"Run away! The seal is active now. If you stay under it, you'll be crushed in an instant."
This time, Cao Yun obeyed Dian Mo without any question asked. He had felt the power behind this seal. But he had also felt a familiar presence as well. Being so close to the array formation, he could have sworn that Chief Elder Suxian was by his side. Unfortunately, Chief Elder Suxian's soul was now trapped in the Demon Palace. Although he had more freedom than Dian Mo, he was still a prisoner nonetheless.
Dian Mo, on the other hand, was able to clearly understand what was going on. Although he could not get all those sensations from Cao Yun, the only logical conclusion was that someone had put their soul in the Demon Palace and had somehow established a connection with the Devil's Jail. Even Dian Mo did not know the real name of the Devil's Jail or who had built it and for what purpose. Right now, he was envious of the human. Maybe because the Palace of Supreme Wisdom had been built by humans, this human soul had been accepted by the true palace. Unlike him, he would be able to observe and even control the array formations to a larger extent.
To control this Devil's Jail though, he had most likely used a lot of energy. He would not last very long. Human souls usually couldn't live very long anyway. A spirit on the other hand was meant to exist without a body. That didn't mean that they were eternal, but they could live extremely long lives even without cultivating any form of immortality. However, they were stagnant. They had no cultivation to speak of. Maybe it was because they were so few, none of them had found a way, or because they had no real incentive to search for immortality, unlike mortals who died very young.
No matter what the reason why, the only way for a spirit to cultivate would be to steal the body of a species that could do it. And Dian Mo had this planned out. He would slowly help Cao Yun build the body he wished for while getting accustomed to the outside world. Then, he would find the right opportunity and take over the young man's body. He might even keep him alive as a prisoner to make him taste what this was like.
-
Outside of the Devil's Jail, the Wubei Sect's chief elders had poured everything into the golden chains. Now that the Devil's Jail had been activated, they had to send Da Mo's body back inside. Then, it would be sealed once more. But of course, he wasn't being very cooperative...
Mo Tian had clearly sensed the Soul Embryo of his friend. He even had traces of his own father in him. After all, he had been his direct disciple. Mo Tian would have wished for Chief Elder Suxian to live longer. But his own life was just more important. The chance to transcend mankind and become superior to a Sage was just too enticing. And he kept convincing himself that this was for the greater good. Once he was in control of Da Mo, he would help mankind fight off the demons. And he would even bring mankind the secret to cultivate real immortality once more, by fusing Qi cultivation and blood cultivation. Even if millions were to die in the experiments, in the long run, this was worth it. This wasn't just for him!
In his desperation, Mo Tian had separated his Soul Embryo from his body. In a sense, he was just like Chief Elder Suxian right now, a bodiless soul. But Chief Elder Suxian was literally fueling the Devil's Jail with his own Soul Embryo. Soon, he would only be a simple mortal soul without any form of cultivation. But he was fine with it because he was fighting for all of mankind.
Mo Tian, who pretended the same, was trying to preserve his Soul Embryo until the very last moment. If he could just enter Da Mo's body, he was certain he could break the seal. He had studied the Devil's Jail for a very long time. As chief leader of the disciplinary pavilion, he had even been able to confirm many theories he had on it. But he had mostly been interested in the demon body beneath it. He had never really cared for its history. Even if he had, he would never have found anything about it.
Chief Elder Suxian could now see that the Empyrean Human Emperor was on the verge of breaking through beyond the God realm, stepping into the God-Monarch realm. And this sparked a war throughout the cosmos. Many empires fought in this war. Entire galaxies were reduced to nothingness. Even today, there were scars in the night sky. Now Chief Elder Suxian was able to see them. What seemed like faraway stars were sometimes traces of a battle so great even those who had fought in it could not believe it.
In a last effort, Empyrean Human Emperor created this Empyrean Human Emperor Seal. He was able to only use it once on a terrifying enemy. However, the human empire lost the war, like many other empires. Only one empire was able to be victorious. And the wounds it had suffered from were so terrible that it could not benefit from the spoils of the war it had won. If Empyrean Human Emperor had had enough time to build a better weapon, he might have won the war instead. But even weakened and incomplete, this seal was enough to strike down a Monarch or a Reborn Demon.
Now that he was in control of it, Chief Elder Suxian burned all of his Soul Embryo. Helped with Cao Yun's powerful blood, the seal was active enough to be used at a hundredth of its real power. They only needed so much to take care of Da Mo's body. Right now, it was still partially sealed anyway.
In the sky, a giant red circle appeared. It was extremely intricate with many symbols. No one recognized them, but they could all see that they were similar to a few characters they had found from the Legendary Era. All the languages of the first humans were gone and only a handful of characters had been found, too few to recreate their writing system. This was another proof that the ancient ruins all over the Wubei Sect truly belonged to the humans before the enslavement by Demon God Da Mo. Right now, Chief Elder Suxian was the one man with the most knowledge on that period. Many historians would have been ready to give their own life for that knowledge. But Chief Elder Suxian was trapped and could not share it with anyone. What good was a knowledge he could not reveal?
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Sensing that Cao Yun's plan had worked, Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng ordered everyone in the sect to unleash everything toward the golden chains. They were pushing the bloody chains and the giant red arm down into what remained of the Devil's Jail. Of course, they didn't know that Chief Elder Suxian had helped them, but they could also feel a familiar presence. With all the chaos, even Xiao Xuefeng was not entirely sure what this presence was. But it did feel familiar and on their side. They would not punch a gift horse in the mouth considering the current situation.
-
The golden chains were finally winning and were pushing the red arm down. Mo Tian's body had fallen to the ground while his Soul Embryo was flying toward the red arm. The chief elders saw him and acted accordingly.
