Chapter 374: Soul War

The elders of the Five Domains Alliance, seeing the several alliance leaders, offered no comment and let the subordinate members deal with it themselves.

Some youths, especially those ranked near the top of the Sacred List and the proud Heaven‑Pride elites, even organized small teams to hunt Ye Liuyun and set out to find him.

At this moment, Ye Liuyun had arrived before the next Altar. However, he saw no Alien Evil Artifact; the Altar was guarded by a Tian Gang Fourth Layer Demon.

This Demon was much like the Crimson Soul Ogre Ye Liuyun destroyed in the Red Soul Cave of the Sacred Martial Academy, except its scale armor was not as red as the Crimson Demon's.

Another individual, also of Tian Gang Fourth Layer, was over fifty, bloodless, gaunt as a withered husk, almost turning himself into a zombie.

Their levels were not high. Ye Liuyun originally intended to charge straight in, but he found that both of their Divine Soul Power was far from ordinary.

As soon as he got close, the zombie‑like man charged at Ye Liuyun and the others.

"Are you called Ye Liuyun?"

The man asked Ye Liuyun stiffly, his words not as smooth as an ordinary person's.

"Do you know me?" Ye Liuyun asked curiously.

"Grand Elder has ordered: upon encountering you, kill without mercy!"

As he spoke, the man directly ordered the Corpse Demon and the zombie to charge at Ye Liuyun.

The difference between zombies and Corpse Demons is that zombies lack that evil aura and are entirely controlled. Though they have no sentience, their attacks follow their master's will. Their bodies are about equally solid.

"Grand Elder?" Ye Liuyun thought, then suddenly understood: "I remember! You're referring to Zeng Fan of the Yin Ghost Sect, Yan Qing's master, right?"

"Right! You must die today!" the zombie man said, while brandishing a Transmission Talisman to broadcast Ye Liuyun's appearance here.

"Then it's up to your skill!"

Ye Liuyun ignored his use of the Transmission Talisman and directly launched an attack on the zombie man's Soul.

"Got an opponent! This guy's Soul is hard to handle. Boss, your Soul must join!" As soon as the zombie man's Soul was drawn into the Thunder Fire Domain, Hell Mingshe instantly appeared.

It turned out the zombie man was at least an eighth‑level Soul Cultivator; wiping out a typical Tian Gang Sixth Layer Martial Cultivator should be easy. His Soul, roughly the size of Ye Liuyun's two Golden‑Armored Souls stacked together, was a massive zombie.

Ye Liuyun's two Souls instantly attacked—one with a blade, one with a fist—unleashing Nether Ghost Fire to destroy his Soul. At the same time, within the Thunder Fire Domain, Blood Thunder, Golden Crow Holy Fire, and Hell Mingshe all assaulted the zombie man's Soul.

While Ye Liuyun and the zombie man were engrossed in combat, an anomaly erupted; another Tian Gang Fourth Layer Demon inside the city suddenly unleashed a Spiritual Soul Attack, a Soul charging straight toward Ye Liuyun's Sea of Consciousness.

Simultaneously, his Soul attack also struck the others, but its force against them was slightly weaker; most of his Divine Soul Power remained focused on Ye Liuyun.

The others' Divine Soul Power, while not strong, sustained no serious damage.

Ye Liuyun silently felt relieved; at least the primary target was himself, otherwise it would have been a real hassle.

Ye Liuyun only felt a huge demon‑cow‑shaped Soul surge into his Sea of Consciousness. As it entered, the Golden Light of the Ten Thousand Gods Command enveloped it, preventing its escape. The Golden Light then wore down its Soul, returning the energy to Ye Liuyun.

The Demon's Soul was indeed a bit stronger than the zombie man's, but in front of the Ten Thousand Gods Command it was utterly helpless.

"What is this thing?" the Demon's Soul roared repeatedly.

He felt resentful. His Soul had already been cultivated to Ninth‑level Soul Cultivator. If not for the Ten Thousand Gods Command, his Soul would have been almost indestructible—certainly far stronger than Ye Liuyun's Soul.

Ye Liuyun ignored him, but thought, "No wonder the Alien Evil Artifact only dispatched those two to guard this Altar. The Demon and the zombie man each have Souls that keep outclassing each other; against Tian Gang Seventh Layer, they should be no problem."

Observing the others, Lei Ming and Dancing Clear Shadow were doing their best to protect the rest and could still fight. Bai Hu and Shi Yuan could only barely endure; Yu Er and Ru Yue were taking medicine to heal and had little fighting strength left. He instantly deployed a Skeleton Puppet to aid everyone against the Corpse Demons and zombies.

"Roar!"

The Demon's Soul inside the city was damaged and suffered a massive backlash. Yet its combat strength was not weak; with a great roar it burst from the city toward Ye Liuyun, only to be split in two by an axe swing from the newly released Kuailei.

Lei Ming immediately threw two daggers, one piercing the heart of the Demon's half‑body, the other stabbing the brain of its other half. Lei Ming's daggers can directly wound Souls and are imbued with blood poison.

Then the Skeleton Puppet also sliced the zombie man's flesh apart, and likewise Lei Ming's two daggers, under his control, stabbed that zombie man.

Both opponents had already cultivated a second Soul, yet the Soul they employed for offense was far stronger than the one used for defense. Unlike Ye Liuyun, whose two Souls grew in tandem, the Skeleton Puppet and Lei Ming's daggers handled them with ease.

Soon, their bodies dissolved due to the blood poison. Their Souls within their Seas of Consciousness were also heavily wounded, and when Ye Liuyun expanded the Thunder Fire Domain, they were all enveloped.

Not long after, the Souls of those two opponents were almost exhausted, and Ye Liuyun no longer worried; instead he shifted focus, letting Hell Mingshe command the Corpse Demon to eradicate the remaining zombies, making them fight each other to lessen the Skeleton Puppet's consumption.

Though the fight was brief, it was exceedingly dangerous. If the Demon had not tried to ambush Ye Liuyun but instead first attacked the others, or teamed up with the zombie man to breach his Thunder Fire Domain, they would have incurred severe losses.

Ye Liuyun felt lingering dread in his heart.

"That was close, that was close!" Ye Liuyun rested briefly before regaining his senses. He then promptly gathered Bai Hu, Shi Yuan, Yu Er, and Ru Yue into the Storage Ring, sending them to recover beside the Soul‑Condensing Jade Bed.

The group all recognized the importance of Soul cultivation and each vowed to diligently train their Divine Soul Power from now on.

Ye Liuyun then led the remaining Lei Ming and Wu Qingcheng, along with the Skeleton Puppet, into the city; any remaining Tian Gang Realm Corpse Demons, Demon Cultivators, and Demons were all split in two by the Skeleton Puppet's axe.

Ye Liuyun immediately destroyed the Altar. Its driving force was, surprisingly, Primordial Power, which Ye Liuyun took without hesitation.

They then collected all the Crystal Cores, left the city, and headed toward the next objective. Wu Qingcheng and Lei Ming also returned to rest; although neither was injured, their Soul consumption was high, requiring prompt rest.

Wu Qingcheng urged Ye Liuyun: "You'd better not rush to attack the next Altar! The guardians of these Altars are too powerful; pressing on like this is too dangerous!"

Ye Liuyun nodded, agreeing that she was right.

"Alright! Let's wander around, spar with the Corpse Demons, and talk again once our strength improves!"