Book 6: Chapter 071: Vying for Heavenly Souls

“Murong Yan?”

When Jiang Lianshan saw that woman, he fell silent, staring at her heavenly soul without any changes in expression. However, Gu Hai noticed something off from a distance. Jiang Lianshan had hidden his hands in his sleeves.

“This Murong Yan is very attractive.” Some surprise flashed in Gu Hai’s eyes.

Even from far away, Murong Yan looked gorgeous. Her smile made everyone’s heart pound. However, beauty was just beauty. There were others who were her equal in the world. At the very least, Gu Hai knew a group of women who did not pale in comparison.

However, such a woman still caused so many people to think about her after she married Old Mister Guan Qi? Imperial Emperor Xi Yu, Long Zhanguo, the Flame Monarch, even Jiang Lianshan?

Murong Yan looked around in confusion. Then, she lowered her head and looked at the coffin below.

The coffin lid under the Go board slid off, revealing what was inside.

“Indeed, it is not Old Mister Guan Qi’s corpse.” Shangguan Hen frowned.

The corpse of a woman wearing long, cloud silk robes lay in the coffin. This corpse looked identical to Murong Yan’s heavenly soul.

Buzz!

Murong Yan’s heavenly soul slowly entered the corpse, merging into it.

After a while, Murong Yan’s corpse opened her eyes.

Huff!

Murong Yan let out a long breath as though sighing, then slowly sat up in the coffin and stepped out.

“Salutations, Pavilion Mistress!” the Heavenly Go Pavilion disciples greeted excitedly.

The surrounding experts felt extremely excited as well.

Murong Yan came back to life? Doesn’t that mean the person I care about can come back to life?

Standing on the platform, Murong Yan looked around. When she saw Jiang Lianshan’s flying ship, she frowned slightly.

“Murong Yan greets the Yan Heavenly Emperor!” The woman suddenly bowed respectfully to Jiang Lianshan.

The woman’s voice sounded extremely pleasant, as melodious as a hundred spiritual birds singing.

When she bowed, the distant Flame Monarch felt incredibly excited. “It really is her! She is alive! She is really alive!”

The Flame Monarch trembled with excitement.

Jiang Lianshan stared at Murong Yan, not saying anything. As if worried he would expose his emotions if he spoke, he only nodded. However, his eyes never left Murong Yan.

Then, Murong Yan waved.

Whoosh!

The Go board above immediately floated down before her.

While this Go board looked ordinary, it was absolutely not. Murong Yan’s heavenly soul had come out from it. The countless other heavenly souls were also in there.

“Where are the nine inheritors?” Murong Yan suddenly called out.

“Wu Yazi salutes Mistress!”

“Gu Qin salutes Mistress!”

“Long Sanqian salutes Mistress!”

“The Azure Emperor salutes Mistress!”

“Yan Qingshan salutes Mistress!”

“Han Shan salutes Mistress!”

“Guan Ninth salutes Mistress!”

“Tang Tian salutes Mistress!”

“Huang Kun salutes Mistress!”

Guan Qi’s nine inheritors bowed respectfully to Murong Yan.

Murong Yan nodded. She looked at the nine inheritors and said, “My husband had previously informed me of his intention. The nine of you will each choose one Go stone from this Go board.”

The nine felt slightly startled. Then, they nodded.

All nine inheritors took a white Go stone from the Go board.

A whirlpool appeared at the previous locations of the white Go stones they took. There seemed to be countless heavenly souls struggling in the whirlpools.

“Husband said that when you put back the white Go stones, your consciousness will enter the Go board. The Go board has countless heavenly souls in them. The nine of you will enter with your consciousnesses and vie for the heavenly souls, storing them in the Go stones. The number of heavenly souls will determine the victor,” Murong Yan said.

“The nine of us will vie for heavenly souls? The number will determine the victor? However, how is the result determined?” Guan Ninth asked with a solemn expression.

