"What happened to the evil soul master?"
Yunchuan retracted his Martial Soul, letting the soft glow dissipate from his body. He glanced at the villagers, still bathed in the afterglow of the life energy recovery, then turned toward a nearby attendant.
"Report, Holy Son," the attendant said, head lowered respectfully. "He's hiding in a nearby barren mountain. Our people have already surrounded the area. There's no escape, even with wings."
"What level is he?" Yunchuan asked calmly.
"Soul Sage. Seventy-first rank," the attendant responded.
"…A Soul Sage, huh?"
Yunchuan's voice chilled. "Lead the way."
The information matched prior intel. This man was one of the few survivors of a large-scale raid conducted by Spirit Hall against a notorious evil soul master stronghold some time ago. Back then, he was barely at the Soul Ancestor rank—a small fry who slipped through the cracks.
But now?
Within months, he had skyrocketed to Soul Sage.
The meaning was clear.
He'd been cultivating with blood—madly and without restraint.
Yunchuan had encountered plenty like him in recent years. This was hardly new. Still, every evil rooted out brought peace for another pocket of the continent.
...
The mountain he arrived at was dense, covered in twisted foliage and thorny vines. It stretched across dozens of li, full of jagged cliff faces and overgrown trails—desolate, quiet, and unwelcoming.
The terrain alone made the place perfect for hiding.
Finding a single corrupted soul within it, even as a Titled Douluo, would normally take days.
But this soul master had made one crucial mistake—
He was dealing with Yunchuan.
More specifically: Yunchuan's Martial Soul—
The Plant Sovereign: Goddess of Life.
With it, the entire mountain was as transparent as glass.
Once his domain enveloped the area, not even rats could hide—let alone a bloodthirsty fugitive.
Since the early days, Yunchuan's plant domain had grown from a 300-meter sphere to a staggering radius of more than one hundred li. Through perseverance, cultivation, and growth, he had completely redefined the scale of what this ability could control.
And control was the correct word.
He didn't just connect to the plants—he dominated them.
With a sharp hum—like a ripple pulsing through reality—the sky shimmered faintly and a brilliant green aura surged behind him.
The Goddess of Life appeared.
Blue-haired, robed in emerald, her figure shone with radiant vitality. And as she emerged, soul rings began cascading around Yunchuan—
Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black!
All seven soul rings were ten-thousand-year class. A full set of black. A cultivation level of seventy-nine.
Spirit Hall's Holy Son was a true monster.
Of course, the soul rings spiraling around him didn't actually belong to the Goddess of Life Martial Soul—but to the Supreme Clear Sky Hammer. Unbeknownst to others, Yunchuan's twin spirits could both be activated flexibly—and even simultaneously.
Unlike other twin soul holders who had to alternate one at a time, he could freely pull power from either—to confuse and mislead if necessary.
If someone saw a martial soul active but no rings displayed, the truth would be obvious.
But with this substitution, he could hide the existence of the second spirit entirely.
Over the past six years, that's what Yunchuan had focused on: polishing his body, refining mastery of his tools, and learning how best to hide his hand until the right moment.
Soul power? That was never a problem.
He'd barely even trained it seriously.
And yet, because of his innate rank 50, coupled with the mysterious rune's assistance in unlocking hidden meridians and acupoints, his speed of growth was astronomical.
A half-hour of casual cultivation for him was equivalent to months of work for the average genius.
And the biggest bottleneck wasn't soul power—it was his body.
He had reached the limit. Seven high-level soul rings was all his physical frame could handle for now. He could've taken the shortcut: use lower-aged rings, become titled quickly…
But why?
Why waste potential just for speed?
If he could one day wield nine black rings, who cared when he became a Titled Douluo?
...
With the Goddess of Life above him and seven soul rings looping behind, Yunchuan exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
A silent command rippled outward.
The next second, the entire mountain came alive.
The trees began to rustle—not from wind, but from action.
Branches twitched. Leaves shook. Vines curled ever so slightly, like a thousand silent watchers waking from a nap. It was as if the forest were offering worship—or surrender.
The domain now covered it all. Every shrub, root, and weed was now his.
He extended his senses.
And there it was.
'Found you.'
He saw it—not with his eyes, but through countless plant markers.
Deep within the forest, a hollowed-out tree. The bark carefully resealed to hide the opening. Inside, quiet. Still.
The man had sealed his aura. Hidden even his breathing.
Had a Soul Sage or even a rank 90 passed by, he might've gone undetected.
But not from Yunchuan.
Not from someone who was the domain.
He could've crushed him remotely. He'd done it before. But that was too dull this time.
He wanted to stretch. Move his legs. Feel something.
So he vanished on the spot.
One blink—and he was gone.
Through his domain powers, he transferred his body directly to any plant within range.
Was it teleportation?
Not exactly.
But practically? It may as well have been.
(End of Chapter)