Han Feng locked up the Gold and Silver Elders separately after learning the answer from them.
It wasn't that he was ungrateful, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Although the Gold and Silver Elders worked for him, since they knew his secret, they couldn't be let off easily.
Let them be locked up for a few years to settle down, and see if they improve when they come out.
Han Feng sat in the main seat, his fingers tapping gently on the back of the chair.
"Southern Foothills Mountain, Huangqi River."
These were the coordinates of the Hall of Souls revealed by the Gold and Silver Elders.
Han Feng opened the map and observed the situation around the Southern Foothills Mountain.
Sure enough, they chose a place rarely visited by people.
Han Feng put away the map and chuckled lightly. "This saves a lot of trouble."
He was initially worried that the commotion would be too big and attract unnecessary attention, wondering if he should evacuate the crowd.
Now it was unnecessary.
Han Feng stood up, stepped out of the hall, turned into a stream of light, and escaped into the sky.
The journey was only a thousand miles. At full speed, Han Feng arrived in half an hour.
Splash splash!
The turbulent river water appeared mixed yellow, like a huge mud dragon, sweeping through the river channel.
The water foam formed by high-speed impact rose into the air and lasted for a long time.
No wonder few people dared to approach the surroundings. A moment of inattention would sweep them into the river, life or death unknown.
Only other sections of the river might be calmer.
Han Feng dropped a mark, leaving an array opening here, then waved his sleeve, and hundreds of puppets appeared on the ground below.
These were the puppets arranged to find people in the Central Plains before, but now they had all been recalled.
With the experience of besieging the Hall of Souls last time, Han Feng was more skilled this time, letting the puppet army advance quietly from all directions.
Killing intent was brewing in the dark.
Han Feng's hair turned white, and the Fallen Heart Flame entered the Profound Meaning form, pouring into each puppet's body, strengthening their power.
Southern Foothills Mountain, a deep valley.
The pitch-black hall stood quietly here. The surroundings were suppressed, with no sounds of birds or beasts walking, and even the vegetation appeared withered.
Han Feng stood not far away, watching the puppet army enter the blockade circle, and then used the Sea-Calming Beads to seal the Hall of Souls branch hall.
The casting of the barrier technique quickly attracted the attention of the emissaries in the Hall of Souls.
Black smoke flew out of the hall one after another. After discovering that the surroundings were sealed, they immediately issued an alarm.
The battle began.
Han Feng watched the whole process this time, hiding in the dark and letting the puppets of the Soul-Exterminating Division perform.
This branch hall was actually not as strong as the branch hall in the Central Plains in terms of overall strength. However, since most of the protectors stayed in the hall, the number of Dou Ancestors was actually more than the branch hall cleared before, a full eight people.
Although there was only one Dou Venerate-level hall master, it was enough to suppress most of the experts in the Northwest Continent.
As the chaotic battle intensified, the hall master was finally alarmed.
Boom! Strange black qi constantly dispersed from the hall.
A withered and thin old man walked out slowly with a cane. With every step, the surrounding vitality seemed to be plundered by him.
Different hall masters practiced different techniques. This one seemed to be related to plundering vitality.
Although he was small in stature, his strength was quite tyrannical, and his aura was even more powerful than the one-star Dou Venerate who practiced the Ghost Dharma Body before.
When he was preparing to suppress this farce, two purple-robed puppets appeared in his sight.
The aura of the purple-robed puppets erupted, and two spatial forces no weaker than his locked onto this hall master.
"Dou Venerate experts..."
The old man narrowed his eyes, facing a formidable enemy.
Boom!
The battle broke out instantly, and the contest between Dou Venerates began.
The purple-robed puppets had almost no comprehension of laws, relying entirely on physical strength and the superimposed damage of Dou Qi intensity.
In comparison, the old man's comprehension of the way of plundering vitality obviously had a greater advantage.
However, his advantage was useful against ordinary Dou Venerates, but against two lifeless puppets, it was probably used in the wrong place.
Sure enough, after the purple-robed puppet sold a flaw, the old man pursued the victory and easily fell into the trap.
One puppet hugged the little old man tightly. Dou Qi collided, tearing the purple robe, revealing the steel body underneath.
The little old man turned pale with fright, finally realizing that the opponent was not a living being. Unfortunately, his limbs were already held at this time.
"No!!!"
A powerful palm broke through the hall master's defense directly and hit his heart meridian.
Rain-like fists smashed onto his thin body. No matter how strong his means of devouring vitality were, they were useless at this time.
A moment later, the hall master's vitality completely dissipated, dead as a doornail.
A ball of lurking soul quietly transferred from underground. A white light flashed in the puppet's eyes, locking onto it instantly, breaking the ground and capturing it.
