Huang Xiaolong rejoiced at the news, the current Ghost Refining Sect Master being away at this time was an unexpected surprise for him!
This was truly a golden opportunity bestowed by the heavens.
The one person he was most wary of in the whole Ghost Refining Sect was its current Sect Master. With the Sect Master absent, it was one big worry off Huang Xiaolong's mind.
"Oh right, are there any news of that Huang Xiaolong?" The Ghost Refining Sect young lord changed the subject all of a sudden.
The Ghost Messenger shook his head, "We've confirmed that he came to the Path to Hell; as for where he currently is, we still haven't found out."
A faint green light glimmered in the depths of the young lord's eyes, "This Huang Xiaolong makes me uncomfortable, I can't feel at ease if I don't kill him. Pass down my order, have the various sects' experts in the Path to Hell pay attention to this Huang Xiaolong's whereabouts and immediately report to me once they have any news of him. Also, none of you are to make any moves, I'd like to kill him personally."
"As you wish, young lord." The Infernal Ghost Messenger nodded in acknowledgement.
"Have people look after that Ascending Moon Old Man and the rest well. After sacrificing them and offering their blood essence, I believe my Ghost God's injuries will heal rapidly." The Ghost Refining Sect young lord added.
"Rest assured, young lord. The ghost prison is built with layers of restrictions, even if no one is guarding them, those people won't be able to escape. Even if they somehow managed to do it, they still wouldn't make it out of our Ghost Refining Sect's door. Worse still, there is also the Nightmare Forest." The Ghost Messenger scoffed.
Their discussion moved into other matters related to the upcoming ceremony. A short while later, the Ghost Messenger took his leave, returning to his own cultivation palace.
Huang Xiaolong sat in a meditating posture in the yard arranged for him, in deep thought. His plan in order of importance was rescuing his Master ASD, then look for a chance to enter the Ghost Refining Sect's treasury!
However, the question hanging in the air was, when was the Ghost Refining Sect Master coming back? Time was of the essence, therefore, Huang Xiaolong had to find the location of the ghost prison they spoke of as soon as possible.
Both the Ghost Messenger and the Ghost Refining Sect young lord were powerful adversaries, if Huang Xiaolong fought them, the disturbance would definitely alert other Ghost Refining Sect members. Thus, trying to get information about the ghost prison from either one of these people was obviously unwise. He would have to try his luck with other Ghost Refining Sect cultivators.
Huang Xiaolong used some tricks to bypass the restrictions around the courtyard and specifically instructed the Spiriting Demon Gates' Patriarch to stay inside before vanishing from the palace building.
After exiting the palace building, Huang Xiaolong altered his physical appearance to match the Ghost Messenger's after a quick thought. He then walked out from this palace complex that was the Ghost Refining Sect headquarters.
Outside, he carefully spread his divine sense. Everything within a million li radius of the Ghost Refining City appeared clearly like a map in Huang Xiaolong's mind, including all the secret cultivation chambers hidden in dark corners of the city residences, as well as all the Ghost Refining Sect's high-level Highgod Realm masters in the city.
In a flicker, he appeared inside a residence's secret chamber.
Inside the secret chamber, the Eighth Order Highgod Realm master's eyes suddenly opened wide. The first thing that entered his sight was Huang Xiaolong's figure.
"Lord Ghost Messenger!" That Ghost Refining Sect master was flabbergasted, hastily kneeling despite feeling bemused. Normally, had the Ghost Messenger wanted to see them, he would summon them through the communication talisman. Lord Ghost Messenger had never come looking for them personally. But before his thoughts could go any further, he felt himself being forcefully pulled forth by an overwhelming force coming from 'Lord Ghost Messenger.'
A purple light glimmered in Huang Xiaolong's eyes as the symbol for soul '魂' penetrated into the Ghost Refining Sect master's mind, scouring his soul for information.
A few minutes later, the soul-scouring ended.
