Chapter 423

Leylin stood outside the Spirit Hall and waited for just a minute when a middle aged man who wore a gold-plated robe of the alchemist, which had three spirit herbs embroidered on the shoulder sprinted towards him.

From his clothes Leylin could make out that he was a Third Rank of Profound Level alchemist.

There were five categories of alchemists in the Grace Mainland; Mortality, Mystery, Soul, Royalty, and Divinity. Under each category, there were seven sub-ranks.

Alchemist categories, with tokens displayed on their clothing and number of tokens corresponding to the sub-rank :

Mortality: White Medicine Bottles

Mystery: Red Flames

Soul: Medicinal Herbs

Royalty: Wonder Pills

Divinity: Medicinal Cauldrons

A smile filled the Alchemist's face all of a sudden, his face servile. He came to Leylin and greeted him. First, he solemnly handed back the token to Leylin and asked, "My name is Jeffery and I am the person in charge of this Spirit Hall. May I know how I can help you?"

Leylin nodded to him. "I wish to find the owner of this token."

Jeffrey's eyes brightened as he asked with caution. "How do you relate to Elder Linus Pauling? Why do you have his token?"

"We have some connections." answered Leylin without specifying.

Jeffrey wore a disbelieving face, his expression interesting. He hesitated for a while and then said, "When Elder Linus came back last time, he announced that he would not refine medicines for anyone for a while. Also, he asked us not to disturb him. Currently, we don't dare to contact him directly, otherwise…"

"You have any other way?"

"You shall take that token and directly visit the Flying Cloud Summit. You can talk with his disciples there to see if he wants to meet you or not."

"That's fine with me, where is this Flying Cloud Summit?"

The Dead Soul Mountain range had almost one thousand mountains, scattering in a large area. The distance between the two mountains could take up days of traveling. If he didn't know the exact location, searching with his luck only, he would have to waste much time.

"Hold on. I'll see if I can take you to the Flying Cloud Summit myself."

As Jeffery was communicating with a sound stone to check things at his ends, people in the surroundings discussed about Leylin's status with low tones.

They were eyeing him, guessing his real status with awe. Usually Jeffery is a very haughty fellow but before Leylin he was acting too meek and obedient.

After talking to the sound crystal for a while, Jeffery sighed and shook his head with disappointment. "I'm sorry. I can't leave the workplace currently. If you aren't hurried, can you wait for half of a month later? Then I can take you to the Flying Cloud Summit personally. Is it okay?"

"No."

Jeffery forced a smile while musing, "Then if sir will allow me, I will let my favorite disciple take you there. She knows the location of the Flying Cloud Summit, too."

"Okay."

Having heard that, Jeffery was joyful. He made a call through the sound crystal. "Cherry, come here quickly!"

Not long after that, a girl with a calm expression and wearing a long blue dress walked towards them from a shop not far from there. Her deep blue eyes sparkled as she felt displeased, "Teacher, why did you call me here? I was negotiating the price of the Multi-colored Devil Mask flower. I had almost gotten it."

This girl had long maroon hair cascading over her shoulder. She stood upright, and her eyes were like precious jade, sparkling with a shining blue light.

As she appeared, many alchemists and warriors in the Spirit Hall had their eyes brightened up, with their line of sight gluing on her.

"Cherry, take this guest to the Flying Cloud Summit." Jeffery assigned her with a low tone.

"The Flying Cloud Summit?" Cherry's blue eyes brightened. She looked at Leylin with astonishment, then nodded. "I got it."

"Yeah. Seems our little brother has just visited the Dead Soul Mountain range for the first time. We shouldn't delay his business. Along the way, you should introduce the Spirit Potion Valley and the Precious Tool Valley to him too," advised Jeffery.

Cherry smiled and then nodded. She looked as natural and generous as an elegant orchid flower.

"Lets get going." Although Cherry was extremely beautiful there was no change in Leylin's attitude, he was still only concerned with his business. Speaking not a word more than needed, but despite that his manner of speech and his momentum didn't present him as an arrogant individual but more of an important hotshot.

Cherry nodded. Her blue eyes showed that she was interested in him.

...

The moon shone brightly in the late night.

Under the clear moonlight, Cherry was gliding in the sky with a pair of dreamy blue wings on her back. She was as agile as a fairy in the pellucid night.

She turned to look at Leylin from time to time, but he seemed to be thinking about something else not in the least concerned about her. Since the start of travel, Leylin haven't spoken a single word just quietly following behind her. He didn't even share his name to her and neither her master!

He didn't even show any interest when she used her wings which are Indigo Soaring Wing's a Profound level secret tool. Feeling indignant she used it to maximize her speed, only to find a nonchalant and stoic Leylin following right beside her.

