3 fois vol d'âme

Chapitre 25

“Didn’t you used to use a technique called ‘Waving Hand Under the Sleeve’? I think only this technique can find your black dagger. Think about it carefully,” Li Zhanghao said excitedly.

Because this "wind from the sleeve" technique is a disguised form of the "Illusory Void Technique of Turning Clouds and Rain," which is a very profound method of cultivating boundary arrays. Witnessing it twice would be of great benefit to any cultivator.

Feng Shui closed his eyes and began to ponder, straining his subconscious memory to search for the impression of the "wind from under the sleeve" technique that Li Zhanghao had mentioned. Gradually, Feng Shui found that his spiritual awareness was becoming more and more agile and acute, and also more and more abundant. Suddenly, Feng Shui felt a strange energy within himself and his body, existing faintly on another level of his body, with a kind of budding potential ready to be unleashed.

This discovery greatly excited Feng Shui, who tried to contact this energy with his spiritual sense. This energy hidden in his body was actually activated by his spiritual sense, and a powerful energy was drawn by his spiritual sense, automatically flowing to various meridians in his body.

The human body itself is an incredibly intricate natural array, and the various meridians and acupoints within it are the fundamental components connecting this array. The hidden energy within the Feng Shui body, through the activation of Feng Shui's spiritual consciousness, automatically circulates throughout this array, activating all previously unused potential within the body. In other words, Feng Shui's demonic body has been fully activated due to this activation of spiritual consciousness, no longer requiring external interference to be triggered as before. Feng Shui has now completely integrated all the mechanisms of the demonic body; only the ability to utilize these mechanisms normally and perfectly remains.

Feng Shui was unaware of the nature of this change, but Li Zhanghao, standing beside him, was utterly astonished. Feng Shui had activated the energy within his body through his spiritual sense, fully activating his demonic body, resulting in even greater changes on his exterior. As his spiritual sense activated the energy, a dense, eerie green halo appeared around Feng Shui's body. With the activation of the demonic body, this eerie green halo then transformed into a flowing, dark green halo. This left Li Zhanghao speechless with shock. But what Li Zhanghao couldn't detect was an even more astonishing phenomenon on Feng Shui's back. With the activation of Feng Shui's demonic body, the "demon" character pattern hidden on his back had also changed its original form, transforming into an even more bizarre and mysterious pattern. The overall outline of the "demon" character was no longer recognizable, as this was the original script that only high-level demon cultivators could recognize and use to record and communicate the mental techniques of the boundary array.

Suddenly, an image of a formation technique appeared in Feng Shui's mind. Feng Shui abruptly opened his eyes and gently raised his left hand. A faint blackish-green halo appeared in Feng Shui's hand. It was impossible to see what technique he used. A black flash appeared, and a black short blade appeared in Feng Shui's left hand.

"Hahaha, that's it, that's it! It's truly amazing! 'Wind from the Sleeve' and 'Illusory Void Technique'! Hahaha, that's it, no doubt about it!" Li Zhanghao exclaimed excitedly as he looked at the black dagger that Feng Shui had retrieved using the "Wind from the Sleeve" technique.

"Is this it?" Feng Shui looked curiously at the black short blade in his left hand and asked somewhat blankly.

“That’s right, that’s right. I never knew the name of your black short blade, but something you can use must be something extraordinary. Let me see it.” Li Zhanghao said with admiration as he looked at the short blade in Feng Shui’s hand.

Feng Shui handed the black dagger to Li Zhanghao. Li Zhanghao took it and immediately sensed a heavy energy contained within it—an extremely powerful and astonishing energy, unlike anything found in the cultivation world. It was a peculiar energy. As Li Zhanghao gripped the dagger, a powerful fear of death overwhelmed him. At his level, he had practically cultivated away all fear of death, yet he still couldn't control his mind, as if his life force was being drained away by the dagger in his hand.

Although Li Zhanghao's "cursed knife" was also a magical artifact imbued with the intent of death, it was worlds apart from Feng Shui's short blade. Li Zhanghao was covered in cold sweat, his hand gripping the short blade was trembling, and his face was pale.

