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Xiao Zhan Amon revealed a smile: "Without bloodline power, can they even be considered the Xiao Clan?"
Soul Emperor slightly turned his body, his peripheral vision looking down from the cliff. From this highest point, he overlooked the vast land, the towns, villages, and the common people coming and going below:
"What do you consider a family? Is it bloodline? Do outsiders who are taken into the clan count as family members?"
Without waiting for Xiao Zhan Amon to answer, he continued:
"The Dou Emperor's bloodline power is merely a tool, and the relationship of bloodline inheritance is the bond that maintains a family…
"But what truly determines whether a person belongs to a certain family is their spirit and will, their ideological recognition, and their consistency in beliefs.
"If you truly forget history, forget the ancestors on the family tree, then the Xiao Clan will truly cease to exist.
"Even if you are still alive, the Xiao Clan that once gave birth to Xiao Xuan, and made my clan wary, has still vanished.
"But you still remember history, and Xiao Xuan's name is still on the family tree, then you are the Xiao Clan of the past.
"Therefore, I will meet you, as the Soul Clan Leader, to meet you, the Xiao Clan Leader. Otherwise, a Dou Grandmaster is not worth my time."
Xiao Zhan Amon clicked his tongue, sighing with emotion:
"Your mental state seems quite normal right now. Are you interested in becoming my dependent?
"I greatly admire your ambition, your courage, and your ruthlessness and madness in achieving your goals by any means necessary."
Soul Emperor was startled, a hint of bewilderment flashing in his unusually bright eyes.
What are you saying? I understand every word, but what do they mean when put together? Are you serious?
Xiao Zhan Amon didn't wait for Soul Emperor to answer, and shook his head to himself: "Never mind, saying this now isn't very convincing. Let's talk about it later…
"Let's discuss a topic you might find more interesting, for example… where did the Dou Emperors go? Don't you think beings of that level would just perish so easily?"
Soul Emperor's smile slightly receded, and his voice took on a tone of solemnity: "What do you mean?"
"If I said I knew where they went, would you believe me?" Xiao Zhan Amon asked.
"That depends on your answer. If it's reasonable, then what reason do I have not to believe it?" Soul Emperor retorted.
Xiao Zhan Amon didn't play games, and gave the answer readily:
"Well… it's not too complicated, in short, they left this Dou Qi Plane and went to another World.
"For example, your Soul Realm, if all the Dou Saint and Dou Venerate powerhouses withdrew, and for some reason, no more powerhouses above Dou Ancestor could be born, then after several millennia, Dou Venerate and Dou Saint would become legends in this Soul Realm.
"They might also forget the Dou Qi Continent, and believe this is the entirety of the World… They would wonder where powerhouses like the legendary Soul Emperor went."
Soul Emperor was pensive, silent for a moment, then he nodded:
"A very apt analogy. Although I've had similar conjectures, your explanation makes me believe this answer even more… Without becoming a Dou Emperor, saying these things is useless."
"Yes, without becoming a Dou Emperor, all conjectures are fantasies. Even if there is relevant information, it's just empty talk. How about we make an agreement?" Xiao Zhan Amon curled the corners of his mouth, forming a smile.
"Speak."
Xiao Zhan Amon said: "If you can collect the other seven pieces of ancient jade, I will hand over the Xiao Clan ancient jade with both hands. When you become a Dou Emperor, I will also tell you the information about the 'Great Thousand World'.
"In exchange, you take my Xiao Clan members with you to the Great Thousand… Don't worry, besides me, no one in the Xiao Clan knows the true history of the Xiao Family. They don't have the spirit of the Xiao Clan, nor will they harbor hatred for your Soul Clan."
Soul Emperor pondered for a moment before saying: "The World where the Dou Emperors went is called the 'Great Thousand World'? It seems my subordinates failed to find all of your clan members; you still have something hidden."
"A large family always has to make many preparations, don't they? Perhaps you can send people to look for the part of the Xiao Family that I've hidden… If you can find them… well, they probably won't be able to threaten me."
Xiao Zhan pulled out a crystal monocle from his clothes pocket and clipped it into his eye socket.
Soul Emperor watched his somewhat peculiar action without speaking.
Suddenly, the scene before him vanished. Soul Emperor, the cliff, the view from above… Xiao Zhan Amon found himself in a courtyard, the same courtyard where he and Soul Destruction Life had waited to be received by Soul Emperor.
Soul Destruction Life looked at Xiao Zhan Amon and asked with a strange expression: "What did you talk about with the Clan Leader?"
Xiao Zhan Amon pinched the monocle and asked softly: "Are you curious? It's fine to tell you, we were discussing the responsibilities Soul Emperor would need to undertake and the conveniences he would enjoy after becoming my dependent."
Soul Destruction Life's face twitched. He was used to Xiao Zhan's somewhat erratic behavior. He didn't know what confidence the other party had to act this way, but after meeting the Clan Leader, Xiao Zhan's disposition was no longer something he could decide.
