The Departure

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"As I stated previously. If you successfully kill Slaughter King, I will open your eyes to the path of spirit cultivation and all its necessities."

"May I know who you are?" Ja Sun finally inquired.

"No, you may not," the figure frowned. He looked a little impatient but as if blind, Ja Sun traced his chin and continued, "What did you mean by calling the Slaughter King your successor?"

"It is as the terms state. He is my successor."

"Successor to what? Wealth? Knowledge? Land? Spirit?" Ja Sun frowned.

The figure turned silent and continued to gaze at Ja Sun.

Seeing this, he smiled, "I wish to know the consequences of rejecting the job. And I want to know in detail what this 'opening my eyes to the road of cultivation' really means."

"Rejecting the job comes with no consequences but simply the loss of knowledge of the future path that you would gain by accepting the task and successfully executing it." The figure's wavy form turned a bit translucent.

"As a show of good faith, please first tell me what really is considered a divine quality for spirit energy?"

Ja Sun's sea of spirit is constantly refined by the Final Buddha Array and the Myriad Step Refining Array. He also felt that the concentration of his spirit energy, its intensity, and its purity is unrivaled among his teammates. So, he hoped to gain some information and then use his trait to find as much as possible.

"How did you know about Spirit Souls? It has been forbidden since the war," the figure replied with a question, too.

After a few short seconds of silence, Ja Sun couldn't help but sigh deep down. He was impatient. If he had the chance to make a mission now, he would have had the chance to gain a few pieces of information that could solve his confusion. Seeing that the supposed 'Ancestor' to Slaughter King wished to keep a tight lid on the matter and even send him to a thankless job with only his words being the assurance, Ja Sun closed his eyes, feigning a ponderous look.

But the gold of his third eye sharpened instantly and a strange pressure escaped Ja Sun's body.

In his life, Ja Sun admitted to sometimes underestimating his opponents, but he had never once overestimated or undermined his own abilities.

Whatever it is beyond the realm of Titled Douluo, using the three-fold enhancement of the Fiery Golden Pupils, it should be possible to forcefully alleviate his mental energy to that level. Not to mention his Vajra Gauntlets. They have faced many problems alongside Ja Sun and have been literally baptized with every single treasure Ja Sun has absorbed.

This pair of gauntlets is one of his greatest treasures.

Since Ja Sun was interested in the Slaughter Egg and there was a party trying to stand in the way, Ja Sun considered his options and chose to strike. Anyway, the figure was ghostly at best. Whoever or whatever this red-eyed individual is, he should be a temporary measure.

"You dare!"

The figure spat coldly. Boundless killing intent escaped his form but what stunned the two of them was...

'Too similar!'

Ja Sun's killing intent was similar. Boundless and silent. Just that his nature by itself wasn't cold and he wasn't on edge every moment of his life to constantly leak it.

Ja Sun's mental energy had already collected in a single point and in the form of one needle. To the misty figure's size, however, this might as well be a sword. Half of Ja Sun's mental energy was occupied within the clone so Ja Sun only lacked in quantity. Not quality. The needle instantly pierced the figure while Ja Sun himself felt a sharp pain. It wasn't a mental attack as Ja Sun had hoped. After all, the third realm of Fiery Golden Pupils also allows him to counterattack the mental strikes passively.

The dissipating figure simply snorted coldly and waved his hand. A strand of pure white Slaughter energy entered Ja Sun's system but this time, instead of being broken into basic units of energy and get absorbed by his physical core, the strand of energy seemed to possess an overbearing intent and struck against his spirit sea.

This was a level of attack that Ja Sun simply wasn't equipped to deal with but his mental energy had worked its charm. Whoever this being was, it had already lost most of its form and only one eye remained which had gotten quite dull, too.

Ja Sun was pale, too. His spirit energy rushed out of his control, constantly dissipating.

"Your spirit energy will continue to escape from the tear in the sea of spirit. It's not something a mortal can heal."

The figure spoke as a matter of fact but Ja Sun didn't think much of it at the moment. He was already at rank 63 but this form of strange attack had begun to forcefully deplete his foundation. It was a slow effect but a lasting one and from the opponent's tone, Ja Sun understood that the figure was counting on this fact.

"And you can heal it?" Ja Sun inquired calmly. His mental energy was severely deprived but there was no reason to show it on his face. This kind of pain was simply... too low to be shown and wasn't delivered by Ah Yin, too. Since there was no individual to entertain, Ja Sun smiled instead.

