area51novel Chapter 283 Advancement to Soul Saint
Chapter 283 Advancement to Soul Saint
In the still of the night, even though Mingdu was one of the most prosperous cities on the entire continent, the Soul Tool Pawnshop, located on the outskirts of the city, was completely silent.
Against the backdrop of a quiet atmosphere, the clanging of metal hammers echoed from the workshop behind the pawnshop's ground floor, reverberating throughout the block. Fortunately, this was a small commercial district in the southern part of Mingdu City, and at this hour, there were no residents left, so it wouldn't disturb anyone's peaceful sleep.
In the basement of the Soul Guidance Pawnshop, Di Tian had already returned with Wang Qiu'er and Elder Yi. What Di Tian and Elder Mu discussed at the Mingyue Hotel remains unknown, but judging from the fact that Di Tian was able to calmly and safely bring Wang Qiu'er here, it seems that Di Tian has reached some kind of consensus with the academy.
The hexagonal prism-shaped piece of living gold exuded a life-giving aura that could prolong life with just a whiff. A projection of a soul, formed from golden light points, appeared on this solidified life energy. After a few brief breaths, the pure, though not powerful, light energy flowed from the projection's hand into the intricate patterns on the basement floor.
After a brief period of darkness, the basement, its lights off, was illuminated by a soft, flowing golden light that traced patterns on the magic circles inscribed within. Strange fluctuations spread throughout the basement; the combined power of the laws of this world and the knowledge of magic circles from another world began to take effect.
The light that swept across the magic circle's patterns rose and fell three times like waves, eventually becoming a stable light source throughout the basement. Seeing this scene, the old man's image, projected by the soul, nodded in satisfaction: "It's fine. The inscription of the entire magic circle is without problems. As long as there is no completely irresistible interference, our testing will not yield any unexpected results."
"Thank you for your trouble, Elder Yi. Auspicious beast, sit on that lotus-shaped magic circle pattern. No matter what happens next, do not move. Focus on your inner energy and stay still."
Liu Jun, just in case, you should start too. Even if there are still loopholes in the security of this basement, the fluctuations in the aura of the beast sacrifice are enough to cover up any possible leaks.
"Mr. Yi, I'll have to trouble you with this next task."
No one knows what happened on the way back to this basement from the Mingyue Hotel, but Di Tian, who was originally arrogant and powerful, was extremely respectful to Yileke, a necromancer who was only left with a remnant soul and could only perform soul projection by relying on the power of the Law of Light and the life energy of the Gold of Life.
There was no response. Everyone had already mentally rehearsed all the steps for tonight countless times. The three-eyed golden lion, now in the form of Wang Qiu'er, gave Long You a meaningful look before obediently walking towards the lotus-shaped inscription array in the center of the basement. As for Long You, who had been inexplicably glared at, although he was somewhat confused, he knew that now was not the time to worry about such things. After exchanging a glance with Liu Jun, the two of them went to the southeast corner of the basement together.
In this corner, intricate magical runes cleverly form a Möbius strip. At the two farthest points of the Möbius strip, inscriptions representing new life shine with a unique brilliance.
Long You occupied the inscription symbol closer to the wall, and quickly entered a meditative state after sitting cross-legged. At the same time, Long You's martial spirit consciousness, Xiao Yan, also sat cross-legged on Long You's left shoulder in the same posture. Liu Jun occupied the other end of the Möbius strip, and smelling the faint scent of books around Long You, Liu Jun, standing tall, took one last deep breath.
A vast expanse of green erupted from Liu Jun's body, unleashing a life force no less potent than that contained within the Life Gold inhabiting Electrolux. A willow tree, visually exceeding a hundred meters in height and with branches as thick as a giant python, rose from the ground, replacing Liu Jun's human form. Strangely, this towering willow tree, which visually appeared to be over a hundred meters tall, did not damage the basement ceiling at all.
"The power from the laws of space? No, it should also be the power of this symbolic pattern beneath my feet called the Möbius strip. What a remarkable discovery."
