The Soul Clan's Interrogation
Three figures emanating powerful soul fluctuations silently drifted from the depths of that illusory city, instantly hovering before the entrance to the soul vortex. Their forms were more condensed than the soul constructs on the periphery, and the soul radiance they emitted was even more dazzling and brilliant, like lighthouses in this sea of souls.
Gatekeeper Valkan: The leader was tall and imposing, composed of deep blue-black soul energy as profound as the night sky, with clear outlines resembling a general clad in heavy armor. Around him swirled specks of silver light like stardust, and in his hand he held a massive halberd entirely condensed from flowing ethereal blue light streams, its tip exuding a sharp aura capable of slicing souls.
Weaver Liriel: On the left, a female soul entity with silver radiance outlining sharp contours, her eye sockets flickering with keen silver light, her demeanor cold and blade-like. She wore a soul robe, with tiny energy vortices swirling around her fingertips, demonstrating exquisite control over soul magic.
Mourner Nox: On the right, one concealed beneath a wide hooded robe made of pure shadow energy, with only two points of eerie green soul fire leaping in the depths of the hood. He leaned on a crystal staff topped with a pale white skull, the skull's eye sockets also burning with eerie green flames, emanating a heart-palpitating sense of deathly stillness and mourning.
Tens of thousands of soul clans of various forms gathered as if drawn by an invisible force, emerging from suspended buildings and flowing light streams, silently encircling the vortex entrance until it was impenetrable. Countless cold, scrutinizing soul fluctuations laced with rejection and vigilance washed over Fa and her group like tangible tides.
Valkan's hollow yet soul-piercing gaze swept over the crowd, finally landing on Salsa's soul phantom. A low mental voice resounded directly in everyone's consciousness, with a metallic grinding texture: "Wanderer Salsa Lisia, we sense the resonance of your bloodline in your return. But why do you lead the living to desecrate our clan's soul sanctuary? To which branch do you belong?"
Salsa's soul phantom rippled slightly. She drifted forward a step, facing Valkan directly: "Esteemed elders. I am Salsa Lisia, belonging to the Fragment Tomb Guardians branch." Her mental response was clear and firm, carrying the unique rhythm of the soul clan, "Leading the living is not for desecration, but a plea! My companion and husband Elios is afflicted with a vicious soul curse, his essence eroded, sinking into darkness. The soul sanctuary is the sovereign domain of souls; only here lies a sliver of hope to awaken him! I beseech the elders to lend aid and save his life!"
"Fragment Tomb Guardians..." Mourner Nox's eerie green soul fire flickered once under his hood, and the pale skull staff emitted a faint hum, as if verifying Salsa's words.
Valkan's soul fluctuations showed no softening, however. His halberd lifted slightly, the ethereal blue glow at its tip intensifying: "Tomb Guardians branch... I am aware. But the iron law of the soul sanctuary forbids the living from entry! This is to separate life and death, protecting our essence! Your plea is insufficient to break the ancient rule of eons! You may stay, returning to the embrace of the soul clan. The rest of the living..." His massive soul form's pressure suddenly surged, like a heavy mountain bearing down, "Leave immediately! Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?!" Kayla growled, lightning surging on her thunder claws. She couldn't stand such pompous threats. "We went through hell to get to this ghost place; we're here for healing, not to listen to your nonsense! Want a fight? Bring it!"
Tisk's lava hammer thudded heavily against the ground, ice and fire patterns intertwining and flashing: "Dwarves never fear any threat! But we're here to save someone, not to start a war!"
Fa's right eye's star pupil swirled with ethereal light, instantly locking onto Valkan's energy core weakness, frost coiling around her short blade. Arya's storm bow condensed emerald radiance, Zhamisi's venom fangs curved with eerie green gleam, Rex's armor weapon bays opened, Yuyuer's crystal orb flowed with blue light, Lin Ya's body diffused emerald halos, and Celestia's form faintly manifested wind and thunder power! The atmosphere plummeted to freezing, battle on the verge of eruption!
The Tomb Guardian's Reunion
Just as battle was about to ignite!
"Valkan Elder! Please hold!" A clear, steady female mental fluctuation with undeniable power rang out like moonlight piercing through mist, abruptly breaking the tense standoff.
