Chapter 260: Blood Soul Replacement! Ye Ziyue's Real Body!

Just as its name suggested, the Great Blood Soul Dao Origin was related to both the Dao of Blood and the Dao of Soul.

Yet in actuality, it was neither the Great Blood Dao Origin nor the Great Dao Soul Origin.

Rather, it was a fusion of the two.

The two completely different Daos interlocked and influenced one another, eventually forming an entirely new power.

It was precisely because of this unique characteristic that Chen Xuan had been able to develop a technique of his own through his study of the Great Blood Soul Dao Origin.

He named it Blood Soul Replacement.

And its function was simple.

By using his own Blood Essence as a medium, he could directly launch an attack on the enemy’s soul.

Unlike ordinary attacks, which merely caused damage once upon contact, Blood Soul Replacement directly introduced his Blood Essence into the enemy’s soul.

Once it entered, it would slowly spread.

Bit by bit, it would erode the target’s soul from within, making it extremely difficult to defend against.

Of course, such a powerful technique naturally came with certain limitations.

‘This technique has two major drawbacks.’

‘First, its power is directly related to the strength of my own Blood Essence.’

‘The stronger my Blood Essence, the stronger the power the technique can unleash.’

‘Secondly, because I’ve yet to completely perfect it, it can only target opponents whose souls are weaker than mine. Even then, they have a chance to defend against it.’

The first limitation was not a problem for Chen Xuan at the moment.

His Physique had already reached the pinnacle of the Spirit Body level.

Moreover, after undergoing mutation, its strength was no longer inferior to that of a weaker Holy Body.

The Blood Essence produced by such a powerful Physique was naturally extraordinary.

As for the second limitation…

That was not a problem either.

At least, not when facing the strange Ye Ziyue.

“Aagh!”

The moment Chen Xuan had this thought, a terrifying scream suddenly snapped him back to reality.

His gaze immediately fell upon Ye Ziyue.

At some point, his Blood Essence had already corrupted nearly half of her soul.

Crimson, blood-like tentacles extended from that corrupted portion, twisting and wrapping around the remaining half of her soul.

They continued to spread.

Slowly, but without stopping.

Ye Ziyue’s face had turned pale.

Even with her mysterious identity and powerful background, she could not ignore the pain brought about by the direct erosion of her soul.

It was a pain far more intense than any physical injury.

It felt as though her soul itself were being torn apart.

The agony was so overwhelming that she couldn’t help but scream.

At the same time, curses continuously poured from her mouth.

Her eyes were fixed on Chen Xuan with hatred, as though she wanted to tear him apart and curse his entire family.

Unfortunately, none of this could change her situation.

The Blood Essence continued spreading.

Fifty percent.

Fifty-five percent.

Sixty percent…

When the crimson had covered more than sixty percent of her soul, Ye Ziyue could no longer hold on.

Her mind became increasingly dizzy. Her consciousness began to blur.

Her eyelids fluttered several times before slowly falling.

The world before her gradually sank into darkness.

In her final moments of consciousness, Ye Ziyue could only stare at Chen Xuan with intense bloodlust.

Her voice was weak, yet the hatred contained within it remained unmistakable.

“My real body will surely learn of this!”

“You won’t have a good death!”

“I’ll tear you apart!”

“I’ll make your soul suffer the burning of Netherworld Flames for eternity!”

The instant she finished her curses, her consciousness finally collapsed.

Her body went limp.

Only her terrifying voice seemed to linger in the surroundings.

Even after her voice faded, the remaining pressure contained within it was enough to make the souls of Nascent Soul cultivators tremble.

—

Half an hour later, Chen Xuan wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He couldn’t help but curse his own luck.

He had already been extremely cautious.

From the very beginning, he had silently infiltrated this secret realm and even disguised himself as an undead. He had deliberately avoided drawing attention to himself.

He had even started his investigation from a relatively small city, where the strongest cultivator was someone he could easily slap to death.

He had taken so many precautions. Yet despite all of that, he had still almost died.

‘Damn it! Is this secret realm really a place to live?’

‘How can I stumble upon the clone of a Void Refining realm cultivator within only a few hours?’

