CHAPTER 858: Soul Emanations

The followers of Salas on the mountaintop looked at Han Shuo with cold eyes. They were around three hundred strong, and many of them were Late-stage Highgods. They were the most elite troops that Salas commanded!

However, instead of leaving the barrier and attacking Han Shuo, these experts sat calmly where they were and watched Han Shuo coldly.

These experts did not attack Han Shuo recklessly because they had seen the insane power Han Shuo had displayed when he climbed the mountain. They were greatly intimidated after seeing how Han Shuo had slaughtered Mid-stage Highgod experts in a matter of moments, and how the barrages of divine energy that had landed on his body had done him no harm.

It was clear to them that Han Shuo's strength had surpassed the Highgod Realm. No one would risk their lives when facing an expert of great, unfathomable strength, not even these powerful and influential characters!

They considered themselves lucky that Salas had set up a powerful lightning energy barrier around the Empyrean Peak. They watched Han Shuo intently and calmly to see if Han Shuo was strong enough to break this lightning energy barrier that Salas had personally erected!

Han Shuo stood cold and motionless as he expanded his consciousness and carefully sensed the fierce energy contained within the barrier. He could even sense lightning elements actively bouncing around the dazzling electrical barrier.

The dense lightning elements moved around the massive barrier in a trajectory that Han Shuo could not comprehend. The elements seemed to be alive as they happily fluttered about, not allowing a single molecule to move across the barrier.

"Master, this lightning barrier is extremely harmful to demon generals. I cannot break this barrier," Cauldron Spirit said.

Although Demon Generals were invulnerable to physical attacks and immune to most divine energies, the energy of lightning was very destructive to Demon Generals. This barrier of lightning energy was the Demon Generals' Achilles heel. Therefore, Cauldron Spirit was unable to destroy the barrier with his Demon Generals as before.

Han Shuo thought for a moment and pulled the Cauldron of the Myriad Demon back into his body. He then unleashed the Domains of Divinity of his Avatars of Death and Destruction. The two Highgod Domains of Divinity gradually began to merge as the three souls began to merge.

A destructive energy began to emanate from Han Shuo and spread out. The elements of death within a radius of several hundred miles suddenly began to converge on Han Shuo. The energy towers and rocks on Empyrean Peak were lifted into the air.

The massive amount of Death Element was circulating in an orbit corresponding to the Edict of Destruction. The divine energy of destruction in Han Shuo's avatar condensed into Orbs of Destruction. No sooner had they appeared in the Hybrid Domain of Divinity than they were sucking up the Elements of Death like blue whales swallowing krill.

Logically, the energy of destruction and the energy of death should not be able to merge, and the Orbs of Destruction should not be able to absorb the element of death. However, within Han Shuo's Hybrid Domain of Divinity, those rapidly spinning orbs moving along the trajectory of the Edict of Destruction were doing just that.

After filling themselves with the Elements of Death, the Orbs of Destruction expanded in volume and grew to the size of a human head. The orbs gave off a faint emerald green glow as a greyish liquid circulated within.

Han Shuo realised that the greyish liquid flowing inside the Orbs of Destruction was actually the Element of Death, condensed to several thousand times its natural concentration! The Orbs of Destruction spun around him and accelerated. They seemed to gradually hypnotise Han Shuo as he allowed his mind to get carried away.

Then a strange sensation leapt into Han Shuo's consciousness. He suddenly felt as if thousands of Avatars had manifested in those Orbs of Destruction, as if he and the Orbs were one...

The strange but wonderful sensation lasted only a moment before Han Shuo came to his senses. He suddenly discovered that the Orbs of Destruction orbiting around him were like extensions of his body and soul. The orbs seemed to carry a piece of his soul energy, or perhaps a drop of his blood essence...

More surprisingly, he sensed something akin to self-awareness from these orbs. He could command the orbs with his mind using simple, everyday language, and they would carry out his orders like sentient beings. It felt very strange and unreal.

As the Orbs continued to spin in Han Shuo's hybrid Domain of Divinity, he turned his attention back to the barrier of lightning energy in front of him and thought about how to get rid of it. Those bizarre Orbs of Destruction seemed to have read Han Shuo's mind. They started talking to each other, like thousands of little Han Shuos having a discussion in squeaky voices. Then all the orbs swarmed towards Sala's lightning energy barrier.

