Spirit Realm

Both the Ji Family and Sky Mender Palace suddenly fell silent after Qin Lie was done speaking.

The Ice Emperor’s eyes were filled with worry.

He was well aware that the six great forces had a terrible reputation in the Central World. They were enemies with Sky Mender Palace, the Ji Family, and the Qin Family since a long time ago.

The Qin Family especially bore a deep grudge against them...

If those two Soul Race clansmen stuck to their word, left them alone, and attacked only the six great forces, the Qin Family, the Ji Family, and Sky Mender Palace might very well be content to just sit on the sidelines.

Even the one person who could seek out the two Soul Race clansmen and deal them a heavy blow was screwed over by the six great forces in the past.

What decision would Qin Lie make?

The reason the Ice Emperor had returned from the outer realms was to unite the human race and the other races of Spirit Realm to deal with the upcoming crises.

He didn’t want the six great forces to be fed on and annihilated by two Soul Race clansmen.

“Qin Lie…” The Ice Emperor looked like he wanted to say something.

“Those people deserve to be taught a lesson,” Hua Tianqiong interrupted suddenly.

“Those Soul Race clansmen had killed plenty of our people. There’s no way we’re letting them go scot free,” Ji Dan said indifferently. “However, I don’t mind waiting a little before acting.”

It was clear what Hua Tianqiong and Ji Dan’s stances were.

“We can use this opportunity to force them to return all the lands they had stolen from the Qin Family,” Chen Lin said.

“We have no obligation to take out the hidden threat behind their backs!” Dan Yuanqing said coldly. “It’s not like they showed us any mercy when they attacked the Qin Family three hundred years ago, and they were even shameless enough to attack Brother Hao together and destroy his Soul Altar!”

Both Sky Mender Palace and the Qin Family looked bitter and resentful.

“You’d even died once because of them. There is just no reason for you to root out those two Soul Race clansmen for them,” Chen Lin told Qin Lie.

Qin Lie gave him a slow nod.

The Ice Emperor let out a sigh in his head, knowing that the situation was even more difficult than he had predicted.

It was because he knew that Qin Lie probably wouldn’t agree to help unless their grudge was unraveled.

“You should speak with your grandfather about this,” the Ice Emperor said.

Qin Lie fell silent for a moment before saying, “I’m fine with letting the world know that I have the ability to pinpoint those two Soul Race clansmen. The rest… is up to the six great forces.”

The Ice Emperor’s eyes lit up.

Qin Lie’s response meant that not all hope was lost.

“I will send them a message myself. They will believe my words.” The Ice Emperor assumed the responsibility of his own accord.

“Let’s see what kind of offer they can make me,” Qin Lie replied.

……

Starry Hall.

A one hundred thousand strong stone city was devoured in just a single night.

The nine-level Soul Altar expert Hong Ju flew out from a teleportation formation on his fire Soul Altar. A bunch of Starry Hall experts immediately ran up to him in panic.

“Forefather!”

“Forefather! It’s a disaster!”

“It’s another Soul Race clansman! He has come to our Starry Hall!”

The Starry Hall experts immediately wailed when they saw Hong Ju.

“Father,” Hong Qing said seriously. “The Soul Race clansman who was operating in the Ji Family had come to our territory. What should we do?”

Hong Ju stayed silent.

He, Ao Chang Sheng, and Lu Zheng had been roaming around the Ao Family and Lu Family’s territory for many days.

They had used all kind of spirit artifacts with special scouting abilities to find that Soul Race clansman who had slipped into the two families.

However, their efforts were all for naught.

They themselves were late stage Genesis Realm experts with nine-level Soul Altars, but they weren’t able to find anything even though they went as far as to probe several hundred meters underground.

This meant that that Soul Race clansman’s concealment abilities had far exceeded their understanding.

Even if they had the power, there was nothing they could do if they couldn’t lock down that Soul Race clansman’s movement or position.

Every Gold rank force leader including Pei Dehong was feeling pressured like never before.

The Ao Family, the Lu Family, the second-tier Gold rank forces who relied on them, the Silver rank forces, the Copper rank forces and even the Black Iron rank forces were starting to lose trust in them.

From what Hong Ju had gathered, a lot of forces had moved away from the Ao Family and Lu Family’s territory.

Neither the Ao Family nor the Lu Family had any reason to stop them.

It was because the chaos caused by that Soul Race clansman alone had already caused the vassal forces of the Lu Family and the Ao Family to lose faith in them.

These vassal forces were all moving away from the Central World. Some of them had escaped even Spirit Realm itself!

In just a short time, the Ao Family and the Lu Family had become much weaker than before.

Would the same disaster befall Starry Hall as well?

“If we cannot find and kill him while he’s still at Starry Hall, he’ll be able to do anything he wants in our territory.” Hong Ju sighed.

“Pei Dehong, Ao Changsheng, Lu Zheng, and everyone had tried everything they could think of to find that Soul Race clansman.” Hong Ju’s expression was ugly to say the least. “But we still haven’t managed to find anything to this day!”

“What should we do?” Hong Qing said fearfully.

“Why had that bastard come to Starry Hall!? Dammit, wasn’t he at the Ji Family before? Even if he was planning to leave, shouldn’t he move to Sky Mender Palace, which is closer to the Ji Family than us? Why us!” Hong Ju exploded in frustration.

Hong Qing knew then that he wouldn’t be getting any useful advice from Hong Ju. Even the latter had lost his cool.

“I’ll arrange our clansmen and core martial practitioners to move out of Spirit Realm temporarily.” Hong Qing thought for a moment before giving his opinion. “This is the only thing we can do to minimize the risk of the next slaughter. Maybe this’ll make us appear weak and powerless, but at least we’ll be able to preserve our strength. Back then, the Ancient Beast Race had done the exact same thing and migrated to Ancient Beast Realm after they had failed to destroy the Blood Soul Beast. In the end, it was the reason why they had survived.”

“We’re retreating?” Hong Ju looked at him in astonishment.

“What else can we do?” Hong Qing smiled bitterly. “If we stay, all our vassal forces will eventually leave the Central World or Spirit Realm just like vassal forces of the Ao Family and the Lu Family anyway.”

“Then so it shall be.” Hong Ju finally nodded in agreement.

……

The Lu Family.

At a certain forest, stinking corpses could be seen all over the ground.

A tired looking Lu Zheng, Pei Dehong, and Ao Changsheng appeared in midair before probing the area with their soul consciousness.

However, they couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary within their soul range.

“That bastard’s been moving faster and killing more people as of late,” Lu Zheng said with bloodshot eyes. “He’s growing stronger!”

It had been a few days since he had closed his eyes. Every news he heard recently was disadvantageous to the Lu Family.

He was feeling both mentally and physically exhausted.

“Starry Hall is slowly moving their martial practitioners to the outer realms. This means that they’re not confident that they will find that Soul Race clansman at all.” Pei Dehong sighed.

“Does that mean you’re confident we’ll find our enemy in time?” Ao Changsheng asked.

Pei Dehong kept quiet and said nothing.

Ao Changsheng sighed. “Two Soul Race clansmen is all it took to play us like a fiddle when we haven’t even taken care of the God Race clansmen at Shattered Ice Realm yet. Moreover, even the Evil Dragon Race had returned to Spirit Realm. Honestly, I have a feeling that ultimate victory is slipping out of our grasp even if the Hundred Races were to unite once more.” The man was starting to grow pessimistic.

“Someone can help you solve your predicament.” The Ice Emperor’s voice suddenly reached them before he appeared in midair.

“Who?”

Pei Dehong and the others trembled when they heard this.