Chapter 556: Soul Shadow

Chapter 556: Chapter 556: Soul Shadow

The taste of souls was no stranger to Shen Hao. He’d tried both the strong and the faint varieties. The "woman" in front of him didn’t have a potent soul, and there was very little of it—about one-tenth the amount of a complete, normal soul.

Moreover, as Shen Hao drew in the soul, the "woman’s" body began to dissipate. Only now did Shen Hao sense that this "woman" was entirely constructed from mana, not a real body. No wonder she could be bound by soul power, yet wasn’t afraid of being crushed.

Just what kind of technique is this? It really is almost magical.

But why bother making an ugly face? Since the body is built by mana, why not just casually use a stranger’s appearance to be more confusing?

Shen Hao could only keep these questions in his heart for now. The other’s identity, too, was something Shen Hao cared about.

Was this an individual’s work, or was it related to some organization? How strong was the other party?

When Shen Hao dispelled the Concealment Array, only his own figure remained in the alley.

"Huh? Where’s that woman?"

The ones who were most surprised—and daring enough to come out and ask Shen Hao—were the three guards sent by the Commander’s Office. They’d been using their perception to sense what was happening in the alley, and they were amazed to see Shen Hao employ such a marvelous "soul power" technique. That was supposed to be a fearsome skill—one they hadn’t learned yet. In fact, rumor had it you needed to be at the Primordial Pill Realm to cultivate it. So how could Shen Hao use it?

And that wasn’t even all. They thought Shen Hao would capture that trapped woman, but even after using his soul power, he still couldn’t do anything about her. Her body twisted all over—turns out, she wasn’t even a real human!

They wanted to keep watching, but suddenly Shen Hao threw out a Concealment Array, cutting off their perception. Sure, the three of them could easily break through that little trick, but tearing down the pretense openly was something they didn’t dare to do. All they could do was wait curiously for the result. They’d never expected to end up with such an uncanny scene as this.

Of course, Shen Hao knew the three in hiding would jump out and question him. These three not only protected him, but also had to keep an eye on him. So when they stepped up to ask, they were perfectly justified and didn’t care about Shen Hao’s feelings. It was their duty.

"No idea. She got away."

"Got away?! How is that possible! Didn’t you trap her with soul power? How could she escape?"

"Don’t know. The fact is, she escaped. Used something like Earth Escape."

"You... ah, whatever. You cast a Concealment Array earlier. Did you manage to ask anything?"

Shen Hao narrowed his eyes, giving this guard a half-smile, half-sneer as he stared: "Are you interrogating me, or judging me?"

"..."

The three were momentarily at a loss. It was true—their orders were to "protect and watch," not to directly engage with or question Shen Hao, and he was under no obligation to answer their questions. To put it bluntly, the Commander’s Office had only sent them to "keep an eye on" Shen Hao.

"You were sensing what was going on here the whole time before I set up the Concealing Array. You couldn’t have missed anything before that, could you? Here’s a deal: you tell me what method that woman just used, and then I’ll tell you what I said to her under the Concealing Array. How about it?"

After a moment’s silence, one of them replied, "That was a soul shadow, a fake person made out of her own soul. Not only does it replicate the essence and physical sense of the original body, but even things like cultivation fluctuations can be copied exactly, almost like stamping. Some even have a certain degree of combat ability.

It’s a very advanced skill—we’d only heard rumors about it before, but this is our first time seeing it in person."

"Heh, since you all know she wasn’t a real person but a ’soul shadow,’ why are you still asking me where the person went?"

"We—we’ve just never seen a soul shadow before, didn’t know it could escape even from soul power. Haha, Shen Hao, your soul power’s pretty damn powerful, huh?"

Shen Hao just smiled and ignored that. Some things, even if he said them, others wouldn’t believe. If there were clues to follow, let them figure it out for themselves. If they really pressed him, he’d just push it onto Nie Yun. Why can’t someone else be the teacher here?

But he still volunteered, "I set up the Concealing Array to get a look at her real face. Who’d have thought that the moment I opened a small gap, the woman vanished. Shame."

This explanation got him three looks of overt "contempt." They thought: "What a lecher. Got caught up in lust and suffered because of it? No wonder even soul power couldn’t keep her bound—this bastard must have opened a gap because he wanted to see her face, and that’s how she slipped away."

The trio didn’t keep questioning Shen Hao. They knew they wouldn’t get anything else out of him, so sensibly vanished from sight once more.

Only then did Shen Hao leave the alley, get on the carriage, and head all the way home.

He instructed Xia Nu not to let anyone disturb him in the study, then dove into the room, set up the Concealment Array and activated the defensive Magic Disc he’d obtained at the auction earlier. He wanted to be undisturbed while taking a good look at the unexpected harvest from this incident.

The three guards from the Commander’s Office who were watching in secret were already used to this kind of thing. They knew there were things Shen Hao definitely didn’t want them to know.

Inside the study, after setting up several arrays, Shen Hao impatiently pulled out the three Yin Jade Maps from his Storage Bag. The one with the region mark, which had already been identified as belonging to the City of Unjust Death, he put aside. Looking at the remaining two, he saw that they looked almost identical at first glance. The lines on both were of nearly the same structure—they were both route guides inside a maze.

Shen Hao compared the two Yin Jade Maps carefully for a long time. Finally, he turned one horizontally and pressed it up to the other, finding that some of the lines joined together perfectly, forming a larger, but still incomplete, maze map.

After looking for a while, Shen Hao frowned and put them away. This thing was of no real use to him at the moment. Whether it would be fortune or disaster was still up in the air. And it had already brought him trouble.

Soul shadow? Shen Hao remembered that technique. If he wanted to investigate, he might be able to trace it from here. Also, he contacted Flying Dragon, telling him to keep an eye out on the black market for three pieces of Yin Jade of palm-size and top quality—he needed to make preparations in advance for certain things.

...

Elsewhere, dozens of li outside Fengri City in a deep mountain forest, a hidden cave could be found. The entrance was concealed by an Illusion Array, utterly impossible for ordinary folk to spot.

Inside the cave, a beautiful woman sat cross-legged on the ground, her face pale, a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, rage simmering in her eyes.

After such a long pursuit, she had finally found a clue, thinking the auction would be an easy win—only for a damned bastard to ruin it all.

If it weren’t for the other’s special identity and considerable fame, she wouldn’t have bothered to try a friendly warning. Instead, he didn’t appreciate her kindness at all—the bastard deserved to die!

What’s worse, he not only knew how to use such profound soul power, but he was very likely an evil cultivator capable of absorbing life souls!

Her soul shadow had been thoroughly destroyed, and she lost nearly ten percent of her soul in the process. That was a serious injury—no way to recover in less than a year or two. A harsh lesson, but things weren’t over yet.

"That bastard surnamed Shen, we’re not done yet!"