The bedroom on the second floor of the Spirit Hall.

Ling Haozi laughed savagely, his expression twisted, his eyes full of murderous intent and mockery toward the Ling Queen.

The Ling Queen, her clothes half-covering her body, sat on the floor and looked up at Lu Jin'an, her gaze filled with disbelief.

She had never imagined that after suppressing Ling Haozi, Lu Jin'an, Qi Huizu, and Pei Wanyu would immediately turn their spearheads on her.

She had clearly helped them lead the way, and this was how they treated her in the end?!

Feeling the threat to the Origin of her heart, the Ling Queen's expression turned ugly: "Lu Jin'an, have I ever done anything to wrong you?

Setting that aside, I invested so much in you… and this is how you bite the hand that feeds you?!"

"This is a transaction." Lu Jin'an said indifferently, "Leaving aside your failure at Dingbei Pass, afterward, the Soul Book and the Cangming Soul River you gave me were so that I'd help you get rid of Ling Haozi.

Now Ling Haozi is a soul on the verge of death. Our cooperation has already ended. When we no longer owe each other anything, do I still need to discuss what I want to do with you?"

"You!"

The Ling Queen was furious, but on this point, she truly couldn't find any strong rebuttal. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Especially since they belonged to the Spirit Clan and the Human Clan respectively, they could never be pure allies at any time.

On top of that, with the Human Clan's Destiny flourishing now, it was obvious they were aiming for the position of Cloud Peak Master, so taking the opportunity to strike at the Spirit Clan was indeed normal.

The Ling Queen's expression shifted unpredictably. Feeling Lu Jin'an's threat to her Origin, as if she'd figured something out, she suddenly spoke: "You're not going to kill me?"

"I won't." Lu Jin'an held the hilt of Netherworld Validation. "All I want is the Cangming Soul River. Of course, I won't harm the Origin of the Cangming Soul River. I believe the Ling Queen knows what I mean."

Of course the Ling Queen understood. What Lu Jin'an wanted now was not a Spirit Clan torn into pieces, but a Spirit Clan that wasn't particularly strong or particularly weak.

He wanted to turn the Spirit Clan into something like a Dynasty Feudal Country.

The Ling Queen's gaze flickered. This was somewhat different from her original plan, but… not by much.

Only now the Spirit Clan would completely become a vassal of the Human Clan.

"Fine."

Without thinking for too long, the Ling Queen nodded in agreement. Lu Jin'an was not surprised by her choice, but he also didn't pull Netherworld Validation from Ling Haozi's chest. "Kill Ling Haozi."

The Ling Queen rose decisively and came to stand before Ling Haozi, whose figure had already become much more transparent. Ling Haozi lifted his head and glared at her: "Clinging to small favors, ignoring the entire clan… woman's softness!"

"I don't have ambition as grand as yours." The Ling Queen's tone was calm. "You tried to profit from both sides and ended up pleasing neither. Now the possibility of an all-out war between the Human and Demon Clans is very high; when that happens, they might very well take care of the Spirit Clan first…

Instead of letting you drag the Spirit Clan to collapse, it's better to cling to a corner in peace and scheme for a more distant future."

"Your Soul Power, I'll be taking it!"

The Ling Queen slammed out a palm, erasing Ling Haozi's consciousness while merging his Soul Power into herself.

Lu Jin'an wasn't worried that the Ling Queen would get cocky after her strength increased; if this method had been viable, Ling Haozi would have devoured plenty of clansmen long ago.

Ling Haozi stared at the Ling Queen, unwilling to accept it, while the Ling Queen said to Lu Jin'an at this moment, "Saint Lu, in a moment I'll lure Ling Haozi's loyal subordinates over and deal with them all together!"

She paused, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes. "Using the same method!"

"You bitch, you—!"

Ling Haozi was so enraged he nearly spat blood. Lu Jin'an also gave the Ling Queen a few more looks, then turned his gaze to Ling Haozi, with a hint of pity in his eyes.

Even at death's door she was still putting several hats on Ling Haozi's head…

"Alright." Lu Jin'an agreed directly, then drew out Netherworld Validation and stabbed straight into Ling Haozi's glabella.

The Ling Queen's face changed slightly. Her lips moved, but in the end she said nothing.

Lu Jin'an ignored her and directly extracted Ling Haozi's memories, converting them into Yin Ming Life.

There were still no Spirit Clan beings in his Yinming Space collection.

And only by looking at Ling Haozi's memories could he be absolutely sure the Ling Queen wouldn't pull any tricks in the Cangming Soul River.

Furthermore, it was to prevent Ling Haozi from being reborn by seizing another body.

"It's done."

Lu Jin'an threw Ling Haozi into his Yinming Space and said to the Ling Queen, "Call over all the Spirit Saints loyal to Ling Haozi."

After muttering "petty" under her breath, the Ling Queen went to look for the other Spirit Saints.

Lu Jin'an casually used casting to clean up the traces in the room so as not to arouse suspicion.

After doing all this, he and Qi Huizu hid again.

Though he knew not all the Spirit Saints desired the Ling Queen, with the Ling Queen now holding great power, as long as some of them died, the rest wouldn't be able to stir up any real waves.

Everything went more or less as Lu Jin'an and Qi Huizu had expected. Only three Spirit Saints followed the Ling Queen back into this bedroom.

Qi Huizu simply closed his eyes, and before the three Spirit Saints followed the Ling Queen through the door, Pei Wanyu had sent him a warning via sound transmission: "Don't you dare look later."

Lu Jin'an felt his Master was being unnecessarily fussy; he truly had no interest in that sort of thing.

After neatly dealing with the three Spirit Saints, the Ling Queen took Lu Jin'an and Qi Huizu door to door. Once all of Ling Haozi's loyalists had been taken care of, the Ling Queen led Lu Jin'an to the top floor of the Spirit Hall.

The Spirit Hall sat at the center of the Cangming Soul River, so the top floor was the best place to absorb the Cangming Soul River.

After settling Lu Jin'an in, the Ling Queen hurriedly left; she needed to announce her ascension to power.

Qi Huizu went with her. Given the Spirit Clan's current situation, he alone was enough to help the Ling Queen complete her Control over the Spirit Clan.

Moreover, he had to ensure that during Lu Jin'an's absorption of the Cangming Soul River, any Spirit Saint or Spirit Emperor who dared make a move would be executed.