With a resounding and powerful clap, a giant diagram of energy appeared, releasing endless poisonous energy.
The thick poison gathered and surrounded the diagram, continuing to gather until it formed a thick cloud of energy. The air became pungent at that moment, with even it's color changing to become a visible gas.
That energy bore down on Yuan Zhen, attempting to weaken his soul and eventually sap his energy reserves. Some of the poison poured down from the diagram like a waterfall, splashing onto Yuan Zhen's body and covering him entirely.
"Pitiful."
He waved his hand, a huge scythe appearing in it. As it appeared, it wiped out some of the energy in its way.
Seeing that it didn't do much, Yuan Zhen held it a lower point, taking a breath.
In an instant, Yuan Zhen infused his weapon with spiritual energy, sweeping it out. As it spun and sliced, the dark violet flame appeared on the blade, quickening the highspeed revolutions around his body. As a result, all of that poison around him was being erased.
The mysterious dark violet flame could even devour poison and have it depart from this world.
In an instant, all the poison around him was gone, but the flame was also extinguished as it burned away the last spot of poison.
With a final flick of his wrist, the scythe spun through the air toward the glowing diagram with a loud whir.
Upon coming in contact with the scythe, the Twelve Poisons Diagram became covered in cracks but remained whole. It was also that that time that the diagram flashed a bright red and seemed to become more physical.
It had been absorbing energy from the world around them, storing it for an attack. That meant that the poison just now was nothing more than a distraction.
"You foolish boy! Activate, Twelve Poison Dispersion!"
That floating diagram flashed a violet light as thousands of droplets rained down from the cloud of baleful poison energy. It all came falling down on Yuan Zhen's body.
As the droplets landed on his skin, they sizzled, actually searing his flesh. The pain was minor, but as more drops landed on him it became increasingly painful.
However, it had no effect on his clothes, so he was spared from unbearable pain all over his body.
"What do you think, brat? This isn't any simple poison, it's Bane-devil essence. That's something only King Crimsonwave managed to weaponize."
"He must be wearing some sort of soft armor. Look at his clothes."
"Very strange. What could it possibly be made of?"
"It doesn't matter! You, brat! For daring to say you yourself killed King Crimsonwave, we'll use his signature technique to finish you off!"
Yuan Zhen frowned, then began to galvanize his energy, releasing it and spreading it out around his body. The drops of bane-devil essence had been burning away the outer layer of his skin, exposing the pink flesh.
In the moment that he summoned the dark violet flame, he once more coated the blade of the scythe in it and prepared for a full power attack.
At the same time, his soul erupted, causing his red eyes to shine. At some point, the mask had appeared on his face, bringing with it the height of his bloodlust.
To anyone else who looked at the mask on his face and the vicious red eyes behind it, they would feel an instinctive fear for their life. His current appearance emitted immense predatory energy.
That kind of energy almost seemed to disregard both friend and foe, wanting to kill and consume all things.
When that happened, the drops no longer burned his flesh. They just seems to seep into his body, becoming lost somewhere within him. At the same time, his body rapidly healed.
"What? The poison had no effect?"
"Impossible! Not even Bane-devils can resist that poison."
"What is that aura ...that bloodlust..."
Yuan Zhen snorted coldly, spinning the scythe around and bringing it behind him. The mix of red and violet light on the blade gave it an air of majesty, but also a stifling killing intent.
It hung over his right shoulder, like the folded wing of an angel of death come to reap lives.
His soft, calm and frosty voice then resounded. "I hope you're ready."
Yuan Zhen leapt, his fiery scythe cutting a clean arc through the poison cloud then landing on the Twelve Poisons Diagram. It pushed through, instantly shattering and scattering pieces that were simultaneously burned away to nothing.
His momentum barely dropped, carrying the burning blade straight toward the neck of that giant spirit.
The flame emitted smoldering heat on even a spirit with no physical body. Such a flame was a great threat to even the fearsome ghosts that faded in and out of existence, much less for a bane-devil spirit.
At the last second, the bane-devil spirit warped, dodging his attack. It was now to his left, preparing to launch another attack before he could follow through with his momentum.
However, as if prepared for this, the scythe shockingly changed directions and was heading for the spirits waist. The fire still burned brightly on the blade, horrifying them.
The combined spirits shrieked, hurriedly casting a hand seal that conjured up a thick shield of energy.
Sadly, their defense was severed then reduced to atoms by the terrifying flame.
However, the speed and power behind the scythe dropped, giving them enough time to dodge once more.
"Life-Severing Wave!"
"Wretch Energy Claw!"
"Corrupt-Earth Essence Lance, attack!"
More than a dozens arms sprouted from the giant spirit, releasing various different spiritual energy attacks.
An arc of black light cleaved through the air, leaving the aura of death in its wake. Such an attack was capable of draining the life force from all things. Following that was a demon claw, covered in red wretch energy.
An illusory lance formed out of the violet energy, heading down to strike Yuan Zhen. As it descended, a wretched miasma rose from the ground and rushed to coat that lance.
Due to the strength he had put behind the attack they dodged, Yuan Zhen would be unable to move for a moment of time.
They wanted to use this chance to strike him when he couldn't dodge.
Surprisingly, the scythe just spun in his hands, seeming as weightless as a feather. There appeared to be no force behind his earlier attack as he completely defied physics.
