Chapter 421: Silent World

The enormous bone blade rapidly expanded in Xiao Ming's pupils as his hands swiftly formed hand seals.

"Silent World!"

Between his brows, a terrifying soul power was mobilized, spreading out like ripples in all directions.

As the soul fluctuations spread around him, First Tianzun felt his spirit momentarily in trance, and then a strong irresistible force pulled him. When he came back to his senses, he found himself in a land of ice and snow.

The terrain here was extremely flat, with an endless expanse of sky and earth. Storms swept through, and the snow fluttered, yet there was an eerie silence, without any sound.

"What is this place?"

First Tianzun's aged face became unusually solemn. Xiao Ming could actually use such a mysterious method. Why did their Hall of Souls remain unaware of it?

As a Dou Saint, First Tianzun had lived for quite some time. After steadying his mind a bit, he quickly discovered something was wrong.

He noticed that his body had become somewhat transparent as he raised his palm, and he could no longer feel the surging Dou Qi within him.

"Has my soul been pulled into a different space? To achieve this so effortlessly, it seems the level of this technique isn't too low. It appears that after capturing Xiao Ming, I'll need to extract this technique from him through severe torture!"

A hint of greed flashed in his eyes as First Tianzun murmured in a low voice. He had emerged from the Hall of Souls and possessed some soul skills, but none of them were as powerful as this.

"Facing death, you still dare to draw attention to someone else's technique, truly arrogant."

Suddenly, a mocking voice broke the tranquility of this world. A phantom figure gradually solidified about ten meters in front of First Tianzun.

With eerie and sinister eyes sweeping over Xiao Ming, First Tianzun suddenly felt that something was amiss. This space should only be accessible to souls, so Xiao Ming before him should also be a soul body. However, why was Xiao Ming's soul so solid, almost indistinguishable from a living person? In comparison, his transparent body seemed far too inferior…

As he weighed the pros and cons in his mind, First Tianzun ignored Xiao Ming's previous words and decisively said, "Xiao Ming, why not join our Hun Clan? As long as you hand over the Tou She Ancient God's Jade, that would be a great accomplishment. Our Hun Clan can reward you with many treasures, and we can even bestow upon you our Hun Clan's Dou God Bloodline. With your talent and the Dou God Bloodline, advancing to a Dou Saint would only take a dozen years or so."

"You've been in the Central Plains for several years, and I'm sure you know the authenticity of my words. For our Hun Clan, nothing is impossible."

Xiao Ming, upon hearing this, asked with great interest, "Didn't I just toss the head of your Hall of Souls' Deputy Chief into the latrine? Are you saying you have the ability to deal with him?"

First Tianzun's withered old face twitched slightly, and his hoarse voice sounded again.

"As long as you hand over the Tou She Ancient God's Jade, that's not a problem at all. After all, that was just an avatar."

Xiao Ming couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this. Did he really think he was foolish enough to believe his empty promises? When the people of the Hun Clan got ruthless, they wouldn't even spare their own, yet here they were, painting grand visions for him.

"Sorry, but I don't have the habit of being someone else's dog, especially for you guys who are neither human nor ghost."

First Tianzun's face immediately darkened upon hearing his words.

With a wave of his hand, soul power surged and transformed into a ghost-headed blade.

"Xiao Ming, this Soul Blade of mine is forged from the souls of tens of thousands of people. Countless souls have been sacrificed to it. Once its blade energy touches your body, you will suffer the torment of those myriad souls!"

First Tianzun held the ghost-headed blade horizontally, his voice sinister as he said, "Since you are so stubborn, today, I will use it to take your life. Consider it a show of respect!"

"Trying to use some trickery, huh?"

Xiao Ming showed disdain. In his world, trying to fight him with just a blade was somewhat laughable.

"Hmph! Arrogant!"

First Tianzun gave a cold smile. Dark gas surged within him, transforming into numerous grimacing souls that let out miserable screams as they rushed into the ghost-headed blade. As these countless souls poured in, the once pale surface of the blade began to show traces of crimson, like dark bloodstains...

"Soul Annihilation Slash!"

As the eerie bloodstains appeared on the ghost-headed blade, a hint of seriousness crossed First Tianzun's face. With a violent swing of his hand, the massive ghost-headed blade mercilessly chopped down towards Xiao Ming.

"Die!"

First Tianzun's face revealed a cruel expression as the ghost-headed blade passed, causing the space to collapse. The ground in this space was cut open, leaving a deep and massive gully hundreds of meters long.

Facing such an attack, Xiao Ming's expression remained unchanged as he calmly watched.

The ghost-headed blade arrived in the blink of an eye, directly splitting Xiao Ming into two halves.

"It worked!"

First Tianzun felt delighted, but soon he sensed that something was amiss.

"Too weak!"

Xiao Ming's body condensed once again, his face still wearing a slightly mocking smile.

"No, it can't be! How can you be unscathed after taking a blow from my Soul Blade? Even a Dou Saint couldn't take it without harm!"

Xiao Ming chuckled. In this Silent World, if the souls were much weaker than him, they wouldn't be able to cause him any harm. First Tianzun's soul was just enough to be compared to a speck of dust to him. Even with a Soul Blade forged by tens of thousands of souls, it couldn't do anything to him. Even if his soul power were depleted, it still wouldn't even make him break a sweat.

Of course, there was no need to explain this to him.

"Just this level of strength? Well, enough of this waste of time. If you tell me the other regions' headquarters branches, I can leave your corpse intact."

Indeed, Xiao Ming had engaged in a lengthy conversation with First Tianzun only to find out the locations of the headquarters branches in other regions.

If he relied solely on his own cultivation, breaking through the late-stage Heaven Realm to achieve the Great Perfection would take an unknown amount of time. It was preferable to keep seizing the Soul Essence of the Hall of Souls.

The Soul Essences on the Central Plains were now unobtainable due to the Hall of Souls' increased vigilance after their previous actions. Therefore, he could only snatch the Soul Essences from other regions.

"Are you the one who took those Soul Essences from the branches? No wonder your soul cultivation is so advanced at such a young age!"

"Hehe, that's not a bad guess. Now, tell me where the branches are in those regions."

"Foolish wish."

First Tianzun sneered coldly and launched another attack. The ghost-headed blade radiated killing intent as it slashed directly at Xiao Ming.

Facing this attack, Xiao Ming only narrowed his eyes, and the ghost-headed blade simply dissipated into smoke.

How could this be?!

First Tianzun was startled, trying to form seals, but found that his body couldn't move.

"If you won't talk, I have plenty of ways to make you talk."

Xiao Ming glanced at him, and with a thought, the surroundings changed. First Tianzun was bound to a cross, and two shadowy figures appeared by his side, holding pliers and scissors.

"What do you want to do?"

"Nothing much, just letting you experience the torture of the eighteen levels of hell. Of course, you might not know what it means to suffer in the eighteen levels of hell, but that's alright. After you experience it, you'll find out." Xiao Ming smiled faintly, and the two shadowy figures immediately approached, prying open First Tianzun's mouth and gripping his tongue with iron pliers. They pulled it out slowly, not in one swift motion, but gradually stretching it out...

"AHH!"

A miserable scream echoed throughout this world.

This was not because First Tianzun was weak, but because the torture inflicted here was on the soul itself.

This kind of pain reached deep into his soul.

Could he stand it just once? Perhaps twice? How about a million times?