章 191: Chapter 182: Elder Xuan's Thoughts

"Dear Sea God...." Elder Xuan muttered, his voice trembling as he looked upon the carnage unfolding in Star Luo City.

Undead swarmed the streets, their lifeless eyes glinting with a sinister light as they hunted down the soul masters who had been sent to pursue Huo Yuhao's clones.

"N-No! I don't want to die! Nooo!"

"Help me! Someone help—!"

"Get away! Back! Back I say!"

The once-vibrant city was now a battlefield, the night air filled with the sounds of explosions, screams, and the chilling groans of the undead.

Elder Xuan's heart sank as he witnessed the chaos from the safety of his observation point. He could see the red flares signaling distress from various parts of the city, each one a silent cry for help from the teams that had been caught in the deadly trap.

The normally bustling streets were now littered with the bodies of the fallen, and the undead continued their relentless march, driven by an unseen force.

"Huo Yuhao....what have you done?" Elder Xuan whispered, his eyes narrowing in sorrow and disbelief as he watched the mysterious figure, still shrouded in darkness, methodically reload his Godly Shotgun before disappearing into the shadows.

The pentagram in Yuhao's eyes, glowing with a deathly grey light, was the last thing he saw before he vanished from the naked eye.

But Elder Xuan could still easily track him, it's just....he was still taking in the situation that was happening.

Huo Yuhao, one of the most talented youths he has ever known, was a ruthless Evil Soul Master!

When Elder Xuan noticed Huo Yuhao secretly leaving the Star Luo Grand Hotel, wearing a disguise and with a dozen of his clones following him, he quickly followed after the boy—realizing what his intentions were, at first.

He watched from the void hidden within space, a skill that Transcendent Douluos have, and saw how Huo Yuhao silently followed after a frail looking old man.

With his high level cultivation, he easily saw through the disguise of the old man and recognized him to be the leading teacher of the Sun Moon Empire's representative team.

Elder Xuan realized that Huo Yuhao was going to steal the hundred thousand year old soul beast embryo, using his clones as distractions on all sides, and he would go after the people from the Sun Moon Empire.

Elder Xuan was deeply worried and thought that the situation with Huo Yuhao's second martial soul was truly serious than he first thought, he felt incredibly guilty about it and decided to help out the boy by taking care of high level enemies.

He also tried to keep an eye on the original going into the secret passageway. He narrowed his eyes when his sixth sense couldn't penetrate through deeper.

There was indeed a secret passageway, Elder Xuan bemused and thought to report this to the Star Luo Emperor.

After a moment of hesitation, Elder Xuan chose to place his faith in Huo Yuhao. He understood the boy enough to know that he wouldn't risk his life for something like the embryo if he wasn't confident in his skills.

Elder Xuan was then surprised to see Huo Yuhao's clones easily avoiding low level Soul Douluos and high level Soul Sages, and contemplated inwardly —just how powerful is Huo Yuhao at this moment?

Though considering his spiritual power, which sometimes made him feel uneasy, it made sense that his senses and mentality was several leagues beyond his peers...

Even so, that doesn't explain the skills his clones showed; were they using the Akatsuki secret techniques that he heard about from Wang Yan? No wonder Huo Yuhao was confident in creating a sect.

Elder Xuan just waited for Huo Yuhao to resurface while knocking out Titled Douluos, Soul Douluos and Soul Sages with a mere flick of his fingers that was coming close into the area.

It took a few hours before Elder Xuan finally sensed Huo Yuhao's mysterious aura coming up near the surface.

Just as Elder Xuan sighed in relief, his eyes widened in shock to find a horde of the undead emerging from the secret passageway alongside Huo Yuhao. The sight was nightmarish—a writhing mass of lifeless bodies, their decaying forms oozing with malevolent shadow-like energy, swarming up from the depths.

The undead poured into the streets of Star Luo City like a flood, their rotting flesh and empty eyes scaring anyone who saw them.

And yet, despite mingling alongside a crowd of living people—there was no panic, no screams of fear, no chaos breaking out among the citizens.

The people continued with their festivities, utterly unaware of the dark presence moving among them.

It was as if the undead were invisible, or perhaps, unnoticed by the living.

The same little girl who had excitedly pointed at the fireworks earlier now skipped happily beside her father, her eyes wide with wonder, oblivious to the decaying corpses that brushed past her.

As the last undead left the "traditional" building where the secret passageway was located, Elder Xuan's shock deepened. Huo Yuhao's dark-grey soul ring shone with an otherworldly light, and in response, all of the undead seemingly liquefied, melting into Huo Yuhao's shadow. The process was both surreal and unsettling, the bodies dissolving like wax in a flame, leaving no trace behind.

Then, the explosions happened.

Elder Xuan's attention snapped to the source of the noise as he saw Huo Yuhao's clones, who had been constantly chased by various shadowy individuals, suddenly turn into clouds of white smoke.