The soul clan crowd behind parted like tides, and a soul clan woman drifted forth. Her form was extremely solid, presenting a warm lunar silver hue, outlining a clear and elegant humanoid contour. She wore a long robe woven from intricate soul runes, her long hair flowing like a galaxy, her features refined and serene. Most striking were her eyes—covered by two bands emitting soft silver glow, as if sealing her vision, yet enhancing her mystery. Her emanating soul fluctuations were vast and profound, carrying the sediment of ages and a guardian's resilience. Behind her followed over a thousand soul clans with relatively uniform forms, their soul energy presenting deep gray with the steady aura of ancient tombstones—precisely the "Fragment Tomb Guardians" branch!
"Kasandra Elder!" Salsa's soul phantom fluctuated violently, her voice carrying rare excitement and filial affection.
The newcomer was none other than the leader of the Fragment Tomb Guardians branch—Guardian Kasandra.
Kasandra drifted before Valkan and the others, slightly bowing in salute, her movements elegant yet full of strength. Her "gaze" covered by silver glow bands seemed to pierce space, precisely "looking" toward Salsa, then sweeping over Fa and her group subtly protected at the center by the tomb guardians.
"Valkan Elder, Liriel Elder, Nox Elder." Kasandra's mental voice was calm yet powerfully persuasive, "Salsa Lisia is a child of my tomb guardian lineage, and the pride of our branch."
She turned toward Salsa, her voice laced with deep emotion and praise: "Ten years ago, our clan's habitat 'Bethes Forest Ancient Tomb' suffered a cataclysm. The earth's vein spiritual energy and mana rapidly depleted, shaking the entire tomb complex's foundation, with the soul corridors facing collapse! That was the root and inheritance our tomb guardian lineage had protected for generations! In crisis, we had no choice but to make the difficult decision—migrate the entire clan, seeking a new home."
Kasandra's soul fluctuations rippled with a trace of sorrow: "However, Salsa's father, on his deathbed, entrusted the responsibility of guarding the tomb complex's core, especially a crucial 'Star Fragment,' to the young Salsa."
She "gazed" at Salsa, her mental voice full of power: "Salsa could have migrated with the clan, but she honored her father's promise! Alone, with no kin, in a tomb amid depleting spiritual energy and on the brink of total collapse, she bore the guardianship on her immature shoulders! Ten years! A full decade of solitary ages, companionship with collapsing shadows, battling depleting agony! She not only preserved that Star Fragment's power but also retained a vital factor for our clan's later reconstruction of a home on the Ghost Island!"
Kasandra's narration caused obvious tremors in the soul fluctuations of all present soul clans, including Valkan and the others. Guarding a collapsing tomb alone for ten years? This perseverance and commitment far exceeded imagination!
"Her return today," Kasandra's voice turned toward Valkan, with utmost firmness, "is by no means reckless! Those she leads are partners she has trusted with her life and soul through trials! What she seeks is to save a companion's life! This loyalty, this steadfastness, is the soul essence most cherished by our soul clan, especially our tomb guardian lineage! Salsa's character, proven by her decade of solitary guardianship, is the most reliable guarantee! I, Guardian Kasandra, in the name of the tomb guardian elder, beseech the elder council for leniency, allowing Salsa's companions entry and treatment for her companion!"
Kasandra's words struck like heavy hammers on every soul clan's heart. The tomb guardians' clans even shimmered with soul light, collectively stepping forward, silently releasing supportive soul fluctuations for Salsa and the guardian, forming a solid barrier that protected Fa and her group even more tightly.
Valkan's soul halberd's radiance slightly dimmed, Weaver Liriel's rune chains accelerated their flow, and Mourner Nox's eerie green soul fire flickered uncertainly under his hood. The three elders seemed to engage in silent communication.
Just as these three elders pondered their decision—
A voice emerged from the endless soul abyss below.
Confrontation and Turning Point
This voice didn't pass through ears but imprinted directly in the soul's depths.
Its timbre was indescribable—neither male nor female, neither old nor young, like the convergence of billions of souls' whispers. It wasn't grand, yet carried supreme authority and all-seeing antiquity, instantly overriding all soul fluctuations in the field, causing the entire suspended soul city to tremble lightly.
"Bring them... inside."
Simple six words, carrying an unquestionable decree, as if issued by the soul sea itself.
Valkan, Liriel, and Nox's soul forms shuddered simultaneously, then immediately retracted all hostility and energy fluctuations, deeply bowing toward the abyss with soul fluctuations full of awe: "We obey the Soul Lord's command!"
Kasandra also led the tomb guardians in respectful salute.
Valkan turned to Fa and her group, his halberd pointing toward the abyss below, his mental voice returning to its initial steadiness but with added complexity: "Living ones, follow us closely. The Soul Lord Majesty... wishes to see you." He paused, adding, "Retract your power fluctuations. Below the abyss, no desecration is tolerated."