Knowing that he had no way out, the hall master cursed loudly.
"You dare to kill me! The Hall of Souls will not let you go!"
Whoosh!
An invisible flame flew out of the puppet's body and drilled into the hall master's soul body. The next moment, he quieted down.
Battles were still going on everywhere, but they would end soon.
The purple-robed puppets went to the main hall, found the place where the soul source was hidden, and dug three feet into the ground to see if there was a Soul-Devouring Life-Exterminating Formation.
However, no trace of the Soul-Devouring Life-Exterminating Formation was found in this Southern Foothills Mountain.
It seemed that the Hall of Souls was also prepared for the loss of this place.
In case it was discovered and destroyed by experts from various places, the plan would not be exposed.
A quarter of an hour later, Han Feng walked into the barrier. The entire branch hall had no life left.
All the people of the Hall of Souls had been killed.
He came to the place where the soul source was stored and was surprised to find that the soul source here was even more than the previous branch hall.
Perhaps because the Black-Corner Region was in a state of fighting all day long, countless people died, giving the Hall of Souls a large amount of captured resources.
Now it all benefited Han Feng.
Han Feng circulated the Spirit Devour soul skill and devoured these soul sources.
A large amount of spiritual qi poured into the soul sea. The soul realm, which had already reached the breakthrough barrier, broke through the checkpoint in one fell swoop at this moment, advancing to the late stage of the Spirit Realm.
Han Feng sat cross-legged on the spot, digesting the skyrocketing soul power.
Late stage of the Spirit Realm. At this realm, one could use Heaven Rank soul skills without any burden.
A soul skill quickly surfaced in Han Feng's mind.
"Supreme Soul-Slaughtering Sword."
Unlike "Way of Heaven: Spirit Devour," "Supreme Soul-Slaughtering Sword" was an offensive soul skill that was completely biased towards destruction.
When cultivating, one needed extremely pure killing intent to activate it.
In terms of killing intent, Han Feng had long been qualified, but the power of "Supreme Soul-Slaughtering Sword" was too strong and the burden was too great, so Han Feng didn't dare to practice it before reaching the late stage of the Spirit Realm.
Now, he could start practicing it.
The Red Emperor Armor was an external object to Han Feng. After being severely injured by the White Tiger's metal qi, it couldn't be used again in a short time.
But if the "Supreme Soul-Slaughtering Sword" was successfully cultivated, combined with the soul cultivation of the late stage of the Spirit Realm, he would have no opponent within the Dou Venerate realm.
Han Feng calmed the turbulent aura in his body and slowly opened his eyes.
There was still a small ball of soul source left, which Han Feng had specially saved for Yao Chen.
Han Feng patted the Spirit Nurturing Gourd and woke Yao Chen up.
As soon as Yao Chen came out, his nose sniffed involuntarily.
What rich spiritual qi!
Yao Chen shivered all over and looked at the soul source in Han Feng's hand.
"This is... soul source!"
Han Feng nodded.
"Where did you get it?"
Yao Chen frowned at the strong smell of blood in the air.
The way to obtain soul source was simple and brutal: extracting it from a large number of soul bodies.
"This was collected by the Hall of Souls."
Han Feng said.
"Hall of Souls?"
Yao Chen quickly looked around and found that he was now in a pitch-black hall.
Putting the matter of soul source aside for the moment, he walked out of the hall and saw the corpses of Hall of Souls emissaries all over the ground.
The most prominent one was a corpse emitting a powerful aura.
A Dou Venerate expert, even after death, still showed a different status.
Looking at the body that was almost smashed to pieces, Yao Chen's eyelids trembled.
"Did you do this?"
"No, my refined puppets did it."
Han Feng also twitched his mouth when he saw the hall master's body.
If it were him, he wouldn't be so brutal.
He would definitely give him a gentle death.
"This branch hall master's physical body is too poor. Although his cultivation is okay, it's still not perfect enough to be used as your resurrected body, Master."
Yao Chen nodded.
If it were him before, he wouldn't care about the appearance and strength of the body, as long as it was a Dou Zong's evolved body.
But now that Han Feng said so, he really looked down on it a bit.
"Will doing this attract the attention of the Hall of Souls in the Central Plains?"
Yao Chen knew Han Feng's future plan and asked worriedly.
"Don't worry. Soon, the Hall of Souls in the Central Plains won't be able to care about this place."
A cold smile appeared on the corner of Han Feng's mouth.
He deliberately kept the soul bodies above the protector level this time and controlled them with the Heart Flame, so even with the Soul Tablet, the Central Plains side wouldn't get the news.
When he finished cultivating the "Supreme Soul-Slaughtering Sword," it would be time for a massacre.
