Although he wasn't truly unconscious, facing a ninety-eighth rank Super Douluo had indeed taken a heavy toll on Lin Xiao. After falling from the air, he sank into a deep sleep.
When he woke up again, he was already lying in a room at the Holy Spirit Cult's stronghold, with a very tall figure seated beside him.
"Sixth Brother?"
Lin Xiao sat up and looked at that broad back. Influenced by his martial soul, the Abomination Douluo's figure was much larger than that of an ordinary person. Though he hadn't seen the face yet, Lin Xiao already recognized the person in the room.
"You're awake?"
The Sixth Elder, Abomination Douluo, turned his head, his deep and thick voice sounding out. "I see you don't seem to be seriously injured; it's just that your soul power consumption was quite large."
"Mm." Lin Xiao nodded. "Luckily, the soul tool from the Mingde Hall let me hold on for a moment. By the way, what time is it now? Where are the others?"
Hearing this, Abomination Douluo glanced out the window. "It hasn't been long; the sky should be about to brighten soon."
"Third Brother said he still has to deal with matters in Mingdu and can't get away for now. The others went to the palace with the Cult Master. I stayed here to look after you and also handle some things here."
"What about those people who attacked the competition venue? I remember feeling the presence of the Cult Master and the others before I passed out."
"I don't know the specifics," Abomination Douluo shook his head. "But I heard that the Vice Cult Master, at the cost of serious injury, managed to keep one person from Shrek Academy behind."
"The others slipped into the underground and disappeared. We're still tracking where exactly they fled to."
"So much happened." Lin Xiao picked up the teacup on the table, filled it with water, and drank it in one gulp, immediately feeling much better in his throat.
Influencing Xuanzi's mind with the soul bone wasn't simple either. That soul bone skill, interfering with the spirit, combined with the power of the throat bone, seemed silent but hadn't stopped for even a moment.
"By the way, Sixth Brother, you just mentioned there was something else to handle?"
"Mm." Abomination Douluo didn't hide anything. "Third Brother said a lot of corpses have accumulated in the underground arena, and he asked me to deal with them."
Lin Xiao paused slightly. Not knowing what came to mind, he suddenly stood up. "Then I'll take Sixth Brother there."
"Is your body really okay?" Abomination Douluo also stood up; his tall figure made Lin Xiao's room feel somewhat cramped.
"It's fine. Didn't Sixth Brother say so yourself? I just consumed a lot; after resting a bit, I'll be alright. It's almost dawn anyway, and I still need to head to the Mingyue Hotel side."
Lin Xiao sighed softly as he spoke. "Although the attention on the elite competition has lessened compared to before, the matches still have to continue."
"Alright."
Abomination Douluo didn't persuade him further. The two soon arrived underground.
However, just as they approached, Lin Xiao sensed something wrong. He exchanged a glance with Abomination Douluo beside him and then quickly walked forward.
Pushing open the door to the room where the corpses were piled, they saw reddish-brown bloodstains covering the walls and ceiling. A large hole had somehow been broken in the ground at some point, and the corpses inside had been torn apart and scattered messily, no longer recognizable.
"This..." Abomination Douluo paused, then strode inside without minding the mud on the floor. "How could there be a thief specifically stealing corpses? Could there be another soul master besides me who needs corpses for cultivation?"
Lin Xiao frowned slightly and scanned the room once. Not seeing what he had hoped to find, he immediately had a guess. "I don't know either. Perhaps they had another purpose but came to the wrong place."
He didn't voice the second half of his thought. This scene was probably deliberately created to cover up certain traces.
"Sigh." Abomination Douluo let out a long sigh, picked up a severed limb from the ground, carefully sorted it, and then took out several strands of thread from somewhere, beginning to sew the fragments together.
"Sixth Brother, what are you..."
Lin Xiao stepped forward as well, watching Abomination Douluo's extremely focused demeanor.
Although Lin Xiao knew Abomination Douluo liked corpses, he truly hadn't known about this particular hobby.
Usually, Abomination Douluo always appeared dull and wooden. Even back when he had just become the Eighth Elder, Abomination Douluo had comforted him not to feel sad.
But this side of him was something Lin Xiao was seeing for the first time.
"Sixth Brother, you just said your martial soul needs corpses for cultivation, so does the destruction of the corpses affect you?"
If it were someone else, they might have been wary of Lin Xiao's question, but Abomination Douluo answered without any concealment, shaking his head while his gaze remained fixed on the corpse fragments in his hands.
"My martial soul is called Abomination. Using corpses can indeed strengthen my physical body and power, but sewing them up is just my personal hobby."
"I just want to make these corpses look as nice as possible." Abomination Douluo paused for a moment. "It's a pity that when I sewed my parents' corpses back then, I couldn't do it as well as I can now. I only remember that I sewed them very badly."
Lin Xiao opened his mouth but didn't know what to say for a moment. Though they were just a few simple words, they seemed to contain a lot of information.
"Done."
In just a short while, Abomination Douluo stopped his movements. A "complete" corpse appeared in his hands.
The bloodstains on that corpse had been wiped completely clean; only the glaring stitches and the somewhat mismatched limbs stood out conspicuously.
"By the way, Old Eighth, didn't you say you needed to go to the Mingyue Hotel? The sky is almost bright. If you don't go now, you might miss the elite competition."
"Alright." Lin Xiao shifted his gaze away from Abomination Douluo's hands. "I'll head over now. As for here... we'll have some disciples come repair it later."
"Mm. After I finish things here, I'll head over too."
"Sixth Brother is coming as well?" Lin Xiao was about to leave, but suddenly stopped when he heard this.
"Mm, it's the Cult Master's arrangement." Abomination Douluo nodded. "A few days ago, the Sixth Worshipper was attending, but last night the Sixth Worshipper was injured, so I had to step in for now."
Lin Xiao nodded and said no more, turning to walk out.
For the Holy Spirit Cult, last night had been quite eventful, but for most ordinary people, the sun still rose as usual, seemingly no different from yesterday.
The teams participating in the elite competition had arrived early at the rest area. Several disciples of the Holy Spirit Sect sat in the rest area, chatting softly, occasionally letting out light laughter.
Being in the same space as the disciples from those academies and sects under the gaze of the surrounding audience seemed to make them temporarily forget many troubles.
No matter what the future held, their goal right now was only the final champion of the elite competition.
Lin Xiao's gaze swept over the high platform nearby; Xu Tianran's figure was still nowhere to be seen.
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