Chapter 761

Chapter 761: The Truth Unveiled

However, just as Fang Lie was laughing heartily, a strange laughter suddenly appeared, "Hahaha, I really didn’t expect you, kid, to be more reckless than even the heart demons. Truly, you are the fearless Fang Lie! Among all the heroes in the world, you are the only one who can crush heart demons like this; you deserve to be proud!"

Fang Lie, the shadow in the consciousness sea, was taken aback and quickly looked to the side, where he saw a new dark figure—it was Old Thousand Souls, surrounded by countless small black fish, hideous and terrifying, numbering in the thousands.

"How did you get in?" Fang Lie asked in shock.

"Is it even worth asking?" Old Thousand Souls replied with a smile, "I quietly slipped in while casting my magic!"

"Hmph!" Fang Lie snorted, angrily saying, "So you’ve had ill intentions towards me from the very beginning?"

"You’re really clever~" Old Thousand Souls praised. "You guessed it right; I was tasked to take your young life!"

"Who sent you?" Fang Lie narrowed his eyes and asked.

"Well, considering you’re already a dead man, it doesn’t matter if I tell you!" Old Thousand Souls said cheerfully, "It’s the Sect Leader of West Kunlun, Immortal Lan Shan!"

"What?!" Fang Lie became furious. "You can’t be joking! He is the leader of the righteous sects; how could he collude with you, a demon?"

"Don’t speak so highly of your righteous path; you’re just using it as a guise. Behind the scenes, aren’t you all just a bunch of scoundrels?" Old Thousand Souls sneered. "The reason Immortal Lan Shan sought me out is because he felt cornered, but truly speaking, he is far guiltier of colluding with demons than your Mo Sect Leader."

"What do you mean?" Fang Lie asked, confused.

"After your father died, Mo Sect suffered greatly and was unfairly blamed. Mo Qianxun was suppressed by the Sword God, Immortal Lan Shan, and the Ximen family clan, accomplishing nothing. That guy is not the type to accept humiliation easily, so he sought revenge against East and West Kunlun using many cultivators on the Demonic Path. I even killed several Thunder Tribulation Immortals from both Kunluns, including one of Immortal Lan Shan’s registered disciples! He hasn’t told you any of this, has he?"

Fang Lie was initially stunned, then he felt a wave of warmth and couldn’t help but smile, "Thank you for informing me; otherwise, I would have thought the Sect Leader was a cold-hearted jerk. Turns out he is quite a passionate man!"

"Hmph~" Old Thousand Souls coldly huffed, "As expected, you righteous cultivators are shameless. If the Mo Sect Leader colludes with demons, you express gratitude; but if Immortal Lan Shan does, he becomes unforgivable. It’s truly hypocritical!"

"What do you know?" Fang Lie coldly laughed, "Mo Sect sought you out out of desperation. My father was wronged; that’s what provoked the retaliation. As for Immortal Lan Shan, who does he think he is? I, Fang Lie, did not betray him; I even saved people from West Kunlun in the Dragon Palace, but they repaid kindness with hatred? How can that be the same?"

"Haha, so there’s such a story!" Old Thousand Souls shrugged. "Never mind, I don’t care about your grudges; my task is simply to eliminate you! You’ve delayed for so long; have you finished absorbing the divine power left by the heart demon?"

It was obvious that Old Thousand Souls knew Fang Lie was stalling. Because the divine power left by the heart demon was too abundant, Fang Lie couldn’t absorb it all at once; he had to delay a bit longer to continue fighting Old Thousand Souls.

Seeing through the scheme, Fang Lie wasn’t anxious but instead asked curiously, "Strange, since you know I’m stalling for time, why don’t you stop me?"

"Haha, of course, I won’t stop you, because the stronger you become, the more supreme clones you’ll create!" Old Thousand Souls laughed. "I’m not worried about your divine soul being too weak to be usable!"

"Hmph!" Fang Lie coldly snorted, sneering, "Aren’t you afraid that I’ll become so strong that I might turn the tables on you?"

"Haha~" Old Thousand Souls threw his head back and laughed wildly. He couldn’t help but say, "You little rascal are really amusing; you actually think you can defeat me? Perhaps outside, I’m wary of your countless divine skills and hundreds of clones. But here in the consciousness sea, it’s a battle of souls and divine senses. I come from the Soul Split Sect, best at devouring and refining souls. Are you sure you stand a chance against me?"

"Hmph, why wouldn’t I have a chance?" Fang Lie sneered. "You should know that I have also practiced secret methods of divine sense!"

"And what of it? Do you think making your divine sense as tough as steel makes you invincible? I’m telling you outright; you’re too naïve. A true soul battle is full of tricks, just not as simple as fighting with divine skills," Old Thousand Souls boasted. "Do you see the little fish around me? The worst of them is the divine soul of a Thunder Tribulation Immortal, refined into these clone forms. In a battle of divine soul power, I wouldn’t even need to lift a finger; just releasing them would be enough to subdue you and refine you. No matter how strong you are, can you fight against thousands of clones? I certainly don’t believe so! You should know that some of these have the souls of Semi-Immortals, each stronger than you by tenfold!"

