65 Third Celestial Demon General

Yaan reached into his bag and pulled out the golden armour. Even though it was made from a strong gold metal, this armour somehow became flexible whilst the user was putting it on.

This was the armour that Yaan won from Shin Jinni, and supposedly, this armour was Shin Jinni's most valuable treasure. However, not even Elder Jishi could fully understand this treasure, he even warned Yaan not to mess with the red formation on the centre of the armour carelessly.

The city lord's eyes narrowed as he took the armour from Yaan.

"Soul treasure!" He exclaimed with a hint of surprise. After examining it for a moment, he looked at Yaan curiously. "Where did you find something like this? It seems to have been tampered with twice since its creation. Just where did you find this treasure…?"

Yaan quickly explained everything about this armour and how he came to possesses it, but he finally couldn't hold himself back.

"What's a soul treasure?"

"Soul treasures are treasures which are operated via the soul. These treasures can be considered as living entities, since they are object's with tethered spirits. Every soul treasure is different in terms of its power, usefulness and effect, but most importantly, you can only bind a single soul treasure at any one time. You should think carefully before binding one, since unbinding it is difficult."

Yaan was stunned. He felt it inconceivable that not only were there so many different types of treasures that he knew nothing about until today, but two such items were in his possession!

Indeed, this was more than just coincidental. If Rui knew that Yaan had found not just a world treasure, but also a soul treasure, she would definitely feel suspicious…

"An additional rune has been placed on this armour, preventing the treasure from being used properly. First, let me remove this rune…" The bearded man muttered.

With a flick of his wrist, countless fluorescent symbols formed in the air, before they plummeted down and fused into the rune on the armour, as if they were pieces of a puzzle slotting into place. The newly added runes reassembled within the rune on the armour, causing countless flashes of light to fill the hall. After a few seconds passed by…

Bang!

The explosion was no greater than that of a firecracker, and as the red rune on the surface of the armour fell apart, it released a faint red mist into the atmosphere.

Vrrrm….

The golden armour suddenly started to exude a brilliant light and aura. Its aura actually grew stronger on its own accord, without anyone taking the initiative to activate it! The city lord's expression became filled with shock. He quickly grabbed Yaan and flew back a hundred feet in an instant.

The armour floated there in the air, but it only continued to glow brighter, whilst its terrific golden aura was now so strong that it would cause mortals to kneel down in worship. Even cultivators with weaker wills would find themselves trembling before this armour!

Even though the armour itself looked the same as before, the golden light gave this treasure a sort of holy aura that would stun any cultivator who saw it into silence!

Even the North Ghu City Lord was left in an awestruck daze. The Ghu Clan powerhouse didn't even move, he just stayed still, staring up at the armour in shock and wonder.

Yaan stared at the armour as its golden aura wrapped around him. He felt his emotions softening, as if he wanted to let this armour into his heart, he wanted to love it, he loved it…

Suddenly, something hidden deep within Yaan seemed to jolt awake. Something hidden within Yaan seemed to reveal itself in this moment, allowing him to awaken from his stupor and making him aware of the current crisis.

This was extremely strange, because not even the city lord was able to awaken himself from this daze. Yaan could not compete with the city lord in any regard; be it cultivation, wisdom, or even willpower, a Rank 5 powerhouse would always be vastly superior compared to Rank 3 youngster.

However, it was as if something within Yaan was incompatible with this feeling of love, as if the essence of his existence did not allow this feeling to take root without an overwhelming opposition that rose up from the depth of his being…

By the time Yaan returned to his senses, that strange sensation from within him was nowhere to be seen.

"SCRAM!" Yaan suddenly roared out loud at the top of his lungs, loud enough that the city lord was drawn out from his daze for a brief moment.

This moment was enough. As Yaan started falling back into that same stupor as before, the city lord ferociously bit down on his tongue, spraying blood out from his mouth. He quickly formed a hand seal, manipulating the mist of blood into a red tree. He then withdrew an amulet from his spatial ring and shattered it on the tree without hesitation, causing the tree to fall apart into 99 separate branches.

Whoosh!

These 99 branches shot towards the armour and collided with its surface. The city lord was watching with a scrutinising gaze, but his heart dropped when he watched all 99 branches shatter into clouds of blood, not affecting the golden armour in the least!