“Whoever obtains the fewest heavenly souls does not need to exist. Husband will return using him,” Murong Yan replied solemnly.

After Murong Yan spoke, the nine inheritors’ expressions changed.

Old Mister Guan Qi will possess whoever loses?

That makes sense. Old Mister Guan Qi does not care how strong one is. After he returns and possesses the body, it is all the same to him. If he abandons the weakest, he will still have eight strong disciples.

“Yes!” the nine immediately answered.

“Of course, those with a weak consciousness can ask outsiders for help. Husband does not care about the process, only the result,” Murong Yan said.

“Yes!” the nine repeated, feeling slightly nervous.

Ask others for help? If they lost, they would be possessed. Naturally, they would do everything they could.

“You may go ask others for help. After thirty minutes, place your Go stones down and start vying for the heavenly souls!” Murong Yan said solemnly.

“Alright!” the nine answered with grave expressions.

Guan Qi’s nine inheritors turned their heads and looked at the surrounding experts. It was time for those experts to fulfill their promises. They quickly bowed to the people that they had allied with.

Wu Yazi bowed to Ji Dihong.

The Azure Emperor bowed Jiang Lianshan.

Han Shan bowed to the Present Buddha.

Long Sanqian bowed to Long Shenwu.

Yan Qingshan bowed to the Myriad Age Daoist Sect’s Sect Master Heavenly Access.

Guan Ninth bowed to Gu Hai.

Of course, after the first bow, they also bowed to some others.

Gu Hai nodded to Guan Ninth. Then, he looked at Gu Qin.

Gu Qin bowed to three sect masters. However, he seemed to have insufficient accumulations to gain many allies. Gu Hai frowned slightly at this.

Thirty minutes passed in a flash.

“Alright. Time is about up. Place the Go stones in your hands back. Close your eyes and sense with your mind; use your consciousnesses to vie for heavenly souls,” Murong Yan said.

“Yes!”

The nine placed the white Go stones they held back in the Go stones’ original positions.

Clack!

The nine shut their eyes as soon as they placed the Go stones.

When they shut their eyes, countless screams seemed to come from the Go board.

“Ah! Don’t capture me! Don’t capture me!”

“Save me! Save me! Ah!”

The many heavenly souls screamed.

The nine did their best to pull over the heavenly souls. Whirlpools appeared at the white Go stones they pressed their fingers on. The heavenly souls rushed in, the white Go stones slowly turning darker, eventually becoming gray.

The nine inheritors competed alone for a while. Then, the Present Buddha made a move.

Boom!

The Present Buddha threw a palm strike from a distance. Bodhisattva Han Shan did not resist, letting the manifested palm stick to his back. A consciousness flowed into Bodhisattva Han Shan’s body.

Buzz!

The Go stone under Bodhisattva Han Shan’s finger started pulling in heavenly souls faster. The color of his Go stone deepened towards black.

“Oh no!” The surrounding experts’ faces sank.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The experts quickly threw palm strikes from a distance at the backs of Guan Qi’s nine inheritors, connecting their consciousnesses to help the inheritors fight for heavenly souls.

There were already eight manifested palms on Ninth Young Master’s back, but these did not seem sufficient.

Gu Hai glanced at Ninth Young Master, then at Gu Qin, who had only three manifested palms. He frowned slightly.

Boom!

Gu Hai threw a palm strike with his left hand, and his manifested palm appeared on Ninth Young Master’s back.

Buzz!

Gu Hai did not need to do much. He sensed a thread already connected his consciousness with Ninth Young Master’s.

Through this consciousness connection, Gu Hai could sense the world within the Go board.

Gu Hai saw a pitch-black world illuminated by an extremely complicated Go Dao ritual array. The countless heavenly demons lost their demonic auras after passing through this Go Dao ritual array, turning into heavenly souls that flew about within.