"I can," the figure nodded. It was as if the two individuals had not attacked each other a few seconds ago.

"A strike to a god comes with consequences. That doesn't mean this offense is permanent and can be chalked up to your ignorance. It's also a surprise that you have pulled your pupils' technique to the third realm... but it doesn't compare to his. It is still within the confines of mortal. The quality of your mental energy, I mean."

It was clear that after witnessing Ja Sun's strength, the figure appreciated him instead. And he was more talkative as if meeting an old acquaintance.

"What do I have to do to get this tear in my sea of spirit healed?" Ja Sun sighed softly.

"Without enhancement of spirit energy, you won't be my successor's opponent. Thus, I will retract my energy from your sea of spirit should you accept my mark."

'So... it needs my approval?' Ja Sun thought momentarily, 'Or, my approval plays a pivotal role but isn't the only aspect necessary to whatever this ghostly bitch wants.'

Even now his mental energy was recovering and Ja Sun felt that if he had a spirit core in his sea of spirit then such an attack would have begun to heal by itself, too. But he didn't entertain this thought for long. With an extensive difference between his spirit energy when compared to his physique and mental energy, he already needed more spirit energy than necessary to accomplish each breakthrough. An addition of core will only increase this cost instead.

'Maybe Ah Yin can heal... or at least support the expenditure... we also gained many immortal ginsengs that support spirit energy purely but... the pressure of another immortal herb's effect might be hard to dissipate even with the digestion factor of my Physique's core.

Anyway... there are two other herbs that specialize in healing such an injury... probably, their descriptions do state that it is within their capabilities... it would have been a hassle but...'

As thoughts ran in Ja Sun's mind, his mental energy had already recovered enough. But he wasn't willing to attack just yet.

"The only way for me to accept any task is by getting a way to utilize the domain eggs," Ja Sun spoke up and the one-eyed figure frowned. A cold look passed through his eyes but he suppressed it in a moment. It was clear to Ja Sun that the figure in front of him did not hold negotiations in high esteem. Given his bloodthirst, this fact was evident. But Ja Sun had already shown sufficient capabilities.

"I will not waste my divine intent until the Slaughter King is dead," the figure spoke.

"You won't... but this city could, right?" Ja Sun suddenly questioned and not expecting this retort, whatever that remained of the misty figure's face froze.

Not giving any time for it to recover, Ja Sun once again mobilized his meager mental energy. This time he only enhanced his attack onefold and struck the already dissipating figure.

However, instead of getting angry, the figure only eyed Ja Sun with a disappointed gaze.

"A pity... only a slight level of obedience would have easily made you accept the next step... even with such a rich killing intent, you seem more Rakshasa than myself..."

The figure's sigh seemed to melt around Ja Sun as he scoffed before swimming towards the thumb-sized egg and picked it up. This time the Slaughter Egg moved without restraint.

The strange figure called these eggs the Domain Eggs. Since the reward of passing the trials seems to be a domain, this egg must be a part of the grand scheme of things. This was purely the information he gained from the conversation but Ja Sun felt that it was worthwhile to remove the hassle in the form of the red-eyed individual.

However, there was one thing left that Ja Sun didn't understand. If the egg could provide domain, and needed a divine quality of energy to be activated, then how did Bibi Dong and others gain the domain? It was clear that the figure placed here wasn't supposed to be part of the process and seemed to be a special intent left behind by the creator of the city. This meant that the exit in itself should have a mechanism to activate the domain. Ja Sun had not discovered such a mechanism for now but at least he now understood that many things were still hidden from his eyes.

Gods or not, Ja Sun only saw the benefits in front of him.

And if meeting a god was so easy, the continent would be run by them. Still, it was a clear risk and Ja Sun was willing to take it. The only thing Ja Sun felt a bit bad about was not being able to take a mission. Due to the other party's identity, this would have surely been an S-ranked mission. After all, aside from the difficulty, the situation, too, mattered in the formation of missions occasionally.

With the white egg in his talon, Ja Sun reached the end of the pool and began climbing up calmly. It was a slow climb and Ja Sun decided to try and utilize his already waning spirit energy to research the formation inscribed around the exit in-depth only for it to result in a failure.

Whatever the talk about divinity, the higher path, and whatnot was simply a lip service in Ja Sun's eyes. The only thing that lasted from his encounter with the strange figure was the injury to his sea of spirit.

'Anyway... the attack clearly meant as a warning or that individual didn't have much force in the first place. Although I'm leaking like a punctured balloon... the expenditure is a slow one.'

