Chapter 160: Soul Gathering Pool

Cloud Haze Island.

As evening fell, clusters of fiery red cloud-cotton adhered to the heavens. The residual glow of the setting sun illuminated the embers of the clouds, casting a boundless, magnificent radiance.

The entire Cloud Haze Island was enveloped in this blazing, fiery glow. Bathed in the sunset, the scenery was breathtaking. The island was home to a great abundance of maple trees, their foliage equally fiery and red, appearing even more enchanting amidst the radiant haze.

Cloud Haze Island possessed a unique landscape; as evening arrived, the burning clouds in the sky and the red maples on the island complemented one another, forming an exquisite and picturesque vista.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth on the island was likewise extraordinary, and nestled within were three mines of fire-manganese ore.

Fire-manganese ore was a material used in the forging of divine weapons, possessing a fiery attribute. If a weapon incorporated high-quality fire-manganese ore, it would acquire a flame property; when fused with certain fire-attribute crystals, it could forge lethal instruments carrying an intense, scorching force.

The martial arts practiced by the Gu family were mostly related to the sword, and every single expert of the Gu family wielded a sword.

On the Myriad Sword Peak of the Gu family, all manner of treasured swords were thrust into the earth, and some among them even possessed a nascent spirituality.

Many experts of the Gu family excelled in sword-forging, an endeavor that often required various rare and exotic materials. Fire-manganese ore was precisely a scarce material urgently needed for forging fire-attribute treasured swords. When the Gu family first discovered that Cloud Haze Island possessed fire-manganese ore, they expended considerable effort, sweeping away the warrior factions entrenched on the island before finally securing the territory. A year ago, Mo Duanhun, the Asura King of the Yang family, descended upon Cloud Haze Island with thirty Asura Blood Guards.

In merely half a day, all the defensive measures established by the Gu family on Cloud Haze Island were completely pulverized. The Gu family members on the island were slaughtered one after another by the Asura Blood Guards, and the factions affiliated with the Gu family were uprooted entirely.

A year had passed. Although Cloud Haze Island had returned once more to the hands of the Gu family, the island's defenses had still not been rebuilt.

Fortunately, due to disturbances in the Fourth Demonic Realm, the Yang family had recently been striking out at the forces of the Gu family and the Dongfang family everywhere, and had also quietly withdrawn back to the Jialuo Sea Domain. Seizing this opportunity, the Gu family proposed peace talks. Occupied with dealing with the demons of the Fourth Demonic Realm, the Yang family agreed, making preparations to come to Cloud Haze Island to finalize the details.

At the foot of the largest fire-manganese ore mine on Cloud Haze Island, stone buildings and walls had been erected. The surrounding area was densely packed with clusters of maple trees, their fiery red leaves enveloping the architectural complex and turning it into an ocean of crimson maples.

At the summit of a towering fifty-meter-high stone pagoda, Gu Jiange and Gu Lie stood side by side within the tower, gazing out into the distance.

The brilliant, radiant glow resembled a blush across the sky, as beams of crimson light pierced down from beyond the heavens, entering the pagoda and casting lines of red across the floor.

As the sun slowly sank into the surface of the ocean, a carrier eagle broke through the winds in the distance, flying at an astonishing speed.

Pinpointing its target, the carrier eagle descended directly toward the stone window before Gu Lie. It fluttered its wings twice and came to a halt.

Gu Lie reached out, removed the letter tied to the carrier eagle, and frowned as he read the contents, his expression growing increasingly grim.

Gu Lie possessed the cultivation of the Second Heavenly Layer of the Nirvana Realm and held an extraordinary status within the Gu family. This recent conflict between the Gu family and the Yang family had been triggered by Gu Jiange, and thus Gu Lie had been tasked with handling the Yang family’s repeated provocations and the slaughter of experts across many of the Gu family's islands. Due to the heavy losses suffered by the clan, the head of the Gu family was extremely furious, placing the blame squarely on Gu Jiange and holding deep resentment toward Gu Lie as well. This left Gu Lie feeling thoroughly depressed, causing him to handle affairs with the Yang family with extreme caution, terrified of making yet another misstep.

