Chapter 273: The Second Function Of The Blood-Red Mist

“He’s still alive?” Fang Xia felt his spirits lift. "You’d better not be lying to comfort me, Qiong Hai.”

“Why would I lie to you?” Qiong Sea King shook his head, “I’m still waiting for Master to provide me guidance so I can advance to the Spiritual Body phase. Do you seriously think I was hoping for his death?"

"Excellent! Wonderful!" Fang Xia broke into a wide smile. "Qiong Sea, try to focus on perceiving as much as you can. What’s the situation down there? Has the young master responded?"

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The last thing Fang Xia wanted was Wu Yuan’s death. Beyond his deep admiration and respect for Wu Yuan, there was also the matter of the Blood Gu Art implanted into his soul by the realm master.

If Wu Yuan died in the calamity but Fang Xia survived, what conclusions would the realm master come to once he found out? If he was unlucky, the realm master might just decide to take out his anger on him. Fang Xia had no desire to be his punching bag.

"Master hasn't responded," Qiong Sea King relayed solemnly. "However, I can now perceive Master's soul aura much more clearly than before. However, it is extremely feeble, barely less than one percent of its former strength."

“Less than one percent?” Fang Xia's expression shifted.

This implied that his soul wasn’t simply harmed, but almost completely destroyed.

"However, Master's soul aura is in the process of strengthening and healing," Qiong Sea King reported, focusing on their spiritual connection. "I estimate that it will completely recover in a month."

"One month?" Fang Xia nodded, heaving a sigh of relief.

“There are two possible reasons for Master's unresponsiveness. First, it could be because his soul had been seriously injured, causing him to fall into a deep slumber. Alternatively, it could be because he has entered a special state that makes it impossible for him to establish contact.” Qiong Sea King hypothesized.

"After all, who can understand what Master experienced when facing the worm devil?"

"No one has a better understanding of worm devils than Master. These creatures are horrendously powerful, who knows what trump cards they might have?" Qiong Sea King sighed, shaking his head.

Fang Xia gave a faint nod.

Hell devils, which included worm devils, were creatures of mass destruction even at the juvenile stage.

"I will head back into the devil's lair," Fang Xia declared. He couldn't rest easy without personally checking on the situation.

In a swift motion, golden qi currents swirled around him as he propelled himself into the devil's lair.

Qiong Sea King remained outside. He wasn’t too fond of the damp, blood-soaked abyss.

In a few dozen breaths, Fang Xia emerged, looking pale and disheveled.

"You encountered the enemy?" asked Qiong Sea King, his voice filled with concern.

"No," Fang Xia sighed and shook his head. "The wave of soul power has grown stronger. Just a little while back, I could reach the 50 li mark, but this time, I couldn't even come close to the 80 li mark before my soul was unable to bear it.”

Qiong Sea King was taken aback. He knew how powerful Fang Xia was. Even though Fang Xia was only at the eighth-stage Qi Sea phase, his strength already surpassed that of Qiong Sea King. He was practically destined to reach the Golden Core phase.

Yet, he was unable to get closer than 80 li to the black sphere? What in the world was happening in the devil’s lair?

Fang Xia solemnly shook his head, stating, "There’s no way to know what the young master is currently experiencing. However, we can be sure of two facts: he is alive and his safety is assured."

"As long as he’s alive, there’s a chance that he will awaken. And with that wave of soul power, even a Golden Core Superior will be unable to get close enough to harm him," Fang Xia said.

Qiong Sea King nodded slightly.

"For now, let’s proceed to the Holy Capital. Our mission is to eliminate every member of the Jin royal family. Whether Jin Quan or Jin Ji, none of them deserve mercy. The Yuanxia Palace also ought to be annihilated." Fang Xia declared, his gaze icy cold.

"Once we have completed the tasks assigned to us by the young master, we shall return here to protect him."

"Mm," Qiong Sea King nodded. "The worm devil calamity has ended. Great Jin is now our biggest threat. If not for them, Daoist Wan Xing and Emperor Dong Pan might still be alive."

Qiong Sea King might be an Archdemon, but he respected Daoist Wan Xing, Emperor Dong Pan, and Niu Hao just as much as any other Heavenly Ranker.

