Chapter 1098 - 574: Netherworld Soul Sacrifice, Saint Heir Descends

Holmes hadn’t even had time to make a decision.

The sudden upheaval had already begun.

A phantom shadow suddenly drifted out of the female corpse, its shape identical to the body.

At first glance, it seemed to be the soul of the deceased.

But Holmes knew the appearance of a soul was mainly affected by the person’s subconscious.

To put it bluntly, whatever a person believes they should look like, that’s usually what their soul looks like.

Normally, the soul’s appearance is the best state of the self, with almost no beautification.

Yet on Canglan Star, the female souls Holmes had seen were generally a bit prettier than their real faces, which was the thing that left him the most speechless.

But this female corpse’s soul, even the wounds all over her body, had been copied one-to-one from the state of the corpse.

This was clearly abnormal.

Holmes triggered the Demon Artifact, the Soul-Chasing Blood Skull, at the fastest speed; it spat out a cloud of blood mist that streaked toward the corpse.

The plan was to destroy the corpse and erase the traces.

Because matter is an anchor for the soul; even if the person is already dead, once you reduce the corpse to slag, the soul’s power will drop by a notch.

At the same time, flames burst up along Holmes’s arm, and he slammed a heavy punch toward the soul of the female corpse.

A dozen crimson Fire Snakes burst out, swarming toward the soul.

In the next instant.

The blood mist shrouded the corpse, devouring it completely; only large patches of dried blood were left on the bed.

The soul of the female corpse was also submerged in the Fire Snakes, turning into a great ball of fire.

However.

An unexpected scene appeared once again.

"Ah~"

An unnaturally sharp wail rang out.

The flames actually went out.

The soul of the female corpse, originally colorless and transparent, bizarrely turned ash-black, exuding a deathly aura that made one’s heart tremble.

Holmes’s vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and he finally recognized what Secret Technique this was—Netherworld Soul Sacrifice.

This was an extremely high-end Blood Sacrifice Secret Technique.

The blood sacrificer must have a very deep understanding of souls, and must also possess a very high level of insight into the path of Demons.

A Demon capable of performing Netherworld Soul Sacrifice would usually be at least Knight Level; even Early stage Knights were relatively rare, it was usually seen at Middle Rank Knight level and above.

In that instant.

Holmes finally understood why Kaba had fled at all costs: "The Desecrator is just a Warrior; it can’t possibly possess the ability to perform Netherworld Soul Sacrifice, so there must be a very formidable Knight Powerhouse standing behind it.

"This attack must be that Knight Powerhouse striking from afar through the Desecrator. No matter what we do, we can’t possibly withstand Netherworld Soul Sacrifice."

Run!

He had to run, right now!

He abandoned all false hopes; with a soft "whoof" his figure turned into flame, rapidly streaming toward the door.

Everything just described took long in words, but in reality it all happened within half a second.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

The mouth of the soul of the female corpse split to a shocking width, wide enough to stuff in two fists, and let out an even more heartrending wail.

"Ah~"

This was not a sound in the material world, but a soul-sound that directly rang out inside souls.

Holmes only felt his mind go blank, his consciousness turning muddled and foggy.

After a moment.

He suddenly came back to himself.

Holmes instinctively looked back and saw that the soul of the female corpse was no longer human-shaped, but had become a mass of black fog.

One demonic face after another kept looming from within the black fog, letting out cries of pain before sinking back into the fog.

Each time a demonic face appeared, it spat out a puff of black mist that morphed into a tentacle, stretching out in all directions.

The souls of one hidden clansman after another were forcibly dragged out of their bodies by the black fog tentacles.

Though they struggled desperately, they couldn’t break free of the entangling black fog tentacles, and were dragged toward the black fog bit by bit.

Holmes lowered his head and glanced at himself, and unsurprisingly saw that he too was surrounded by over a dozen tentacles.

He looked back once more, and saw his own body had already reverted from its flame state, lying motionless on the ground, like a Living Dead.

He thought back for a moment, recalling the information he had on it: "As a high-end Secret Technique, Netherworld Soul Sacrifice is a blood sacrifice that targets the soul, which is why it was named ’Soul Sacrifice.’

"These black fog tentacles are called ’Netherworld Hand’; they are the typical hallmark of Netherworld Soul Sacrifice.

"The most terrifying aspect of Netherworld Hand is that it can forcibly sever the connection between flesh and soul.

"Below Knight Level, there’s no way to comprehend the essence of Netherworld Hand, and absolutely no possibility of cutting it off.

"The more the soul struggles, the more Energy it provides to Netherworld Hand, causing it to wind ever tighter."

Holmes still couldn’t figure out one thing: "Aside from me, no one touched the female corpse. Why did it become the medium for casting Netherworld Soul Sacrifice?"

Just then.

He suddenly sensed something and turned to look at his own body again.

He saw his torso suddenly roll over, and his abdomen swell as though high-pressure air had been pumped into it.

In less than half a breath, his belly rapidly bulged into a huge sphere, more than a meter in diameter.

Holmes instantly understood what was happening, and his vertical pupils filled with utter despair.

Then.

The expected thing happened.

"Bang!"

His gut exploded.

Blood and fragments of viscera spattered everywhere.

A human hand, smeared all over with nauseating blood, stretched out from the abdominal cavity.

A completely naked, slender body, likewise covered in blood, then stood up out of the abdominal cavity.

It was Vivian.

Beauty and Demon, in this instant, formed a scene of extreme visual impact.

She used the Parasitic Nether Curse Secret Technique, crossing more than ten kilometers, to descend by borrowing Holmes’s body.