"Father, what's the situation?" Gu Jiange stepped forward, leaning in close to the letter.

With a dark expression, Gu Lie handed the letter directly to Gu Jiange and said angrily, "The Yang family is truly greedy; they actually demand that we cede five islands before they agree to pacify this matter."

"Five islands?" Gu Jiange's expression shifted drastically. He hurriedly read the contents of the letter and cried out in disbelief, "Cloud Haze Island, Black Shell Island, Iron Wolf Island, Tao Lu Island, Earth Fiend Island! Every single one of these five islands either contains a mine or yields spiritual herbs, and each one was seized by our Gu family only after expending immense effort. The Yang family actually dares to open their lions' mouths wide and demand five islands all at once!"

Gu Lie wore a gloomy expression and sighed, "The clan will never allow this. These five islands are far too precious and certainly won't be ceded to the Yang family. But if we fail to reach an agreement with the Yang family, the superiors will blame me for incompetence. This matter is truly difficult to handle..."

"Father, back when we were at the Soul-Gathering Pool, that demon seemed, seemed to want..." Gu Jiange's expression turned somewhat sinister. He gritted his teeth and said, "Since the Yang family is pushing us too hard, let us simply burn our boats and agree to the demon's conditions. We will make those who come to Cloud Haze Island remain here forever..."

"The demon..." Gu Lie's expression stirred, yet he remained hesitant. "Although we are at odds with the Yang family, if it involves demons, once the matter is exposed, we will undoubtedly face universal condemnation. By then, other families will disdain our methods and perhaps even accuse us of despicable tactics..."

"As long as the members of the Yang family are all slaughtered, who will know that we were the ones who made a move?" Gu Jiange pondered for a moment and persuaded, "Father, times have changed. Nowadays, for the sake of interests, one can cooperate with anyone. To my knowledge, there are those within the Endless Sea who collaborate with the denizens of the Seven Hells. As long as the objective is achieved, sometimes being flexible is acceptable."

"The one who comes might be Mo Duanhun..." Gu Lie frowned. "Mo Duanhun is the leader of the two great Asura Kings, and his power is earth-shattering. Unless an expert at the Divine Realm level among the demons takes action, no one can keep him here. Once Mo Duanhun escapes and discovers that we assisted the demons in coming here, the two of us might no longer be able to remain within the Gu family."

"If we fail this time, Father's status within the clan will also plummet sharply. Furthermore, the clan will certainly not allow us to cede five islands, and the Yang family's arrogance is notorious. We simply cannot please both sides. If Mo Duanhun is slain by the demons, we can wash our hands completely clean. By then, the Yang family's camp will be thrown into utter chaos, and they likely won't have the leisure to continue making trouble. Father, please consider this carefully."

"Let us make a trip to the Soul-Gathering Pool..."

"Very well..."

In the southern part of Cloud Haze Island, there was a secluded valley. At the center of the valley lay a pool of water.

This pool was wreathed in gloomy vapors, its surface veiled with a foul, ink-black miasma. Rows of soul-recruiting banners stood erected all around, completely enclosing the water.

Within the pool, ghostly-faced wandering souls materialized upon the surface. The pool resembled a bizarre mirror, seeming to seal countless wandering souls and malicious ghosts within.

Legend had it that a great calamity had once befell Cloud Haze Island long ago, during which everyone on the island was utterly massacred. Following their deaths, driven by some unknown force of attraction, the souls of those people did not dissipate immediately; instead, they all converged within this valley's pool.

The pool was filled with countless ghosts, which constantly roamed across the water's surface, occasionally emerging abruptly to drift about.

Back in the day, an evil martial sect had existed on Cloud Haze Island, treating this Soul-Gathering Pool as a holy land and practicing their cultivation constantly in its vicinity.

In order to secure ownership of Cloud Haze Island, the experts of the Gu family had been dispatched to exterminate this wicked martial sect, causing the souls of all the sect's practitioners to fall into the Soul-Gathering Pool.

