Over twelve hundred years ago, the city district of Y City was an ancient city swept by sandstorms.

In the stillness of the night, when all was quiet, a sandstorm rose outside the city.

Without any warning, there suddenly came a strange and shocking howl. The sound was much like the cry of a cow, yet it carried an added note of sadness and rage.

"Moo, Moo!" The howling grew closer and closer, startling the citizens from their dreams and spilling onto the streets to buzz with speculation.

The soldiers on the city wall lifted their torches, shining light beyond the walls. There, amidst the swirling sands, was a huge mass of blue, rounded gas. Within this blue gas were three giant dark splotches—two almost at the same height, glittering coldly, like a pair of eyes, and a third, positioned lower and between the two, intermittently expelling puffs of white mist, like a nose with a single nostril.

"A monster, a monster has appeared!" cried the soldiers on the wall after laying eyes on the sight.

Not long after, the commanding officer rushed to the city tower and, after one glance at the mass of gas, ordered loudly, "Archers, prepare!"

Immediately, dozens of archers drew their bows and notched their arrows, ready to release.

"Fire!"

At the command of the officer, the archers released their flaming arrows, sending them flying toward the huge mass of blue gas.

The fiery glows of dozens of arrows lit up the night, as well as the sand and the miasma between the trees outside the city. When the arrows struck the mass of blue gas, they passed through it just as they would go through sand, eventually plummeting into the miasmic woods.

"General, could this be enemy smoke released to disturb our troops' morale?" questioned the lieutenant standing beside the officer.

The general furrowed his brow and pointed at the mass of blue gas now close at hand, retorting excitedly, "With such a strong wind outside, if it were merely smoke, it would have been blown away by now! Look at that rounded shape, those glowing eyes; this is clearly a living creature!"

"Moo!" The mass of blue gas let out another great howl, making the earth tremble.

"Woo!" Suddenly, from the nostril-like splotch on the gas, a stream of blue smoke was exhaled, rushing toward the soldiers on the wall like a billowing cloud of dust. Any soldier touched by the blue smoke died instantly!

Seeing this, the soldiers within the battlements immediately rang the alarm bell, signaling the citizens within the city to flee.

"Moo!" The mass of blue gas continued to howl as it floated onto the city wall.

Inside the city walls, the townspeople were in utter chaos.

Just then, a mournful, desolate flute melody began to play. Soon after, a man dressed in white robes with long hair draped over his shoulders used his lightness skill to leap onto the city wall. At his waist hung a flute, setting him apart from the others. Unlike anyone else, the man's face was devoid of expression, and he seemed entirely fearless of the eerie mass of blue gas.

"Sword Qi!" declared the man coldly. No sooner had he spoken than a swirling mass of fierce Sword Qi enveloped him, quickly forming a Sword Qi field as large as the mass of blue gas.

"Moo!" The mass of blue gas roared at the man. Before it could exhale blue smoke, the man's surrounding Sword Qi rushed toward it.

"Whooosh!" The Sword Qi swept over the mass of blue gas like a fierce wind.

When the Sword Qi dissipated, the mass of blue gas remained calmly floating in front of him.

The man's eyes narrowed to slits, watching as a wisp of blue smoke closed in from all sides, fully aware his death was imminent. He made no attempt to resist or flee, waiting expressionlessly for death.

But in the moment when the blue smoke was about to engulf him, a dark shadow appeared on the ground beneath the man's feet, and a woman in red appeared beside him.

The woman in red was none other than Ye Yuqiao, the Fourth Generation Underworld King of the Netherworld.

With a mere wave of her sleeve, Ye Yuqiao dispersed the blue smoke surrounding them. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared from the man's side and reappeared above the mass of blue gas. Midair, she struck with her left palm, and immediately a massive black seal appeared, enveloping the head of the blue gas.

"Moo!" After a howl, the blue gas was sealed by the black seal onto the city wall.

And Ye Yuqiao's figure silently vanished as well.

"Why save me," murmured the man with the sword, "when my heart has long been dead!"

A thousand years later,

Qian Feng, the Clan Leader of the Qian Family—one of the Eight Great Clans of the Netherworld—arrived at the very spot where the mass of blue gas had been sealed, accompanied by his butler. Where the city wall once stood had long since crumbled away, now replaced by a vegetable farm on the outskirts near Y City's urban area.

"Clan Leader," said the butler of the Qian Mansion, pausing on a stretch of land, "this is where the Soul Devouring Beast was sealed by the Nether King all those years ago."

The Soul Devouring Beast, the creature of blue gas that had attacked the city a millennium ago, was a being from the ancient times and one of the oldest creatures of the mortal world.

