Chapter 32: Kidnapped

"What do you want from us?" Despite feeling weak and helpless in front of the bandaged man, Ye Lingling, the girl in purple, stood her ground and questioned him coldly.

"Uhhh, why are you treating me so coldly, little girl?" The bandaged man responded with a grin.

"Answer me!"

"Alright alright, what do I want you ask? I'm just a subordinate who has been sent to take away the little friend you have there". The bandaged man raised his hands appearing harmless, as he spoke with a helpless tone.

Ye Lingling, however, would not be fooled by his act, instead, upon learning that his goal was to take Lu Yuan away, her eyes turned fierce.

"I won't let you take him away!" Ye Lingling declared, stepping between the bandaged man and Lu Yuan. "Get out of here, now!"

"Oh? Brat, you don't seem to be understanding". Hearing the girl's reply in front of him, the bandaged man lost his playful appearance and his gaze suddenly turned cold as he spoke in a deep tone.

A powerful pressure emerged from the bandaged man that shot straight towards Ye Lingling, who, facing this pressure, once again felt the same sense of near death that she had experienced just a short while ago.

This caused her body to tremble in horror, her legs to falter, and tears began to flow from her eyes. An involuntary impulse to get out of the bandaged man's way and run away began to rise in his heart.

However, As Ye Lingling remembered that the boy next to her had saved her life, a fierce determination burned within her. She gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw ached, and her eyes flashed with an intensity that surprised even herself. Despite feeling weak and helpless, she refused to let the bandaged man hurt him.

In her heart, she felt regretful that she might never get to repay her savior's kindness or even learn his name. Yet, she was resolved to give this new chance at life that he had given her to protect him, no matter the cost.

"You may have me at your mercy, but I will not let you harm him," she said to the bandaged man with a firm voice.

The bandaged man, seeing Ye Lingling's stubborn determination, was slightly surprised. He spoke with a hint of admiration, "For just being an Auxiliary System Spirit Grandmaster, your willpower is admirable. With the pressure I'm exerting now, you should have collapsed a long time ago.

"Tsk Tsk, you seem to have grown fond of the little friend-"

Suddenly, sensing an approaching aura in the distance, he halted his speech. With a tone of helplessness, he raised his hands and said, "It seems that our conversation is cut short, but before I go, let me leave you with one last lesson: remember that in the face of true power, willpower means nothing."

He increased the pressure on Ye Lingling, causing her to fall to the ground in a faint, with a look of reluctance and helplessness etched on her face. "You're lucky, little girl".

"If I hadn't been ordered not to kill anyone this time, I wouldn't have been so merciful".

With a casual glance at the girl's lying body, the bandaged man moved quickly, picked up Lu Yuan, who was still fainting, and disappeared from the tree hole.

In the tree hole, only a girl was left lying on the ground, and on her delicate face, a tear could be seen falling from her eye and running down her cheek.

A few seconds later, a woman in silver armor appeared near the giant tree.

'This must be where the soul power fluctuation originated from.'

Walking around the giant tree, she finally noticed the hole that was quite well hidden among its giant roots, and upon entering it, she found her Young Miss lying there. Which caused her to become alarmed and run towards her.

"Young Miss!"

.....

After heading to the nearest Spirit Hall Branch, Xu Fei recounted everything that had happened in the Phoenix Village. Omitting to mention what happened with Lu Yuan and the Mysterious Elder.

As expected, the news of what happened shocked the people of Spirit Hall Branch and they sent the news to Spirit City immediately. As the only witness to the incident, Xu Fei stayed at Spirit Hall Branch for a while to help with the investigation.

After inquiring further about the situation, Xu Fei was taken aback by the revelation that the Spirit Hall Branch had not been aware of the matter until now. This was due to the fact that all of the Branch's members were engrossed in a murder case, in which the victim was none other than their Deputy Master.

Now that they had learned of the Phoenix Village incident, it was clear that the Deputy Master's death had been the work of the Dark Spirit Masters, whose true target had been the Phoenix Village from the beginning.

After patrolling part of the zone, they managed to find the surviving villagers that Lu Yuan had rescued at the beginning, who had taken refuge in the nearby Villages. Later, they launched a raid in which they managed to capture four Dark Spirit Masters who were in a house near the zone, and after some severe torture, they all confessed the information they knew.

The reason they had caused the massacre in Phoenix Village had been to humiliate the Supreme Pontiff and take revenge on Spirit Hall.

The place where they were was the temporary shelter they had all used before causing the massacre of the Village, and they were only low-level members who had stayed behind to guard the place. And although they did not know very detailed information about the incident, they still managed to confirm that the incident in the Phoenix Village was not an isolated case and that the Dark Spirit Masters' revenge was not over.

After hearing the news, the Spirit Hall Branch sent all the information to the higher levels, while Xu Fei, before he left the Branch and returned to Fasinuo province, was directly rewarded with a Spirit Ascension Pill for killing the Evil Spirit Ancestor.

...

Back to the present.

Not far from the Phoenix Village, a luxurious carriage was stopped at the side of the road.

Inside the carriage, a handsome blond young man was sitting while holding a book in his hand. The blond young man's eyes remained calm as he occasionally moved his hand to turn the page of the book.

After a while, sensing something, the blond young man suddenly stopped his hand that was about to turn a page of the book, instead, he closed the book and slowly placed it near his seat. After doing this, he moved and lifted the carriage curtain.

Just then, a respectful voice sounded outside the carriage and 2 shadows appeared out of nowhere in front of it.

"Young Master, we have brought a child, we are sure it was he who caught your attention."

Through the carriage window, the young blond could see the bandaged man and the long-robed man, however, both were ignored by the young blond as his eyes strayed to the child carried by the bandaged man. The boy looked at least 9 years old, and his eyes were closed as he appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

The young blond felt the attraction originating from the boy, and he was sure that he was the person he had felt before. This attraction came from the boy's Martial Soul, and although it seemed somewhat impossible to the blond young man, he could sense an aura at least similar to that of his own Martial Soul.

Although the sensation was not too strong at the moment, this was probably due to the difference in cultivation between the two.

"A true prodigy..." The young blond muttered as he finally averted his gaze to the two middle-aged men.

"She Long, Ci Xue, tell me everything you've learned."

"Young Master, you were right when you took notice of him, I would never have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, this kid first stood decisively against a group of Dark Spirit Masters..." The voice of the bandaged man, named She Long, became quite enthusiastic as he explained what he had seen.

"Keke, not only that, Young Master, actually this boy is only 6 years old, and he is from a small city in Fasinuo Province, moreover, he was being escorted by a member of our Spirit Hall to Spirit City. This member also told that his Martial Soul is called Golden Dragon". The blond long-robed man also spoke, telling everything he had learned from Xu Fei's mouth.

'Golden Dragon Martial Soul?' The blond young man listened attentively while trying to perceive more clearly the attraction coming from inside the boy's body.

As he sensed the boy's Martial Soul, he detected a noble and holy intention that was similar yet vastly different from his own. This made him frown, but as he gazed at the boy's peaceful face while he slept soundly, his expression gradually softened.

After analyzing the information provided by the two men, the blond young man gave his orders, "Good job. Now bring him inside the carriage. We won't be returning to the Imperial Palace for now, instead, we'll detour to the mansion."