C713 Soul Shatter Array

With a howl, Liu Linzhi, a Celestial Shade, unleashed a roar towards the palace dome. The soul-shattering sound waves spread, summoning nearly a hundred powerful ghosts and spirits to burst forth from the rock walls in an instant.

These so-called "water shadows" were nothing but evil spirits and ghosts.

In a flash, the ghosts loyal to Liu Linzhi overwhelmed both the Frost Queen and the Second Bane.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The manifested ghost was ferocious, but upon contact with the Frost Queen, even its ethereal spirited body was infiltrated by the ice force, causing the spirit to shatter from the intense cold.

Meanwhile, the Second Bane, once confined to the Sword Prison and reduced to a mere pool of blood, emerged from the Crucible of Evil, transforming into a blood shadow. It seemed momentarily bewildered.

Surrounded by a host of ghostly spirits, the Second Bane glared with blood-red eyes, reminiscent of Liu Linzhi's own gaze.

Curiosity piqued by the familiar scent, it wondered...

"A Bane forged from a Colddeath elder!"

Liu Linzhi's finely featured face, visible within his armor, registered shock. "You possess the red jade pendant, which connects you to my Colddeath. Why, then, have you transformed an elder of my Divine Cult into a Bane?"

Whoosh!

Three green-faced, fanged evil spirits materialized razor-sharp claws and teeth, slashing at the Second Bane's blood shadow.

Black and gray beams of soul light, like ethereal lightning, struck at the Second Bane's revealed blood shadow.

A dazzling burst of blood light exploded from the shadow.

The Second Bane, with a ghastly grin, transformed its seemingly phantom body into droplets of deep red blood.

Each droplet morphed into a Blood Fiend from the extraterrestrial realm, appearing fleshly and voraciously savage.

Hundreds of Blood Fiends, which should have been preying upon life in the Star River, arose from these blood beads. They shredded the three evil spirits to pieces, feasting with relish.

Inside his armor, Liu Linzhi, clearly intimidated, called out, "Which elder is this?"

"I really want to know why you set me up and lured me into the depths of Shadow Mountain," Yu Yuan demanded, maintaining a distance from Liu Linzhi by controlling the dark cauldron. A host of ghosts and spirits floated between them. "Was it for the red token, or perhaps for this cauldron?"

People can be deceitful, but he hadn't expected the ghosts and spirits to be so malevolent.

Yu Yuan had thought there was no bad blood between him and the Celestial Shade of the Land of Terror. In fact, he had inadvertently saved Liu Linzhi with the red token.

Liu Linzhi's respectful demeanor when he handed over the token had eased Yu Yuan's suspicions.

Led by Liu Linzhi into the bowels of Shadow Mountain, the Celestial Shade engaged in endless chatter, sharing old tales to win his sympathy, then using various artifacts and jars as bait.

Yu Yuan wanted to leave the Crucible of Evil behind. He carefully checked that no biting cold wind blew through the palace, thinking it was safe, and then stepped out of the Crucible of Evil to inspect the wooden chests and iron boxes more closely.

Little did he know, Liu Linzhi's apparent kindness was a ruse, a carefully laid trap.

Had it not been for the beast skin given by Chen Liangquan, which came to his aid at a crucial moment, his corporeal body would have been torn asunder at first encounter.

Without advancing to the Lunar Spirit realm, a cultivator's body would perish, and the three souls would swiftly fade away. Then, his soul would be inevitably consumed by Liu Linzhi.

The Celestial Shade of the Land of Terror likely had means to extract the memories from his earthly soul as well.

This realization sent a shiver down Yu Yuan's spine.

He had been hunting geese all day, only to nearly be pecked by one!

"That jade pendant is of great importance to me," Liu Linzhi finally admitted, no longer concealing his true intentions. "And since the cauldron you possess is an exquisite Horcrux, I must have it. These other items are of no use to me; they won't augment my strength or aid in my breakthrough to become a Spectre."

He gestured towards the wooden and iron boxes that shimmered with an emerald glow.

"Now is the golden age for the Land of Terror! I can sense the Yin Qi surging from the Root of the Lunar Meridian beneath the earth, growing stronger every day! With the aid of a rare artifact, I could evolve into a Spectre! And perhaps one day, even challenge the Ghost King! It is said that the Ghost King of the Land of Terror, if willing to forsake all, can be reborn as a human!"

"What I, Liu Linzhi, yearn for is to live another life! To walk the earth once more in human form!"

"Not in this ghostly state!"

With a cold huff, Liu Linzhi continued, "My failure wasn't due to a botched Spirit Walk that resulted in the destruction of my corporeal body. I was hunted down, driven to a dead end, and had no choice but to use the Divine Cult's Bloodwalk technique to escape. Now, it's nearly impossible for me to leave, and even if I could, avenging my grievances would be a challenge!"

"I refuse to wait in agony. Instead, I must rapidly ascend through the ranks to achieve the highest ghostly realm in the shortest time possible!"

"Do you see the blood rose pattern on this armor?"

Liu Linzhi's laugh was chilling.

The meticulously carved blood rose pattern on the armor, with a cluster of tormented, twisted faces at the bud, suddenly became visible.

