Qin Ye carried his saber on his back and stared coldly at the corridor that was now covered in shadows.
Thud … thud … The rhythmic sound grew louder and louder in the empty dormitory building. One minute later, a pale hand slammed against the door with a soft thud.
Sss … sss sss … There was a spine-chilling sound. It was low and short, almost as though someone were licking the brain with a scarlet tongue.
There was a sudden silence. Qin Ye tightened his grip around the saber in his hand.
A split second later, amidst the silence, a massive head peeked out from the corner of the wall.
It was the head of a humanoid paper effigy. It was at least one meter in size!
The artwork was incredibly poor, and its facial features were completely mismatched.
The sun was setting in the west. The blood-red rays of the setting sun shone down on the humanoid paper effigy's face, sending chills down one's spine.
The humanoid paper effigy wore a tall white hat, and its eyes were bloodshot. Its neck stretched out from the door like a snake's. Yet, there was nothing but withered and twisted human hair hanging down from the top of the hat.
Its nose twitched like a ferocious dog, almost as though it were sniffing for something. Finally, its scarlet eyes turned to look into the bathroom.
The last ray of sunlight cast a mottled shadow across the room. Their eyes met, and Qin Ye waved his hand, "Hi."
Sss!!! The humanoid paper effigy let out a heart-wrenching shriek, almost as though it were a shark that had seen blood.
The mouth on the drawing abruptly opened all the way to its ears, and its massive head completely occupied the entire entrance to the bathroom, revealing rows of needle-like teeth and a snake-like tongue.
Before it could even finish screaming, a flash of saber light whizzed through the air.
Whoosh … Like the bright moon in the night sky, the dazzling saber light cleaved into the shape of a crescent moon. With a muffled thud, the massive humanoid paper effigy didn't even have time to react before the saber light sliced through its head, leaving a half-meter long gash on the humanoid paper effigy's head.
The might of the saber caused the humanoid paper effigy's screams to turn into a wail of anguish, and its massive head immediately shrank back into the bathroom. Qin Ye quickly followed after it. As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, he finally got a good look at the humanoid paper effigy.
It was huge.
If it were standing upright, it would be at least five or six meters tall. However, its massive body was currently curled up in the narrow corridor, making it look no different from a mountain made of paper. It was oppressive and bizarre.
He was dressed in pure white, and he wore clothes made of paper. His withered hair hung loosely over his body.
He was standing on stilts that were half a meter high.
The terrifying thumping sound just now was produced by its stilts.
It lay sprawled on the ground like a hungry wolf. Its posture was contorted, and its originally laughable features were now hideous to the extreme. As soon as Qin Ye appeared, it rushed towards Qin Ye like a small mountain!
"Blood food … fresh blood food!
Sssss!!! "
Dong dong dong!
The corridor behind Qin Ye was completely deserted, and the humanoid paper effigies had blocked off the entire corridor, leaving Qin Ye with no room to retreat.
"Soul Hunter?"
Qin Ye's gaze turned frigid, "The City of Salvation is truly a place blessed with outstanding people … I've heard that other prefecture-level cities only have two or three Hunter-class experts at most. Yet, they're already appearing in large groups here?
And I can't even sense any Yin energy … Tsk, tsk, tsk … "
He slowly drew out his saber. "Is this the power of Kuafu?"
Boom!!
As soon as he finished speaking, the demonhead saber's hilt ignited with a raging inferno that was several times fiercer than before!
In the next second, a streak of saber light swept through the entire passageway!
At the same height as the passageway, the floorboards split apart with a loud rumble, forming tens of thousands of cracks.
Everything fell silent where the saber light passed.
Clang … The saber returned to its sheath, and the humanoid paper effigy maintained its earlier posture.
The humanoid paper effigy was no more than half a meter away from Qin Ye, and its black nails were almost touching Qin Ye's face.
Yet, it was unable to advance any further.
"You … you …" The humanoid paper effigy spat out two words with great difficulty. Following that, a thin line of flames spread from its body, instantly splitting the humanoid paper effigy into two halves and incinerating it in a sea of netherflames.
The saber strike had cleaved the Hunter-class ghost into two!
Emissaries of Hell were invincible against ghosts of the same cultivation level!
Qin Ye didn't move.
He stared silently at the ashes on the ground for some time, before finally muttering, "There's one more."
"What?"
"I'd left behind three humanoid paper effigies back then. Two of them had mutated, and the last one couldn't possibly have survived.
But the crux of the matter is … "He furrowed his brows," Where did they mutate from? "
"Furthermore, these mutations are exactly the same as the ones in the fourth hunting zone. All of them became Hunter-class experts within the span of a few days, and I can't sense any Yin energy from them at all.
The fourth hunting zone can still be attributed to the Exalted Father, but how did they mutate? "
Arthis paused for a moment, and then suddenly drifted out with a trembling voice, "You're saying that … they've also come into contact with the Exalted Father?!"
Qin Ye gently drew on the ground with his saber. There was too much information to be gleaned from these words, and he had only just thought about it.
"Come … let's give it a good talk."
His voice was filled with incomparable excitement. If he could break through this barrier, then he would finally be able to reveal the true face of the Exalted Father and establish Hell!
"Firstly, the existence of the Exalted Father has caused the entire City of Salvation to be unable to detect Yin energy.
That said, all Yin spirits that have come into contact with the Exalted Father will be able to become Hunter-class experts within a short period of time. This is a unique characteristic of the Exalted Father. "
Arthis' voice was incredibly somber, "Is it possible that these three humanoid paper effigies have been to the fourth hunting zone during the day?
