In the fading light of evening, clusters of fire-cloud cotton clung to the sky, the afterglow of the sunset illuminating them in a blaze of glory.

The entirety of Cloud-Mist Island was bathed in a fiery, rosy light, the scenery magnificent under the sun’s lingering rays. Throughout the island, maple trees abounded, their leaves a vivid crimson that seemed even more enchanting beneath the radiant haze.

Cloud-Mist Island possessed a unique beauty; as dusk descended, the sky’s fiery clouds and the island's maple leaves complemented each other perfectly, creating a breathtaking spectacle.

The spiritual energy of this island was also extraordinarily potent, and nestled within its terrain were three mines yielding Fire-Manganese Stone.

Fire-Manganese Stone was a crucial material for forging divine weapons. It was inherently fire-attributed; infusing high-quality Fire-Manganese Stone into a weapon would grant it fire properties. When combined with certain fire-attribute crystals, it could create blades carrying an intense, scorching power.

The Gu family specialized primarily in sword cultivation techniques, and their masters were all formidable swordsmen.

Wan Jian Peak, belonging to the Gu family, was studded with countless treasured swords, some possessing a discernible sentience of their own.

Many masters of the Gu family excelled at sword refinement, a craft demanding rare and exotic materials. Fire-Manganese Stone was precisely the scarce component needed for fire-attributed swords. When the Gu family first discovered the stone on Cloud-Mist Island, they expended considerable effort, sweeping aside all martial forces entrenched there before claiming dominion over the island. A year prior, Mo Duanhun, the Asura King of the Yang family, descended upon Cloud-Mist Island accompanied by thirty Asura Blood Guards.

In just half a day, every defensive measure the Gu family had established on Cloud-Mist Island was shattered. The residents of the Gu family on the island were mercilessly slaughtered by the Blood Guards, and any power base connected to the Gu family was eradicated root and branch.

A year had passed, and although Cloud-Mist Island had returned to Gu family hands, their fortifications had yet to be fully rebuilt.

Fortunately, due to unrest stirring in the Fourth Demonic Domain, the Yang family had recently been aggressively targeting the forces of both the Gu and Dongfang families, quietly withdrawing their main contingent from the Gāluō Sea region. Seizing this opportunity, the Gu family proposed negotiations, which the Yang family—preoccupied with dealing with the fiends from the Fourth Demonic Domain—readily accepted, agreeing to meet on Cloud-Mist Island to finalize the terms.

At the foot of the largest Fire-Manganese Stone mine on Cloud-Mist Island stood structures of stone towers and walls. Surrounding this complex, clusters of maple trees, their leaves a blazing red, enveloped the buildings, transforming the area into a veritable ocean of fiery foliage.

At the pinnacle of a massive fifty-meter stone tower, Gu Jiange and Gu Lie stood side by side, gazing into the distance.

The dazzling sunset glow, like a blush across the heavens, shot crimson beams from beyond the horizon, slicing across the tower floor and casting long, red lines on the ground within.

As the sun slowly dipped beneath the sea, a messenger falcon pierced the wind from afar, approaching at incredible speed.

The falcon located its target unerringly, landing directly before Gu Lie at the stone window, beating its wings twice before settling still.

Gu Lie reached out, plucked the missive from the falcon’s leg, and scanned its contents, his brow furrowing deeply as his expression grew increasingly grim.

Gu Lie possessed a cultivation base at the Second Heaven of the Nirvana Nest realm, granting him considerable status within the Gu family. The conflict with the Yang family had originated because of Gu Jiange, meaning Gu Lie was tasked with handling the Yang family’s repeated provocations, which had resulted in the slaughter of many Gu family masters across several islands. This series of losses had deeply angered the Gu family patriarch, who laid the blame squarely upon Gu Jiange, while simultaneously expressing considerable dissatisfaction with Gu Lie, leaving him feeling perpetually frustrated. He had managed the affairs with the Yang family with extreme caution, terrified of making any further missteps.

“Father, what’s the situation?” Gu Jiange stepped forward, leaning toward the missive.

Gu Lie, his face shadowed with gloom, shoved the note into Gu Jiange’s hands and snapped, “The Yang family is truly rapacious! They demand we hand over five entire islands just to settle this matter.”

“Five islands?” Gu Jiange’s face instantly changed. He snatched the missive and read, crying out in disbelief, “Cloud-Mist Island, Black Shell Island, Iron Wolf Island, Wave Reed Island, and Earthly Evil Island! Every one of these islands either holds a mine or yields spiritual herbs. Each one was seized by the Gu family only after immense effort. The Yang family is making an outrageous, all-at-once demand for five!”

Gu Lie’s expression was bleak as he sighed. “The family will never permit it. These five islands are far too precious to cede to the Yangs. But if we can’t negotiate a settlement, they’ll blame me again for my incompetence. This truly is difficult…”

“Father,” Gu Jiange’s expression turned cold, his voice sinking, “Last time at the Soul Gathering Pool, that fiend seemed… seemed to want…” He gritted his teeth. “Since the Yang family is pushing us too far, why don't we commit fully? Let’s agree to the fiend’s terms and ensure that those coming to Cloud-Mist Island never leave here alive…”

“The fiend…” Gu Lie’s features shifted, but he hesitated. “Though we clash with the Yangs, involving fiends—if this ever came to light, we would be scorned by all. Other families would condemn our methods as despicable…”

“If every Yang family member is annihilated, who will ever know we were involved?” Gu Jiange pondered for a moment, persuading, “Father, times have changed. Today, people will ally with anyone for advantage. I know for a fact that some in the Endless Sea cooperate with the Netherworld beings from the Seventh Hells. When the goal is paramount, a little flexibility is sometimes necessary.”

