C77 Broken Soul Staff

"Who exactly are you?"

Yan Lu bellowed, emerging from the crowd and advancing toward Zhu Huan with deliberate steps.

"Whooosh!"

From his sleeve burst forth streams of gold and silver spiritual light, which intertwined before his chest to form a short stick adorned with intricate patterns.

The stick didn't fall into his grasp but hovered in front of him, inching forward as he moved.

"Sssss!"

The air between him and Zhu Huan seemed to compress, emitting an odd, strained noise.

The Lee family members and the Shadowhall cultivators, who had been standing nearby, suddenly felt an oppressive sensation in their chests and instinctively cleared a path.

A direct route for Yan Lu to charge at Zhu Huan was now open.

"Quite the artifact."

Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes, observing the short stick, and murmured, "The Yan family's scion is indeed wise, capable of heeding good counsel."

The material from which the stick was crafted was beyond his recognition.

Yet, as Yan Lu summoned the stick and Yu Yuan scrutinized it, he sensed a golden and silver radiance threatening to pierce his soul and wound his Heavenly Soul.

In an instant, he realized that the stick in Yan Lu's possession harbored a force menacing to the soul.

"The Yan family has entrusted him with their most prized heirloom."

Su Yan appeared genuinely astonished as she gazed at the stick, its surface a tapestry of gold and silver, "Isn't the Yan family concerned about losing such an item in the Fallen Moon Forbidden Area?"

"The Yan family's treasure?" Yu Yuan expressed surprise, "Does it have a specific effect on the soul?"

"That stick is known as the Broken Soul Staff, an Earth Level Seventh Grade weapon. Typically, only cultivators at the Penetrating Stage and the Yin God Stage can wield its full might," Su Yan explained in a hushed tone, "My concern now is whether Yan Lu, at the late Yellow Court Stage, can tap into even a fraction of the Broken Soul Staff's potential."

"Broken Soul, Broken Soul..." Yu Yuan nodded thoughtfully, "It seems my speculation was spot on; this stick indeed has the power to contend with the soul."

"And Zhu Huan, what's his story?" Su Yan turned to Yu Yuan, who had remained composed since Zhu Huan's revival, "He doesn't seem to be at the Yin God Stage."

"I still haven't figured it out," Yu Yuan said with a furrowed brow.

At that very moment, Zhu Huan, impaled by the Dragon-shaped Blade and pinned against the rock wall, lethargically reached for the blade's hilt.

Simultaneously, a bizarre spectacle began to unfold.

His wounds, riddled with hundreds of "silver lightning" strikes and resembling a honeycomb, started to reverse bleed. Droplets of blood, like gleaming red beads, reentered his wounds and burrowed back into his body. Even the blood that had spilled onto the ground rose up and dissolved into him as seamlessly as water into the ocean.

The tiny, bloody holes on his neck, face, and forehead miraculously healed right before everyone's eyes, as if he had never been wounded.

His flesh rapidly regenerated, and only then did he begin to exert force to slowly extract the Dragon-shaped Blade.

He drew out the blade gradually, without a single drop of blood spurting forth. It seemed as though the Dragon-shaped Blade was being withdrawn from a wooden crevice or a scabbard.

Zhu Huan, eyes closed, appeared to be in a trance.

Above the cave entrance, Zhao Yafu and a member of the Yan family stood shoulder to shoulder, staring blankly at him with utterly unnatural expressions on their faces.

Finally, Zhu Huan's eyes snapped open, revealing a flicker of green light deep within, like the glow of will-o'-the-wisps.

He looked up at Zhao Yafu with an impassive gaze. The Dragon-shaped Blade in his grasp began to quiver intensely.

Inside the blade, streams of Dragon Breath, like a hidden dragon being forcibly yanked by the neck and its sinews strained, roared to life.

Zhao Yafu let out a muffled grunt as she felt the anguished cries of a dragon echo through the acupoints of her entire body.

Sensing through her connection with the weapon, she realized that an alien force, not her own, had surged into the blade, wreaking havoc and tearing at the Dragon Breath and Spiritual Power she had so carefully cultivated.

