The skill itself encompassed many different others as it required some knowledge of the will, the soul and the spiritual energy mechanisms. Beyond that, one also needed to have some basics in formations.

Needless to say, learning such a complex skill was not done in a day.

It was a matter of years.

And it required practice too. A lot of it.

Fortunately, Jin had access to many practice targets due to his position. The royal jails and dungeons were filled to the brim and, to be honest, he was not bothered too much to experiment on the people stuck there.

They were criminals after all.

Most were.

He did not try to distinguish who was innocently imprisoned though. It was not something for him to figure out.

He simply focused on himself. On moving forward.

The practicing of the technique was crude and savage. If not for being able to do it on criminals…It was certainly not something he wished to use on innocents. At the very least, not at first during the learning process.

To say that he destroyed and harmed the souls of many people would be an understatement.

The first few times he simply siphoned the souls out of the poor chaps, slaughtering them without leaving behind a trace.

But practice makes perfect.

That sentence held true once again.

And he managed to perfect the technique. He was now able to access the memories of anyone through their souls without harming them.

From the moment Sarina and Cheng woke up, eight years had gone by.

The two of them had reached the 22nd stage after they both absorbed the element of ‘justice’.

It had been quite interesting to Jin when they both asked for the same element and such a peculiar one.

He was told that ‘justice’ was a matter of perspective. Both Sarina and Cheng had very different morals so their view on justice differed yet, regardless, both were ‘justice’.

As for Jin himself, he had reached the 29th stage and was getting closer to the 30th. the steady supply of spiritual energy from Nangua’s pill was a big help.

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He was getting prepared to advance to the 30th stage that day.

…

Cheng, Sarina and Nangua were with Jin in the warehouse.

They wished him good luck as they closed the doors.

Jin sat down in the darkness and took out the last elemental item he had. The final eyeball. A hundred years’ worth of elemental fear.

He meditated to calm himself.

The fear of encountering fear was quite the paradox but it did exist.

…

After they exited the warehouse, Nangua blocked it with vines and sat next to the door. He had been quite shocked at first when he discovered the secret identities of Sarina and Cheng but now, he was used to it. Or rather, he came to terms with it.

It was a fact that neither party was trusting the other though.

How could he ever trust the likes of these humans?

And, just the same, how could they trust a monster like him?

The only thing that united them was a common goal and they had all been straightforward about it.

All three were going to follow Jin.

But for that to happen, they had to escape this continent soon.

Cheng asked: “How many did you manage to make?”

Nangua answered: “Around a hundred. It is quite difficult to make, you see”

Cheng nodded.

Sarina looked down at the capital. She stated: “Do we really not have any other options?”

Cheng stated coldly: “None”

Sarina sighed. Then, she said: “Many will die. Innocents”

Nangua interjected: “No one is truly ever innocent”

She sighed again as Cheng chuckled.

Cheng moved closer to her and gently hit her in the back as he told her: “A small price to pay for a bigger result”

Sarina frowned: “Don’t use my words against me like that ever again”

He laughed as he took a few steps back. While they did not fear each other, they both knew how pointless quarreling was.

Nangua asked: “Do you think he will agree to the plan though?”

Cheng and Sarina looked at each other. They did not know the answer to this question. Jin…was different from how he was back in the Peak.

He had emotions now.

Or he seemed to be more emotionally impacted by things.

Cheng stated: “He will have to”

Sarina sighed while nodding. She added: “I am more concerned about you. This plan… If you dare to betray us-“

Before she finished, Nangua waved her off: “Don’t worry, I won’t. Young Master Jin is backed by the Nightmare himself, there’s no one better to follow for someone like me”

Sarina looked deeply into the eyes of Nangua, unable to gleam anything out of it. They knew who the Nightmare was. They knew Jin had caught that being’s eyes. And they were unsure whether it was a good or bad thing. However, for what it was worth, it could be useful in many ways.

At the very least, with Jin being corrupted during the Peak’s tournament and now monsterized after being affected by the experimental liquid that had been created through Nangua’s torturing, there were not many options when it came to having people’s backing.

From what they knew of the different forces from their past, Sarina and Cheng were both aware that no orthodox forces would ever regard Jin in a good way.

If you added the fact that they were reincarnated remnant souls…Yeah, no orthodox forces would ever welcome them.

At the very least, the Nightmare was one of the strongest beings in this world.

Depending on how the situation shifted, it might not be too bad a thing. After all, evil or just, both paths did lead to the top when pushed to the extreme.