Luo, Tuorei, and Tuolie were not utterly witless. Under the shadow of the Quaking Meteor, the trio prudently and quietly evacuated the dead star.

The three—Luo, Tuorei, and Tuolie—were the only living beings left on the vast dead star, save for the two anomalies.

At this juncture, Ji Changkong felt a profound sense of relief wash over him.

With the restraints gone, he could finally feast! He abruptly sat cross-legged on the spot, and a glazed light barrier instantly rose from him, encapsulating his entire form.

Holding his breath and steadying his mind, he lowered his gaze, refusing to look at the abnormal spectacle in the sky, focusing instead on sensing everything around him.

Under the quiet contemplation brought on by his centered state, the essence of the Grand Void Secret Record gradually began to reveal something to him. Following a faint ripple of intuition in his mind, he extended his spiritual consciousness, attempting to separate the aura of the Origin Poison from that of the Ghost Demon King.

This process proved immensely difficult. However, without the burden of external concerns, after a period of gradual comprehension, he slowly began to discern some clues.

Suddenly, within Ji Changkong’s ocean of soul, a flash of brilliant light seemed to ignite! All his soul consciousness chased after that light, and in an instant, where the light passed, Ji Changkong’s soul ocean transformed as if it had become a colossal mirror! Very quickly, after the light swept across, his soul ocean truly resembled a vast sheet of polished glass.

Within the mirror, the two auras had materialized into countless fine strands, engaged in a furious, frenzied struggle in a manner unimaginable to ordinary beings! The aura belonging to the Origin Poison appeared increasingly strained during the contest. Within that mirrored plane, the essence of the Origin Poison was gradually being assimilated by the aura of the Ghost Demon King, showing signs of being completely submerged! No! A jolt of alarm flashed through his mind. He suddenly realized that although the Origin Poison was also evolving, it was slightly inferior to the Ghost Demon King in terms of speed! After all, the Ghost Demon King had adopted the most extreme method on its evolutionary path—devouring! Devouring everything, regardless of form! Especially after consuming the monstrous entities that appeared above the Hai’an Continent, the Ghost Demon King’s life form mutated again! It became capable of consuming not only souls but flesh as well! It seemed that any creature possessing vast life energy between heaven and earth was now fair game for its consumption! With every creature it devoured, the Ghost Demon King’s body and life form would transform, and even its soul would change. The more it consumed, the stronger its power grew, and the greater its transformation! This indiscriminate feeding might eventually cause it to cease being itself; too many chaotic souls and life imprints could fundamentally alter it, gradually erasing its original form and replacing it with something entirely new.

When a single soul consumes too many disparate souls, the memories and life imprints within those devoured souls will alter everything about the original soul, potentially even erasing the core memories of the primary soul, replacing them with the memories of those consumed.

This method of consumption ultimately acts as a backlash against the devourer itself; in the long term, it is not the optimal path for evolution.

By the end of its rampage, the original devourer might vanish entirely, usurped instead by the souls it consumed! But he did not care! On this path of extreme evolution, the Ghost Demon King had rapidly acquired terrifying power, a strength sufficient to overwhelm all opposition. Though its power was impure, its overall might clearly surpassed that of the Origin Poison.

Especially in a war of attrition like this, overwhelming overall strength clearly held the advantage.

The longer the struggle continued, the more pronounced the Ghost Demon King’s advantage became, and slowly, its vast yet chaotic power began to gain the upper hand, drowning out the strength of the Origin Poison.

“Give up. If we merge, you will still survive. After we merge, we can become the most formidable existence in this universe! We can traverse the endless star domains!”

“No! Your path of evolution is flawed. Sooner or later, you will become something without self-awareness. Without consciousness, without wisdom—what use is strength?”

“I will always find a way. I can definitely find a method to strip the chaotic information from my soul, leaving only the most fundamental consciousness! I am certain I can do it!” “You cannot!”

As the two anomalies clashed, their souls engaged in a profound communication. They argued soul-to-soul, using a method only they could comprehend.

