C77 Soulsever Staff!

"Who exactly are you?"

Yan Lu bellowed, emerging from the crowd and advancing step by step toward Zhu Huan.

"Hu!"

From his sleeve burst forth two streams of spiritual energy, one gold and one silver. They intertwined before his chest, coalescing into a short stick intricately carved with complex gold and silver patterns.

The stick did not settle into his palm but hovered in front of his chest, inching forward with his every step.

"Chi! Chi!"

The space between him and Zhu Huan seemed compressed, emitting a strange, strained noise.

The trial-takers and members of the Lee family, who were still in the vicinity, suddenly felt a tightness in their chests and involuntarily cleared a path.

Yan Lu now had a direct route to confront Zhu Huan.

"Not bad at all."

Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes, observing the short stick. "The young master of the Yan family is quite astute, capable of heeding good advice."

The material of the magic item was beyond his discernment.

Yet, when Yan Lu summoned the stick, Yu Yuan concentrated on it and sensed a golden and silver radiance threatening to pierce his soul and wound his heaven soul.

He immediately realized that the Soulsever Staff in Yan Lu's grasp contained a power menacing to any soul.

"The Yan family has entrusted their treasured heirloom to him."

Su Yan appeared genuinely astonished as she gazed at the staff adorned with gold and silver patterns. "Isn't the Yan family concerned about losing such an item in the Moonfall Sanctuary?"

"Yan family's treasure?" Yu Yuan echoed in surprise, "Does it have a particular effect on souls?"

"That staff is known as the Soulsever Staff, an earthly seventh-level item. Typically, only cultivators of the Subtlety and Lunar Spirit levels can unlock its full potential," Su Yan explained in a hushed tone. "My concern is whether Yan Lu, in the late period of the Golden Sanctum, can tap into even a fraction of the Soulsever Staff's power."

"Soulsever, Soulsever..." Yu Yuan murmured, nodding thoughtfully. "It seems my suspicions were correct; this staff indeed has the power to contend with a soul spirit."

"What exactly happened with Zhu Huan?" Su Yan turned her head, looking at Yu Yuan, who had remained composed since Zhu Huan's revival, "He doesn't seem to be a Lunar Spirit."

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

At that moment,

Zhu Huan, impaled on the cave wall by the Dragon's Edge through his chest, reached out languidly for the blade's hilt.

Simultaneously, a bizarre spectacle began to unfold.

The myriad of fine wounds across his body, pierced and infiltrated by hundreds of "silver lightning," began to reverse bleed.

The blood, like glistening red pearls, re-entered his wounds and seeped back into his body.

Even the blood that had spilled onto the ground rose up and merged back into him as if dissolving into the sea.

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

His flesh and body recovered swiftly, and only then did he begin to exert force to pull out the Dragon's Edge.

He extracted the blade gradually, without a single drop of blood spurting out, as if the Dragon's Edge was being drawn from a wooden crevice or a sheath.

Zhu Huan, with his eyes closed, seemed to be in a trance.

Above the cave entrance, Zhao Yafu and a member of the Yan family stood shoulder to shoulder, staring at him with a look of utter disbelief on their faces.

Finally, Zhu Huan opened his eyes.

Within the depths of his pupils, specks of green light flickered like ghostly flames.

He lifted his head and looked at Zhao Yafu impassively, while the Dragon's Edge in his grasp began to quiver intensely.

Inside the Dragon's Edge, streams of dragon's breath, like a hidden giant dragon being choked and its dragon tendon yanked, roared in protest.

Zhao Yafu let out a muffled groan, feeling the cries of the giant dragon echoing through the acupoints in her body.

Through her connection with the weapon, she sensed an alien force, not her own, surging into the Dragon's Edge, wreaking havoc and destroying the dragon's breath and spiritual energy she had so carefully cultivated.

"Yan Lu!"

In that instant, Yu Yuan called out loudly.

