Chapter 1759 - 1744: Seeking Defeat Alone

"What does that kid want to rent a Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal avatar for?" In the grand hall exclusively used by the Second Grand Power Sacrifice Tongna, Tongna was a bit puzzled.

"This subordinate doesn’t know either. But that kid’s Divine Soul Aura is a bit strange. Under the impact of my Dao Realm aura, he actually remained completely unmoved. We must not underestimate him." War Soul Hall Master Bi Ze said.

"If that kid didn’t have so many oddities about him, how could Tup Menn Changyin have suffered such a big loss last time? How could this old man have lost so much face?"

Tongna the Great Priest’s face was overcast. "Bi Ze, this time, you did well!"

"That kid made this old man lose so much face, how could he possibly walk away like nothing happened! Besides, he delivered himself to our door this time.

This time, I want to see what tricks he can still pull. Even if he brings Bai Xiang over, it’ll be useless!"

Hearing this, Bi Ze nodded. "Of course. This is our War Soul Hall’s internal affair. We’re just acting according to the rules and not deliberately targeting anyone. No one can find fault with this."

Of course, there was something Bi Ze did not say: all the rental rules for the Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal were decided entirely by their War Soul Hall.

With a dark expression, Ye Zhen returned to the Barbarian Spirit Hall. Princess Changle glanced at him, her gaze flickering, but she didn’t say much. She just asked a female Sacrificial Guard to brew a cup of Spiritual Tea, then personally brought it over to Ye Zhen.

"Well? It didn’t go smoothly?"

"More than just not smoothly!" The way he’d been stonewalled was beyond depressing; it was enough to make a man burn with anger and have nowhere to vent it. "As long as it’s me, it’s impossible for me to rent that Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal avatar from the War Soul Hall."

"How could it be like that?"

A hint of dawning understanding flashed through Princess Changle’s beautiful eyes. "It seems the Second Grand Power Sacrifice Tongna must have intervened. War Soul Hall Main Hall Master Bi Ze is under the Second Grand Power Sacrifice Tongna’s command."

"Here, drink some tea, don’t be angry. We’ll slowly think of another way. As long as that Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal avatar is there, there will ultimately be a way." Princess Changle said softly.

Ye Zhen picked up the teacup; his fingertips brushed lightly against Princess Changle’s slender jade fingers, and his heart stirred. Only now did he realize that the Princess Changle before him at this moment was especially gentle.

She was nothing like the incomparably noble Princess of the past, and even less like the Barbarian Spirit Hall Master who held both might and authority. She was more like a wife, a little woman.

Ye Zhen’s gaze made Princess Changle’s pretty face flush red. A bit flustered, she smoothed her dark hair. "What is it, Brother Ye, is my hair messy?"

"Uh, no."

Though he said that, in Ye Zhen’s heart echoed the warning Chief Eunuch Yu Chao’en had given him last time.

Toward Princess Changle, he absolutely must not harbor improper thoughts.

To be honest, Ye Zhen’s feelings were very complicated.

On the one hand, he wanted to find Caiyi as soon as possible. It had already been more than ten years, yet every scene from back then with Caiyi felt as if it had happened yesterday.

On the other hand, Princess Changle truly did make Ye Zhen’s heart pound. Leaving aside the bond between the two of them, Princess Changle’s peerless beauty and the inborn noble aura she exuded at every moment were enough to ignite any man’s desire to conquer.

However, right now, Ye Zhen did not have much mood for this.

If he couldn’t break through to the Dark Palace Realm, if he couldn’t gain stronger power, then everything was empty talk.

"What do you think the effect would be if I used the Heavenly Patrol Department to pressure the War Soul Hall?" Ye Zhen suddenly spoke.

On the way back, Ye Zhen had already been pondering ways to deal with the War Soul Hall, or rather, ways to get hold of that Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal avatar.

But no matter how he thought it through, many methods just wouldn’t work.

If it were some other treasure, relying on the Innate Five Elements Divine Escape, Ye Zhen might actually be able to steal it.

But this Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal already had a master and was completely integrated with the entire War Soul Hall. There was absolutely no way to steal it.

Having Princess Changle come forward to ask Great Chief Priest Bai Xiang for help was one path, but it was basically not feasible.

Leaving aside whether Great Chief Priest Bai Xiang would be willing to act, even if he did, it would probably be useless.