Previously, Ji Changkong could not perceive this exchange, but now that he was utterly calm and his soul ocean had become a mirror-like plane, he finally detected the silent communion between the two anomalies.

During this soul exchange, the two entities did not cease their physical confrontation; the assimilation of power continued unabated.

The Origin Poison was growing weaker...

Ji Changkong could distinctly feel it! How can I help it?

He asked himself this question while maintaining the soul mirror, frantically searching for a solution.

He knew that if he did not intervene, the Origin Poison would be assimilated by the Ghost Demon King, becoming the single strongest source of energy within it! If the Ghost Demon King acquired the primal toxic element, along with the Origin Poison’s insidious ability to silently poison all things, what a terrifying entity it would become!

At that point, not to mention the Sun Star Domain or the Meteor Sea Star Domain, even the advanced races within the Endless Star Domain might find no way to counter it! I must stop this! Ji Changkong deeply recognized the threat posed by the Ghost Demon King. He understood that if he failed to prevent the Ghost Demon King from assimilating the Origin Poison today, he might never get another chance.

Soul thought! The split soul thoughts from the Nebula Soul Refining Technique! A sudden flash illuminated his mind again. Abruptly, Ji Changkong seemed to have found his method. Seated cross-legged, Ji Changkong’s primary soul suddenly flew out of his body. In the next instant, his soul, using the splitting technique of the Nebula Soul Refining Technique, divided itself into countless fine threads! Thousands of soul wisps violently scattered, shooting straight up toward the heavens.

In the mass of swirling auras above, a third presence suddenly appeared—the presence belonging to Ji Changkong! He could not aid the Origin Poison with any other method because the Origin Poison and the Ghost Demon King had become utterly integrated. Any form of attack would inevitably harm the Origin Poison while striking the Ghost Demon King.

Under these circumstances, the only way to assist the Origin Poison was to become like them! By splitting his soul into countless fine threads, only those delicate, slender soul filaments could navigate and act within the tangled complexity of the two warring forces.

“Kongkong, why are you here?”

“Nonsense! Of course, I’m here to help you!” “Good timing. This saves me trouble!” The souls of the three instantly merged, becoming entangled like a mess of chaotic threads. In a flash, Ji Changkong’s thousands of split, minute souls were engulfed by a surge of savage, malevolent power. A stream of icy, chilling energy instantly wrapped around every single one of his soul threads.

It was like the entanglement of rope binding rope.

Yet, from those strands of icy, chilling aura, an intense heat emanated—the soul of the Ghost Demon King sought to absorb Ji Changkong’s thousands of split soul threads! Those tendrils originating from the Ghost Demon King’s soul possessed a terrifying suction force, much like how Ji Changkong used the Heavenly Origin Orb to absorb others’ souls; now, his own soul was suffering the same fate! Change! With a single thought, the thousands of soul threads belonging to Ji Changkong simultaneously sparked with tiny points of flame.

In the black clouds overhead of the dead star, a patch of fire suddenly erupted, an utterly strange spectacle.

Hiss, hiss, hiss! Strange noises echoed continuously in the sky; the air seemed to be combusting. The Fire of Life flared upon every single thread of Ji Changkong’s soul.

The thousands of wicked tendrils of aura emitted by the Ghost Demon King had tightly bound Ji Changkong’s soul signature like ropes. However, following the sudden transformation of Ji Changkong’s soul, the suction force emanating from the Ghost Demon King’s soul was immediately affected.

The Ghost Demon King’s devouring power abruptly ceased! As pinpoints of light flickered, the thousands of strands of aura emitted by the Ghost Demon King began to slowly weaken.

At this precise moment, the aura belonging to the Origin Poison, as if breaking free from some constraint, suddenly surged in strength.

“Kongkong, brilliant!” “Naturally!”

“Yes!”

Three soul consciousnesses echoed from the haze in the sky.

Because of Ji Changkong’s intervention, the Ghost Demon King, which had held an absolute advantage, now had to divert a portion of its power to deal with him. Consequently, the power the Ghost Demon King exerted against the Origin Poison necessarily diminished.