"Hmm!" Qian Feng's eyes glittered with a cold light as he aimed his left palm at the ground beneath the butler's feet. Gradually, a sphere of dark purple Yin Qi formed in his palm, swirling with tremendous Spiritual Power.

Qian Feng swung his palm, and a dark purple Yin Qi sphere from within collided with the ground beneath the butler's feet. Instantly, under the moonlight, the frost-covered ground revealed a black seal, which clashed against the dark purple Yin Qi sphere.

Eventually, purple light burst forth, and the Yin Qi sphere shattered the millennia-old seal.

"Lure it to Y City!" Qian Feng, having unknowingly returned to the Netherworld, left behind only this command in the mortal world.

"Yes!" the Qian Mansion's butler responded, swiftly stepping backward several paces.

Before long, streams of cyan-colored gas began to continuously rise from the ground, eventually forming a round, swollen cyan-colored cloud of gas.

"Monster," the Qian Mansion's butler called out, by then reduced to a pile of white bones.

"Moo!" The Soul Devouring Beast bellowed in anger, filled with resentment after being sealed for nearly a thousand years. It directed its nostrils toward the Qian Mansion's butler and exhaled a puff of cyan smoke.

The Qian Mansion's butler burrowed into the ground, dodging the cyan smoke lunging at him. When he reemerged from the ground, he was already thirty meters away. He shouted at the Soul Devouring Beast: "Monster, I'm over here!"

The Soul Devouring Beast's cries grew even more furious as it floated in pursuit of the Qian Mansion's butler.

An hour later.

In the city center of Y City, inside a restaurant.

At the dining table, Chen Hao, Ye Yuqiao, and Xie Xiaofeng all wore expressions of shock and disbelief. The table in front of them was stacked high with empty bowls, all of which had been finished by Tang Chao alone.

"Why aren't you guys eating?" Tang Jing asked the three of them.

All three shook their heads, speechless and still looking at Tang Chao, who continued to eat voraciously with surprised expressions.

"Hehe," Tang Chao paused and looked at the three with a silly grin, "these past few days my sister was locked up, and I didn't have much of an appetite. Now that my sister is out, I'm just too happy, so I've got a big appetite."

"I finally understand why you're built like a huge black ox!" Xie Xiaofeng sneered coldly, the sight of Tang Chao in front of him was unnerving.

Chen Hao glared at Xie Xiaofeng with narrowed eyes, clenched his teeth, and hissed, "Who made me treat everyone today!"

"Stingy!" Tang Jing couldn't help but curse at Chen Hao, "My brother is a martial artist, of course, he eats a lot. Unlike you two, all skinny and looking like you don't have enough to eat at home."

At that moment, Chen Hao's phone suddenly rang. Seeing the call was from Ren Deshan, Chen Hao knew it wouldn't be good news. Sure enough, as soon as the call connected, Ren Deshan's anxious voice came through: "President Chen, it's bad, a monster has appeared, and hundreds of people have died on the streets!"

"What!" Chen Hao was extremely shocked, "Hundreds of people have died!"

"Yes, get over to Tonghua Street quickly, our association's Onmyoji are there dealing with that monster!"

"Alright, alright! We'll be right there!" Chen Hao said hastily.

After hanging up the phone, the five of them hurried to Tonghua Street.

Ten minutes later, the five got out of a taxi. As soon as they disembarked, they saw the chaos on Tonghua Street ahead, with corpses strewn everywhere.

"This. How could so many people be dead!" The five couldn't believe their eyes.

"Look over there!" Xie Xiaofeng pointed towards Qing Stone Street that intersected with Tonghua Street.

The rest looked in that direction, only to see a cyan-colored gas floating in the air above Qing Stone Street. The gas cloud was as tall as a ten-story building.

"Ah!" Ye Yuqiao immediately recognized it, exclaiming, "It's the Soul Devouring Beast!"

"The Soul Devouring Beast?"

"The Soul Devouring Beast is one of the earliest creatures from ancient times that feeds by absorbing Yin Souls!" Ye Yuqiao explained, "It expels cyan smoke from its nostrils, and any soul touched by the smoke will be devoured."

"No wonder so many people suddenly died on this street!" Xie Xiaofeng remarked.

"Then let's hurry over and take it down!" Chen Hao said, while pulling Ye Yuqiao by the hand to go forward.

Ye Yuqiao held onto Chen Hao's hand, shook her head, and said, "The Soul Devouring Beast cannot die, otherwise it wouldn't have survived until now!"

...

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