Chapter 3044: Soul Test

Emery answered in kind.

Behind him, his seven-tier pagoda unfolded layer by layer, its immense structure rising through the darkness of his Sea of Consciousness. Within this realm, his spiritual power could take almost any shape he desired. Drawing upon the soul energy gathered within the pagoda, Emery began forming an army of dark orcs and Chizpurs to hold back the endless swarm.

Having great familiarity with these creatures, Emery was able to draw out their full potential.

Kuang! Kuang!

Chiwwikk!

The Chizpurs immediately spread across the battlefield, their thorny vines surging from the ground and twisting together into dense walls that blocked the advancing rats. Behind those barriers, the dark orcs raised their curved weapons, waiting for the moment the swarm broke through so they could unleash their strength.

But there were simply too many.

The rats crashed against the thorn walls in an endless tide, climbing over one another and tearing through the barriers faster than the Chizpurs could reinforce them. Every wave that fell apart into scattered spiritual light was immediately replaced by another.

Rather than waste his soul power creating more orcs, Emery decided to call upon something stronger.

Three enormous shapes tore into existence around him.

Massive dragons emerged from the darkness, their bodies carrying an overwhelming presence even within the spiritual realm.

Killgragah coiled to Emery’s right, black flames already gathering between his jaws. Daurgototh settled to his left, frost spilling from his bared teeth and spreading across the dark ground beneath him.

Then, at the center, another enormous form emerged.

Low and coiled, its scales glistening beneath the faint light of the spiritual sea, Chututhu slowly raised its head. Poisonous mist leaked from between its jaws in deliberate wisps, staining the surrounding darkness a sickly green.

The three guardians unleashed their power.

Fire swept across one side of the battlefield.

Frost froze another.

Poisonous mist spread through the gaps between them.

The tide of rats crashed against the defensive forces and broke apart into countless fragments of spiritual light, only for another wave to immediately surge forward.

And another.

And another.

Still, the rats kept coming.

Outside, in the real chamber, the battle left no visible trace. Emery and Ferrin remained perfectly still, their eyes distant and their bodies unmoving while the others watched in silence.

No one could see what was happening inside Emery’s Sea of Consciousness.

They could only watch as he continued to hold his ground against the spiritual assault of a Supreme.

Minutes passed.

Then more.

Low murmurs began spreading among the watching Grand Magus.

"An overwhelming physique, and now this level of spiritual endurance as well. This young man is genuinely extraordinary."

"I heard he’s not even a century old yet."

Ferrin clearly wasn’t pleased by what he was hearing.

His pride wouldn’t allow him to let Emery endure the full ten minutes so easily. The Rat race already occupied one of the lower tiers of the Halfblood Alliance, and losing face in front of the other races—especially in front of several Supremes—was something he could not afford.

A faintly sinister smile appeared on his small face.

"Huh... then let him see a glimpse of the Plague."

The rat tide surged again.

This time, however, something changed at its source.

Dark energy suddenly spread through the entire swarm, flowing into every rat at once. Their crimson eyes flared, the red fading into a deep, burning black as their bodies became infused with Ferrin’s spiritual power.

What had previously been a mindless tide of scavengers transformed into something far more terrifying.

A plague of corruption.

The swarm crashed forward with renewed ferocity, no longer attacking individually but moving as a single organism.

It was then that Emery finally saw what lay behind the swarm.

Hundreds of small pagodas floated in the darkness.

Each one looked insignificant on its own, barely worth noticing. Yet they were connected to one another through countless strands of spiritual energy, forming a vast network that operated as a single structure.

Emery’s expression grew serious.

A Supreme’s spiritual strength generally sat somewhere between the seventh and eighth tiers. That level was formidable, but it was still within a range Emery believed he could resist with his own seventh-tier pagoda for the full ten minutes.

Ferrin, however, was no ordinary Supreme.

His mastery of spiritual power was beyond what his cultivation realm alone suggested.

As Emery examined the hundreds of interconnected pagodas, he finally understood the difference.

They weren’t hundreds of separate structures.

Together, they formed one enormous spiritual pagoda.

And its combined pressure was already approaching a terrifying threshold

The ninth tier.

Emery felt the weight descend upon his Sea of Consciousness.

The pain struck almost immediately.

Within seconds, the walls of thorns were torn apart, and the defensive line collapsed under the sheer weight of the swarm.

Killgragah’s black flames guttered beneath the endless tide of rats, his fire being smothered faster than he could replenish it. Daurgototh’s frost cracked and shattered across his body, the frozen layers being chewed away faster than they could reform. Even Chututhu’s poisonous mist began to thin, diluted by the countless small bodies pressing against it from every direction.

But the swarm didn’t stop there.

It surged past all three guardians and reached Emery’s pagoda itself. Thousands of tiny teeth latched onto its lowest tier, biting into the spiritual structure and slowly tearing pieces away.

Emery felt the damage immediately.

The pagoda wasn’t shattering outright.

It was being eaten.

Tier by tier, its foundation was slowly eroding, as though some invisible force were consuming it from the outside inward.

"This is the Law of Devour."

The pain was no longer something Emery could isolate within his Sea of Consciousness. He began feeling it in his physical body as well. His limbs trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat formed across his skin, and his knees nearly buckled despite the fact that nothing had physically touched him.

Outside the spiritual battlefield, several of the twelve representatives shifted uneasily in their seats. Sympathy appeared on more than a few faces as they watched the young Grand Magus struggle against a Supreme’s spiritual assault.

Barely four minutes had passed.

Six minutes were still left.

If Emery could endure until the time limit was reached, he would have secured the agreement.

The problem was that his spiritual defenses were already starting to weaken under the relentless pressure.

He had one method left to try, something he had only recently learned after gaining a deeper understanding of the Khaos Void Weave.

Since his dark and light avatars were both split souls, they could enter his Sea of Consciousness and share the burden placed upon his main soul.

The two avatars appeared beside him and immediately settled into the lotus position, their spiritual forms anchoring themselves within the depths of his consciousness. As they connected with Emery’s soul, part of the crushing pressure was gradually transferred away from him and distributed between the three of them.

The difference was immediate and far greater than Emery had expected.

But he knew better.

Even with the pressure divided between three souls, the force bearing down on them still came from a Supreme, and sharing the burden could reduce the strain without actually closing the overwhelming gap between their realms.

Emery gritted his teeth and continued holding the line. Every wave he managed to withstand was followed by another already forming behind it, the endless swarm advancing with a patient, relentless hunger that slowly wore him down one bite at a time, no matter how many rats his guardians destroyed.

Then the swarm’s voice slipped into his mind, hundreds of tiny voices layered together until they became a single, chilling whisper.

"Give up and the pain will cease."