His gaze carried a sense of resolve, as if he had already lost hope in these people.
“Master Hu, let us go,” Chen Ping said to Hu Mazi beside him.
Hu Mazi was stunned for a moment, then understood; Chen Ping had given up.
He looked at the cultivators who were still cursing, shook his head helplessly, and followed Chen Ping as they retreated to a corner on the periphery of the Soul-Gathering Altar.
They stood there, quietly watching everything unfolding on the Soul-Gathering Altar, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
Seeing that Chen Ping was no longer making a move, the golden-robed cultivator’s face broke into a smug smile.
He called out loudly to the crowd: “Fellow Daoists, you have all seen it, have you not? This spy has lost his nerve! Everyone, continue to focus your minds, do not let him disturb you; in just a moment, it will be the time for all of you to break through!”
With that, he raised the jade ruyi once more and muttered incantations under his breath.
The jade ruyi began to emit a soft yet hypnotic glow again, and the black runes below the high platform reignited; the cracks that had formed were slowly healing.
Those cultivators who had been repelled hesitated for a moment, then truly closed their eyes again, sinking back into the state of “listening to the Dao.”
Faint blue soul threads once more drifted from their brow centres, surging towards the groove.
Those soul threads were like slender streams, converging into the groove, as if narrating their ignorance and sorrow.
Hu Mazi watched with itching teeth, clenching his fists: “These people… they are truly beyond foolish!”
He simply could not comprehend why these cultivators were so easily deceived by the golden-robed cultivator; for a illusory “breakthrough opportunity,” they were willing to sacrifice their own souls.
Chen Ping silently observed the scene, his gaze calm and unruffled.
He could see that, as those soul threads poured into the groove, the soul jar deep within was continuously expanding; faintly, he could hear clearer soul cries emanating from inside, sounds filled with despair and agony, suggesting that it already contained the souls of numerous cultivators.
Those souls struggled within the soul jar, emitting silent screams, yet no one could hear them.
As time passed, the light from the jade ruyi grew ever brighter, and the black runes below the high platform flickered like living things, emitting eerie ghostly lights.
For the cultivators with eyes closed in concentration, the soul threads emerging from their brow centres grew thicker; the originally faint blue soul threads gradually took on a tinge of grey-white, a sign that the essence of their souls was being drawn away.
These grey-white soul threads resembled polluted streams, carrying an ominous aura.
After roughly the time it takes to burn one incense stick, the golden-robed cultivator abruptly withdrew the jade ruyi, and the runes below the high platform dimmed in an instant.
The soul jar deep in the groove had now swollen to half the height of a person, its surface covered in twisted soul patterns, like agonised faces.
The soul cries emanating from within were muffled and pained, as if countless wronged spirits were writhing inside.
That sound echoed across the Soul-Gathering Altar, sending chills down one’s spine.
“Fellow Daoists, congratulations on your breakthroughs!” The golden-robed cultivator plastered a hypocritical smile on his face and cupped his hands towards the crowd.
His smile betrayed a sense of triumph and insidiousness, as if he were admiring his own handiwork.
The cultivators all opened their eyes, feeling light throughout their bodies; the spiritual qi within them seemed slightly smoother than before, and they truly believed they had broken through their bottlenecks.
They immersed themselves in the joy of breakthrough, completely unaware of how precious a thing they had lost.
A cultivator dressed in coarse short robes excitedly brandished his fists: “Many thanks to the immortal for your guidance! I feel my bottleneck has truly loosened!”
His face beamed with a happy smile, as if envisioning a bright future of vastly increased cultivation.
Another middle-aged cultivator was so moved that tears welled in his eyes: “I have been stuck at the peak of Earth Immortal Realm for three years; today, I have finally broken through! Immortal, your great kindness is unforgettable for lifetimes!”
With a thud, he knelt to the ground and kowtowed repeatedly to the golden-robed cultivator, as if the latter were his reborn parents.