"What's wrong with you?" Feng Shui asked curiously.

"Quickly, return it to you. This short blade of yours is far beyond what someone of my cultivation level can use. It's terrifying." Li Zhanghao hurriedly returned the black short blade to Feng Shui, saying with lingering fear.

"Really? I can't feel anything when I hold it." Feng Shui twirled the black short blade in his hand, not noticing anything amiss.

"Sigh... Forget it, let's hurry up and save your friend. Now that you have your own flying artifact, let's go." Li Zhanghao said with a helpless sigh.

Li Zhanghao used the NMDGPS system again to detect the target's location, then drew his cursed sword from his waist. A faint, shimmering light flashed from the sword, and it then shot off like an arrow in the direction indicated by the NMDGPS system. Feng Shui also had a mental guide to using the black dagger. Suddenly, the black dagger in his hand emitted an even darker mist, carrying an incredibly powerful force that pulled Feng Shui rapidly towards the direction Li Zhanghao had flown. In the blink of an eye, it was just a tiny black dot in the air.

2004-12-08 14:43:00

Chapter Three: Information about the Demon Realm

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Here, steep cliffs rise, jagged rocks abound, and on the mountain lies the ruins of an ancient city. According to research, this was the ancient city of a Tang Dynasty city on a route to the capital, a strategically important military stronghold. Its strategic location, high above the surrounding area, allowed control of the entire lake region. Despite enduring a thousand years of wind and rain, most of the city walls still stand, a testament to its former glory. This mountain city was built following the contours of the land; from its summit, one can enjoy a panoramic view of the entire region. Here, flowers bloom and waters are clear, fish leap and birds fly; the nearby riverbanks are soft and clear, a natural and ideal bathing spot. To the south of the ancient city lies another isolated mountain surrounded by water, its peaks undulating, its forests tranquil. On this mountain stands a temple ruin, isolated in the southernmost part of the ancient city's tributary lake, its peaks and cypresses like old pheasants perched in the woods.

Not far from the ancient city, there is a waterfall with a drop of about 12 meters and a width of about 40 meters. Over the years, the rocks beneath the waterfall have been eroded and carved into a deep, circular pool, 70 meters in diameter and 60 meters deep. The clear lake water cascades down from the heights, crashing into the deep pool with a thunderous roar, its force like a thousand horses galloping, shaking the mountains, a truly awe-inspiring sight.

Nearby are also an "underground forest" and a "lava tunnel." Due to years of weathering and erosion, as well as volcanic debris and ash, the soil has been transformed into a crater. Over the long years, a dense forest has grown inside the crater, creating this unique and beautiful landscape, which can be described as a wonder of the world.

At the bottom of the valley, the underground forest was filled with tall, thick trees, some as small as matchsticks. The walls of the volcanic crater were steep and precipitous, as if cut by a knife, which made people tremble with fear.

Each crater has a south- or southeast-facing opening, allowing sunlight to penetrate. Looking up from the bottom of the valley, the blue sky overhead appears exceptionally bright. Looking around, the volcanic deposits are still clearly visible. The spectacular peaks and cliffs formed by the volcano are countless. A closer look inevitably transports one's thoughts back to that mysterious and wondrous realm ten thousand years ago.

"Is this the place?" Feng Shui asked, hovering in the air and looking down at the underground forest.

“That’s right. You can see from the NMDGPS system display that the blue dot is right here. There’s no mistake. Let’s go down.” Li Zhanghao said confidently, pointing to the detection instrument in his hand.

"Wait a minute, I feel something's off here. There seems to be some kind of malevolent energy emanating from the underground forest below." Feng Shui sensed a hint of unease.

"It's inevitable that there's malevolent energy here, because this environment was formed over ten thousand years, and no human has ever been able to enter this place during those ten thousand years. Therefore, this place must gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which is exactly the kind of place that demons and monsters can cultivate in seclusion. As the saying goes, there are all kinds of birds in a big forest, so it's not surprising that there's malevolent energy here," Li Zhanghao explained patiently.

