"That's great! I knew it—how could Spirit City possibly be attacked by evil spirit masters?"
"These inhuman evil spirit masters are truly despicable."
"Thank you, Captain Yan!"
Among the chattering crowd, someone recognized the knight in the distance.
Yan, a member of the Spirit Hall's Golden Generation and the captain of the Spirit City Knights.
The survivors of the attack expressed their gratitude one after another.
However, Yan simply waved his hand expressionlessly and said,
"You don't need to thank me—it wasn't me."
As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward the Sea Witch.
As a Rank 61 Spirit Emperor, he had clearly sensed the immense spiritual power emanating from her just moments ago.
This glasses-wearing woman was likely a powerful Title Douluo.
Even though Yan held a high status within Spirit Hall, he didn't dare to be arrogant in front of a Title Douluo.
Dismounting his horse, he walked up to the Sea Witch and respectfully bowed.
"Thank you for your intervention. If not for you, this could have turned into a disaster."
The Sea Witch, however, deftly sidestepped his bow and covered her mouth with a playful smile, pointing at Ye Tian.
"If you want to thank someone, thank him instead."
"If he hadn't asked me to intervene, I wouldn't have bothered with such a trivial mishap."
Yan glanced at Ye Tian in surprise. Though he couldn't sense Ye Tian's cultivation, anyone who could command a Title Douluo was definitely no ordinary person.
"Yan, captain of the Spirit City Knights, expresses his gratitude," Yan said, bowing once more.
Seeing this, Ye Tian inwardly rolled his eyes. The Sea Witch really knows how to stir things up.
Outwardly, though, he maintained his composure, waving his hand with a smile.
"It was nothing—no need to be so formal. The matter of the evil spirit masters is yours to handle. We have other business in the city."
Without waiting for Yan's response, Ye Tian quickly led the Sea Witch and Xiao Bai away.
Yan remained in place, silently watching them leave.
"These three… are not ordinary people."
…
Upon entering Spirit City, Ye Tian held a small map in his hand.
Following the map's directions, he soon arrived at the Pope's Palace.
The building was magnificently decorated in gold and jade.
At the grand entrance, two knights in golden armor stood guard.
Ye Tian observed them closely and was surprised to find that both were Spirit Emperors.
His eyes reflected his astonishment. As expected of Spirit Hall—even their gate guards are Spirit Emperors.
Since he was already at the Pope's Palace, Ye Tian saw no reason to be secretive.
Stepping forward, he presented the jade token given to him by Bibi Dong and spoke plainly,
"I want to see Elder Ghost Doulou."
Hearing Ye Tian's bold tone, the guarding knight frowned slightly and took the jade token.
The moment he saw the token clearly, his expression changed drastically.
Immediately, he bowed deeply, holding the token with both hands as he returned it respectfully.
"Sir, please come in! I will escort you personally."
Ye Tian smiled at the knight, took back the jade token, and followed him to Ghost Doulou's office.
The knight bowed again.
"Sir, Elder Ghost Doulou is inside."
"Alright, you may leave."
Ye Tian waved him off, then stepped forward and knocked on the door.
At that moment, Ghost Doulou was buried in a pile of documents, exhausted from his work.
Hearing the knock, he assumed it was a subordinate reporting in. Without looking up, he rubbed his dark circles and said,
"Come in."
With a creak, the door opened.
"Elder Ghost Doulou, it's been a few days. I hope you've been well," Ye Tian said with a light chuckle.
Hearing the familiar yet unfamiliar voice, Ghost Doulou looked up—and was pleasantly surprised to see Ye Tian.
Since Ye Tian was always with Bibi Dong, this meant she had returned to Spirit City!
Finally, he could be freed from the endless paperwork.
"Has Her Holiness the Pope returned?" Ghost Doulou asked eagerly.
Ye Tian shook his head. "No."
Ghost Doulou's excitement dimmed slightly, but he quickly composed himself.
He recalled that Bibi Dong had highly praised Ye Tian before.
With a welcoming smile, Ghost Doulou pulled out a document and waved Ye Tian over.
"Ye Tian, come take a look at this—how should we handle it?"
Seeing Ghost Doulou's request, Ye Tian sighed helplessly and took the document.
After carefully reading its contents, he realized it was intelligence from the Pope's Palace spies.
Many evil spirit masters had infiltrated Spirit City, intending to attack the Spirit Hall's Saintess during the upcoming coronation ceremony.
Ye Tian suddenly remembered—this Saintess coronation was for Hu Liena.
She had mentioned it to him before.
After their wedding, Bibi Dong planned to officially bestow the title of Saintess upon her.
Since evil spirit masters were plotting against his wife, he naturally had to help come up with a plan.
Beside him, Ghost Doulou sighed.
"For some reason, the evil spirit masters have become much more active in the past two months."
"It's not just Spirit City—our branch halls are also struggling to deal with them."
Ye Tian looked up thoughtfully.
"It's probably because the Slaughter City was destroyed. Many evil spirit masters escaped from that hellish place."
Ghost Doulou's eyes flashed with surprise.
"The Slaughter City was destroyed? When did this happen?"
Although he had never been there, Ghost Doulou knew that it was a den of the most heinous criminals.
Even a death-row convict with multiple murders to his name would seem as harmless as a little white rabbit compared to the monsters inside.
"It happened about two months ago," Ye Tian recalled.
He remembered that even the Black Veil Lady had confirmed the news.
"There is a way to capture these evil spirit masters," Ye Tian said with a smile.
"That is… baiting them out."
Ghost Doulou sighed.
"You mean sending people to pretend to be evil spirit masters? We tried that already—no one took the bait."
"That's probably because you didn't understand how to play the role properly."
"These evil spirit masters have one key trait—they can't live without Bloody Mary, or rather, blood itself."
Hearing this, Ghost Doulou's eyes lit up, and he raised a finger.
"That reminds me of something else."
"A few days ago, many civilians reported that their pets were being stolen."
"I originally thought it was just a regular string of thefts."
"But after what you just said, I realize it might be connected to the evil spirit masters."
"After all, if they want to hide in Spirit City, they can't target humans."
"So they've been preying on cats and dogs instead."
With this realization, Ghost Doulou finally found a new direction for dealing with the evil spirit masters.
He gave Ye Tian an admiring look.
At the same time, he couldn't help but marvel at Bibi Dong's ability to recognize talent.
A person like this, marrying Hu Liena…
Would definitely be a great asset to the Pope's Palace.
But Ye Tian didn't want to waste any more time here.
He stated his true purpose for coming.
"I came here to find my sister—she's participating in the Spirit Hall's special training program."
(End of Chapter)
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