As for his thoughts on Jin Ji, who wouldn’t feel disgusted by that man’s despicable actions? Traitors are all detestable!

Thus, Fang Xia, Qiong Sea King, the Arctic King, Liu Junxing, and the other Heavenly Rankers all came to an agreement: to eliminate Jin!

"Let's go. We need to catch up with the Arctic King and the others. With the Goldstone Penta Array, along with you and Mountain Devil, defeating Jin Quan will be as easy as slaughtering a chicken. Even if he has an array, he won't be able to withstand our power." Fang Xia stated confidently.

The Septet Ignis Array was shattered. Though the array disk was recovered, Hai Feizhang was the sole survivor among its former users.

Naturally, there was no way Fang Xia and the Arctic King could trust Hai Feizhang fully. Though he did not betray them, he was still a leader of one of the three holy sanctuaries of Great Jin.

The Heavenly Rankers from different factions already considered themselves lucky if they didn’t have to deal with the Starsea Pavilion as well.

Reactivating the Septet Ignis Array within a short time frame was not feasible, and even if achieved, its power would be significantly weaker than before.

However, the five Goldstone Penta Array controllers had all survived.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Fang Xia and Qiong Sea King raced towards North Huang City as streaks of light.

...

The depths of the devil's lair was a subterranean world carved out over time by the worm devil to incubate a large number of juvenile devil soldiers. As the area was part of the devil soil, no other living creatures were present.

At the center of this underworld was a massive black sphere with a diameter of over 600 meters. However, this sphere was damaged, and the interior was completely wrecked.

Inside each honeycomb-like opening, there were countless lifeless bodies of young larvae, each only a meter long, creating a haunting atmosphere.

As the worm devil was dead, all its soldiers also perished.

There was a rough scratching sound, like sandpaper filing stone. A colossal black flying snake, coiled like a small mountain, rested its massive head on the ground. Its serpentine eyes were misty, resembling tears.

"Master! Uuuuu~ Master!" Little Black looked down at the yellow-armored motionless figure lying in the center of its coils. It was none other than Wu Yuan.

The air was filled with a low buzzing, as the fluctuations of soul power surged in all directions at a constant frequency.

"Master," Little Black was overcome by uncertainty as it grappled with the situation. No matter how it called out, Wu Yuan remained unresponsive.

The only solace Little Black had was that its master was still alive. As a lifebound eldritch beast, its survival was intertwined with its master’s. If its master died, it would perish too. However, why hadn't his master awakened from his slumber?

Little Black was a Teng Snake, a spirit beast from a bloodline that far surpassed the worm devil in nobility. However, it was born just a few days ago. In its panic, it found itself at a loss. The only thing it could do was faithfully stand guard by Wu Yuan's side.

It firmly believed that its mighty master would eventually awaken.

...

Inside the soul chamber within Wu Yuan's body, vital ether flowed vigorously, but the soul phantom was nowhere to be found

In the upper dantian lobe, time seemed to stand still. Thousands of strange streams of light were suspended in the mysterious upper dantian, unmoving.

As usual, the black pagoda towered in space. Surrounding the black pagoda was a turbulent, churning sea of blood-red mist.

But for the first time, a large quantity of blood-red mist poured continuously into a black stone pillar at the top of the black pagoda. Then, the enormous pillar began emitting bursts of blood-red light, illuminating the entire upper dantian.

I never expected that the blood-red mist had such an ability. It’s actually able to block an invasion of soul consciousness?

Below the black pagoda, a slightly illusory figure sat cross-legged.

It looked just like Wu Yuan. Indeed, this was all that was left of his soul after the attack, joined back together from fragmented pieces. It was a far cry from its former self.

If I don’t refine these threads of soul consciousness from the worm devil, my own consciousness will be trapped in the upper dantian lobe.

Wu Yuan studied the enigmatic lights.

But, at least I survived. If not for my powerful soul, the black pagoda, and the accumulation of sufficient blood-red mist, I would’ve been a goner.

He heaved a sigh of relief.

As long as he was alive, there was still hope.

