AZI Volume 5 Chapter 48

"Let me just confirm. If I kill you three, your elders will know, right?"

Towards this question, the three nods—feeling a bit more confident than before. 

The fact that Long Hua is asking them this, the three figured that the former probably doesn't have any intentions of killing them.

As for how members of the Ling Yuan family will know about their deaths, all members of the family are required to imbue a portion of their divine senses onto a jade slip. The moment they die, those jade slips will shatter. 

"And what if you three never return to make your report?"

Opening his mouth, Lin Yu Heng answers—

"They'll send more people in."

Figuring this to be the case, Long Hua exhales a smoke, while contemplating. 

(Ai, killing them will bring unnecessary trouble; letting them go will do the same.)

Tapping the armrest with his index finger, Long Hua looks to the three—stopping only a second on each one.

"Hmm."

Continuing to contemplate, Long Hua inwardly thought—

(Unpleasant bastard...…)

For a brief instance, Long Hua's eyes lose their focus, but just as quickly, his focus returns with a chilling gleam.

Raising his left hand, and pointing in the three's general direction, Long Hua mutters—

"Soul Extraction Art."

Simultaneously, the three's body stiffens, and sensing something tugging onto them—

"Uh!"

"Ah…?"

"Ack…!"

One at a time, the three have their souls forcefully pried out of their flesh and blood bodies, causing them to look back behind them with eyes of dread. 

One of the requirements to successfully use this divine art is for the target to be completely submissive, or they need to be a spiritual existence to begin with—thus, the act of beating these three had served another purpose. 

"…"

Drawing the three souls onto his left palm, Long Hua looks at them coldly before muttering—

"Ming Dao Contract."

Immediately, the three souls are overwhelmed by a sense of immense pain, as they clutch their chests, while screaming.

Stroke by stroke, text—written in glowing purple ink, manifests on the three spiritual bodies. And with each stroke of a single character made, the harsher the pain becomes. 

To the three, it feels as if these passages of text are being carved onto their souls with a sharp nail. 

Upon the contract writing's completion, the three souls fall onto their knees, and at the wave of Long Hua's left hand, they are thrown back to their original bodies. 

Waking up inside of their bodies, the three gasp for air, while cold sweat leaks out of their pores. 

Similarly, to the Soul Extraction Art, Ming Dao Contract is also something that only affects spiritual existences; hence, these two divine arts are generally used in conjunction with one another. 

However, in all honestly, Ming Dao Contract is more akin to a curse than an actual divine art. 

...…

Inside the dreamscape—

"…"

An expression of dread appears on the Tai Xuan Emperor's face. 

The two soul manipulation arts that Long Hua had demonstrated is something that the Tai Xuan Emperor has never seen Long Hua use during his previous life. 

"Aside from Dao He Tian Xue, does he have another master? This… This sort of life cheat is a bit much…"

Turning silent, the Tai Xuan Emperor can't help but think back to the records of the Earthborn Elementals' Realm. 

The techniques that were used for the creation of artificial planets, one of them is extremely similar to this "Soul Extraction Art."

...…

Sucking in a deep breath of air, and regaining his composure, Qing Ming Yang asks—

"S-Senior, just now…-?"

Tossing the finished cigar aside, Long Hua answers—

"Nothing much, merely extracted your souls to establish a contract between us. You three can make your reports to your elders, but if you speak of my existence to them, or to anyone else for that matter… Well, let's just say—don't even think about reincarnation anymore. Of course, you're free to continue doing so if you wish. Just don't complain about the inevitable pain afterwards."

Rising off the armchair, Long Hua stores the furniture away, and turns to look off into the distance, while thinking—

(I wonder if there is another 100,000-year-old weapon spirit here?)

As Long Hua thought of this, the three practitioners of the Ling Yuan family turned to one another, with Qing Ming Yang asking—

"What do we do now?"

"…"

"…"

Gathered together with an expression of dread, the three continuously threw glances at one another, and eventually turning to Qing Ming Yang, who had been the first to open his mouth, Lin Yu Heng whispers—

"…Continue through this place. After that, we head back."

"Why?"

"I refuse to believe that whatever he did to us can't be undone by an elder of the household."

Nodding his head, Qing Ming Yang says—

"So, you're saying—we gather as much information on this guy as possible. Then, once we head back, we see if we can break this contract to get back at him?"

Paying keen attention to the three's conversation—that is mainly Lin Yu Heng and Qing Ming Yang doing the talking due to Xia Ri'er's facial injuries, Long Hua smiles coldly. 

If he didn't have any confidence in his soul manipulation arts, he absolutely wouldn't have let these three live. 

(…*-laoban, what sort of divine arts did you use on them?)

"…Ming Dao Arts."

(Ming Dao Arts?)

"Don't ask. You need only know that it comes from an existence that is…"

Blinking his eyes, Long Hua is unsure as to how he should describe this existence. 

"Ai, let's just say, the one who taught me it… Is my godfather?"

...…

Within the dreamscape, the Tai Xuan Emperor falls onto her knees and hands. 

"What kind of outrageous background does he have? Why? Why did the divine weapon that I made need to land into his hands of all people?"

...…

Retrieving the White Serpent King, and beginning to move, Long Hua thought—

(The more mysterious and outrageous my background is, the less likely this bitch will dare to make a move against me.)

Taking out another spirit herb cigar, Long Hua ignites it, and smokes in leisure to replenish his spirit Qi.