Just as he grit his teeth and was about to try something else, Yaan, who was roused by the shockwaves from the city lord's actions, spoke whilst staring at the armour intently.

"You said that soul treasures can be bound, right? How do I bind this thing?"

"If you try to bind such a powerful soul treasure, it will devour your soul, it might even make the situation even worse!"

"Then do you have any better ideas?" Yaan asked hurriedly. He also didn't want to take this risk, but he felt certain that if they continued to stand here whilst doing nothing, only death awaited them. The golden light was continuing to grow brighter and brighter, it felt as if this light would grow endlessly, until it incinerated everything in this world!

Since even the city lord's methods had no effect, then Yaan could only try to bind the armour!

The city lord saw the firm resolve on Yaan's face and sighed.

'Is it courage or idiocy? Perhaps we really don't have a better option though…'

"If a soul treasure absorbs a drop of your blood essence, you will enter a 'spirit domination' battle. Only your soul will take part in this battle, but your soul is too-"

Before he could finish, Yaan was already running towards the ethereal golden armour. He knew that time was of the essence and he wasn't willing to wait around for a second longer.

He bit down hard on his thumb, then once he drew in close, he flicked the drop of blood through the air, onto the golden treasure.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Yaan stared up with a rapidly beating heart, before the armour became dead still.

Suddenly…

ZM!

The blood essence drop spread out across the armour, covering it entirely, inside and out. At the same time, a golden thread connected from this red coating pierced into Yaan's body.

'Ah!'

When Yaan tried to cry out, but his voice was silent. He blinked, but his eyelids did not move. After calming down his raising heart, which he also could not feel, he realised that he was floating aimlessly within a pitch black void.

'This must be the spirit domination battle…so my soul needs to fight against the armour's soul? How do souls even fight? Where even am I right now, and where is the armour?'

Yaan's mind was hazy, he didn't feel like himself. It was as if he couldn't properly process this space, giving him the feeling that he was drifting through a dream.

From the corner of his eye, Yaan noticed a light coming from behind him. He quickly turned around, only to find himself staring at a blank, golden, brightly glowing wall.

'No, hold on, that's not…!' Yaan couldn't help but take a step back, a movement that he did naturally, despite never experiencing this form until now. His head slowly tilted backwards, gazing up, and up, and up, towards the golden….toe.

This endlessly tall wall, was one of five toes. Yaan was too stunned to even feel afraid, this sort of massive thing was beyond his ability to comprehend.

A toe that was countless times larger than himself…

The moment that he understood that this was the toe of a terrifyingly huge being, the being's aura seemed to reach him, engulfing him within a golden sea. Yaan was left standing there in a daze for quite some time, staring up and feeling unsure about how he should approach this situation.

"Are you the golden armour's soul?" After recovering from his shock, Yaan finally spoke.

His voice sounded strangely calm. It was as if this thing was just so much bigger, so much stronger and so far away from him, that he couldn't begin to comprehend its immensity at all. He couldn't even feel any fear because the grandeur of this entity before him was too far beyond his understanding!

Of course, the fact that he still felt like he was drifting through a strange dream also helped to calm his nerves. Wherever he was right now, it was clearly affecting his mind, but perhaps this was for the best…

Despite coming face to face with giant of monstrous proportions, Yaan somehow urged himself to look up. He couldn't see very far though; he was unable to even see the top, or either end of this one toe.

After a while, he exhaled, stepped forwards, and touched the toe.

Whoosh!

Instantly, that golden aura flooded into his body. In this moment, Yaan felt like an ant…an ant facing the god of all gods!

His heart beat started slamming wildly into his chest, until Yaan realised that he was not actually able to feel his physical body right now. All of these sensations were merely illusions, but it felt overwhelming nonetheless.

After a few moments passed by, during which time Yaan remained alert and waited for the giant to react…nothing happened.

"Am I so small that it hasn't even noticed me?" Yaan looked down at his 'body', then turned back to the unmoving giant.

He smiled bitterly. The giant was countless times larger than him. Its soul was so solid that energy was continuously escaping in all directions in the form of golden light. It really did possess an aura akin to that of a god…

On the other hand, Yaan's soul was grey and foggy. His form had no clear shape nor boundaries, it was translucent and could easily be mistaken for a spec of dust.