During the final battle with the main body of the worm devil, Wu Yuan was completely confident in himself. He firmly believed that the power of his soul rivaled the average Golden Core Superior.

But the moment they clashed, Wu Yuan realized just how wrong he was. The worm devil he was facing wasn’t one born just a couple of days ago, but one that had already dedicated two centuries to cultivation. Its soul was extremely powerful and unique.

The worm devil's final killing move, Nightmare Of A Thousand Hearts, was a technique that mustered a significant portion of the worm devil’s soul consciousness and sent it into its victim’s mind all at once.

Individually, each thread of soul consciousness was unable to inflict much damage. But when thousands of them were unleashed all at once, they were able to collectively annihilate even the most resilient Golden Core cultivator's soul.

Wu Yuan was no exception.

The soul phantom in his soul chamber succumbed to the relentless torrent of the worm devil's consciousness, disintegrating instantly. The remaining threads of consciousness moved on to invade his upper dantian lobe.

Wu Yuan hadn’t been an eldritch warrior for long and had yet to cultivate any secret arts to defend his soul. Hence, his only option was brutal endurance.

But how could he endure it? As Wu Yuan's soul neared oblivion, the previously inactive black pagoda began to stir.

One had to remember that Wu Yuan had eliminated numerous devil soldiers, accumulating abundant blood-red mist. And when he finally eradicated the worm devil, the resulting reward of blood-red mist surpassed the collective quantity of all the blood-red mist Wu Yuan had obtained before.

At that time, the flood of blood-red mist had cascaded into the colossal stone pillar at the top of the pagoda, which frenziedly absorbed every last bit of the blood-red mist.

At the same time, the stone pillar began glowing with a strange light, freezing the threads of soul consciousness that were on the verge of annihilating the last vestige of his soul. This gave Wu Yuan a precious moment to catch his breath.

This was when Wu Yuan understood the second function of the blood-red mist.

The first function of the blood-red mist is the improvement of the physical body. Whether evolving my genome or speeding up the cultivation of vital ether, all of it pertains to my physical body.

Its second function is to defend my soul. The black pagoda is able to absorb the blood-red mist, which then manifests as a crimson light that defends against assaults on the soul.

The black pagoda had always been an enigma to Wu Yuan.

Indeed, its influence on my soul has been observed before. Since my soul is fortified each time I Visualize the black pagoda, then it must be inherently connected to the soul and capable of warding off attacks from this aspect.

In truth, Wu Yuan had already discovered that the black pillar could emit a strange red light after absorbing the blood-red mist a few days ago. However, he didn't fully understand its function yet at the time.

Dealing with a soul attack was completely new to him, so he didn’t know what angle to start investigating the phenomenon either. The black pagoda itself did not provide any answers.

Furthermore, the worm devil's attack was fast and ruthless, nearly obliterating his soul in a flash. It was only when the trace of his consciousness was about to vanish that the black pagoda, seemingly eager to protect its master, decided to act. And it was only then that the black pillar absorbed the mist of its own accord, subduing the worm devil’s soul consciousness that manifested as strange lights.

The black pagoda was able to suppress and even destroy these threads of soul consciousness. But eliminating them all would consume a significant quantity of blood-red mist.

Suppression alone consumed a substantial amount of mist, but it was still within an acceptable level and could be maintained for a long period of time.

On the contrary, complete eradication required far greater quantities of mist. Even if Wu Yuan were to deplete the entire reservoir of the blood-red mist, he couldn't guarantee that every last thread of soul consciousness would be eliminated. A single remaining thread was enough to finish off Wu Yuan’s weakened soul.

Hence, Wu Yuan chose the alternative – refine them!

The structure of the worm devil's soul is truly unique. It’s as though there are thousands of independent souls combined into one. No wonder it can command such an impressive army of devil soldiers.

However, the worm devil is no longer alive. These threads of soul consciousness no longer have an owner. As long as the red light from the stone pillar keeps them subdued, they will become the nourishment that fuels my ascent.

If I assimilate them, I’ll be able to strengthen my own soul. My soul would not only recover but perhaps even surpass its previous level of power

. Wu Yuan felt a flicker of eager anticipation.