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Even though Duncan wanted to head out of the forest region initially, once he became a bit sober his reasoning kicked in and he canceled the plan immediately.

While he was indeed yearning to drink more wine, he wasn\'t stupid enough to go into a turbulent region where the tensions are high, just to drink some wine. He still had some common sense.

If his strength was enough, then it wouldn\'t matter. He would have gone over in search of some alcohol. But, with his Spirit Sea realm cultivation, he would only be walking to his death if he went over.

So, he ruthlessly suppressed his desire for wine and obediently stayed in the forest region. After his senior brother left, Duncan has been trying to comprehend the soul art a bit more.

Days passed and Duncan lived peacefully in the forest region. Since Duncan started cultivating <Spirit Transcendence>, peace came over the entire forest region. Demonic beasts also found some reprieve from his hunting and used this rare moment of time to take some rest.

After two weeks of arduous ponderings, Duncan figured out how to cultivate this mysterious soul art. While the soul art indeed strengthened his soul, it also provided some auxiliary effects that would come in handy for Duncan.

One, Duncan would no longer be controlled by simple illusions. With his soul growing in strength, it would be easy for him to break through ordinary illusion techniques. 

Duncan who had already experienced the horror of illusions during the trial was overjoyed to know this. Even though he wouldn\'t be able to break through high-level illusions at his current strength, Duncan was quite happy with this result.

If he ever ended up getting caught in a high-level illusion, he would have other problems to worry about. Duncan knew that high-level illusions can only be performed by Golden Core cultivators and above. So, it would mean he was being targeted by a Golden Core cultivator at the minimum.

With his strength, there is only one outcome of such a thing. So, Duncan ignored that little tidbit happily.

Moreover, all kinds of low-level charm techniques and other techniques that would affect a cultivator\'s psyche would be ineffective on him once he attained small success in <Spirit Transcendence> technique.

From these two things alone, Duncan was able to guess how mysterious this soul art was. But, once he cultivates this technique further, he could even suppress someone by releasing pressure from his soul. 

Duncan would have to reach the Nascent Soul realm for this. But, Duncan was overjoyed to just know about the potential. And the effects wouldn\'t just stop there. There were other miscellaneous effects that came as a byproduct of a strong soul available to him as well.

Once he understood these things, Duncan began to diligently start cultivating this soul art that he had obtained.

Another week passed by peacefully.

Duncan was currently meditating deeply. He was currently laying the foundation to cultivate the soul art. Unlike other techniques, <Spirit Transcendence> required Duncan to have some basic requirements to successfully cultivate it. Duncan was trying to satisfy these requirements currently.

Suddenly Duncan opened his eyes with a gloomy expression on his face.

"Which bastard took away a small bit of soul? Was it that old geezer? Or is it that Huo Feng? Whoever it is, don\'t let me find you," Duncan grumbled angrily and let out a huge sigh.

"No wonder I haven\'t been able to start cultivating this technique. Someone has stolen a small soul strand of mine. And this is preventing me from cultivating this technique," Duncan grumbled furrowing his brows.

"I don\'t know anything about the soul. The only thing I have related to the soul is this technique. I need to check if this technique has some method to recover lost soul strands. If not, I am doomed," Duncan frowned not willing to believe that his luck was so rotten.

Without a complete soul, one wouldn\'t be able to practice <Spirit Transcendence> at all. Duncan knew that Huo Feng was not the culprit. Huo Feng\'s entire karmic tie with him was based upon this soul art. 

If he did something to prevent him from practicing the soul art, then the karmic tie between them will be severed. He at least had this level of knowledge about karma. You can\'t sow karma when you actively sabotage the process. So, it wouldn\'t be Huo Feng that did it.

Duncan\'s suspicion now resided with that old geezer who set him on the path of cultivation. Duncan didn\'t know where he was currently, but if he was running around with a strand of his soul, then Duncan wanted to recover it from him immediately.

