Book 7, Chapter 79: Soul Fragment
Book 7, Chapter 79: Soul Fragment
The half-sheep, half-human creature let out a strange hiss.
Rings of energy rippled forth from its body, but Frost remained unshaken.
His reaction mystified the creature quite a bit. How was this seemingly weak and helpless brat able to withstand his powerful attacks?
If this creature’s divine power was quantified as ten thousand units, then Frost’s immortal energy would be at a hundred units. Under normal circumstances, this vast disparity should have resulted in Frost’s immediate slaughter.
However, since immortal energy was intrinsically of higher quality than divine power, Frost would not be defeated by the creature’s divine power until he ran out of immortal energy.
As the saying went, a steady stream of dripping water would eventually penetrate a stone. In the moment, however, those drops of water seemed to just be bouncing off of the rock.
Thus, with the Titan-Class puppet blocking a majority of the momentum of the creature’s attacks, it was impossible for the creature to overwhelm Frost’s defenses. This meant that Frost was able to constantly absorb and convert the divine power rushing towards him into immortal energy, establishing a cycle of endless energy to power his defenses that the creature simply could not overcome.
The creature, of course, did not understand all this. All it could tell was that Frost seemed completely unaffected by its attacks. In fact, as they continued to fight, Frost seemed to grow stronger and stronger. This made the creature quite anxious.
It howled, "Do you really think that you can withstand the power of the gods? Kneel before me!"
Following its roar, the powerful will from before surged forwards once again, filling the entire cave with golden light.
Furthermore, a golden trident appeared in the creature’s hand, which it pointed at Frost. Countless characters formed from golden light poured out of the tridents’ prongs and then rushed in Frost’s direction.
"Hm?" Frost was startled by the sudden appearance of a golden trident. "It’s a divine tool?"
However, he was not afraid. At the same moment that the golden trident appeared, the Titan-Class puppet responded in kind.
It reached behind its back and pulled out its own weapon.
Its weapon was a plain, unassuming blade. However, when it clashed with the trident, a powerful wave of energy exploded forth before rapidly dying out. The blade seemed to be totally unaffected.
"Spatial weapon!?" the creature yelled in shock.
Even though this weapon had no official name, it had been constructed out of rare spatial materials. One of its abilities had been demonstrated when it diverted the energy from the early collision into another realm, preventing the divine power from damaging the puppet or Frost.
The creature had never expected to see such a powerful weapon wielded by a puppet.
"It seems like you’ve forced my hand," Frost said with a sigh.
Because he only had one chance to send something to Frost, Su Chen had racked his brains for the best method to increase Frost’s power by as much as possible. This sword, which had been constructed from Void Starmetal, was one of the tools that he had ultimately chosen to give to the puppet. This weapon had also served a dual purpose as it had allowed the Titan-Class puppet to bypass the Barrier without being noticed by the gods.
Even though it was one of the most outstanding weapons in the Origin Realm, it still had not been named.
But this nameless weapon had actually managed to block the divine trident’s attack due to its powerful spatial attributes. The creature’s stream of golden characters had been redirected into another direction, as if that attack had been all bark and no bite.
"Let some divine power through. I need to absorb more." Frost, on the other hand, seemed slightly unhappy with the puppet’s actions.
He wanted to continue absorbing and converting the creature’s divine power.
The Titan-Class puppet uttered a metallic groan in response, and a portion of the divine power was allowed to float towards Frost.
"Bastard! Do you think that you’ve already won?" The creature was infuriated by Frost’s dismissive actions.
They were treating his attacks as if they were nourishment.
The golden image behind the creature seemed to solidify and grow more tangible as the pressure it exerted increased. Suddenly, the cave’s walls were covered in faint purple characters that exuded a profound, mysterious aura.
This sudden increase in pressure was so great that even Frost, with his Aspect of Su Chen, found it hard to withstand.
For the first time since the battle started, shock appeared in his eyes. "How can you use so much power if you’ve only absorbed a portion of the god’s divinity?"
"Are
"Afraid? Not even close," Frost shot back with a cold laugh. Then, his eyebrow jumped as he said with realization, "So that’s what happened! I understand now. Not only did you absorb its divinity, but you also absorbed some of its will. Haha, so you are a god! That dead god imbued his will into a wretched creature like you, and then used you to absorb the divine power from its corpse so that he could be resurrected."
The creature was badly startled by Frost’s words. "No!"
It was terrified, not because of Frost, but rather because it was afraid of the other gods finding out.
"Still trying to deny it?" A cold glint flashed through Su Chen’s eyes. "I originally only planned on absorbing some divine power, but I never expected that I would encounter a god’s consciousness here. This is a rare treasure indeed!"
"So if you know that I’m a true god, then why aren’t you kneeling!?" The creature knew that there was no longer any point in continuing to conceal the truth and unleashed its full power.
The god’s golden image behind the creature finally solidified. It was that of a tall, majestic, and brawny man. Its face was extremely similar to the half-sheep, half-human creature’s face, which was standing before it.
The purple characters on the wall began to glow even more vibrantly. Shockingly enough, the creature was using these characters to control Method Power.
Would Frost and the Titan-Class puppet be able to withstand the might of a true god?
The answer to that question was still up in the air.
But as the creature’s aura surged, Frost yelled, "You might be able to do that...... but so can I!"
As he cried out, the Aspect of Su Chen behind Frost suddenly opened his eyes.
