Chapter 21: Dark Arts of Soul Theft

Pain nearly paralyzed Zhao Chun's brain; she had no idea where she had been taken.

Her five senses were almost entirely gone, leaving her only able to faintly hear Yue Chuan's low, muttering voice.

She forced her eyes open and said through gritted teeth, "Even if I die, let me die knowing the truth!"

Yue Chuan merely assumed she was trying to stall for time, waiting for someone to rescue her, and sneered, "Asking so many questions is not a good habit."

"Don't harbor any delusions. This Wind-Stopping Forest is entirely under my control; not even a single bird can fly in. As for your senior brother, his spiritual power is locked; he cannot break my Spirit-Binding Rope!"

Zhao Chun had to speak to him to prevent the pain from overwhelming her reason, and she asked him several questions through her trembling voice.

This time, Yue Chuan ignored her, only replying coldly when she asked about the whereabouts of the Liao siblings: "They are all dead. But don't worry, you're not far behind!" With that, he transformed his right hand into a claw and lunged toward Zhao Chun's dantian!

Almost instantly, Zhao Chun flipped to dodge, rolling outward twice. The pain in her shoulder intensified, but she had no mind to care, for Yue Chuan's other hand reached out and seized her by the neck!

"You slippery little brat. Behave yourself, and I might spare you some suffering. If you dare move again, I will sacrifice you alive!"

"Death is death either way; I'd rather have you pay with your life!" Zhao Chun gripped Yue Chuan's fingers with both hands and kicked toward his abdomen.

She was not surprised that the strike failed to wound him, but seeing her attempt such a futile gesture, Yue Chuan laughed in fury: "It seems you are looking for trouble!"

He slammed Zhao Chun violently to the ground, pulled a palm-sized jade bowl from his robes, stepped forward, and used his finger as a blade to slice her forearm. Blood sprayed out, flowing into the jade bowl.

"At this stage, I intended to give you a quick death, but since you are unwilling, this old Daoist won't bother with unnecessary kindness." Yue Chuan even stopped her bleeding and fed her a medicinal pill to clear her consciousness.

Zhao Chun knew this meant he intended to make her suffer while alive.

She lamented how short her life had been; she had failed to bring back the things she promised Zhou Pianran, and she had failed to fulfill her promise to her senior sisters to return on time.

Yue Chuan drank the blood in one gulp, then cut his own wrist and fed it to Zhao Chun.

In the darkness, a flame ignited in her chest, sweeping through her entire body. It felt as if a massive hand had reached into her dantian, intending to rip her spiritual roots out by force!

In a daze, she heard Yue Chuan cry out in pain, followed by a few curses: "What is this? It's burning hot!"

Hot—she felt it was burning hot too!

Something in her chest was emitting extreme heat, and her dantian was in excruciating pain. Zhao Chun curled up on the ground, feeling as if her head were about to split open!

The hand in her dantian refused to give up, still clutching the three spiritual roots. Unable to endure the searing pain, it sought to end the struggle quickly by tearing them directly out of her body!

Perhaps because the burning sensation was too intense, the massive hand suddenly loosened its grip, paused, and chose the weakest root—the Wood spiritual root—to target.

This time it was much easier. The massive hand clamped down on that thin, pale green shadow and violently wrenched it from Zhao Chun's dantian!

She had never experienced such agony in her life; it felt as if her internal organs were being churned and her heart and lungs were being torn from her body. She was nearly soul-less, unable to tell if the person screaming was herself or someone else.

The extraction of the Wood spiritual root left the Gold and Fire spiritual roots without restraint. They joyfully embraced and intertwined, growing continuously. The fire in her chest burned all the way down to her dantian, yet the spiritual roots became even more vibrant because of it. Even in her intense pain, Zhao Chun could sense that profound feeling of joy.

After extracting the Wood spiritual root, Yue Chuan opened his mouth and swallowed it, a look of obsession appearing on his face. Yet, still unsatisfied, he prepared to cast a spell to extract the remaining roots!

As soon as the massive hand reached into the dantian again, a cluster of gold-red flame erupted directly from his fingertips up his arm. Yue Chuan hadn't expected it to be this violent; he hurriedly broke the spell, but it was too late—his entire arm had been burned pitch black!

And the flame did not extinguish; it consumed the flesh and bored straight into the bone!

"AAAAAH!!!"

Yue Chuan screamed in agony, rolling on the ground as the fire burned into his marrow and surged into his dantian, beginning to incinerate his spiritual foundation.

Zhao Chun endured the pain to crawl up from the ground and touched her chest, only to burn her hand on a scalding bead. *So it was you,* she thought with a tragic smile.

