Chapter 15: Hidden Movements
As Yuan Zhen was deep in thought, he was also carrying Qi Zixie back over to where he had been earlier.
Her body had only become frostier. Touching her without having the protection of spiritual energy would likely cause frostbite that very moment.
Yuan Zhen was sure that no stronger bane-devils would appear in that place, so he had brought her there to rest. The nine large trees were still there, but the energy was dormant. The spirits inhabiting the area were, after all, long gone.
After setting Qi Zixie down beside one of the trees, he also sat down to begin properly breaking down the souls within his core.
Inside his core was a void, and floating in that void were ten violet lights. The lights swirled in a circular motion, changing their direction every few seconds.
When Yuan Zhen's consciousness reached the space inside his core, he immediately noticed those lights. As they moved and swirled, tiny glittering specks fell off of them and disappeared into the void of his soul.
"It seems I was right. My soul has no attribute any longer."
Taking a breath, Yuan Zhen focused his mental energy until a projection of his body materialized in the void.
This was a concentration of the power of his soul.
Yuan Zhen drew the ten lights over to his projection, where they stopped spinning. He stared at each of the motionless souls, an idea slowly coming to life.
With closed eyes, he called out to the depths of his core, somewhere within that soul-void. "Ghost-Devouring Soul Art."
Immediately, a thick blue-green mist condensed around his soul-body.
That mist reached out to one of the lights. Immediately, that light brightened and took the shape of a familiar old man.
"What? Is this the Netherworld?"
The old man's eyes slowly opened, to which Yuan Zhen sighed on relief. This was the bane-devil Qi Zixie had been fighting.
'This Ghost-Devouring Soul Art is beyond mysterious. I should test it out more in the future.'
The old man quickly noticed Yuan Zhen and shouted, "You? Haha! So you died!"
Yuan Zhen scoffed, waving his hand. The aquamarine mist reacted to his actions and tightly wrapped around the old man, then pulled him forward.
To the bane-devil's dismay, he could do nothing to resist. He felt like his energy had been sapped the moment the aquamarine mist touched him.
"Yes. You did die. Your soul is now mine to toy with."
As Yuan Zhen said this, the mist split off into nine streams that poured into the other nine lights. Those souls quickly became dimmer and dimmer as the life was drained from them.
"Those are Crimsonwave's soul fragments."
"King Crimsonwave? Those are the Nine Elders of the outer region, then. So you used the Ghost-Devouring Soul Art on them as well."
As the old man watched, the mist penetrated the lights and sucked away their purple color.
The purple light reverse flowed through the mist and into Yuan Zhen's soul-body, which began to glow and even grew quite a bit.
When the old man saw that, he became worried. He could clearly feel that the soul art rendered him helpless to stop his own death.
He was truly nothing more than Yuan Zhen's plaything. As long as Yuan Zhen willed it, the old man would be broken down into nourishment for his soul.
Yuan Zhen could practically smell the bane-devil's fear, so he spoke while the image was still fresh. "Now, answer this question."
"The Overlords of the Grotto, the true Overlords that reigned over a hundred years ago. Where are they now?"
The old man sniffled, pursing his lips and bowing his head. Finding no alternative, he surrendered the information with a sigh.
"The Kings Feral-Fang and Soulbleeder were brought away by one of your kind- a beast."
"Almost twenty years ago, it was. The beast came here speaking of great opportunity for all the realms, even our Grotto. Naturally, our Kings would rather die than serve- especially a beast- but they were no match for him. He bested them all in single combat and demanded they become his slaves."
"Without a second thought, he appointed two weaker bane-devils to man the inner region, replacing the kings. As for the outer region, he left it to King Crimsonwave's soul fragments, as they had gained sentience."
Yuan Zhen glowered at the old man, intimidating him. Hearing the details of what happened, he realized that Ji Xie truly had his sights set on the core region of the Grotto.
He had ensured that word of it would not spread, then he personally went there to reap whatever benefits awaited.
"Tell me what you know of the core region."
The bane-devil complied with the utmost obedience.
"The core region is a place that no bane-devil beneath the Origin Establishment realm can enter. A special seal prevents us from entering, as the aura of that place could easily kill the weaker amongst us. Beyond that, I only know that the beast took our Kings there to discuss the opportunity he spoke of."
As he was discussing the core region and the beast, the old man had a sudden thought that he was almost to afraid to speak.
Finding whatever courage was hidden away in his soul, the bane-devil managed to look Yuan Zhen in the eye. He immediately regretted his action, as doing so brought immense pain to his soul. Yuan Zhen's eyes not only emanated the pressure of the Ghost-Devouring Soul Art, but they were also a testament to the lives he had taken.
What made it even worse was that this was Yuan Zhen's soul-body. The very essence of his soul was plain to see, and that was all but fatal to the bane-devil.
Eyes like Yuan Zhen's could only be seen on the most ruthless of killers; those whose hearts and blood were colored black. Such existences were the bane of all who would dare offend them, and would strike terror into the very soul.
The bane-devil hastily looked away, then asked his question. "You... Are you really Yuan Zhen?"
