"Is this due to the possibility of whether I can gain the ability of the soul I collected, or Mao Quanzhou's bloodline was that strong?"
This should be related to his own ability: Kronos. If he did not know about it, he would not be able to request an answer from anyone else.
"Well, let's wait and see how things unfold."
Eventually, Feng Luotian decided to forego figuring out how Kronos. He believed that if he could acquire more abilities, he would gladly welcome them. But if he couldn't, it would just be the same as before.
He proceeded to collect the souls of every bandit lying lifeless at the village's front and center. However, he didn't acquire any new abilities or skills after finishing the task.
After collecting the tenth soul, Feng Luotian's Last Dance Curse's negative purge was lifted. He deactivated the ability, and his appearance returned to normal. His eyes regained their amethyst color.
Furthermore, he broke through to Six Fangs with all the energies he acquired from the soul collection.
///// Level: Six Fangs (15%)
///// [Last Dance Curse] Level 6 : Increase the user's power level by 1 for 12 minutes. However, the user has to collect 10 souls within 12 minutes. Otherwise, the user's level will be decreased by 2.
///// [Momentum Eyes] Level 6 : The user can see the momentum and projectile of every object within 65 meters.
///// [Evil Cyclone] Level 6 : Every time the user's melee attack hits the target, one cyclone will be generated and can be used to either attack or heal the user's injury at a maximum of 6 Evil Cyclones at a time.
///// [Pinnacle Flash Lightning] Level 2 (886/1,000) : Wrap the user's body in lightning. Speed +316%. Lightning Resistance +6%. Attack +38%.
"My lord, here is another piece of the gauntlets. Would you like to receive all of their weapons?" Wu Neng approached him from behind and presented him with a gauntlet retrieved from Jiu Hao's remains. There were three huge sacks beside him, full of armaments. Previously, he instructed his men to gather the spoils of the battle.
"Just this one is enough. Thank you, Village Head." Feng Luotian accepted the gauntlet and placed it into his spatial ring before asking: "What was their goal? Can I see it?"
With the threat to the village gone, he resumed his clan's business.
"Of course. Follow me, my lord," Wu Neng led him to a particular hut.
"It's here in my hut. Please come in, my lord."
"Excuse me." Feng Luotian said as he entered the hut. However, as soon as he stepped inside, a little girl leaped into his embrace. It was Wu Xin, who rushed and threw her arms around him.
"Big Brother, are you okay? Thank you for helping us." She sobbed.
"Don't worry, Little Xin. I'm fine, and everything's okay now." Feng Luotian replied as he stroked her hair gently.
Two other people were also in the hut: Wu Ya and Tu Lingxi. Wu Ya stood up to greet Feng Luotian; Tu Lingxi sat on the couch.
Although Tu Lingxi's face was still pale, a hint of redness appeared on her cheeks as she regained some of her mental strength.
"Are you all right, Sister Tu?" Feng Luotian asked.
"I'll be fine in two hours at most." Tu Lingxi replied, waving her hand to indicate that she was okay.
"You don't have to push yourself too hard. It's normal to suffer from a mental breakdown after facing death for the first time. After all, you're just a kid." Feng Luotian said, trying to comfort her.
However, Tu Lingxi glared at him sharply at the last sentence: "Hmph! Who are you to talk?"
She was only a year younger than Feng Luotian, and as someone who considered herself a proud woman, she found it offended when he called her a kid. Little did she know that his mind was about fifty times older than hers.
"That's enough, Xin'er. Your big brother has some business to discuss with your father." Wu Ya pulled Wu Xin away from Feng Luotian as her daughter refused to let go and clung to him like glue.
Wu Neng walked to the hindmost room of the hut.
Once its door was opened, Feng Luotian saw a small altar with several decorations in the middle of the room.
Floating above the altar was an egg-sized black bead. It constantly released energy onto the altar, which was connecting with several magic circles on the floor within the room.
This energy was invisible to naked eyes. One had to use their Theríon to enhance their vision to see it. Nevertheless, the pressure it unleashed could be perceived by anyone within its perimeter.
"Just an Underworld Orb? I see now."
Others may not know about this bead, but not Feng Luotian.
There was one question haunting his mind ever since he came to the village: How could the village survive in this part of Warland Thicket where monsters of Four Fangs or higher were swarming all around the place when their strongest fighter being at only Seven Fangs?
There must be some treasure or array provided by his clan to protect the village from monsters.
Then why were they still attacked by those bandits?
The answer was this Underworld Orb.
Underworld Orb specialized in repelling monsters but not humans. It was used to establish a barrier to fend off any monster that would be attacking the place, but it did not have any effect on humans.
On the bright side, Underworld Orb gave a much higher effect on monsters. Therefore, it could guard the area against high-level Wing Realm monsters. In other words, without any humans involved, this village was impregnable by any monsters in this part of Warland Thicket.
Feng Luotian guessed that this should be the result of his clan's carelessness. The one in charge of this area probably thought that there were only monsters around here, so there was no need for any countermeasure against humans. As such, he felt an apologetic feeling toward the village because it was his clan's fault.
Despite all that emotion, he had no means to alleviate this situation as of now. He could only come back later when he reached a higher level in cultivation to provide a solution to this problem. This made him shake his head as he let out a huge sigh.
"How did the bandits know about this?"
Wu Neng explained that the village had been attacked by a Talon Monster the previous month. The bandits must have seen the power of the orb when the monster failed to breach the village barrier.
"A One Talon Diamond Fang Rock Panther in this area of Warland Thicket? How many attacks did it deliver?" Feng Luotian was surprised and inquired further.
"Only three blows, my lord. Each blow was stronger than the last. After those three blows, it left just like that."
"Can't you make it any less obvious?" Feng Luotian chuckled.
"Okay. I'm done here." He turned his body and prepared to leave. However, his eyes caught a shabby-looking tome lying at the room corner beside the door. He walked towards it and picked it up.
As he wiped off the dust on its cover, his eyes lit up: "Underworld Physique Skill Book!!"
He turned to Wu Neng: "Is this how you treat a skill book? Do you know how valuable this is?"
"This …" Wu Neng could not find any words to reply.
"If you let me read this skill book before the battle, it would have been much easier, and you all wouldn't have to go through all that pain and trouble." Feng Luotian half-joking commented.
There was no pressure nor prejudice within his tone, yet Wu Neng fell to his knees: "I'm deeply sorry about this, my lord. It's because no one in the village could use this skill even after they tried to practice it many times, so I left it here. Never would I have thought that such a book could be used in a time of peril such as this. That's why I didn't mention anything about this book when we plan to take out those bandits. If my lord is angry with me, p—"
"I was just complaining a little bit. Why do you have to be this serious?" Feng Luotian pulled Wu Neng up before he went on and on without end.
"I was just—" Wu Neng's body was soaked in a cold sweat.
"It's alright. Since you don't want it, then may I keep it?"