Boundless demonic energy descended. As the Blood Soul Lamp transformed into a void, the entire Ten Thousand Ghost Lake seemed to become a sea of blood, bubbling and gurgling with blood, thick bubbles rising to the surface. Those vengeful souls — their heads completely stained a deep crimson — pressed densely together in a seething mass.
Yin lightning descended. Tantai Wuji surged upward into the sky to receive the bolt, and simultaneously called forth the severed heads from the blood sea, encircling his divine soul in layer upon layer to resist the yin lightning’s force.
To fully sever the connection to his original body was to forsake his former self. And for that, he had to endure the yin lightning’s lashing of his soul.
Boom.
The yin lightning blasted away all the severed heads encircling him. They plunged back into the blood sea and sank.
At that same moment, Feng Ya — who had been tracking Tantai Wuji’s aura — furrowed his brow deeply. The aura he sensed was growing weaker and weaker, and something within this physical body he occupied felt as though it were being pulled away.
His eyes sharpened. Drawing upon the power of the Nine Nether to internally observe the skeletal original body, he confirmed it: the blood energy within the skeleton was dispersing and withdrawing, and the bones themselves seemed to be becoming brittle and hollow.
Feng Ya narrowed his eyes and let out a cold, contemptuous laugh. “Severing what must be severed — so decisive after all.”
He directed a thread of Nine Nether power into a wisp of blood energy, and with a single thought, that blood energy transformed into a faint, wispy thread. Following that thread, he moved rapidly to trace it.
At that same moment, inside the Tongtian Pavilion in Wu Jing, Lang Jiuchuan suddenly raised her head from a scroll made of material that was neither silk nor paper. As though she had sensed something, her brow furrowed deeply. Her hands flew through rapid hand seal gestures, and in the next instant her figure departed from that spot.
Within the Ten Thousand Ghost Lake.
Tantai Wuji endured the lashing of the yin lightning with grim determination. As the third bolt fell, he heard a crack within his divine soul — like the snapping of a chain. From that moment forward, he had become completely a wandering spirit. He had forfeited his chance at reincarnation; no possibility of the cycle of rebirth remained for him.
His paths now were these: to wander the mortal world, to enter the Underworld, or to survive as a ghost by possessing others’ bodies — but that would invite heavenly tribulation, unlike before when the vital energy of the dragon vein and national fortune had shielded him from it.
Yet none of these were paths he would choose.
What he intended to do was sacrifice himself to Kong Xu Zi — and yet in doing so, completely seize Kong Xu Zi’s body, the demonic bones and divine soul, then condense the demonic core and demonic form.
From the shadows of the blood sea, a gaunt figure appeared — sunken eye sockets, wearing a tattered Daoist robe. This remnant soul of Kong Xu Zi appeared, his burning gaze fixed upon Tantai Wuji with a consuming greed blazing in the depths of his eyes.
He listened to Tantai Wuji’s sacrificial incantation, and distinctly felt a surge of overwhelmingly powerful force flowing into his own remnant soul. His excitement set his entire being trembling. The moment Tantai Wuji’s divine soul was fully offered — Kong Xu Zi’s eyes turned a feral crimson. He activated the full life-bound soul power of the Blood Soul Lamp, transforming it into a blood-colored venomous serpent that instantly lunged toward the core of Tantai Wuji’s divine soul.
Tantai Wuji — this wretched dog — could only serve as his stepping stone.
However, Tantai Wuji had anticipated this long ago. Within his divine soul, he condensed a soul-slaying blood talisman and drove it viciously into Kong Xu Zi’s remnant soul.
The blood talisman blazed with brilliant light — like a sharp blade descending without mercy. “I have been waiting for you for a long time.”
“Ah!” Kong Xu Zi let out a shrill, agonized scream, crying out in terror. “No — you cannot kill me!”
Tantai Wuji acted as though he had not heard. His divine soul transformed into a bottomless vortex that dragged Kong Xu Zi’s remnant soul into it, tearing and grinding it without pause.
He hated being told there was something he could not do above all else.
A mere remnant soul, daring to scheme against him — did Kong Xu Zi truly think him a fool?
A sacrifice was something that could be done — but the rules said nothing about the one performing the sacrifice being unable to turn the tables and become the master. With the owner of the demonic bones gone, he would be the new controller, inheriting everything that had once belonged to Kong Xu Zi.
This was called the cuckoo taking the magpie’s nest — turning the tables and seizing control.
