GDK 533: Three Souls As One
The situation was as good as hopeless. Han Shuo and Little Skeleton barely withstood the invasive energy of the Purple Demon Eye working together. This sinister energy was more powerful than Han Shuo could have imagined. The memories pertaining to necromancy that he was trying to transfer to Little Skeleton with his consciousness were gradually being stolen by the energy in little fragments.
That was, however, the least of their worries. As it absorbed Han Shuo’s memories of necromancy magic, it also unceasingly released sinister energy, forcibly looting Han Shuo’s consciousness and Little Skeleton’s soul with overwhelming power. It seemed unlikely to stop until it completely occupied both the souls of Han Shuo and Little Skeleton.
In a battle between souls, bystanders could do absolutely nothing to help. Especially in this extremely unique state, Han Shuo and Little Skeleton simply couldn’t receive any external assistance. All they could do was strenuously hold and defend against the invasion of this corrosive, sinister energy.
Although Little Skeleton’s soul had become one with the element of death and formed a Soul of Element, compared to Han Shuo’s consciousness, it was nevertheless much inferior. Han Shuo’s consciousness was formed using a special method of demonic arts that elevated the soul. It was a cultivation method which was completely distinct from the eight elemental energies and four edictal forces, with all kinds of inconceivably amazing abilities.
It was when he faced soul invasion from such a degree of sinister energy, against which he had no chance to prepare himself, that Han Shuo fully unleashed the extensive catalogue of abilities of his consciousness. Mustering all his strength, Han Shuo’s consciousness constricted into a fine thread hardly visible to the naked eye. It had actually congealed into various bizarre formations in the mind, putting up hurdles to obstruct the invading energy.
After forming a Soul of Element, Little Skeleton’s soul had utmost familiarity and affinity to the element of death. However, during such a battle between souls, the Soul of Element that Little Skeleton cultivated could not compare to the resilience of Han Shuo’s consciousness. It could only hardly act together with Han Shuo under the guidance of his consciousness.
Right from the start, Little Skeleton’s usage and manipulation of the aura of death were limited to enhancing his body. The cultivation pathway taken was the same as abyssal creatures. By accumulating intense element of death on his white bones, he formed himself a sparking skeletal body of the most formidable fighting strength.
For the same reason, once his soul had fused with an Origin Crystal and formed a Soul of Element, he quickly figured out the knack of forming a Body of Element for himself, reaching the basegod realm.
Although he indeed had a Soul of Element, Little Skeleton didn’t understand much about using the energy of the soul. The reason that Han Shuo wanted to transfer his knowledge of necromancy to Little Skeleton was precisely to make up for Little Skeleton’s ignorance in this respect. Yet, it appeared that he was still one step too late.
The sinister energy that erupted from the Purple Demon Eye was no longer confined to just the Purple Demon Eye. It had gushed towards Han Shuo and Little Skeleton with force that could move mountains. Not even Han Shuo’s almighty consciousness, which had saved him time and time again in the past, could bail him out of this invasion. Han Shuo was out-classed, and all he could resort to was further retreat into defeat.
Just as Han Shuo and Little Skeleton’s souls were to be conquered by the energy, a cloud of green mist began to emerge from Nethervalley, carrying with it the most severe aura of death. At its center glowed a faint green light.
The terrifying screech appeared to originate from that very light within the green lump of smoke. Behind it, three king skeletons and two bone dragons followed, along with an army of high-level dark creatures the ranks of bone devils and old fey demons. They charged forward with tremendous momentum.
The mighty existence within the green lump of smoke possessed strength well-matched against that of Little Skeleton. Along its path the terrifying aura of death ravaged like flood water, causing all the subordinates surrounding Little Skeleton to spontaneously explode.
The creature within the green lump of smoke destroyed and obliterated every undead creature in his path as though he were breaking dried twigs. He had charged to the hillside with numerous high-level undead creatures behind him. He wasted no energy on superfluous speeches, instead roaring incessantly with every inch forward. The undead creatures by Little Skeleton’s side could do little but recede in fear. Without the backbone that was Little Skeleton, their morale had weakened significantly.
