Chapter 201: Old Demon
Xue Li had been sealed for over a thousand years. During this long period of time, he had been thinking about leaving at every moment.
He was willing to sacrifice everything to escape this place. That was why, even though he knew that by surrendering a portion of his soul he might be controlled by Qin Lie, he was still unable to turn Qin Lie down.
Qin Lie knew very well that this thousand-year-old demon would definitely agree to his terms.
Anyone who had been sealed for a thousand years would sacrifice anything for their freedom. For Xue Li, to surrender only a portion of his soul really wasn’t an unacceptable price.
“I can give you a portion of my soul, but do you have the ability to accept it?” Xue Li said coldly.
“This is not something you need to worry about. As long as you let go of your soul, put down all of your defenses, and send that piece into my brain, you can leave the rest of the process to me,” Qin Lie answered.
“My soul cannot slip out of this space. The only way to do this is for your corporeal body to come in,” Xue Li yelled.
“I will never have my body enter this place, ever! I have no intentions of being captured by you instantly.” Qin Lie pondered for a moment. “It will still be best if you send your soul out of the spirit pattern pillar and slip into my corporeal body’s brain. Then I can be assured.”
“The seal is still here. I cannot separate my soul from the spirit pattern pillar unless you help me break through three seals and unlock three chains first.” Xue Li’s scarlet eyes shone with a bloody light. He looked down at the long chains connecting to the bones all over his body and said, “If three chains are unlocked, then I will be able to split a portion of my soul outside and fulfill your request.”
Qin Lie grew quiet.
He didn’t know if what Xue Li said was true or false. What if… What if after unlocking three spirit pattern pillars, this Xue Li could then escape the spirit pattern pillars? Who else could resist him?
He was slightly afraid of taking this risk.
“Kid, if you are unwilling to attempt this, then I will not be able to split my soul. If you want to control my soul, then you must try it. Otherwise, we may as well go back to the first method: I’ll teach you Blood Fiend Sect’s secret arts, and in exchange, you will release me. How about it?” Xue Li suggested scornfully.
There was turmoil in Qin Lie’s heart. He felt a bit of a headache coming on when going up against this thousand-year-old demon. He didn’t know which of his statements were real and which were not.
But he knew very well that a single misstep might cause him to be doomed eternally, and he instead would be controlled by this old demon.
He could feel no reassurance at all going up against such a demonic level character. That was why he was hesitating.
“If you’re afraid, if you’re unwilling to take even the slightest risk, then you will never be successful in your entire life!” Xue Li taunted.
“I’ll think it over.”
Qin Lie got out. He still had his eyes closed beneath the spirit pattern pillar.
He gathered his mind consciousness to swim at the Soul Suppressing Orb at the center of his forehead. He was quietly channeling Heavenly Thunder Eradication.
“Rrmmb!”
The deep rumble of thunder roared out from inside his bones. He slowly channeled the power of thunder and pulled it little by little to his head.
He then opened his eyes.
There were streaks of densely-packed, snake-like electricity shooting inside his pupils, and there was rumbling in his head that could shatter his eardrums.
“I heard thunder, and it looks like it’s about to rain. How strange,” Tang Siqi said doubtfully beside him.
Qin Lie did not answer. Thunder flashed in his eyes. He was sensing the shockwave of Heavenly Thunder Eradication inside his head, and with it, his confidence slowly grew firmer.
Thunder and lightning were the nemesis of all soul type beings. It could destroy all evil spirits!
During that year, at the natural stone forest outside Icestone City, Gao Yu had summoned the Demon God’s shadow, and that destructive aura had terrified every person around.
However, even that Demon God’s shadow was incredibly wary of his Heavenly Thunder Eradication.
From that, it could be seen that the thunder and lightning energy of Heavenly Thunder Eradication should have an incredible effect in destroying a soul.
Once he thought about it, Qin Lie finally made up his mind, entered the pillar once more, and directly said, “Okay! I will unlock three shackles first!”
The bloody light in Xue Li’s eyes abruptly brightened.
Qin Lie immediately concentrated his mind on the spirit pattern pillar beside him. After a series of copying and depicting, he had reached the end of the spirit pattern pillar’s chain with his wisp of mind consciousness. Just as Xue Li had said, he attacked the clump of bright energy with his mind consciousness.
Surprisingly, his rather tame mind consciousness was able to pierce through the energy clump without resistance.
It was as easy as popping a balloon with a sharp needle.
“Bang!”
Bits of odd sparks flew out as the remaining energy exploded outwards along with the end of the chain.
“The first chain!” Xue Li’s expression was crazy as he looked towards the sky and laughed terribly. His left arm abruptly pulled back.
The thick and long rusty chain folded back towards Xue Li like a gray dragon. He abruptly pulled back the long chain and entangled it firmly around his arm.
The bloody color in his eyes grew more and more shocking.
He looked towards Qin Lie with a surprisingly pale face. “Continue. Two more chains and my soul can tear a hole through the seals.”
Qin Lie could feel that Xue Li’s aura was stronger than before. He knew that the release of a chain had caused a layer of the shackling seals on Xue Li to be destroyed.
He grew more worried as time passed, but he still decided to continue.
Therefore, his wisp of mind consciousness fell onto the second spirit pattern pillar to remove the seal within.
His mind energy was rapidly depleting. He slowly entered into the spirit pattern pillar and saw yet another ball of energy. That ball of energy was the critical node needed to break the chain.
Qin Lie attacked it again with his mind consciousness.
The energy clump exploded like a balloon. Yet another layer of seal had been released, and this chain was also pulled back by Xue Li until it winded around his waist.
