Chapter 26: The Skull Lord Cometh (Part 1)

In the blink of an eye, both Jason and Number One arrived in front of the entrance to the Pool of Damnation.

When they arrived, Jason's attention was immediately drawn towards the purple formation on the entrance. He immediately got scared when he saw that and asked anxiously.

"Senior Brother, what is that thing on the door?"

"Disciple Jason, this is a protective formation that Sect Master Reed cast on the door to keep you protected. You see, our Sect is currently under invasion and the situation is a little dicey. Since you are very important for us, Sect Master had prepared a special bath for you here and applied this formation so that you would remain safe from the invaders."

"In reality, it is still not safe for you to be outside. I and the other elders would be fighting with the intruders, and may not be able to keep you safe."

Jason immediately nodded as he said, "You are correct, Senior Brother. For my safety, could you open this barrier just enough for me to enter this? After all, I am really scared of all this fighting. This way, you wouldn't have to worry about me and can focus on getting rid of the enemy. You can come and get me when it is completely safe."

Number One was stunned by Jason's words for a moment but was soon overjoyed. The plan which Jason laid out was exactly the one he had in mind!! He immediately struck when the iron was hot.

"Disciple Jason, this is exactly what I had in mind. But before you go in, take this pill. This is a miraculous pill that can greatly boost the speed of expulsion of impurities from the body of mortals. This will help you become ready for cultivation much faster. Eat it right now, so that once I open the barrier, you can immediately go into the bath and relax." Reed said as he handed over the pill which Reed had given to him.

Jason took the pill and hesitated. He knew that this pill was anything but beneficial for him. But just as he was thinking about what he could do, Number One pressured him.

"Disciple Jason, hurry up and take the pill. It is very important. Or would you rather that I force-feed you the pill?" Number One said, his voice becoming more sinister towards the end.

'Sigh, I will just deal with whatever happens.' Jason muttered as he closed his eyes and gulped down the pill.

Once Number One saw that Jason had taken the pill, he visibly relaxed. After all, even though the body of the Skull Lord was not fully complete, once his consciousness came down to this plane, it would still be unstoppable. And Jason taking the pill had all but sealed the deal.

"Senior Brother, can you please let me in now? I am really scared." Jason said anxiously.

"Of course," Number One said as he started to chant an incantation. Slowly, the color of the purple-colored formation started getting duller and duller.

'Damn it, I have exhausted a lot of my Soul Energy. First, that girl's barrier, and now this!! But at least I can finally relax now. Ah, how long have we waited for this!!'

"Disciple Jason, I have weakened the formation, but I need to keep on weakening it. You push through the door and get inside. If you see any 'body' lying inside the bath, do not panic. Here, take this dagger. In case you find someone, just stab it into the person's heart. That person was an enemy and should have already been weakened very much. If there is no one, then you can relax." Number One told Jason as he handed Jason a small tanto knife.

Jason couldn't care less about the knife but he still took it as he said, "Thank you, Senior Brother. I shall leave first." He then pushed through the door and finally entered into the bath.

As soon as Jason entered the door, Number One immediately released his technique and the purple-colored formation reestablished itself on the door.

'Finally, this boy has been taken care of. But Master Reed did not give me an estimate as to how long it would take for the pill to show its effect. Right now, I need to go and hold back the intruders for as long as possible..' Number One thought as he left the place.

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Five minutes had passed since Number One had left. Jason was currently kneeling over an unconscious person far away from the actual pool as he held the head of the person and sobbed. There was no pulse and If not for the barely audible heartbeat, no one would call that person alive. Even the heartbeat seemed to be slowing down as the seconds kept passing by.

What was surprising was that the person who was lying unconscious looked exactly like Jason in every single way. Not even a powerful assassin who specialized in deceit would be able to tell any difference between the two people in the bath. But Jason knew the reason for this situation, and hence he sobbed even harder.

The unconscious person was, without a doubt, Jane. Apparently, she had put in a lot of energy into her doppelganger technique. She knew that if her appearance changed to that of a girl when she passed away, that could draw the attention of anyone who was to see her. So, she chose to spend most of her last bits of energy into strengthening her doppelganger technique rather than using it to buy a few more breaths for herself.

In this way, at least Jason would potentially be safer for a much longer time even after she died. Thinking thus, she fell unconscious with a smile on her face.

Jason was no fool. He immediately understood what Jane would have been thinking, and the more he looked at the smile on the face, the harder he sobbed. He tried everything he knew about CPR and chest compressions, but sadly nothing worked.

After all, how could these maneuvers help a cultivator who had exhausted the very last drop of her Universal and Soul Energies?

Jason realized this as well, and so after a few tries, he gave up and held onto her head as he whispered, 'Why? Why did you do all this for me? Why do you have to suffer so much for me? *Sniff* I shouldn't have been here in the first place. And yet...*Sniff*'

'Didn't you say that I have a lot of energy inside me? Take it. Just take it all. If that is not enough, I shall become a demon for you and leech energy from others and then give it to you. But please, wake up *Sob* Just wake up!!!'

Jason kept on crying inconsolably. He knew that he had no way of doing anything for Jane, and the only possible way for something to happen was if the energy which she had said existed within his body was miraculously transferred over to her. So in Jason's mind, there was only one thought.

'Please... Please take everything I have and return me my Jane. That is all I want!!'

As Jason kept on repeating this again and again in his mind, the pill which he had taken earlier slowly started showing its effect.

Originally, this was a pill that weakened the outer boundary of the Middle Dantian and thus increased the speed of flow of Soul Energy from the Middle Dantian, allowing the person who consumed the pill to deploy more of his Soul Energy. This definitely meant that the Soul Energy would deplete much quicker, but it could allow someone to show explosive power when combined with a battle technique in a life and death scenario.

But Jason did not know any techniques, nor had never cultivated before. As the Middle Dantian grew weaker and weaker, the Soul Energy stored within it started to flow out into the surroundings freely just as water would flow out once the dam gates are opened up.

It was finally this moment that the Skull Tattoo on Jason's chest and the Skull Mark in the middle of the summoning altar became pitch dark...