It was a fact that Ja Sun took less than five years to reach this level so he wasn't too worried about this injury.

As he climbed up to the exit, Ja Sun looked at the white egg in his hand that had begun to let out Slaughter energy once again and simultaneously took out the remaining two eggs.

If these things provided Domain... he wanted to have one in each of his martial souls!

Seeing the strange resonance already emerging between the three eggs, Ja Sun finally stepped into the exit while keeping his spirit energy wrapped around the three eggs.

*Weng*

Ja Sun found himself in a bright space. This location was constantly affecting his mental energy and seemed bent on making him go unconscious. His body was stiff and couldn't move while he continued to float in the empty space. His body couldn't move but his world of consciousness passively defended against these mental measures. On the other hand, the three eggs continuously rotated around him.

These eggs began to 'shed.' With every wave, a barely discernable white light from the Slaughter Egg, a contrasting black glow from the Evil Egg, and a conspicuous red ring of light from the Blood Egg would continue to surround him.

The colors mixed around Ja Sun before settling into an unsettling crimson.

The eggs continuously spun and let out more and more energy.

The Slaughter Egg was the first to completely exhaust itself. Meanwhile, Ja Sun felt his martial souls acting up.

In front of Ja Sun, the Three-eyed Silver Lion materialized and looked on with unbridled dignity. A form of dignity that Ja Sun felt a little strange about since he had never done anything to feel so dignified about...

'Except for smashing Ah Yin... hehe... wait, focus!' Ja Sun's gaze turned stern.

On the other hand, the Three-eyed Silver Lion rejected every single form of energy expelled by the three domain eggs. An emerald glow hung around it and finding no other vessel, the three streams of energy now mixed into a piercing crimson rushed into the back of Ja Sun's right hand.

There, the mark of Evil Title in the form of a pitch-black eye tattoo instantly came to life.

The originally pitch-black surface of the martial soul began forming extremely thin crimson runes. These crimson runes were made of strokes many times thinner than the width of a hair and on the surface, it looked like a crimson line that was marked in the middle of the pitch-black surface of the eye and followed its shapes and contours.

For the first time since the activation of his martial souls at the age of six, a familiar scene appeared around Ja Sun. The pitch-black eye suddenly blinked. To be precise, the strange totem on Ja Sun's right eye blinked and when he felt that another devilgod tiger would be summoned, he was stunned to find out that the blinking eye had communicated with him instead!

It was at this moment all the remaining energy of domain eggs that surrounded Ja Sun as a cacoon drilled into the Evil Title and made the crimson runes on its surface that formed a strange formation more pronounced.

Ja Sun frowned as his vision unconsciously blurred. The burden of suddenly having his other martial soul communicating due to strange circumstances and the three forms of domains forming and melding into one martial soul to produce something new finally knocked him out.

---

"Hmm... that was a nice dream," Ja Sun mumbled and sat up. Before checking anything else, he observed his sea of spirit energy and found that he still hadn't dropped a rank. Sighing softly in relief, Ja Sun stood up. He was in a wide clearing with a thin layer of bushed only a few meters away. Xie Xan lied close to him. Still unconscious.

'So... I was way too lucky to start with Three-eyed Silver Lion instead of Evil Title...'

There are a few martial souls that only reveal their actual abilities once they are equipped with spirit rings. Tang Yuehua's circumstances were similar. She only came to understand about Clear Phoenix's only ability once she got her first spirit ring. Meanwhile, Ja Sun's situation was similar, too.

Of course, his martial soul wasn't an enlightened one. But it was still a rare form of body-type martial soul and that's why Ja Sun had to hide it using his Vajra Gauntlets.

He had always believed that the ability of his martial soul would be more versatile. After all, from the beginning, this martial soul summoned a dangerous Devilgod Tiger that could keep up with a Titled Douluo. But only now did Ja Sun come to understand his martial soul's true ability... and he wasn't entirely pleased. This body was born with it so Ja Sun couldn't do much.

'Fuck... why would I want evil enhancement...' He looked at his right hand. Evil Title had only two abilities.

Random Summoning that would allow him to summon Evil-attributed creatures of varying strength. Evil, in this case, wasn't meant to entitle their actions. Evil happened to be a legitimate attribute but it couldn't be defined as easily as other elements and attributes.

And his other ability was called Evil Enhancement...