This undead creature of basegod strength definitely had a soul way stronger than Little Skeleton’s, who had only just joined the league of basegods. His loud roars showed evidence of necromancy magic. It utilized the aura of death all around to form magic similar to Soul Tremor, destroying the willpower of the numerous dark creatures on Little Skeleton’s side.
Only the three evil knights that Han Shuo had reforged with demonic arts and the five elite zombies were completely unaffected by the waves of loud roars.
The five elite zombies displayed not the slightest fear, but more astonishingly still, began to assume their own positions in the Penta-elemental Undead Formation. They dispersed themselves from the top of the bald mountain. Except for water and earth elite zombies, all the elite zombies had taken out their respective attributal treasures. The energies of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth began to blend in ways that no others could understand.
Suddenly, chill wind started blowing in the Penta-elemental Undead Formation, and cyclones of all colors took shape. Eerie, sinister, ruthless, cold – all kinds of aura that could destroy a man’s willpower began spreading from the formation. It was as though an ominous devil was inside, ready to wreck any creature that dared go forward and challenge its might.
Remarkably, the undead creature that had barged his way in with seemingly unstoppable momentum suddenly halted in its tracks before entering the Penta-elemental Undead Formation. The puff of green smoke lingered outside the formation before letting out another one of its deafening roars, causing the skeletal kings and bone dragons to freeze. They dared not take another step forward.
That green lump of smoke stood and waited outside the Penta-elemental Undead Formation. Its loud roars turned into orders to prevent its subordinates from attacking. It seemed to have sensed great hazard in the viciousness and ruthlessness concealed within the Penta-elemental Undead Formation.
Still, Han Shuo and Little Skeleton were on the losing side. The layers upon layers of defensive energies deployed by the consciousness had been completely shattered in the invasion of that sinister energy. They could no longer put up any effective defenses.
Just as a feeling of dispiritment rose in Han Shuo’s mind, enormous soul energy erupted from the green smoke. In an instant, it joined the fierce battle between Han Shuo and Little Skeleton, and the sinister soul energy of the Purple Demon Eye.
This soul of basegod strength also had similarly wild ambition. Upon joining the battle, it was immediately launching attacks against Little Skeleton’s soul. It seemed determined to possess Little Skeleton’s soul. Although they both cultivated in the elemental energy of death, he was far superior to Little Skeleton in utilizing the soul.
When the new soul energy appeared, Little Skeleton’s soul, which had been sheltered by Han Shuo’s consciousness all the while, suddenly felt an unbearable pressure. It was like candlelight in the wild wind that could extinguish at any moment…
Han Shuo felt fear that he had never experienced before. He was terrified for Little Skeleton’s soul, but couldn’t do anything more. Han Shuo was on the verge of choking up blood.
Suddenly, a window of opportunity opened in the seemingly dead-end situation. The Purple Demon Eye immediately diverted a portion of its overbearing energy away from Han Shuo and directed it towards the soul that had just made its entrance. The soul energy that came from the Purple Demon Eye was the strongest of the four. It ferried an intense attribute of looting, and gave the impression that it wanted to scoop up the whole lot of Little Skeleton, Han Shuo, and the soul which came after.
After the soul energy suffocating him was cut in half, Han Shuo’s consciousness was instantly less restricted. He hastily re-deployed the devastated defensive formations within the battlefield of souls. The newcomer, who joined the battle to completely absorb Little Skeleton’s soul, turned its focus to withstand the soul energy from the Purple Demon Eye instead.
For a moment, Han Shuo, Little Skeleton and that newcomer were passive defenders. However, with that new participant, the pressure on Han Shuo suddenly loosened a great deal. Although the battle was far from on his favor, he wasn’t being crushed as rapidly as he had been just a moment ago.
However, if this trend continued, the three of them would not stand a chance and their souls would be completely erased in the end. They would forever be puppets to the soul of the Purple Demon Eye.
At this moment, an absurd yet completely bodacious idea crossed Han Shuo’s mind. Han Shuo only hesitated for a short moment before executing the plan right away.
With some of the leftover energy in him, taking the risk of having his consciousness annihilated in this truly life-threatening situation, Han Shuo performed the soul-shuttling procedure.
