Unlike Yin Hui, when Tao Shou emerged from the portal and into the ancestral tablet's hidden dimension he was fully conscious. He looked around and frowned when he saw that there was nothing but an empty void surrounding him.
"Well, well, well. It looks like the one-eared bootlicker has arrived." A youthful voice called out.
Tao Shou turned his head towards the voice's direction and saw a familiar face standing in the distance.
"Yin Hui!"
Out of pure instinct, Tao Shou rushed Yin Hui with a bloodlusted expression, spiritual energy flaring around his fists. This time, Yin Hui did not try to dodge. As Tao Shou threw out a punch laced with spirit energy, the corners of Yin Hui's mouth perked up into a smile. He raised his arm and at the moment of contact blocked Tao Shou's punch with his palm.
"Impossible!" Tao Shou cried.
Tao Shou pulled back his fist and staggered backwards, shock covering his face. His bloodlusted madness subsided, and he stared at Yin Hui as if he'd seen a ghost. The Yin Hui that stood before him was completely different from before. His hair had grown long and his irises had turned a dark purple. If it wasn't for the familiar ferocity he felt from Yin Hui's eyes staring deep into his soul, he would've assumed he was dealing with another person entirely.
"I remember you saying that you would feed my corpse to the dogs. If that's the case then let's see if you can do so!"
With Tao Shou in his dazed state, Yin Hui took the opportunity to deliver a hard punch right into his abdomen. He followed it up with a strong thrust kick that sent Tao Shou flying.
Tao Shou hit the ground hard, putting 10 meters of distance between him and Yin Hui. He was completely dumbfounded, trying to comprehend everything that had just happened in that brief exchange.
"What happened to you?! It's only been two hours since you disappeared! How are you so powerful!"
Yin Hui showed no emotion, but in his mind he was shocked.
"Only 2 hours had passed in the outside world? I could've sworn that the body reformation took at least a day and a half. Does time pass differently in this dimension?" Yin Hui pondered.
Tao Shou coughed out a mouthful of blood as he laid on the ground in complete disbelief. It had only been a little under two hours since Yin Hui disappeared. Yet, in such a short amount of time he had become strong enough to injure him to the point that he was coughing out blood.
"Regardless, it doesn't matter! I do not believe you have advanced enough to defend against this!"
Tao Shou quickly got back up and assumed the stance of the Wind Bullet. Even if Yin Hui's body had grown stronger, Tao Shou was fairly certain that he still did not possess spiritual energy. Nonetheless, he decided to test the waters by starting off with low power. With the rich amounts of spiritual energy that surrounded the hidden dimension, Tao Shou took no time at all to charge the Wind Bullet to its lowest intensity and instantly fired.
Since Yin Hui did not have a separate soul to house spiritual energy yet, he still could not see the Wind Bullet. The pressurized wind hit him right in the chest, but did not send him flying back like before. The force from the low-power Wind Bullet made him take a couple steps back, but otherwise he was unharmed.
"I knew it, he still can't see the Wind Bullet! That means he is definitely not in the Spirit Waking realm! However, low power seems to have no effect, so this time I'll go right to high!
Tao Shou began charging the Wind Bullet once more. Yin Hui saw this and dashed towards Tao Shou, intending the interrupt him midway. When Yin Hui was just a couple steps away from Tao Shou, the corners of Tao Shou's mouth curled up.
"You have fallen for my trap Yin Hui! Die!" Tao Shou shot his fist directly into Yin Hui's torso and released the Wind Bullet at point blank range. Yin Hui coughed out blood as he was sent flying 50 meters backwards from the attack.
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Tao Shou saw Yin Hui's motionless body hit the ground with a look of satisfaction.
"Strange, the power behind that seemed a lot weaker then what I put into it. While the rich spiritual energy surrounding this place allows me to charge the Wind Bullet quickly, there is something else as well that's weakening its power. Whatever, that doesn't matter. Now that he's down, I can charge up to maximum power and finish him off!"
As Tao Shou prepared to final Wind Bullet, he heard laughter coming from Yin Hui.
"I'd like to see you keep laughing once I render you to a bloody corpse Yin Hui!" Tao Shou sneered.
"Tao Shou, you've never been exposed to demonic qi before have you?" Yin Hui laughed.
"Demonic qi?"
