C733 When It Was Killed!

Yuan Lianyao was on the verge of further persuasion when she saw the Crucible of Evil, bearing Yu Yuan, hurtling toward the Cloud Cruiser. She sighed softly and chose to remain silent, refraining from uttering another word.

Whoosh!

The Soul Shatter, a confluence of numerous Banes, was akin to a mysterious black hole swirling in the depths of the Star River. The Banes, brimming with extreme malevolence and frenzied obsession, arrayed like Sky Fiends, casting spells at the Cloud Cruiser from a distance.

Before the Soul Shatter even reached it, the Cloud Cruiser's flags, each depicting a seven-colored ladder, began to flutter noisily. The rainbow-laden steps painted on the flags suddenly burst apart. Lin Yue and Faang Yingzi's faces turned ashen.

Witnessing the destruction of the rainbows, Ma Jianjiang's complexion turned deathly pale. "Why did you have to provoke him?" he asked.

Lin Yue and Faang Yingzi had no response.

At last, the wondrous Soul Shatter formation loomed over the Cloud Cruiser, casting a shadow like another canopy of the Land of Terror, or a dark demonic cloud drifting overhead. A tremendous suction force emerged from the formation.

Ma Jianjiang, Lin Yue, and Faang Yingzi, the three Lunar Spirits wandering the Land of Terror, were powerless against the pull and were drawn toward the formation. The flags, inscribed with the seven-colored ladders and infused with mysterious Soul Power, disintegrated.

With a swift whoosh, the three Chamber of Commerce visitors were yanked into the Soul Shatter. Once inside, their souls were violently torn, threatening to shred them into fragments, filling Ma Jianjiang with immediate dread.

Ma Jianjiang lamented bitterly, cursing inwardly. He blamed Lin Yue and Faang Yingzi for their foolishness, their greed for Yu Yuan's Crucible of Evil, and their insistence on causing trouble.

"You two may wish for death, but why drag me into your misfortune?" he thought angrily, entertaining thoughts of vengeance against them.

Suddenly, Ma Jianjiang felt his Lunar Spirit seized by an immense force, yanked out, and then, in a flash, deposited back onto the Cloud Cruiser. Ma Jianjiang was left in utter shock.

Then, he noticed the Crucible of Evil soaring toward the Cloud Cruiser.

Yu Yuan, standing there with a welcoming smile, nodded at him and apologized, "I'm sorry, my mastery over the Soul Nexus formed by the Crucible of Evil isn't refined enough, so you got pulled in too."

Ma Jianjiang, having narrowly escaped, asked in bewilderment, "Yu Yuan, I'm part of the Skyreach Consortium too. Doesn't that concern you?"

Aren't you worried I might report today's events to the Consortium?"

He left the last part unsaid, but his implication was clear.

"The Skyreach Consortium has always maintained its neutrality, steering clear of the Everlands' conflicts. That's always been the case," Yu Yuan replied with a smile. "Lin Yue and Faang Yingzi aren't formal members of your Consortium; they were only later taken on as counselors. We both know they've been targeting me, coveting the Crucible of Evil I possess."

Ma Jianjiang gave a wry nod in agreement.

"In that case, why should I extend them any courtesy?" Yu Yuan said, flicking his sleeve nonchalantly. A speck of crimson fire ascended from his palm, blazing like a series of suns before plunging into the heart of the Soul Shatter formation. "The sects of the Everlands already see me as a traitor! With that label, what do I have to fear?"

Yu Yuan's eyes narrowed, a fleeting glint of ferocity shining through.

"If the Skyreach Consortium dares to trouble the Yu family over the deaths of Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue, then..."

With a hiss, specks of sunfire, refined into burning suns, burst forth within the Lunar Spirits of Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue, unleashing the soul's ultimate fiery potential.

Had they not been ensnared by Soul Shatter, Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue could have easily shrugged off the sunfire's blaze and escaped. But now, their Lunar Spirits were not only trapped within the Soul Shatter but also shredded by it.

At this moment, the sunfire Yu Yuan had harnessed from the Abyssal Leviathan demonstrated its formidable might. The fragments of their Lunar Spirits, barely held together within the Soul Shatter, were utterly consumed by the purifying flames of the sunfire, dissolving into oblivion.

The Lunar Spirit was utterly annihilated, beyond the possibility of death.

The cauldron spirit, however, did not seize the chance to claim the Lunar Spirits of the two men. It harbored no thoughts of dragging them into the cauldron to be refined into a Bane; it simply allowed them to perish completely.

Not every ghost or soul, including those of human cultivators, can transform into an evil spirit and subsequently into a Bane.

