The opening scene reveals the story of Yao Lao, alarming the Soul Emperor.

The main hall of the Northwest Branch Hall.

This domed hall was carved from a single block of obsidian, with no superfluous decorations on the interior walls, except for the emblem of the Soul Clan engraved on the four load-bearing pillars. The candlelight inside the hall had been deliberately dimmed by 30%, and only ten of the sixteen bronze lamps were lit, casting a dim and oppressive light over everyone's heads.

Thirteen elders stood on either side, dressed in gray, black, and brown robes, each a different color, but their expressions were remarkably similar.

Unhappy.

I am very unhappy.

The gray-robed elder standing in the center was named Hun Chang, the acting elder of the Northwest Branch Hall, a four-star Dou Huang, who had been in charge of this territory for eleven years. He held a list in his hand, the edges of the bamboo slips worn white from being squeezed so tightly.

The list contained the supplies that Hunyu requested to be transferred: three fifth-tier Wind Chasing Ink Horned Beasts, two boxes of sixth-grade Soul Gathering Pills, a team of eight Douhuang-level guards, and the only remaining seventh-tier defensive spirit array core in the branch hall's warehouse.

This list was delivered by the hawk half an hour ago.

After reading it, Hun Chang slammed the bamboo slip onto the table, breaking off a piece of wood from the corner.

"What does he think this is? The Treasure Pavilion of Zhongzhou?" Hun Chang glanced at his colleagues in the two rows on either side. "The Northwest Branch only has four mounts of rank five or higher, and he wants three. Eight Douhuang guards, and we only have twelve at full strength. That array core is the branch's most prized possession; who will cover for it if something goes wrong after it's taken?"

The brown-robed elder, third from the left, snorted coldly. "A useless cripple from a collateral branch dares to make exorbitant demands just because of a decree from the Heavenly Gang Hall. In my opinion, that brat Wu Ying only reports good news and hides the bad, pinning all the credit for the Starfall Pavilion on that good-for-nothing."

"That's not how it works." A black-robed elder on the right, slightly behind, lowered his voice. "The special envoy from the Heavenly Gang Hall has come in person to take him away, and the clan leader's decree is stamped with the Black Thunder Forbidden Seal. This is no small matter. Whether that Soul Feather is truly capable or just got lucky, we can't openly stop him."

"Not stop him?" Hun Chang slapped the bamboo slip in his palm. "He emptied his coffers and took everything with him. If the Fenglei Pavilion attacks next month, what will we use to defend ourselves? Our mouths?"

This statement struck a nerve with everyone.

The Northwest Branch Hall's territory borders the Wind and Thunder Pavilion's sphere of influence, and the two sides have been at odds for over a century, with no major battles but constant minor skirmishes. The Branch Hall maintains a force of twelve to fifteen Dou Huang guards year-round, precisely to deal with any potential escalation of harassment from the Wind and Thunder Pavilion.

Now, some white-robed good-for-nothing who appeared out of nowhere is going to take away most of our fighting force. Anyone would be anxious in that situation.

Three footsteps came from outside the palace gate.

The middle path was the lightest, with uneven intervals, pausing every few steps, exhibiting a noticeably weak rhythm. The two paths on the left and right were one in front of the other, one with light, quick steps and the other with heavy, dragging steps.

The palace doors were pushed open.

Wu Ying was the first to rush in. He glanced at the scene inside the hall, his expression changed, and he stepped back to the door to make way.

Soul Feather crossed the threshold.

The white robe had been washed, but the bloodstains on the hem weren't completely removed, leaving a few pale pink marks. He held a white feather fan in his right hand, while his left hand lightly supported the doorframe. His complexion was worse than yesterday; his lips were bloodless, and his eyes were bluish-gray.

He stopped to catch his breath when he had walked about a third of the way into the hall.

Thirteen pairs of eyes fell on him at the same time.

Hun Chang's lips curled down slightly. The elders beside him exchanged glances—a sickly fellow who can barely walk, and this is it?

No one noticed the last person to walk in.

Hunwu followed two steps behind Hunyu, his dark red robe covered in dust, his right arm tied to his chest with a strip of cloth, his back hunched, his gait completely different from yesterday.

Someone inside the hall recognized the dark red robe.

The standard robes of the special envoys of the Heavenly Gang Hall.

The elder who recognized the robe looked again at Hunwu's bound right arm and lowered head, opened his mouth, and swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Hun Chang didn't look back. He took a step forward, and his battle aura naturally emanated from under his gray robe. The pressure of a four-star Dou Huang spread out, and the candlelight in the hall dimmed.

"Soul Feather." He addressed him by his given name, without any honorifics. "I respect that you possess the clan leader's decree, but the resources of the Northwest Branch Hall are not something you can simply take as you please. This list—"

He raised the bamboo slips in his hand.