Could they have been influenced by the Exalted Father's Yin energy? "
"Impossible!" Qin Ye responded affirmatively, "Don't forget, they're … earthbound spirits!"
The words' earthbound spirits' resounded in Arthis' ears, causing her entire body to tremble with excitement.
Both of them had a premonition that this time … they were only one door away from uncovering the true face of the Exalted Father.
And they had unwittingly discovered the key to that door!
Arthis suppressed the turbulent emotions in her heart, and she began to speak cautiously, "The earthbound spirits are trapped in a single location.
They can only move about within this area.
Therefore, there's no way they could have reached the fourth hunting zone.
In other words … they've come into contact with the Exalted Father back at Insignia University! "
Qin Ye's chest rose and fell uncontrollably. He had initially thought that he had lost the gemstone, but it turned out that he had found it somewhere else, "Then … where can we possibly come into contact with the Exalted Father here?"
Both of them grew silent. Seconds later, their eyes lit up. The soul sphere quickly floated in front of them, while Qin Ye rushed straight down.
First floor, janitor's office!
Cao Youdao's lair was right below!
This was the only possibility!
They rushed straight to the janitor's office, only to discover that the old man had already left. They rushed straight into the elevator-like room. Qin Ye's aura immediately fluctuated, almost as though he had detected the aura of an Emissary of Hell.
Nobody said a single word. The implications of this were far too great. The true face of the Exalted Father. Who could have survived the collapse of Hell and even made it to the mortal realm?
Qin Ye watched as the numbers' -1 ',' -2 'and' -6 'appeared on the surface of the mirror once more. Then, both man and ball rushed out of the elevator at the same time.
The first thing that came into sight was the same long and narrow path.
The surroundings were engraved with patterns, and the altar lamps were still burning.
Qin Ye suddenly paused in his steps and ran his fingers along the patterns on the wall. Without waiting for Arthis to respond, he slammed his fist against the wall, "It's here … it must be here!"
"Do you remember the door to the SRC?"
Arthis immediately thought back to it.
That's right … there were traces of it a long time ago. The patterns on the door to the SRC were almost exactly the same as the ones here!
Cao Youdao's lair was a massive ancient tomb that had yet to be discovered.
This ancient tomb was so large that it spanned across the entire City of Salvation!
And the Exalted Father had rushed right into this ancient tomb from the netherworld!
As they entered the Orchid Clubhouse, they noticed that the interior was still a mess, but it was also covered in dust.
There were even some lights that were still flickering.
A pale white figure was squatting in the middle of this world of light and darkness. It had something protruding out of its mouth and into the ground, emitting a series of joyful hissing sounds.
When it heard the sounds behind it, it immediately turned around, only to be greeted by a long saber that was blazing with netherflames.
"Scram!!"
Sss!! The last humanoid paper effigy vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, Qin Ye and Arthis had already arrived at the place where the humanoid paper effigy had just been, and they stared at the scene in a daze.
Both of them were instantly struck by a sense of realization.
"So that's how it is …" Qin Ye sighed softly, "I should've thought of this a long time ago …"
It's that huge pit …
The pit where Hell's Records existed!
Right now … wisps of pitch-black Yin energy were surging and churning at the bottom of the pit, yet they were unable to break through the surface no matter how hard they tried.
There were no golden scales here, and it wasn't blocked!
"Wrong … we've been wrong from the very beginning." Arthis trembled with excitement, "At first, I'd thought that these were fragments of Hell's Records that had rushed up.
But … why didn't I think of that? If even a supreme treasure like King Yanluo's Seal could be shattered by the fluctuations of Ksitigarbha's ascension, how could Hell's Records, which are one grade lower than King Yanluo's Seal, be in such good condition? "
"Something had brought it up, and the thing that had brought it up …" Qin Ye drew a deep breath, "is none other than the Exalted Father!"
"And this hole."
Both man and ball stared at the seemingly bottomless hole that was filled with dense Yin energy, "It leads straight to where the Exalted Father is hiding!"
It was also here that the three humanoid paper effigies had absorbed the Exalted Father's Yin energy and undergone a metamorphosis.
"Can you guarantee my safety?"
Qin Ye took a step forward. Even though the Yin energy was unable to break through the surface, the nethergale at the mouth of the hole still caused his clothes to flutter wildly.
"No." Arthis gritted her teeth, "But … I'll do my best!"
Damn it … Qin Ye grabbed at his hair. He wouldn't be satisfied until he went down and took a look.
Just one look … just one look!
The return was completely disproportionate to the investment!
As long as there was no danger, the return would be hundreds of millions of times greater than the investment!
"I've been a coward for so many years … I'd never thought that I'd have to take the initiative to fight for once …" Qin Ye gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, and then leapt down into the hole.
The soul sphere transformed into a streak of light that shot straight down.
Whoosh … The hole was pitch-black. Endless wails and cries filled the air, while the entire sky was filled with dark clouds.
That said, Qin Ye was still able to see through the gaps in the dense clouds.
It was getting bigger and bigger … The deeper he went, the more spacious it became!
Ten seconds after he descended, he could no longer see the walls around him.
It's at least a thousand meters …
And right below him, he could hear a thunderous snoring that penetrated through the endless clouds of Yin energy.
The clouds trembled and shrank with every breath it took.
He couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of creature it was. It was as though it was swallowing the heavens and the earth with every breath it took!