Thomas ignored the frightening voice, the agony he was passing through was too much for him to listen to any shenanigans of the voice.
Though, he had already guessed that there was some reason why he was placed in this dark space to undergo this anguish. What the frightening voice just said confirmed his guess.
However, the frightening voice will be disappointed. With how knowledgeable he is, how can he be a victim of soul entrapment.
Thomas had already hated himself when he realized how useless he became in this dark space. Now an unknown voice wanted his soul
"My soul!" Thomas puzzled.
"Yes!" the space quaked.
Thomas lay in the darkness, keeping quiet, he behaved like he was in deep thought about the proposal.
'You want me to be your puppet, you must be kidding.' Thomas smirked.
"Why do you want my soul? I believe many people in this world are willing to give their soul to you, why me?"
Thomas questioned.
"Don't ask me questions!" The ominous voice reverberated in the darkness with annoyance.
"Give me your soul now or I will torment you till the end of time. Choose!"
"Can't you tell me why you needed my soul so that I can consider my options?" Thomas's voice was barely audible.
"You don't have the liberty of knowing! So choose while I'm been lenient" The voice said in annoyance while creating a tremor in the darkness.
"Sorry! My soul belonged to me alone, no one else. Whatever you're going to do, just get on with it."
Thomas had already made up his mind since he knew the repercussion of what would happen if he was to give up his soul.
"Hmm"
"Do you think this is all I can do to you! Hmm? You are naive, little boy." The scary voice raised its voice louder, shaking the dark space in great tremor.
Suddenly, the darkness became extremely quiet and became darker, making it difficult for Thomas to see his own body. Having prepared for whatever may happen, he waited patiently in the darkness.
Sii Sii Sii
Many root-like snakes approached Thomas that lay in the darkness. They entered into his clothes and moved around on every corner of Thomas's body while opening their fangs for action.
Thomas closed his eyes when he saw all the frightening disgusting actions the snakes are performing on his body.
All of a sudden, Thomas was lifted high, his head was facing downward, dangling left and right. Immediately, he opened his eyes to know what was happening. But to his dismay, the opening fangs of the root-like snakes accosted him.
He gasped, he immediately shut his eyes. He shivered, he had been scared silly.
All he knew was that he was at a high altitude while the root-like snakes continued their disgusting movement around his body.
Shua!
Thomas was released from the high altitude and fell downward. He braced himself for impact. However, the impact did not come while he continued to fall downward with great momentum in the darkness.
Thomas wanted to open his eyes to see what was happening around him but he dared not, the previous actions of the root-like snakes still lingered in his mind.
Whizz! Whizz!
The fast movement of the wind passed through Thomas's ear, he was astonished. Though he did not open his eyes, he could guess how fast he was dropping. How high had he been dropped from that he had yet to reach the bottom?
Ah! Ah! Ah!
All of a sudden, Thomas screamed in agony, his misery began again. The root-like snake that had been lingering all around his body began to bite him seriously.
Thomas convulsed.
Suddenly, he felt a weird movement around his mouth, he immediately shut his mouth from screaming and groaned in pain.
Hmm! Hmm! Hmm!
The unconventional misery Thomas was in did not give him the liberty to appease the pain.
Thomas had been falling for god's only know how long, though the root-like snake did not stop in their mission of biting.
Is there any place on Thomas's body that had not been biting? Probably not.
Hmm! Hmm!
He continued to groan in torment, he was clothed in blood from head to toe. He was barely held by a thin line of consciousness.
A root-like snake moved to Thomas's neck and wrapped around his neck. It started to choke him seriously while Thomas gasped. He was forced to open his for breathing while the snake continued to choke him meticulously.
He opened his eyes wide, his eyes had already turned red from the choking. The snake was trying to choke out the last bit of life from him.
Thomas could not struggle from the choking, his hands and legs had been covered in snake-like animals while the great falling added to his misery.
His eyes had liquid-like tears at the edge of his eyes. The anguish had been too unbearable. How can human beings be treated like this?
This is martyrdom! God!
