But at that very moment — just as Ma Xuan Ye's divine consciousness severed itself from his old vessel — a flicker of realization flashed through his mind.
There was still one more soul present.
He turned his gaze back, piercing through the layers of blood mist — and locked onto the figure kneeling silently at the blood pool's edge.
Su Jinglan.
She still knelt, one knee to the ground, unmoving, wordless — like a sacrificial statue — and yet her absolute stillness filled Ma Xuan Ye with unease.
"There must be no mistakes at the final moment."
He muttered darkly, his hand twitching.
A streak of dark light shot forth, striking between Su Jinglan's brows.It sank into her soul, imprinting a dim crimson sigil — the Life-Death Soul Brand — an ancient forbidden curse that would forever bind her existence to his will.
Su Jinglan trembled, blood seeping from the corner of her lips, but she neither dodged nor resisted.
"The Soul Brand is planted. Your life and death now rest within a single thought of mine,"Ma Xuan Ye sneered.
"When the grand ascension is complete, I shall release you. I shall grant you a Fivefold Bloodstone and a portion of the Demon Seed's might — enough for you to ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm."
"A reward.And a chain."
"One step more — and you shall be immortal."
Having said this, he finally turned back toward the center of the blood pool.
His soul stirred once more, beginning the final severance — separating from the old vessel.
Wisps of black smoke coiled outward, slithering toward the new body — Liu Chen's — pulsing with raging demonic qi.
When Ma Xuan Ye's soul entered Liu Chen's body, he did not merge directly.
Instead, he plunged into Liu Chen's spiritual sea — into the deepest core of his soul.
Before him stretched a bleak underworld — a sea of faint gray mist — where layers of drifting soul fragments floated like dying smoke.At the center, a single faint point of light flickered, fragile, on the brink of extinction.
The remnant of Liu Chen's soul.
Ma Xuan Ye sneered.
His divine soul surged, manifesting vast black tides that crushed everything in their path.There was no negotiation.No subtle infiltration.
Only raw, merciless conquest.
Every step he took choked Liu Chen's spiritual sea tighter — darkness devouring the last vestiges of light.Liu Chen's soul fought back — feeble as a dying ember in a hurricane.
"Surrender,"Ma Xuan Ye whispered — his voice like a serpent gnawing at the mind.
"You are nothing.This soul, this body — all of it belongs to me."
He reached out.
His divine form solidified into a claw, tearing through the air of the soul realm — seizing the faint orb of Liu Chen's consciousness — squeezing.
Liu Chen's soul recoiled, shrieking in silent agony, retreating into the deepest crevice of his spirit — a place Ma Xuan Ye had not yet invaded.
The ancestor's laughter grew louder.
His soul condensed into a vast storm of black clouds, drowning Liu Chen's consciousness.
"A mortal soul... lasting this long is already a miracle."
He took another step — shattering half the remaining soulscape.
But in that instant — just when all light seemed about to vanish, when the final breath of resistance seemed about to flicker out — Liu Chen's soul trembled.
A surge of wild, primal defiance — like a hurricane erupting from the abyss — rose up from the deepest corner of his being.
It was not fear.It was not survival instinct.
It was rage.It was hatred.
It was the accumulated pain of a lifetime swallowed in silence.
Memories flooded in — tidal waves of grief.
The sight of his old tribe.The barren hill.The lifeless bodies sprawled across bloodstained snow.
Vu Mi — the mad, gentle elder — who had once laid a trembling hand upon his fevered brow.The one who taught him how to survive hell.
The ancient chants.The frozen pools of blood.The sleepless nights spent trembling, fearing that death would rip his soul from his body.
He saw himself again — struggling step by step through a life of scorn and contempt.
A roar exploded within his spiritual sea.
A spark — no larger than a grain of sand — ignited in his core.
I am not dead.
I am not done.
I have not yet avenged them.
From the crushed remnants of his soul, Liu Chen unleashed a surge of pure defiance — like a cornered beast baring its fangs.
He had no cultivation.No heritage.Nothing but a single thing:
Will.
And that will — alone — was enough to defy death.
Ma Xuan Ye froze.
For the first time, he realized that this was not a soul ready to fade into oblivion.
"You refuse to vanish?"he muttered darkly.
But before he could react, Liu Chen's tattered spirit lashed out.
An explosion of searing resentment burst through the core of the soul sea — a silent, wordless blast of burning hatred.
There were no hiding places left.
No soul barriers.
No defenses.
Only a raw, exposed ember of spirit.
And from that ember — a piercing spike of existence rammed itself into the core of Ma Xuan Ye's invading consciousness.
A tiny wound.Barely noticeable.
But enough.
Enough for Ma Xuan Ye to shudder violently — a freezing pain stabbing up his spine and into his mind.
"Impossible..."he whispered — no longer laughing.
A soul without form.Without power.Sustained by nothing but a desperate dream of survival — and yet it dared to bite back.
That one desperate counterattack shook Ma Xuan Ye's divine soul.
Ripples tore through his awareness — a chaos of fragmented will.
From the last scrap of Liu Chen's spirit, a soundless cry rang out.
Not spoken with a voice — but felt through every trembling thread of consciousness.
I! Will! Live!
The declaration was primal.
It was identity.
It was fire surviving beneath eons of frozen stone.
Ma Xuan Ye howled — his soul recoiling a half-step — dark clouds around him fraying into wisps of smoke.
The demonic aura that had once blanketed Liu Chen's spiritual sea began to flicker and warp.
"You dare!"he roared.
He gathered his soul force, aiming to crush the defiant ember once and for all.
But at that moment, from Liu Chen's battered spirit — a primal, instinctive explosion detonated — like thunder shaking clear skies.
It was no technique.
No magic.
Only the sum total of every ounce of hate, pain, and stubborn life Liu Chen had ever known.
That backlash ripped through Ma Xuan Ye's divine soul — tearing open a wound that burned like molten iron.
"CURSE YOU!!"Ma Xuan Ye screamed.
He staggered backward three steps within the spiritual sea — his crimson eyes blazing — black mist swirling chaotically around him.
This was no longer the calm, mocking predator.
This was true fury.
A mere dying ember had wounded him.