"Yan Lu!" Yu Yuan called out sharply at that critical juncture.

Yan Lu, who had been gathering his strength, brought his hands together in a prayer-like gesture and bowed towards Zhu Huan, as if moved by an unspoken agreement.

The gold and silver patterns on the Broken Soul Staff sprang to life, swirling around the rod. Those who watched felt a wave of vertigo at the sight.

Yu Yuan, refined by the Heavenly Soul, was in excruciating pain, his head felt like it was about to split open.

It was as though his soul was being ground beneath a millstone, the agony so intense he nearly let out a scream.

"Whoosh!"

The Broken Soul Staff, spinning leisurely, hurtled towards Zhu Huan's forehead.

A bizarre sensation of twisted souls and collapsing space took root in everyone's minds.

Between Yan Lu and Zhu Huan, the sparse spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was abruptly dispersed.

The green specks in Zhu Huan's eyes flickered like malevolent spirits emerging from the shadows, awakening and gleaming one after another.

His expression was chillingly indifferent, viewing the people trapped at the bottom of the pit as nothing more than lambs or sacrificial animals—certainly not as beings with blood, flesh, and souls.

"It's either a Demon Spirit possession or a demon within."

Yu Yuan came to a conclusion and murmured to Su Yan, "That look in his eyes—it's not one of kin. Even cloaked in Zhu Huan's skin, he's not one of us."

"Demon Spirit? Demon?" Su Yan gasped, her lips quivering, "Not a cultivator from the Rainier Empire?"

"Absolutely not." Yu Yuan affirmed, his concern growing, "If it's not human, and not a Yin God possessing a human, then we're facing an even greater challenge. With humans, there's room for reason. But Demon Spirits and demons, they're the kind that won't shed a tear until they're staring death in the face."

"Chi! Chi!"

Zhu Huan's brow split open as flesh tore.

The Broken Soul Staff, merely targeting him from a distance, had already inflicted a wound.

At the cave's entrance, Zhao Yafu sharply detected that the Dragon-shaped Blade she wielded was no longer being stifled by the dragon breath and spiritual power.

"Swish!"

Zhu Huan flung the Dragon-shaped Blade towards the Broken Soul Staff, aiming to shatter the refined soul glow at its tip.

With a resounding crash, layers of golden and silver radiance burst forth in front of the staff, like a peacock's tail unfurling.

The Dragon-shaped Blade struck, emitting a screeching noise as it clattered to the ground, its dragon breath and spiritual power thrown into turmoil, rendered immobile.

Zhao Yafu breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the dragon-shaped blade was harmless as long as it wasn't in Zhu Huan's grasp.

"Help me!" Yan Lu's hands were pressed together in desperation as he fixed his gaze on Zhu Huan, growling for assistance.

The Broken Soul Staff, inching towards Zhu Huan, slowed to a crawl, each inch forward seemingly draining Yan Lu of his life force.

The crease in Zhu Huan's brow deepened, revealing the bones beneath his skin, yet his eyes betrayed no fear. The green specks within them continued to flicker, gathering sinister energy.

"Look after him," commanded the Su family leader, adorned in Celestial Clothing, responding to Yan Lu's call for aid.

The Su family members, with reluctance written across their faces, glared silently at Yu Yuan.

"He was the first to reveal Zhu Huan's deception. For that alone, you should temporarily set aside your biases," Su Yan persuaded.

With sighs of resignation, the Su family members inched closer to Yu Yuan.

"My thanks, esteemed brothers and sisters," Yu Yuan said with a perfunctory bow, as if to check off a formality.

"Everyone, be cautious. I'm off to assist Yan Lu," Zhan Tianxiang announced, emerging leisurely from Shadowhall. "If you lack the means to target the soul, spare yourself the embarrassment."

By now, it was clear to all that Zhu Huan feared no physical harm. He had already died once before.

More precisely, they all knew that another spirit had taken residence within Zhu Huan's body, committing evils under his guise.

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