Xiao Xuefeng diverted a fraction of the golden chains to try and skewer his Soul Embryo. She also used her melody. Chief Elder Lümian helped as well. They all knew that letting Mo Tian enter Da Mo's body would be a serious mistake. From Mo Tian's Soul Embryo, many phenomena appeared. Ink creatures emerged with solemn hymns and poetry. They all protected him, staving off the soul attacks from Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Lümian while acting as shields against the golden chains.
Finally, Mo Tian's Soul Embryo touched Da Mo. All of a sudden, Mo Tian found himself in another space. Everything around him was made of boiling blood and bloody chains. He was now within Da Mo's sea of consciousness. What had been resurrected was Da Mo's body, nothing else. It had no martial art, no technique, nothing. For Mo Tian, this was a blank canvas he could use to create anything. And right now, he wanted to fill the canvas with his own soul. As a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, his soul and his Soul Embryo were perfectly synchronized. He just had to expand his Soul Embryo all over the place and take it over for his soul to be in control as well.
This body would listen to him as well as his former human body. Inside his Soul Embryo, he had prepared the blood essence of Da Mo to make sure that the transition would be perfect. And he could feel the boiling blood all around him resonate with this blood essence. Without this element, he would have never been able to take control of such a powerful body.
Before he could even try anything, he felt a terrible tremor. It coursed through Da Mo's sea of consciousness and spread into Mo Tian's Soul Embryo. The golden chains were not powerful enough to cause such a shock. But something else was.
Contrary to the chief elders, Chief Elder Suxian had been waited for his friend to try and possess Da Mo. The moment he did, Chief Elder Suxian began to move the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal. He had only enough juice for one small scale activation. But with all the knowledge he had obtained about this seal, Chief Elder Suxian was going to make it count. He was not just going to trap Da Mo's body, he would also condemn his former friend to the same kind of life he was having. In a few decades, Chief Elder Suxian's soul would disperse. At that time, they would need another spirit to take care of the Demon Palace. Once fused with Da Mo's body, Mo Tian's Soul Embryo could endure several millenniums.
Chief Elder Suxian was thinking about giving a second chance to his friend. No one could kill Da Mo's body right now anyway. And he was certain that the seal would work for many generations. At some point, mankind would be able to recover from the Forsaken Dao Era. Chief Elder Suxian had already seen signs of it in his own disciple and his brothers, but also when he had gone to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Mankind was on the right track. Even if Mo Tian were to find a way out of this seal, he would be faced with an improved mankind. Chief Elder Suxian sincerely believed this.
In the sky, the red symbol got narrower and tighter. It was slowly being reduced to the area of the Devil's Jail. Then, it suddenly slammed down toward the ground. Both golden chains and bloody chains were blown to pieces. Everything, even the Qi Manifestation of the chief elders and Sect Leader Xuan were trampled by the symbol. This was the personal seal of Empyrean Human Emperor. No one below Immortal could resist it at all if it was at full power. Even reduced to a hundredth of its true strength, late Sages would have been crushed to a paste as well.
It violently slammed the ground and went through the entire Devil's Jail. Every array formation in it got activated as Da Mo's body was also being pushed further down. Once again, it crossed the entire Devil's Jail but in the opposite direction. The body found itself trapped under the Devil's Jail. On its palm, the seal of Empyrean Human Emperor had been branded in its flesh.
Mo Tian had finally gotten what he wanted. He was now in control of Da Mo's body. He could feel an energy and a vitality like nothing he had ever experienced before coursing through his soul and his new flesh. However, at the same time, he realized that he was trapped. Even the light could not reach beneath the Devil's Jail. The seal had completely restored the entire structure as if Da Mo had never even tried to get out. Besides, his body was completely paralyzed. Not only his palm that had reached the outside, but also his glabella, his other palm, his soles and several of his acupoints, they had all been branded.
Right now, Da Mo's body and Mo Tian's Soul Embryo within had been thoroughly trapped with no hope of exit. The only thing Mo Tian could feel was what was going on in his own body. But the outside world was completely off-limits. Then, he felt something else. Just like before, he felt a familiar presence. Chief Elder Suxian was behind this. Although he had killed him with the worst poison he could think of, Chief Elder Suxian had still been able to best him and trap him.
When they were children, Suxian Zheng had always been better than him. Although he was not the sharpest, he always seemed to be better than Luoming Tian was. Chief Elder Suxian had failed to see through his treachery. Yet, he had won. He had died, and yet, he had bested Luoming Tian once more.
Luoming Tian had always been jealous of his relationship with his father. It was as though his father had always trusted Suxian Zheng more than his own son. Even on his deathbed, he had cared more for his disciple than for his son.
What was worse was that Luoming Tian did not feel hatred or disgust in Chief Elder Suxian's presence, he only felt sorrow and disappointment. For Luoming Tian, it reminded him of the stares his father gave him frequently. He had reached the highest height of cultivation. Hell, he had even surpassed it now. He had gone back to the cultivation of old now that he was possessing an Exalted Demon with his 9th-grade Spirit Warrior Soul Embryo. He was certain that he could use this body to push his Soul Embryo all the way to the Sage realm. Yet, he still felt like a failure of a son.
No matter what, he would prove to everyone that he was right! His way might be bloody and cruel, but it was the only possible path. If mankind followed him, they would transcend mortality and rival the immortals of the legends. Why couldn't they see that he was right?! He would make them see! He would outlive every single one of these ignorant weaklings! Mankind would soar thanks to him. Even the Legendary Era would pale in comparison. Why didn't they want to understand this?!