"Hey, why do you want to go to the Flying Cloud Summit?" Cherry couldn't help but wore a curious face. "As far as I know, precursor Linus in the Flying Cloud Summit is one of the five grand Elders of our Spirit Hall. He rarely comes to the Spirit Potion Valley. He stays and refines medicines in the Flying Cloud Summit. He doesn't have many disciples. He's a bit arrogant, though. We haven't met him for years… such a mysterious alchemist."

"I have some business with him."

"...." Cherry eyebrows twitched at his conversation ending statement and she couldn't help but sigh not talking anymore.

Leylin also didn't concern himself with her because he was more interested about the strange humming in his head.

After starting his trip, Leylin felt that the Five Devils had been dormant for a really long time, but now, they seemed to be awake all of a sudden.

The Five Devils in his inner world gathered despair, fear, bloodlust, greed, and resentment into one entity. In the land of the hollow spirits, they had swallowed a lot of hollow spirits, and then laid dormant. They had no response, as they seemed to head towards an evolution, changing slowly.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the Five Devils were like five groups of dusky smoke where he could see the despair, fear, bloodthirsty, greed, and resentment hovering clearly.

The screaming came from the middle of the Five Devils. At the same time, those dark groups of smoke took turns to transform marvelously.

The energy meandering around them was dragged into the center. The massive cluster shrank fast. Roughly ten seconds later, it disappeared. Five light dots that were as small as the fireflies blinked with a strange light.

The volume decreased, but the energy fluctuations became purer. It seemed there were some transformations that were about to happen.

After a while, the luminous dots suddenly expanded. Seconds later, they turned into five ferocious things, which looked like Demogorgons from the antiquity. One had sharp horns on its head, while another one had a green face and yellow fangs. The others had scale armors covering the body entirely, or a pair of wings extended from the back. None of them looked alike.

The only similar feature of the Five of them was the cold, sinister appearance.

The technique to cultivate the Five Devils of the inner world came from the Blood Vein Ring.

When the Five Devils had just been formed, they weren't that strong. So, they could only use soul attacks to restrict the enemies. After a while, when they could finally escape his Sea of Consciousness, they had enough energy to build a half-real body, which wasn't too bad.

Today, the Five Devils had the second transformation. Observing his mind, Leylin found that the appearance of the Five Devils had been improved, too. Even though they were still in his Sea of Consciousness, they seemed to have real bodies. Flows of grey energy wound around their bodies, which were like human bodies, giving people a feeling of vitality.

Roar… Roar…

'Remarkable... as I previously assumed, these Five Devils definitely hide some type of secrets. This Five Devils Condensation method can only be used by the inheritor of Blood Vein Ring, because only the inheritance of the mysterious devour martial spirit and the innate skills granted by the ring could handle the existence of such an overbearing skill.'

'No, not even with then can one handle such an oppressing set of skill. It would definitely take a very remarkable fellow with a will of steel and uncountable frutious encounter to step ahead and onwards as a Blood Vein Ring owner.'

'The real master of this ring was definitely a sadistic batshit crazy person, who else would create a technique to nurture fucking devils in their sea of consciousness!'

'But..the more messed up all this is, the more I like it!'

Roar… Roar…

Leylin suddenly stopped following Cherry as he smiled, looking in one direction.

"We'll go there and check it out. Something interesting is happening there."

Cherry followed his line of sight, and her smiling face faded. She spoke up with a serious face. "That's the place the dead souls' evil lairs often appear. Dead souls linger there a lot. Why do you want to get there?"

"I have heard a lot about these dead souls, it might be a good chance to learn more about them."

"Aren't you afraid that the dead souls would erode your soul? I've seen a lot of young men like you get possessed by the dead souls because they acted rashly and intruded the forbidden area. Their own souls were expelled. I advise you not to take risks."

"You don't need to worry about something that won't happen."

Strange light sparked in Cherry's deep blue eyes. Hesitating for a while trying to find reasons to stop him.

Leylin didn't talk more as he flew towards the direction that the Five Devils had induced.

"Hey! Stop!"

....

The dead souls' evil lairs were the most mysterious exotic area of the Dead Soul Mountain range. However, these evil lairs wouldn't stay still. They moved, and someday it would disappear leaving no trace, only to reappear somewhere else.

This kind of an area in the Dead Soul Mountain range was the forbidden place. Warriors who didn't have the absolute confidence would never dare to operate alone in these regions.

The Five Devils sent Leylin their roars, then completed their transformation, in which their power seemed to advance one step further. Then, they sent him their thoughts and said that they wanted to get near that area.

