In the top floor of the tower, the hall master sat on a throne with the other elders standing around him. On a table in front of him lay the body of the woman.
From the outside she appeared no different from a dead person, but the hall master was powerful enough to detect the faintest life signature coming from her body.
"What's the synopsis?" He asked.
"It's a classic case of life-leach backlash. But for it to happen at such a large scale either every one of her targets got rid of their seals at the same time or she went against the rules and had a strong seal on only one or a few persons." Responded the elder. Even though he was only a saint he was the dedicated doctor of their hall so he could determine much more than the hall master.
"But that's even more unlikely. Not only is that against the rules, according to the record keeping department she hasn't left the valley for the past 6 years. Unless she managed to place a seal at long range there is no way there were only one or two targets from that long ago. Even a worm with the strongest of souls would have died after only a year. Coupled with the golden light that attacked the hall master, I am inclined to believe that someone is targeting our nurturing ghost hall."
The nurturing ghost hall was very strict about this one rule, especially amongst their most talented disciples. The backlash of their signature curse was so strong that even the hall master might die at any moment if he is not careful. This is why when teaching, they lay emphasis on having a wide array of smaller worms as targets and not just one large worm.
The individual seals would claim less soul power than a full strength one, but by spreading them out you would only get a part of the backlash if a seal was broken. With a weaker seal your targets would also last longer.
For the women to go through such a backlash she had to have had only one or two targets, but considering her position there was no way such a thing was allowed.
Waving a hand, the hall master dismissed the elder. "If it is something as simple as backlash, then I will handle it. I will go heal myself and for the time being you all are to investigate the golden flame forest and the tugga village. The worms of the village are not very interesting but the lord of the forest is a saint tier golden flame war elephant so the vice hall master will lead this investigation." He got up and walked out of the room with the woman's body.
All the elders had a very serious expression. As far as they knew the tugga village was where the woman came from, but they didn't know why they should look into the golden flame forest. It had some fame as a medicinal herb gathering spot, but it wasn't interesting beyond that.
"Since the hall master said that we have to look into it, then we will look into it. Get the wailing ghost guards ready while I figure out who I am going to pick. For the hall master to mention those two places in particular they have to have some significance on who injured him." Said one of the elders. He stood away from the others and closer to the throne signifying his position.
"Yes, vice hall master." The others replied as they vanished from where they stood.
In a special room also on the top floor of the tower, the hall master sat in the middle of a formation that was created out of a black slug. Soul power was pouring into him as he focused on healing his damaged soul. Somewhere to the side of the room, the woman was submerged in a vat of the thick liquid.
"What did you see?" An ancient voice interrupted him.
"All I saw was a human somewhere around the golden flame forest before a golden light erased my divine sense. I couldn't tell how powerful they were, but they might have concealed their aura. If they were a supremacy, they could have killed me through my divine sense, but they can't be so weak to have an aura, otherwise there is no way they could have injured me so badly."
If it was anyone else that interrupted his healing process, he would have had them executed, but he had to be very respectful to this voice in particular. It was much older and more powerful than he was, so he had no choice but to reel in his usually arrogant attitude.
"That close to where she came from, could it be that a passing expert sensed the seal she put on that worm and removed it?" The ancient voice queried. "No, not possible. If what you said is true then they are an extremity at most, no one who knows enough about our seal to remove it without killing the target would be stupid enough to go against my nurturing ghost hall."
If Ray had killed Jason while removing the seal then the woman would have been dead, not just close to it.
"Maybe not. I personally put the seal for her, and it was put too deep to be removed the normal way. After a few more years she was to go and harvest the seal herself and extract the soul seed. They might be weak but specialized, there's no way I wouldn't have sensed an aura from them if they are a saint or higher." The hall master responded. "Either way they will die, either by my hands or by those fools outside."