The crisis averted, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but their hearts grew heavier. Soul Lord? Below the abyss? Salsa's soul form gave Fa and her group a smile, her voice tinged with tension: "Soul Lord Erebus... the supreme monarch of the soul clan. Follow me closely."
Under the guidance of the three elders and Elder Kasandra, Salsa summoned shadow variant winged beings. Everyone mounted these undead mounts again, following them—not flying upward toward that suspended miracle city, but diving downward into the bottomless soul sea below!
"The main fortress... isn't up there?" Fa couldn't help asking.
"The soul clan... the higher the position, the heavier the authority, the closer the residence... to the soul origin, the deeper." Kasandra explained, as everyone stared fixedly at the increasingly profound darkness below, "Above... is the soul sanctuary's homeland, the place of dwelling and activity. The true core... is in the abyss."
The deeper they flew, the dimmer the light became. The ethereal blue starlight of the suspended city above gradually turned into distant specks, replaced by even more profound, purer dark radiance seeping from the abyss below. The concentration of soul energy rose geometrically, bone-chillingly cold, carrying an indescribable heaviness, as if entire souls were about to be absorbed and assimilated by this endless abyss. The air was permeated with an ancient, annihilating aura.
Lin Ya closed his eyes, hands tightly gripping the winged guard's icy body, his face pale: "Here... there's no breath of any life... only endless... void and... echoes of despair..." As a druid, his perception of life suffered the strongest suppression here.
Yuyuer's crystal orb's light compressed to the extreme, he struggled to control water elements forming a thin shield against soul erosion: "Water... here is solidified... deathly still..."
Half an hour felt like a century. Finally, in the endless darkness depths, a point of light source appeared. It rapidly expanded, revealing its true form—
A castle indescribable in its grandeur and oppressiveness!
It wasn't suspended but grew directly from the abyss's "bottom"—a "ground" composed of solidified to the extreme, flowing with dark gold and deep purple patterns of soul energy—like a colossal beast's skull! The castle was entirely carved and stacked from a type of soul crystal darker than ink jade, more abyssal than the depths, with ferocious edges, rugged and archaic lines full of primal power. The castle's surface had no windows, only countless massive, breathing-like flickering eerie purple runes flowing, each rune emanating soul-shuddering pressure. At the top, several twisted spires pointed to the void, their tips constantly gathering fragmented soul lightning, emitting low crackling sounds.
The entire castle exuded a barbaric, ancient, absolute dominion aura, starkly contrasting the dreamlike finesse of the suspended city above; it was the cornerstone suppressing this soul abyss, the absolute core of power!
"Gh-ghostly ancient castle! The legend is real!" Tisk drew in a sharp breath, the firelight on his lava hammer seeming so feeble in this absolute darkness. His dwarven nature filled him with instinctive awe and admiration for such grand, sturdy, power-filled constructs.
"Incredible energy structure... beyond current technological comprehension..." Rex's electronic eyes scanned and recorded frantically, his armor emitting faint overload alarms.
"Whoa! This is the real antique!" Kayla's eyes widened, temporarily forgetting tension, her thunder claws' lightning forgetting to flicker.
Yuyuer gaped, forgetting to maintain the water shield: "This... this is even more than my deep sea palace... even more..."
"Shut up! Bumpkin!" Zhamisi snapped irritably, her tail whipping the nearest Kayla, scarlet vertical pupils vigilantly scanning the increasingly heart-palpitating surroundings, hissing lowly, "Look at the atmosphere!"
Fa, Arya, and Lin Ya were also shocked by this abyssal castle's momentum, but more so with solemnity. Celestia held Elios tightly, feeling this castle's aura even colder and heavier than the Doomsday Rebirth organization and Virginia's.
The guiding Valkan, Kasandra, and other soul clans showed no reaction to Tisk and the others' exclamations, as if long accustomed, merely silently directing the winged guards to land on a vast plaza ahead of the castle, similarly paved with black soul crystal.
The plaza was vast and deathly silent, with only the castle gate like a colossal beast's throat, emanating all-devouring darkness. The gate was open, its interior even more profound blackness.
"Follow us for the audience." Valkan was concise, drifting first into the gate. Kasandra gave Salsa a soothing fluctuation and followed.
Everyone dismounted, following behind, stepping into this abyssal ancient castle.
