11 SHAN VER
*Drip* *Drip* *Drip*
Water droplets were dropping from stalactites to the hard ground, spreading a peaceful resonance to the entirety of an underground cavity. Even the best of musicians wouldn't dare to make another composition after hearing the sounds of the water droplets. The sound was unreal as if someone deliberately orchestrated it.
Strangely shaped crystals protruded out from the ground and the walls of the underground cavity. Some of them were colorless. Some of them were emitting blue and white lights. These beautiful crystals were the only source of light in this place.
Stalactites were coating the underground cavity's ceiling. There were thousands of them. Looking at the underground cavity's nature, one might think that this place was as old as the planet itself.
The underground cavity was quite big for calling it a cave. There was even a small lake in it. A dreamy mist was covering the surface of the lake. The bottom of the lake was shining magnificently due to the broken lights of the crystals.
No man has ever seen this scene before. If an existence somehow could see the scenery here, it would be captivated by the scenery's beauty at first. But then, a dark part of the underground cavity would attract its attention.
In the opposite direction of the misty lake, the underground cavity was starting to get narrower, and the crystals were getting fewer.
Due to the absence of the crystals, the end of the underground cavity was dark. However, if the existence had adjusted its eyes to the dark, a throne could still be seen by it.
The throne was five meters tall. Black lustered pearls were decorating its both handles. The upper part of the throne had made from colorless crystals which had two to three meters of lengths. It was a throne worthy of the king of an entire race.
Moreover… The throne wasn't empty!
A male human was sitting on the ancient throne. No. He wasn't exactly a human. There were some differences.
He looked middle-aged in accordance with the standards of the human realm. His skin had the color of light lackluster grey. More specifically, the color was close to a frozen corpse's matte grey color. Pitch black long hair was covering the top of his head. Pointy ears were protruding out of his shoulder length hair.
His upper body was naked while he wore tattered black garments on his lower body. The garments were tattered, but his skin couldn't be seen at all. Apparently, he wore many layers of clothing on his lower body. He looked incredibly archaic, old enough to have seen the beginning of the time.
On his forehead, there was a gold-colored tattoo, shaped like a crescent moon which had a forty-five degree of angle to the right. In the middle of the crescent moon, there were two more small crescents which was looking downward. A line of gold was coming all the way to the tip of his nose from the middle of the tattoo. There was gold color on the middle of his lower lip too.
The gold color had a strong luster like it wasn't a tattoo but the part of his skin.
His eyes were closed. Dust could be seen on him with the naked eye. He seemed like he has been sleeping for a long time in this god forgotten place.
At this moment, a sudden jolt on his body dispersed the dust on him completely. He opened his eyes abruptly and straightened himself on the throne.
"Finally… A new blood for my hatred army!" He said with a trace of excitement in his archaic voice.
He got up from the throne and walked towards to the light slowly.
He stopped in front of the lake and spread his arms to both sides of himself, lifted his face upwards and took a deep breath in his empty lungs.
His eyes could clearly be seen under the blue-white lights. With just a single glance to his eyes, one could be sure… This person wasn't exactly a human being.
His eyes were the most unique part of his body that distinguished the man from a human being.
There wasn't any white color on his eyes. They consisted of black and grey colors. His pupils were pitch black and a little bigger than a normal human's pupils, but still, they were radiating an undescribable black luster.
He got rid of the sleepy mood on himself and walked towards the cave wall beside the lake while muttering to himself.
"Strange… One of the energy formations that I placed in the continent clearly teleported someone to here, but I can't feel any presence coming from a living being. Is the human dead? Then, why did the teleportation formation activate?"
He held his palm towards the wall. The wall immediately caved in, and a pathway opened for the man.
"Let me see… Teleportation Formation number 7241 – Western Region of the Eanegor Continent."
The new cavity opened to another wide area. The entire place was full with teleportation formations. However, all of them were empty. Except for one!
