"The elders in Spirit Hall were so kind to Elder Yu Xiaogang. They even destroyed one of the leading spirit master sects on the continent for his sake."
"Yes, yes, I heard they took action because people from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan were oppressing their elders. Elder Yu Xiaogang is truly fortunate."
"Why did I hear that Elder Yu Xiaogang was from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"
"Really? Then he is truly heartless and ungrateful. He actually destroyed the sect that gave birth to and raised him."
The conflict between Spirit Hall and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan eventually spread to Notting City. Yu Xiaogang fainted from anger after hearing the discussions among the city's residents and the academy's teachers.
When he regained consciousness, he saw his devoted disciple Tang San serving him by the bedside. He raised his trembling hand and glared in the direction of Spirit Hall.
"Xiao San, remember this: Spirit Hall is an evil existence, and you must destroy them in the future."
"Yes."
After bidding farewell to Yu Xiaogang, Tang San went to Spirit Hall to collect his spirit master subsidy. After receiving the gold spirit coins, he went to the pharmacy to buy medicine for Yu Xiaogang.
It was a pity—he had originally thought Spirit Hall was a good organization, but now it turned out to be just a means to recruit talented spirit masters. Let's see how he, Tang San, would use the enemy's money to grow stronger and eventually destroy them.
At the same time, the leader of the Star Crown Sect, far in the southwest of the continent, also received the news. He looked at the information in his hands and pondered for a long while.
Compared to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the Star Crown Sect only had three or four titled fighters, and its core strength was even weaker than that of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. If Spirit Hall truly attacked, could they survive?
A disciple was ordered to leave the hall and summon the Third Elder, who was cultivating in the back mountain. The sect master handed over two letters he had just written.
"Third Elder, please go. The first letter is to be delivered to Ning Fengzhi of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the second to Dugu Mansion.
Our Star Crown Sect would like to invite Poison Douluo to stay for a while as an honored guest. His granddaughter will be fully trained by our sect."
The conditions offered by the sect master were just the basics. He believed that Dugu Bo had also seen the current chaos on the continent, and as a newly titled Douluo, his strength alone was not enough to protect himself.
The Third Elder would show part of the Star Crown Sect's strength to the two families. They would know what was best.
The destruction of the clan ended with condemnations from the two empires. The only impact on Spirit Hall was that a few spirit masters dissatisfied with their actions chose to resign—an almost negligible effect.
On the other hand, Xu Mingxi successfully reached level ninety in the Yuejian Volcano Group with the help of the 100,000-year-old Yangyanwu left leg bone. He was now only one spirit ring away from joining the ranks of the strongest men on the continent.
However, he hesitated a bit in choosing his ninth spirit ring. The sun-related spirit beast he had previously selected now seemed a bit inappropriate.
After absorbing the Yangyanwu soul bone, Xu Mingxi felt that the powers of the stars, silver moon, and sun within his Star Crown Martial Soul were somewhat unbalanced.
The 100,000-year-old flame-stealing lizard with the eighth spirit ring could steal solar power. Combined with the seventh spirit ring of the Yang Yan Crow and its 100,000-year-old soul bone, his solar power had greatly increased.
The power of the stars, with the integration of two unknown fragments, was not inferior to solar power. However, the silver moon's power was relatively weak. Xu Mingxi unconsciously sensed that something was off.
His original idea was that the three elements of the Star Crown Martial Soul should be balanced, and that with the powers of the sun, moon, and stars, he could become a god.
However, after undergoing the trial in the Valley of Sun and Moon, he became curious why starlight was present in both the trials of the Sun God and Moon Goddess, and why starlight seemed slightly superior to sunlight and moonlight.
Combined with the final words of the Moon Goddess, Xu Mingxi conceived the idea of using the power of the stars to control the sun and silver moon. After all, aren't the sun and moon also stars?
But the most important thing now was to enhance the silver moon's power within the Star Light Martial Soul, and the ninth spirit ring was the best opportunity to do so.
"Eighth Elder, let's head to Mingdu to meet the Grand Elder and the others. I want to adjust the target for my ninth spirit ring."
The two hurried toward Mingdu, but when they stopped briefly at a small town outside the Yuejian Mountains, they were surrounded by all the soul hunting teams in the town.
Xu Mingxi didn't understand what was going on, so he asked the Eighth Elder to trap them all. He approached the lead soul master, condensed starlight into a sword in his hand, and placed it against his neck.
"Tell me why you surrounded us."
"M-my lord, I didn't recognize greatness. It was all Xu Zilong's doing. He issued the wanted notice for you. I was just following orders."
Wanted? Xu Mingxi turned to the Eighth Elder and saw that he, too, was confused. He immediately searched the lead soul master and pulled out a stack of wanted posters.
Who else could the four people on the posters be if not himself and the three elders? Xu Mingxi suddenly felt anxious about his grandfather and the Third Elder. It had taken him eighteen days to break through, and they had been hunted for eighteen days as well.
What's more, Xu Zilong had actually placed a bounty for a ten-thousand-year-old soul bone, which was an enormous temptation for spirit masters.
"Do you know where they are?"
"I heard those two elders were chased to the area around Risheng City."
Xu Mingxi laid out the two elders' wanted posters in front of the lead soul master. Feeling the sharpness of the sword at his neck, the man spilled all the information he knew, hoping to live.
"Eighth Elder, let's go."
As the soul masters in the town rejoiced that they were still alive, a beam of golden-red light fell from the sky and instantly obliterated the entire town.
At this moment in Risheng City, a large-scale soul guide barrier had been activated, and Soul Saints were patrolling the city walls.
Their goal was not to resist foreign enemies, but to trap the two wanted criminals in Sunrise City and wait for the arrival of Xu Zilong, Emperor of the Sun and Moon Empire.
Before Xu Zilong arrived, they didn't even dare to act. He was a Titled Douluo—what if they really caught him? That would be courting death.
The Grand Elder looked at the patrolling soldiers on the street through a dark attic window, then walked to the middle of the loft with a somber expression. The Ninth Elder was sitting cross-legged there, his face slightly pale.
"Old Nine, how is your recovery?"
"Almost done, but still a bit weak. It'll take time to fully recover."
"They've kept the soul guide barrier—the one that looks like a large light shield in the sky—active. I haven't tested it yet, but I doubt I could break it in a short time. We're in serious trouble this time."
"Yeah, I hope Mingxi and the others don't come."
Both looked grim. Although Xu Mingxi had warned them about the power of the soul guide before, as traditional soul masters, they hadn't taken it seriously. They hadn't expected such a major setback because of it.