Douluo Jueshi: I Don't Want to Be an Evil Soul Master

Chapter 280 State Religion
Soon, Lin Xiao stood by the blood pool, watching Nana, who had already entered the pool and was showing signs of pain.

The blood of the spirit beasts in the pool kept seeping into her body, and the six spirit rings around her—two yellow, two purple, and two black—were released involuntarily, just like he had done back then.

Standing to the side, Lin Xiao could see more clearly what the entire ascension ceremony was like.

The entire process of enhancing the soul rings, splitting the soul, and brainwashing is concentrated in the ascension ritual.

They use the power of soul beasts to increase the age of their soul rings, use methods similar to necromancy to split their souls, and then use the pain they endure in the process to brainwash them.

Several steps are interconnected and are engraved inside the statue by a special method, like a magic circle. The entire process can be completed by activating it with the blood of a soul beast without the intervention of other soul masters.

It's unknown how long the Holy Spirit Cult has had the fragments of Ilex's consciousness. Although they haven't deciphered Ilex's necromancy, the fact that they were able to design such a process based on it is no ordinary skill of a Soul Master.

As the ascension ceremony proceeded, the statue of the Holy Emperor shone with a hazy gray light. Lin Xiao subconsciously glanced back at the gate and then took a small step forward.

Absorbing fragments of divine consciousness is not something that can be done in an instant. He didn't know if Long Xiaoyao was still paying attention to this place, so he could only wait for another opportunity to deal with the fragments of divine consciousness.

However, since this originates from necromancy, it's still possible to do some minor tricks.

With a slight movement of his lips, Lin Xiao uttered a barely audible incantation, and Nana's complexion in the blood pool noticeably improved.

At the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters, Long Xiaoyao appeared in the passageway, the stone chamber door nowhere to be seen.

Raising his right hand, he saw that his already thin arm was covered in wrinkles, and there were a few age spots on his skin that only appeared on the elderly.

Long Xiaoyao looked at his right arm, which was trembling slightly and out of control, and let out a long sigh.

Although he had several ways to dodge Lin Xiao's palm strike, he decided to face it head-on in order to test Lin Xiao's strength. He then realized that he had been somewhat careless.

He also possessed two 100,000-year soul rings, giving him a certain understanding of the power of 100,000-year soul skills. Therefore, he was certain that Lin Xiao's soul skill was definitely not something that an ordinary 100,000-year soul ring could accomplish.

Even though it seemed like he had the upper hand, it was only because his soul power level was much higher than Lin Xiao's. In reality, he didn't gain much advantage in dealing with the death power in Lin Xiao's soul skill.

He had no doubt that if it weren't for him fighting Lin Xiao today, even if it were a Super Douluo, they probably wouldn't have been able to leave safely if they had been careless.

As he was pondering, Long Xiaoyao suddenly realized something and put his right hand back under his sleeve. Soon, another figure appeared beside him.

"Why did you come here?" Long Xiaoyao asked softly, looking at the figure in front of him.

Although the person was completely shrouded in a dark red cloak, Long Xiaoyao seemed to be able to see the face beneath the cloak, and his expression immediately softened.

"I need to go out for a bit." A woman's voice came from under the cloak, sounding very hoarse. And within the Holy Spirit Sect, there was only one woman who could elicit such concern from Long Xiaoyao, and that was Ye Xishui, the Supreme Leader of the Holy Spirit Sect.

"Where are you going?"

"Go to Mingdu." Ye Xishui didn't seem to like speaking much, and simply replied with a sentence.

"Is it because of the Sun Moon Empire?" Long Xiaoyao was already used to this way of communicating.

Ye Xishui didn't speak, she just nodded.

"What are you going to do? I'll go for you in a bit." Upon hearing this, Ye Xishui raised her head slightly to look at Long Xiaoyao. "Okay."

Without saying anything more, and without telling Long Xiaoyao what it was about, Ye Xishui simply agreed and then turned and left, leaving Long Xiaoyao standing in the passageway watching her departing figure.

"Sigh." Long Xiaoyao sighed softly, seemingly talking to himself, "I just don't want to see you commit too many more murders. I feel guilty towards you. If you must bear the sin, then let me do it for you."

It's unclear whether Ye Xishui heard Long Xiaoyao's words; she simply left. Long Xiaoyao didn't press her for details. With his strength and status, someone in Mingdu would naturally tell him what to do...

"See the leader."

In the Holy Spirit Cult stronghold of Mingdu City, Zhongli Wu looked at Feng Ling and several elders sitting on either side, his gaze sweeping over Ming Lei Douluo, "Is there still no news about Eighth Brother?"

"Reporting to the Sect Master, Eighth Brother has returned." Nether Thunder Douluo quickly stood up. "However, he returned to headquarters yesterday with a Holy Servant to perform the Spirit Ascension Ceremony."

“Yes.” Zhongli Wu nodded gently. “When he returns, tell him what happened here.”

"Yes."

Zhongli Wu didn't linger on Lin Xiao's whereabouts for long. Looking at the group in front of him, a smile finally appeared on his face. "These past few days I've been in the palace, and His Highness has appointed my Holy Sect as the state religion of the Sun Moon Empire."

"Everyone here holds a position in the government."

As soon as the words were spoken, the elders exchanged glances, their expressions subtly changing. What they valued wasn't the position itself, but rather that from this day forward, they would no longer be the universally reviled evil spirit masters.

No one wants to live a life of hiding and being hated by everyone. The Holy Spirit Cult has grown to such a size not only because evil spirit masters band together for survival, but also because of Zhong Liwu's seemingly impossible goal.

But now, they are indeed able to appear in public.

They initially made a deal with Xu Jing and his son to help them seize power, but they never expected that Xu Jing would still be wary of them. Fortunately, Xu Tianran was assassinated, and in order to consolidate their position, they cooperated with them again, which led to their current success.

"Alright." Zhongli Wu raised his hand. "You should have already received news of the great battle. There is another matter I have summoned you for."

"His Highness has already made arrangements. Once the great battle begins, you can lead your disciples into the battlefield as members of the State Religion. In the chaos of the battlefield, I will no longer restrict you."

"However, remember not to disobey military orders. Our goals do not conflict with His Highness's. Merely having the Sun and Moon Continent is far from enough."

"Yes." Several elders nodded repeatedly.

"In addition, once the competition begins, you will join the army to stop all participating teams from leaving Mingdu."

"Master, there is still the Soul Master Competition in Mingdu, I'm afraid..." Ming Lei Douluo showed a somewhat troubled expression.

"So what I'm giving you and Lao Ba is the easiest part, the west."

"To the west..." Ming Lei Douluo seemed to have thought of something and nodded knowingly.

(End of this chapter)