Chapter 142 - Replacement Continued.
The sword pierced a chest and came out the other side. The figure looked at Jacob contemptuously and pulled out the sword from his chest.
At the very last second, Jacob had pushed Sophia away and stood in front of the attack, letting it pass through him.
"NOO!" Sophia cried and ran to Jacob's side. She used her hands to stop the bleeding but it was no use. The sword accurately pierced his heart. He would die within a few seconds.
"My love....you are too emotional...as always...." he smiled looking up at Sophia's face while blood spewed out like a fountain.
"No, please don't leave me, I can't do this alone," she cradled his dying body in her arms, which was becoming colder by the second.
"You...must be strong...for the boys.." he said with some effort and caressed her face.
The figure stood a few meters away from them, smiling savagely.
*Sigh*
"What did I tell you? This thing is pure evil. It used what's left of her son's soul to call for her, just to kill her by its own hands..." Hyde's voice echoed in Hao Xuan's ears, making him angrier. How could there be something so evil?
The figure lifted its sword once again to finish them both together, but a hand gripped his arm from the back, stopping him. It jerked around and saw Hao Xuan standing behind it, looking at it revoltingly.
"I don't need a servant so vile," he said in such a calm tone that it sent a chill down the figure's spine.
*Sqwelp*
A massive blade covered in several different energies came out from the front of the figure's chest, spurting black blood everywhere. The energies entered its body and wreaked havoc, destroying it from inside out. It's eye's slowly went dim and it fell down lifelessly.
Previously Hao Xuan was trying to defeat it, not kill it.
Sophia looked up at Hao Xuan and pleaded, "Please, please save my husband, I will give you anything you want, please just save him! I know you can!"
The rain suddenly got heavier and colder. Hao Xuan stood above the figure's dead body and looked at Sophia, not knowing what to do. She had lost her oldest son and her husband in the span of a few minutes. There was nothing he could say or do to comfort her.
"You can save him," Mr. Hyde appeared next to him. He looked at Jacob who's body had already gone cold and then at the figure.
"Save who? How?" Hao Xuan asked without even turning around. He couldn't help but blame himself for this tragedy.
"Both of them, in a sense. There is still a part of that boy's soul left untainted by the Fiend's blood. Sever that part and put in the fetus in the mother's belly. It still hasn't developed a soul of its own yet. And since they are blood-related, it should be fine."
"Although the boy's soul is damaged, with time it could recover. As for her husband, put the God's blood in his body. The sorcerer used some wicked methods to make that body 'eviler' than it should have been. Once the God's blood is in the husband, he will stop being human. And with a little modification, you can make a new servant out of him. And if his willpower is strong enough, he can even remember his old life someday," Mr. Hyde explained everything to him clearly this time.
Hao Xuan thought about it and there was no way he could do something like this. This was basically playing god. Even in this world where actual Gods and Devils roamed, he wouldn't dare do something like this so...nonchalantly.
But then he looked at the weeping woman in front of him, and his heart bled.
*Sigh*
"I can save him, but you won't be able to see him for a long time, perhaps not in this lifetime. I can save them both...." he explained the whole thing to Sophia. She finally stopped crying and looked down at her husband and then at the body that once belonged to her son.
"I agree, as long as he is alive somewhere out there, I can live. As long as I know there is some chance, no matter how small, I can continue living," she nodded while wiping away the tears.
Hao Xuan followed Hyde's instructions and did everything down to the letter. Felix's soul, or what was left of it, looked like a small sphere of light that was constantly changing sizes. He put that in the fetus in Sophia's belly and cut off his own connection to it.
Then he cut open the armored figure's chest and looked around to find a glowing droplet of black blood. The blood seemed to be alive and was moving on its own like a parasite.
He put that in Jacob's body and his wound closed within a few seconds. Color returned to his face as his heart started beating once again.
"Sever!" he put his hand above Jacob's head and severed his soul as well.
"Say your goodbyes," he said to Sophia and walked away. Miles, Reece, and Damian came over. Sophia told them their father would be 'going away' for a little while and they wouldn't be able to see him for quite some time.
Hao Xuan shook his head while eavesdropping. He would have to take Jacob away and the chances of him coming back were slim at best.
The world of cultivation was vast and a cultivator's life boundless.. It might be hundreds of years by the time Jacob regains any of his previous memories, if at all. After all, what are we if not the bundle of memories and experiences that make us?