Squatting down onto the ground, Xue Chang began to rub his hand against the hard stone floor.
The rough chalky feeling of the ground rubbing against his hand pricked at the skin on his palm.
Unlike Tian Hai or Tian Kai, Xue Chang's hands were smooth and soft to the touch. They were without any calluses, almost as if he had never worked a single day in his life.
This wasn't true, however; it was just that his body healed his palms and skin of any injury before they could repair themselves naturally.
Now that Xue Chang thought about it, other than his muscles, his body seemed to be reverting to a superior state rather than just simply healing himself.
When he was in the lava pool, his body ever so slightly got used to the heat. And when it "healed" it was more like he reverted to that original state and adapted to it even further.
What a strange condition he had.
Shaking the needless thoughts out of his head, Xue Chang continued to rub the ground around him carefully. Making sure he wouldn't miss a single detail.
As his palm traveled around, he began to finally notice something odd about the ground.
while dust and pebbles covered the area, only one part had slightly less debris than the others. This area appeared just slightly cleaner, almost as if everything there had been moved just minutes before.
"Found it."
Immediately, a clicking sound rang out in the air as the ground beneath him began to crumble and lower. Revealing a set of hidden stair right in the middle of the city.
Looking down at the dark passage leading toward darkness, Xue Chang took ahold of his saber. Taking in a deep breath, he began to step down into the passageway, preparing for what is to come next.
As his footsteps echoed down the stairway, the opening above him began to reset itself. Enclosing him into the darkness.
Luckily, just as he was getting worried about finding his way through the hall, the walls on both sides of him began to light up with a dim glow.
While it was not much in terms of brightness, it was just enough for him to be able to make out everything in his surrounding.
And with this dim glow lighting up his path, Xue Chang was able to quickly make his way down the stairs.
As he went deeper underground, faint whispers began to enter into his ears.
"Hey, where are we anyway?"
"Huh? I don't remember this place ever being in the city..."
It seemed as if with the odd environment they had suddenly entered, the three B-rank hunters had finally began to get ahold of themselves.
No matter how they acted in public, they were still hunters. Entering an unfamiliar place had caused their minds to clear up and their bodies to be on guard.
This was a subconscious thing, but it was assisting them in getting out of the woman's seduction spell.
As Xue Chang approached the end of the tunnel and saw an opening filled with light, he quickly ran into the corner of the room and hid in the shadows.
This was because right there in the middle of the room was the woman and hooligans.
No matter how one looked at it, it was obvious those guys had been duped.
Piecing what they could together, the hunters understood that something was wrong.
Immediately, weapons were drawn and battle stances were taken. All of them faced the mysterious woman and with a questioning glance they surrounded her.
"Hey, where are we?!"
"Tch. I knew something was io when she approached eldest brother first. With his ugly mug no one would be interested in him."
"This is not the time!"
Although they seemed to be having a casual conversation, their actions became even more cautious as they began to approach her from all sides.
Seeing their movements, he was about to rush out and stop them.
But it was too late.
The spiritual force within the woman burst out as she stretched out her hands.
Her nails, sharp as knives, spin around and found themselves sliding across each of their necks.
And in the blink of an eye, all three hunters had blood burst out of their necks and pour to the ground.
They all died without any resistance.
Xue Chang closed his eyes for a moment in silent sorrow. No matter how cautious those three were of the woman, they still underestimated her.
A level one Qi refiner was not something even three A-ranks would be able to handle.
How could they all expect that she had reached such a level.
Their deaths were already decided when they got within her range.
Although Xue Chang felt saddened by their deaths, he had to collect himself.
He needed to figure out what she was doing. Why did she kill those people? It wasn't like they offended her in any way other than their obscene actions.
"Xue Chang, look carefully at her surroundings."
Yong Heng's voice rang within Xue Chang's head.
It only took him a moment to understand what Yong Heng was talking about.
Immediately a faint golden light flickered within his pupils as Xue Chang's surrounding changed.
Now the tomb looked more like a collection of data and information rather than its original appearance.
And there in the middle of the room where the corpses were, he could see faint incorporeal flames floating around the woman.
A misty wisp flowed from the flames as they circled the woman slowly.
"Those are..."
"...souls." Yong Heng finished off the sentence, confirming Xue Chang's previous guess.
"That is what they look like? Why are they flames?"
"Souls are the source of life, supposedly in the past the grand god Prometheus gave birth to the first humans. Unfortunately, his children couldn't handle the strain of wielding a god's bloodline. So he removed it from their bodies and converted it into the flame of life, the soul. This way their body won't die from over exertion, but they still have the chance to regain the original godlike power hidden in their blood."
"Cultivation."
"Yes, that is the origin of cultivation. But this is all just myths of the past. These are just stories passed down throughout the ages, yet there has been no proof of something like this ever existing."
Xue Chang nodded silently as he ket watch over what was happening.
It was clear now what the woman was doing, she was collecting souls.
And from how familiar she was with the process, it was clear this wasn't her first time.
Maybe back in the village, it was her who...
A trace of killing intent actually appeared in Xue Chang's eyes for once. As he thought back to the doctor who nursed him back to health along with Wanwan, he felt a stifling rage build up in his chest.
"I'll avenge them, I swear it."
The woman waved her arms around and seemingly flung the souls over to another direction.
As the souls began to tremble and pop, they died down until only small blue embers were left.
And suddenly, from inside the tomb a boundless force erupted from within.
A door to a room in the back opened up and sitting there within it was a terrifying beast.
Xue Chang couldn't even tell how powerful it was, but the pressure it exudes caused a cold sweat to form on his back.
While Xue Chang was freaking out about the monster inside the room, Yong Heng was in shock over something else.
Behind the beast, was a floating baby fetus. Except this fetus had no facial features or genitals.
Accompanied by its sky blue skin and pearly white glow, it looked more like a ghost than anything.
Yong Heng couldn't help releasing a gasp as greed filled his eyes.
"A Pseudo Nascent Soul!"