He said to Xiao Zhan Amon: "The Clan Leader said that from now on, you are an honored guest of our Soul Clan, but you cannot leave this Soul Emperor City."
Soul Emperor City was the central city of the Soul Realm, similar to an Empire's capital. There were also many small branches within the Soul Clan, and most Dou Saint families gathered in Soul Emperor City.
Xiao Zhan Amon nodded: "I have no interest in leaving either."
He still needed to use this avatar for positioning, to constantly control the location of the Soul Realm!
Soul Destruction Life left the Soul Realm and returned to the Soul Hall Tian Hall.
Just then, a guardian rushed out in a hurry, kneeling on one knee before Soul Destruction Life:
"Hall Master, there's a problem with the soul origin."
His voice was trembling, clearly afraid that Soul Destruction Life would vent his rage on him.
"What did you say?"
As expected, after hearing his report, Soul Destruction Life suddenly erupted with an extremely dark, terrifying aura. The vast aura made the guardian tremble all over, an uncontrollable fear rising within him.
Soul Destruction Life didn't make things difficult for this guardian. There were too many people of higher status and strength in the Tian Hall than him. If responsibility were to be assigned, it wouldn't fall on a mere Dou Ancestor like him.
With a flash of his figure, Soul Destruction Life arrived in the room in the Tian Hall where the soul origin was stored.
Black chains intertwined into a net, forming a roughly spherical space in the center. Originally, soul origin light clusters should have gathered here, but at this moment, only a very small cluster remained in the center, and scattered small light clusters were distributed haphazardly around the room.
Soul Destruction Life scanned the scene in the room, and based on the speed at which the soul origin gathered, he roughly imagined what had happened:
Shortly after he took Xiao Zhan away from the Soul Hall, the original soul light cluster exploded, and the origin scattered, becoming fragmented. The one in the middle was re-gathered by the black chains extracting the origin of the soul bodies after the explosion.
His gaze deepened as he looked at the strongest person in the Tian Hall after he left, the Second Celestial Worthy, Gu You Saint:
"Is there anything unusual?"
Gu You Saint shook his head: "Unclear. I've checked these soul origins, and they seem to have been corrupted by some will, and this will is very difficult to remove… I tried to re-absorb them using the origin absorption formation, but it didn't succeed.
"Because I wasn't sure what happened, I didn't handle it on my own initiative. I just preserved the scene and waited for you, Hall Master, to return."
Soul Destruction Life extracted a cluster of soul origin and probed it with his soul power. In an instant, a vast, ancient, bloodthirsty, and mad will surged into his mind, almost causing him to lose himself. The bloodthirsty desire made his eyes bloodshot.
Realizing something was wrong, Soul Destruction Life quickly dropped the origin cluster, his face showing clear signs of terror.
He couldn't help but take a step back, saying gravely: "What exactly is this thing?"
Soul Destruction Life could feel that if he refined this cluster of soul origin, that will, though it wouldn't completely strip him of his sanity, would take a very long time to wear down.
But this was clearly not the main body of that will, only a trace of its corruption left behind! And it was corruption that had been diluted by an unknown amount!
Just such a small cluster was so troublesome. If he absorbed all the light clusters in the room, even his Heaven Realm Great Perfection soul would probably lose control!
What kind of existence could leave behind such terrifying mental residue? And why did such an unexpected change occur out of nowhere?
Right, the Xiao Family! If there was anything unusual, it could only be the Xiao Family! The Clan Leader's attitude towards Xiao Zhan also explained some things…
If he didn't have some backing, how could an ordinary Dou Grandmaster be so confident?
That weak, seemingly insignificant Xiao Family must be hiding something! Otherwise, why would the Clan Leader order Xiao Zhan to be treated as an honored guest?
Thinking of this, Soul Destruction Life quickly said: "Immediately stop the soul origin extraction formation, release all the Xiao Clan members, and transfer them to separate rooms for confinement."
Gu You Saint was startled at first, then also connected it to Xiao Zhan's unusual attitude, and said: "Yes."
Soul Destruction Life looked at the room full of soul origins, his face twitching. If the corruption within them wasn't resolved, then so much origin would be almost completely wasted.
With a wave of his hand, he gathered all the origins and very carefully placed them into a specially made high-grade soul bag.
Then, he tore through space and hurried towards the Soul Realm.
Such a major matter was beyond his ability to resolve. He was worried that more than just this one origin was corrupted!
If a solution wasn't found, then in the future, if even one abnormal soul got mixed in, it would render the origin, collected from millions of souls, unusable.
This would have a huge impact on their Soul Clan's grand plan!
…
The Amons, disguised as Xiao Family members, who were released from the chains by Gu You Saint, each showed a mocking smile to Gu You:
"Why did you suddenly let us down? Your face looks terrible…"
"And you seem to be in a hurry."
"Shut up!" Gu You said coldly.
"Haha, he's anxious, he's anxious!"
The Amons burst into unrestrained laughter, looking unusually joy
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