"Second Soul!" This soul, having never joined the fray from beginning to end, retained its peak power! On the Dead Star, Ji Changkong's true body looked up at the sky, a chilling glint suddenly blooming across his face.

The next moment, under the control of the Second Soul, Ji Changkong's true body raised a luminous object shimmering with a dark red halo, aiming it toward the various smoky clouds overhead! It was the Heavenly Origin Orb! This miraculous treasure from the Dead Star Domain unleashed its strange, all-consuming suction force upon souls! The ethereal smoke perpetually swirling around the Dead Star, under the influence of the dark red halo, was drawn involuntarily toward the Heavenly Origin Orb "as if by a colossal magnet."

In the span of a few breaths, all the clouds drifting above the Dead Star vanished into the Heavenly Origin Orb.

Whether it was Ji Changkong's soul consciousness, or the energy emanating from the Ghost Demon King or the Origin Poison, it all fell within the confines of the Heavenly Origin Orb in an instant.

Years ago, when the Ghost Demon King first appeared, it had attempted to willingly enter the Heavenly Origin Orb, but Ji Changkong had stopped it.

At that time, the Heavenly Origin Orb lacked substantial soul energy; its power was extremely weak. Had the Ghost Demon King entered then, it might have been able to assimilate the Orb. However, after so many years, the energy within the Heavenly Origin Orb had become overwhelmingly vast! In the Western Regions, in the Northern Wilds, on that unfamiliar continent...

The Heavenly Origin Orb had devoured countless souls; every added wisp of soul strengthened it further. When the souls of hundreds of thousands of demons fell entirely into the Orb, its energy reached an incredible level.

Only now could the Heavenly Origin Orb truly be called a top-tier divine weapon! This was precisely why he dared to use it to absorb the Ghost Demon King! Especially now that his own soul energy and that of the Origin Poison were already entangled with the Ghost Demon King’s, he felt even more assured.

In a daze, his main soul realized it had entered the world within the Heavenly Origin Orb.

In this world, the heavens were filled with vortexes, each seeming to lead to another dimension.

The Heavenly Origin Orb felt like another star system, boundless and infinite. The land was covered in ravines and swamps, the swamps teeming with bright green bubbles. Thick grey clouds hung overhead like tattered rags.

Cold, desolate, and dark—these were the eternal constants of this world.

"Where is this place!" The thousands of souls belonging to the Origin Poison simultaneously transmitted this unified thought.

The vast will, memories, and the ocean of thousands of emotions he had released suddenly began to rapidly diminish! The world inside the Heavenly Origin Orb—the celestial vortexes—emitted boundless, strange energy. For a moment, the vortexes above seemed to come alive, releasing visible forms of energy that permeated the heaven and earth, influencing the entire domain! Under the influence of this energy, the Ghost Demon King's immense consciousness, memories, and the ocean of thousands of emotions, which it had clung to tenaciously, seemed to ignite.

Behold, those immense masses of consciousness, memories, and various emotions began to vanish swiftly under the white mist! The Heavenly Origin Orb possessed this ability! By devouring numerous souls, the Heavenly Origin Orb was, in some aspects, functionally similar to the Ghost Demon King! However, the Orb was merely a divine weapon, not a vessel of flesh and blood. The Heavenly Origin Orb could not only swallow souls but also possessed the capacity to refine away all impurities within them! The Ghost Demon King lacked this capability! Over the years, every soul absorbed by the Heavenly Origin Orb was transformed into pure energy; all impurities were refined away, forging the Orb's strange power and might.

The Heavenly Origin Orb was not flesh, nor a novel life form; this fundamental ability was something the Ghost Demon King did not possess.

Therefore, as soon as the Ghost Demon King’s vast consciousness, memories, and countless emotions appeared within the Orb, the Heavenly Origin Orb immediately activated this core ability, commencing systematic refinement! The current Heavenly Origin Orb was no longer the one from before! As the internal space of the Orb expanded infinitely, its energy grew ever stronger. Even the Ghost Demon King, having fallen within, could only be suppressed and subjected to the Orb’s influence.

Yet, Ji Changkong's soul and the Origin Poison's soul were immune to this effect within the Heavenly Origin Orb.

