Nine Venoms Sect Founder

Chapter 104: Forgotten Soul Graveyard

Eight spies escaped the Dark Stone City's cleanup—abandoning relatives and ancestral roots to flee north. Each followed a separate road, but they only had one direction in mind: the Soul Refining Hall's headquarters. Lost in their desperate race, two of the disheveled eight didn't spot the tiny white moths hugging their napes and pouring venom into microscopic wounds. There was over 100 km between the Dark Stone City and the Soul Refining Hall's headquarters. None of them was getting there tonight, and while they found spots to hide and catch their breaths, the venoms kicked in, stopping the unfortunate two's hearts. 

In the night sky, a pair of cold-blue souls, male and female, observed the two spies' painless death. Even though he already got his hands on the Weeping Soul Mantra, Harun couldn't waste this opportunity to infiltrate the Soul Refining Hall. Be it for the upcoming Abyssal River, or the Forgotten Soul Graveyard that made the hall infamous, Harun had to dive in. Jiyan's thoughts weren't much different. The Forgotten Soul Graveyard represented one of the strongest foundations of the Soul Refining Hall. Ruining it first put them at a clear advantage. 

Using the Yin Soul Incantation, both tailed their targets—waiting for the white moths to complete their job. The nocturnal insects abandoned their victims' corpses and flew back to the Dark Stone City. Harun and Jiyan dropped on the deceased, merging with them to reanimate and take control of the corpses. Though versatile, the Yin Soul Incantation didn't allow them to steal the bodies of the living—yet. And after one hour of "rest" the two resumed their pilgrimage to the Soul Refining Hall—which they reached in another eight hours. 

Following the plan, they kept separate ways, arriving not long after the fastest spies. A three kilometers tall mountain welcomed them all, with a mountain road of spiraling stairs fronted by a wide-open gate. It was as if the Soul Refining Hall welcomed everyone in its cradle. However, the three inner disciples flying down the mountaintop spoke a different tale. A pink-colored glow spiraled at the middle of their foreheads, proof that they reached the Canonized Soul Realm and possessed Celestial-level strength. 

All three rode pink clouds and stared at the eight survivors with suspicion.

"Didn't we receive news of a thorough purge? How come those eight survived?" One of the three asked his peers.

"Maybe they slipped by?" 

"With a God-level expert overseeing the city, mortals can also slip by? We can't take responsibility for this. Let's contact the higher ups first." After a brief exchange of mental messages, the three contacted their superiors, and in less than three seconds of mental connections, words reached the big boss. 

"Hmm...odd. I can't figure out this Lord Revelation. Is he a clever man or a lucky fool? What is he trying to accomplish here? As if we didn't have enough problems already...hmm…we must consider that those eight have been compromised. Deal with them according to protocol and dispatch orders to the countries we control. I want them ready to execute the plan whenever we need them to," Reverend Weeping Soul ordered, and the three seers flashed Harun and Jiyan's group, bright, welcoming smiles. 

"The Reverend mourns the loss of our brothers and is delighted by your successful escape. Please follow us to receive your rewards. From now on, you are true disciples," the three said, took the group on their pink clouds, and flew up the mountain to reach the hall's entrance. In that instant, Jiyan couldn't help but shake her head, "If everyone's going to fly on clouds anyway, why bother having so many stairs?"

It only took a few seconds for the Dream Seers to drop the welcomed spies at the sect's entrance. A dreamlike world of pink swirling clouds, massive floating orreries, and rows of magnificent jade towers dazzled the spies' eyes. It was as if they left the world of men and transmigrated into a fairy tale. Little did they know that in the courtyards of this idyllic scene, inner disciples fed men of high wisdom or innocence to their Weeping Soul Trees. 

But as the eight became engrossed in the scene, the three disciples' aimed their fingers at their backs. White rays shot out, piercing through the eight spies' hearts and killing them instantly—almost. Though clinically dead, Harun and Jiyan remained aware of all that went on through their Yin Souls. 

"This never gets old."

"Don't let the elders catch you saying that. You're not supposed to enjoy the job."

"But let's face the stats, how many do not? If we didn't get some pleasure from turning souls into fertilizers, we would have all gone insane already."

"Hush!" The trio exchanged dark-humored remarks as they dragged the fresh corpses with their telekinetic powers. On the road, they crossed dozens of inner disciples who greeted them with jovial smiles and casual hand waves—not sparing a glance to the eight floating corpses. In the Soul Refining Hall, such scenes were far too common.

East of the sect grounds, a broken valley with squalls of chilling winds, endless piles of bones drifting on black water, decaying corpses and the putrid scent of death, lay. The three disciples flung the eight corpses into the ravine and departed at once. A soul's departure for the reincarnation cycle was no instantaneous process. The more confusing or aggrieving the death, the longer it took. Without closure, many souls could not transcend their deaths, and wandered across decades. But as the average soul didn't have the ability to interact with the world of the living, their presence went unnoticed. 

The Soul Refining Hall used that principle to form the Forgotten Soul Graveyard, using the corpses and souls of men and women they had no use for to grow hordes of trapped poltergeists that altered the sect's elemental atmosphere—making it more suitable for soul enlightenment. josei

Harun and Jiyan's Yin Souls exited the corpses. Neither felt thrilled by the new setting and immediately entered a state of profound meditation. With Greater Yin and abundant Death and Soul Essence, the Forgotten Soul Graveyard was a cultivation treasure land for both of them. Harun didn't doubt that at the tiniest doubt, Weeping Soul would dispose of the survivors, and counted on that ruthlessness to get a free trip toward this place. 

Granted, the pair could have infiltrated the sect with their Yin Soul Incantation, but there were many risks involved. The hall's defenses were much more advanced than the Vermilion Brides Sect. Without carrier bodies "approved" by the seers, they risked exposure. And while the two cultivated in silence—draining the Soul Graveyard bits by bits—ten days flashed by. News that neighboring countries under the Soul Refining Hall's leadership practiced routine drills at their borders, reached Mehran's ears. But invested in the Salvation Hall, and knowing that the true disaster had yet to strike, he didn't take drastic measures. 

At the dawn of the eleventh day, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 spread south of the Forgotten Soul Graveyard, alerting the Soul Refining Hall's top experts. A succession of seismic shifts followed, culminating in the formation of an obsidian mine from which vast energy waves gushed out. A blood-red water column shot into the sky, announcing to all across the First Range, that the Abyssal River had surfaced at last!