Upon seeing the young man in the distant teleportation formation, the man frowned and stopped for a moment. The situation was very unusual even for someone like him.
He clearly saw that the boy was breathing, but no matter how he concentrated, he could not manage to feel even an ounce of energy coming from the boy's body. In the man's eyes, the boy was like a part of nature itself.
The man's interest immediately grew up. However, he stayed at the entrance for a while, tried to understand the situation.
He had many enemies, so he was cautious.
The boy had a bloody sack beside him. As the man sensed the female head in the sack, the situation got even weirder for the man.
The boy was Yulian. He had thrown himself from the cliff in the far away Jagged Forest, but somehow, he had appeared in this underground cavity.
Yulian was lying down on his back, unconsciousness.
Finally, the man came to a conclusion and disappeared from where he stood. He appeared beside Yulian and studied him with his eyes.
The man still couldn't feel anything despite being so close to Yulian. With the man's cultivation, not sensing anything from a living being's body was close to the impossibility.
The man put his hand to Yulian's chest, closed his eyes and sent energy inside of Yulian's body.
The instant he sent his energy inside of Yulian's body, his eyes abruptly opened, and his eyes opened wide with shock!
"Nothing… There is nothing in him! No Dantian, no meridians, no energy channels… Nothing! How can a being continue living like this? … Bandages?"
With a great amount of curiosity, the man ripped off all the bandages on Yulian immediately. His degenerated skin revealed itself to the man's dark eyes.
"Degenerated skin… Lack of vitality… Could it be that…?"
The man put his palm on top of Yulian's head and started to inspect Yulian's soul!
The soul of a being has to be like a sparkly white light ball that consisted of three layers. After reaching the Venerable Realm or equal rank, the soul would gain the shape of the cultivator.
The first and outermost layer was called 'The Stratum of Memories'. It could be considered as a protective barrier formed from the being's memories.
The second layer was called 'The Stratum of Emotions'. This layer also could be counted as a protective layer, since its emotions can protect a being sometimes. It was the source of all kind of complicated emotions.
The innermost part and the core of the soul was called 'The Essence of Existence'. Understanding it was impossible since even some emotions from the Stratum of Emotions could not be perfectly understood. It was the thing that made an existence unique. A beings' character would come from the core of its soul.
Naturally, Yulian's soul had a round shape… However, more than half of it was completely black. It seemed like a black slime monster was trying to eat Yulian's soul. It penetrated The Stratum of Memories, penetrated The Stratum of Emotions, and even a little part of the black mass had already invaded the core of his soul.
The man was shocked to his core! His hand trembled fiercely, and comprehension dawned upon him!
"Such a big Soul Parasyte… and such a thick Essence of Malice. He is one of our experiment subjects. But this result… is beyond my wildest imaginations. He became an entirely different case from my expectations! He should have died long ago! Why is he still alive?!"
The man's thought process became wilder due to his excitement and future possibilities. Questions were following his answers without giving a break! Before completing a thought in his mind, another was popping out. This situation has continued for almost an hour.
"TREASURE!!! A PRICELESS TREASURE! FINALLY, THE UNIVERSE PITIED US, THE DARKSIDERS! AND SENT US A MIRACLE!"
The man suddenly started to yell with incredible enthusiasm! He screamed, yelled and laughed maniacally, not holding himself even a little bit!
"AHA HA HA HA!!! TREMBLE BEFORE ME, YOU PATHETIC HUMANS! WE'LL KILL YOU ALL BY USING YOUR OWN KIND! AND I, SHAN VER OF THE DARK SIDE WILL BE THE PRECURSOR OF THE NEW ERA!!! AHA HA HA HA!!!... *COUGH* *COUGH* *cough*… *cough*"
Shan Ver suddenly seemed like asking to himself 'what am I doing?' and started to cough.
"Ahem!! I have to speak with The Night Judge!" Shan Ver said and disappeared in the thin air.
Of course, Yulian wasn't aware of anything. Otherwise, he would have a dumbfounded expression on his face.