"What am I supposed to-"

"Third Celestial Demon General!"

Yaan couldn't even finish his own thought as a shockwave shook his very soul and almost sent him flying. He felt extremely disorientated and the aura of death shrouded his body. He really thought that he was about to die so miserably, but then…

"Hmm? What are you doing here, little one?"

Yaan blinked and stared straight ahead as he realised that he had somehow recovered from the impact in an instant. And now, just a few feet in front of him, stood a woman…

The most jaw droppingly, divinely beautiful woman that he had ever seen. Yaan was momentarily stunned and brought into a daze…he didn't think it possible, but this woman's alluring aura was simply orders of magnitude more incredible than Rui's! And unlike Rui, he felt a soft and soothing atmosphere around this woman, rather than a sharp, cold indifference.

Her face and body, and even her movement and mannerisms, all embodied the word 'perfection'. She wore a sweet, caring smile and looked at Yaan kindly, as she spoke without a trace of malice in her voice.

Yaan coughed after realising that he was staring.

"I was just trying to bind the golden armour, then I found myself here…wherever 'here' is…"

"I see." The woman nodded in understanding, but a faint look of surprise flashed through her eyes.

After pondering for a moment, she looked back up at the golden giant. The giant actually took three steps backwards after she looked up, causing Yaan's eyes to widen dumbfoundedly as gusts of golden aura swept out in all directions along with its hasty retreat.

Slowly, the woman turned back towards Yaan and looked at him with an expression of curiosity.

"You tried to bind that soul? Even if the soul was bound to a treasure, you should have been able to feel the immense aura of power, no?"

Yaan nodded slowly.

"Right. But, what else could I do, when the armour looked like it was going to devour me? I couldn't fight or run, so I thought I'd try to bind it. I still don't really know what that means, though…"

Seeing his calm, but slightly dazed and confused demeanour, the woman covered her charming pink mouth and hid a light laugh. She hadn't been entertained like this in a long time. After some thought, she glanced up at the giant, causing it to freeze in place.

After preventing it from retreating any further, smiled at Yaan and said:

"Binding the Third Celestial Demon General with your own power is impossible. I can help you leave this place, but I can't take you back to your world. That is, unless you're still willing to attempt the binding…"

"So I can really bind this golden giant?" Yaan's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly. "What do I need to do?"

The woman paused before laughing freely. She smiled at Yaan, then placed her smooth palm on his upper back.

"Wh-?!" His eyes widened as he felt an immense power flooding into his body. After a few seconds, he realised that the giant was shrinking!

No, that wasn't right…Yaan turned back and saw that the woman was getting smaller and smaller…the giant wasn't shrinking, he was the one growing!

"I'm placing the seal to bind this treasure spirit in your memory. Whether you can comprehend it in time is up to you."

All of a sudden, a stream of information forced itself into Yaan's mind. He felt like his very consciousness had been lit on fire, like his mind had been transformed into an infernal hellscape! This was a bizarre and torturous sensation, but even so, he forced himself to remain lucid, trying to ignore the pain and so that he could focus on the sealing method.

The woman continued to observe him. As she watched him, she felt shocked by each and every movement and reaction he made in response to the seal.

'A tethered mortal soul should be unable to endure this memory transfer, no matter study it whilst the transfer is still ongoing!' She remained silent, but secretly felt admiration for this small creature. As time passed by however, this admiration gradually transformed into shock, and then into doubt.

The fact that he was still enduring to this point was beyond her expectations. Not only that…for a mortal to surpass her expectations should not be possible.

"To bind the Third Celestial Demon General, you will still need to rely on yourself and your own abilities. I'm simply lending you some of my soul force temporarily. The more of my soul force you absorb, the more difficult it will be to retain your sound mind. I advise that you cast the seal the moment you reach your limit."

The woman's gentle voice swept past his ears like a fresh spring breeze.

Yaan continued to concentrate on studying this binding method. The idea was to use 'soul force', the power contained within his soul right now, to created a seal and then force it into the treasure spirit.

Yaan ignored the agony of having his soul forcefully inflated with an outside power, and continued to study the seal. There were many thousands of intricacies in this seal, and even though it would successfully form with the base nine runes, the more perfectly he replicated the runes, the more powerful and stable this seal would be.

