one thousand days, then?”

After a brief sigh, he looked toward Zixian:

“Zixian, during these two-plus years of my seclusion, what great events have occurred in the Dynasty and within the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring?”

Zixian hesitated slightly at the question.

Faced with his prized disciple’s pause, the old man did not press, waiting calmly for him to speak.

After some hesitation, Zixian bowed lower still:

“Teacher, according to the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring’s observations over these two years, the Dynasty’s fortune has grown ever weaker.

Oppressive taxes and levies have multiplied, grievances among the people rise in every region, and rebellions occur constantly. Among them, the Red Turban Army grows ever more powerful.”

At Zixian’s candid report, the old man’s face betrayed no expression.

Zixian continued after a slight pause:

“As for the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring… we have followed your instructions from before you entered seclusion, never interfering in the Great Qian Dynasty’s internal affairs. We have focused solely on observing the heavens and bearing the burden of slaying demons across the realm.”

“Perhaps because the Dynasty’s fortune shows signs of decline, demons and monsters have stirred everywhere. Flood dragons walk upon water, demonic tigers slaughter cities—the chaos has not ceased.”

“Even with the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring’s current manpower, we are stretched thin.”

“The situation being as it is, all stems from this disciple’s inadequacy. I beg Teacher’s punishment.”

After asking for punishment, Zixian added:

“However, now that Teacher has emerged from seclusion, the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring once again has its pillar.”

“For the sake of the Bureau, for the sake of the world, I hope Teacher will act to turn the tide.”