It had merely been an Aspect moments ago, but as soon as this Aspect opened its eyes, it was as if the real Su Chen had descended before them. Even more shockingly, another Aspect appeared behind the back of this Aspect of Su Chen.
A picturesque landscape unfurled, through which giant beasts were roaming.
Luo You, Windbite, Golden Bird, Cloudpeck, and the other three Desolate Beasts were all present in this painting-like landscape.
The Shining Dragon Aspect danced madly through the sky.
But above the Shining Dragon was yet another Beast.
This Beast was quite small, but it was the centerpiece of this primal, untamed landscape.
It was a bat.
The bat was perched on top of the Shining Dragon, staring coldly at its target.
As the primal landscape unfolded, the bat opened its eyes.
It was even able to speak. "Are you going to use me this soon?"
Even the half-sheep, half-human creature was stunned to see this bat.
"Bloodbat? You’re still alive?"
The Blood Ancestor’s clone growled angrily when it saw the half-sheep, half-human creature. "Uhtred, so it’s you! How could I bear to die before burying you bastards beneath the ground?"
Frost said, "Blood Ancestor, please attack!"
The Blood Ancestor swooped out of the painted landscape and descended towards the creature.
The creature roared in response and unleashed all of the Method Power at its disposal, but its attempts were futile. The Blood Ancestor seemed to exist in a different dimension and it completely phased through the barrage of Method Power before slamming into the creature’s chest.
Bang!
The Blood Ancestor’s clone shattered, covering the creature in blood from head to toe.
This blood was incredibly corrosive, and even divine power could not stop it from eating away at the creature’s flesh. As its body began to melt away, the creature howled and thrashed in agony.
"Don’t corrode its consciousness. I want it for myself!"
嗖!
Whoosh!
A figure formed of fire-like substance was forcibly pulled out of the creature’s body and placed in Frost’s hand.
As soon as he touched it, however, the flaming figure darted into Frost’s body.
"Trying to take over my body?" Frost harrumphed.
The Aspect behind him had yet to disappear, and Su Chen’s projection was also still present. Only the Bloodbat had disappeared. The projection of Su Chen shot the flaming figure a fierce glare, halting it in its tracks and causing it to writhe in pain.
Actually, taking over another person’s body was never easy. Even without Su Chen’s protection protecting Frost, this soul fragment would have likely failed. However, merely stopping the soul fragment was not Su Chen’s goal.
The projection of Su Chen reached out from behind Frost, picked up the flaming figure, and then tossed it into his mouth.
After it did so, the previously ephemeral Aspect of Su Chen condensed and took on physical form.
Back in the Origin Realm, Su Chen, who had been in the middle of a meeting with the Boundless Sect’s higher ups, suddenly fell silent as his figure faded away. As he transformed, he seemed less and less human and more and more like a haze of light.
This conversion process that was occurring between the two realms had never happened before. Only Frost, who was born from Su Chen’s bloodline, could communicate with Su Chen’s main body this closely, and this transformation was only possible due to the soul fragment that he had just devoured.
In that moment, the connection between their wills was strengthened even further, allowing Su Chen to break through the Barrier’s restrictions and grant more of his own strength to Frost.
The difference between a living bloodline source and a deceased one was too vast to be described. This was also why the Blood Ancestor’s clone had been so powerful.
But this strengthened connection was not the real benefit of obtaining this soul fragment.
In the moment it was consumed, the soul fragment was divided between Su Chen and Frost.
Su Chen said excitedly, "I can sense that this fragment will be extremely helpful in my quest to find a higher cultivation realm. It might even help me break out of the rut that I’ve been stuck in recently."
"Help you find a higher cultivation realm?" Frost grew excited at this prospect as well.
This was a big deal.
The giant gap in strength between the humans and the gods was still a major issue.
The immortal cultivation system was the only way that they would ever have a chance.
However, the system was still in its infancy, and they had only developed three stages so far. Even though a Golden Pill cultivator was equivalent in strength to a Thought Manifestation Realm cultivator, the system of immortal energy had not yet overtaken the limits of the current cultivation system.
If Su Chen could break into a higher cultivation realm, then that would increase the human race’s strength by a measurable amount. That combined with the pre-existing system would significantly bolster their confidence in the war against the gods.
"If that’s the case, then you should take the entire soul fragment," Frost said.
"I wish that I could do so as well, but since I am absorbing it through the Aspect, I can only absorb fifty percent of it," Su Chen said with a lamenting sigh.
"Let me help you!" Frost suddenly shoved his palm out forwards.
The purple characters summoned by the creature were still floating around in the air.
Method Power could only be obtained and mastered through comprehension, so Frost was not able to directly utilize it. However, he still understood its basic principles because of his relationship to Su Chen.
Thus, while Frost could not absorb the Method Power himself, he could still use it to increase the strength of the connection between his will and Su Chen’s.
At the same time, he loosened his consciousness, allowing Su Chen’s main body to take in as much of the soul fragment as it could.
Back in the Origin Realm, the Boundless Sect’s officials watched on in shock as Su Chen’s skin grew more and more transparent. A golden light began to emanate from within his body, and a faint purple trail of smoke seemed to curl around him.
"What...... What’s going on?" Everyone present was stunned.
A moment later, Su Chen’s figure re-solidified as he let out a cackle of excitement. "Hahahaha, I’ve finally succeeded!"
Succeeded in what?
Boom!
A powerful will surged forth, enveloping the palace and its immediate surroundings.