The Life-Severing Wave and Wretch Energy Claw fused their spiritual energy, becoming one attack. The Life-Severing Wretch Energy Claw then actually grabbed the Corrupt-Earth Essence Lance, superimposing their power once more.
Now, the Life-Severing Wretch Energy Corrupt-Earth Essence Lance pierced toward Yuan Zhen with mountain-splitting force and potent bane-devil toxin.
Yuan Zhen's calm expression turned somber, then he twisted the scythe. The blade, covered in raging dark violet fire, met the brunt of those spiritual energy arts, nullifying them completely before igniting and burning them.
"What is that flame! It can actually devour our energy arts!"
"Damnit!"
"A soul attack! Quick! Launch a soul attack! Now!"
With a moment of realization, they became incomparably desperate. They were confident in their souls arts and doubted that Yuan Zhen could match them.
Yuan Zhen was happy to hear that they were about to try a soul attack. Bringing the scythe back to his side, he readied himself. He took deep breaths, adjusting his mental state to reach optimal conditions for dealing with a soul attack.
The giant spirit vanished in a ghostly blink, transforming into a stream of almost invisible energy. That energy took the form of a giant black arrow, flying toward Yuan Zhen with expert precision.
"Take this! Soul Decimation Art: Soul Piercer!"
Yuan Zhen's eyes widened as his soul was instantly invaded by a foreign energy. That black arrow was not a physical thing, and thus passed through his body and went toward his core.
Countless ripples spread out throughout his body and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Despite his preparations, the invasion of his core by this attack was still enough to injure him.
'Crap!'
In that moment, he realized that his soul was not strong enough to fight against the combines effort of nine souls. Though they were soul fragments, they had become independent spirits.
He had overestimated the strength of his own soul. Standing with fists tightly clenched, he could only explode with his strongest energy and try to defend his soul.
His energy erupted, but this did little to empower his soul. The black arrow had pierced his core and landed on the essence of his soul, beginning to corrupt it.
In a short time, he soul would be poisoned and then perish, instantly killing him. Yuan Zhen was out of options, but he refused to yield.
Just who was he? Was he not Yuan Zhen, the beast that consumed the souls of his enemies? Had he not been through hellish life and regrettable death?
Had he reincarnated for nothing? Was all his work for nothing? Would he not even be able to put his plans into motion, and again suffer defeat?
'No!'
Yuan Zhen's rage reached a peak, and the mask on his face actually cracked. That crack, surprisingly, didn't weaken his bloodlust.
It only made it more powerful.
From the crack, thick blood-like liquid rose into the air and spread out around him. This visible bloodlust was once quintessence of his soul, but now his soul no longer contained it.
The mask was able to multiply the intensity of that bloodlust, giving it a far greater imposing aura than ever before.
All of a sudden, the bloodlust quintessence began to flow into his eyes, filling them. Once all the quintessence entered his eyes, it seemed that it would overflow.
At the corners of his eyes, bloodlust quintessence spilled out ever so slightly, giving him the look of a raging demon-devil from the deepest of hells.
From his eyes, that bloodlust reached his core, arriving to aid in the defense of his soul.
At that moment, a grey figure appeared within the bloodlust quintessence.
That figure was like a starved cretin, almost looking to be a living skeleton. Its eyes were fully black and its hair was white and brittle.
Suddenly, that figure opened its mouth and spoke softly. That weak voice was like the dying cry of an elder, but once it spoke it caused an unexpected change.
"Ghost-Devouring Soul Art."
Yuan Zhen heard the voice speaking within his core. The bloodlust in his eyes had already poured directly into his soul, and they reverted to their usual red.
He gasped, instantly recalling some details of his past life.
He had once fought a powerful bane-devil that had used that soul art. During their fight, if not for Yuan Zhen's powerful conviction and great strength, his soul would have been devoured.
Before that bane-devil died, it tried to destroy the cultivation manual for that soul art. Yuan Zhen managed to acquire it, then he killed that bane-devil.
However, he had only been able to read the name of the soul art before a strange power caused the manual to self destruct.
The only thing that stayed with him was the name: The Ghost-Devouring Soul Art.
Now, from the power of his bloodlust, an odd figure appeared and spoke those words in his soul.
Once those words were spoken, the bloodlust quintessence poured into that skinny figure. Following that, a blue-green mist came out of that figure's open mouth.
It entered the void of Yuan Zhen's core, reaching the depths of his soul and dragging out the black arrow.
Just like that, the bloodlust and the skinny figure disappeared. To his surprise, he was now in full control of that blue-green mist.
He could finally relax. He had not even noticed that, at some point, tendrils of black poison energy had broken out of his skin. They tore holes in his clothes.
He could fix those holes, but his attention was elsewhere.
"This mist is quite mysterious."
This mist was like an undeniable authority over all matters of the soul. It grabbed onto that soul attack, and was even able to revert it to nothing. Since the fused spirits had used their spirit bodies to launch that attack, he could return the black arrow to the original state.
"Split."
With a word, the black arrow split into nine spirits, each of them dormant as if they were asleep.
Yuan Zhen played around a bit with the mist. He could only assume that it was the Ghost-Devouring Soul Art, but it seemed even more profound than the name suggested.
He could break down those spirits to their most core components, play around with their energy and even reshape them into completely new entities.
That mist was like an overlord over all souls and spirits.
"Time to go check on Zixie."
With arms folded behind his back, he dusted himself off and started walking.