Due to his act of killing in public, Xiang Shaoyun had attracted the attention of the enforcers. This time, the enforcers did not say anything at all. They only quickly cleaned up Ye Xuan's corpse before leaving.
Xiang Shaoyun wasn't surprised. He was merely a victim and was acting in self defense. If he still had to be punished, it would only show that the Cloud Margin Pavilion was an unjust organization.
As for whether there would be any trouble because of killing Ye Xuan, he did not have the time to consider it for now. He had to quickly leave to avoid being dragged into more trouble.
If he stayed and waited until a King Realm expert decided to make a move on him, he would be completely helpless. Just as Xiang Shaoyun and Mo Mo were about to leave, Li Yaxuan suddenly rushed toward them.
Xiang Shaoyun glanced at the young woman lazily and smiled. "Are you going to attack as well?"
He could sense that this woman was even stronger than Xie Sanqian and Ye Xuan. If she was here to attack, she would be a troublesome opponent.
"Since you have bought two items of extreme cold, you must certainly be aiming for the earthcore fire. I propose a partnership. What do you think?" Li Yaxuan extended an offer of cooperation instead.
The people around them were all envious when they heard Li Yaxuan's invitation. Li Yaxuan was a prized genius of the Cloud Margin Pavilion. Not only was she beautiful, she also had amazing talent in cultivation. Wherever she went, she was the center of attention.
Now that she had personally invited a seemingly ordinary man to join her, the crowd found it hard to accept. Unexpectedly, Xiang Shaoyun rejected her without the slightest hesitation. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't work with strangers."
After saying that, he left with Mo Mo without sparing Li Yaxuan another glance. Everyone was dumbstruck. That fellow had actually rejected Li Yaxuan's invitation. They found it unforgivable.
Some of them had the urge to go teach Xiang Shaoyun a lesson, but when they recalled that Xiang Shaoyun had just killed Ye Xuan, they suppressed their urge.
Li Yaxuan did not appear dissatisfied. She smiled and muttered as she gazed at Xiang Shaoyun's departing back, "What an interesting fellow."
On their way back, Mo Mo asked Xiang Shaoyun curiously, "Young master, why did you reject that young miss? She is both pretty and strong. If you can—"
Xiang Shaoyun waved his hand before she could finish and said, "Never lightly trust a pretty woman."
Mo Mo asked, "Why?"
"Because they are too good at lying," Xiang Shaoyun sighed. Suddenly, a graceful figure surfaced in his head, and his heart started aching.
Both Xiang Shaoyun and Mo Mo arrived at the Cloud Margin Restaurant smoothly. Here they would be much safer. After returning to the restaurant, Xiang Shaoyun recovered from his bad mood.
The battle earlier had exhausted quite a lot of his energy. Ye Xuan's ambush had also caused him to suffer some internal injuries. He had to first recover before doing anything else. He had a feeling that he was going to enter the third stage of the Transformation Realm soon.
Ever since he reached the second stage at the Golden River Valley, he had been focusing on consolidating his cultivation base. Only recently did he start growing again. After the Redwolf Bandit battle and the battle earlier, he had reached the very peak of the second stage.
He could feel the astral energy within his body boiling to the point his aura was turning unstable. However, he still suppressed the energy instead of letting himself break through.
Now was not the best time for him to break through. He was in no rush anyway. It would be better to keep suppressing and consolidating his cultivation base for a while more before breaking through.
He was already growing fast enough. He had to put more focus on his foundations, which would enable him to travel further in his path of cultivation. After recovering slightly, Xiang Shaoyun took out the items he had purchased from the auction impatiently.
Right this instant, the Nether Soul Domain within his head began to stir again. Xiang Shaoyun wanted to suppress it, but when he sensed the thirst originating from his very soul, he decided to let nature take its course.
"You better not be some sinister item," Xiang Shaoyun muttered as he stared at the crude headband.
He then loosened up his control over his consciousness, allowing the Nether Soul Domain to expand. An indescribable power seemed to have appeared, trying to summon the headband. The headband actually reacted to the summons as it started emanating clumps of dark misty radiance.
Swish!
The Nether Soul Domain enveloped the headband and pulled it into Xiang Shaoyun's head. After entering the space within Xiang Shaoyun's head, the headband merged completely with the Nether Soul Domain. The two started emanating a similar aura, an aura that gave Xiang Shaoyun an extremely intimate sensation. The black mist emanated by the headband started roiling in his head as the loop turned into a roaring black dragon.
"Roar! Roar!"
The roar was so dreadfully powerful that Xiang Shaoyun's soul couldn't stand the impact, and he fell unconscious. After an unknown amount of time, Xiang Shaoyun woke up with a dazed mind.
"AHHHH!"
The first sensation he felt after waking up was a sharp pain, causing him to yell. He grabbed at his head and dove onto his bed as he thought anxiously, Is this the backlash of absorbing a sinister item? Just as he was about to shout for Mo Mo, an odd symbol suddenly appeared within his mind. The symbol was different from a regular human language; it represented an ancient and profound mnemonic chant.
Nether Dragon Soul Curse!
This was the name of a mnemonic chant originating from the Imperial Nether Clan. The mnemonic chant was a secret exclusive to the Imperial Nether Clan and was not something the members of other clans could cultivate.
Only the members of the Imperial Nether Clan would be able to awaken a Nether Soul Domain that enabled them to cultivate this curse. The benefit of cultivating the Nether Dragon Soul Curse was that Xiang Shaoyun would be able to control the Nether Dragon Soul Headband that was currently in his head.
And what was the benefit of controlling the Nether Dragon Soul Headband? The headband's controller could attach the headband to a person, turning that person into a puppet. In other words, this headband was a tool allowing one to control others. The Nether Dragon Soul Curse was a fearsome curse from the ancient past. Once cursed, one's soul would be locked up by the headband. Escape was nearly impossible.
After obtaining the curse, the pain vanished. As for the Nether Dragon Soul Headband, a clump of an odd black radiance had appeared where the two ends of the headband connected. It looked like a black gem, and it had fully activated the headband's functionality.
It was also at this moment that Xiang Shaoyun realized that the headband wasn't damaged. Instead, its previous owner had merely died, causing the Nether Soul Domain to vanish and leave an empty space where the ends of the headband connected.
Now that a new member of the Imperial Nether Clan had appeared and obtained control over the headband, its dreadful power had reappeared in the world.