Fang Lie carefully observed and indeed found significant differences among those black shadow fish. Most were three-inch small fish, some were one-foot fish, and a few were three-foot large fish!

Clearly, the three-inch fish were formed from the divine soul of a Thunder Tribulation Immortal, the one-foot fish from a Lightning Tribulation Immortal, and the largest three-foot fish were certainly from a Semi-Immortal’s divine soul.

Fang Lie counted the large fish—there were at least five—indicating that at least five Semi-Immortals had died at this guy’s hands.

Fang Lie knew that even if he had survived the Heart Demon Trial, due to his realm, his divine soul couldn’t reach the level of a Semi-Immortal. At best, he was slightly stronger than the Lightning Tribulation Immortal.

Faced with so many clones, he sincerely felt he was outmatched. Moreover, the opponent specialized in soul techniques; besides these clones, there were definitely many special attack techniques. Fighting with him, there was absolutely no path for survival. No wonder this guy was so composed, fully confident of winning.

However, Fang Lie, well-prepared, wasn’t afraid. Instead, he smiled slightly and said, "Old Thousand, do you know what they say about wise men making mistakes after careful deliberation?"

"Hmm?" Old Thousand Souls frowned and arrogantly replied, "Kid, I’ve certainly heard that saying, but I don’t believe you have any chance of turning the tables. The gap between us is simply too vast—a difference like heaven and earth. What gives you the right to win against me?"

"I can’t win against you, but that doesn’t mean others can’t!" Fang Lie then smiled cheerfully and said, "Bird Bro, what do you think?"

"Hmm, indeed!" As a somewhat angered voice fell, a giant colorful rooster suddenly appeared beside Fang Lie.

The old bird glared at Old Thousand Souls with intense hatred and gritted its teeth, saying, "You scoundrel, how dare you betray trust? Don’t you know he’s under my protection? Who gave you the audacity to ambush him like this?"

Seeing the old bird, Old Thousand Souls’ eyes nearly popped out. He couldn’t help but exclaim, "Benevolence Token? This is impossible! According to the Mo Sect’s rules, unless one is an inner gate disciple, they can’t claim ownership of the Benevolence Token! I’ve looked into it long ago; even if Fang Lie is powerful, due to various reasons, he’s been distrusted and pushed away. Before advancing in the Golden Pool, he essentially could not enter the inner gate, and even now, he is not an inner gate disciple! How did you become its master?"

You should know that Fang Lie’s consciousness sea is not something anyone can freely enter. Even the old bird could usually only leave a wisp of connected divine sense and could not lower its main body. Only upon fully acknowledging Fang Lie could it enter freely. Otherwise, its terrifying power would directly shatter Fang Lie’s consciousness sea, and at that point, even if Fang Lie didn’t die, he would become an idiot.

Thus, when Old Thousand Souls saw the old bird’s body appear, he was so shocked. He truly didn’t expect the Benevolence Token would fully recognize Fang Lie as its master; this was both against the rules and illogical.

What kind of item spirit of a Ninth-Rank treasure isn’t proud? Who would want to become a servant to a mere Qi Sea cultivator? This is simply impossible!

In fact, the old bird didn’t want to acknowledge Fang Lie as its master just yet. Even if Fang Lie had immense potential, he still hadn’t met the requirements of the Benevolence Token. So it could help Fang Lie, but wouldn’t willingly accept Fang Lie as its master!

However, this time, Old Thousand Souls forced the Benevolence Token to make a choice. Either watch Fang Lie get eliminated by Old Thousand Souls or acknowledge Fang Lie as its master ahead of time and enter the consciousness sea to aid him.

For ordinary disciples, the Benevolence Token would definitely prioritize its own freedom. But unfortunately, Fang Lie is unique; over the past tens of thousands of years, only he has managed to survive the Mo Sect’s three sentences of punishment while also successfully navigating the Cycle of Fire.

Moreover, Fang Lie has gathered all of the innate five great nascent fetuses; such extraordinary encounters surpass all the ancient unmatched talents.

Such a high starting point already makes Fang Lie the only hope of the Mo Sect. In this situation, even if the Benevolence Token was unwilling, it had no choice but to sacrifice itself to save him.

Otherwise, if Fang Lie died, it would have to return to the Cycle of Fire and wait, perhaps for tens of thousands of years, before a new Fang Lie would appear. It could not wait that long; it wanted to ascend to the Immortal Realm and achieve its status as an Immortal Artifact soon!

Of course, while the Benevolence Token acknowledged Fang Lie as its master, it was still filled with resentment. It clearly had several decades of leisure days ahead, which were now lost. After acknowledging a master, it had to obey Fang Lie, no longer able to maintain its high status and reducing itself to being a mere treasure, which naturally angered it greatly.

And since Fang Lie was the master, this anger couldn’t be directed at him. Therefore, the only outlet for frustration became the unfortunate Old Thousand Souls.