It was a valley covered with thick gray clouds. There was no sunlight shining on the valley, even though it was still daytime, which gave people a dark, gloomy atmosphere, irritating them.

Inside the valley covered with ash-gray clouds, five Sky Realm warriors were using secret treasures to fight against three clusters of dark green mist.

Among the five Sky Realm warriors, there were males and females. However, they weren't alchemists. Each of them was like they were fighting against strong enemies. The secret treasures in their hands all had Yang attributes. The halos around them were scorching red.

"Dead souls!"

Cherry let out a low scream to remind Leylin not to go closer. She whispered, "They're hunting dead souls. You shouldn't go there and mess up their business."

"Hunting dead souls? How bold." Leylin laughed.

Leylin knows that although the dead souls are dangerous, they aren't useless. They're precious materials to a blacksmith.

When one wants to make their weapons which have intellect, they can apply some different methods. Among those, the way to make their weapon absorb the natural power of heaven and earth to gain the intellect is the most difficult and mysterious.

But it's easier to find the things that are similar to the soul and seal them in their weapon. It's the popular method to make the tool gain intellect. The dead souls are a sort of sinister souls, as they have a strong fighting will. If they can fuse the dead soul and the tool, the power of that tool will be increased marvelously. A Mystery level treasure can be advanced one level to reach the Profound level.

While Leylin was watching, it seemed the five warriors ahead of them had almost gotten what they wanted. The three dark green dead souls had low levels; they didn't even have a shape. Under the continuous attacks by the nemesis treasures, the three dead souls were struck scattered. Gathering them again was a hard job to do.

The three dead souls were divided from the center. Just like ragged clothes, they were floating and fluttering in the air, trying to escape.

The five warriors wore serious faces, not daring to relax. The treasures in their hands were constantly sparking fire, forming a fire wall that could block a piece of space.

When the dead souls were divided, their powers reduced massively. They didn't dare to cross the fire wall, but just increased their erosive soul attacks.

The five warriors paled. Sweat beaded on their foreheads. Apparently, this kind of erosive soul attack had troubled them seriously.

"Be persistent!" One of them said through his gritted teeth while he was drenched in sweat. "These three dead souls can't gather again. We just need to resist the last wave of their soul attacks and we can get them! Don't let your efforts be wasted. Endure it!"

Those five Sky Realm warriors had big age gaps. The leader seemed to be around fifty years old. One of the other four was roughly forty. Some looked like they were in their thirties, and there was a young girl about seventeen or eighteen years old. She looked pretty young.

As the five of them had joined hands, their treasures constantly moved, generating more flames, which made the three dead souls struggle harder.

"The dead souls are afraid of the powers of flame and lightning. Usually, they don't dare to come close to the flames, but it's hard to burn them to death. Only lightning is their archenemy. In the Dead Soul Mountain range, when it thunders, the dead souls will hide away…"

Cherry explained to Leylin about the features of the dead souls while looking at the situation ahead of them.

Roar Roar Roar!

Strange roars came up from his Sea of Consciousness.

A smile crept on Leylin's face, "Oh you want that, but it seems to belong to someone else. But who cares about those weaklings, Go eat your fill."

Leylin lifted the barrier allowing the five dark silhouettes to shoot out from the back of his head. They then jumped through that fire wall agilely, grabbed the three dead souls and swallowed them. Seconds later, they had finished the whole three dead souls.

Seeing their efforts about to be fruitful, the five warriors had been ready to capture the dead soul. However, they suddenly felt dizzy and immediately found five other grey figures inside their fire wall. These figures then besieged and devoured the dead souls.

Leylin didn't register a single tinge of regret in his visage. It's a world where strength reigns supreme, as long as he is the strongest in the room others would need to comply before his wishes and if they don't...

Strange light flashed in Cherry's blue eyes. She instinctively looked at the back of Leylin's head, her face disbelieving.

The Five Devils had flown out fast. Although she stood next to him, she only saw five silhouettes dash out from behind Leylin. Thus, she wasn't sure that they came from his body.

"God damn it!"

The fifty-some old man clenched his fists and gritted his teeth indignantly, looking at the five figures behind the fire wall. He scolded, "What the heck are those? Dare to take our goods! Go die!"

The sword in his hand suddenly gushed out a ten-meter long fire, shooting towards the Five Devils.

The other four reacted timely. They clenched their jaws and urged the powers of their secret weapons to attack the Five Devils.

To hunt those three dead souls, the five of them had spent half a year to borrowed enough secret weapons. They had also waited for more than a month in this area to find dead souls. After a hard struggling time, they'd almost got them. It wasn't easy to back them into the corner. And now, someone had snatched the spoils of their strenuous war. How could they press down the anger?

