Douluo Continent: Starting with a Heavenly Fire Judgment

Chapter 439 A Difficult Situation

The Sun Moon Empire's move was extremely insidious, putting the academies and sects originally belonging to the three kingdoms of Douluo Continent in a dilemma. If they chose to help the three empires, most of the elite disciples imprisoned by the Sun Moon Empire would be gone. If they chose not to help, what would the three empires think? Although they knew the three empires had their reasons, that was not a reason for them to stand idly by. To the three empires, not helping them was treason, regardless of the reason.

This vicious move put the sects and academies of the original Douluo Three Kingdoms in a precarious position, posing a major challenge to the three great empires. They didn't want to force them, but they had no choice but to, which is why they actively sent out rescue teams.

Once the hostages are rescued, the problem will be solved.

The academies and sects within the three great empires can also work together to resist the invasion of the Sun Moon Empire.

There are two rows of water dungeons. In the center of the two rows of dungeons is a stone platform that is more than one meter above the water. The stone platform extends straight out and several people wearing black cloaks are patrolling back and forth on it.

Even without making a special effort to investigate, Ji Lin could sense the cold and evil aura emanating from these evil soul masters.

The water dungeon is inside the city wall, which means that Feng Ling's information is not entirely accurate. The water dungeon does use the moat, but it is not outside the city; it is still inside the city. Moreover, judging from the water diversion, the water dungeon must have an entrance inside the city.

Ji Lin's lips twitched. This really was one thing after another. You thought we were inside the city? No, we were outside the city. You thought we were outside the city? No, we were still inside the city.

Ji Lin had an excellent sense of direction. After a brief moment of thought, he had already roughly determined the location of the entrance. To his dismay, the entrance was actually inside the hidden soldier cave next to the south gate.

The hidden troop shelters were specially designed to provide temporary rest areas for soldiers during city defense. Located on one side of the city gate, they allowed for quick support of the city gate from below and rapid ascent to the city wall from above. What an excellent arrangement! With soldiers always guarding such places, coupled with the large number of soul-guided detection devices near the city gate, it would be virtually impossible to infiltrate without being detected.

As Ji Lin was making his judgment, he suddenly noticed that several evil soul masters were walking towards him. The evil soul masters who had been patrolling earlier were all standing respectfully on both sides of the stone platform, bowing deeply and showing an extremely respectful demeanor.

The group of five people who walked slowly towards them did not use cloaks to conceal their bodies: two Title Douluo and three Soul Douluo Evil Soul Masters.

The two titled Douluo leading the group looked fierce and menacing, clearly not to be trifled with. The other three Soul Douluo were three elderly men who appeared to be at least seventy years old. Surprisingly, these three elderly men looked exactly alike, and their clothing was also identical.

They were all very thin, with many wrinkles on their faces, gray hair simply draped behind their heads, and dull, yellow eyes, giving them a somber and lifeless appearance. What was particularly distinctive was that they all had hooked noses and thin lips.

The three old men were all dressed in gray robes, and each of them held a cane. The canes were completely black, a full ten feet long, and each had a gray gem the size of a human head at the top.

Five evil soul masters could withstand even five or more titled Douluo. Moreover, there were at least dozens of evil soul masters stationed here, and it was unknown whether there were other powerful evil soul masters stationed there. There were also two soul master regiments of defensive forces outside. Sunrise City was not too far from Mingdu, and reinforcements could be summoned from Mingdu at any time. The arrangements of the Sun Moon Empire were extremely meticulous.

There must have already been a war on the border, yet the Sun Moon Empire still made such arrangements. It can be seen that the Sun Moon Empire still cares about these prisoners.

As Ji Lin pondered this, he tried his best to suppress his mental fluctuations to avoid being discovered.

Fortunately, his mental strength is now superior to those evil soul masters in both quality and quantity; otherwise, he might have been discovered by those two titled Douluo-level evil soul masters.

As long as there are no mental-type evil spirit masters present, Ji Lin doesn't need to worry about being discovered.

The five evil spirit masters walked along, glancing into the water dungeons on either side. The hostages naturally saw them too, their venomous gazes fixed on them. But the hostages were too weak; they had even lost the strength to shout and curse.

The menacing-looking old man at the head of the group walked along, saying, "There shouldn't be any problems controlling the situation, right? Do you have enough medication?"

"We have enough medicine. Every day we add Soul Extinction Powder to the water. Soaking in water with Soul Extinction Powder will prevent even a Title Douluo from gathering their own soul power. Moreover, these guys haven't eaten for a long time. Even with the constitution of a Soul Master, they are now weak all over. Several of them fainted before, and we replenished their nutrition in time."

The answer came from one of the triplets.