"Could it be that the demon that possessed my friend's body wants to refine my friend's body here?" Feng Shui asked in surprise.

“If there are no other possibilities, I think what you said is completely correct,” Li Zhanghao said with a smile.

"Then what are we waiting for, comrades, charge!..." Feng Shui, wielding a black short blade, was the first to fly towards the underground forest at the bottom of the valley.

"Young people are just young people, they really can't keep their composure. Sigh...!" Li Zhanghao sighed helplessly.

The steep mountain walls on both sides rushed past, and the malevolent energy at the bottom of the valley grew increasingly intense. Feng Shui was the first to be affected, gradually feeling the malevolent energy surging upwards from the valley floor, resisting the intrusion of external forces. However, the malevolent energy could not stop Feng Shui's advance. All the malevolent energy automatically parted to both sides upon encountering Feng Shui's black short blade. Li Zhanghao, who had been following behind Feng Shui, also sensed the abnormality; the malevolent energy automatically avoided Feng Shui's unusual behavior.

"Feng shui truly lives up to its name! Amazing," Li Zhanghao thought to himself.

Before long, Feng Shui and Li Zhanghao had reached the bottom of the valley. The underground forest then revealed its unique and magnificent full view. Towering trees covered the entire valley floor, preventing even a sliver of sunlight from penetrating. The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, making it feel like sleeping on a "Silin Bailan" bed. These fallen leaves were exceptionally dry, as the surrounding volcano and the presence of malevolent energy made it difficult for them to decompose.

"Where is she?" Feng Shui's eyes turned green again as he carefully surveyed his surroundings and asked in a low voice.

“Right beneath our feet.” Li Zhanghao maintained his relaxed expression, looking at the NMD GPS system in his hand and pointing to his feet.

"Really? There's ground below. Didn't you say that monster used water as its energy source?" Feng Shui asked, puzzled.

“That’s right, there’s something else down there, because there are underground lava caves,” Li Zhanghao said with a smile.

"But how do we get in?" Feng Shui asked, looking at the ground beneath his feet, puzzled.

With a sweet smile, Li Zhanghao did not answer the question about feng shui, because he was preparing to demonstrate it with practical actions, letting the facts speak for themselves.

Drawing the "cursed knife" from his waist, Li Zhanghao became like a "knife" himself, exuding an aura of sharpness.

"One-Sword Style, Tsuritachi Seiten-zan!" This is another line of pure Japanese pronunciation.

Li Zhanghao leaped into the air and swung his sword down towards the ground with lightning speed. A powerful sword aura formed a ball of energy flashing with purple lightning and struck the ground.

"Clang...!" A deafening sound rang out as the ground was blasted open, creating a massive crater five meters in radius and seemingly bottomless. Feng Shui crouched down and heard the faint sound of flowing water coming from the bottom of the crater.

"Impressive." Feng Shui looked at Li Zhanghao, who had already landed on the ground, gave him a thumbs up, and said admiringly.

"No, no, that won't work either." Li Zhanghao was not modest at all, and was quite proud of himself.

The two jumped down, and below was pitch black. However, with Feng Shui and Li Zhanghao's abilities, this level of darkness was nothing to them. They quickly reached the bottom of the pit, which turned out to be a very spacious cavern. Inside the cavern was a rapidly flowing underground river. Feng Shui and Li Zhanghao stood on the water's surface, carefully observing their surroundings.

"Truly a masterpiece of nature!" Feng Shui exclaimed, looking at the strange sights of the underground cavern.

“There are many more amazing places in this realm. I think you must have been to them in your previous life. No need to sigh. We need to get down to business.” Li Zhanghao had no time to appreciate the scenery and patted Feng Shui on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Why haven't we found any trace of her?" Feng Shui asked.

“Using this instrument now is useless. Try using your spiritual sense to search. I think you will find something soon.” Li Zhanghao was guiding Feng Shui to discover his inner potential.

