The Steward Demonic Emperor

Proofreader: Papatonks

Bubbles reached the surface as something dark spread through the clear water pond and gave it a black luster.

Someone finally caught on to the peculiarity of the pond, crying, “Sect Leader, why did the pond turn black again?”

“What?!”

Sect Leader lost his joy, staring at the water, “A full moon is just above so why the sudden change back? Did something happen this time to lead to such a change? Is the moonlight poor?”

He had no time to make sense of it as a black shadow jumped out on the banks, spreading beneath everyone’s feet.

Whoosh~

The shadow rose above, trapping everyone in some sort of a barrier, unable to get out.

It got so thick that even the moonlight couldn’t pierce it.

Everywhere they looked, they were met with more black.

Sect Leader cried out, “I-is this a… domain soul?”

“Domain soul? We’re a Beast Taming Sect, just who even comprehends such a soul?” Everyone shook, looking around in panic.

The domain soul was known as the strongest type. Once trapped inside, you were at the other’s mercy.

They were still trying to figure out who was its owner, and how it got all of them.

[Does he want to destroy the Beast Taming Sect?]

[Nah, can’t be.]

With so many people around, the domain soul would be popped open with their efforts and give the owner a heavy wound. All that mattered now was to figure out the domain soul’s nature.

But in the end, no domain could actually trap so many of them for good.

Holding the whimpering belle, Sect Leader lost his mood to pay her attention, looking around in panic. “Who the hell is it that releases a domain soul in Beast Taming Sect? Humph, you have some nerve! Take it back right now and I’ll write it off as a joke. Don’t, and we’ll be forced to take lethal actions!”

“You’re gonna pop my soul? What a show off, ha-ha-ha…”

The cold voice came from everywhere. The familiar tone had everyone shaking in fear, “H-how… Zhuo Fan?”

Lian’er and the other two guys were speechless.

“N-no way! Zhuo Fan fell in the Abyssal Swamp. He’s deader than dead!”

Sect Leader shook his head, shouting his denial, “Zhuo Fan also has the rare heaven dragon soul, not a domain soul. I don’t care who you are but don’t think you can fool me! Come out now!”

The others nodded as well.

[You tell him, Sect Leader! Even if Zhuo Fan is alive, he has the heaven dragon soul. We saw it ourselves. How can it be a domain soul?]

Zhuo Fan’s mockery came again, “Ha-ha-ha, true, I do have the heaven dragon soul, but thanks to your kind gesture of kicking me in the Abyssal Swamp, I have formed my second soul. Now you’re all within its bounds, the Devouring Domain!”

“Second soul?”

𝗳𝔯e𝒆𝙬𝘦𝙗𝓷o𝘷el. c૦𝑚

Sect Leader was stunned, “There’s no way a cultivator can have a second soul! You’re not fooling anyone! I’ve been alive for so many years in the western lands and not once heard such a baffling thing.”

“That doesn’t mean it ain’t true. Didn’t Danqing Shen get to have two as well? Ha-ha-ha, having met him already, I then knew how to get two souls as well. But since you never heard of it, that just proves what an ignorant lout you are.”

“Danqing Shen?!”

Sect Leader took two shaky steps back, his face dark.

He’d never have taken Zhuo Fan’s words about having a second soul seriously, but since Danqing Shen was involved, he had no choice.

Danqing Shen was legendary in the western lands. Anything could happen around him. Since he did it, then a freak like Zhuo Fan had a probable chance of doing it as well.

Sect Leader’s face fell, “You’re really Zhuo Fan?”

“In the flesh!”

“Humph, Zhuo Fan, you are simply looking to die coming back again!”

Sect Leader snickered, “Your domain soul was too strong for us to handle, but with just a domain soul out, humph. Even if the type is stronger than a beast soul, with so many souls in your domain, you’ll die either way. If we charge right out, your domain soul will be pulverized or heavily wounded. Ha-ha-ha, Zhuo Fan you’ve miscalculated. Not all domain souls are stronger than a beast soul.”

Sect Leader shouted, “Men, release your souls and scatter this damn domain!”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone followed his orders and gathered their souls.

A horde of beasts thundered, releasing their devastating power and increasing their pressure inside the domain.

Lian’er and the other two were gasping in shock. With such a horde of mighty beasts, any domain would fall.

[Zhuo Fan will…]

Lian’er was tense, her hope of hearing Zhuo Fan was back from the dead being shaken.

Sect Leader cackled, “Zhuo Fan, it’s too late to take your domain back. Everyone attack!”

Roar!

With a thunderous yell, a stampede formed as it charged at the black dome’s peak, the weakest point in a domain soul. It could not resist an attack and would collapse.

Sect Leader shook in glee.

[Humph, Zhuo Fan, I didn’t kill you the first time, but I’ll make sure you’re finished now!]

A clanking sound echoed out before he got to gloat at his glorious achievement.

The stampede stopped charging, as if trapped by something.

Sect Leader cried out, “W-what’s happening? Why aren’t you attacking?”

“Sect Leader, we don’t know why but we are lacking the strength to move…” The elders panicked, “As if our Yuan Qi and souls are out of our control…”

[What?]

Sect Leader’s legs were shaking like jelly.

A cultivator needed Yuan Qi and soul power to show their might. With both of them locked, that stopped one from being a cultivator altogether; nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter.

[H-how can this be?]

Zhuo Fan grinned as he floated, “I formed the Devouring Domain inside the Abyssal Swamp, so of course it has its power. Didn’t you say anyone would die once stuck in this quagmire? Ha-ha-ha, now all of you are in the same situation. The only difference is that this is worse.”

Everyone shook in fear and horror.

[The domain is the same as that weird swamp? Does that mean we’re screwed?]

None caught in the swamp’s sludge ever made it out alive…

“Beast Taming Sect’s Sect Leader…”

Zhuo Fan’s coy grin was plastered on his face, “You’re wrong about one thing. Demon Transformation Art said the condition to form a second soul was for it to be stronger than the first. So you tell me if the Devouring Domain is weaker than dragon soul. Ha-ha-ha, you’ve really underestimated me. Not that taking me seriously would’ve changed things. So be good and die already, Demon Transformation Art… “

Whoosh~

As Zhuo Fan’s voice traveled, black energy clutched around every Beast Taming Sect soul. Without their soul power and Yuan Qi, they had no chance of even resisting.

“Hold on, Zhuo Fan, if there’s anything…”

Sect Leader begged while the elders howled. Zhuo Fan just ignored him.

The black energy wrapped around them all, turning them into black statues and snuffing out their pleas.

With a sound, the Devouring Domain faded, along with the statues. The Crescent Pool once again appeared with the bright moon shining from above.

Only this time, the Beast Taming Sect’s higher ups had now been devoured by Zhuo Fan, boosting his power…