As Yaan's soul continued to grow, now reaching as high as the Third Celestial Demon General's ankle, the woman started to feel uncertain. She felt like he should have reached his limit at half this level of power, yet he showed no signs of struggle. In fact, she could tell that he was still studying the seal!

Suddenly, the woman turned towards the giant and glared. The giant was about to take a step, but immediately stopped in its tracks as it was faced with her gaze.

"If you move again, I'll throw you into the 9th layer of the abyss!" Hearing that line made the golden giant tremble. It stepped back and stood up straight, now not daring to move an inch.

"You're going to allow this little one's seal to enter your body. If his seal can bind you, then that's that. If not, then he will die and you will return to the material plane, understand?"

The giant didn't move, nor did it say anything, but a golden light flashed out from its eyes once, which seemed to satisfy the woman.

Honestly, neither she nor the giant believed that Yaan's seal would be effective. For a mortal soul to seal a divine class treasure spirit, how laughable a concept was that! Even if he was borrowing the woman's overwhelming power, it was irrelevant, because he wouldn't be able to hold onto or control enough power to succeed.

In truth, the woman found this little mortal soul very interesting, so she planned to quickly catch his fragmented soul once he failed, then she could restore it later. She only wanted to see how well he could do in this little game first.

This mortal interested her for a few reasons, but she wouldn't have taken such a keen interest were it not for the oddities she noticed as she arrived in this place…

When Yaan's soul reached the giant's knee in height, the woman's expression changed. She showed doubt and confusion. She checked him over and over again, but this was certainly a mortal soul, and he was most definitely absorbing her power properly!

Time passed by, but in this endless darkness, time lost all meaning. Yaan had no idea how long he had been here, but it felt like he had spent an entire lifetime devoted entirely to studying this singular seal. He could now feel the strain on his soul, even when he tried to ignore it. The pain was intense and he felt like he might burst at any moment.

He didn't understand any of this at all, but he understood how to survive. Yaan understood that when his life was in danger, instinct would kick in and point him in the right direction.

Right now, his mind was clouded, it had been this way ever since he arrived in this place. However, without his sound mind guiding him, it was as if a certain instinct of his had arisen from an unknown place, as if for the first time, his true nature was beginning to surface…

Yaan surpassed the giant's waste, then its stomach, its chest, its neck…until finally, he stood up straight, slightly taller than the very same golden giant that had seemed like such a monstrous entity just moments earlier.

Actually, was it just moments, or had it been much longer…? The passage of time had become blurred, but either way, Yaan was now ready to cast the seal.

The Third Celestial Demon General felt so shocked by the size of this mortal, that it didn't even think to look at the seal which slammed into its chest. By the time it realised that the seal had already disappearing into its body, it was already too late!

"What?!" The woman suddenly expanded upwards in size, becoming the same height as Yaan and the giant within a single second. She stared as Yaan held his palm against the golden giant's chest, whilst the giant's eyes turned white. Yaan's eyes turned black, until a faint white spiral appeared within his pupils. Likewise, a black vortex formed in the giant's eyes.

However, there was a clear difference. From the moment that it appeared in Yaan's eyes, the white vortex was unable to grow any larger. On the other hand, the black vortex in the giant's eyes gradually filled its eyes, transforming into a black hole and finally enveloping its golden face.

Whoosh!

The darkness completely shrouded the giant, covering it entire form and lingering for a few seconds, before sinking into its body and vanishing into the depths.

The light returned to the giant's eyes and it slowly turned to face Yaan, who was now rapidly shrinking after using up all of the woman's soul force.

Yaan lost consciousness as soon as he began to shrink, but a black-white orb shot out from the giant's chest and entered's Yaan's soul, before he vanished from this place entirely.

The woman stared for a while at where Yaan had just been, then turned to look at the Third Celestial Demon General, whose eyes now contained no emotion. Gradually, the golden giant faded away, until it was no longer present in this strange dark world.

The woman remained silent for a long time as she pondered over the impossible scene that she had just witnessed. When she thought about everything that had transpired until now, including the oddities which had caused her to take such an interest in this mortal, her expression became quite strange.

In the end, she ignored everything else that had just taken place, and focussed on the most important point, the point that caused her heart to tremble in the moment that Yaan vanished.

"That child…just now, I felt something familiar…there's no way, it can't be him…right…?"