Feng Shui nodded, the green in his eyes deepening, seemingly flowing, as he began to explore the mysterious cave with his spiritual sense. Within seconds, a smile appeared on Feng Shui's lips. He pointed to the underground river ten meters ahead and gestured to Li Zhanghao, who simply smiled and nodded, his eyes full of approval.

"This kid is quick to learn," Li Zhanghao thought to himself.

2004-12-08 14:45:00

Just as Feng Shui was about to leap into the water, Li Zhanghao stopped him. Li Zhanghao pointed to the "cursed knife" in his hand, and Feng Shui understood immediately. He stepped aside and watched Li Zhanghao's performance.

"Parting the waters, cleaving the river!" Li Zhanghao swung his "cursed sword" and slashed at the water's surface, uttering another phrase in pure Japanese.

As the knife swung down, the underground river stopped flowing. The water in the underground river quickly split in two, flowing from the middle to both sides, revealing the riverbed at the bottom of the underground river. In the very center of the riverbed in front of Feng Shui and Li Zhanghao, a huge water sphere appeared.

"She's refining your friend's body inside," Li Zhanghao said, pointing to the water sphere in front of him.

“Let me break it open,” Feng Shui said excitedly.

Feng Shui leaped towards the water sphere, swinging his black dagger at it. Suddenly, a stream of water split off from the sphere, striking Feng Shui and quickly enveloping his entire body, halting his attack.

"Damn it, you think you can stop me? Not so easy!" Feng Shui cursed angrily in the water.

Subconsciously, another boundary formation appeared. Feng Shui put away the black short blade in his hand, and with one hand, he made several strange hand gestures, pointing in front of him. A black light emanated from his fingertips.

"Break!" Feng Shui shouted in his heart, and the water that enveloped his body was immediately shattered into countless droplets. Feng Shui nodded triumphantly to Li Zhanghao behind him and continued running towards the water sphere.

"You think you can stop me with this level of skill? Watch how I deal with you!" Feng Shui said arrogantly.

His hands formed a mudra, and his entire body began to sway rapidly, as if performing some kind of strange dance—a dance Li Zhanghao had seen before. This was the same dance that the feng shui master in his previous life performed when breaking through the barrier of the "morgue."

At this moment, Feng Shui's dance remained as bizarre and strangely beautiful as ever. The long-lost, flowing, iridescent light reappeared around Feng Shui once more. Feng Shui rushed towards the water sphere, merging his entire body into it. Simultaneously, several multicolored rays shot out from the water sphere, causing it to tremble irregularly. The multicolored rays grew increasingly intense, and the sphere's trembling nearly reached its limit.

With a crisp "crack," the water sphere shattered into pieces. A dark, eerie blue shadow swiftly emerged from within the sphere as it broke, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Feng Shui, floating in the air, was holding the soaking wet and unconscious Zhou Feiliu—Guizi Liu—in his arms.

"Awesome...!" Li Zhanghao couldn't help but clap his hands and exclaimed in admiration.

Feng Shui landed on the ground, laid the unconscious Zhou Feiliu down, and pressed two fingers against the artery in her neck. At this moment, Li Zhanghao also came over and bent down to examine Zhou Feiliu's condition.

“There’s no heartbeat.” Feng Shui said, his hands trembling slightly.

"Don't worry, it's just a state of suspended animation. While the body is being refined by the demon, the recipient's three souls and seven spirits should be isolated outside the body. As long as we find the demon and retrieve her souls, we can revive her," Li Zhanghao said with great experience.

"Really? Is that true? She had no heartbeat, how can she be brought back to life?" Feng Shui asked in disbelief.

"Don't worry, don't worry. The standard for human death is determined by the time of brain death. Right now, her heart has only stopped beating, but brain tissue will not completely die for about fifteen minutes after the heart stops beating. So, as long as we can find her three souls and seven spirits within fifteen minutes, we can save her." Li Zhanghao, as expected of a medical school graduate, had a considerable understanding of the human body.