"This is the soul of the woman I loved." Liu Linzhi's eerie laughter continued, "When I first returned home and learned she had married and borne a child, I slaughtered her husband and his entire family. She had promised to wait for my return, to marry me. She broke her promise, so I exacted a price, ensuring her entire family perished."

"I collected her soul in a unique vessel, but even that didn't feel close enough, so I branded it onto this armor."

"..."

He had fallen into his old habit of droning on about bygone days, albeit with a new spin on the tale.

"Your quest for vengeance and how you treated your beloved are of no concern to me, and frankly, I'm not interested," Yu Yuan said with a furrowed brow, engaging in half-hearted conversation, but his focus remained on the Frost Queen and the Second Bane, observing their battle with the ghostly spirits.

The Frost Queen and the Second Bane possessed combat strengths that vastly surpassed those of Liu Linzhi's underlings. The Frost Queen's ice-blue physique, when exposed to the biting cold winds, was not only unharmed but seemed to have her battle prowess augmented. With a sway of her body, a soft blue light emanated, rippling outward in waves.

Wherever this azure light touched, the ghosts loyal to Liu Linzhi were thrown into disarray. If they failed to escape in time, their souls would be permeated by the ice force and shattered by the intense cold.

The Second Bane transformed into a Blood Fiend from the ranks of the Star-Spawned Terrors. In unison with the Frost Queen, they turned the ghosts of the Land of Terror into mere wisps of smoke and ash.

"Master, as I've mentioned before, here in the Land of Terror, the power of both this cauldron and myself will greatly increase!" the cauldron spirit said, brimming with eagerness as it approached Liu Linzhi. "The ghost in the form of a Fox Monkey that you encountered on Shadow Mountain during our first encounter, its master is truly formidable."

"This Liu Linzhi, he's not as impressive as he seems."

Suddenly, from within the Crucible of Evil, clusters of evil spirits burst forth. Nearly seven hundred evil spirits, brimming with an overwhelming aura of negativity, formed an intricate Soul Nexus within the palace, exerting an invisible pressure on Liu Linzhi from a distance.

"Soul Shatter!" intoned the cauldron spirit, its voice a strange, chant-like cadence, in harmony with the Soul Nexus.

Yu Yuan watched in amazement as the peculiar Soul Nexus, composed of evil spirits, spun ceaselessly in the void. The soul of the Celestial Shade, Liu Linzhi, was abruptly extracted from his armor.

Liu Linzhi's phantom writhed in desperation, unable to escape the Soul Nexus's relentless grasp. The Celestial Shade was forcibly dragged into the so-called "Soul Shatter" array, encircled by seven hundred evil spirits. As they spun, Liu Linzhi's phantom was slowly, inexorably torn asunder.

The Second Bane, also a member of the Colddeath, had initially split into multiple Blood Fiends. Upon seeing Liu Linzhi ensnared by the Soul Shatter, it quickly coalesced back into a single entity. In a flash, the Second Bane reformed into its blood shadow form.

The blood shadow drew near to the formation created by the seven hundred evil spirits. In a swift motion, it plunged into the array, seizing the moment to prey upon and absorb the fragments of Liu Linzhi's soul as it was rent apart.

Liu Linzhi let out a scream of terror, desperately pleading for Yu Yuan's mercy.

"I possess an earth-shattering secret about the Land of Terror, and I hope to trade it for my life!" Liu Linzhi hurriedly said, "I will surrender all that I have to you. I swear, from this moment forward, I will not trouble you again. I am even willing to serve as your vanguard and guide you into the heart of the Land of Terror."

"I also know of a Ghost King with deep ties to the Colddeath. This Ghost King has waged war in the deepest reaches of the Land of Terror and urgently needs support. With the red token in hand, you will surely earn his trust and be given a significant role. I can introduce you!"

Desperate to avoid death, Liu Linzhi continued to implore.

Yu Yuan remained indifferent.

Just as Liu Linzhi's consciousness began to blur from the effects of the Soul Shatter array, the array abruptly ceased.

At that moment, the Second Bane, taking the form of a blood shadow, enveloped Liu Linzhi like a film of blood and pulled him into the Crucible of Evil.

Inside the cauldron, Yu Yuan, who had landed at the base, focused his mind.

In the next instant, his normal-sized body shrank a thousandfold.

He felt as though he had transformed from a towering giant into a dwarf, plummeting from the heavens into the miniature cosmos within the cauldron.

There, the Second Bane resembled a deity, embedded within a niche in the cauldron's wall.

The niche appeared to be the rightful abode for the formidable Bane, which had remained hidden due to the Crucible of Evil's dormant power.

"He was initially beneath the Frost Queen, but after consuming Liu Linzhi, he ascended two levels from her position and moved to the forefront," the voice of the cauldron spirit echoed within the cauldron's little world, ancient and divine. "Liu Linzhi could have also been refined into a Bane. However, since there is already a Second Bane, he could not."

The cauldron spirit implied that the Bane created from a cultivator who practiced the Colddeath's mystique already had its Second Bane. It was unclear whether specific rules were at play or if the Crucible of Evil required a greater variety of powerful Banes, which meant Liu Linzhi missed the opportunity to become one.

It had become a significant boost for the Second Bane, who had ascended two ranks.

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