"Here?"
That night, guided by Nana, Yuwen Tuo arrived at a certain place.
He came alone, not allowing Nana to follow, because he didn't need her to subtly sneak him in like she did with Huo Yuhao. He intended to charge in openly.
It was a inconspicuous courtyard at a street corner, standing out among the surrounding buildings.
Nana had told Yuwen Tuo that if he knocked on the door five times, three heavy and two light, the door would open.
Upon entering, he would also need to exchange a secret password with the person receiving him: "The Holy Emperor's longevity is boundless, the Holy Maiden's immortal beauty is eternal."
But asking Yuwen Tuo to wish the Holy Spirit Church's Holy Emperor or Holy Maiden well would be less painful than killing him.
Therefore, his choice was only one.
"Xuanyuan Sword!" Yuwen Tuo drew the Xuanyuan Sword from the void, then, he slashed at the courtyard gate with a single strike.
Boom!
The entire courtyard was instantly enveloped by the Xuanyuan Sword's aura, imbued with Holy Spirit Qi.
Endless wails came from within. The power of the Sacred Path, like the Holy attribute, was the greatest bane of evil soul masters.
"Who are you?"
Two figures rushed out from inside the courtyard, both surrounded by seven soul rings—two yellow, two purple, and three black. They were clearly Soul Saint experts. Both wore black masks, with only their eyes visible.
Nana had told him about these two as well. They were called the Great Holy Spirit and the Second Holy Spirit, and they were the leaders of this branch.
It seemed they were in the middle of some ritual, which Yuwen Tuo had now interrupted. Both of them were filled with immense anger.
"Second Soul Skill: Demon Breaker!" Yuwen Tuo was too lazy to answer them. A golden sword aura shot skyward, once again engulfing the courtyard.
Under the Xuanyuan Sword, no evil soul master would be left!
A small branch that a Soul Sect like Huo Yuhao could solo with the help of Electrolux's power posed no threat to Yuwen Tuo whatsoever.
Soon after, the formerly dark, eerie, and treacherous courtyard, though scarred after a major battle, became normal again as the evil qi dissipated under the Xuanyuan Sword's aura.
Around Yuwen Tuo, large numbers of evil soul master corpses lay, all headless.
Those two Soul Saints were indeed not weak, and they had their Martial Soul True Bodies. But Yuwen Tuo also had the Xuanyuan Sword's second awakening form. Although the golden-grade awakening consumed too much,
Yuwen Tuo's second awakening was perfect. He could control its power. As long as he didn't exert his full strength and only used the power equivalent to a silver-grade awakening, it was completely fine.
One must know that the golden-grade awakened Xuanyuan Sword's attack power tripled, already far exceeding the so-called Martial Soul True Body. The silver-grade awakening also at least doubled its power, not weaker than the Martial Soul True Body of a regular martial soul.
Coupled with the Xuanyuan Sword's suppression of evil soul masters, those two Soul Saints, who at most possessed high-grade martial souls, only lasted less than ten minutes before falling to Yuwen Tuo's 400,000-year soul skill, the Demon Breaker Sword.
The Second Holy Spirit was decapitated, while Yuwen Tuo temporarily spared the Great Holy Spirit's life.
"The only evil soul master branch Nana knows about seems to be this one. Hey, you're a minor high-ranking member, right? Do you know where the larger branches are located?"
"You, you actually dare to offend our Holy Altar. Who exactly are you? Do you know that we are from the Holy Spirit Church, our Holy Emperor..." The Great Holy Spirit roared in fury.
"Shut up, you're too noisy." Yuwen Tuo's eyes narrowed, emitting Xuanyuan Sword aura through his gaze.
The Great Holy Spirit, engulfed by the Sacred Path sword aura, suffered thousands of times more pain than being scorched by the holy power of a Six-Winged Angel.
One could say that the legendary punishment of being cut into a thousand pieces was extremely gentle compared to what the Great Holy Spirit was experiencing.
Moreover, Yuwen Tuo was also skilled in medicine, allowing him to inflict endless torment without letting him die.
Finally, the evil soul master himself couldn't bear it and, by activating his soul power, severed his own heart meridian and died.
Yuwen Tuo smiled slightly. "Foolish fellow, do you think that's enough?"
He casually reached out and grasped a soul in his palm. It was precisely the soul of the Great Holy Spirit who had just committed suicide. "It's useless. Even if you die, you can't escape my grasp.
The Yin-Yang Demonic Eyes can connect the Yin and Yang realms. How could the most basic Yin-Yang Eye ability not exist? And my Daoist divine art, based on the Divine Fire, also has the ability to exorcise ghosts. Do you think I can't catch a ghost like you?"
The soul of the Great Holy Spirit struggled painfully in Yuwen Tuo's palm. He truly felt like he had seen a ghost today. What kind of monster was this, that he couldn't escape even after death?
"Just now, your physical body endured the punishment of my Sacred Path power. So now, how about your soul goes to suffer seven days of fire torture in Hellfire, to continue atoning for your sins?"
Yuwen Tuo's palm emitted streams of black flames, precisely the Hellfire absorbed from the Scarlet King.
Likewise, it was the bane of these ghost entities. Hellfire was the legendary fire specifically meant to punish the souls of those who committed evil deeds in life.
"Ah——————"
Soul pain was even worse than physical pain. If souls could cry, this Great Holy Spirit would surely be in floods of tears.
"If you've got guts, try committing suicide again. What do you say, have you thought it over? Will you tell me the information I want, or not?" Yuwen Tuo gave him a choice.
A quick death, or suffering torment, with his soul scattered after being scorched by Hellfire for seven days and seven nights.
"Sir, please spare me. I'll tell... I'll tell you everything I know!" The Great Holy Spirit could no longer bear it. This kind of pain, let alone seven days and seven nights, he couldn't endure even for seven minutes or seven seconds.
Even if he revered the Holy Spirit Church, he was already dead. What else could happen to him?
This Great Holy Spirit truly knew a lot.
According to him, there were three Holy Spirit Church branches in Mingdou city alone.
Each had at least one Great Holy Spirit like him serving as the branch master.
Their usual tasks were to bewilder the minds of the populace, making them believe in the Holy Spirit Church and become sacrifices for them.
And to discover soul masters who had the potential to be corrupted into evil martial souls, like their branch, which found Nana.
Their original plan was to take Nana to a higher branch once she reached Soul Emperor, allowing her to officially join the Holy Spirit Church.
And that so-called higher branch was not within the city, but fifty li (25km) west of the city, within a hidden valley. It was said to be guarded by a Titled Douluo, who was also one of the Holy Spirit Church's Eight Great Elders.
This person only knew that much.
Yuwen Tuo knew that the other party had held nothing back, so he kept his promise and spared him, scattering his soul with a palm strike, giving him a quick end.
"Thank you, Sir!"
Just then, under Yuwen Tuo's Yin-Yang Demonic Eyes, he saw countless souls of common people thanking him.
After inquiring, Yuwen Tuo found Nana's parents and temporarily collected their souls using a soul-gathering technique, bringing them back for Nana to see them one last time.
As for the others, he used the power of the Sacred Path to guide their souls to their rightful place.
Yuwen Tuo clenched his fists. "Holy Spirit Church, don't think one branch is the end of it. This is just the prelude!"
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