Battle Through the Heavens: The Holy Sun Immortal Venerable

Chapter 216 The Origin of the Soul!

"This Grand Celestial Venerable of the Soul Palace does possess some strength."

Aoki transformed into human form and came to Lin Ran's side.

The Great Celestial Venerable's technique of combining man and sword was indeed impressive. If it weren't for the help of Lin Ran and the others' soul attacks, he would probably have had to expend a lot of effort to defeat him.

"Senior Gu Long."

"Many thanks to senior Gu Long for his help."

After calming their depleted soul power, the three giants of the Pill Tower and Yao Chen also rushed over and respectfully bowed to Qingmu.

If it weren't for Qingmu today, they would probably have been wiped out by the Great Celestial Venerable. The power of a two-star Dou Sheng is something they are not capable of contending with now.

"No need for formalities, it's just a transaction."

Aoki spoke calmly, showing he didn't have much affection for humans.

In his heart, rather than wasting time talking to Yao Chen and the others, he would rather see the king sooner!

Suddenly, Aoki's gaze fell on Lin Ran. Seeing Lin Ran's state, he frowned slightly, then relaxed: "Interesting. I didn't expect you to have such an opportunity."

Lin then belatedly came to his senses, clenched his fist, and upon hearing Qingmu's words, a look of doubt appeared in his eyes.

"Second Elder Aoki, this opportunity..."

"The soul power of each of you is not weak. If your soul power were combined, even I would be far inferior. Just now, that enormous soul power was completely integrated into your body. Although it only lasted for a brief moment, it still elevated your soul power to an unparalleled level!"

"An unparalleled realm..." Lin Ran murmured, while Yao Chen and the three giants of the Pill Tower suddenly narrowed their eyes and exclaimed, "Could it be the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm?!"

The realm of the soul is divided into four levels: mortal, spirit, heaven, and emperor.

However, there is actually a transitional level between the Heavenly Realm and the Emperor Realm, called the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm.

"Indeed, this kid did break through to the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm just now." Qingmu nodded calmly: "Once the soul reaches the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm, it is no different from the body. When fighting with others, the soul can be separated to fight alongside the body. The tacit understanding is unmatched, and the power increases exponentially."

"However, reaching the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm is extremely difficult. As far as I know, there are only a handful of people in the world who have reached this level. I didn't expect that you would be able to briefly enter that realm."

Aoki's words immediately drew envious looks from Yao Chen and the three giants of the Pill Tower. The Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm was a realm that even the Pill Tower's patriarch had never reached, and it was also the realm that all alchemists dreamed of.

Although Lin Ran only broke through to the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm for a short period of time today, he has at least felt this power. This will greatly benefit and enhance Lin Ran's future growth of soul power.

"It was just luck."

Lin Ran shook his head, glanced around, and stared at the back of the Burial Corpse Mountain Range.

With the deaths of the Great Celestial Venerable and Gu You, Lin Ran could clearly sense the spatial fluctuations there.

If Lin Ran remembered correctly, this was the location of the Human Palace, one of the three Heavenly Palaces of the Soul Palace. In the original story, after Xiao Yan defeated the Great Heavenly Venerable Gu You, he relied on the soul source in the Human Palace to directly break through to the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm!

Thinking of this, a fiery light appeared in Lin Ran's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

In the original story, after the death of the Great Celestial Venerable and Gu You, the deputy hall master of the Soul Hall arrived immediately. If it weren't for Zi Yan's presence, Xiao Yan and the others would probably have been wiped out.

but……

That is, after all, the soul essence that is enough to allow the soul to break through to the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm!

Moreover, this space has been sealed off by Qingmu and him together, and outsiders would never know what happened inside. If the deputy hall master of the Soul Hall were really here, he should have appeared when the Great Celestial was seriously injured, but he has not appeared yet.

"The timid starve, the bold thrive; bottoms up!"

A ruthless glint appeared in Lin Ran's eyes. At worst, he would just use Gu Lie's jade slip!

But at that moment, Aoki's voice rang out again.

"Kid, I've done what I promised you. Now it's time for you to fulfill your promise to me."

"Well……"

Lin Ran smacked her lips.

Xuan Kongzi and Tian Leizi exchanged a glance, coughed lightly, and said to Lin Ran, "Now that this matter is settled, we will not stay any longer."

Those two old cowards are such cowards!