Thomas had no one to call for help, he could only accept his fate.
But can he accept this kind of fate?
A huge hand appeared out of nowhere from the darkness, the hand had a lot of thick long fur with its colour unknown.
The huge hand slammed into the falling Thomas with great velocity.
Boom!
Thomas was sent crashing into oblivion. His body disappeared into the darkness.
Inside Thomas' room, Thomas woke up abruptly, his body covered with numerous snakebite injuries while he had been covered in cold blood from head to toe. Making it difficult for anyone to identify him in this condition.
He struggled to sit up straight on the bed, the handsome Thomas had been nowhere to be found. Immediately, he took out a healing pill from his storage ring and swallowed it.
His injuries began to heal at a rapid pace while he continued to groan in pain.
The deep injuries had been only external alone, there weren't any internal ones.
After an hour, all his injuries had already been healed.
Immediately, he stood up and went to take a quick bath. He changed into a new set of white robes while he also changed his bed sheet that had been soaked in blood.
He stood by the window, looking at the midnight moon. The moon was full, it brightened the night like a day while the gentle breeze cools the surrounding.
'So everything that happened in that dark space had been real, huh!' he thought with his eyebrows raised. 'But how did I get to that space in the first instance?' he was puzzled.
He narrowed his eyes while looking at the dancing fireflies in the cool night sky.
'Is it a dream space? But what kind of power is that that can turn a dream space into reality, hmm.'
The more he thought about the more he had more puzzling questions. Thomas disliked being in the darkness regarding anything partaking in his life.
He clenched his fist seriously while everything that happened recently runs through his mind. He wanted answers, but there were none.
His dream had somehow turned into a reality where he had been tormented to no ends. A mysterious voice wanted his soul for gods knows the reason.
Now he's scared of sleeping, not wanting to appear in the dark space and be tortured to no ends for his soul that he will never release unless he dies.
He breadth in a large air while releasing it slowly. With all his abundant knowledge, he made no head or tail of the situation.
How did he get into this predicament?
'I guess everything will sort out itself when the time comes' he sighed 'But first I had to work on my physical strength.'
He walked and sat by the edge of the bed.
Whizz!
Multiple cultivation and martial arts manuals appeared on the bed, these are manuals they received from the noble families in the merchant arena. Though they may not be the best of the best, yet they are still powerful cultivation and martial arts manuals that could be considered family heirloom for some major families.
Thomas began to skim through the manuals one after the other. After a few minutes, he picked up one and stared at it for a long period.
'Hmm'
"This is it" he whispered with his lips curled up a bit. "Metal shirt! It's more suitable for me than the others. It has three levels, organs, body, and shirt. Hmm, with this, it will strengthen my inner organs without altering my physical appearance. I will have enough endurance while fighting even though with little or no essence at all." He nodded.
'With this, I will not be hopeless in the dream space. At least I'll put up a fight. Though it may be nothing against that dreadful voice.' he shuddered with that thought.
The metal shirt had three strongholds, the inner organs, body, and the shirt. The inner organs will be strengthened with enough defense against inner injuries while the second level, the body. It will strengthen the cultivator's body against all kinds of metal without any physical change.
Lastly, the shirt. While both the first and second levels did not require any essence energy to be used while it only required the cultivators to strengthen their organs and body extremely well to be used. However, the third level the shirt, required cultivators' essence energy to be used.
When summoned, the shirt will appear on top of the cultivator's body like a shirt. It is extremely sturdy based on the cultivation manual. Cultivators of the same level will have little to no chance of destroying it. Cultivators with a level or two will have a 50 percent chance of bypassing the defense while cultivators with three levels higher can easily destroy the shirt.
The 'Metal Shirt' could also be cultivated up to the peak of core-forming stage. Making it a secret gem for any cultivators that have it. However, if it is known to the general public, it would surely cause an upheaval in the cultivation world.
"Hmm"
Thomas had a slight smile on his expressionless face, he had been satisfied with the cultivation manual.
"Now! Let me look for a fist manual"