She was currently powerless, and Yue Chuan was staring at her with venomous eyes, ready to pounce and take them both down in a mutual destruction!

At the critical moment, a dark shadow shot out and slammed into Yue Chuan!

It was Meng Han, his limbs bound!

Covered in yellow earth, he had actually crawled inch by inch from the outer chamber!

Though his hands and feet could not move freely and he could not channel his spiritual power, Meng Han's expression was fierce. He lunged forward and bit into Yue Chuan's neck, tearing it open!

Blood sprayed everywhere, staining Meng Han like a bloodthirsty beast.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator had died at the hands of the two of them just like that!

"There are healing pills in the pouch at my waist. Take them and use them, then help me untie this rope."

Zhao Chun did as she was told, pulling out a bottle of Recovery Pills. After taking one, only her dantian continued to ache faintly; her other visible and hidden wounds had mostly healed.

*This stuff is quite useful; I must find more if I get the chance,* Zhao Chun thought as she used her spiritual power to undo the Spirit-Binding Rope. Since the rope was driven by spiritual energy, a person stripped of their power naturally could not undo it themselves.

Meng Han stood up, wiped his face with disdain, and spat at Yue Chuan's corpse. He said with great interest, "Junior Sister, let's split up and search this place thoroughly. Before this old fellow was demoted to this small world, he was a true Essence Condensation grand cultivator. Although I don't know how he regained Foundation Establishment after his cultivation was depleted, there must be plenty of good things. Today, we've hit the jackpot!"

Zhao Chun nodded, and the two began rummaging through the place, one on the left and one on the right.

However, it was quite disappointing; aside from a few withered spiritual herbs, there was nothing.

Meng Han whispered, "That shouldn't be right..." Then, remembering that Yue Chuan didn't seem to be carrying such an item when he summoned the Spirit-Binding Rope, he said excitedly, "A storage artifact!"

He strode to Yue Chuan's corpse, felt around his waist, and pulled out a dark green silk pouch. He said to Zhao Chun, "Junior Sister, come look!"

Seeing Zhao Chun's confusion, he explained in detail, "This is a Storage Silk Pouch, used by Essence Condensation grand cultivators. It contains ten directions of space. They are difficult to make and thus very rare; just one of these costs fifty spirit jade!"

Zhao Chun knew that spirit jade was a higher form of currency; one piece of spirit jade could be exchanged for a thousand essence stones. In reality, it was difficult to even exchange a thousand essence stones for one piece of spirit jade because very few people were willing to do such a losing business.

Foundation Establishment cultivators commonly used storage bags, which were only about one cubic foot in size and cost five pieces of spirit jade—something Zhao Chun could not yet dream of.

Fifty pieces of spirit jade meant at least fifty thousand essence stones. Zhao Chun had never dealt with such a large sum and her eyes widened in surprise.

With Yue Chuan dead, Meng Han easily dissolved his spiritual energy mark and shook out everything from the pouch. He said, "I consider Yue Chuan's death a mere coincidence; it was actually thanks to you, Junior Sister, that he was unable to resist. How about we split these things seven to three, with you getting the seven?"

Zhao Chun felt at ease, knowing Meng Han was being honest. Just now, she had been on the verge of death; had Yue Chuan attacked, she would surely have perished. Meng Han's timely strike had saved her life, so she said gratefully, "Senior Brother, what are you saying! If you hadn't killed that Yue Chuan in the moment of crisis, I would likely have met my end. I am willing to split it fifty-fifty with you!"

Meng Han was not one for complicated thoughts; he immediately accepted her kindness and said readily, "Good! You are an honest person, Junior Sister. I, Meng Han, shall definitely make you my friend!"

As he buried his head in counting the wealth, Zhao Chun turned her attention to an old book.

As she flipped through it, her heart grew more and more terrified!

"Senior Brother Meng, look!"

Meng Han leaned over, and as the two read the secret manual, they found themselves drenched in cold sweat!

The book was a brief record of Yue Chuan's life. In addition to his records of various secret techniques of the Changhui Sect, it actually contained an evil art called the "Sun-Swapping Spirit-Stealing Great Method"!

This technique was extremely sinister. It used the blood of both the caster and the victim as a medium, channeling spiritual energy through the hands into the victim's dantian to extract their spiritual roots, which would then nourish the caster, thereby increasing the strength of their spiritual roots and causing their cultivation to soar!

And that was only the first part of the evil art. The second part recorded that if the caster was at the Essence Condensation stage or above, they could even seize the spiritual roots of others for their own use! However, the risk was immense, and there was a high chance of the caster losing their own life.

All of this was truly hair-raising and terrifying!