Lin Ran cursed under his breath, wanting to say something, but Xuan Kongzi and Tian Leizi didn't give Lin Ran any time to react and directly tore through space and left.

Xuan Yi stayed behind, but her eyes remained almost constantly fixed on Yao Chen.

Lin Ran glanced at Yao Chen, scratched his head, and said, "Second Elder Qingmu, rest assured, I will definitely keep my promise. However, there are still some things that need to be taken care of right now."

"Is there anything else?!"

Aoki narrowed his eyes, revealing a hint of danger, as if to say, "The Great Celestial Venerable's ashes have been scattered, how could you possibly be in trouble? Are you trying to trick me?"

Lin Ran coughed lightly and said in a deep voice, "If my perception is not mistaken, the Soul Palace's branch should be located deep within this mountain range."

"If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they'll grow back in the spring breeze. Now that the Great Celestial Venerable and Bone Nether are both dead at our hands, we have the responsibility and the obligation to destroy this branch of the Soul Palace and rescue the countless souls trapped within!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present looked at Lin Ran in astonishment, especially Yao Chen and Qing Mu, who could hardly believe that Lin Ran had said these words.

"metropolitan……"

But soon, Yao Chen understood what was going on. A smile appeared in his eyes, and he nodded, saying, "What the sect leader said makes sense. Now that we have dealt with the two Heavenly Venerables of the Soul Palace, we might as well go all the way, destroy the branch palace, and save the soul spirit."

"You understand me best, Yao Chen. Let's go!"

The two exchanged a glance, and before the three giants of the Pill Tower and Qingmu could speak, they transformed into two streaks of light and rushed straight towards the spatial barrier.

Xuan Yi followed closely behind, and Qing Mu's gaze narrowed slightly, but he also followed.

Driven by the power of space, the four of them ignored the spatial barrier and broke into it directly.

"Who dares to trespass on the territory of my Soul Palace? They're courting death!"

Faced with the four people who made no attempt to conceal their auras, the Soul Hall experts inside immediately appeared. A series of sinister shouts suddenly broke the silence of this space. Many figures stood up from the chains and, without waiting for any orders, transformed into black light, bringing with them a sinister wind, and swept towards Lin Ran and the others.

However, these guys, who were at most at the initial stage of Dou Zun, posed no threat to them at all.

Yao Chen struck first, instantly killing a one-star Dou Zun with a single palm strike. Xuan Yi followed closely behind. The two were like a dragon charging into a flock of sheep, sweeping away everything in their path. In just about a minute, all the Soul Hall experts were killed.

Lin Ran didn't bother to interfere with this near-massacre.

His gaze went straight down to the giant palace below. With a slap of his hand, a magnificent azure palm print shot out from Lin Ran's palm, shattering the giant palace and revealing countless black chains wrapped around it. At the end of those chains hung countless orbs of soul light.

Looking at the thousands upon thousands of souls, Xuan Yi and Yao Chen were filled with anger, and even Qing Mu's eye twitched involuntarily.

This practice of treating souls like livestock, harvesting and devouring them, is extremely rare even among monsters where the strong prey on the weak.

After all, even if monsters are all about the survival of the fittest, they wouldn't be so ruthless towards their own kind...

Lin Ran waved his hand lightly, and a terrifying gust of wind swept past like a gale, causing the chains to shatter instantly.

The souls within those orbs of light slowly opened their eyes at this moment, looking around weakly and blankly. Finally, they suddenly emitted waves of extreme joy. Although they did not know exactly what had happened, they felt a sense of freedom. For many years, they had been locked up here like prisoners, and sometimes, even death had become a luxury.

"Let's all go. Don't let the Soul Palace catch us again."

Looking at these souls who were so overjoyed and excited that they were almost in tears, Lin Ran said calmly.

In the sky, countless souls lingered, and finally knelt down before Lin Ran, bowing deeply to him before roaring out of the spatial barrier and rushing madly towards the free world outside.

Seeing this, Xuan Yi and Qing Mu looked at Lin Ran with a hint of approval in their eyes.

Clearly, Lin Ran's act of kindness was a big plus in their eyes. Even Yao Chen showed a bit of surprise, wondering if his sect leader was really here to do good deeds.

But the next moment, Lin Ran's actions left all three of them speechless.

"That's strange, why isn't it there?"

