Chapter 104: Continue the Extermination of Evil Soul Masters—The Flower of Fear
Killing, and even torturing.
The shattered, mangled corpses strewn across the ground were enough to make one retch. Ming Xin, the weakest among them in cultivation, had already gone pale, his small face drained of all color.
Only now did he truly understand why the deacon who had awakened his martial soul had been so strongly opposed to him walking the path of a soul master.
If one had witnessed such a scene, that opposition would be completely understandable.
In his still-young heart, a firm resolve was planted—he would rather die than become such a revolting, fallen existence.
Lin Beiya pat Ming Xin on the shoulder and infused a trace of soul power into his thin body.
Ming Xin's pale face instantly regained its color.
"Don't worry, Lord Beiya," he said. "Even if it costs me my life, I will never become an evil soul master."
Without wasting any more words, Lin Beiya immediately spread his spiritual sense outward and swiftly locked onto the target.
"They're in the center of the village. Let's go."
With that, Lin Beiya vanished from where he stood. He had already sensed that the slaughter was still ongoing.
The rest of the team exchanged glances, then quickly followed after him.
At the center of the village, a large group of ordinary villagers were being restrained by black-clad men. They wailed and begged incessantly, desperately hoping that these evil soul masters might suddenly show mercy and spare their lives.
But this was clearly nothing more than wishful thinking.
As the fear in the villagers' hearts grew stronger, the evil soul masters became even more excited.
By the spring at the center of the village, a man with a hooked nose and cold, sinister eyes stood there, smiling as he watched everything unfold, his expression one of pure enjoyment.
This man was the leader of the group of evil soul masters.
Unlike the Soul King from Fushou Village, who preferred to act alone and create puppets, this sinister man clearly favored commanding his subordinates in coordinated, collective action.
"Yes… That's it. The more afraid you are, the more luxuriantly my Flower of Fear will bloom. Become nourishment for me."
"Boss, if we keep this up, we won't have to fear the people from Spirit Hall anymore."
The bald subordinate's words made the smile on the sinister man's face grow even wider.
"That's right. Once we slaughter all the surrounding villages, my Flower of Fear martial soul will definitely grow six petals. When that happens, securing a foothold in the City of Slaughter will be no problem at all."
His Flower of Fear martial soul could absorb the fear emotions released by others, grow stronger from them, and then feed that power back to its master in the form of soul power. Torturing these people before killing them allowed their fear to reach its absolute peak.
The sinister man had once considered cultivating his martial soul through methods accepted by the world.
Unfortunately, the speed was simply far too slow.
After he used extreme means to kill enemies who had persecuted his companions, the fear those enemies released at the moment of death was absorbed by his martial soul—and the feedback it provided was equivalent to months of bitter cultivation.
That moment shattered his understanding of the world.
From then on, there was no turning back.
His thirst for power drove him down the path of an evil soul master.
Although the fear of ordinary people was not as effective as that of soul masters, when accumulated in large numbers, it could still bring him enormous benefits.
In just a few short years, he relied on massacring civilians to raise his strength to the level of a Soul King. On his Flower of Fear martial soul, five petals had already bloomed.
Five petals allowed him to boost either his own combat power or that of his subordinates by five times, while also stripping them of the concept of fear altogether.
This was precisely why he had been able to gather this group of followers in such a short time—and why they were willing to slaughter civilians for him without hesitation.
As fellow fallen ones, they all needed to hide in the City of Slaughter to evade Spirit Hall's pursuit. With the sinister man's support, their chances of survival there would be greatly increased.
"Alright, enough wasting time. Let's continue."
"Just wait and watch. Leave it to me."
The bald man stepped toward a group of villagers with a ferocious grin and tossed a knife onto the ground.
"Hey. Whoever picks up this knife and kills everyone around them gets to leave here alive."
"W-What?!"
The trembling villagers exchanged looks, none daring to step forward. Clearly, no one trusted the bald man's words.
Seeing this, the bald man didn't get angry. Instead, he stepped forward and directly chopped off the arms of several villagers.
Piercing screams of terror erupted.
That fear condensed into wisps of green mist, drifting toward the Flower of Fear martial soul in the sinister man's hand, where it was absorbed completely in the blink of an eye.
The man nodded, clearly very satisfied with his subordinate's actions.
Whether they complied or not, it would all generate massive amounts of fear—more than enough to keep his Flower of Fear martial soul growing.
"I'll say it one last time," he said coldly. "Whoever kills everyone around them… lives."
"If you still don't act, then all of you will die—and you'll die after being brutally tortured."
"Think carefully. I'll count down from ten."
"Ten…"
"Nine…"
Each number spoken by the bald man struck the villagers' hearts like a heavy hammer. Their fear surged to its absolute limit.
"N–No… no… I don't want to die…"
"S–Save me… please save me…"
"Eight…"
"…"
"One…"
When the countdown ended, the bald man looked at the villagers—so terrified they couldn't even speak—and burst into wild laughter.
"Since none of you are moving, then I'll personally send you on your way!"
"Hahahahaha—!"
Whoosh.
A beam of light streaked through the air.
The bald man's laughter came to an abrupt halt.
A bloody hole appeared in his throat. In the next instant, he clutched his neck, terror filling his eyes as he collapsed to the ground. After a brief spasm, he went completely still.
The sudden scene instantly put all the surrounding evil soul masters on high alert. They spun around, scanning their surroundings.
"Who's there?! Come out!"
The sinister man was equally shocked. His gaze quickly locked onto a figure slowly approaching from a distance.
Clad in the Cancer Gold Cloth, Lin Beiya swept his cold eyes over the group of evil soul masters, clearly with no intention of letting a single one of them escape.
Meanwhile, the villagers—who had been crying and wailing moments ago—seemed to see a savior descend upon them. One after another, they cried out for help.
"My lord, please save me!"
"I still have an eighty-year-old mother to support—please save me first!"
"..."
The noise rose endlessly, making both the sinister man and Lin Beiya frown at the same time.
"Who are you? From Spirit Hall?"
"Isn't it obvious? Either way, I'm sending you on your way—does it really matter which faction I belong to?"
"Hmph. Just you? A snot-nosed brat like you? Is Spirit Hall really that short on people now?"
Lin Beiya raised an eyebrow slightly, finding the man's ignorance of death rather amusing.
"The last guy who liked playing with puppets said the same thing right before he died."
At those words, the sinister man's expression changed instantly. He clearly understood who Lin Beiya was referring to.
"Old Mo? You killed him?"
"Yeah. That way, you won't be lonely on the road."
After a brief moment of shock, the sinister man quickly regained his composure.
"You're comparing me to that piece of trash? You're thinking too much, kid."
As they spoke, the sound of footsteps echoed out. Shi Nuo, Lei Ying, and the rest of the group swiftly arrived at the scene.
"Kill them. Leave not a single one alive. These people are even more disgusting than the last batch."
"Yes, Captain!"
"Got it, Beiya!"
Seeing so many reinforcements arrive, the sinister man's expression changed yet again. He quickly retreated behind his subordinates.
In his hand, the Flower of Fear martial soul began to glow, as five soul rings surfaced around it—one white, one yellow, two purple, and one black.
—
End of Chapter