Chapter 1242: Ning Shuang
Chapter 1242: Ning Shuang
The teleportation formation glowed with a brighter and brighter and more and more dazzling light, before finally turning into a ball of blinding white light. It shone like the sun, completely illuminating all of the Death Nest.
If it had been outside, the light from the formation would have been enough to turn night into day. The light was enough to engulf the entire continent, but it could only illuminate the entire Death Nest since it was obstructed by a formation and a barrier. Even if it constantly grew brighter, it was still unable to make it outside the Death Nest.
The space within the huge formation pulsed in an extremely unstable manner. It distorted violently as a blurry figure gradually appeared. At the very start, it was only a faint shadow, but it consolidated at a visible rate before turning into the real thing in just a few seconds in the end.
The white light from the formation gradually weakened before completely disappearing after a few seconds. The huge teleportation formation disappeared as well, having disappeared into the void again. The Death Nest also regained its gloominess as vile energies permeated the area and black mist churned, having returned to the way it was before. The only difference was that a person was now present in the air of the Death Nest.
The person hovered there silently. Not only did he give off no presence at all, he did not give off any signs of life. The dense yin Qi and grudges of the dead were unable to affect this person. Looking closely, the vile energies and black mist remained a constant meter away from this person. They were unable to approach the person, or dared not to approach in fact.
He was a middle-aged man in white robes. His eyes were profound and his appearance was striking. He seemed to be forty years of age from his appearance. Although he did not give off any presence, he unwittingly seemed to overlook everything when he glanced around. This was an indifference toward everything.
If a person who had visited Mercenary City before saw this man, they would definitely discover that he was exactly the same as the sculpture of Mo Tianyun that stood in the center of the city. The only difference was that the sculpture of Mo Tianyun would give people the feeling that he was a drawn sword, revealing its edge to the world and that the world was beneath him. Meanwhile, the man in the Death Nest seemed much simpler.
The middle-aged man looked around as he slowly gazed over every single part of the world. The familiar landscape had deeply touched his heart with his deep memories, causing his eyes, which were like unfathomable wells, to tremble ever-so-slightly in an uncontrollable fashion despite showing no emotion after so many years. Even slivers of excitement had appeared in his deep eyes.
Suddenly, the man disappeared without any prior signs before silently reappearing in the cavern of Soul-devouring Force in the next moment. Houston did not sense his appearance at all as he cultivated beside the pool.
The middle-aged man arrived in front of Houston and examined him. He frowned slightly. At that moment, a blood-red light suddenly flew out from between Houston’s eyebrows. It was a thumb-sized orb, the Empyrean Demon Orb that Jian Chen had given to Houston.
The orbs slowly floated to the middle-aged man. Its red light flickered between light and dark as it passed on strands of thought to the middle-aged man. It seemed to be extremely happy.
The middle-aged man stared at the Empyrean Demon Orb and said, “Empyrean Demon Orb, this person’s talent is indeed decent, but it is nowhere near the level of a rare prodigy. Why have you chosen him as Ning Shuang’s successor?”
The Empyrean Demon Orb seemed to be able to understand what the man was saying. It trembled slightly and quickly flickered with a red light. It passed on strands of thought and was filled with a feeling of being wronged. It seemed like a little girl who had been bullied.
The man became stunned before breaking into laughter, “So you met the Azulet sword spirits of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens, the leading sect of the nine great sects of the Immortals’ World, and you were personally handed over by their master. Although his talent is lacking, you feared the sword spirits and combined with his close connection to the master of the sword spirits, you chose him as Ning Shuang successor. That sure has surprised me. I never thought that you’d actually come across Jian Chen while hiding in the sea realm and be brought to the Tian Yuan Continent. The time we agreed on back then just happened to arrive as well, so you brought him here right after becoming a Saint Emperor.”
The Empyrean Demon Orb gave off another thought. It already possessed intelligence, but it could not speak. This was the only way it could communicate with others.
The middle-aged man slightly furrowed his eyebrows. After a moment of thought, he said, “Your thoughts aren’t too bad. Jian Chen’s already become the master of the Azulet sword spirits, and he practices the Chaotic Body, so he’ll definitely control the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens in the future and become a great expert. Meanwhile, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens is one of the nine great sects of the Immortals’ World. They’re extremely powerful, so if you gain a foothold with Jian Chen through Ning Shuang’s successor, it’ll be a good thing for both Ning Shuang and her sect.
