The Professional Rankings, in twelve volumes, each bearing the name of my lord.

The first round of the martial arts tournament's flag-capturing battle is still ongoing.

After Yuwen Hao was injured, Song Gua sent him away and continued to compete himself.

Although he couldn't find a place to put the command flag, Song Gua encountered the martial arts practitioners who had obtained it.

A group of clones swarmed forward and snatched it away.

Song Gua snatched two command flags, intending to give one to Liang Xiao.

Fortunately, Liang Xiao did not disappoint; he managed to win one himself.

Both of them have successfully advanced to tomorrow's match.

into the night.

Inside an empty room.

Song Gua looked at the Dark Balance Scales and Soul Devouring Pearl placed on the table, pondering something.

"Huang Mao said that every time the scales are used, the evil spirit will grow stronger, and eventually the evil spirit will take over and take over the body."

But now that I've sealed the evil spirit inside the Soul-Devouring Pearl, does that price still apply?

If it doesn't exist, can we still use a balance scale?

These are questions you can't answer by thinking about them on your own.

Song Gua prepared to personally question this evil spirit.

Curious Brother, whose neck was still bleeding, was released by Song Gua.

"You old bastard, what's up with calling me? When are you going to stop the bleeding? I'm about to hang up, you know that?"

Song Guadao.

"The organization will assign you a great task."

Curious Guy immediately became serious, clutching his bleeding neck and kneeling on the ground.

"Please give instructions, old thief... oh no, boss!"

"This mission might be one you never return from."

"Then I'll never return!"

Song Gua had a clone hold the Soul-Devouring Pearl and shine it on him for ten seconds.

"Did you go in?"

Curious Guy: "Am I pretty?"

"Your task is to stay inside the Soul-Devouring Pearl and act as my mouthpiece. I need to communicate with the one inside."

"Pretty, pretty, pretty..."

"Stop cursing. You said yourself, 'Then I'll never come back.' I didn't force you."

"You motherfucker! This thing's going to eat me alive!"

Song Gua calmly said, "Tell him that if he eats you, I will throw the Soul-Devouring Pearl into this illusion. This is a martial arts world, and no one can ever use this kind of professional resource again. He will be imprisoned in this thing for all eternity."

Curious Guy quickly repeated it.

"He's not eating me anymore. He told me to let him out."

"Tell him it's impossible. I'm the swordsman now, and he's meat on the chopping block. Stop talking nonsense to me."

Inside the Soul-Devouring Pearl, Curious Bro repeated his words to the indescribable darkness.

"Our boss said, 'Impossible! I'm the swordsman now, he's the meat on the chopping block. Don't give me that crap!'"

Evil spirit: "?"

Song Gua slapped his forehead, "Why are all my clones different in intelligence...?"

Although it was a bit roundabout, the evil spirit eventually understood the meaning of the Song hexagram.

"Heh heh, you think this thing can trap me? I'll get out sooner or later!"

Song Gua stroked his chin.

"If you could get out, you should be able to now, but you're so confident you'll get out sooner or later?"

Song Gua's eyes lit up.

"You have accomplices!"

My gaze shifted to the dark scales.

There are probably more than one similar thing.

The evil spirit sneered, "Scared? If you are, release me now, and I might spare your life!"

"One life might not be enough; I have a lot of lives. Let me ask you again, if I leave you in the illusion and take the scales out, can I still use that skill called 'Balance'?"

"Hahaha! Of course not! Do you think Yuwen Hao was the one using 'Balance'? It was me!"

"So, if we don't release you, the scales are useless?"

"certainly!"

"Alright, Brother Huo, melt the scales."

The evil spirit panicked upon hearing this.

"Stop! Heh... I was just kidding you. I can still use it even if I'm separated from Libra, but we can't be too far apart."

"What is the price?"

"There's no cost; use it if you want."

"Bullshit! Tell the truth!"

"There was really no cost."

"Brother Huo, it's melted!"

"Pay with Soul Power".

It turned out to be the case.

No wonder the more Yuwen Hao used this thing, the stronger the evil spirit became.

His soul power was absorbed by the evil spirit.

The evil spirit is very weak; it cannot actively absorb the soul power of others and must obtain their soul power voluntarily.

It seems that Yuwen Hao's usual appearance of kidney deficiency is partly due to this thing.

"This thing really can't be used casually. If you use it for too long, the evil spirits will take over, which is not worth it. It can be used as a trump card to solve problems when necessary."

For Yuwen Hao, when the evil spirit's soul strength exceeded his own, he had no way to defend himself and was thus possessed by the other party.

But for Song Gua, he at least still had the Soul-Devouring Pearl as a line of defense.

The evil spirit's soul strength is too great; the Soul-Devouring Bead will react first because it can no longer contain it.

Overall, it is relatively safe, so there's no need to be overly alarmed.

At this point in the conversation, Song Gua developed a strong interest in where this dark scale and evil spirit came from and what it was.

The evil spirit's only response was these three words.

"have no idea."

"Brother Huozi..."

"Despicable humans! I truly didn't know! My soul is too weak to retain many memories!"

Before I met Yuwen Hao, I could only retain memories for a maximum of three days. How could I answer questions like "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?"

It doesn't sound like a lie.

Yuwen Hao also said that at first, this evil spirit couldn't even exchange more than a few words with him.

It was only after Yuwen Hao used it several times that the evil spirit gained the ability to communicate normally.

Song Gua put the Dark Balance into his backpack.

Song Gua entrusted the Soul-Devouring Pearl to Brother Monkey for safekeeping.

Song Gua didn't want these two items to be in the same backpack space, lest something unexpected happen.

"It seems I have to give up on those eight million. The scales are very useful; with them, no powerful enemy can threaten me."

"Great Wisdom suggested."

"We didn't know what the scales looked like before, we only had a sketch. Now that we have it, we'll make a mold and create an exact replica..."

"You can give it a try, but I doubt people will be that stupid as to not be able to tell the difference between real and fake, especially with something this weird."

anyway.

Who commissioned the search for the scales?

Did she or he also know that the scales were strange and magical?

Since I have clones, I'm not afraid of contacting the other party—at worst, I'll just have the clone that goes to make contact get disfigured again.

The next day.

Zhu Zhishan, the leader of the martial arts alliance, announced that the martial arts conference would be postponed for two days.

Because traces of Blood Blade Sect villains were discovered within the city.

All martial arts practitioners have an unshirkable duty to eradicate evil practices that involve cultivating demonic arts!

A citywide operation to capture the Blood Blade Sect has been launched.

Those who practice demonic arts are all powerful, and when they are found, they fight back fiercely, leading to a series of intense battles.

The city was in chaos, with fighting sounds everywhere.

Pang Liang and Lin Ruqing took this opportunity to rescue several people who had been imprisoned.

Day three of the trial.

evening.

The group that entered the illusion gathered outside the city.

Although many people advanced to the top 64 of the martial arts tournament, unfortunately the trials had a time limit, so they couldn't compete.

After taking attendance, Lin Ruqing discovered that one person was missing.

"Where's Ma Feng?"

In the crowd, Yuwen Hao shrank back.

He looked at the Song hexagram.

Song Gua gave him a reassuring look.

Pang Liang looked at Zhao Shanming.

"Zhao family, where's Ma Feng? Isn't he from your squad?"

Zhao Shanming shrugged.

"How would I know where he went? I was in jail on my first day here. That guy left the team. What the hell do I know?"