The elderly man at the head stopped, turned around and glanced at the triplets, saying, "Tian, ​​we still need to feed them. Under the effects of the Soul-Destroying Powder, these people can't cause any trouble, but we can't let them starve to death. The sect leader still has a great use for them. These hostages have a lot of remaining value. I know you brothers need these powerful souls, but not now, understand?"

"Yes, Second Elder." The old man called A-Tian nodded, but his expression showed that he was somewhat dismissive of the Second Elder's words. However, he was clearly giving the Second Elder face and immediately added, "Then I'll go arrange it now. Give them something to eat. Second Brother, Third Brother, let's go together."

After saying this, he nodded to the Second Elder and the Fourth Elder beside him, then turned and left.

Watching the two leave, a cold glint flashed in the Fourth Elder's eyes, and he said in a deep voice, "These three Zhongli brothers are getting more and more outrageous, relying on being the sect leader's servants. Do they have to go get some food for the prisoners themselves? This is clearly a show of force to us two brothers."

The Second Elder glanced at the Fourth Elder and said in a deep voice, "Fourth Brother, don't speak recklessly. The three Zhongli brothers are the leader's direct subordinates, and we are equally loyal to the leader. Everything we do is for the sake of the great cause of our sect."

Although he said this, a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes, clearly showing his dissatisfaction with the actions of the Zhongli brothers.

Since his third brother went missing, the status of their elder lineage in the Holy Spirit Church has been impacted. The three Zhongli brothers, relying on being servants of the church leader Zhongli Wu, showed no respect for them, and their usual deference was all a pretense.

The two walked back and forth in the water dungeon along the stone platform before heading out.

Ji Lin had been observing from the shadows. It seemed that the two Title Douluos and the three Soul Douluos had a conflict, and the control of the water prison should be in the hands of the Zhongli brothers. Also, all the contestants had been poisoned with a poison called Soul Extinction Powder. Ji Lin remembered this poison. Back in Dragon City, when Nan Shuishui, the leader of the Earth Dragon Gate, was captured by the Third Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, this poison suppressed her soul power, making her unable to use it. It must be the same poison, since they were all evil soul masters of the Holy Spirit Cult.

Having ascertained the situation, Ji Lin saw no need to investigate further and quietly withdrew his mental probe.

Ji Lin and Chi Yuan returned to the hotel without alerting anyone.

"How's it going? Did you find anything?"

Wang Qiu'er and the others, who had been waiting, hurriedly asked when Ji Lin and Chi Yuan returned.

"Those contestants are indeed imprisoned in a water dungeon, guarded by evil soul masters. Furthermore, all the contestants have been poisoned and are unable to gather soul power. Under these circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to rescue hundreds of people."

Ji Lin frowned slightly.

"Poison? What poison?"

Ling Luochen asked curiously. Ling Luochen, whose martial soul had evolved into the ultimate ice, was no longer afraid of poison.

"You should be very familiar with it; it's Soul-Destroying Powder."

Upon hearing Ji Lin's words, Ling Luochen and Ye Guyi felt that they had heard of it somewhere before, but they couldn't remember where. Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, and Wang Qiu'er looked confused, as they had never heard of this Soul-Destroying Powder!

Suddenly, Nan Qiuqiu exclaimed in realization, "Soul-Destroying Powder! I remember now, isn't that the poison my mother was given before?!"

Ji Lin nodded and said, "That's right, it's the same kind of poison as the Soul Extinction Powder. Its effect is to suppress the soul power of soul masters, rendering them powerless."

Nan Qiuqiu said excitedly, "If it's Soul-Destroying Powder, then I have a way. My mother was poisoned by this, and she spent a lot of time researching it and has already developed an antidote. Just in case, since it's a poison from evil soul masters, we won't be helpless if we encounter it again. And here it comes in handy."

Ji Lin's eyes lit up, and he laughed, "Qiuqiu, it was definitely the right decision to bring you along this time. You've finally come in handy."

Nan Qiuqiu looked smug, then realized the meaning behind Ji Lin's words. She put her hands on her hips and said angrily, "Are you saying I didn't use it before?"

Just as Ji Lin was about to nod, Wang Qiu'er suddenly pulled him back and said, "Alright, stop teasing Qiuqiu, we need to focus on the important matter."

Although Nan Qiuqiu did not have the finished antidote, she did have the prescription. According to the prescription, the Soul-Destroying Powder was a plant toxin made by combining the juices of about three poisonous plants.

Five medicinal herbs were needed to make the antidote. Ji Lin and his companions split up and bought one of the herbs from various pharmacy branches. With the prescription, they quickly made the antidote.

However, to restore the hostages' fighting ability, the antidote alone is not enough; they need time to recover. In other words, they need to detoxify the hostages in advance to ensure their fighting ability during the operation.

Therefore, Ji Lin had Chi Yuan secretly sneak into the water prison with the antidote, put the antidote inside, and use the antidote's medicinal properties to slowly neutralize the effects of the Soul-Destroying Powder.

(End of this chapter)