The more Ja Sun thought about it, the more he sighed. By itself, this ability wasn't bad at all. And if he had just started cultivating spirit energy, this ability would have been great, however, his expectations had grown higher. If it wasn't for his martial soul activating temporarily due to the domain being inscribed on its surface, Ja Sun would have remained in the dark for quite a while.

But there was one thing about this martial soul... the first aspect.

Summoning.

Ja Sun could summon creatures of varying strength. This was the truth. And, his Evil Title can only absorb spirit rings with evil attributes so this made it more efficient for Ja Sun. Instead of running around, he can simply summon beasts at will.

'But the domain...'

Ja Sun grinned as he walked over to Xie Xan and slapped his face a few times until the man woke up.

"I'm out?" Xie Xan muttered in confusion. His situation was already better. After gaining her domain, Bibi Dong was wrought with killing intent but Xie Xan revealed no such problems.

Instead, after a short meditation, he opened his eyes. The veins around his eyes bulged and he matched Ja Sun's calm gaze with blood-red pupils.

"I've... attained my realm of self. Not only that..."

Xie Xan gazed at Ja Sun but instead of seeing the natural colors of the word, his view was completely white and all he saw were red lines.

"My Asura Sight Technique is at the third realm, too."

"Oh?" Ja Sun raised his brows.

"What's the enhancement?" Ja Sun inquired. Xie Xan might have finally reached this realm of self-control after taking the dip in the bloody mary, Ja Sun reasoned. Xie Xan was already quite close to reaching this level and the additional resistance towards Slaughter and killing intent drove him over the edge.

"It's a simple boost to the sharpness of my martial soul. Like Erlong's... a 10% increase in sharpness."

Xie Xan replied with a sigh. He felt a bit lacking when compared to Oscar's talents in this regard but...

A white ring of light emerged from Xie Xan's body and his martial soul appeared in front of him. The originally crimson Moon blades now had a pattern of white veins on their surface and his eyes returned to normal.

"Holy shit!" Xie Xan exclaimed. Although he brimmed with killing intent after the activation of his newly acquired innate domain, his expression was one of pure joy.

"Can you feel it?" He looked at Ja Sun who shook his head, "The killing intent doesn't really affect my mind, so the only suppression is a physical one.*

"And now?" Xie Xan inquired again while Ja Sun felt his attributes rise sharply. It was the positive effect of the killing intent that roused the allies with strength and motivation.

Ja Sun nodded and Xie Xan removed his domain.

"What about you?" Xie Xan inquired.

"We came out of the same place, what do you think?" Ja Sun smiled. It was a lie. His domain was...

Better...

A tad too much. And it matched his wildest desires.

The duo explored their regions before packing up and leaving. On the way, Ja Sun and Xie Xan set their tents to rest and the golden-eyed evil incarnate finally completed his mission.

[Objective: Breakthrough the Slaughter City and find an enclosed space privately to pump your fist.

Optional Objectives:

1) Complete the task in 9 months.

2) 2) Complete the task in 6 months.

3) 3) Complete the task in 3 months.

4) 4) Complete the task in 1 month.

Mission Rank: C/B/A/A/A

Mission Rewards: The Ring Scriptures/ Spirit Ring Sublimation Array/Spirit Bestowal Array/Spirit Bestowal Array/Spirit Bestowal Array.

Time Limit: 12/9/6/3/1 Months]

[Status: Completed]

In the dead of the night, the area where the green tattoo of the vertical eye remained flashes and a scroll appeared in front of him. It was dusty and a golden trident seal kept the scroll closed. With an eager expression, Ja Sun dove into another source of knowledge but strangely, the more he read, the weary his expression became.

'This... doesn't make any sense.'

Ja Sun read the formation of the array once again and its uses.

'A formation created over a source of constant collection of soul origin with a divine intent controlling its expense...'

This scroll described Slaughter City perfectly in its key points. The crimson moon was a large source of Soul Origin. There was also a divine intent, or at least, that's what the figure called itself. And there was a reversal trigger that allowed Ja Sun to override the entire requirement of the Slaughter Arena victories itself.

But Ja Sun couldn't understand one thing.

'How the heck do I reach this divine level?'

This formation, after all, was entirely dependent on the application of a higher form of energy controlling a lower form of energy according to the user's wishes.

This formation in itself allowed someone to add years of cultivation to someone's spirit rings! This was an amazing formation and the more Ja Sun studied it, the more he wanted to find the S-ranked version of it!

While Spirit Souls had the same ability blessed to them because they are alive, this formation was simply a divine work of mankind.