Chapter 195 - 193: Four Souls in One Body

Chapter 195: Chapter 193: Four Souls in One Body

The instant the enhancement was complete, Fu Juemin’s vision was flooded by an endless torrent of light and shadow, and the roars of dragons and trumpeting of elephants echoed in his ears.

He had no time to discern his own silhouette amidst the light and shadow before a cataclysmic transformation began deep within his body.

His bones hummed, and his skin and flesh began to molt. Blood, thick as lead and mercury, surged from the depths of his marrow...

Within his consciousness, boundless Buddha Light bloomed. It gradually coalesced into the sacred and solemn Dharma Form of a Buddha, with a golden dragon and white elephant coiled beneath its seat.

"Power and wisdom," "will and action," "motion and stillness"... Various Buddhist Teachings surfaced in his mind. As the energies within his body merged, a sense of perfect harmony, wisdom, and ceaseless flow arose within Fu Juemin.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK—

The surge of Qi Blood from achieving Great Success in the Dragon Elephant Skill nourished his tattered Demon Body, and his injuries healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

An invisible wave of energy radiated from him, forcing several nearby Demon Fiend test subjects back a few steps.

Fu Juemin naturally formed the Fundamental Seal with his hands and lowered his gaze. Despite possessing the body of a Demon Fiend, a serene and profound aura emanated from him.

The two diametrically opposed qualities intertwined within him, creating a strange harmony.

Luo Zhengxiong paused at the sight, his brow furrowing slightly.

He sensed a subtle change but felt no threat. The man’s aura had grown more substantial, but to him, it was still pathetically weak.

"Putting on a show."

With a sneer, the monstrous arm tore through the air, unleashing a terrifying shriek as it clawed down viciously!

Fu Juemin’s eyes snapped open, reflecting Luo Zhengxiong’s massive form. The spark of clarity and Buddha Light that had just appeared within them receded like a tide, replaced by...

...a pure, inky blackness—deeper, denser, as if it could devour everything.

He released the Fundamental Seal. The lingering resonance of Perfection from his breakthrough in the Dragon Elephant Skill was forcibly severed.

The corners of his lips curled into a sinister, cold smile.

In the next instant, he softly uttered a name.

"Shadow Control!"

Instantly, Luo Zhengxiong’s outstretched arm froze.

The air in the metal corridor seemed to solidify. Time itself stood still.

The ink in Fu Juemin’s eyes grew deeper and darker... until they were stained a pure, solid black.

’He had chosen to break through in the Dragon Elephant Skill only to build a sturdier "framework" for himself.’

’What he truly wanted to attempt was—’

’Four Souls in One Body!’

CRACK—

Deep within his consciousness, the Dragon Elephant Dharma Form that had just manifested abruptly shattered.

The Black-Scaled Snake Demon, Tai Sui, the Iron-Maned Demon Boar, and the Ink Jade Guardian—all Four Souls roared in unison. Black Demon Fire erupted, instantly devouring the Dharma Form.

Within the black Demon Fire, a vortex quietly emerged. A viscous darkness writhed inside it, as if gestating something...

Meanwhile, all light in the area around Fu Juemin vanished.

Then, great swathes of shadow poured from every corner of the corridor, surging toward him as if they were alive.

The smile on Fu Juemin’s face spread wide. It was as if he were sinking, face-up, into an invisible tide of ink.

In that instant, an indescribably terrifying aura erupted, as if thousands of volcanoes were erupting at once in the narrow passageway. An overwhelming, invisible pressure swept out in all directions.

The entire transformation happened in the blink of an eye. When the turmoil ceased, the boundless, intangible miasma vanished.

Fu Juemin’s figure was gone. In his place, only a large, churning mass of shadow remained.

The shadow crept up the wall as if alive, and a suffocating pressure descended.

The expression on Luo Zhengxiong’s face froze.

He watched, transfixed, as the dense shadow scaled the wall to the ceiling. He raised his head stiffly—his once-proud "True Dragon Body" was now trembling uncontrollably.

His imposing frame was three meters tall, and when he looked up, he was almost face-to-face with the shadow on the ceiling.

From the depths of the shadow, a pair of eyes, deeper even than the darkness, silently met his gaze.

