44: Chapter 44 Ransom Arrives! Soul Wind Releases the Prisoner!

Soul Realm main hall, just past noon.

The delegation from Ancient Dragon Island arrived faster than Hun Feng had anticipated. The Grand Elder of West Dragon Island led the team personally. A dozen or so Ancient Dragons transformed into human form, stepping out from the void cracks one by one. Their expressions were unpleasant as they landed on the plaza in front of the main hall. Especially the white-haired old dragon leading them; although he wore a polite smile, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly—the attendant behind him held a jade box carved from ten-thousand-year dragon crystal. Inside, five drops of Royal Ancient Dragon essence blood were sealed by layers of restrictions. Even through the semi-transparent box walls, one could see the golden-red liquid slowly circulating, each rotation causing the surrounding space to emit a faint hum.

The envoys from Heavenly Serpent Mansion followed closely behind. They were a remote sect of the Jia Ma Empire and lacked the ability of Ancient Dragon Island to tear directly through space barriers, so they had to follow proper etiquette, entering through the void passage reserved by the Hun Clan. The team was led by the Grand Elder of Heavenly Serpent Mansion, followed by four young disciples. The storage ring they held contained ten million gold coins—two million as a down payment, with the remaining eight million to be paid in installments, stamped with the blood seal of Sect Leader Qingmu Zhenren of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion.

Hun Feng sat on the main seat of the main hall, with Hun Qian standing by his side, verifying the number of essence blood drops and gold coins one by one. After confirming everything was correct, Hun Feng waved his hand readily: "Release them."

When Zi Yan was brought out from the side courtyard by Hun You personally, she was full of wariness, her hands clenched into fists, her golden dragon pupils scanning everyone present vigilantly. When she saw the pained and helpless face of the Grand Elder of West Dragon Island, her clenched fists slowly relaxed. The old dragon stepped forward and bowed, his voice hoarse but unable to hide his excitement: "Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, this old man is late. Are you injured?"

"I'm not injured, just frustrated." Zi Yan rubbed her wrists, which had been frozen by Hun Qinger, and turned back to glare fiercely at Hun Feng. "Hun Feng, you just wait. Next time I come, it won't be to crash a wedding, but to tear down your entire Soul Realm."

"I await your arrival at any time." Hun Feng lifted his teacup and smiled slightly, in such a good mood that he couldn't be bothered to argue with her.

Zi Yan wanted to continue scolding, but was half-coaxed, half-dragged away by the Grand Elder of West Dragon Island. As the Ancient Dragon delegation left the main hall, the old dragon looked back at Hun Feng. There was resentment and helplessness in that look, but more of it was wariness of the current strength of the Hun Clan. Hun Feng was very satisfied with that look—it was exactly the effect he wanted.

The Grand Elder of Heavenly Serpent Mansion looked relieved for a moment when he saw Qing Lin walk out of the side courtyard. Qing Lin was still her usual quiet self, her emerald snake pupils slightly squinted in the sunlight as she walked up to the Grand Elder and called out softly, "Master." The Grand Elder looked her up and down carefully, confirming that she was neither injured nor had any restrictions placed on her, before he let out a long sigh of relief. He turned and bowed to Hun Feng: "Hun Feng kept his promise, and the Heavenly Serpent Mansion will keep this in mind. The remaining eight million will be paid in batches within four months, with absolutely no arrears."

Hun Feng nodded casually, quite satisfied with the straightforward attitude of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion. The Heavenly Serpent Mansion group did not stay long, and after handing over the ransom, they sensibly took their leave. Before leaving, Qing Lin looked back at the main hall, her gaze resting on Hun Feng's face for a moment. There was no hatred or anger, just a very serious look, as if she wanted to remember what this person looked like.

As for Yao Ming—Hun Feng thought for a moment. Over the years, the Nine Serenities Deep Ground Python Clan had been squeezed by the Hall of Souls to the point where even the clan elders couldn't scrape together a few decent treasures. There was really no profit to be squeezed out of them, so he simply did a favor and released him as well. When Yao Ming was brought out, a trace of faint surprise flashed in his snake pupils, but he immediately returned to his usual silence. He cupped his fists at Hun Feng without saying a word, turned, and walked out the front door. His pace was steady and composed, but the moment he stepped out of the front door, he looked up and took a deep breath of the gray, murky air of the Soul Realm.

The ransom was collected, the hostages released, and the main hall quieted down again. Hun Feng leaned back in his chair, toying with the dragon crystal jade box in his hand. The five drops of Ancient Dragon essence blood were slowly circulating in the box, and even through the box wall, one could feel the majestic power of the bloodline. He calculated that this essence blood could refine at least ten Nine-Rank Bone Forging Pills, and if he were lucky, it might even push him a step further on top of his late-stage Six-Star foundation.

However, before he could finish his calculations, Hun Qian walked quickly into the main hall and handed over a still-hot communication jade slip. The message on the jade slip came from the secret line of the Hun Clan—Gu Yuan had slammed the table in public at the Ancient Saint Peak Council of Elders. The original words were just one sentence: "Prepare the gifts; this old man is going to the Soul Realm in person to ask for an explanation." Gu Dao could not stop him, and Elder Gu Qian claimed illness and did not come out. The entire Ancient Clan Elder Hall had turned into a mess because of this matter.

After reading the jade slip, the smile on Hun Feng's face faded slightly. Gu Yuan coming in person was somewhat unexpected. It seemed that his daughter, Xun'er, carried more weight in Gu Yuan's heart than he had estimated. Gu Yuan could accept the marriage alliance, and he could tacitly approve of Xiao Yan breaking into the Soul Realm, but with his daughter detained in the Soul Realm unable to return, this old father at the peak of the Nine-Star level could finally no longer sit still.