After acquiring Cloud Haze Island, the Gu family had once conducted an in-depth investigation into the Soul-Gathering Pool. From the records of the destroyed evil sect's scriptures, they learned that the Soul-Gathering Pool could connect the Seven Hells and the Fourth Demonic Realm. However, unlike the Heavenly Gate—which allowed people of the Endless Sea to enter the Seven Hells and the Fourth Demonic Realm—the Soul-Gathering Pool lacked this capability.

The Soul-Gathering Pool could only allow certain experts of the Seven Hells and the Fourth Demonic Realm to manifest upon the surface of the pool's water through the permeation of their souls.

Years ago, the Gu family attempted to destroy the Soul-Gathering Pool. Just as they were about to take action, they discovered the soul of a demon manifesting within the pool. That demon appeared on the surface of the water, requesting cooperation with the Gu family. It asked the Gu family to use their secret arts to infuse various types of living souls into the Soul-Gathering Pool, attempting to use the pool to directly descend souls from the Seven Hells and the Fourth Demonic Realm into the Endless Sea.

However, relations between the Seven Hells and the Three Gods Sect had always been hostile. The Three Gods Sect had entered the Seven Hells multiple times through the Heavenly Gate and reaped massive resource benefits, yet they also stood as irreconcilable enemies with the Seven Hells.

Since the Gu family and the Three Gods Sect were allies, they naturally had no desire to help the denizens of the Seven Hells deal with the Three Gods Sect.

Consequently, not only did the Gu family refuse to cooperate with the denizens of the Seven Hells and the demons, but they also tightly sealed off the Soul-Gathering Pool, using various powers to shroud the area and preventing anyone from knowing anything about it.

Back then, during the debate over whether or not to destroy the Soul-Gathering Pool, the Gu family had experienced fierce contention. In the end, whether to guard against a future falling-out with the Three Gods Sect or for other reasons, the Gu family chose to preserve the Soul-Gathering Pool.

Nevertheless, all secrets concerning the Soul-Gathering Pool were strictly controlled by the Gu family. The various restrictions around the outer perimeter of the pool were laid down by the top-tier experts of the Gu family; unless formation-mastering powerhouses from the fifteen major factions happened to descend upon the area, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to discover what lay here.

When Mo Duanhun previously blood-bathed Cloud Haze Island, he rode a Azure-Blood Demonic Bat and roved about the island, releasing his spiritual sense to search for martial experts and various spiritual treasures, yet he still failed to discover the Soul-Gathering Pool.

The secrecy of the Soul-Gathering Pool was evident from this.

Father and son, Gu Lie and Gu Jiange, quietly departed from the pagoda, bypassed the guards of the Gu family, and headed toward the Soul-Gathering Pool.

Arriving at the bizarre pool, Gu Lie used a secret art to open the restrictions, stepped onto the surface of the water, and released a strand of spiritual sense toward the black orb of light floating at the center of the pool.

That black orb of light was formed by the entanglement of countless living souls and spirits. The combination of these souls caused terrifying, ferocious ghost faces to emerge upon the surface of the black orb.

Gu Lie's strand of spiritual sense drifted inward, falling upon the black orb of light. Before long, the orb sank into the depths of the Soul-Gathering Pool.

Ten minutes later, the water of the Soul-Gathering Pool began to churn, whipping up towering waves. The foul, black water rose tier by tier, forming the murky, ink-black, vaguely defined image of a demon standing three meters tall with six sharp horns sprouting from its head.

"A month from now, Mo Duanhun, the leader of the three Asura Kings of the Yang family in the Endless Sea, will come here. By then, I can open the Soul-Gathering Pool slightly. Can you seize the opportunity to leave Mo Duanhun and the Asura Blood Guards behind here?" Without any superfluous words, Gu Lie went straight to the point.

"Mo Duanhun..." The demon gesticulated wildly, its body formed of pool water swaying continuously as it let out a harsh, ghastly laugh: "He comes well! He comes well!"