The more Chen Xuan thought about it, the more speechless he became.

For a moment, he even wondered whether his disciples’ fates had somehow influenced him.

After all, which talented protagonist didn’t have a dead Master whose death filled them with motivation to become stronger and get revenge?

As the saying went, being the Master of a protagonist was a dangerous occupation.

Recalling everything he had experienced since obtaining the System, Chen Xuan now had to admit something:

Being the Master of a villainess was equally dangerous!

Soon, however, Chen Xuan shook his head and suppressed these inexplicable thoughts.

Now was not the time to joke around.

His gaze fell upon the unconscious Ye Ziyue. He knew that he had to deal with her first.

But what to do with her was a problem.

Under normal circumstances, killing her would undoubtedly have been the safest option.

Unfortunately, Chen Xuan didn’t dare.

Ye Ziyue’s identity was still unclear.

What if her real body possessed some method of confirming her death?

If they didn’t care about the death of this clone, then everything would naturally be fine.

But what if they suddenly became interested?

What if they investigated the cause of her death?

Once they traced the matter back to him, Chen Xuan would be in danger.

The more he thought about it, the more troubled he became.

In the end, after several minutes of thought, he decided to take another risk.

Killing her was indeed extremely dangerous, and he was unwilling to do so.

However, searching her memories was likely to be far less threatening.

‘She has already succumbed to Blood Soul Replacement, meaning that her soul should not have any defenses or restrictions left behind by her real body.’

‘In that case, as long as I’m careful enough not to damage her soul during the Soul Search, there shouldn’t be much danger.’

‘Perhaps… this can even become an opportunity.’

A faint gleam flashed through Chen Xuan’s eyes.

In the past, he couldn’t be certain that he could keep an opponent alive while conducting a Soul Search.

But after studying the Great Blood Soul Dao Origin, his confidence had increased tremendously.

He now possessed a much deeper understanding of the soul.

As long as he was sufficiently careful, he should be able to read Ye Ziyue’s memories without causing any serious side effects.

Having already made his decision, Chen Xuan didn’t hesitate.

He had always been decisive when it came to such matters.

Ignoring Ye Ziyue’s alluring figure and her fragile appearance, which would have caused most men to instinctively feel pity for her, Chen Xuan ruthlessly stretched out his hand.

His palm landed directly on her head.

Then, a strange power emerged from his body and flowed toward her soul.

The power spread slowly.

It was as though an invisible hand had entered her soul and was “groping” it, inspecting every fragment of memory.

“Mhm~”

A faint sound escaped Ye Ziyue’s lips.

Her body convulsed slightly, her legs clenching.

It was impossible to tell whether that sound came from pain or pleasure.

Either way, Chen Xuan had no time to care.

His entire attention was focused on the memories he was receiving.

At first, his expression remained calm.

The memories appeared one after another.

They followed Ye Ziyue’s life as the daughter of the City Lord, with nothing extraordinary about them.

But the further the memories went, the more solemn Chen Xuan’s expression became.

His breathing gradually slowed as her true body’s memories were revealed.

Then—

A towering serpent suddenly appeared within his mind.

It was enormous.

Its body seemed to stretch across the heavens, and its presence was so terrifying that Chen Xuan’s heart instinctively tightened.

The serpent raised its head.

Its enormous body seemed capable of reaching beyond the clouds, powerful enough to grab the sun and moon themselves.

The moment Chen Xuan witnessed this scene, his pupils contracted.

Faint sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.

He instinctively felt an indescribable sense of danger.

Bang!

The scene before his eyes suddenly shattered.

The countless memories collapsed like fragments of broken glass.

With a loud bang, Chen Xuan’s consciousness was forcibly expelled from Ye Ziyue’s soul.

His body staggered.

Then, he collapsed directly onto the ground.

Cold sweat covered his entire body.

The towering serpent’s figure remained etched in his mind. Although it was just a memory, it seemed extremely lifelike, as though it would directly emerge from his own mind.

—

In a faraway place at the depths of the Netherworld, a slumbering creature suddenly opened its eyes, as though sensing something.