He stared intently at the darkness, trying to make out the figure hidden within. A moment later, a low, raspy voice sounded.

"Commander Luo."

"Is this... the power you seek?"

As the voice faded, Luo Zhengxiong’s golden, slitted pupils contracted. He watched a large hand, covered in scales like ink jade, emerge silently from the shadows.

The instant the palm extended, the very air in the corridor seemed to be dragged into a great, invisible black vortex that pulled and pressed down...

Luo Zhengxiong’s eyes flew wide. The hands of the pocket watch embedded in one eye socket spun wildly, flashing with red light, before it exploded with a loud BANG.

A low growl rumbled from his throat. His first instinct wasn’t to raise a hand to block the descending palm, but to desperately move his huge, bloated body, frantically trying to...

Retreat!

WHOOSH—

Ultimately, Luo Zhengxiong failed to evade the palm, but his desperate struggle was not entirely in vain.

The ink-scaled hand, which should have struck his Celestial Spirit, instead grazed his cheek and landed gently on his chest.

BOOM!

The Invisible Giant Mill descended, and terrifying power erupted in Luo Zhengxiong’s chest.

The force was unstoppable, utterly devastating.

With a sickeningly sharp crack of bone, Luo Zhengxiong’s chest and abdomen burst open, splattering viscera and chunks of blood everywhere.

His spine snapped, no longer able to support his heavy, bloated body. He crashed to the ground like a torn sack.

The large hand extending from the shadows on the ceiling seemed poised to strike again. Luo Zhengxiong’s single eye widened with terror and despair, but to his surprise, the arm suddenly retracted.

Before he could feel the relief of a survivor, he saw the shadow, like a storm cloud of ink, suddenly dissipate. A tall, handsome figure "fell" out.

"You...?!"

Luo Zhengxiong’s eyes widened, his face a mask of pure shock and disbelief.

The figure seemed to glance back at him before quickly melting into the shadows in a corner, vanishing completely.

Luo Zhengxiong remained in a daze for a long moment after the figure vanished.

"How did he do it?"

"Why was he able to fuse with so many ’Spiritual Limbs’ and still maintain a normal human form?!"

"Why?!"

Luo Zhengxiong was "sprawled" on the ground in a bizarre posture, his expression dazed.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, a terrifying fanaticism erupted in his eyes.

He struggled to extend his long, lizard-like tongue and began frantically licking and gnawing at the dirt and gravel where the figure had last stood, greedily swallowing it all—blood, filth, and everything.

All the while, he let out a series of muffled, excited growls.

"I’ve memorized your scent! You can’t escape! No matter where you hide, I’ll find you!"

"Go! Find him now! Bring him to me!"

"Oh no! I can’t spread the word... I can’t let too many people know... He’s mine!"

"Haha..."

Luo Zhengxiong mumbled to himself as he shoveled mouthfuls of the filthy grit into his mouth, his expression shifting from ecstatic joy to savage ferocity, from wary vigilance to a strange, feverish excitement.

’He, Luo Zhengxiong, wanted to become the lord of the New Dynasty. To that end, he had even cooperated with Westerners and transformed himself into a "True Dragon Body," impervious to guns and unstoppable by any army.’

’But no matter how stupid the people of this land were, they would never accept a monster as their "New Emperor"!’

’He had no desire to...’

’...spend his life hiding in the damp, dark earth, sitting on a Throne that no one would ever come to worship!’

...

The night was dark as ink, the river tide a gloomy swell.

The Jianghai Defense Command, lying dormant on the riverbank like a giant beast, had its silence shattered by piercing alarms.

Dozens of searchlights crisscrossed the night. Military vehicles roared to life, one after another, their engines thundering without cease...

And far from the commotion, on a quiet stretch of the riverbank...

SPLASH—

A soft splash of water.

A pale, slender figure was struggling out of the river, making his way toward the shore one difficult step at a time.

Icy water from the winter river streamed from Fu Juemin’s body. When he reached the dry rocks on the shore, he turned and stared expressionlessly at the chaotic lights of the distant command headquarters.

A glint flickered in his eyes. After a moment, he turned and slowly walked into the thick of the night, not looking back.