When the Chairman and the Director of God Hall arrived, their faces were twisted with fury.
There was no helping it—their most important subordinates, even their potential successors, lay here on the brink of death.
“Did you give them potions?!”
The Chairman was usually gentle with Vice Chairman Yang and Saint Green Snake, but at this moment, he couldn’t care less and directly berated his two core subordinates.
Vice Chairman Yang and Saint Green Snake hurriedly replied that they had used the best healing medicine they had on them.
The Chairman snorted coldly, then walked over to Sister Bo. His plump hand stretched out and hovered a few centimeters above her left chest.
Upon closer inspection, everyone noticed that his hand wasn’t touching her—instead, tiny electric currents flickered in the space between his palm and her body, slowly shifting.
As the currents moved, Sister Bo’s body began to tremble slightly, and the horrifying wounds on her surface started to change.
Her flesh was regenerating!
This continued for over ten seconds before the Chairman withdrew his hand. He looked as if he had just stepped out of a sauna, wiping sweat from his face with a rough motion before glancing at his two subordinates.
“Green Snake, take Sister Bo to Mei Rang. Make sure she’s taken care of—or I’ll kill you!”
Saint Green Snake nodded, lifting Sister Bo —who was twice his size—and carrying her away in another direction.
But as he turned, unmistakable resentment flashed in his eyes.
He was injured, too, yet his treatment was worlds apart.
On the other side, the Director of God Hall sprinkled a medicinal powder over Ah Xiu’s wounds, which rapidly closed. But just like Sister Bo, Ah Xiu was already in a near-death state. While the powder stopped the bleeding and restored her wounds, it couldn’t return the lost vitality.
Worse, Ah Xiu herself seemed to have given up on living, her condition even more dire than Sister Bo’s.
The Director’s mask betrayed no emotion. He half-carried Ah Xiu, calling her name softly twice before hesitating. Then, with a wave of his hand toward an empty patch of ground, a white jade coffin materialized.
Cold air seeped from the coffin as its lid automatically opened, revealing a level-eight humanoid monster sitting inside.
Its body appeared stitched together from different creatures, with only its head looking somewhat normal.
The moment the monster sat up, it awoke, its four arms (each with three sharp claws) gripping the coffin as it prepared to leap out. But with another wave of the Director’s hand, its body exploded without even a scream.
Severed limbs and gore splattered around the coffin, a grotesque sight—but above the coffin, a black, soul-like entity floated in the air.
It looked like a normal human.
The Director gestured, and the soul drifted to Ah Xiu’s forehead, slowly merging into her body.
“Soul Reaper?!”
The Chairman, having just finished treating Sister Bo, stood up and witnessed this scene. He couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.
He had seen the Director’s abilities before, but never expected his secondary job to be Soul Reaper—one of the top-grade support classes.
Considering God Hall’s expertise in life creation and now this soul-manipulating job, the Chairman’s wariness toward the Director deepened.
The ground trembled briefly before fresh, tender vines sprouted, weaving into a stretcher in moments. The Director placed Ah Xiu—now appearing to be in a deep sleep—onto it, and the vines continued growing, cocooning her completely.
As the Director stood, the vine-wrapped Ah Xiu slowly sank into the earth, vanishing to an unknown location.
The Grand Chairman watched, gaining a deeper understanding of the seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent Demon Vine.
“Where’s Cheng Ou?”
Now that Ah Xiu’s life was secured, the Director relaxed slightly—though the cost had been immense.
Outsiders only knew that the Soul Reaper job had near-resurrection abilities, but they didn’t realize the heavy price the user had to pay.
The monster in the white jade coffin was a lifeform he had specifically engineered for his job, ensuring a high success rate for soul extraction. But cultivating such a creature was incredibly expensive, far beyond the cost of ordinary combat-assembled lifeforms.
Moreover, the cooldown for a Soul Reaper’s skill was extremely long, meaning that if the Director himself were in danger, he wouldn’t be able to save himself for a considerable time.
Most critically, after being revived by an artificial soul, Ah Xiu could no longer maintain her “purity.”
Add to that the mental energy consumed, and the Director was seething with suppressed rage.
He was deeply dissatisfied with his subordinates’ performance earlier. They had been too careless against the blind King of Cloud Peak, allowing him to land a devastating counterattack.
He couldn’t blame Ah Xiu—she was his chosen successor. Nor could he blame Soul Merchant, as Sister Bo was also severely injured, and one of their Saints had lost a level-eight battle pet. Their losses were far from trivial.
The only one left to vent his anger on was Cheng Ou.
But now, he realized Cheng Ou wasn’t even here. His displeasure deepened—then his expression suddenly changed.
“He went after Ye Zhongming,” Vice Chairman Yang confirmed the Director’s suspicion.
“That idiot!”
The Director roared and immediately sprinted in the direction Ye Zhongming had fled, with the Chairman close behind.
Now was the time they had to intervene. The duration of the Mountain and Water Eternal World was limited, and they couldn’t risk the King of Cloud Peak dragging out the fight until the effect expired.
But a deafening gunshot echoed from the distance before they had run more than a few seconds.
Everyone froze.
Then the Director let out a distorted scream, charging forward like a madman.
Moments later, they found half of Cheng Ou’s corpse beneath a large tree.
A massive wound at his waist had completely severed his lower body, and the sheer force had pulverized all his internal organs. The man who had once been their strongest defender now lay lifeless on the ground, beyond even a god’s power to save.
Beside the body lay a severed tendon from some unknown creature. Vice Chairman Yang picked it up and gave it a light tug—it emitted a strange, quiet sound that carried far into the distance.
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
The Director of God Hall was consumed by fury. Today felt like the end of God Hall—his elite subordinates, all dead, save for Ah Xiu.
As his roar tore through the air, the entire forest shook.
Countless roars answered in unison.
From multiple directions, a tide of beasts charged forth.