For the Hall of Souls in the Central Plains, the main goal was to quietly set up a backup in the Soul-Devouring Life-Exterminating Formation, so there was no need to surround and destroy like today. As long as he showed that he was doing it for the soul source, he could cover it up very naturally.
"Master, refine this soul source quickly."
Soul source was different from ordinary souls. There were no impurities, so it could be absorbed naturally without the Spirit Devour soul skill. For a soul body like Yao Chen with a damaged soul, it was an excellent tonic.
Yao Chen understood this and knew the value of soul source, so he said no more, sat cross-legged, and began to refine.
While his master was refining the soul source, Han Feng cleaned up the bodies of the Hall of Souls people, preparing to use them as raw materials for refining Sky Demon Puppets when he got back.
Compared to ordinary puppet refining, Sky Demon Puppets didn't require so many precious materials and exquisite techniques because it was a forbidden method, refining puppets with humans.
Domineering, cruel, but extremely effective.
Using the bodies and souls of the Hall of Souls people, Han Feng had no burden.
A moment later, the spiritual qi fluctuation on Yao Chen's body shook, and the surrounding spiritual qi began to gather towards him.
The effect of this soul source was visible to the naked eye.
Just this little bit repaired the soul damage on Yao Chen.
Now, Yao Chen's soul realm had returned to the Spirit Realm.
The fluctuation emitted was also equivalent to a Dou Venerate expert.
Although it was only the initial stage of the Spirit Realm, far from the Great Perfection level of the Spirit Realm when he was alive, the Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm were two different worlds.
Relying on the Bone Chilling Flame, Yao Chen's current combat power was in no way inferior to a three-star Dou Venerate.
Han Feng packed up the useful things in the Hall of Souls and glanced at Yao Chen, who looked almost solid.
Destroying the Black-Corner Region Hall of Souls branch hall this time had immediate benefits.
Not only did he break through to the late stage of the Spirit Realm, but his master's soul power also recovered to the initial stage of the Spirit Realm.
Han Feng raised his hand, mobilized the space here, and swallowed this branch hall.
Yao Chen looked at this scene in a slight daze.
He had always thought that Han Feng's talk of acting against the Hall of Souls and the Hun Clan was just in the planning stage.
But looking at it now, he was completely unambiguous when he acted, and if his cultivation strength wasn't insufficient, he would even dare to challenge the Hun Clan.
This kind of courage seemed incredible to a cultivator like Yao Chen, who had not experienced the anti-Hun war in his previous life.
No one wanted to use their meager strength to oppose a Dou God family with a legacy of ten thousand years.
Even Yao Chen, an expert who had gained the title of the number one alchemist on the continent, dared not express an opinion on the Yao Clan that had once persecuted him.
After Han Feng erased all traces of the scene, he looked at Yao Chen.
"Master, let's go back."
"Ah, oh."
Yao Chen came back to his senses, somewhat puzzled about where Han Feng got this courage.
However, he didn't ask, but silently flew back into the gourd.
Han Feng stayed in mid-air for a few seconds, raised his hand, and shot out several Heart Flame clones, arranging them around.
In case some Hall of Souls protectors who were out on business came back later, the clones could take action to capture them.
Returning to Feng City, only half a day had passed.
Han Feng was resolute and swift this time, finishing the business and returning in just a lunch break.
In the secret training room of the City Lord's Mansion, Han Feng took out the soul of that hall master and began to interrogate for intelligence.
Since he couldn't use Spirit Devour to devour him for the time being, he could only use this method.
Fortunately, the other party was not a tough nut. Under the torture of the Fallen Heart Flame, he soon revealed some of the Hall of Souls' layout in the Northwest Continent.
In the entire Northwest Continent, there were actually only four concentrated branch halls.
The Black-Corner Region, a chaotic place where the number of deaths every day was extremely high, was a "rich" land, so a branch hall was established.
The Heavenly Snake Empire and the Lion Underworld Empire were both countries with Dou Venerate experts presiding over them, with countless experts under their command, so Hall of Souls branch halls were also established around them.
As for the other small countries, it was usually enough to just send protectors.
For these scattered areas, the Hall of Souls established a branch hall near the border of the Central Plains for these autonomously active protectors to hand over soul bodies and exchange for rewards.
The four branch halls' addresses were usually only known to the corresponding protectors. There was very little communication between branch halls, so the hall master of the Black-Corner Region Hall of Souls only knew that there was such a distribution of forces, but was not clear about the specific locations.
But this news was enough for Han Feng.
Little contact between branch halls meant that other branch halls were not clear about the matters of the Black-Corner Region Hall of Souls, increasing the time he could delay.