Yan Lu, who had been gathering his strength, clasped his hands together in a gesture of reverence and bowed towards Zhu Huan.

Before him, the gold and silver patterns on the Soulsever Staff sprang to life, swirling around the rod.

As the patterns spun, everyone watching felt a wave of dizziness wash over them.

Yu Yuan, refined by the heaven soul, suffered the most, his head throbbing with unbearable pain.

It was as if his soul were trapped under a grinding stone, being crushed with each rotation, the agony nearly driving him to scream.

"Whoosh!"

The spinning Soulsever Staff moved unhurriedly toward Zhu Huan's forehead.

A bizarre sensation of souls twisting and space collapsing emerged in everyone's minds.

Between Yan Lu and Zhu Huan, the sparse divine force was suddenly and forcefully dispersed.

The green specks in Zhu Huan's eyes flickered to life like malevolent spectres, one by one, each point gleaming in the darkness.

His gaze and the expression on his face were chillingly indifferent, as if the people trapped below were mere sheep, livestock meant for sacrifice, rather than beings of flesh, blood, and soul.

"It's either an Aberrant Soul possession or a monster has entered his body."

Yu Yuan came to a conclusion and softly said to Su Yan beside him, "That look in his eyes, it's not one of our own. Even if he's wearing Zhu Huan's skin, he's not one of us."

"Aberrant Soul? Monster?" Su Yan gasped, her lips quivering, "Isn't he a cultivator from the Crimson Sun Empire?"

"Definitely not," Yu Yuan replied, his concern growing. "If it's not a human, or a Lunar Spirit possession, then it's even more problematic. With humans, you can reason. But Aberrant Souls and monsters, they won't shed a tear until they're facing their own demise."

"Chi! Chi!"

The flesh at Zhu Huan's brow burst open.

Merely targeted by the Soulsever Staff from a distance, he was already wounded.

Zhao Yafu, standing at the cave's entrance, suddenly sensed that the dragon's breath and spiritual energy within her Dragon's Edge were no longer being torn and suppressed.

"Swish!"

Zhu Huan hurled the Dragon's Edge toward the Soulsever Staff, aiming to shatter the refined soul light at the staff's tip.

With a resounding boom, layers of golden and silver radiance unfurled like a peacock's tail in front of the Soulsever Staff.

The Dragon's Edge struck the luminous barrier, emitting a piercing noise as it clattered to the ground. The dragon's breath and spiritual energy within it were thrown into turmoil, rendering it immobile.

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

"Assist me!"

Yan Lu, with his hands pressed together, bellowed as he fixed his gaze on Zhu Huan.

The Soulsever Staff, inching closer to Zhu Huan, slowed to a crawl, each inch forward seemingly draining him of his vitality.

The fissure on Zhu Huan's brow widened, revealing the bones beneath his skin, yet his eyes betrayed no fear.

The green specks in his eyes continued to twinkle, still amassing malevolent power.

"Look after him."

The Su family's leader, adorned in the Celestial Plume Raiment, moved toward Zhu Huan in response to Yan Lu's plea.

The Su family members looked on reluctantly, glaring at Yu Yuan in silence.

"He was the first to unveil Zhu Huan's deceit. For that alone, you should temporarily set aside any animosity," Su Yan advised.

With her words, the Su family members let out exasperated sighs and edged closer to Yu Yuan.

"My thanks to you all," Yu Yuan said with a half-hearted bow, as if to acknowledge their support.

"Be cautious, everyone. I'm off to aid Yan Lu," Zhan Tianxiang announced as he strolled out from Sillserine, adding, "Don't make a fool of yourself by stepping forward without the proper tools or spells that affect the soul."

By now, it was clear to all that Zhu Huan feared no physical assault.

He had, in fact, been dead for quite some time.

More precisely, everyone was aware that another soul had taken residence in Zhu Huan's body, using his identity and flesh to commit nefarious deeds.

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