His Archdevil Supreme Godhead's devouring power rushed out, turning that Ghost Refining Sect master into a dried corpse in the blink of an eye. However, he was still alive, Huang Xiaolong merely had him fall into an eternal coma.
High-level masters like this usually had a soul token kept within the sect, which would shatter if the corresponding master died. This would definitely alert the Ghost Refining Sect of intruders.
From this person's memories, Huang Xiaolong came to know that the number of Seventh Order Highgod Realm masters and above that had joined the Ghost Refining Sect was more than thirty thousand! Just the Tenth Order Highgod Realm masters were more than a thousand!
Huang Xiaolong was genuinely dumbfounded.
The Ghost Refining Sect's strength was truly terrifying!
Even the ancient devil clan merely had a little over a thousand Highgod Realm masters overall. Amongst them, the number of Seventh Order experts and above was pitifully small, less than fifty.
The person he just soul-scoured was an Elder of the Ghost Rearing Hall that didn't know the location of the ghost prison, only the Enforcement Hall's Elders and Grand Elders would know.
"The Enforcement Hall's Elders and Grand Elders." Huang Xiaolong repeated under his breath as his divine sense locked onto an Eighth Order Highgod Realm Enforcer Elder not far from where he was.
Ten minutes later, using the same method, Huang Xiaolong finished scouring the Enforcement Hall Elder's soul, devouring his blood essence and godforce and putting him into an eternal sleep.
"South of the city." A flash of joy glimmered in Huang Xiaolong's eyes.
It turns out this ghost prison was right under a certain residence in the south side of the city!
At first, Huang Xiaolong was worried it would be inside the Ghost Refining Sect headquarters. Had it been so, rescuing the old man would be many times harder.
However, Huang Xiaolong did not hurry over, he soul-scoured another five Enforcement Hall Elders and one early Tenth Order Highgod Realm Grand Elder. From that Grand Elder's memories, he learned the way to deal with the layers of restrictions, and unexpectedly also discovered the location of the Ghost Refining Sect's treasury!
The problem was, the treasury was guarded by four protectors, each possessing strength comparable to an Infernal Ghost Messenger. More importantly, only three people knew the method of opening the treasury.
One was the current Ghost Refining Sect Master, while the other two were that young lord and the Infernal Ghost Messenger! Huang Xiaolong's brows creased in a deep frown.
Obviously, it was impossible to dig out the way to open the treasury from the Ghost Refining Sect Master's mouth, leaving him two choices, either the young lord or the Infernal Ghost Messenger. The problem was, if these two remained inside the headquarters, he wouldn't be able to find a window of opportunity to obtain the information from them.
"Forget it, I'd better go save the old man first." Huang Xiaolong's brows smoothened. After all, his primary intention in coming here was to save the Ascending Moon Old Man, the rest was secondary.
Having decided, Huang Xiaolong made his way toward the city's south side according to the path he obtained from the Enforcement Hall Elders' memories, finding the hidden door leading to the ghost prison entrance under the residence.
There were more than twenty disciples guarding the ghost prison entrance below, but they weren't that strong, most of them being mid-level Highgod Realm masters.
Without raising any attention, he easily and swiftly dealt with the guards, resolved the restrictions placed on the entrance and flashed inside.
There were seven floors in the ghost prison. The more one descended, the stronger the restrictions placed around it became. The Ascending Moon Old Man was held on the second floor.
What Huang Xiaolong saw next dumbfounded him. When he appeared at the second floor in front of the Ascending Moon Old Man's cell, the old man was leaning back with one foot swaying in rhyme with the little tune he was humming while enjoying wine! From the looks of it, his days had been quite comfortable, nothing like a prisoner at all.
"Old man, where did you get wine from?" Huang Xiaolong asked.
Huang Xiaolong's voice frightened the old man so much he jumped out of his bed, but when he saw it was Huang Xiaolong, the old man's face beamed. He pounced on Huang Xiaolong, giving him a great big hug while laughing madly, "Sissy fudges! Kid, I knew you'd definitely come save me, your Master! You've finally shown up!"