The Soul King and the Curse's Scrutiny
Inside the fortress, it wasn't pitch black. Underfoot was a smooth, mirror-like black crystal floor, reflecting the void above. On both sides stood towering pillars whose tops were invisible, their bodies also engraved with flowing eerie purple runes. Illuminating this vast space were countless soul crystals embedded in walls, ceilings, and ground seams. They emitted ethereal blue, dark purple, pale white lights, interweaving and flowing into sheets of moving light curtains and star rivers, rendering the interior bizarre and fantastical, filled with oppressive and dreamlike atmosphere. The air flowed with dense, irresolvable soul energy—cold, silent, carrying ancient majesty.
Passing through long corridors formed by soul light streams, everyone finally arrived at the castle's core—the Soul Abyss Grand Hall.
The hall's grandeur defied description, its dome seeming connected to endless void, dotted with soul energy-simulated stars. At the hall's end, not a conventional throne, but a massive suspended soul throne in mid-air. That throne was composed of countless twisted wailing soul phantoms and flowing dark gold energy, constantly shifting forms, emanating supreme pressure suppressing all souls.
Upon the throne sat the soul clan's monarch—Soul King Erebus.
His form was the most solid and massive soul entity Fa and her group had seen since entering the Ghost Island. Over five meters tall, composed of pure flowing dark gold soul energy like molten gold slowly streaming over his surface, outlining a blurred yet power-filled bodily contour. His features were hidden behind constantly surging dark gold energy, unclear, with only a pair of massive eyes burning with pure dark gold flames clearly visible! Those eyes had no pupils, only endless burning soul fire, as if containing billions of souls' memories and abyss-like wisdom; merely being gazed upon made one feel their soul thoroughly pierced, with nowhere to hide! He sat there quietly, the master of this soul abyss, the incarnate core of the entire Ghost Island's power.
On either side of the throne, slightly lower, quietly hovered fourteen soul clans of varied forms, each emanating powerful vast soul fluctuations. They were the soul clan's highest elders (including Kasandra), each a soul master who had lived countless ages, the foundation of the Soul King's governance. Their forms varied—some like sages in star-map robes, others wrapped in ferocious soul armor as warriors, some purely shifting energy vortices—together forming the pinnacle of soul clan power.
The entire hall was silent, with only the faint crackling of Soul King Erebus's dark gold soul fire leaping, and that omnipresent, mountain-heavy soul pressure.
Valkan, Kasandra, and the other three elders saluted respectfully before retreating to the side.
Fa took a deep breath, suppressing the instinctive shudder in her soul's depths, stepping forward. Her right eye's star pupil shone with unprecedented ethereal blue light under the Soul King's dark gold soul fire gaze, as if contending with it. She placed a hand on her chest in salute, her voice ringing clearly in the silent hall, carrying respectful yet unyielding firmness: "Great Soul King Erebus Majesty, thank you for granting us audience. We are Salsa's companions, from the Muret Continent. Our presumptuous intrusion into the sanctuary is out of necessity. We beseech Your Majesty to lend aid and treat my companion's husband Elios! He is afflicted with a vicious curse, his soul sunk, life hanging by a thread!" She pointed to Elios in Celestia's arms.
Soul King Erebus's burning dark gold eyes slowly shifted, his gaze like tangible probes landing on Elios. Where it touched, the air around Elios's body seemed to subtly distort; the residual moon soul crystal glow and Lin Ya's life green radiance on him appeared so feeble under the dark gold soul fire's illumination.
That gaze lingered for several breaths, as if analyzing the curse's deepest structure.
Moments later, the Soul King's unchanging, soul-abyss-resonating voice imprinted directly in everyone's consciousness once more:
"This curse... is named 'Soul-Binding Miasma.' Rooted in the soul essence, like a bone-gnawing maggot, weaving a nightmare cage, isolating the call of life. Not solvable by ordinary soul arts." His voice held no emotional fluctuation, merely stating a fact.
Celestia's heart plummeted, her ice-blue eyes filled with despair.
Fa's heart tightened sharply.
However, the Soul King's words didn't end. His burning dark gold eyes slowly swept over the hall's crowd, finally seeming to land on Salsa, yet perhaps piercing through her to a more distant place.
"But the soul abyss holds endless secrets. Such a curse..." The Soul King's voice paused, as if weighing words, an extremely subtle yet causing all present soul clan high-level soul fluctuations to stifle breath emanating from his words, "But there is one who might resolve it."
In the hall, the fourteen highest council elders' soul fluctuations produced violent ripples upon hearing this! Not expectation or reverence, but... mingled with deep wariness, fear, even a trace of aversion! Even the guiding Valkan, Nox, and others had their soul lights dim slightly.
