After leaving the imperial palace, the blood rain continued unabated. Xiao Wuchen, burdened by the heavy demonic sword and holding the soul urn containing his master's remnant soul, trudged wearily towards the southern part of the city.
This was once his home: the cradle of the Great Qian Dynasty's generals — the General's Mansion.
However, the solemn mansion of the past had disappeared: the vermilion gates had been demolished and replaced with two black bone pillars adorned with white bone wind chimes, and the plaque bearing the three characters 'General's Mansion' had been chiselled away and replaced with three ghostly characters emitting a green glow: 'Soul Refining Workshop.'
'Master, this place... it's incredibly eerie,' Chi Kui stammered, his three hands nervously twisting together as he followed Xiao Wuchen. 'The air is thick with the acrid smell of souls being forcibly extracted. It seems those bastards in the upper realm want more than just fortune; they want to squeeze mortals' thoughts dry and exchange them for spirit stones.' Entering the courtyard, Xiao Wuchen froze in his tracks.
The stone pavilion where he had once played chess with his mentor had been transformed into a colossal soul-refining furnace. The ghostly green flames burned not firewood, but mountains of military flags and memorial tablets of generals.
The battle spirits that had fought valiantly on the battlefield were scorched by this evil fire; their screams, amplified by the array, pierced Xiao Wuchen's consciousness like countless fine needles.
'Look, another inferior product has walked right into the trap,' said a steward dressed in the outer robes of the Qingyun Immortal Sect, seated in a chair forged from a broken sword. 'That iron lump in his right hand is interesting. Perhaps throwing it into the furnace will produce a Spirit Gathering Pill imbued with demonic power.'
Xiao Wuchen remained silent. He stared intently at the soul-refining furnace. The blood vessels in his right arm, where it was fused with the demonic sword, throbbed wildly as he was driven to the brink of rage. Ghostly flames overflowed from his veins, scorching black footprints into the blue stone slabs of the ground. [System Warning: Host's emotions are fluctuating violently. A large number of relics from the first part have been destroyed. Immediate 'Emotional Removal' is recommended; otherwise, the array's load will exceed 90%."
'Emotional removal?' Xiao Wuchen let out a low growl, like a trapped beast. 'If even these things are forgotten, what meaning does this sword in my hand have?'
He took a sudden half-step forward. Instead of slashing horizontally, his right hand's demonic sword, 'Rootless', drew a strange dark red arc and thrust downwards with great force.
[Arc Moon Slash – Fifth Form: Eclipse of the Moon and Severing of Cause]
This sword strike doesn't cut the physical body, but rather severs the 'causal connection'.
As the sword tip rose, an invisible force spread instantly throughout the area. The magical threads that had tightly bound the battle spirits within the Soul Refining Furnace instantly shattered upon contact with this 'collapsed logic' force, which was as fragile as spider silk.
'How is this possible?! My magic weapon..." The deacon discovered with horror that his mental connection with the Soul Refining Furnace had been forcibly severed by the strike of this sword. The immortal artefact furnace instantly lost its lustre, turning into a pile of scrap metal.
"Chi Kui, collect the soul."
Xiao Wuchen's voice was as cold as the ice of the Northern Territory.
"Alright!" Seeing this, Chi Kui's courage grew. He skilfully guided the battle soul that had escaped from the Soul Refining Furnace into the pocket on his back with three hands.
As the power of the Eclipse Moon's Severing Cause spread, the desecrated General's Mansion trembled violently. The immortal gate restrictions attached to the building flickered and skipped like a faulty television screen.
With a loud bang, the 'Soul Refining Workshop', a symbol of humiliation and desecration, collapsed completely, turning to ash. In the afterglow of the Nether Flame, Xiao Wuchen looked at the soul urn in his arms and murmured, "Teacher, this is just the beginning."
'Teacher, this is just the beginning.'
The embers of the General's Mansion crackled amid the licking flames of the Netherflame. Xiao Wuchen stood in the wind and rain, holding his sword, letting the blood wash over his pale body, which was covered in cyber runes. His synchronisation rate remained high at 95%, the crimson light from his eyes casting long shadows in the darkness.
Meanwhile, Chi Kui, the three-armed Asura, was frantically rummaging through the ruins of the collapsed Soul Refining Furnace.
'Heh heh, these parasites of the Immortal Sect. They talk about cultivating in seclusion, but their pockets are overflowing with Immortal Crystals.' Chi Kui held up a small white flag in one hand while quickly stuffing several faintly glowing Immortal Crystals imbued with Truth Damage into his pocket with the other. His third mechanical hand rummaged incessantly through the remains of a deceased Immortal Sect deacon.
'Master! Look! I caught a big fish!' Chi Kui shrieked, scrambling to Xiao Wuchen's feet. His three hands worked together to unfurl a bizarre scroll made of human skin.
The instant the scroll was fully unfolded, a jumbled, garbled analysis appeared on the system panel:
[System log: logical error detected — illegal causal transmission path] [Analysis result: This is a smuggling route map called 'Reincarnation Spiritual Vein'.'
Chi Kui traced patterns on the scroll with his mechanical finger, his six eyes gleaming with cunning. 'Master, look! The Qingyun Immortal Sect ostensibly absorbs fortune through the "Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Root", but they actually use underground array points to smuggle the divine consciousness of powerful mortals to the "Alchemy Pavilion" in the upper realm.'
Xiao Wuchen looked down. The map was covered in red dots, each one corresponding to a city in the mortal realm. All the lines converged on one place: the Qingyun Immortal Sect's Heavenly Execution Platform.
'So that's how it is...' Xiao Wuchen's deep voice had a metallic resonance. He could sense the faint, lingering vengeful spirits of his first fallen comrades on the map. The demonic sword 'Rootless' in his hand began to tremble violently, causing the surrounding space to distort.
This wasn't just any map; it was a direct guide for his incursion into the cultivation world to 'collect debts' for his fallen comrades.
'They treated our brothers' souls as dregs for alchemy.' Xiao Wuchen's right hand tightened suddenly and the Netherflame instantly ignited the map. Instead of burning it, however, the flame transformed into a purplish-black arrowhead pointing straight to the sky.
[System Warning: Host's killing intent is excessive; the Emotional Lock on the Backbone is unstable. Immediate emotional resection is recommended to prevent further instability."
"Get out of my way," Xiao Wuchen replied coldly.
He turned to look at Chi Kui, who was trying to hide an extra immortal crystal. "Chi Kui, lead the way. If we go the wrong way, I'll use the 'Twelfth Form: Eternal Void Moon' to erase you and this entire spacetime."
Chi Kui was so frightened that he crushed the immortal crystal into powder with his third hand, nodding repeatedly. "Okay, sir! Let's follow this 'soul smuggling line' and fight our way up. I guarantee we'll tear those immortal venerables a new one."