"Fight back. Don't even think about taking anything."

The elders in the left and right rows straightened up at the same time, and twelve Douhuang-level auras converged, aiming at the thin white figure in the center of the hall.

Twelve Dou Huangs surrounding a cripple with no Dou Qi might sound embarrassing, but the actual effect was undeniably oppressive. The air thickened, and Wu Ying's knees buckled under the pressure, forcing him to grab the doorframe to keep from kneeling.

Hunyu stood at the very center of the shockwave, the tassels of her white feather fan flying wildly in the wind.

He didn't turn around.

He gently tapped the palm of his left hand twice with the fan in his right hand.

*Slap. Slap.*

The clapping is the palm of the hand, the sound is the command.

The soul crow behind him stirred.

All anyone saw was a dark red afterimage flashing out from behind Hun Yu. The aura of a six-star Dou Zong, fully unleashed, was enveloped in intense fire-attribute light. Before Hun Chang could even retract the bamboo slip, a calloused left palm slammed into his chest.

Hunchang's body was lifted off the ground.

His back slammed into the obsidian pillar behind him, causing the pillar to shatter into a spiderweb-like pattern of cracks. He hung in the crack, his mouth agape, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, splattering half of the pillar.

The bamboo slip slipped from his hand, bounced twice on the ground, and rolled to Hunyu's feet.

The entire process takes no more than one breath.

All sound inside the hall disappeared.

The twelve elders froze on the spot. They weren't frightened—well, they were, but more so because they finally saw what kind of clothes the person who had attacked them was wearing.

Dark red robe. Right arm in a sling. Special envoy of the Heavenly Gang Palace.

The special envoy of the Heavenly Gang Hall is working as a henchman for a crippled member of a collateral branch of the family.

Soul Crow withdrew its left palm, retreated two steps behind Soul Feather, lowered its head again, and remained silent.

His expression remained unchanged, as if the slap he had just delivered was merely shooing away a fly for his master.

Hun Yu walked around the bamboo slips on the ground and slowly made his way to the main seat at the innermost part of the hall. As he passed a brown-robed elder whose legs were trembling, he coughed twice, took out a handkerchief from his sleeve to cover his mouth, and continued walking forward.

sit down.

The back of the grand master's chair was very hard, so he adjusted his posture and placed the white feather fan flat on the armrest.

Then he raised his eyes and looked down.

Thirteen pairs of eyes—no, twelve pairs, Hun Chang's pair was now rolled back and he couldn't look at anyone—all averted their gaze from him.

"Mu Yuanshan of the Wind and Thunder Pavilion, a three-star Dou Huang, has four hundred men under his command." Hun Yu's voice wasn't loud, but there was no noise in the hall trying to interrupt him. "On the seventeenth of next month, he will lead his troops to cut in from Eagle Beak Cliff on the outer edge of the Tianxing Mountains. His target is Warehouse No. 3 in your hall, where you store beast crystal ore."

All the elders raised their heads at the same time.

The attack route, timing, commander, troop strength, and targets of the Fenglei Pavilion.

Not a single one was missing.

"This news—" the black-robed elder on the right, who had previously seemed relatively rational, tentatively began to speak.

"You can verify for yourselves whether it's true or not," Hunyu interrupted him, pointing to the table.

Three thumb-sized silk pouches appeared on the table at some point, each tied with red, white, and black silk threads.

"The red ones, dismantle them on the 17th. The white ones, dismantle them after the fighting begins. The black ones—" He paused, picked up a cup of tea that someone had brewed on the table, and took a sip. "If you do the first two as I say, you won't need the third one."

Set the teacup down.

"You all know better than I how much merit Mu Yuanshan's head is worth. If the branch hall reports this, it will be enough to move each of you up one rank."

The main hall remained quiet for a long time.

Then the first elder in the left column knelt down. The sound of his knees hitting the ground triggered a chain reaction: the second, the third, the seventh, and the twelfth.

Finally, even Hun Chang, who had been pulled down from the pillar and supported by two colleagues, bent over trembling.

"Your subordinate... obeys."

The uneven sounds echoed under the dome.

Hunyu leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly. The burning sensation in his chest began to surge again, but he didn't cough.

He opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the kneeling figures in gray, black, and brown robes before settling on the direction of the palace entrance. The sky outside was completely dark, with the lanterns of the distant animal enclosures forming a row of dim, yellowish lights.

We will depart at dawn tomorrow for Zhongzhou to meet the Heavenly Emperor of Souls.

The man sitting at the pinnacle of power on the Dou Qi Continent was unaware that he had not been given a compliant pawn.

Hunyu picked up the white feather fan and covered the lower half of her face.

The corner of her mouth behind the fan curved slightly, a very shallow curve that vanished in an instant.