Soul King Erebus ignored his subordinates' fluctuations, his abyss-like voice continuing with unquestionable decisiveness:
"Bring them... to the 'Annihilation Corridor.'"
When the words "Annihilation Corridor" escaped the Soul King's mouth, the soul energy in the entire Soul Abyss Grand Hall seemed to stagnate for an instant. The eighteen highest elders' flowing lights flickered violently, their soul fluctuations' transmitted wariness and fear nearly manifesting as tangible chill currents, even distorting the surrounding soul light curtains. Valkan's deep blue energy form seemed to tense, and Mourner Nox's eerie green soul fire leaped abnormally rapidly under his hood.
Annihilation Corridor! The name alone was enough to make these soul clan top powerhouses, who had lived untold ages, pale.
Soul King Erebus's massive eyes burning with dark gold soul fire calmly gazed at the atmosphere that had suddenly tensed due to his words, offering no explanation or comfort. His gaze slowly shifted to Tomb Guardian Kasandra, that intangible will pressing down like a mountain:
"Kasandra, you lead the way. Valkan, Nox, accompany as guards." His voice remained that unchanging soul resonance, yet with unquestionable majesty, "The rest, wait outside the hall."
"We obey the Soul King's command!" Kasandra, Valkan, and Nox immediately bowed in acceptance, forcibly suppressing their unease in soul fluctuations.
The Soul King's gaze finally swept over Fa and her group, especially Celestia holding Elios tightly; that dark gold soul fire seemed to linger on her for an instant, yet perhaps pierced through her. Without further words, his massive dark gold soul form leaned back slightly on the throne, burning eyes slowly closing, leaving only endless pressure enveloping the hall, as if the prior decree had expended some of his power, or perhaps... he wasn't fully in control of what was to come.
"Please follow me." Kasandra's voice transmitted through mental link, tinged with solemnity. She turned gracefully, her lunar silver soul form leading the way toward a certain passage on the hall's side shrouded in denser darkness. The passage entrance's flowing soul light streams presented an eerie dark purple, clashing with the hall's other ethereal blue and silver white glows.
Valkan, halberd in hand, silently followed at Kasandra's side rear, his deep blue soul form like the most loyal shield. Mourner Nox brought up the rear, eerie green soul fire flickering uncertainly in his hood's depths, the skull staff's top pale skull's eye sockets' green flames swaying, as if sensing something, emitting an extremely faint, sigh-like hum.
Fa glanced at Celestia, whose ice-blue eyes intertwined hope and deeper fear—that "Annihilation Corridor" name sounded anything but benevolent. Fa took a deep breath, suppressing the stabbing pain in her right eye's star pupil from the Soul King's gaze, nodding to her companions. Kayla and Tisk retracted their earlier exclamations, expressions serious. Arya, Zhamisi, Yuyuer, Lin Ya, and Rex all tensed their nerves. Salsa's mechanical cat shell followed closely beside Fa, electronic eyes fixed on that dark purple passage, her soul depths' unease peaking.
Everyone followed the three soul clan elders, leaving the grand yet oppressive Soul Abyss Grand Hall, stepping into that passage leading to the unknown. The passage's light was even dimmer, the soul runes on the walls twisted and shattered, emanating dark purple glow with an ominous erosive feel, the air's permeating soul energy becoming colder, thicker, like solidified resentment.
The passage wasn't straight but spiraled downward constantly, like a helical staircase to hell. The deeper, the stronger the soul-discomforting sensation. Lin Ya's face was pale, nearly unable to stand, relying fully on Yuyuer's support. Even a tough warrior like Kayla felt waves of irritability and oppression from soul depths.
After an unknown duration, a faint light source finally appeared ahead. At the passage's end was a massive doorframe interwoven from some porous pale white colossal bones (not physical, but highly condensed soul energy simulation). The door was entwined with thick, flowing dark red light stream soul chains, inscribed with countless tiny, constantly twisting struggling soul phantoms. The doorframe was tightly closed, emanating despairing seal and deathly stillness aura. Above the lintel, in the soul clan's most ancient etched script, were inscribed two large characters—Annihilation.
The soul pressure here was so strong that even Valkan and Nox had to release some of their own energy to resist. Kasandra stopped before the door, her "face" covered by silver glow bands turning toward Fa and her group, her mental voice carrying unprecedented solemnity and warning:
"Behind this door is the 'Annihilation Corridor.' The one you seek, the Soul King's master... Dragon Binder Casadel, resides in seclusion here."