Boom!* Boom!* Boom!*

Before the pursuers could react, powerful explosions erupted from where the clones had stood, engulfing the area in blinding light and thunderous sound. The force of the blasts was immense, wiping out most of their pursuers in an instant.

The coordinated explosions sent shockwaves through the city, collapsing nearby structures and sending debris flying.

Elder Xuan watched in stunned silence as the few survivors of the explosions, disoriented and gravely injured, attempted to flee.

Only for a group of undead to emerge from the shadows, their movements unnervingly swift as they closed in on the fleeing soul masters.

"N-No! Get off meee!"

"Help! Help! No, please, save me!"

The undead, driven by an insatiable hunger, showed no mercy. They pounced on the wounded survivors, dragging them down with relentless force.

"Aaaaaahhh!"

"No! Please, God, no! I don't wanna die yet—!"

The soul masters' cries of pain and terror echoed through the ruined streets of Star Luo City, only to be quickly silenced as the undead overwhelmed them.

Elder Xuan's heart sank further as he witnessed the merciless slaughter. The boy he had once seen as a beacon of hope and intellect was now unleashing a nightmare upon the city.

"Huo Yuhao..."

With gritted teeth and clenched fists, Elder Xuan was about to take action and stop the carnage—when the undead suddenly went stiff and collapsed onto the ground, the strange deathly aura surrounding instantly dissipated, revealing ordinary corpses.

'What? Did he dispell his soul skill?" Elder Xuan exclaimed and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the Sea God."

But now that he calmed down, he was able to start thinking about the situation clearly and came to a sudden realization.

"Wait, while planning on his heist of the embryo, did he also plotted to grow tension between the Sun Moon Empire and the other empires more?"

"The undead, who have returned to their previous state, are clearly people from the Sun Moon Empire," Elder Xuan muttered to himself, his mind racing as he pieced together the implications. "With the intelligence we've gathered about the organization of Evil Soul Masters centralized within the Sun Moon Empire, the other empires will undoubtedly come to the conclusion that this massacre was orchestrated by them."

Though there might be some more intelligent and doubtful people, they would be more caught up with their rising emotions to speak up about any doubts.

In the heat of the moment, with tensions already high, reason will be drowned out by the cries for retaliation.

Elder Xuan's heart pounded as he continued to think. "If Huo Yuhao planned this, it means he wasn't simply stealing the embryo but also to ignite a war. A conflict between the Sun Moon Empire and the other empires would throw the entire continent into chaos."

His earlier relief was quickly replaced by a deep sense of dread. Huo Yuhao's actions tonight had the potential to destabilize the entire continent.

The other empires, already suspicious of the Sun Moon Empire's growing power and their ties to the Evil Soul Masters, would see this event as an act of aggression, a declaration of war!

Then he remembered about the incident with the Dai family....did he already plotted about this long ago? By the Sea God, just how cunningly cruel of him!

"Huo Yuhao..." Elder Xuan's voice was heavy with sorrow. "Is this truly what you want? To plunge the world into chaos for the sake of revenge or some greater plan? Why would you do this...?"

Unbeknownst to Elder Xuan, Huo Yuhao certainly hadn't thought about it that far. He simply planned to use a distraction and flee unnoticed.

With his complete control over the undead, he wasn't worried about causing civilian casualties. The bombs his clones detonated? He made sure his clones attracted his pursuers into a secluded area, causing only collateral damage.

As for the soul masters? They were clearly trying to kill him, even though they had unknowingly chased after his clones, they still deserved it.

Those who kill, must be prepared to be killed in return.

'I should kill him...' Elder Xuan thought, his sense of duty clashing with his lingering sense of responsibility for Huo Yuhao's as his elder. 'It's my responsibility to eliminate threats to the people, but...'

Despite the chaos, Elder Xuan recalled his failure of protecting his students and how Huo Yuhao didn't go pass the line and attack the civilians—this proves that he hadn't gone down the dark path.

As he further calmed down and contemplated, Elder Xuan came to a shocking realization once more.

"Holy crap! Does Huo Yuhao have three martial souls?! That...that is completely unprecedented in the entire history of the Douluo Continent! Both his martial souls are already rare and powerful, but adding it with a seemingly powerful evil martial soul..." Elder Xuan gulped, the implications of such is terrifying.

Huo Yuhao's combat prowess and the deadly efficiency of his undead army. If Huo Yuhao could wield such power with three martial souls, and have a higher realm of cultivation, the threat he poses would be far beyond what anyone could anticipated!

He should be killed...or be guided. After all, he has two non-evil martial souls. Huo Yuhao was clearly more focused on his two martial souls than his third, which means he was more inclined in the "good" side.

Elder Xuan was incredibly conflicted, and decided to first help out the damage done in the city and then.....he was going to observed Huo Yuhao's actions for a while longer.

The moment that boy truly steps out of line, Elder Xuan was going to kill him.

...

Fun Fact: There might be some mistakes here that I might've missed...I wrote and then edited this chapter while being sleep deprived. I just don't know why, but I just have the motivation and dedication to write when I'm sleepy af.

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