And through it, she drew on the Demon Power of the latter, while conveniently shifting back into her preferred human form.

Vivian spoke in the tone of a victor: "We meet again!"

Holmes stared at Vivian, his face filled with utter despair, yet he roared, "Damn blasphemer!"

He had already prepared himself to fight a bloody battle with the blasphemer, even mentally prepared to die in battle.

But he truly had not expected to die in such an utterly humiliating way, without the slightest power to resist.

*

The Azik Alliance.

Jun Tian Spirit Treasure Eye Thirteenth Sub-eye Base.

Zhuang Jun was immersed in the ocean of Spiritual Light, gazing across the distance at the bloody scene of Vivian descending bathed in blood.

The Netherworld Soul Sacrifice that Vivian displayed effortlessly crushed dozens of Demon Warriors, including three High Rank Warriors; this scene indeed struck his heart hard.

On the other hand, from this one could see that the Ghost Lord’s exploration of the Demon path had probably already reached a very high level.

In fact.

As Vivian’s "comrade-in-arms," Zhuang Jun had indirectly participated in this battle by using the Magical Power of the Spirit Treasure Eye.

Holmes had never figured out what change had befallen the female corpse, and why she had become the medium for the Netherworld Soul Sacrifice.

In truth, it was Zhuang Jun who, through the ocean of Spiritual Light, quietly planted a "Soul Sacrifice Seed" into the female corpse’s soul.

The woman had died miserably under Holmes, and her soul accumulated immense pain and resentment, voluntarily merging into the Soul Sacrifice Seed.

Stripped down, it was just that simple.

Zhuang Jun also came to understand why the Ghost Lord had sent him here to operate the Spirit Treasure Eye and provide support for Vivian.

Because Spirit Treasure Eye paired with the Blood Sacrifice Secret Technique was simply a perfect match, vastly extending the range of the blood sacrifice.

A few seconds later.

Holmes’s corpse rapidly shriveled, turning into a skeletal-looking dried corpse.

The blood all over Vivian’s body vanished; her face became even more stunning, her figure even more alluring, and her power clearly rose another level.

If an ordinary man saw this naked beauty, his eyeballs would definitely pop out.

Zhuang Jun, however, turned a blind eye.

Having just witnessed one bloody scene after another with his own eyes, he was temporarily "mentally limp."

Vivian picked up the Soul-chasing Blood Skull from the dried corpse’s hand and smiled seductively: "Mr. Holmes, praise be to your generous gift."

Zhuang Jun suddenly understood Vivian’s goal: "You used the Parasitic Nether Curse just to obtain this Demon Artifact?"

Lately he had broadened his horizons quite a bit and gained some understanding of Demon Artifacts.

Demon Artifacts had a strange trait—flesh-and-blood binding.

That is, only the person who refined the Demon Artifact could use it; but flesh-and-blood binding was not soul binding, so it was not unbreakable.

Vivian’s smile grew even more enchanting: "Yes. The Parasitic Nether Curse can not only extract the target’s Life Force but also seize their life imprint, allowing me to take Holmes’s Demon Artifact."

Her mind moved, and the Soul-chasing Blood Skull turned into a pool of fresh blood, quietly merging into her body.

A skull pattern silently surfaced on her wrist.

Vivian’s tone carried a hint of emotion: "This is the Ghost Lord’s method; don’t you think it’s amazing?"

She understood that she was just a remote-controlled tool in the hands of the big boss. At first she found it hard to accept, but as time passed and she gained many benefits, she gradually accepted this.

Zhuang Jun replayed everything in his head and nodded: "Truly a flawless scheme!"

The female corpse killed by Holmes had all become tools used by the big boss; in the end, one Soul Sacrifice mark took care of this group of Demons.

Not long after.

The souls of dozens of Demons, Holmes included, were all dragged into the black mist and vanished.

By now, Vivian was wearing a black gauzy long dress, veiled and hazy, with another kind of allure.

Her pretty face turned serious as she stretched out both hands, aiming at the black mist from a distance.

The black mist writhed, probing out a few tendrils that cautiously reached toward her, looking as if it wanted to devour her soul.

Vivian gave a light shout: "Behave yourself!"

At the same time, a trace of ghostly light flashed in her eyes.

The black mist reacted as though it had encountered its nemesis, rapidly shrinking until it condensed into a jet-black bead.

Vivian picked up the bead and sighed again: "A year ago Mr. Ghost had me hunt Demons and refine Soul Beads; back then, I didn’t know it was to prepare for the Netherworld Soul Sacrifice."

Zhuang Jun nodded: "The big boss’s arrangements are always extremely far-reaching."

Vivian busied herself again, finding the Demon bodies that had lost their souls and loading them into a half-illusory, half-real sphere.

This was the manifestation of the Treasure Space Pearl.

Yang Fan had named it—the Xuan Void Sphere.

The Supreme Treasure had undergone multiple evolutions and could now derive branch channels, namely these Xuan Void Spheres.

The Xuan Void Sphere was connected to the Space Pearl; using this thing, items could be stored in the Space Pearl.

He had bestowed one Xuan Void Sphere upon Vivian but only granted her limited authority; Vivian could only store items inside and retrieve designated objects.

In a sense, Vivian was his "collector."

Over the past few months, this woman had plundered quite a lot of good stuff from Carmenia.

And the Xuan Void Sphere seemed like a bottomless pit that could never be filled, which greatly shocked Vivian.

"Let’s go."

Vivian said with a smile.

She was just about to use a Secret Technique to leave when her pretty face suddenly changed: "A very powerful Demon seems about to descend on Canglan Star."

Zhuang Jun blurted out: "The Saint Heir has descended!"