"Enemy spotted."

"Ouch! That's some powerful lightning!"

"We need backup! We need backup!"

"Fuck the lightning! Kill them!"

....

Thousands of strange thoughts swarmed into Han Shuo's mind in an instant. They came from the souls on the orbs, telling of their glorious battle against Sala's lightning energy...

"Dead, they are all dead!"

"We won!"

The souls on the orbs transmitted millions of messages in less than a second. The battle between the consciousness of the different energies took only a second. And when Han Shuo heard the message "Victory is ours" through his consciousness, his ears heard a deafening explosion.

Han Shuo was abruptly awakened. The jumbled awareness suddenly vanished, as if everything that had happened earlier was just part of his imagination.

Han Shuo calmed his mind and focused his attention. He saw that the lightning energy barrier that had enveloped the entire Empyrean Peak had vanished without a trace. Tiny thunderbolts shot out and scattered. When Han Shuo sensed them carefully, he discovered that these dispersing lightning bolts no longer contained that strange self-awareness, as if they had been 'killed' moments before.

Threads of greyish and greenish light followed the energy of the lightning down from the mountain. These threads of light seemed to contain the fusion of destruction and death energy. Han Shuo's face grew puzzled as he sensed something from those fading lights.

"Congratulations on another advancement, Master! The state of energy you have formed is called 'Soul Emanation' in the universe we come from. In this universe it is called 'Souls Arising from Elements'. The names may be different, but the essence is the same. This will advance your cultivation of the Demonic Arts as well as your avatars' cultivation of the Fundamental Powers! But now you must be careful. Understanding the 'Soul Emanations' means that calamity is near. It could descend at any moment," Cauldron Spirit told a bewildered Han Shuo.

Soul Emanations and Elemental Souls Arising were one of the most profound methods of energy manipulation. It imbued attacking energies with self-awareness. Those Orbs of Destruction made of the Divine Energy of Destruction and the Element of Death were given life by Han Shuo's consciousness. Even Han Shuo wasn't sure if this was considered 'Soul Emanations' and 'Souls Arising from Elements'.

However, the firepower achieved was terrorising. Even the barrier that Salas, an Overgod, had personally erected was destroyed in one fell swoop!

"Who, who are you?" Salas' followers on the mountaintop were greatly intimidated.

They knew better than anyone what kind of expert Salas was. Anyone capable of destroying the barrier Salas had erected must be at least as powerful as him. It would be a wonder if they weren't afraid of such a powerful being!

"Lord... Lord Salas is not here... Can I take your message...?" another frightened Highgod asked as he watched Han Shuo march up the Empyrean Peak step by step. Although he was a powerful and influential figure in the fringe, he was still afraid of Han Shuo who had destroyed Salas' barrier.

Han Shuo knew that the fact that Salas hadn't shown up yet meant that he wasn't at Empyrean Peak.

"Salas set up this barrier himself. He will know when the barrier is destroyed, and he will rush back here as soon as possible!" said Han Shuo smiling before he looked at the elite troops with cold eyes and threatened, "But I wonder if you will live to see him!"

Brothers, let's get him!" one of Salas' followers shouted. The three hundred or so experts on Empyrean Peak immediately surrounded Han Shuo.

Several other guards at the base and waist of the mountain sensed the enormous disturbance on the peak and rushed to Han Shuo's side. The mountain was huge and had a huge circumference. Han Shuo had taken one of the many paths up the mountain, so many of the guards had not even noticed Han Shuo. All five or six hundred of them flocked to the peak. It was a magnificent sight.

*** Over at Glacial Peak, the home of the Sovereign Wasir, who cultivated the elemental energy of water. The wintry Glacial Peak was thickly covered in ice throughout the year. Above an icicle-shaped building on the peak, Salas and Wasir were talking.

Although the Five Sovereigns were constantly fighting each other, they often met privately to discuss the general situation of the Fringe. Salas had come to Wasir to settle a dispute over a new ore deposit.

In the middle of their discussion, Salas' divine soul trembled and he suddenly became furious. Without saying a word, he pulled out a shuttle-shaped divine device, ripped a rift in space-time, and left Wasir confused and bewildered.