The Origin Poison, which had been weakening, became active once more.

“You cannot defeat me!”

The Ghost Demon King’s soul transformed again. Tendrils of soul became viscous and sticky, and from that sticky mass, an overwhelming torrent of various thoughts erupted.

These were the millions of consciousnesses the Ghost Demon King had devoured! A sea of memories! Over the years, the Ghost Demon King had continuously consumed souls from the Five Elements Continent, the Southern Dipper Star Domain, and the Celestial Destiny Continent—the souls of countless cultivators had been swallowed by the Ghost Demon King.

Every soul devoured by the Ghost Demon King possessed its own consciousness and memories. While the Ghost Demon King gained their life energy, it could not simply discard these consciousnesses and memories.

For years, these consciousnesses, memories, and all associated joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures had been suppressed deep within the Ghost Demon King’s body.

Even the Ghost Demon King knew that if these consciousnesses, memories, and emotions ever surged forth, they would instantly destroy him. For years, he had been cautiously seeking a method to refine these inputs, but without success.

These inputs, stemming from thousands upon thousands of devoured souls, had become an integral part of his powerful soul, making them exceedingly difficult to discard.

He knew this situation was perilous, so he had never dared to utilize this reservoir of power—he was afraid. However, at this critical juncture, in his desire to acquire the power of the Origin Poison and Ji Changkong, he finally could not resist unleashing this energy! Suddenly, a tidal wave of immense consciousness, memories, and all manner of emotions surged forth from every thread of his aura, violently rushing into the dispersed soul consciousnesses of Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison.

A sensation of the soul being forcibly stretched to its breaking point instantly flooded into the minds of Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison.

At this moment, the dispersed soul consciousnesses were inundated with countless memories, consciousnesses, and emotions that did not belong to them. This energy immediately affected Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison.

The consciousnesses of the two, contained within their dispersed soul threads, were drowned by a surging river, unable to seize control over the errant souls!

“Your souls have been assimilated by me!”

The consciousness of the Origin Poison turned cold and ruthless. After issuing this thought, it began to attack the consciousnesses of the Origin Poison and Ji Changkong, relying on its familiarity with these memories and emotions.

Both the Origin Poison and Ji Changkong had split their souls into tens of thousands of threads, each containing only a faint wisp of consciousness.

At this juncture, because each soul thread was flooded with vast amounts of alien soul consciousness, they completely lost control over their self-awareness.

Now, even attempting to reintegrate their consciousnesses felt utterly beyond their capability.

Too many consciousnesses, memories, joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures filled every single faint soul thread, overwhelming their awareness and preventing them from gathering even a sliver of strength.

Not only them, but even the Ghost Demon King itself began to gradually lose itself amidst this colossal ocean of consciousness...

Within a short time, the Ghost Demon King’s soul aura fractured into thousands of emotional states: compassion, fear, regret, madness, elation...

The energy he had rigidly suppressed for so long had finally erupted, and now even he was beginning to lose control! Emotions like compassion and regret were utterly foreign to his soul aura—such a change signified that the Ghost Demon King had undergone a massive transformation.

He is beginning to lose control of that vast ocean of consciousness! If this continues, forget Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison—even the Ghost Demon King will be assimilated! It will either turn into a mindless husk, a walking dead, or a monstrosity possessing thousands of conflicting consciousnesses! In either case, the Ghost Demon King will no longer be the Ghost Demon King, the Origin Poison will no longer be the Origin Poison, and Ji Changkong will no longer be Ji Changkong! What should I do? Weak soul consciousnesses were scattered across tens of thousands of souls; logically, even forming a coherent thought should be incredibly difficult.

Why? Why can I still think without impediment? Why? Why do I still seem to exist? Have I never changed?

The Second Soul! Suddenly, Ji Changkong realized something! I still have a reliance! The Second Soul is still there, and it has always been within the main body! This soul has never participated in the battle! What allows me to think without obstruction, what shields me from the influence of that massive ocean of consciousness, is not the primary soul—it is the Second Soul! I still have power! (To be continued. For future developments, please log into F)