Yuan Zhen was now sitting atop a giant mushroom. This mushroom, large as a house, was part of a long wall of mushrooms. Beyond that wall was the core region and behind it was the inner region.
Yuan Zhen was staring into the core region. There were nine distant mountains, each of them standing at different heights. Atop them, constantly thickening clouds overflowed with violet lightning. Every now and again, when the lightning spilled over and struck the land, tremors would spread out throughout across the earth.
Yuan Zhen frowned deeply, sensing something different about the tremors. It was not much different from when he had last been there, however there was a faint feeling of dread that he couldn't escape.
Qi Zixie was sleeping peacefully. Her soul was only becoming more active as time went by. Unexpectedly, she did not wake up despite her cultivation having already risen to the first stage of Soul Nourishing.
Despite how much time passed, she kept sleeping and her soul kept refining the energy it had taken.
Yuan Zhen had been working on refining the energies within his core, and had finally managed to break down the less substantial portion.
Now, he was preparing to absorb the more potent energies.
It did not take long for his spiritual energy and channels to begin to warp and evolve. The key points that he had created in his channels brightened, while the three that were empty began to be bathed and covered in spiritual energy. A flood of energy constantly swept through his channels. As for his blood, it was actually breaking out of his blood vessels and penetrating his tissue, organs and muscles.
At long last, the sixth manifestation showed itself. It was a chain. Strangely enough, the chain looked like it was made of the same material as the key. He didn't have any time to think about it, though, as another manifestation was on the verge of appearing.
Twin explosions shook the seventh key point in his channels. As that happened, two separate hazes came into view. They were like swirling vortexes, dotted with tiny specks of light. Some of those lights were smaller or larger than the rest, while others were of entirely different shapes and sizes.
Yuan Zhen had now finished the energy of the two 'kings.' Now he was going to fully refine the orange energy of that ancient corpse.
Inside his core, the aquamarine mist approached an orange light, preparing to refine it. However, at that moment, a familiar scene played out.
A grey figure, skinny and sickly, arrived in his core. With a wave of its gangly arm, the aquamarine mist was wrested from Yuan Zhen's control. Then, when it was no longer his to command, the mist brought the orange light over to the grey figure which began to swallow it all.
After absorbing the orange light, that living skeleton just barely seemed to have acquired some more meat on its bones.
Its hair was still white and brittle, and its eyes were still like lifeless voids. However, it then opened its mouth again. This time, instead of the aquamarine mist being poured out, something else came from within.
This was actually an eyeball. It was colored both red and gold, with red being the overall color of the eye, while the veins were bright gold. There was no pupil, which made it seem like just a red ball with gold stripes.
After it spat out the eyeball, the figure then spoke. "End-Spirit Form."
After that, it said nothing else and just faded away. At this point, Yuan Zhen could only guess, but he believed he was onto something. It was about the cultivation manual which destroyed itself when he had first tried to learn the Ghost-Devouring Soul Art.
At this point, he was almost entirely sure that the cultivation manual had now taken the shape and form of that grey figure. He didn't know why, but he felt like it was slowly passing on the soul art as he continued to meet requirements.
First, he required a strong bloodlust that had taken him a lifetime to develop. Now, maybe, what he needed was a substantial amount of soul power with which to feed the living cultivation manual.
He couldn't be sure, but that was what he felt.
After that, he tried to play around with the eyeball a bit. Apart from its appearance, there didn't seem to anything special about it. He committed the words, 'End-Spirit Form' to memory and then withdrew his consciousness from his core.
Now was not the time for time-consuming deliberation. The time was at hand for him to enter the core region, deal with the true kings of the Grotto, then acquire everything the core region had to offer.
"Oh. I don't have any storage items." With a self-deprecating sigh, he picked Qi Zixie up and brought her with him to the core region.
He leapt down from the mushroom, finding that his body had become stronger. When he hit the ground, the impact felt as if he had merely taken a step down from a height of a few inches.