Only those who are extreme, such as the Second Bane who practiced the mystique of the Colddeath Cult, filled with murderous rage and a bloodthirsty aura, or those who harbored deep-seated obsessions and hatred for the world at the time of their death, or resembled the unique Sky Fiend, were the sought-after targets for the Crucible of Evil.

"If the Skyreach Consortium is looking for trouble, starting with Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue will just be the beginning. Feel free to relay this message to your superiors once you return to the Consortium," Yu Yuan stated indifferently after Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue had met their demise.

"The Yu family is where I come from, but they cannot confine or intimidate me. If the Consortium dares to act rashly, I am ready to retaliate tenfold or even a hundredfold, regardless of my current circumstances," Yu Yuan declared. As his words fell, the Soul Shatter Formation recoiled and continued to consume Cuion's underlings.

"I..." Ma Jianjiang was visibly shaken, unable to articulate a response.

Meanwhile, White Bone and Jiang Xingwen were engaged in hushed conversation at a distance.

Yu Yuan, maneuvering the Crucible of Evil, drew near the Cloud Cruiser, his actions in slaying Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue unnoticed by the others.

Ann Ziqing, clad in her purple divine armor, radiated a captivating brilliance as she smiled approvingly.

She made no effort to conceal her admiration for Yu Yuan's current course of action, thinking to herself, "This is the master I know."

In the vast expanse of the Everlands, there were few sects brave enough to stand against the Skyreach Consortium.

Yu Yuan, already bearing the mark of a traitor to this world, had become an adversary to all.

Yet, he still dared to provoke the Skyreach Consortium at such a critical time, unhesitatingly killing two of their counselors. Such a resolute and ferocious approach earned the genuine admiration of Ann Ziqing, the priestess of the Colddeath Cult.

Her thoughts drifted back to a night several years prior when Yu Yuan had poisoned Yin Jue, recalling the slow and deliberate manner in which he had ended Yin Jue's life.

That evening, under the brilliant moonlight, she bore witness from the shadows.

From that night forward, Yu Yuan, the "young master" she had used merely as a cover, captured her serious attention for the very first time.

After years of being lost in a fog, Yu Yuan, whose temperament had drastically changed upon awakening, became her greatest source of amusement in the days that followed.

She covertly observed each of Yu Yuan's actions, how he would throw himself into perilous situations with reckless abandon, acting irrationally and with extreme recklessness.

Yet, invariably, Yu Yuan emerged victorious.

"If what Old Ann said is true, and the Yu family descends from the Evil King Yu Xi, then my young master here might just be the one who most resembles the Evil King," Ann Ziqing mused deep within her soul sea.

The leader of the Colddeath sect, Ann Wen, whom she privately referred to as Old Ann, had previously informed her of the Yu family's origins.

Ann Jieshan had even hinted that Yu Yuan was the husband Ann Wen had picked out for her.

Upon learning this, she was unsettled for quite some time, her mind frequently wandering to Yu Yuan during her meditations, recalling their interactions with a mix of irritation and melancholy.

Initially, while concealing her identity within the Yu family, she regarded Yu Yuan as nothing more than a puppet. Even after his sudden awakening, she saw him as nothing more than a source of idle entertainment.

However, the revelation that Yu Yuan was the husband Old Ann had secretly selected for her threw her emotions into disarray, leaving her unable to adjust.

She felt an inner resistance and dissatisfaction with Ann Wen's plans.

Because of this, she found herself uncertain of her own feelings. Within the walls of Afnetalos, she deliberately toyed with Yu Yuan, curious to see what decision he would make upon discovering that she was the one behind the schemes.

In her own way, she was still silently observing Yu Yuan, trying to understand the true nature of his character.

Yu Yuan, unafraid of the Skyreach Consortium's pressure and indifferent to the threat of Thylethlume being razed, boldly eliminated Faang Yingzi and Lin Yue, earning her renewed respect.

"That's how it should be. Only someone like that is worthy..."

She whispered to herself.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

In that moment, streams of green light burst forth from the ghosts under Jiang Xingwen's command, returning to the River of Souls.

The ranks of the ghosts plummeted, and they were forced back into their original forms.

Nevertheless, nearly half of the ghosts had grown stronger by killing Cuion's underlings and devouring their souls. Their phantoms became either more solidified or larger in size.

Yu Yuan, with a mere thought, summoned the Soul Shatter to envelop the remaining ghosts and reel them back in.

"Lord White Bone, I shall take my leave now to claim all that belongs to Cuion in her domain," Jiang Xingwen announced.

"My forces are already in place within Cuion's territory. They understand my intentions. You will find everything you desire once you arrive," White Bone assured her.

Yu Yuan was inwardly astonished.

​