However, there seemed to be an opening in the Go Dao ritual array in the nine-five position, the position that Gu Hai had overloaded. Some of the heavenly demons slipped out from that hole. However, the Go Dao ritual array continuously moved around, recapturing those escaped heavenly demons and purifying them.

“So, this Go board is used to purify the heavenly demons.” Gu Hai frowned slightly.

The Go stone Ninth Young Master pressed on was like an enormous container. Countless will tentacles herded the heavenly demons into it.

The stronger one’s will was in this Go Dao world, the larger the tentacles and the more heavenly souls one could capture.

The will existed in the forehead. It was the seventh physical soul of the three spiritual souls and seven physical souls. Ordinary people did not cultivate it significantly; however, Gu Hai’s Go soul in his forehead space was already incredibly strong and tough.

Although Gu Hai was just in the Middle Heavenly Palace Realm, the power of his will was no weaker than an Upper Heavenly Palace Realm cultivator’s. When Gu Hai connected to Guan Ninth, Guan Ninth’s will tentacles increased over a hundredfold.

“Whoa! Imperial Emperor Gu, you are incredible! Hahahaha!” Ninth Young Master immediately collected countless heavenly souls, feeling very excited.

Right now, the weakest of Guan Qi’s nine inheritors was Gu Qin. After all, only three people helped him.

Seeing Gu Qin rank last, Gu Hai sighed and extended his right hand.

Boom!

Gu Hai manifested a palm on Gu Qin’s back, creating another consciousness connection.

Gu Hai’s surging will poured into Gu Qin’s body.

Boom!

The number of heavenly souls that Gu Qin snatched suddenly increased.

Gu Qin felt slightly startled, understanding what happened. Although he no longer felt emotions, warmth kindled in his heart for some reason when Gu Hai’s manifested palm appeared on his back. Childhood memories immediately poured in.

“Fa-Father!” Gu Qin frowned slightly.

Far away, Gu Hai smiled faintly. No matter what happened in the future, he managed to hear Gu Qin address him as Father again, at least. He felt gratified at this.

“Using consciousness to snatch heavenly souls? This Old Mister Guan Qi is making this unnecessarily complicated,” the Severed Sect’s Heavenly Access said, frowning, from beside Gu Hai.

“Sect Master Heavenly Access, Kong Xuan, Shangguan Hen, don’t do anything for now,” Gu Hai said.

Everyone nodded.

The Go stones under Gu Qin’s and Guan Ninth’s fingers were already almost black. They were not the last.

Not being the last was sufficient.

The Go stones chosen by Guan Qi’s nine inheritors slowly turned black, becoming so black that they shone. The nine Go stones contained millions of heavenly souls.

Crack!

When the nine Go stones had captured all the heavenly souls, the Go board suddenly cracked.

“Huh?” The expressions of Guan Qi’s nine inheritors changed as they picked up the black Go stones filled with heavenly souls.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The cracks on the Go board increased and spread. In mere moments, it turned into powder and vanished.

Nine black Go stones fell in the hands of Guan Qi’s nine inheritors. All the experts pulled their palms back, withdrawing their consciousnesses.

“Who has more, and who has less?” Everyone immediately stared at Guan Qi’s nine inheritors.

Of course, Gu Hai and some of the experts narrowed their eyes.

“Your Reverence, what’s wrong?” Kong Xuan asked, feeling puzzled.

“I don’t know. We formed a consciousness connection with Gu Qin and Guan Ninth earlier. That consciousness connection has not broken yet.” Gu Hai frowned.

It was not just Gu Hai. The surrounding experts started to notice something off. Why did their connections with Guan Qi’s nine inheritors remain intact?

“Something’s not right. The ritual array sealed up the Thousand Islands Sea!” the Severed Sect’s Heavenly Access said sullenly as he raised his head to look at the sky.

Last day of the month. As usual, there’s no chapter on the first of every month. We will return on the 2nd.

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