Now, he could only put his hopes on the <Spirit Transcendence> technique having a way to recover lost soul strands. Gritting his teeth, Duncan began to go over everything he knew about the technique and the different methods involved in it.

After half an hour, a small smile formed on Duncan\'s face.

"There it is," Duncan yelled happily. "There is a way to recover lost soul strand. But, it can only be done if the person involved didn\'t voluntarily give away the strand. And I surely didn\'t do anything to my soul at all. So, this method must be feasible, right?"

Duncan sharpened his focus and went over the method with a fine-toothed comb. He examined each and every part of the method and double-checked his findings. He didn\'t want to play with his soul. But, the thought of someone holding on to his soul thread was even more unbearable for Duncan who yearned to be free.

After going through all the details and double-checking them thoroughly, Duncan did as the method commanded. 

First, he visualized his soul as a ball of yarn. There were multiple strands crisscrossing through it. Duncan then focused on connecting his soul with the image of the yarn ball.

It took him some time, but he eventually managed to do it. In his mind, his soul was now a ball of yarn. Each soul strand looked like a thread. They were crisscrossing with each other forming a ball of yarn in total.

Just then, he saw that one of the threads was blackened. He mentally prodded and found it unresponsive. If it did respond, he didn\'t have any feeling. Duncan saw the black thread extend into the distance and disappear into the void.

The moment he saw that Duncan knew that this was the strand he needed to recover. Duncan grabbed the black thread mentally and started pulling it back. If someone asked him how he accomplished that, Duncan would never be able to explain it to them.

But, every one of his actions just felt right to him. So, he continued. 

As he pulled the black thread, he felt as if something was being dragged through the void by the thread. He redoubled his efforts and soon his efforts were rewarded. 

Color started returning to the black thread bit by bit.

Duncan knew that his approach was right. So, he persisted. He could feel a pressure building in his mind. But, he ignored it and concentrated on pulling the thread slowly but surely.

Half an hour later, Duncan felt that most of the color had returned to the thread. Now the entire ball of yarn was looking multicolored to his eyes mentally. There were no black spots present.

But, Duncan could still feel a connection through the void to a distant place. Gritting his teeth, Duncan grabbed mentally where the connection was and tugged on it hard.

The next moment he heard something snap. With that, the feeling of connection faded away rapidly. Duncan could only let out a sigh of relief after that. The moment he relaxed he felt great fatigue envelop his mind.

Before Duncan could even open his eyes, he blacked out and fell unconscious.

*****

In the distance, Liang Tianye felt the Soul Token he had refined from Duncan\'s soul thread burst into flames. He looked at the Soul Token in bewilderment for a second before sighing.

"Looks like the brat didn\'t make it," Liang Tianye sighed. "He showed some promise. But, it was just that. I didn\'t expect his life to be cut short so soon."

Liang Tianye stood up with a put-upon expression.

"I have to report to Sect Master about this," Liang Tianye muttered in annoyance. "He will be disappointed to know that one of his chess pieces had been swept off the board before it could perform its role. Let\'s hope he isn\'t disappointed too much."

Soon, he entered the Sect Master\'s abode and came before him.

"Junior brother, what brings you here?" the Sect Master asked not looking up from the scroll he was perusing.

"That brat with Heart of Killing is dead," Liang Tianye said simply, not bothering to waste time on greetings.

"Are you sure?" the Sect Master asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, I had refined a Soul Token using a soul strand of his. It burst into flames a few minutes ago."

"Sigh, I had some brilliant plans in regards to him," the Sect Master sighed. "Where did he die?"

"In the Grotto Heaven," Liang Tianye said shrugging. "I sent him there to increase his cultivation rapidly. There was always a chance of him dying."

"Do you think you were a bit hasty? He hasn\'t even cultivated for six months. You already sent him into the Grotto Heaven," the Sect Master asked curiously. There was no judgment in his tone.

"When the time comes, there is no place for weaklings on the board. What use is nurturing him if he is too weak at that time?"

"Fine," the Sect Master nodded. "If not him, we can always use someone else."

*****

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