Whether the Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal avatar could be rented, whether it was in use or not, depended entirely on the mouths of the War Soul Hall people. They could say whatever they wanted.

After thinking it over and over, Ye Zhen felt that asking Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu to use external pressure on the relatives and families of the high-level figures in the War Soul Hall to force them to submit was a viable option.

Hearing this, Princess Changle slowly shook her head. "To openly oppose a powerful force like the War Soul Hall is equivalent to offending the entire faction under the Second Grand Power Sacrifice Tongna.

Even Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu probably doesn’t have that kind of courage! External coercion can only be used as a bargaining chip, not as the primary method."

"If not as a method, then what should we do?" Ye Zhen fell into bitter thought. "Does the War Soul Hall have any critical weak point?"

Hearing that, Princess Changle was stunned. "Brother Ye, a critical weak point? What are you planning to do?"

"If we can’t do it in the open, then we use hard measures! No matter what, no matter what method I have to use, I must borrow that Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal avatar for a period of time." In that instant, Ye Zhen’s expression became incomparably resolute.

Since the War Soul Hall wanted to block his Martial Arts path, then he would think of every possible way to move this War Soul Hall boulder out of his way.

Suddenly, Ye Zhen’s brows lifted. "Changle, I remember that within the Ancestor God Temple, there seems to be a rule about challenges and sparring. Is there?"

"Challenges? Yes."

"Our Ancestor God Temple is the same as our Great Zhou Dynasty in style—both are extremely martial. Any Priest in the Ancestor God Temple can freely challenge others to spar in order to improve their real combat strength.

The various halls of the Ancestor God Temple can also initiate group challenges as a form of training. However, whether it’s challenges between Priests or between halls, they cannot be forced; both parties must agree." Princess Changle said.

"I see." Ye Zhen’s eyes suddenly narrowed, a ray of Lio Guang shooting from the corner of his eye. "Changle, if our Barbarian Spirit Hall were to issue a public challenge to the War Soul Hall, would the War Soul Hall have the nerve to back down?"

"That’s true. If the War Soul Hall didn’t dare accept the challenge, they’d lose face all the way to their ancestors’ graves and wouldn’t be able to show their faces." Speaking of this, Princess Changle gave a bitter smile. "However, with our Barbarian Spirit Hall’s current strength, we probably don’t even have the qualifications to challenge the War Soul Hall.

Leaving aside the Dao Realm, in sheer number of Moon Priests alone, the War Soul Hall has more than ten times our Barbarian Spirit Hall. There’s simply no way we can fight them."

"I’m just giving an example. Tell me, if I went to the War Soul Hall entrance and challenged them, how would the War Soul Hall react?"

Princess Changle froze, then hurriedly said, "Absolutely not. There are over a thousand Moon Priests in the War Soul Hall, let alone the fact that at the War Soul Hall entrance they can draw on the Power of War Soul. You alone definitely won’t do!"

"Whether it’ll do or not, we’ll talk after I fight!"

"Since they want to talk about rules, then I’ll play by the rules with them, and we’ll see who plays who!" Ye Zhen’s face was all cold fierceness.

Half a Quarter-hour later, Ye Zhen once again appeared at the main hall entrance of War Soul Hall. War Soul Hall had a million Priests, so the flow of people at the main hall entrance was extremely dense, people coming and going without pause.

Moreover, War Soul Hall was not only one of the top five halls in strength within the Ancestor God Temple, its geographical position was excellent, in the central heartland of the Ancestor God Temple, precisely where the traffic from all halls converged.

Priests wearing all sorts of robes from various halls came in an endless stream.

Striding to the War Soul Hall main hall entrance, Ye Zhen switched to the right spell and took out two flagpoles a hundred meters tall forged of Refined Gold, casually flung them out, and with a thunderous boom the two poles stabbed into the open ground outside the War Soul Hall main hall gate.

A gigantic horizontal banner unfolded right in front of War Soul Hall, snapping loudly in the gusting wind.

But even more eye‑catching were the vigorous, blood‑red characters on that giant banner.

"Caiyi Hall Left Chief Priest Ye Zhen has come especially to instruct the various Priests of War Soul Hall in Martial Arts, seeking only a single defeat, and humbly asks for your fulfillment!"