“However, Jian Chen practices the Chaotic Body. The resources he needs for cultivation are difficult to provide even for peak-level organizations. It’ll be extremely difficult for him to fully mature, and he’s in a lower world of the Saints’ World. Once he becomes strong enough, he can only go up to the Saints’ World and won’t be able to return to the Immortals’ World. Without the support of large organizations, Jian Chen can only search for his cultivation resources by himself, but Jian Chen’s identity in the Saints’ World is just far too sensitive. In the battle that year, the Immortal Exalt of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens slayed two Grand Primes with the Azulet swords and heavily injured the Grand Prime of the Ice Goddess Hall. There were countless others below Grand Prime who were felled by the Azulet swords, and the hatred of the Saints’ World for him has already reached a bone-deep level. As a result, if Jian Chen’s identity becomes publicly known in the Saints’ World, it might even draw out a few Grand Primes who have remained hidden. Jian Chen will not be able to escape no matter what when he gets hunted down by Grand Primes. There will only be death for him.
“But what has surprised me is that Jian Chen is actually on good terms with a person of the warring gods. The people of the warring gods are born from the world, and they are born for battle. If they become Grand Primes in the future, they are invincible. Even the Nirvanic Immortal Exalt who had reached the limits of Immortal Exalt and was slightly more powerful than the Immortal Exalt of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens was slain by the Grand Prime of the warring gods. In the end, the Grand Prime of the warring gods was killed by the Grand Exalt of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens when he was heavily injured, yet Jian Chen is actually on good terms with a warring god despite being the successor of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens right now. This really is unbelievable.”
The middle-aged man paused after saying that. He then continued, “Empyrean Demon Orb, release Ning Shuang’s soul.”
A speck of light, the size of a rice grain, flew out of the Empyrean Demon Orb. It glowed with faint light. This was someone’s soul, but it was extremely heavily injured and weak, weak to the point where the person was permanently unconscious. The soul was also near the stage of dispersing at any moment.
The middle-aged man’s gaze immediately became gentle when he saw the tiny soul. He slowly extended his right hand to carefully wrap the weak soul with a gentle energy. He softly said, “Ning Shuang, after several hundred thousand years of searching, I’ve successfully gathered the souls of nine hundred and ninety-nine Radiant Godkings. I’ll use their souls to create a Soul-nurturing Formation to nurture your soul.”
A large number of specks of light suddenly surged from the man. There was exactly nine hundred ninety-nine of them. Every single speck represented the soul of a Radiant Godking. These souls had all been refined through a special method and were the size of a speck of dust. If it were not for the fact that they all flickered with a faint, white light, it would probably have been impossible to notice them with the naked eye.
The souls of the Radiant Godkings all flew toward Ning Shuang’s soul under the man’s control. He created a Soul-nurturing Formation and stuck them close to her soul. Under the effect of the formation, all the energy within the souls began to leak out as strands before being absorbed by Ning Shuang’s soul.
After completing the Soul-nurturing Formation, the middle-aged man stared at Ning Shuan’s soul with deep emotions. He said, “Ning Shuang, I’ve already arranged everything in the Saints’ World. You will awaken soon.” The man stared at Ning Shuang’s soul for quite a while before allowing the Empyrean Demon Orb to take back her soul. Afterward, he silently disappeared silently while the Empyrean Demon Orb returned to Houston’s sea of consciousness.
The middle-aged man returned to where the Death Nest was. He looked around at the gloomy place in mixed emotions as he gently sighed, “Your purpose has been fulfilled, so there’s no more need for you to exist. It’s time for you to end!” With that, the man extended his finger at the empty air a few times. Immediately, a huge formation hidden within the void appeared and quickly began to revolve. The vile energy and churning mist in the Death Nest was all sucked into the formation before being converted into strands of pure Soul-devouring Force, which were then deposited into the pool underground.
All the Saint Ruler, Saint King, and Saint Emperor vengeful spirits collapsed one after another, turning into black mist as they were sucked away by the formation. They were also refined into pure strands of Soul-devouring Force.
The middle-aged man left the Death Nest and silently arrived in Mercenary City, as if he had teleported. He hovered in the air as he looked at the city below. He did not hide himself, but no one discovered his existence.
“Sigh, Xiao Ling is far too lazy. It’s been so long and she’s only reached Returnance. One of the two seals I had set down back then has been broken through as well. Looks like the remaining seal won’t be able to last much longer either.” With that, the middle-aged man’s presence expanded. Without alarming Xiao Ling, it easily passed through the tunnel deep below Mercenary City and entered the Saints’ World.