Still, he kept a slow pace and made sure to keep a good eye on his surroundings. Yuan Zhen was never one to be entirely careless.
When he was, it was because he had absolutely nothing to worry about.
The land here was made up of black particles that looked like ash. He felt like he was walking on clouds. Before too long, he noticed a change in the air that caused him to raise his guard.
His sense of dread had multiplied and he was beginning to consider turning back. The sky brightened and darkened repeatedly as the lightning became lively.
It was like some entity in the clouds was being agitated by his approach, sending out warnings by flashing lights. Yuan Zhen looked down at the girl in his arms, wholly convinced that keeping her around would hinder him going forward.
Despite that, he kept her with him. As long as the core region was still relatively the same, he would be able to keep her safe within a cave.
The closer he got to those nine mountains, the more apprehensive he became. Sweat flowed down the sides of his face and dropped onto the shawl around his neck.
Each breath was becoming more difficult than the last, yet he persisted. This was also a kind of training for his mind and soul.
"It definitely wasn't this hard to reach the mountains before. Something big's happened."
His feet sunk under the pressure, yet while he forcefully continued the weight on his shoulders only increased. It soon arrived at a point where his physical body was simply not strong enough to go on. He had to supplement it with spiritual energy, and only then was he able to take another step.
Qi Zixie didn't seem to be suffering any pressure, though. As for the reason why, Yuan Zhen could only surmise that it was because of her unconsciousness.
After a full five hours of nothing but painstaking steps, Yuan Zhen was now much closer to the mountainous zone. At long last, he was a measly ten feet away from the core of the region.
That was when it happened.
Thunderous echoes filled the land as pained cries and desperate, fearful wails split the clouds. The land shook, bolts of lightning rained down, bizarre and evil energies converged and swirled in the sky.
Much to Yuan Zhen's dismay, two figures descended from the chaotic sky.
They were like deities, shining with divine light and emanating endless powerful. A mighty roar emerged from beneath his feet just before one of the mountain began to crack all over. Yuan Zhen's only option was to flee, but he could not get far.
That mountain exploded and sent massive chunks hurtling in every direction. As for the debris that went in the way of those two divine beings, it was disintegrated once it got too close.
Yuan Zhen did his best to evade, but was shocked to discover that the force of that explosion trumped anything he had ever faced.
The speed at which the pieces of mountain came flying toward him rendered him unable to walk away unscathed. Quite a few large rocks struck him, but he was able to bear with it.
He managed to survive the ordeal with no serious injuries, but was still shocked.
If he had guessed correctly, the two 'deities' in the sky were the true kings: Feral-Fang and Soulbleeder.
As Yuan Zhen looked up at them, he gasped. The very thing he hadn't been worried about had came to pass. Those two bane-devils had obtained true physical bodies.
"...Immortal Spirit... So they've cultivated immortal spirits." In an incredulous voice, Yuan Zhen laughed at his misfortune.
"You there ...beast. How have you come here." The one to speak was a dark-skinned human-snake hybrid. While it retained the overall shape of a human, the scales, eyes and fangs were most definitely those of a snake.
This was Soulbleeder, the rumored bane-devil with the most powerful soul. Feral-Fang was beside him, looking every bit uncaring. He appeared to be a regular looking young man with waist length hair.
Yuan Zhen made use of the moment to turn around, placing Qi Zixie down behind him.
When he was finished, he turned around but did not answer. Instead, his outstretched hand grabbed a scythe that appeared out of thin air. Dark violet fire burned on the blade of that scythe as he spun it.
A cracked mask was now on his face, out of which unconcealable bloodlust roiled in torrents. At that very moment, the image of a Warlord materialized out of Yuan Zhen's energy. This aura was grand and imposing, but it was also a staple of his true self.
Being bane-devils that had suffered under his hand before, Feral-Fang and Soulbleeder were incensed beyond description and compare. They both disregarded their standing as kings and instantly moved to slaughter Yuan Zhen.