The Origin Poison had resided here since the Orb was weak. The world within the Heavenly Origin Orb was essentially the Origin Poison's home; he was deeply familiar with every aspect of it.

Over the years, the Origin Poison had cultivated within the Orb, knowing every corner, every blade of grass, like the back of his hand. He was naturally unaffected by the Orb's energy.

Ji Changkong was naturally immune as well; he was the Orb’s master. The Heavenly Origin Orb had implicitly accepted his presence, forming a mystical connection with his soul. Here, while he couldn't command everything at will, he could use his mind to harness some of the Orb's power.

The Ghost Demon King panicked! It exhibited a look of sheer dread for the first time, attempting to recall its scattered power, trying to escape this bizarre world! It could sense it.

Here, only its energy was affected; its sharp killing edge was being severely eroded! With every passing second, its power diminished! This felt like an artifact specifically designed against it! It wanted to leave, but when it tried, it discovered an even more unsettling reality.

—Because the three souls were entangled, any attempt to move was forcefully tethered by the souls of the Origin Poison and Ji Changkong, making escape nearly impossible.

At this critical juncture, the three souls were tightly bound like strands of a rope. While one sought movement, the other two held fast, creating an impasse.

In the past, outside the Heavenly Origin Orb, the Ghost Demon King might have broken free using its massive strength, but inside the Orb's realm, only it was affected, while Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison remained unharmed.

This left it in a precarious, defensive position.

When the Ghost Demon King realized it could not shake off the soul signatures of the Origin Poison and Ji Changkong, while simultaneously feeling the gradual weakening of the memories, consciousness, and vast emotional ocean it had absorbed, it finally felt true terror! Those memories, consciousness, and the immense emotional sea were the foundation of its terrifying strength; their refinement meant its power was constantly dwindling.

Under these conditions, it wouldn't take long before the vast energy it relied upon for survival would truly dissipate into nothingness! Although the Ghost Demon King had always desired to excise this energy—which carried the risk of backlash—it wasn't through this method. It sought to achieve this through its own power, not by external force.

Yet, the Heavenly Origin Orb's process, in a sense, seemed to be helping it achieve its goal.

However, the pure energy refined by the Orb after processing everything dispersed into the world within it, sucked away by the vortexes above.

It gained nothing! This act of paving the way for others made the Ghost Demon King hate them enough to vomit blood, yet it was helpless.

Only now did it realize the sinister intentions of Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison, but it seemed too late. If it could not find another way to break free from this place, certain death awaited! This time, inside the Heavenly Origin Orb, once its soul was critically weakened, even if shattered into billions of fragments, it would still be trapped within the Orb! Unable to escape this strange world, it would ultimately perish completely, with no possibility of reassembly! True fear gripped it.

"I won't let you succeed!"

The evil consciousness, previously dormant, once again seized dominance as the memories, consciousness, and emotional sea were refined away.

Suddenly, Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison felt the Ghost Demon King’s thousands of wisps of consciousness attempting to surge into their own auras! This was its primordial consciousness, completely under its control! This was the true Ghost Demon King!

"Bad!" Ji Changkong exclaimed inwardly, and thousands of wisps of his soul once again radiated the Heavenly Fire! Because the memories, consciousness, and emotional sea within its soul were being rapidly refined, the faint consciousness residing within Ji Changkong’s soul finally seized control, gaining dominion over every single wisp of its being.

A faint spark of fire flickered within every wisp of soul consciousness—this was the Flame of Life originating from the Heart of the Sun!

"Ah!" The Ghost Demon King's consciousness, surging into Ji Changkong’s soul, emitted thousands of shrieks.

The Flame of Life clearly eroded its soul consciousness; the flame was extraordinarily effective at incinerating evil energy.

Consequently, the Ghost Demon King’s initial consciousness, attempting to infiltrate Ji Changkong’s soul, immediately recognized that Ji Changkong was not the weak point. It redirected its efforts entirely toward the Origin Poison.

Ji Changkong couldn't help but cry out, his soul consciousness reverberating throughout the entire world of the Heavenly Origin Orb.

