Five days later.
Two pieces of news reached Salas' ears this day.
First, the Soul Saint team led by Ma Long, who had gone to Icebound Forest, had already found traces of the Mirror Image Soul Beast. This soul beast was estimated to be over 30,000 years old.
They asked Salas whether to proceed with capturing it.
Of course, Salas happily ordered them to capture the beast.
The second piece of news was from the people he had sent to search for the Haotian Sect's hiding place. They had returned with their findings.
"This village… its description seems to match that village," Salas muttered, reading through the reports. He paused at one of them, pondering.
He didn't remember the exact details of the place, only some key words and its approximate location—surrounded by mountains, disguised as a mountain village, similar to Holy Soul Village, and so on.
That was why Salas had cast a wide net, ordering his subordinates to compile descriptions of various villages.
Salas continued reading the report. But even after going through all the descriptions, only one village seemed somewhat similar to his memories.
So, Salas confirmed that village as the Haotian Sect's hiding place.
"Now, I just have to go there… hide in the shadows, and kidnap someone with the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul," Salas mused.
He didn't consider sending his subordinates to do the job alone. First, he didn't want Spirit Hall to know about the sect's hiding place just yet. Second, he wasn't completely confident that his subordinates could kidnap someone without alerting the tiger.
Moreover, he had to carefully identify the target to ensure they were from the main lineage of the Haotian Sect.
You can't exactly ask someone to summon their martial soul before kidnapping them, right?
Only after taking them away could Salas confirm whether they possessed the Clear Sky Hammer.
This meant the kidnapping would be somewhat random. Only Salas could distinguish them based on the known traits of the Clear Sky Sect members, so he had to be there to lead his subordinates.
Of course, if possible, Salas would have preferred to go alone. But after thinking about it, he dismissed the idea.
Right now, he only had soul power but no martial soul or soul skills. If a Soul Emperor wanted to kill him, they could.
With his Soul Douluo-level physical body, which had absorbed eight soul rings before, Salas was confident he could suppress Soul Kings and lower-ranked individuals, but not soul emperor and above.
So why seek death by going alone? It was safer to bring his subordinates.
Thus, Salas decided to go with his remaining Soul Saint underling and five Soul Emperor subordinates.
Without wasting time… Salas departed that day.
---
Three days later.
Hiding behind a tree not far from the small village, Salas and his subordinates waited patiently, suppressing their soul power fluctuations and making no sound.
All of them, including Salas, wore hooded cloaks to conceal their appearances.
It had been nearly two days since they arrived. Salas had also confirmed that this was indeed the village.
How?
Because there were many people with soul power moving in and out of the village. And their levels weren't low.
How could a simple village have so many soul masters? Even the legendary Holy Soul Village didn't have this kind of treatment.
His subordinates were full of doubts. Salas simply told them it was a secret mission assigned by Her Majesty, the Pope, and silenced their questions.
It was really convenient to use Bibi Dong's name. Salas was truly enjoying his identity as a Platinum Bishop.
See? He could even order people to capture soul beasts. If needed, all he had to do was invoke Bibi Dong's name.
"That person earlier seemed to be at the Soul Emperor level..." Salas mused.
He couldn't precisely determine someone's cultivation level unless they actively used their soul power. But he could sense whether a person was a soul master or not based on their soul power fluctuations.
Over the past two days, Salas had noticed several strong-looking individuals who appeared relatively young. Using common sense, he could guess most of them belonged to the Clear Sky Sect's main lineage. But he didn't act immediately.
He was waiting for a relatively weaker, younger person—someone easy to knock unconscious and take away.
Salas waited patiently… The sun was beginning to set.
At that moment, he noticed three figures—two young boys and one young girl, around 10 to 15 years old. They had healthy complexions and strong, well-built bodies.
Salas' eyes lit up. He was certain these three were soul masters, possibly below the Soul Elder level.
Coincidentally, they were walking toward his hiding place, moving away from the Clear Sky Sect's Soul Emperor.
Under his hood, Salas' eyes gleamed. He discreetly signaled to his people…
Kidnap all three.
Yes, Salas decided to take them in bulk.
Why settle for just one? What if the person he chose didn't have the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul?
So, he would just take them all. Salas wasn't in the mood to gamble.
The three youngsters, unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows, continued walking and chatting, laughing happily.
Woosh—
Three figures moved like lightning.
Salas unleashed his soul power pressure, rendering the children unable to cry out and making them feel lightheaded.
By the time they realized something was wrong, their minds went blank, and they lost consciousness.
Salas and his six subordinates wasted no time. They grabbed the three children like rag dolls and swiftly left in the opposite direction of the village.
Salas wasn't sure if the village's secret guards had noticed their actions, but he didn't care.
He acted according to plan. Whether the guards noticed or not—either way, run, run, run.
Even if someone noticed the children's disappearance and alerted the sect, by the time reinforcements arrived, it would be too late.
Within minutes, Salas and his group had already traveled more than a dozen li away from the village.