“The one coming might be Mo Duanhun…” Gu Lie frowned deeply. “As the foremost of the Two Great Asura Sovereigns, his power is world-shattering. Unless a fiend at the Divine Realm level intervenes, no one can hold him. If Mo Duanhun escapes and learns we aided the fiends, neither of us might be safe within the Gu family.”

“If this attempt fails, your standing within the family will plummet. The clan absolutely won't allow us to surrender five islands, and the Yangs are notoriously brutal; we can’t please both sides. If Mo Duanhun is killed by the fiends, we can disassociate ourselves completely. Then the Yang family will descend into chaos and likely won't have the energy to bother us further. Father, please consider this carefully.”

“Let us go to the Soul Gathering Pool…”

“Mn…”

To the south of Cloud-Mist Island lay a hidden valley, within which centered a dark pool.

This pool was shrouded in a thick vapor, and above the water hung an aura as black and inky as spilled ink. Around the perimeter stood numerous Soul Summoning Banners, completely covering the pool.

Within the water, ghostly faces flickered and swam on the surface. The pool resembled a grotesque mirror, seemingly sealing away countless restless, malicious spirits.

Legend held that Cloud-Mist Island had once suffered a catastrophic disaster, with every soul on the island slaughtered. Yet, drawn by some unknown, powerful compulsion, these souls did not dissipate but instead converged entirely within this valley pool.

The pool was filled with countless ghosts, ceaselessly drifting on the surface, occasionally rising abruptly to drift aimlessly.

Long ago, an evil martial sect had consecrated the Soul Gathering Pool as their holy site, cultivating their arts near its waters.

When the Gu family sought to claim ownership of Cloud-Mist Island, their masters were dispatched, exterminating this malevolent sect, sending all the sect members’ souls into the Soul Gathering Pool.

After securing the island, the Gu family delved deep into the pool’s secrets. From the texts of the vanquished cult, they learned that the Soul Gathering Pool connected to both the Seventh Hells and the Fourth Demonic Domain. However, unlike the Celestial Gate, which allowed passage from the Endless Sea into the other realms, the Soul Gathering Pool did not permit descent.

The pool only allowed select masters from the Seventh Hells and the Fourth Demonic Domain to manifest on its surface through the penetration of their souls.

At one point, the Gu family attempted to destroy the pool, but just as they prepared to act, a fiend’s soul emerged from the depths. The apparition surfaced and proposed a pact: the Gu family was to infuse the pool with various specific kinds of living souls, attempting to bring direct soul-manifestations from the Hells and the Demonic Domain into the Endless Sea via the pool.

However, the Seventh Hells and the Three Divine Cult had always been antagonistic. The Three Divine Cult had repeatedly entered the Seventh Hells through the Celestial Gate, reaping vast resources, but this interaction had turned them into sworn enemies.

The Gu family was an ally of the Three Divine Cult and naturally refused to assist the Netherworld beings in opposing them.

Consequently, the Gu family not only rejected the proposal from the Netherworld and Demonic entities but sealed the Soul Gathering Pool entirely, obscuring it with layers of power to prevent anyone from learning its secrets.

During the intense debate over whether to destroy the pool, the Gu family ultimately spared it—perhaps as a defense against future conflict with the Three Divine Cult, or for some other reason.

Nevertheless, the Gu family maintained absolute control over all knowledge pertaining to the Soul Gathering Pool. The numerous restrictions surrounding the perimeter were laid by the Gu family’s most elite masters; unless an expert in formations from one of the Fifteen Great Powers happened upon it, its secrets were safe.

The last time Mo Duanhun ravaged Cloud-Mist Island, riding his Azure Blood Demon Bat, he scoured the island, releasing his divine sense to search for martial masters and spiritual treasures, yet he failed to detect the Soul Gathering Pool.

This testified to the pool’s profound concealment.

Gu Lie and Gu Jiange, father and son, quietly departed the tower, evading certain Gu family guards, and made their way to the Soul Gathering Pool.

Arriving at the eerie site, Gu Lie used a secret technique to deactivate the wards. He approached the surface of the pool and cast a thread of divine sense onto a sphere of black light hovering at the center.

This sphere was an amalgamation of countless captive souls, whose combined essences caused ferocious, ghostly visages to ripple across its surface.

Gu Lie’s wisp of divine sense soared into the black sphere, and shortly thereafter, the sphere sank beneath the waters of the Soul Gathering Pool.

Within ten minutes, the pool began to boil violently, throwing up monstrous waves. The foul, dark water rose dramatically, coalescing into the form of a fiend three meters tall, pitch-black like ink, sporting six sharp horns, its features indistinct and shifting.

“In one month, Mo Duanhun, the chief of the Three Asura Sovereigns of the Yang family in the Endless Sea, will arrive here. At that time, I can temporarily loosen the Soul Gathering Pool’s restrictions. Can you seize the opportunity to trap Mo Duanhun and the Asura Blood Guards here?” Gu Lie spoke directly, wasting no words.

“Mo Duanhun…” The fiend thrashed its limbs, its water-formed body swaying. It cackled sharply, “A welcome visitor! Truly welcome!”