He saw through the Ghost Demon King’s malicious scheme! Inside the Heavenly Origin Orb, only the Ghost Demon King’s soul would be refined; neither he nor the Origin Poison was affected by the Orb.

Since escape was impossible, the only way to avoid being completely refined to death by the Orb’s power was to merge its consciousness into his and the Origin Poison’s souls.

Only by entering their souls would the Heavenly Origin Orb perceive the Ghost Demon King as an extension of them, thereby sparing it. This wasn't the Ghost Demon King devouring others; it was assimilation! Once Ji Changkong's and the Origin Poison's souls were heavily saturated with the Ghost Demon King's aura, the Orb would spare it, treating it as one of them.

Simply put, this meant the Ghost Demon King would, in turn, be consumed by Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison.

However, because the Ghost Demon King was actively choosing assimilation, its consciousness would be absorbed before it was fully refined, meaning its consciousness would survive. The Ghost Demon King's consciousness residing within Ji Changkong and the Origin Poison still held the potential, perhaps one day, to supplant their own!

"Get out!"

The Origin Poison roared, its soul transmitting a massive surge of will.

Yet, as fellow nascent beings of evil, their soul structures shared similarities. Unable to breach Ji Changkong’s soul, the Ghost Demon King’s primordial consciousness flooded entirely into the Origin Poison’s soul-body.

The Origin Poison could not resist because the three soul auras were too tightly interwoven. When the Ghost Demon King adopted this self-destructive path of assimilation, the Origin Poison could not react in time and was compromised.

"Though I failed to assimilate you, I have become a part of you. True, I am assimilated by you, but we are now merged! Even if you gain all my power, you will be influenced by me! I will exist forever! If you cannot properly control my energy, one day, I will replace you!"

The Ghost Demon King transmitted one final thought before its presence gradually faded.

After a while, the Ghost Demon King’s aura slowly perished, while the Origin Poison's aura gradually gained a touch of increased savagery, wickedness, and chilling malice. Furthermore, the proportion of this new aura began to steadily grow! The Origin Poison had assimilated the Ghost Demon King! However, since this occurred under the Ghost Demon King's volition, the resulting consequence was complex and difficult to gauge.

As for the vast memories, consciousness, and emotional sea—also belonging to the Ghost Demon King—they remained within the Heavenly Origin Orb, being refined and diminished by the Orb’s energies.

"Kongkong, I..." The Origin Poison transmitted a strange thought within the Heavenly Origin Orb.

Freed from the Ghost Demon King's assault, Ji Changkong's thousands of soul wisps began to reassemble. In a short time, within the Orb, Ji Changkong’s divine spirit reformed into an ethereal phantom.

The Origin Poison followed suit, quickly reconstructing its body as well.

It manifested a physical body, but where previously the flesh had been fair and the bones crystalline, the Origin Poison’s skin was now dark, and its eyes had turned dark green. Its aura had changed drastically, becoming cold, ruthless, violent, and bloodthirsty. Those newly acquired energies seemed to have gained the upper hand.

"Sigh..." Ji Changkong sighed bitterly. "I don't know if we won or lost this battle."

It was truly difficult to judge. Logically, the Ghost Demon King was utterly eliminated this time and shouldn't reappear.

However, it had become a component of the Origin Poison's body. While the Origin Poison assimilated it, it failed to completely eradicate its consciousness. Even if the Origin Poison eventually purged the lingering consciousness, the Ghost Demon King's energy was now integrated into its being.

This meant that he and the Origin Poison had essentially merged. As long as the Origin Poison persisted, he would never truly vanish; his aura and essence would forever influence the Origin Poison.

In this light, even if the assimilated Origin Poison retained independent awareness, its subconscious would inevitably be affected by the Ghost Demon King.

Whether this constituted a victory or a defeat was genuinely uncertain.

"Kongkong, give me some time. I will handle the residual aura he left behind," the Origin Poison stated after a moment of silence.

Nodding, Ji Changkong replied with a heavy heart, "Yes. Stay here in the Heavenly Origin Orb. Call me when you feel ready to see me."

Saying this, Ji Changkong let out another sigh of melancholy and, with a complex expression, emerged from the Heavenly Origin Orb.