Suddenly, something spectacular happened. After Han Shuo triggered the soul-shuttling mechanism, the four souls that were tangled together fell into a space-time tunnel that delivered them all towards the distant Abyss realm.
Once they entered the space-time tunnel, the other three souls, including Little Skeleton’s, weakened to their lowest levels. Only Han Shuo, as the caster of the spell and the master of the skeletal staff, was not affected by that space-time tunnel, and the power of his consciousness did not dwindle by the slightest.
Han Shuo had planned well in advance for the sequence of actions to be performed within the fleeting period of a few seconds. First, he bombarded the weaker soul that came later by simultaneously attacking using his consciousness and mental strength, and thumped it in an instant. After a short while, Han Shuo launched a second attack. He gathered all his strength and bombarded with unbroken succession at that sinister soul of the Purple Demon Eye, which had turned extremely weak inside the spacetime tunnel.
At that same instant, the soul from the Purple Demon Eye was also giving its all. Its energy collided with Han Shuo’s, causing a terrifying rumble to erupt from the three souls. Han Shuo felt as though his head had been smacked with a huge hammer. Blood started flowing from each of his seven apertures!
Han Shuo’s body was violently trembling. He felt an intense, splitting headache. It was as though thousands of tiny blades were whirling inside his brain. The pain was unbearable.
That sinister soul energy from the Purple Demon Eye had not in fact been eliminated, and had survived with its tenacity. Although it had become much weaker than before, it was still as ineffably fierce. It carried on occupying Han Shuo’s soul with utter persistence.
Suddenly, a presence of boundless resentment, destruction, and massacre exploded from the Demonslayer Edge that had been hibernating inside Han Shuo’s body. This main soul of the Demonslayer Edge, which possessed the accumulated negative energies of thousands upon thousands of souls, finally completed its fusion with the Origin Crystal of Destruction at this most critical moment and came to the rescue.
The main soul of the Demonslayer Edge joined forces with Han Shuo’s consciousness and ferociously attacked back at the soul that came from the Purple Demon Eye.
Rumbles… It was as though a nuclear explosion had set off inside Han Shuo’s brain. Seven arrows of blood spurted out from his seven apertures that had been bleeding like waterfalls. Han Shuo’s magnificent body collapsed to the ground, not a sign of life in sight. Forever had passed when he felt the rumble still reverberating inside his aching brain. For a moment, he even thought that he was dead.
After a while, Han Shuo gradually sobered up. Suddenly, chains of disordered memories filled every corner of Han Shuo’s jumbled up mind. He stared ahead with nothingness in his eyes and started mumbling, “Who am I? I’m Datara. I’m Han Shuo. I’m Lich Haley…”
All sorts of memories suddenly flashed through his head at once. Han Shuo seemed convinced he was three different people, with three different sets of memories in his brain. As he mindlessly mumbled to himself, his brain rapidly reorganized the chaos that was his memories.
Han Shuo remained still in this state of empty mumbling for ages. Suddenly, after an undetermined but long amount of time had passed, Han Shuo began to laugh in the same vein as a cartoon hyena, completely disregarding the stream of blood overflowing from his mouth. With the skeletal staff in his left hand and the Demonslayer Edge in his right, he exclaimed, “Lowgod Datara and basegod of death Lich Haley… Haha, all traces of their souls were wiped clean, and their empty vessels occupied by my memories. Wakaka… The heavens favor me, the heavens favor me! ”
As Han Shuo cackled, the skeletal staff and the Demonslayer Edge in his hands began to transform. They melted into a liquefied state and rose again to form two humanoid figures. After a while, the skeletal staff and Demonslayer Edge had turned into two carbon copies of Han Shuo’s.
Han Shuo pointed at the then-skeletal staff and laughed maniacally, “Basegod of death… is me!” Then his finger turned to point at his other weapon, and cried, “Lowgod of destruction… is me as well!”
“Haha! All me! After separate demon, they are all me! This is what they call ‘three souls in one’ in demonic arts. Something that requires extreme luck to come by! They are all avatars of myself! Ahahahahah…”