Chapter 404: Hall of Souls Experts

"Who are you?" Although Xiao Yan felt some sympathy for this little lick-dog, he could not let him provoke him, otherwise...

"Song Qing... a disciple of the Pill Tower's Great Elder. I have long heard that Mr. Xiao Yan was incomparably brilliant in the assessment of the five great clans. Meeting you today, it is truly well-deserved." The black-clothed man walked forward, extended his hand, and smiled.

Xiao Yan saw that Song Qing was so polite, even if it was only on the surface, but he was still prepared to extend his hand.

But just as Xiao Yan was about to extend his hand, he suddenly sensed several powerful auras walking out of the Soul Illusion Realm.

Xiao Yan looked at these people who were wrapped in black clothes and exuding sinister and terrifying auras, and his brows frowned slightly. Xiao Yan was all too familiar with this getup; it was the people from the Hall of Souls.

"It seems the trip to the Dan Jie will not be smooth," Xiao Yan thought to himself.

Song Qing saw that Xiao Yan had not reacted for a long time and felt somewhat embarrassed, so he had to withdraw his extended hand.

"Hehe, Mr. Xiao Yan doesn't like shaking hands with others!" Cao Ying saw Song Qing suffer a setback in front of Xiao Yan just like she had in the past, and she pursed her lips and smiled lightly.

However, Xiao Yan's attention was all on these black-robed people at this moment; how could he notice them?

Under Xiao Yan's gaze, one of the black-robed people walked to Xiao Yan and said in a low voice: "Jie jie, I advise you to leave directly. Once you enter the Dan Jie, life and death will be out of your control."

"Hehe, the one who needs to be careful is you. Last time I didn't kill you and let you escape with a dog's life; today you won't be so lucky." Xiao Yan curled his mouth into a cold sneer. The one who dared to provoke him directly was the Mu Gu Lao Ren who had luckily survived back then.

"Then let's wait and see!" Mu Gu Lao Ren saw that Xiao Yan was still stubborn and did not entangle too much. After all, he had brought quite a few helpers this time.

Cao Ying saw that Xiao Yan's attention was all on this group of black-robed people, and her brows frowned slightly. Then her expression changed abruptly. For families like Cao Ying's, they were no strangers to the Hall of Souls.

However, these major clans in Zhongzhou all regarded the Hall of Souls as the filth of the sewer and didn't want to encounter them at all. Moreover, the people of the Hall of Souls had a special fondness for alchemists. In order to obtain the souls of alchemists, they would use any despicable means. Once targeted by the people of the Hall of Souls, one couldn't even sleep peacefully.

As time passed bit by bit, more and more alchemists walked out of the Soul Illusion Realm. These people who passed the first checkpoint basically kept a certain distance from others and then guarded against everything around them.

Although this Pill Gathering had quite a few experts guarding in secret, every year quite a few alchemists were plotted against. The light ones lost their assessment qualifications, and the heavy ones died directly. Every Pill Gathering saw quite a few alchemist casualties; this was a well-known thing.

When no more people walked out of the Soul Illusion Realm for a long time, an old man in ordinary clothes, riding a pitch-black turtle, came slowly.

With the arrival of the old man, the crowd, who had been feigning sleep, finally opened their eyes and looked at the old man in front of them.

"The time is about right. It is time to enter the Dan Jie. Everyone entering the Dan Jie, come to me to receive a task list, a Dan Jie map, and a space stone. Only after collecting the medicinal materials on the task list can you be considered to have passed this checkpoint," the old man looked around at the crowd and said lightly.

Hearing this, the crowd quickly lined up and took the things needed to enter the Dan Jie from the old man one by one.

When everyone had finished receiving them, the old man stroked his beard and spoke again: "I presume everyone knows the role of the map, so I won't say much. As for the space stone, it is used to save your life. In the Dan Jie, not only are there ferocious magical beasts, but there are also quite a few people who choose to eliminate their opponents in order to obtain the final victory. If you encounter irresistible trouble, do not hesitate; crush the space stone directly. Because sometimes, the opponent might not give you the time to crush the space stone."

The crowd nodded upon hearing the old man's warning. The magical beasts in this Dan Jie were much more powerful than those outside.

Of course, just as the old man said, although the magical beasts were very powerful, the greatest danger was not the magical beasts but people!

After the old man finished warning the crowd, he looked at the group of people wrapped in black clothes, and his brows frowned slightly. Although he really wanted to drive these people from the Hall of Souls out, the rules of the Pill Gathering did not allow it, so he could only warn them as much as possible. After all, in previous Pill Gatherings, most alchemists died at the hands of the Hall of Souls, because the Hall of Souls loved the souls of alchemists the most.

"You only have ten days to search for the medicinal materials needed for the task, because the Dan Jie is very dilapidated and not suitable for staying long. No more nonsense; those who want to quit can quit now, and those who don't want to quit, pass through the space passage and enter the Dan Jie!" The old man looked around at the crowd and pointed to the space passage behind him.

Although the old man said it was very dangerous, those who came to participate in the Pill Gathering all felt they were fully prepared and were also very clear about the checkpoints of the Pill Gathering, so not a single person was willing to quit. One by one, they stepped directly into the space passage.

Xiao Yan also stepped into the space passage with the crowd. After staying in the space passage for a moment, he passed through a light screen and entered the Dan Jie.

Looking at the boundless plain, magical beasts appeared on the plain from time to time, but there were no other people here. Because although they entered from one passage, the exit points were different. This was intentional by the Pill Tower to prevent those with ulterior motives from acting directly.

"It's not bad here! The energy is very abundant. Although it is somewhat violent, this is not a problem for the Yin-Yang Dual Flames!" Xiao Yan curled his mouth into a smile. The energy continuously surging toward him made Xiao Yan feel very comfortable.

Suddenly, a violent lion jumped out of a bush, opened its blood-red mouth, and bit toward Xiao Yan's head.

Xiao Yan felt the bloody force coming from behind and raised an eyebrow. He had long sensed this seventh-rank magical beast, but he didn't pay attention to it. He had originally thought this magical beast would know when to retreat; after all, seventh-rank magical beasts already had not-so-weak intelligence. Generally, in the outside world, if they encountered something they couldn't beat, they would definitely hide far away.

But in the Dan Jie, it was different. Although the magical beasts were much more powerful than those outside, their intelligence was far worse.

Xiao Yan turned around directly, waved his hand, and a terrifying force shot out, directly shooting into the lion's head, blasting its head into a mess. Then he picked up the magic core that fell to the ground and collected it into his storage ring. As an alchemist, collecting magic cores had become a habit. Even a first-rank magic core he didn't want to throw away; after all, it could still be used for experiments.

After the small episode passed, Xiao Yan took the task list out of his storage ring, checked the medicinal materials he needed to collect, put the task list away, and then took out the map. He found that there were several small dots on the map, and these small dots were the locations of the medicinal materials.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 405 =====