Ye Liuyun stepped straight up to the grand hall and sized up the Origin Spirit Fiend inside.

“You can see me?” The Origin Spirit Fiend, noticing Ye Liuyun’s stare, couldn’t help blurting out the question.

“Yes. My golden pupils can see through anything,” Ye Liuyun confirmed.

The moment he laid eyes on the short, wizened old man pulling faces, he almost burst out laughing. He held it in, keeping his expression neutral.

He immediately shifted his attention to the hall that imprisoned the spirit fiend.

The hall itself was a treasure, ringed inside and out by formidable arrays he couldn’t break. Yet he could simply use white light to obliterate the hall and free the fiend.

With a way to release the creature, he now had leverage for negotiation.

Seeing him study the hall, the spirit fiend assumed he was searching for a way to attack.

“Don’t bother. Even my Origin power can’t break this place. If you manage to smash it open, I’ll thank you myself!

That business with the white ape earlier was just a joke—no harm meant. You didn’t lose anything, so don’t take it to heart.

While you’re in this secret realm, I won’t lift a finger against you. Just promise not to reveal my secrets.”

The spirit fiend wasn’t sure Ye Liuyun could really destroy the hall; he simply wanted to avoid resentment that might complicate negotiations. Since Ye Liuyun had come looking, he wouldn’t free the fiend for nothing.

Ye Liuyun replied, “I don’t care about your affairs, and I’m not bothered by your earlier trick. I can indeed get you out by destroying this hall—but I want a deal.”

“You truly can break it? With that white light?” the spirit fiend pressed.

“Exactly. My white light can tear apart any physical object,” Ye Liuyun confirmed.

“Oh?” The spirit fiend’s eyes flicked. “Then state your terms. If they’re not excessive, I can agree. But if you push too far...”

He feigned calm, sat down, and began haggling.

Ye Liuyun ignored the act and laid it out. “I want to bring some people to cultivate in the Mind-Scape Stone Forest for a while. We won’t leave with the He family.

We won’t touch any other resources in your realm, and you guarantee our safety. As for the He disciples, do as you please—I won’t interfere. Deal?”

The spirit fiend’s heart leapt. Since Ye Liuyun was negotiating, he must be confident he could break the hall. If he could get out immediately, he’d rather skip the slow process of forging a flesh body—he preferred his spirit-fiend form.

He’d expected Ye Liuyun to demand the moon, yet the request was only to let some people cultivate in the stone forest—utterly trivial. The forest sat there unused anyway.

Unbeknownst to the fiend, Ye Liuyun had already decided: if the creature refused, he’d simply annihilate it along with the hall.

He’d asked for nothing more because the realm’s resources were mediocre to him—hardly worth the trouble.

The spirit fiend pretended to ponder, then said, “Very well. Since your demands aren’t excessive, I’ll allow your group to cultivate freely within the Mind-Scape Stone Forest.

But you must stay inside that zone—don’t step beyond it.”

Ye Liuyun didn’t care about the restriction; the fiend had agreed. He nodded at once.

“Fine. We’ll train only in the stone forest and never leave the area.”

Thus they reached an accord. Yet when Ye Liuyun tried to seal the deal with a soul contract, he hit a snag: the hall blocked soul attacks, making a contract impossible.

Without a soul contract, he dared not bring the others in. If the spirit fiend changed its mind, he couldn’t protect so many at once. One thought from the fiend could kill or teleport them, turning them into hostages.

The spirit fiend gloated inwardly, feigning helplessness. “There’s nothing I can do. This hall blocks everything—I can’t form a soul contract with you.”

“But I can swear—once you let me out, I’ll sign a soul contract with you. I’ll never break the agreement we make.”

He said it aloud, yet inside he was already scheming: the moment he was free, he could move at will and finally use his primal power without fear. Then he would be the one calling the shots.

He might as well kill Ye Liuyun to keep this place’s secrets from leaking. After that, he’d simply shift the entire secret realm away; no one would ever find him again.

Ye Liuyun had considered the same possibility. Yet if he didn’t release the spirit fiend, he couldn’t sign a contract with it, nor could he bring the others here.

“Fine. Remember your promise, or you’ll regret it!” Ye Liuyun agreed.

“Of course. Rest easy—I always keep my word!” the spirit fiend replied, pretending sincerity.

But its exaggerated winking and grimacing only made Ye Liuyun more wary. Still, the creature had always looked comical; its expressions couldn’t be trusted as reliable clues.

Ye Liuyun immediately fired a beam of white light straight at the array’s core inside the great hall. In one strike he could shatter the formation and blast a hole straight through the hall itself.

Seeing how devastating the white light was, the spirit fiend knew even it couldn’t block such force. It resolved to strike first the instant it was free—no chance for Ye Liuyun to attack.

The moment Ye Liuyun withdrew the light, the spirit fiend shot out of the hall. Too rushed to celebrate, it instantly called upon its primal power to lock Ye Liuyun in place while crushing him with spatial force.

Ye Liuyun had stayed on guard. The instant the spirit fiend moved, he froze time. Borrowing the power of his inner world, he shattered the binding and crushing forces, then sent his own soul straight into the spirit fiend’s sea of consciousness.

The spirit fiend’s soul was nearly as strong as his—clearly cultivated for ages—but it possessed only a single soul. Ye Liuyun seized it and dragged it into his own mind.

When time resumed, the spirit fiend had no idea what had just happened. All it knew was that it now stood inside Ye Liuyun’s sea of consciousness, pinned beneath the Myriad God Seal, its soul rapidly being devoured. Panic-stricken, it began frantically arguing with Ye Liuyun.