Tantai Wuji’s divine soul was far more powerful than a mere remnant soul to begin with. His earlier deference and cooperation with Kong Xu Zi had only been out of consideration for the Blood Soul Lamp and the original soul of the bones. Now that Kong Xu Zi had come out, things were far more manageable.
His divine soul, transformed into a vortex, wound around Kong Xu Zi’s original soul, binding it tightly, enveloping it completely. The devastating devouring force was like the maw of a great beast — tearing, rending, drawing out Kong Xu Zi’s original soul force without mercy.
Kong Xu Zi screamed and shrieked without cease, a swell of regret rising in his heart. He should never have underestimated Tantai Wuji. This man had once surrounded and suppressed him and used him as a contingency — that alone demonstrated his intelligence. There was no way he would have no defenses prepared whatsoever.
All his schemes and ambitions had likely already been anticipated, only waiting for him to willingly leap into that trap lined with spikes and fangs.
He had been too eager.
But to realize this now was far too late. He struggled frantically, drove his secret techniques, attempting to escape the vortex — only to find himself like a creature sinking into a swamp, each struggle pulling him deeper, his power ebbing away faster with every moment.
“Did you think your little tricks could deceive me? Do not forget — you are merely my defeated foe. I kept you until today only because you still had some use.” Tantai Wuji’s divine soul declared coldly, “You thought you could tempt me into performing the sacrifice. What makes you think I was not simply going along with your scheme, biding my time? Ha! The hundreds of years of original soul force you have accumulated — offer it to me as a gift. It will help my demonic arts reach their peak and allow me to condense the demonic core.”
With those words, his power surged, and he completely devoured the original soul.
“No — Tantai Wuji, may you die without a good end!” Kong Xu Zi’s consciousness was rapidly fading. Despair and venomous hatred caused his soul force to surge in a final burst, only to become yet another source of power for Tantai Wuji.
Yet he gathered all his lingering resentment and unleashed the most malicious curse he could muster. “Your heart is not righteous, your path runs counter to all that is right. I, Kong Xu Zi, curse you, Tantai Wuji — you will ultimately be defeated at Lang Jiuchuan’s hands, body and soul both destroyed and scattered…”
The voice of the curse cut off abruptly.
Tantai Wuji’s expression turned cold and dark. He fully merged all of Kong Xu Zi’s original soul force and memories into himself, then flew down and entered the blackish-red, luminescent skeleton. The Blood Soul Lamp spun rapidly before his eyes, as though it had lost its master and in its confusion sought to flee.
He raised one hand, condensed a thread of blackish-red soul force, and let it seep into the Blood Soul Lamp.
In an instant, the blood-sea void expanded dramatically with a blast. The vengeful souls in the blood pool opened their gaping maws, thick blood dripping from their heads, and countless resentments and death energies surged toward Tantai Wuji’s skeleton.
In the next moment, Tantai Wuji’s skeleton shuddered violently, and began reforming and sealing itself together ceaselessly — its color growing darker, more bloodsoaked. He drew all the blood energy and death resentment energy into himself, transforming it into original power and channeling it toward the demonic core in his core energy center — the one that had always failed to solidify — forging it solid bit by bit, until a force of demonic power, far more terrifying, far more pure, and far more absolute in its despair than anything before, swept out from the blood sea in all directions.
The demonic core was formed. The demon descended upon the world. Darkness descended.
Lang Jiuchuan stared in dismay as the sky above suddenly lost all its brilliance, her complexion growing deeply troubled.
Tantai Wuji hovered within the blood sea, slowly opening his eyes. Within those crimson irises were two pools of slowly rotating, all-consuming darkness — abyssal depths that devoured everything.
He had once set his heart on righteousness, aspiring to become the master of the Heavenly Dao. Now he was Wuji of the demonic path — and Lang Jiuchuan and their kind had forced this upon him.
Tantai Wuji raised one hand. The Blood Soul Lamp flew into his grasp — refined and tempered to a far more ancient quality, its flame burning like blood. It hovered obediently at his fingertip, producing a powerful resonance with him.
Kong Xu Zi’s life-bound artifact was now his. The refined original soul could only become power for the Blood Soul Lamp, serving him tirelessly and unleashing its greatest strength.
Tantai Wuji withdrew the barrier. He channeled a surge of refined demonic core power into the Blood Soul Lamp, and the flame erupted in a violent surge. At his command, the heads within the lake crawled one by one onto the shore, transforming into demonic souls and rushing toward the living beings of Great Pian.
“Defeated by Lang Jiuchuan?” His laughter was quiet and cold. As long as he continued to draw more power unto himself — who would be defeated remained to be seen.