The branches, brimming with astonishing vitality and power, swayed without wind, and the low murmurs slowly dissipated. Suddenly, the orderly life force within the tall willow tree surged simultaneously, a rich light of life gathering from its roots towards its crown, the vast power of life coalescing into a tangible pillar of light that shot straight into the sky. As the power within the pillar of light flowed into Long You's body through the inscribed magic array on the ground, the sacrificial ritual of the Man-Beating Willow, whose power rivaled that of a 20-year-old ferocious beast, officially began—a process that was irreversible.
Long You, focused on maintaining his inner peace, couldn't see what was happening in the basement. However, in his own inner vision, he felt as if he were immersed in a lake of life. Time, wisdom, and boundless energy surrounded him and were uncontrollably flowing into his body.
Long You could sense that this energy was not aggressive, or rather, not subjectively hostile. However, a single bucket cannot hold the entire river, and Long You's body, not yet at the Soul Saint level, could not contain so much external energy. If Long You could not quickly gain control of this energy and truly make it his own, then exploding and dying was not impossible.
In his internal vision, Long You subconsciously took a deep breath. For a Soul Emperor, this immense spiritual power completely took over control of his body. His already extremely resilient internal meridians seemed to enter an overclocked state, absorbing the incoming energy instantly and then, under Long You's control, flowing into his lower dantian (below his navel). The massive influx of soul power almost instantly created terrifying pressure on Long You's lower dantian.
Having anticipated this, Long You used the momentum from his soul power rushing into his lower dantian to combine this partially refined power with the soul power already stored in his dantian, creating a rapidly spinning eye of a storm. The moment the eye of the storm took shape, the feeling that his lower dantian was about to explode vanished instantly, but a new problem had already loomed before Long You.
Although Long You's own completely obedient soul power was mixed into the eye of the storm, there was simply too much unfamiliar soul power from Liu Jun. The violent and free wind was not easy to control, and now the elements that made up these winds were still unfamiliar to Long You. It seemed that Long You had made a big mess of things for himself.
"This is a bit of a miscalculation! I really didn't expect that if Liu Jun's soul needed to cooperate with Xiao Yan to complete the soul transformation process, these soul powers from Liu Jun would directly lose control."
The somewhat bewildered voices were not actually uttered, but the fact that Long You still had the energy to complain indicated that although the current situation was indeed more complicated than imagined, it was still within Long You's ability to handle.
Fine beads of sweat began to appear on Long You's forehead, a sign that he was beginning to push his mental energy to its limits. The Imagination Pearl was activated, and the massive amount of mental power stored within it descended from Long You's sea of consciousness into his dantian. This mental power, radiating a faint golden light, completely enveloped the entire Soul Power Tornado. Before the Soul Power Tornado absorbed even more soul power and ultimately exploded due to the broken balance, Long You's mental power controlled the Soul Power Tornado to begin compressing it inward.
"The Free Wind" was unwilling to cram its massive body into a confined space in exchange for greater density. However, its master, carrying an unwavering will, guided by another force of equal strength, successfully gained the upper hand in the contest.
The long and dangerous struggle at the microscopic level has come to an end. A crisp collision, which does not exist in the real dimension, rang out, and a crystal core, which is crystal clear and contains terrifying destructive power and the mysteries of life, suddenly took shape.
The sound of a bottleneck being broken rang in Long You's ears, and a sense of joy and power from the depths of his soul welled up, making Long You's mind suddenly clear. The slowly rotating soul core, like a giant whale sucking in water, absorbed all the scattered and disordered energy from the outside world, and then transformed it into completely controllable power that spread throughout his body.
Opening his eyes, a flash of green light, representing life, streaked across Long You's vision. Turning to look at Xiao Yan, who was gradually disappearing from his shoulder, Long You released the Book of Witness Martial Soul in a flash. Xiao Yan, holding the book, appeared in the air at eye level with Long You, surrounded by seven dazzling soul rings—yellow, purple, black, black, black, and red.
