BTTH : From Humble Beginnings to Dou Di

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"Enough with the nonsense. From now on, I ask and you answer. Otherwise, I'll let you taste the pain of your soul being burned by a Heavenly Flame again."

Invisible flames coiled silently around Lin Feng as he spoke indifferently.

"You dare kill me? The Hall of Souls will never let you off."

Protector Tie glared at Lin Feng, who stood calmly before him, threatening him coldly.

At the same time, a thick surge of killing intent flashed through his eyes.

This brat had reduced him to such a miserable state. Just how much soul essence would he need to recover?

He swore to himself that if he could return to the Hall of Souls, he would definitely gather four or five Protectors to hunt down and kill this brat together.

And before handing over his soul, he'd be sure to torture him thoroughly.

"Heh, looks like you've gotten used to acting arrogant under the Hall of Souls's protection. You still haven't accepted reality."

Facing the threat, Lin Feng merely let out a chuckle, then further intensified the flames on the invisible soul chains.

"AHHH!!"

The scorching heat of the chains caused Protector Tie's soul body to emit sizzling sounds. His shrill screams echoed again.

After letting him roast for a while, Lin Feng looked at the now extremely weak soul form and lightly tossed the jade bottle in his hand.

"This bottle of soul essence—where did it come from?"

"The soul essence was gifted to me by the Hall Master not long ago."

Protector Tie had been about to curse him, but the memory of that searing pain from moments earlier made him bite his tongue. Gritting his teeth, he spoke unwillingly.

Lin Feng nodded slightly and asked again, "Then why did your Hall Master gift it to you? And why didn't you absorb it?"

"I had captured the Xiao Brothers, the ones our superiors had named specifically. The Hall Master was overjoyed and rewarded me with the soul essence.

I originally planned to absorb it all, and after taking part of it I did break through to Four-Star Dou Zong. But then one of the Soul Envoys reported that something strange happened on the Heavenly Poison Woman's side, so I stopped absorbing and went to investigate."

As he spoke, a flash of regret appeared in Protector Tie's eyes.

The remaining soul essence was enough to let him break through to Five-Star Dou Zong.

If he had known this brat would come for him, he would've absorbed it all no matter what before checking on the Heavenly Poison Woman.

Hearing this, Lin Feng frowned.

He had originally intended to ask about the whereabouts of the Xiao brothers.

But Protector Tie had already transferred them to the regional branch hall master, who was likely on the way to the Hun Clan by now.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng decided not to bother with the Xiao brothers for the time being.

After all, once they were handed over to someone of that level, there was little he could do.

"Where is the Hall of Souls's branch responsible for this region located?"

After a moment of thought, Lin Feng asked again.

Although he had read the original canon, he didn't remember the precise location of the Hall of Souls branch in the northwest continent.

So he had no choice but to ask Protector Tie.

Upon hearing this, Protector Tie gritted his teeth and firmly shook his head. "That's a top secret of the Hall of Souls. If I reveal it, I'll meet a miserable end. I advise you to stop prying into such matters!"

Lin Feng smiled faintly, and skillfully increased the Fallen Heart Flame on the soul chains.

Ssssss...

The sizzling resumed, and along with it, Protector Tie's wretched screams.

"AHHH—Wait! Stop! I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!"

After just a few minutes, Protector Tie gave in completely and frantically pleaded for mercy.

Seeing him submit, Lin Feng reduced the flame's intensity.

"The branch I know of is very far from the Chu Yun Empire. It's located in the Sky Heart Empire, in a place called Burial Stream.

That's where the Central Plains and Northwestern Region meet. There's a spatial wormhole there, and we Protectors and Elders often travel between the two continents through it."

Protector Tie, now traumatized by the torment of the Fallen Heart Flame, spilled everything like beans falling from a broken jar—confessing it all in one breath.

Seeing that he had gotten the information he wanted, Lin Feng immediately sealed the still-cursing Protector Tie back into the jade bottle.

After sealing it tightly with the Fallen Heart Flame, he tossed it into his storage ring without another glance.

Having taken care of that, Lin Feng worried that any further action might disturb Zi Yan, so he headed toward a distant, unnamed mountain range.

He now possessed enough soul essence.

Today, he intended to refine enough pure soul origin…

To push his soul power to break through to the seventh-grade!

A few hours later, Lin Feng found a naturally formed cave atop a mountain. Without hesitation, he flew straight into it.

Glancing around, he saw that although the cave was cold and damp, it was quite spacious.

Satisfied, Lin Feng nodded and flicked his storage ring lightly.

Thud!

With a flash of light, a massive crimson cauldron—etched all over with fierce patterns of howling magic beasts—slammed heavily onto the ground before him.

The sheer weight of the cauldron caused the cave to tremble slightly.

After a brief moment of thought, Lin Feng decided to save the souls stored in the soul bags for later use.

After all, Protectors of the Hall of Souls possessed strong spiritual power. If he encountered powerful enemies in the future, he could use those souls to cast Hall of Souls Dou Techniques.

So it was better to hold onto them for now.

Having made that decision, Lin Feng unleashed the Fallen Heart Flame from within his body.

Under his control, the flames expanded outward, forming a circular flame barrier around him to prevent any souls from escaping.

Flipping his palm, he took out a black bag—neither cloth nor leather, yet something in between.

Whoosh—

As Lin Feng tore open the mouth of the soul bag, streams of soul bodies came flying out one after another with faint noises.

"Screee!"

The souls that attempted to flee were instantly met with the invisible fire barrier surrounding the cave. Wails of agony filled the air.

The burning of souls by the flame generated thick white smoke, which rapidly accumulated inside the barrier. The visibility around Lin Feng dropped to nearly zero.

Seeing this, Lin Feng waved his hand, summoning a fiery net of Fallen Heart Flame that fell directly over the mass of souls.

The flame net began to shrink, steadily compressing the trapped souls.

After being calcined and compressed by the Fallen Heart Flame, the mass of soul energy shrank down to the size of two or three heads.

With a wave of his hand, Lin Feng tossed it into the crimson cauldron. With a dull boom, the flames inside were ignited.

The roaring fire surged, continuously baking and refining the soul mass within.

To ensure his soul power could break through to the seventh-grade in one go, Lin Feng refined nearly one hundred thousand soul fragments before finally stopping.

The main issue was that most of these people had been incredibly weak when alive—about one-third of them hadn't even reached the Dou Zhe stage.

Most likely, these were the elderly, women, and children of the Snake-People Clan, slaughtered during the war between the two empires.

After all, those with some degree of strength would have likely helped each other escape.

The upper echelons of the Snake-People Clan would definitely have prioritized rescuing their stronger warriors first.

Because in a world as cruel as this, if a race's leadership and backbone forces were wiped out…

Even if they weren't exterminated today, they might not exist in this world tomorrow.

As a result, among the hundred thousand souls he refined, less than one-fifth had possessed the strength of Dou Shi or above during their lives.

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