“But I didn’t find the monster you mentioned in the water sphere,” Feng Shui said nervously.

"Hehe, don't worry, have you forgotten about me? Now watch my performance." Li Zhanghao said smugly.

“Soul Absorption, Netherworld Slash,” Li Zhanghao said again in Japanese.

Gripping the "cursed knife" tightly in both hands, Li Zhanghao's expression was exceptionally terrifying. His eyes glowed with a white light without any whites, and his entire body was shrouded in a deathly silver-white hue. Countless skeletal phantoms appeared on the "cursed knife" in his hands. These skeletal phantoms separated from the blade and flew back and forth throughout the cavern. These skeletal phantoms grinned and snarled, creating a terrifying atmosphere that enveloped the cavern in a chilling, eerie atmosphere.

Suddenly, all the skeletal phantoms converged on a certain spot in the cave.

"No...!" A shrill female scream came from where the skeletons had gathered.

An object formed from water revealed its true form: a stunningly beautiful young woman in the shape of water, though she appeared to be in immense pain. Countless phantom skeletons had invaded her water-based body.

"Come back to life!" Li Zhanghao said again.

All the skeletal phantoms swiftly separated from the water-form woman's body and flew back to Li Zhanghao's "Cursed Blade," merging into it in moments. Li Zhanghao's eyes returned to normal pupils, and the layer of silvery-white mist around his body vanished simultaneously.

"Hand it over, Water Demon, a Level 4 wanted criminal from the Demon Realm." Li Zhanghao said, pointing his "cursed sword" at the woman in water form.

"How do you know me?" the water-form woman, known as the water demon, asked in a trembling voice.

"Hehe, as for the demon cultivators who come to this realm to cultivate, I don't know about them," Li Zhanghao said smugly.

"Who exactly are you?" the water demon asked Li Zhanghao in terror.

Li Zhanghao swiftly swung his "cursed blade" a few times in the air. As the blade shadows shifted, three blade shadows of varying thicknesses appeared, diagonally intersecting within a strange, irregular pentagon.

"The demon curse practitioner—Chiba Toichiro of the Three-Sword Style!" the water demon exclaimed in surprise.

"You've got some insight. Quickly hand over that woman's three souls and seven spirits, or I'll destroy you in this realm and make sure you never have an inner core to cultivate demonic arts again!" Li Zhanghao threatened.

"I guess I'm just unlucky. Here you go!" the water demon said listlessly.

From the water demon's water-like body, ten pale green, luminous entities slowly emerged and floated towards Li Zhanghao. Li Zhanghao gently pulled them into his hand from the air and walked over to Feng Shui, who had been watching the spectacle.

"Wow, big brother, you're so handsome." Feng Shui looked at Li Zhanghao in front of him and said admiringly.

"Hehe, not at all, not at all. Compared to you in my past life, my cultivation level is nothing at all," Li Zhanghao said somewhat embarrassedly.

"You're too modest," Feng Shui said admiringly.

"Hehe, let's not talk about that now. Saving your friend is the priority. You go and keep an eye on that water demon, I'll go save her," Li Zhanghao said with a smile.

"Then I'll have to trouble you." Knowing he couldn't be of much help right now, Feng Shui got up and walked towards the water demon.

Li Zhanghao grasped Zhou Feiliu's three souls and seven spirits with both hands, chanting incantations. A wisp of purple light emanated from his eyes. Suddenly, he opened his hands, and the three souls and seven spirits, arranged according to the body's vital energy channels, entered Zhou Feiliu's body in a rhythmic and orderly manner. A pure white light appeared again on Li Zhanghao's hands, which gently caressed Zhou Feiliu's body, guiding the meridian network throughout his body, activating the structures at various acupoints, and reconnecting them with the three souls and seven spirits. Slowly, a layer of white mist appeared on Zhou Feiliu's body, his heart began to beat again, and his complexion regained its rosy hue. He had struggled back to life from the brink of death.

2004-12-08 14:47:00