A vast surge of battle qi erupted from Lin Ran's body, and a terrifying gust of wind directly flung away those stone pillars that were hundreds of feet tall. Lin Ran's gaze continued to explore among them, as if searching for something.

With Lin Ran's rapid digging, a huge crater was created in the ruins in the blink of an eye.

A moment later, a ball of light about half a zhang in size appeared in front of Lin Ran.

The ball of light was transparent, and around its perimeter were countless black chains. At the ends of these chains were the souls that had just escaped. Clearly, this ball of light was something extracted from those souls!

"This is... the very essence of the soul?!"

"Such a dense concentration of soul essence! Just how much soul power has this branch of the Soul Palace accumulated within it!"

Yao Chen and Xuan Yi's pupils suddenly contracted, their eyes fixed on the soul essence in Lin Ran's hand.

At this moment, they all knew why Lin Ran had suddenly come here—he was after this thing!

"Such a vast amount of soul essence must be the condensation of at least a million souls!"

Aoki snorted: "You really are a thief who never leaves empty-handed. However, this kind of forcibly condensed soul essence contains countless impurities and negative emotions. If you directly devour it, let alone improve your soul power, your mind will probably go crazy first."

"good."

The man in black spoke in a deep voice: "Lin Ran, although this soul essence is powerful, it contains far too many impurities. You absolutely cannot absorb it directly, or something terrible will happen!"

"Xuan Yi, how could the sect leader do something he's not sure of?"

Yao Chen sighed with a complicated expression: "Have you forgotten the strange fire that the sect leader possesses?"

"A strange flame? The Fallen Heart Flame?"

Xuan Yi was taken aback for a moment, then realized what was happening.

"If it were just the Fallen Heart Flame, refining this soul essence would take forever. But the strange fire wielded by the Sect Master is different." Yao Chen sighed softly, his expression quite感慨 (gan3kai3, a complex emotion encompassing both admiration and regret). "The Sacred Golden Fallen Heart Flame wielded by the Sect Master is almost an innate nemesis of these negative emotions and soul impurities. This soul essence is practically a tailor-made opportunity for the Sect Master!"

"It's alright, it's alright."

Lin Ran grinned and stuffed the clump of soul essence into his pouch: "I once wiped out a branch of the Soul Palace in the Northwest Continent and obtained a clump of soul essence. Today, after dealing with the Great Celestial Venerable and Bone Nether, I thought I'd try my luck, and it didn't disappoint me."

Upon hearing this, Yao Chen and Xuan Yi exchanged a glance and both revealed wry smiles.

This was all premeditated; what else could they possibly say?

"No wonder you possess such extraordinary soul power at such a young age. It turns out you obtained it by devouring the soul essence." Qingmu snorted. The Ancient Dragon of the Void mainly cultivates the physical body and does not have much need for the soul. Moreover, the soul essence is full of impurities and there is no way to clean it. Calling this thing a treasure is more accurate than calling it a poison.

"Can you fulfill your promise now?"

"That's natural."

Lin Ran laughed heartily. This operation had been incredibly profitable for him. He had not only eliminated the three Scorpion Demons, but also destroyed the Human Hall of the Soul Palace and obtained its soul essence.

"Please, Elder Aoki, follow me!"

Aoki couldn't wait to tear open the space, and the four of them stepped into it and disappeared.

About half a day later, with a slight fluctuation in space, a dark figure emerged, but when he saw the devastated hall, his expression changed drastically.

Without the slightest hesitation, the dark figure darted directly into the ruins of the giant hall. When he saw the excavated ruins, his face turned completely gloomy, and his eyes were filled with anger!

"Who is it? Who on earth is it?!"

"The souls my Human Palace has painstakingly collected for a hundred years, who are they?!"

A terrifying aura burst forth from this person's body; even Aoki was slightly inferior to it in terms of sheer power.

No matter how angry he was, he couldn't change the facts before him.

Soon, the man took a few deep breaths and suppressed his anger.

"To be able to destroy the Human Palace so silently, this person's strength must be above three-star Dou Sheng, and to have the power of a three-star Dou Sheng or above..." the shadowy figure murmured, and suddenly, his eyes were fixed on the huge ruins.

Above the ruins, a huge palm print could still be vaguely seen, and the lingering fighting spirit within the palm print caused the shadowy figure's pupils to contract.

"This aura... the Emperor's Seal Technique?!"

"An ancient tribe?!"

(End of this chapter)