Even though Yin Hui now had the body of a fiend, he was still not Tao Shou's match. However, due to large amounts of demonic qi lingering after the fiend transformation process, the strength of normal spiritual energy was being suppressed. Since Yin Hui was a fiend he was completely unaffected, while Tao Shou was actually getting weaker!
"Hmph, so you've rejected the path of the heavens and have chosen to walk the path of the devil. This demonic qi of yours may be weakening me, but my full power should still be enough to eradicate you!" Tao Shou snorted.
"I agree, but who said that I would allow that attack to reach me?"
Tao Shou narrowed his eyes and saw that Yin Hui was holding a round clump of darkness with countless seals placed on it. Slightly concerned, he focused even more power into the final Wind Bullet, believing that the clump was some kind of defensive technique related to demonic qi.
However, Tao Shou's eyes widened when he saw Yin Hui throw the glob of darkness at him. The seals unlocked and the mass of darkness transformed into an army of 100 black ghosts that charged towards him.
Tao Shou fired the fully charged Wind Bullet and an ear-piercing sonic boom echoed throughout the area. A few of the ghosts dissipated on impact, but the rest held strong. Not long after, evil laughter could be heard from the ghosts as the Wind Bullet was halted in place. While laughing, the black ghosts began to devour the spiritual energy that made up Tao Shou's attack.
"What is this technique?!" Tao Shou was exasperated, he had never seen such an attack before in his life.
Before the battle began, Yin Hui asked Yin Tou for the incomplete demonic qi that was not used for the transformation. With his masterful control over demonic qi and it's uncontrollable urge to devour in it's incomplete state, he figured it would be a perfect hidden ace.
The black ghosts continued to devour the Wind Bullet like a pack of hungry wolves. They traced it back to Tao Shou and latched onto his body, proceeding to consume him as well.
Tao Shou screamed as the black ghosts devoured his flesh. It was a truly horrific sight. Not only were the ghosts consuming his flesh, there were also draining Tao Shou of all his blood, causing him to shrivel up while still fully conscious.
When Tao Shou's body was reduced to nothing more than a shriveled mess, a small ball of light emerged from the corpse. The ghosts moved in to devour it as well, but Yin Hui quickly snatched it away. The ghosts were extremely angry and seemed like they wanted to lash out at Yin Hui. However, Yin Hui simply snapped his fingers and the seals Yin Tou placed earlier bound them all back into a ball of darkness.
Yin Hui held the ball of light representing Tao Shou's soul with a grim look on his face.
"Your right, I have rejected the heaven's. However, the heaven's rejected me long ago..." Yin Hui lamented, a single tear leaving his eye.
When it fell to the ground Yin Hui's expression changed, his eyes flaring with conviction.
"I've dreamed of getting revenge on you one day for all those years of torment. Now that it's been achieved, I no longer bear any hatred against you. To those who will wrong me in the future beware! To those who have wronged me in the past beware! I, Yin Hui, swear to pay back any and all grudges in full. Tao Shou, you will be the spark of a raging flame that will eventually ignite and devour the heavens. Now, become the fuel for my ambition! Evil Fiend Devouring Technique!"
A black aura flared around Yin Hui, summoning dark tentacles that stabbed into Tao Shou's soul. The soul turned black and grew smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared. Afterwards, the tentacles retracted back into Yin Hui's body and the black aura around him doubled in size.
Yin Hui closed his eyes and felt a separate soul inside his body. The soul had no consciousness and radiated a power that Yin Hui always felt, but knew he could never obtain. As of this moment, he was feeling like a house that recently had a spare room added on. However, instead of filling it with furniture he would be filling it in with spirit energy. Yin Hui sat down in a cross-legged position and began to feel the spiritual qi around him. The spiritual energy within the dimension was very high in terms of quality so it was very easy to sense. Yin Hui gathered the qi and directed it into the extra soul within his body. As the soul filled up with spiritual energy, Yin Hui felt more powerful then he ever had in his entire life. The sensation that came with first successful integration with spirit energy, was akin to rising for a breath after submerging his head in water for a long time.
His arms felt stronger. His feet felt lighter. His mind felt sharper. If only he could get another soul, no, ten more souls! Yin Hui's brain ran wild over the endless possibilities and power he could obtain if he had more souls.
Yin Hui was elated, he had never been so happy his entire life. As Tang Li said, this opportunity had truly changed his life forever.
He had become a being with limitless potential. One that mortals looked up to in awe and reverence as immortals.
Yin Hui was a cultivator.
A Spirit Waking cultivator.