"Who exactly are you?"
Xu Lai activated his martial soul, gripping his long blade tightly as he stared warily at Aether and Paimon.
"We're not here to hurt you."
Seeing the weapon, Paimon flinched and hid behind Aether, waving her hands nervously.
"We have a friend studying at Skywater Academy. You've heard of Skywater Academy, right?"
Xu Lai nodded, but didn't lower his guard.
"We went to visit her, and then we found you—no, we found that this bounty seemed suspicious. So we came to check it out. Yup, that's pretty much it."
Paimon spoke earnestly.
"You two need to leave. That man in black robes is an evil soul master. They've taken my sister—I have to find her and get her out."
Xu Lai didn't waste time figuring out whether they were telling the truth. He went straight to explaining the strength of the black-robed man and his own goal.
At this point in the timeline, people didn't yet use the term evil soul master. Instead, those who possessed evil martial souls or whose hearts were inherently wicked were all referred to as fallen soul masters.
After speaking, Xu Lai cautiously approached a passage at the back of the cave. There was another opening, seemingly leading deeper inside.
"Evil soul master? Traveler, what's that?"
Paimon tilted her head, confused, and looked up at Aether.
"Bad guys who wield evil powers."
Aether thought for a moment and gave a simple explanation.
From his memories, evil soul masters were a plague on the Douluo Continent.
After Tang San became a god and toppled the Spirit Hall, evil soul masters were no longer suppressed. They ran rampant across the continent, inflicting endless suffering on innocent people.
That era of the continent could only be described as a living purgatory.
Ironically, even with godlike power, Tang San didn't lift a finger to eliminate the evil soul masters, allowing them to slaughter as they pleased.
Aether shook his head and pushed the thought away. He hadn't expected to actually run into one of those infamous beings…
But from what Xu Lai had said, their objective was already clear: help him find his sister and take out this evil soul master. After that, the mission would be complete.
"Paimon, let's go. We'll follow him and check it out."
With that, Aether led Paimon deeper into the cave.
"Xu Lai, how do you know your sister's here? Did those people trick her into coming too?"
The path inside the cave was narrow and damp. Paimon curled up in Aether's arms and asked the question as they walked behind Xu Lai.
"Yeah. I came back from the academy to visit her. The village elder told me she'd awakened her soul power and left with someone from the Spirit Hall. I asked around as I traveled, and finally ended up here.
"But when I went to the Spirit Hall to track her down, I discovered the person who took her wasn't from the Spirit Hall at all!"
"Then who was it?"
"It was their steward…"
"Huh? How do you know it was him?"
"My sister always wore a jade pendant that's been in our family for generations. She disappeared, but that steward was wearing the pendant."
Xu Lai's voice was heavy with hatred.
When he saw that familiar jade pendant, he instantly knew those people had something to do with her disappearance.
He didn't act Impulsively. Instead, he carefully scouted out the residence. That was when he realized his sister wasn't there. She'd been moved elsewhere.
Just as he was considering going back to the academy to ask a teacher for help, that steward put out another bounty notice.
He'd missed the last bounty because a mercenary team had monopolized it. He didn't expect that they were still searching for someone.
And then he heard that the last mercenary team had vanished—confirming his worst suspicions. They must've been lured away and tricked, just like his sister.
Luckily, he managed to catch this latest bounty mission and used it as a cover to investigate further.
And judging from what he'd seen, he'd likely found the right place. A cave hidden deep within the Soul Beast Forest—clearly there were secrets being concealed here.
Sure enough, the moment the black-robed man appeared and unleashed that twisted soul power, Xu Lai knew he was dealing with one of the most reviled types of soul master on the continent: an evil soul master.
"Then your sister probably is here."
Paimon nodded, half-convinced.
That steward and that woman had tricked them here under the guise of hunting soul rings. Xu Lai's sister had likely been lured the same way.
"Yeah. That evil soul master is strong. I—I want to ask you something…"
Xu Lai, walking ahead, suddenly stopped and turned back. His expression was grave as he looked at Aether and Paimon.
"Go ahead—we'll help you!"
Paimon clenched her tiny fists and nodded earnestly.
"If we find my sister, can I ask you to take her and run? Please?"
"Huh? Why don't we all just leave together?"
Paimon tilted her head, puzzled.
"No. That evil soul master is powerful. If anything goes wrong, I'll need to hold him off. You'll have to take my sister and escape. Please!"
Xu Lai bowed deeply to Aether and Paimon.
He knew none of them stood a chance against that evil soul master. But someone had to stay behind and delay him.
Otherwise, once they were discovered, none of them would make it out alive.
And he couldn't expect this boy and his strange martial soul to take that risk while he ran off with his sister.
Besides, the boy's soul power was clearly far above his own. If he led the escape, the odds of survival would be much higher.
Xu Lai had already prepared himself for the worst.
"Alright. We'll help you."
Paimon glanced at Aether. Once she saw him nod, she gave her answer.
This guy actually thinks the Traveler can't beat some evil soul master?
Well, whatever. Let's just rescue his sister first. Once that's done, the Traveler can give that guy a good beating.
The three of them followed the narrow path deeper into the cave.
Eventually, as they reached the far end, illuminated only by faint torchlight, Aether suddenly saw Xu Lai standing frozen ahead.
In front of him… hung desiccated corpses, suspended from makeshift wooden beams.
The bodies looked like withered trees, their shriveled skin stretched tightly over bone.
Beneath their feet were carved drainage grooves—clearly built to collect the blood dripping from the bodies.
At the end of those grooves… was a pool of blood.
Except now, the blood pool had nearly dried up—barely one-fifth full.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and decay. Aether turned to look at Paimon and saw her wrinkle her nose, seemingly unfazed by the scene.
"Cai'er…"
Xu Lai suddenly dropped to his knees as if his soul had been ripped from his body.
His legs gave out beneath him. He stared in horror at one of the hanging corpses, mouth agape, trying to speak… but no words came out.
"…"
Aether looked at the withered corpse and frowned.
That was probably… the sister he'd been searching for.
_
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