The five of them joined forces again. Fiery flames shot out from the flaming attribute weapons, striking toward the Five Devils.

After the Five Devils had swallowed the dying dead souls, they didn't feel pleased yet. They didn't concern about the scorching flaming attack, turning back into the five dark, gray shadows, gathering in front of Leylin and asking him to find more dead souls to fill their stomachs.

The five warriors had done many things, but got nothing in the end. As they were about to shout and scold, they realized that those five gloomy thieves seemed to have a master.

The five of them were astounded for a while. First, they tried to sense Leylin's cultivation base from afar. After they got to know that they couldn't sense his cultivation, they became sober and alert.

"Sir, those five energy ribbons came from you, right?" Tain, the leader, said with an indignant face. "We've kept an eye on those three dead souls for half of a year. We have spent much effort and crystals to catch them?"

The other four including three men and a young girl all looked at him with rage but didn't dare to do anything without understanding the situation.

Leylin who stood before them was as stoic as before, not even putting them in his eyes. Seeing him so composed despite their strength made them more alert.

"Get lost."

Leylin only muttered these two words as he started to move forward.

After he finished, the five people of Tain's group were enraged. They clenched their jaws and gritted their teeth, as they seemed to attempt to risk their lives with his.

Cherry's blue eyes sparkled. She frowned and then said, "He's our Spirit Hall's distinguished guest. We will be responsible for this. When we come back to the Spirit Hall, we'll compensate for your loss. Is it okay?"

"Spirit Hall?" Tain discolored. He scrutinized her and then said, "Are you Master Jeffery's disciple?"

Cherry smiled naturally and gave him a slight nod.

"Even Master Jeffery can't bully people like that!" Tain's visage darkened. "Say it. How will you compensate us? Your Spirit Hall doesn't need the dead souls. Will you be able to give me three dead souls?"

"Our Spirit Hall doesn't have the dead souls, but we have something to exchange for them." Cherry snorted arrogantly. "Although the dead souls are rare, those three were at the lowest level, so their values aren't high. Don't you think that our Spirit Hall doesn't have anything equal to make it up for you? Harrumph, if you've been strolling around the Dead Soul Mountain range, you should know about the capacity of the Spirit Hall."

Tain's face became better when he heard that. "I know your Spirit Hall has big capacities. However, we only need the dead souls!"

"There're many blacksmiths in the Precious Tool Valley. Many of them should have dead souls. When I return to the Spirit Potion Valley, I will ask my teacher to collect three dead souls for you guys. How does that sound?" Cherry frowned impatiently.

"If you ensure that you can collect three dead souls for us, we will let it go. If not, I want to take this kid's life as our compensation!" Tain snorted and his guts got bigger. Seeing Cherry taking the initiative to compensate Leylin as well as protect him, he naturally assumed that instead of an expert he's just an arrogant person.

Cherry harrumphed. She was about to agree with him. In her eyes, it wasn't a big deal.

Leylin moving steps stopped while listening to their conversation, as he heard Tain threaten him, his face got colder, speaking up faintly. "You want my life as a compensation?"

"Oh well, Since you want the dead souls that much. I'll make you one." Leylin smiled, urging a bit of his negative power. The energy around him suddenly increased, as a wild, sinister aura rippled from his body.

Tain and others were terrified. He discolored as he recognized that there was a furiously dangerous energy covering Leylin.

Leylin haven't even revealed his cultivation to suppress them, only his killing intent and aura was enough to immobilize them.

"Attack!" Leylin raised his fingers and commanded as the Five Devils behind him immediately dived forward.

Immediately they appeared before the group of five who were unable to do or say anything under Leylin's suppression. They stared in fear and helplessness as the Five Devils opened their mouth and gnawed their heads off as blood spurted out unceasingly.

There wasn't any fight, any resistance nor any chance at refusal if Leylin wanted them to die then death is what they must receive.

"Should have listened to me and went your way. Life isn't more important than a few dead souls *sigh*, no matter try to keep this lesson in mind in your next life."

"You... You!" Cherry was astounded as well as afraid as she watched the scene unfolding before her. This is just too shocking, the team of four Sky realm warriors with cultivation similar to her were dead just like that! They didn't even have any chance of counterattacking or retreating. After Leylin attacked they could only watch in horror and accept their deceased fate.

It seems she has miscalculated, this guy before her wasn't arrogant to not give her master and her any face, rather they were truly beneath him to warrant his attention.

Just where did he come from? And who is he?

Questions like these appeared in her mind, but she didn't dare to ask. If Leylin can crush those four so easily, she is also akin to an ant before him.

_____

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