"Let him come." Hun Feng placed the jade slip on the desk, his tone calm but carrying a hint of unknown anticipation. "If Gu Yuan visits in person, I can just settle the account of Xun'er with him face to face."

Starfall Pavilion, bamboo forest behind the mountain.

Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on a scorched rock in the depths of the bamboo forest that had been repeatedly burned by strange fire, the xuan heavy ruler resting across his knees. Since returning from the Soul Realm, he had stayed behind closed doors in Yao Chen's Pill Hall for three full days. After healing all his injuries, he dove headfirst into cultivation. He entered meditation when the morning light first appeared and only ended his cultivation at midnight. For his three meals a day, he used the old tea set that Xun'er had left behind at Starfall Pavilion to pour and drink for himself—the tea was bitter, but he was already used to it.

The Supreme Elder token that Xun'er left behind was returned to the Ancient Clan by him through Yao Chen. He didn't say much, just sent four words: "Xun'er is safe." What he owed Xun'er, Xun'er had repaid him in the way she left. He kept this sentiment in his heart, hotter than any strange fire. And then there was Xiao Yi Xian—the white-haired woman who had followed him all the way from Qingshan Town to Starfall Pavilion, always standing behind him silently, taking blades for him, testing poisons for him, and now she was detained in the Soul Realm as his final hostage. Whenever he thought of her eyes, calm as water, when she looked at him last, his chest felt so tight he couldn't breathe.

After Xiao Zhan was rescued, he had been living in the side courtyard of Starfall Pavilion. Yao Chen personally adjusted his body. The hidden injuries left by years of imprisonment were not serious, but his vitality was severely depleted and needed to be nursed slowly. Every day after finishing his cultivation, Xiao Yan would go to the side courtyard to sit for a while, sometimes bringing a pot of freshly brewed tea, sometimes bringing nothing at all. Xiao Zhan never took the initiative to ask what happened in the Soul Realm. When his son came to see him for the first time, he just patted his shoulder and said: "Your father has figured one thing out in the dungeon these years—as long as you are alive, there is a chance for a comeback."

The light of four types of strange fire reignited around Xiao Yan. The dark golden palm print of the fifth seal of the Emperor Seal Art, the Ancient Emperor Seal, condensed and dissipated repeatedly in his palm. The speed of condensation was nearly twice as fast as the day of the wedding. The fusion of the Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus was also progressing steadily, and the balance point of the four-colored fire lotus was more stable than before. On the day of the wedding, he had been crushed head-on by Hun Feng with a three-colored fire lotus. He hadn't said a word about that humiliation to anyone, but every frame of the scene was branded in his mind like a mark. He had carefully recalled every detail of that duel—after Hun Feng suppressed his cultivation to the two-star level, his total Dou Qi was indeed on par with his, but his combat rhythm and detail control were more than a notch higher than his. That was an instinct honed from twenty years of slaughter in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, which could not be matched by talent and strange fire alone.

But he was not without the power to fight back. Huangquan Heavenly Fury had torn through Hun Feng's soul defense, the Yellow Spring Finger had left that bloodstain on his face, and the head-on collision between the Buddha's Fury Reincarnation and the three-colored fire lotus had ended in defeat, but it had also forced out all of Hun Feng's trump cards. He needed more strange fire—this was the essence of the Burning Technique, and it was his only capital to cross the gap in cultivation level and confront Hun Feng head-on. The Purification Lotus Demon Flame was ranked third, the Sea Heart Flame was ranked fifteenth, and the Void Devouring Flame Sub-flame was an origin branch of the second-ranked strange fire on the strange fire ranking list. Among the four strange fires he currently had, except for the Bone Chilling Flame which had a relatively high ranking, the other three were in the middle or lower reaches of the strange fire ranking list. To confront Hun Feng's three-colored fire lotus head-on, he needed to find at least one more strange fire ranked in the top ten.

When Yao Chen came over from the Pill Hall, he saw him frowning at a jade slip. On the jade slip was information about strange fires collected from various places in the Central Plains by the secret agents of the Sky Mansion Alliance—there had been weak fluctuations of the sixth-ranked Eight Desolation Destruction Flame in the depths of the Ancient Ruins; the eighth-ranked Red Lotus Karma Fire was last seen in the ancestral land of the Yan Clan; the tenth-ranked Nine Nether Golden Ancestor Flame was said to have some connection with the forbidden area of the Nine Serenities Deep Ground Python Clan. Every piece of information was extremely uncertain, but every one of them could be priceless.

"Yan Jin of the Yan Clan owes us a favor; we can ask him to confirm the information about the Red Lotus Karma Fire. The information about the Eight Desolation Destruction Flame is too old; let the secret agents continue to track it, do not rashly send people to explore—the risks in the Ancient Ruins are not something you can handle alone right now." Yao Chen placed a bowl of freshly brewed medicinal soup by his side, then looked at the jade slip, a trace of relief flashing in his eyes. This disciple had not been crushed—the Ancient Emperor Seal was faster, the fire lotus was more stable, his eyes were deeper and fiercer than before, and he had finally started to take the initiative to find a path to become stronger instead of relying on luck or waiting for opportunities.

Xiao Yan put down the jade slip, picked up the medicinal soup, took a sip, and looked up in the direction of the Soul Realm. His eyes, tempered by the flames of war, grew colder and sharper, reflecting the gray, murky clouds on the horizon. Xun'er, Xiao Yi Xian—I will definitely come to pick you up, and it won't be long.