At this point, the bane-devil hoped that the boy before him was actually Yuan Zhen. For another beast with such potential to rise up against them would spell another decade of slaughter within the Grotto.
However, if the boy was Yuan Zhen, then that did not necessarily mean there would be more slaughter. Even if there was, bane-devils would surely not be the only ones to die.
There was a stillness after he asked. Yuan Zhen had been ignoring him, of course, but the look on his face was terrifying to the old man.
After Yuan Zhen carefully thought out how he was going to deal with the situation, he turned to the old man and smiled coldly.
"I am. You can at least take pride in knowing that you died at the hands of the Beast of Slaughter. That is what your kind call me, isn't it?"
"So you are him. The Beast of Slaughter ...heh ...nothing more than a story we told amongst ourselves. The tale of Yuan Zhen, the Bane of Bane-devils."
"Surely not even our Kings could have seen this coming. You kept your word and have returned to life-- no doubt to exact your revenge on beast and human alike."
Yuan Zhen remained quiet.
"I do not weep for my race, nor do I weep for the beasts and humans. I weep for this world. You will surely ravage this realm and all others until you are satisfied."
The bane-devil suddenly straightened up, standing tall within the void.
"But you will not be spared. Whether from the worlds above or those below, forces will rise against you. They will devour your flesh, as you have devoured flesh. They will drink your blood as you have drank the blood of innocents and grind your soul down to nothing! That is your fate!"
Without waiting for confirmation, Yuan Zhen caused the mist to tighten around the old man.
"YUAN ZHEN! I WILL AWAIT YOUR ARRIVAL IN THE NETHERWORLD!"
"Then wait," said Yuan Zhen, the corner of his lips slightly raised.
His soul then exploded into violet runes that were sucked into the mist, pouring into Yuan Zhen's soul-body.
"Ah. The strengthened soul of one in the realm of Soul Nourishing. Truly nutritious.
Those runes and the mist had now fully entered Yuan Zhen's soul-body. After that, he sensed a slight change in his core. His soul was currently digesting those souls and would take some time to completely absorb them.
Seeing this, he withdrew his focus from his core and returned to the outside world. The already dim Grotto had darkened slightly.
It was night time.
Being all too familiar with the Grotto, Yuan Zhen knew that the nights were the best part of being in the Grotto.
He looked over at Qi Zixie. There was now a blanket of snow on her body, which actually affected the world around her. The wind that blew too close to her would thicken and become slow, like stagnant water. Even the dim rays of both moonlight and red light seemed to solidify on her body.
She was like a sleeping deity; an ice cold divinity.
Making a quick decision, Yuan Zhen once more picked her up and carried her with him. Even with his energy protecting him, the cold still permeated his body and brought him mild discomfort.
'Her soul has already begun to nourish itself. The power within her is waking up. If not for my help raising the power of her energy, this would have taken at least a few more years to happen.'
Yuan Zhen smiled, walking toward the lake of blood.
He had warned Qi Zixie against going past it, because beyond that lake was the inner region of the Grotto.
The inner region was devoid of even the scant trees present in the outer region. Once you entered the inner region, all you would find were hollow pits in the earth that bane-devils resided in and around.
The wretch energy of the Grotto was richer here, so bane-devils in the inner region would be much stronger. After absorbing enough wretch energy, they could convert it to spiritual energy which would increase their cultivation.
The closer a bane-devil was to Origin Establishment, the more their form would change. They would appear to be physical beings when they, in fact, weren't.
Only bane-devils in the Immortal Spirit realm actually became physical beings.
However, it was impossible for a bane-devil to reach the Immortal Spirit realm unless they entered the core region. Even so, all those that had tried before had failed and thus perished, becoming nourishment for the Grotto.
Yuan Zhen planned to casually sweep through the inner region. His plan was to spend some time in the core region. With the Ghost-Devouring Soul Art, only the Kings could pose any kind of threat to him.
He would use the others as sustenance for his soul, then he would go to the core region to face the Kings and claim the benefits for himself.
He soon passed the lake of blood, making his way toward a barren stretch of land. There was a steep decline, leading down into an wide area saturated with green lights.
This was the pure wretch energy.
In the outer region, the wretch energy was the weakest and was colored red and the inner region was where the green wretch energy was abundant. That energy was hundreds of times more beneficial than the red energy.
As for the core region, the wretch energy was completely transformed.
Yuan Zhen could soon see the pits bursting with green light. Gathered around those pits were dozens of bane-devils. They were cultivating with the wretch energy and were somewhat closed off from the world around them.
Yuan Zhen could sneak right past them, but he was not such a considerate person.
With the Ghost-Devouring Soul Art, he devoured each and everyone one of the bane-devils that were close by. Within minutes of entering the inner region, Yuan Zhen had already slaughtered hundreds of bane-devils. They were all food for his soul, and since they were so weak he would not need to personally break them down.
The Ghost-Devouring Soul Art worked restlessly, sucking in and consuming more and more souls with each passing second.
If the 'old man' bane-devil had been alive to see this, he would have choked on his words.
Some things never change.
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