The moment Ye Zhen raised this banner, it drew many passing Priests from other halls to stop and watch; they only needed a single glance before they burst out laughing.

They had seen arrogant people before, but never anyone this arrogant.

To directly hang such a banner at the main gate of War Soul Hall—was he declaring himself an enemy of the entire War Soul Hall?

Moreover, the front and back of Ye Zhen’s banner both had the exact same words; as soon as it was hung, it drew countless gazes.

There were quite a lot of War Soul Hall Priests passing by at this moment; as soon as Ye Zhen’s banner unfurled, it caused countless War Soul Hall Priests to flare up in fury.

To hang such a banner at the War Soul Hall entrance—wasn’t this coming to kick their hall’s gate?

This was bullying right up to War Soul Hall’s doorstep.

This could be endured, but how could it be tolerated!

At once, a bunch of War Soul Hall Priests charged out in a towering rage, with a Moon Priest at their head rushing up to Ye Zhen.

He cupped his hands and barked, "War Soul Hall Moon Priest Pi Zhilong, here to bestow you a defeat!"

"Good, please!"

Ye Zhen cupped his hands, about to accept the fight.

But just as this War Soul Hall Moon Priest Pi Zhilong was about to make a move, another Moon Priest quietly tugged at Pi Zhilong’s sleeve, then pointed at another line of words in the lower right corner of the banner.

"Ye Zhen, male, twenty‑eight this year, Cultivation at the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm, has come especially to challenge War Soul Hall, seeking only a single defeat. If maimed or killed in battle, it has nothing to do with others!"

This passage on the giant banner made the onlookers suck in a breath of cold air.

What shocked them wasn’t the Life and Death Contract Ye Zhen had written, but the Cultivation and age recorded above.

Cultivation at the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm was very common, but twenty‑eight years old and already at the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm—that was extremely rare.

What kind of Cultivation speed was that?

Even the topmost genius Priests they had raised from childhood in the Ancestor God Temple were only at about this level, perhaps even slightly inferior.

War Soul Hall’s Priest Pi Zhilong, however, was stunned, his face instantly turning extremely ugly.

The point he saw was Ye Zhen’s self‑reported Cultivation—the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm.

Ye Zhen’s current aura was also that of the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm.

The key was here: he, a Moon Priest at the Sixth Stage of Realm King Realm, going to answer the challenge of a Priest at the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm, would really be a bit beneath his dignity.

Lose? Pi Zhilong felt that was unlikely.

But even if he won, there’d be no face in it.

If he made a move and defeated Ye Zhen, then War Soul Hall would lose face even more.

Once it spread, everyone would say that a dignified great Moon Priest bullied a Sky Priest at the Peak of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm.

In fact, before this, no one had regarded Ye Zhen as a Sky Priest of Ninth Stage of Divine Communication Realm, but now that Ye Zhen had revealed it himself, it was different.

Right now Moon Priest Pi Zhilong, even if he wanted to act, really couldn’t bring himself to do it.

His face darkened, and Pi Zhilong stepped back several paces, then pointed at a Star Priest at Dark Palace Realm Seventh Stage beside him and said, "You go defeat him, then strip this fellow naked and hang him on that flagpole!"

Even though this Moon Priest Pi Zhilong didn’t know Ye Zhen’s background, the title of Left Chief Priest still made him not dare to treat it lightly.

He chose a Star Priest at Dark Palace Realm Seventh Stage to act; although the Cultivation gap was still a bit big, it was much better than him personally making a move.

"Yes, subordinate obeys!"

That Star Priest answered, then imitated the Moon Priest Pi Zhilong from just now, striding forward and cupping his hands to Ye Zhen, saying, "War Soul Hall Star Priest Hong Yuan, here to bestow you a defeat..."

"Scram!"

Before that Star Priest could finish speaking, Ye Zhen exploded with a shout like a Thunderclap. Staring into that Star Priest’s eyes, a mass of Divine Light suddenly burst forth, and vast Divine Soul Waves flashed and vanished in an instant.

In the next moment, that Star Priest Hong Yuan seemed to see something incomparably terrifying, cried out in fright, stumbled backward several steps in a panic, and fell on his butt. The look he cast at Ye Zhen was full of fear!

In an instant, the whole place fell solemnly silent!