“The second chain!” The bloody light in Xue Li’s light grew stronger. “Good, very good! There is one more. If one more chain breaks, then I’ll be able to surrender a portion of my soul to you!”
Qin Lie paused for a moment.
“I’ve used too much of my mind consciousness. I need time to recover. I will leave for a moment.” His wisp of consciousness returned.
Taking out a mind focusing pill and swallowing it, he began pondering with a frown while digesting the pill’s power.
“This fierce and evil aura on this old demon’s body was already extremely shocking. The moment the third chain is released, he will definitely attack me.” Qin Lie saw it very clearly. “I need to recover as much as I can and compete with that portion of soul later. He will do anything in his power to control me, but if his soul dares to enter my head, then he may not be able to gain an advantage!”
During that year, the main soul of the Soul Devouring Beast was so powerful that even Xie Jingxuan was almost controlled by it.
But even such a powerful Soul Devouring Beat’s soul was still obediently absorbed by the Soul Suppressing Orb’s light and refined not long after…
“Soul Suppressing Orb, the Soul Suppressing Orb. Any soul type evil energy that enters my mind is just walking themselves into a trap!” Qin Lie thought quietly.
First, he recovered his energy with the pill and planned a bunch in his mind. He thought through every aspect carefully before he finally entered the world inside the spirit pattern pillar once more.
He cracked the third spirit pattern pillar straight away.
Xue Li waited beneath the twelve spirit pattern pillars with two rusty, snake-like chains surrounding his waist and one of his arms. The bloody light in his eyes grew more frightening as he never moved his gaze away from Qin Lie.
“Kid, you’re still a little too naive,”Xue Li snorted coldly on the inside.
Qin Lie concentrated on cracking the third spirit pattern pillar.
“Pwack!”
The energy clump inside this spirit pattern pillar was pierced by his mind consciousness. When the light clump exploded, so did the chain.
“Whoosh!”
Xue Li’s eyes brightened. He lifted and waved his arm, and the chain coiled back in midair, resembling a iron dragon.
“The third chain! Good!” Xue Li chuckled in a strange tone.
“Your soul!” Qin Lie’s mind shook as he flew outside immediately.
“Here you go!” Xue Li pointed a finger at the center of his own forehead.
A strand that was as crimson as blood flew out from between his brows. This strand of blood was truly formed from his soul and carried an incredibly powerful wave of memories within it!
This strand of blood also rushed towards outside the spirit patter pillar following the direction Qin Lie’s mind consciousness had left!
A terrifying aura devoid of humanity that would destroy all creation was contained within that strand of blood. Its aura alone was enough to cause Qin Lie’s wisp of consciousness to nearly shatter.
“Kid, do nicely accept a quarter of my main soul!” Xue Li laughed madly towards the sky.
On the outside, Qin Lie abruptly opened his eyes and stared straight at the spirit pattern pillar before him with an expression as cold as ice!
Like steel needle, the crimson blood strand stabbed out of the spirit pattern pillar with an extremely terrifying destructive aura.
Its target was the center of Qin Lie’s forehead!
“W-what is that?” Tang Siqi cried out.
Qin Lie did not say anything. He did not channel Heavenly Thunder Eradication immediately either because he was afraid that Xue Li would grow wary.
All he did was focus his mind consciousness into one point within the Soul Suppressing Orb, quietly awaiting that crimson strand’s arrival.
“Zzzt!”
The strand of blood stabbed into the center of his forehead, causing a single drop of blood to appear. Then, he shook.
The instant the strand of blood entered his mind, he suddenly had the feeling that he was pulled into a bloody hell. Everywhere he looked, there was only an endless amount of blood!
He felt as if he was being dragged into a sea of blood. He couldn’t feel the slightest trace of life, and his mind collapsed almost instantly.
A bloody aura had even entered straight into the inner depths of his soul, as if it had grasped his soul completely!
He had a terrifying feeling that his soul was about to suffocate.
This was the moment that he realized that he was wrong. He had underestimated the terror that was a quarter of Xue Li’s soul. There was no way he could resist at all!
All of his schemes were shattered the instant the strand of blood had entered him.
That was because he was unable to resist Xue Li’s soul attack for even a single moment.
His soul, his mind, and all of his tenacious willpower were literally no different from paper under the assault of the bloody sea. They were destroyed at the moment of contact.
It was as if his soul was being wrapped up by a ball of blood, as if he was being pulled into an endless sea of blood which corroded his soul one bit at a time.
He had a strong feeling that this thick, fresh blood would slowly seep into his soul and change him, one tiny fragment of his personality after another. At the end, he would become Xue Li’s blood puppet.
He could not gather his consciousness, nor could he activate Heavenly Thunder Eradication; he could not even feel the condition of his own body.
Slowly, he falling into the depths of the blood sea…
However, at the moment of despair, he saw a ray of light. It was a light that had once absorbed the Soul Devouring Beast’s soul!
It was the purifying light from the depths of the Soul Suppressing Orb!
He suddenly realized that the blood sea was like a bloody curtain being torn apart under the ray of light. It evaporated in an extremely short amount of time!
He realized that he had returned into his own mind.
And so, he channeled Heavenly Thunder Eradication, gathered his mind consciousness, and saw that single strand of blood!
That strand had turned into a blood-colored remnant soul inside the Soul Suppressing Orb.
“Thunderblitz!”
Qin Lie then immediately gathered the power of thunder and lightning to strike Xue Li’s remnant soul. When the thunderbolt had struck the blood-colored remnant soul, it began to ferociously twist as a bloody mist came out from it.
It was as if he could hear the terrible screams of Xue Li’s soul.