Tao Ming, Wu Tian, and Deng Yi were Demonic Cultivators from the Soul Reaping Temple, a sect from the Demonic Continent.

After the long, prolonged war against the Murim Alliance, attempting to take over the Sacred Realm. All factions from the Demonic Continent agreed not to step into the mainland again. As long as the Sword God was alive, they agreed not to step into the mainland.

It wasn’t until the people from the Heaven Founder visited the Demonic Continent, and the leader of the Heaven Founder introduced them to this outsider named Alderman.

The Heaven Founder proposed an interesting offer, a chance for them to set themselves up in the mainland. The Heaven Founder’s leader told them that this Alderman could handle the Sword God, but they needed an assistant to kill someone else.

It was a tempting offer, a chance for them to move to a land with bountiful resources. The reason they dabbled in the demonic technique was because of their lack of resources; at least, most of them had no choice but to learn the demonic techniques.

Moving to the mainland would give them more resources and more options for their cultivation. It was akin to creating a new path for them.

Soul Reaping Temple, Corpse Refining Sect, Netherworld Palace, Desolate Abyss Hall, and Ghost Valley were the five leading factions in the Demonic Realm Continent. They were the rulers of the Demonic Continent, and smaller factions listened to them.

The five factions were dubious about the proposal at first. It wasn’t until they decided to fight Alderman Fiodor as a test. The battle lasted for a day; twenty-six True God Realm cultivators from Corpse Refining Sect, Netherworld Palace, Desolate Abyss Hall, and Ghost Valley were defeated by Alderman Fiodor.

It was more than getting defeated; they were convincingly defeated by Alderman. The worst part was that Alderman didn’t suffer any injury from the fight. That was enough proof that Alderman had the power to contend with the Sword God.

The Soul Reaping Temple didn’t join in that fight because their specialty was Soul Technique. And they were also the reason why the Heaven Founder came to visit the Demonic Continent, to handle someone who could be a threat to Alderman.

It was their duty to trap the threat that Alderman was wary of. Three of them, along with the Temple Head and five other Elders, were in charge of trapping this person.

Based on the Heaven Founder’s information, their target was in the Foundation Establishment Realm. The tricky thing was that their target was on the same rank as Alderman based on Outsider’s system.

Alderman Fiodor warned them to be careful. However, they believed it was supposed to be an easy job if their target was the Foundation Establishment Realm. Their Soul Technique was extremely effective against someone weaker than them.

Alderman Fiodor only asked them to trap Tang Shaoyang’s soul, but they planned to do more than that. They wanted to manipulate this Tang Shaoyang to be their puppet and turn this person into their tool to secure their own land after the Sword God was killed.

The Foundation Establishment Realm’s Soul Palace was not supposed to be strong. For someone in that realm, they should not be able to develop their souls yet, after all. So this was their chance to use Soul Manipulation and turn their target into their puppet.

First, they would corrupt the Soul Palace. After corruption, they would destroy the current Soul Palace. The corruption should be enough to destroy Tang Shaoyang’s Soul Palace. Then they would create a new Soul Palace and leave their imprint in that new Soul Palace. That was how they would turn Tang Shaoyang into a puppet. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Everything went according to plan. The Murim Alliance opened the gate for them to enter the city, giving them time to set up their Soul Formation, and they managed to trap their target with ease.

Everything went smoothly until they arrived inside their target’s Soul Palace.

"What is this!?" Wu Tian asked in disbelief.

They expected their target’s Soul Palace to be a small room, or at best as big as a main hall. However, they were currently standing above the vast ocean. To make it worse, they were separated from the other six people.

"This is not the Foundation Establishment Realm’s Soul Palace! They tricked us!" Tao Ming was angry that the Heaven Founder gave them false information.

Not just the Soul Palace was big, but it was already developed. Or else they would see an empty white space instead of this enormous ocean.

The reason they could not win against Zhong Tian Yun was because of how much the Sword God had developed his Soul Palace. Zhong Tian Yun was too powerful for their Soul Technique, but they thought it would work against the Tang Shaoyang, yet this was what they found in Tang Shaoyang’s Soul Palace.

Deng Yi was more composed than the other two, observing the ocean. Then he looked up, noticing the fading gargantuan clock. He frowned as his face darkened with what he found.

This Soul Palace was more than just developed; this Soul Palace might be even more advanced than their own, even though it still lacked more details, but this was beyond their comprehension as Soul Cultivators.

"We should leave now!" Deng Yi felt uneasy with their discovery.

Not only might they not be able to manipulate such a big Soul Palace, but he didn’t think they could even plant corruption in such an advanced Soul Palace.

"What are you talking about? This is more reason we need to stay and trap his soul in this place. We need to stall for more time for Alderman to kill this person, even if we can’t turn this person into our puppet!"

Tao Ming snapped at the overly cautious Deng Yi. It was indeed an overwhelming Soul Palace, but there was no need to be concerned. It was nine against one; no matter how strong this Soul Palace, Tang Shaoyang would not be able to do anything against them.

Even if they could not corrupt this Soul Palace, they just needed to trap Tang Shaoyang here until Alderman killed Tang Shaoyang. This Soul Palace confirmed why Alderman was concerned about Tang Shaoyang. This gave them another reason to contain Tang Shaoyang.

"I agr—" Wu Tian’s eyes widened as a sword went through his chest. His vision blurred, but he managed to get a clear look at what pierced his chest. It was a fish with a sword-like snout.

Tao Ming and Deng Yi were also startled by the sudden attack. None of them could sense this coming. Before they could react to save their friend, dark tentacles shot up from the calm surface.

Five tentacles shot toward Deng Yi, each of them wrapped around Deng Yi’s limbs. Tao Ming watched his friend being dragged into the sea. His friend disappeared into the water with no splash; the ocean remained calm, yet terrifying creatures seemed to be lurking around.