They spared no words, instead choosing to fly down and snatch him up.
He roared, then swung the scythe. Though it was bathed in his dark violet flame, Feral-Fang grabbed onto and shattered that blade. The fire persisted on his arm for a moment before his energy extinguished it.
As for Soulbleeder, he grabbed hold of Yuan Zhen's right arm and leaned in for a ferocious bite.
Yuan Zhen tussled with Soulbleeder, but was unable to free himself. Feral-Fang was about to grab his other arm, so he made a quick decision.
A dark gold chain materialized, which he spun and swung toward Soulbleeder. With a scoff, Soulbleeder all but teleported away from the attack, meanwhile Feral-Fang approached from his left side.
Yuan Zhen hastily spun the chain again, sending it back toward Feral-Fang. The emotionless young man revealed a chilling smile, then he opened his mouth.
That was when his inhumane side began to show itself. His white teeth turned silver, then they grew into larger, sturdier and sharper variations of themselves.
Soulbleeder was once more charging toward him. "Yuan Zhen! It is you, isn't it, Yuan Zhen!?"
Yuan Zhen saw Soulbleeder make a grabbing motion. It was at that moment that he heard a crushing chomp. At some point, Feral-Fang had bitten off a piece of the chain.
That was when he smirked. Yuan Zhen had fought them before, after all. He knew about their abilities somewhat.
Still, he was not as strong as his past self. Soulbleeder managed to grab him by the neck, but Feral-Fang had harmed himself.
The chain within Feral-Fang's mouth was still connected to Yuan Zhen's soul. Thus, he could still affect it directly.
Dark violet fire set Feral-Fang's mouth ablaze. The dark gold chain had been coated in Yuan Zhen fire, which scalded Feral-Fang's mouth in an instant.
"Gahh!!" The bane-devil hurried to spit out the pieces of chain, fearing for its life. Without his energy, the fire could potentially be the end of Feral-Fang, despite his Immortal Spirit cultivation base.
"Tch!" Sadly, Yuan Zhen was not able to instantly kill Feral-Fang. He had underestimated the power that having an immortal spirit would bring.
Soulbleeder snickered, holding Yuan Zhen's entire neck in his large hand. Feral-Fang's eyes watered, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. It was dry and charred, looking like seared meat.
"Yuan Zhen! You dare burn my mouth again!?"
Even in such a situation, Yuan Zhen laughed heartily. "Feral-Fang, you idiot. Did you doubt it was truly me? At least Soulbleeder was smart enough to retreat."
"You! Just shut up! I'm not the one dangling by the neck like some helpless puppy! Soulbleeder, kick him in the balls for me!"
Feral-Fang's request landed on deaf ears. Soulbleeder was interested in something else.
"Yuan Zhen. This is truly bizarre. Even I wasn't certain until just now. How did you do it? Some kind of soul art, perhaps?"
Yuan Zhen frowned. Soulbleeder actually cared more about his reincarnation than the overall situation. The biggest issue was that, through some technique, Soulbleeder had sealed Yuan Zhen's energy entirely.
"Oh, you know. A little faith, trust and pixie dus-- Ahk!!" In the middle of his 'bullshittery' Yuan Zhen was punched in the stomach by Soulbleeder.
Feral-Fang finally smiled, slightly satisfied with Soulbleeder's actions.
"You will tell me! How did you force the Wheel of Samsara's eternal will to reincarnate you in this world?" Soulbleeder threw out a term that Yuan Zhen had never even heard before.
Though he was currently coughing up blood, Yuan Zhen still took the opportunity to goad the bane-devil.
"Wheel of Samsara? Well you see, my aunt's cousin's dog's friend knows this guy who works for the Wheel of Samsar-- Aah!!" Once more, he was struck in the stomach.
This time, Soulbleeder inserted some of his spiritual energy, which was toxic to an extreme degree. Yuan Zhen noticed his blood become black as he puked it out. Only then did he start fearing for his life.