Looking closely at the book in Xiao Yan's hand, the image of a lush willow tree now appeared on the originally pure white cover. A strange feeling swept through his mind, and the book in Xiao Yan's hand automatically opened. The lush willow tree, which had only existed on the book cover, seemed to come alive at this moment. Its gnarled roots and thick branches became real, and the huge willow tree, which appeared to be over a hundred meters tall, reappeared in the basement.
As the green light flowed, Liu Jun's humanoid form replaced his original form.
"Although there were some unexpected twists and turns, the final result was good. I have to say, it feels a bit magical right now."
Without uttering a word, Liu Jun's intended meaning naturally appeared in Long You's mind. Including Xiao Yan, the guests Long You could communicate with in his sea of consciousness had finally formed a complete lineup for a game of Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game).
"Please take care of me in the future, but for now, perhaps we should also pay attention to the other side."
Although he wanted to spend more time interacting with the new inhabitant in his sea of consciousness, the low pressure on the other side of the basement constantly reminded Long You that his breakthrough to Soul Saint was just a cover for the ultimate operation, and now he needed to be concerned about the outcome of the ultimate operation.
Almost at the instant Liu Jun's entire soul power was gathered into one and flowed towards Long You with the help of the inscription array on the ground, the Necromancer Saint God - Ilex - also activated the soul array set up on the ground with the help of Di Tian's soul power.
At this moment, the magic array runes throughout the entire basement space became completely connected, as if the space was surrounded by a mirror-like barrier, reflecting dazzling starlight illusions. Anyone, whether inside or outside, whoever looked at this barrier would feel as if they were in the void of space.
With the final barrier in place, Electrox took a deep breath and slowly slid his hands through the air. Intricate runes, seemingly related to yet vastly different from the various inscribed arrays throughout the underground space, appeared. This was the manifestation of the endless soul knowledge of the Necromancer God, each stroke revealing the profound mystery between soul and death.
The power of light flowed, and the guiding magic circle constructed by Elex gradually took shape. The magic circle silently operated and descended above Wang Qiu'er's head, who was sitting cross-legged in the center of the lotus array pattern. The magic circle beneath Wang Qiu'er, which had been calmly flowing with soul power, was affected at this moment and began to become active.
Under the influence of the magic array, Wang Qiu'er herself fell into a tranquil slumber, unable to maintain her original human form, and manifested the form of a three-eyed golden lion. A hazy radiance of soul light, guided by the magic array, converged towards the head of the three-eyed golden lion.
In terms of the quantity of soul power, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's spiritual power level is only equivalent to an ordinary Soul King. However, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion is, after all, an auspicious beast born from the fortune of heaven and earth, and the quality of its soul is simply outrageous. A clear, golden, sleeping Three-Eyed Golden Lion "statue" floated above the golden lion's head under the influence of the magic array.
Without Electrolux needing to say anything, Di Tian immediately noticed the inconsistency in the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's soul. The dragon-scale lion image, which should have been entirely composed of golden light, was now intertwined with wisps of blue-gold light.
The only thing that gave Di Tian a little comfort was that the source of these wisps of blue-gold light was still a complete human little girl.
"The situation is not bad. This high-quality soul fragment has not yet been fully integrated into the soul of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Moreover, judging from the current situation, it shows no signs of waking up."
Although I don't have the power to completely extract this soul fragment in one go, I can make it sleep more peacefully. Unless directly stimulated, its self-awareness will not awaken, and it will not have any further impact on the auspicious beast's behavior.
"Next, as long as the auspicious beast can continuously improve its soul quality according to the methods I taught, the blue-gold soul power that has seeped into its soul will naturally sever. At that time, it will only require minimal guidance to peel away this soul fragment."
Compared to Di Tian, who could only grasp the general situation, Electrolux, the true master of souls and the controller of the entire ritual, undoubtedly saw much more.
"Necromancer, please rest assured, I will personally oversee the matter of the auspicious beast. Leaving Mingdu now might be too conspicuous, but once the humans in this city are ready, I will leave with the auspicious beast."