"You're here as well, Lord Badar? We seemed to have sensed something earlier. Is the leader fine?" asked the Skeleton Gang members who had just arrived after saluting Badar.
Most of the Skeleton Gang members had gone to attack the Han Clan. With Badar's strength, he was among the highest ranked members who had stayed behind.
"What can happen to the leader? He is enjoying himself. Go away now. You know what will happen if the leader is interrupted when he is having fun," said Badar impatiently.
"Is everything really fine?" asked the same person doubtfully.
"Feel free to take a look if you want. Just don't blame me for what happens next," said Badar as he stepped aside.
"No, no, of course not. We don't have the guts to interrupt the leader when he is having fun. Alright, we're going back to patrol," the person quickly said.
They knew very well how their leader was. They had only asked Badar so many questions to probe if everything was fine. In any case, Badar was stronger than them. If something had really happened to their leader, he would have noticed it before them.
Inside the hall, Xiang Shaoyun was chanting the curse repeatedly, sending numerous symbols into Celestial Skeleton's soul. He was sending much more symbols out than he normally did. The power of curse wrapped around Celestial Skeleton's soul was also much stronger than what he had used on others before this. He was being cautious as he did not wish for Celestial Skeleton to break free from his control after recovering.
Meanwhile, Celestial Skeleton had nearly gone mad from Xiang Shaoyun's torture. If it wasn't for his serious injuries and Du Xuanhao's suppression, he would have destroyed the entire hall by now. After a while, Xiang Shaoyun finally stopped chanting. He looked pale, and it was quite clear he had overused his soul power.
"It's finally done," muttered Xiang Shaoyun as he wiped the sweat on his forehead.
Inwardly, he rejoiced, Good thing I have the ghostrune emperors helping out. Otherwise, it would have been much harder to subdue this guy.
"What's next, young master?" asked Du Xuanhao.
"Let go of him and let him recover," said Xiang Shaoyun.
"What? S-should we be doing that?" asked Du Xuanhao with a worried look.
Although he knew Xiang Shaoyun had a wondrous mind control technique, he was still anxious as Celestial Skeleton was a peak Emperor. He wasn't even sure if he could actually defeat an opponent like him.
"Don't worry. It will be fine," said Xiang Shaoyun confidently.
The Nether Dragon Soul Curse had never failed. He was sure this time would not be an exception. On top of that, he had the assistance of the Nether Dragon Soul Headband, which was a top-tier treasure of the Imperial Nether Clan. Not even a peak Emperor could hope to escape the control of his curse.
Du Xuanhao released Celestial Skeleton and fed him a healing king medicine, helping him recover faster. After swallowing the king medicine, Celestial Skeleton's body acted on instinct and started healing.
Finally, he recovered enough to regain some clarity of mind. The first thing he did was ask furiously, "W-who exactly are you?"
"That does not matter. You only need to remember that I am your master from now on," said Xiang Shaoyun nonchalantly before he suddenly started chanting the curse again.
"Ahhhh!"
Celestial Skeleton wailed immediately, feeling as if his brain was going to explode. It was even more painful than when the ghostrun emperor had attacked him. It was as if there were tens of thousands of bugs gnawing at his brain at the same time, making him suffer enough to wish for death.
"Do you understand me? I am your master from now on. If you disobey, I can take your life with a mere thought," said Xiang Shaoyun after he stopped chanting.
"Y-yes...," Celestial Skeleton answered with extreme indignation. Inwardly, he vowed to himself, Just you wait. When I recover enough, I will slaughter your entire family!
"Hehe, looks like you are still unwilling to submit. You actually dare to curse this young master?" said Xiang Shaoyun with a fiendish smile. He started chanting again.
Once again, Celestial Skeleton started wailing. If it wasn't for Du Xuanhao isolating the room from the outside world, the others would have heard the wails for sure.
"You are already under my control, so I know your every thought. You better not try to scheme behind my back," said Xiang Shaoyun when he stopped chanting again.
This time, Celestial Skeleton seemed to have given up for real. After all, his soul had been controlled and none of his thoughts were private anymore. How was he supposed to resist?
At this moment, Badar suddenly spoke to Xiang Shaoyun through voice transmission, "Master, the two deputy leaders have returned."
Xiang Shaoyun frowned before saying to Celestial Skeleton, "Do you have a secret room we can hide temporarily? Think of a story yourself to explain your injuries. Make sure to not leak any information."
"P-please come with me, master," answered Celestial Skeleton with some difficulty after swallowing a healing pill.
He brought Xiang Shaoyun and Du Xuanhao to a hidden room behind the hall. This was the room he usually used for secluded cultivation. Apart from a simple bed, there was nothing else in the room.
It was worth noting that there were a lot of paintings hanging on the room's walls, depicting scenes that would cause any woman to blush in embarrassment if they saw them. These were all paintings of men and women having intercourse in numerous complicated positions.
Xiang Shaoyun couldn't help laughing dryly when he saw the paintings as he mused, "This is quite an eye-opener."
Although he was known as a playboy during his time at his sect, he was still a virgin.
"These are probably the diagrams of a sinister dual cultivation technique," said Du Xuanhao with a frown.
"Something similar to plucking the yin to enhance the yang?" Xiang Shaoyun asked doubtfully.
"I think so. Otherwise, all these meridians wouldn't have been depicted so clearly in these paintings," said Du Xuanhao.
Xiang Shaoyun nodded and lost all interest. At this time, Earth Skeleton and Human Skeleton had just returned with the others. As for Celestial Skeleton, he did not bother returning to the main hall. Rather, he stayed in his room, which was directly connected to the hidden room.
"Boss, the two girls you want are here. But one person from the Han Clan has escaped. We already have someone chasing after him," reported Earth Skeleton respectfully.
Two tied up beautiful women could be seen beside him. They were none other than Han Qianwei and Han Xuewei.
Some wounds were visible on them. They had evidently been injured during the battle. Their clothes had also been torn slightly, revealing the fair skin underneath. Both of them had a look of panic and indignation. Evidently, they were clear about what would happen to them next.
"Bring them in," said Celestial Skeleton.
The door of the room opened. After pushing the two women inside, Earth Skeleton frowned and asked, "Boss, what's going on?"
It was obvious he had noticed something wrong with Celestial Skeleton.