Chapter 852: Swallowing Soul Source Trace

Time flowed by, and the Heaven Flame Ritual drew ever closer.

The Four Pavilions were also seizing every moment for intense training, and beneath the apparent calm, undercurrents were surging.

In recent months, due to Zhou Yuan's emergence, the Wind Pavilion had seemingly been revitalized among the Four Pavilions, with its prestige and strength growing day by day. However, as the Wind Pavilion's situation improved, the Fire Pavilion's fortunes began to decline.

The Trace Catching Pattern had been completely defeated by the Four Mother Patterns, leading to disastrous sales. This caused the Fire Pavilion's largest source of income to disappear, and consequently, its once proud benefits were gradually cut back. This sparked widespread resentment within the Fire Pavilion, even impacting Lu Xiao's prestige.

In response to this situation, Lu Xiao, being devious, continuously sent people to spread rumors within the Fire Pavilion, directing all the blame toward Zhou Yuan.

This deflection did have some effect. After all, Zhou Yuan had indeed tangibly harmed the Fire Pavilion's interests. Consequently, nearly everyone in the Fire Pavilion harbored resentment towards Zhou Yuan recently. They all suppressed their anger, intending to fiercely retaliate against the Wind Pavilion at the upcoming Heaven Flame Ritual and teach Zhou Yuan a lesson.

After all, although the Wind Pavilion's strength was gradually increasing, the Fire Pavilion remained the strongest among the Four.

The Heaven Flame Ritual would be a contest of overall strength, so the final outcome was already self-evident.

This time, it would be the Fire Pavilion's best opportunity to wash away their shame and make the Wind Pavilion, and Zhou Yuan, understand who truly held the dominant position among the Four Pavilions!

Above the sky, thousands of soul figures stood in neat formation, presenting a magnificent spectacle.

Zhou Yuan's soul figure stood in the void, radiating powerful soul fluctuations. His soul figure was so condensed it appeared almost lifelike. If the thousands of other soul figures present were like fireflies, then Zhou Yuan's soul figure at this moment was as bright and brilliant as a full moon.

Zhou Yuan's soul figure held a large azure flag, which he vigorously waved.

Buzz! Buzz!

Thousands of soul figures erupted with fluctuations, and one by one, soul needles about a foot long materialized. Thousands of them appeared, and although they were all somewhat transparent and ethereal, a chilling aura permeated the entire space.

"Attack!"

The next instant, thousands of soul needles shot forth, converging like a torrent. Wherever they passed, the void violently vibrated, and the piercing shrieks they emitted would surely shatter the soul of anyone caught in their direct impact.

The torrent of needles whistled back and forth like a phantom dragon, its offensive power appearing quite formidable.

After an hour of such training, Zhou Yuan nodded slightly. After more than half a month of drills, the Wind Pavilion's soul formation finally possessed some power. Although this attack form, which involved condensing soul power into needles, was still rudimentary in Zhou Yuan's view.

However, as the saying goes, 'one force can overcome ten skills.' Zhou Yuan knew that even his perfected soul, facing this torrent of thousands of soul needles, would have to evade its sharpness and dare not confront it directly.

"What a pity," Zhou Yuan thought, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes. "If they had some mastery in the art of Spirit Runes, they could use their souls to delineate Spirit Runes. That way, the power of their souls could be maximized, and if thousands of them attacked together, even experts in the Heavenly Sun Stage would only be able to flee."

But he also understood that he was being overly idealistic. The art of Spirit Runes was vast and profound, and mastering it was incredibly difficult. After all, not everyone could be like him, simultaneously cultivating Genesis Qi while not neglecting their Spirit Rune practice.

However, as Zhou Yuan mentally patted himself on the back, he forgot that if not for Yao Yao's strict supervision, constantly overseeing his Spirit Rune practice and offering guidance, he would probably be no better than the Wind Pavilion members, just 'fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps.'

Zhou Yuan's soul figure descended from the void and returned to his physical body.

"The training during this period has been quite effective," Yi Qiushui said with some delight beside him.

Ye Bingling also nodded her head slightly, a hint of a smile gracing her lips.

Zhou Yuan looked at the many resting Wind Pavilion members, then gently shook his head. "This is far from enough to contend with the Fire Pavilion," he said.

Yi Qiushui and Ye Bingling sighed softly. They knew it couldn't be helped; after all, the Fire Pavilion as a whole was too strong. Under such absolute suppression, the Wind Pavilion was already at a distinct disadvantage. In their opinion, the Wind Pavilion's task at this Heaven Flame Ritual was not to compete with the Fire Pavilion, but to ensure they could obtain as much Heaven Yang Flame as possible.

Zhou Yuan gazed forward. On the Fire Pavilion's side, there were nearly six hundred initial-stage Solid Soul realm cultivators alone, with countless more in the late-stage Void Soul realm, far exceeding the Wind Pavilion.

Facing the Fire Pavilion's formidable overall strength, even though Zhou Yuan had now initially mastered the Soul Lamp Art, he still wasn't absolutely confident. Based on his understanding of Lu Xiao, after suffering losses in the previous few encounters, Lu Xiao would likely exert every last bit of effort this time.

Lu Xiao and his group were backed by the Heavenly Spirit Sect, so it was hard to guarantee what kind of tricks they might pull.

He had to be on guard.

However, the Wind Pavilion's training had already reached its limit at this point; further improvement wasn't something that could be achieved in such a short time.

After all, this wasn't the first time Zhou Yuan had thought this. For days, he had been trying to find a solution but remained helpless, only able to lament to himself, 'Even the cleverest housewife cannot make a meal without rice.'

Zhou Yuan sighed inwardly, his hand clutching the mottled Heavenly Yuan Brush. He used its snow-white bristles to scratch his forehead. The Wind Pavilion was weak, and as its Pavilion Master, he truly felt immense pressure; everything depended on him alone.

The snow-white bristles hung before his eyes. Zhou Yuan blew a breath, causing them all to flutter upward.

As he watched the bristles dance, a sudden glint flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes.

"The Heavenly Yuan Brush..."

Zhou Yuan's gaze swept over the mottled brush body, noticing the Sixth Rune that had already become hidden. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. With a thought, a snow-white bristle detached itself and was caught between his two fingers.

The bristle was finer than an ox's hair, shimmering with a faint luster, and upon it, mysterious patterns were visible.

Imprinted on this bristle was the Sixth Rune, 'Soul Devour.'

Of course, it wasn't the true 'Soul Devour' itself, but rather a pattern carrying a trace of 'Soul Devour' power, or more accurately, a genesis trace of the 'Soul Devour' rune...

The Heavenly Yuan Brush's Sixth Rune, 'Soul Devour,' possessed powerful restraining abilities over souls, even capable of directly devouring them for one's own use. If such bristles could be bestowed upon others, would they be able to exert the 'Soul Devour' effect?

Although it certainly couldn't compare to the main rune, it would be enough to cause the Wind Pavilion's overall soul combat power to surge dramatically.

"Qiushui."

Zhou Yuan looked at Yi Qiushui and smiled. "Summon your soul figure and spar with Senior Sister Ye once," he said.

Both Yi Qiushui and Ye Bingling looked at him doubtfully. Yi Qiushui rolled her eyes at him and said, "My soul figure is only at the initial Solid Soul realm, while Senior Sister Ye is already at the mid-stage. How could I possibly win?"

She thought Zhou Yuan was just amusing himself.

"Just try it," Zhou Yuan urged.

Seeing his insistence, Yi Qiushui could only summon her soul figure. Zhou Yuan then flicked his finger, and the snow-white bristle shot out, wrapping around the finger of Yi Qiushui's soul figure.

Yi Qiushui noticed it and glanced at it curiously, clearly unaware of what Zhou Yuan was doing. Nevertheless, she quickly condensed a soul needle with her soul power.

Zhou Yuan looked on and could see that the soul needle Yi Qiushui had condensed this time emitted a strange fluctuation: it was Soul Devour.

Ye Bingling also summoned her soul figure and condensed a soul needle. The next instant, the two needles shot through the air and collided directly.

Faintly, a subtle sound seemed to echo.

Ye Bingling appeared somewhat nonchalant, as her strength was significantly greater than Yi Qiushui's. Thus, she found Zhou Yuan's sudden instruction rather perplexing.

However, since he was the Pavilion Master, Ye Bingling still intended to humor him.

When the soul needles collided, the next moment, Yi Qiushui's soul needle should be directly shattered, right?

However, just as Ye Bingling was thinking this, she suddenly felt some of the soul power on her own soul needle inexplicably vanish. At the same time, the soul fluctuations of Yi Qiushui's soul needle suddenly intensified.

Within mere moments, the two soul needles collided more than ten times.

With each collision, Ye Bingling's soul needle grew increasingly dim, while Yi Qiushui's steadily became brighter and more brilliant.

It felt as if the soul power condensed within Ye Bingling's soul needle was being absorbed by Yi Qiushui's soul needle with each successive collision!

Finally, the two soul needles fiercely collided one last time. Ye Bingling's instantly shattered, dissolving into transparent specks of light.

Watching this scene, both Ye Bingling and Yi Qiushui's beautiful faces gradually froze, their eyes filled with shock.

Yi Qiushui's initial Solid Soul realm needle had actually shattered Ye Bingling's mid-stage Solid Soul realm one?

After a long moment, Yi Qiushui finally recovered, staring at Zhou Yuan with a bewildered expression. "What—what did you do to me?!" she stammered.