The soul technique practiced by experts of the Third Heaven Realm, though merely the most fundamental, still sent Shi Yan into raptures.

The Profound Ice Cold Flame had gone to great lengths to manipulate Shi Yan into acquiring the Soul Gathering Orb. It had not only meticulously explained the origins and purpose of the Soul Devouring Beast and the Soul Gathering Orb, but it had also extracted a soul technique from its memories, solely to enable Shi Yan to withstand a surge of spiritual attack from the Orb.

Shi Yan, looking pleased, hid amidst the dense foliage of an ancient tree, sinking his consciousness into the Blood Pattern Ring, diligently listening to the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s exposition.

“During your cultivation journey, you human martial artists are affected by hatred, greed, delusions, obsessions, and resentment—collectively known as Inner Demons, which can cause you to suffer a deviation of qi and madness, rendering all your cultivation useless. However, there are also those with immense power and iron will who not only fear no Inner Demons but can even utilize them for specific purposes.”

“Inner Demons?” Shi Yan was slightly taken aback. “Is the soul technique you’re about to teach me related to Inner Demons?”

“Precisely! By utilizing your Inner Demons—hatred, greed, delusions, obsessions, and resentment—you gather them into a cluster of emotional energy through a special method. Then, you leave an imprint of your soul within this mass of Inner Demons, temporarily forming a Demon Soul. A Demon Soul is a false soul of yours. When facing a spiritual attack from the Soul Gathering Orb, you merely need to release the Demon Soul; the Orb’s spiritual energy will destroy your false soul, leaving your true soul entirely unharmed.”

“A Demon Soul? Just a false soul?”

“Hmph!”

The Profound Ice Cold Flame sounded slightly impatient. “That fellow’s cultivated Demon Soul is, of course, much more than that! He can use Inner Demons to cultivate a true Demon Soul. A true Demon Soul is a secondary soul—it possesses its own divine abilities and magic power, even a second Sea of Consciousness. Once it finds a suitable body, the Demon Soul can even form a second ‘him’! The Demon Soul is condensed from Inner Demons and carries the life imprint of the primary soul, possessing the primary soul’s memories and knowledge. As long as the Demon Soul is weaker than the primary soul, it will be controlled by it. But if the Demon Soul becomes stronger than the primary soul, it can even seize control of the primary soul, turning a Divine Realm expert into a bloodthirsty maniac!”

“If that’s the case, having a Demon Soul is like having an extra life?”

“Exactly! Once a Demon Soul is successfully cultivated, in a critical moment, the primary soul can sacrifice the Demon Soul to escape. As long as the primary soul survives, it can re-coalesce the Demon Soul; its uses are endless. If either the primary soul or the Demon Soul survives, they can regenerate the other, complementing each other. It is incredibly potent.”

“Heh heh, the cultivation method for this Demon Soul is indeed formidable.”

“Hmph! I will certainly not tell you the method for cultivating a true Demon Soul. The one I teach you to form is merely a disposable false soul, possessing no magical power. If you were to learn the true Demon Soul cultivation method, you would undoubtedly turn against me in the future—don't even dream about it.”

Shi Yan chuckled dryly, realizing that obtaining the Demon Soul cultivation method from the Profound Ice Cold Flame in the short term was probably unrealistic. He didn't press the issue, continuing his transmission: “Then tell me the method for refining the false soul.”

“It is like this: gather your hatred, greed, delusions, obsessions, and resentment, along with all the negative emotions within your body, and coalesce them into a soul cluster in your mind. Once the soul cluster is formed, violently inject your soul into it, and then rapidly withdraw. This allows your soul imprint to be left within the false soul, causing the soul cluster to possess your soul mark and form the false soul.”

“That’s simple?”

“Of course, it's not that simple. Midway through, I will control a portion of my power to help you sort out the soul cluster. Only then can you inject your soul. If I don't assist you, you will be directly trapped within the false soul, and the Inner Demons will dominate your every action, turning you into a bloodthirsty maniac devoid of autonomous consciousness.”

“You’ll help me midway? How?” Shi Yan snorted coldly. “Don’t even think about coming out of the Blood Pattern Ring!”

“This damnable ring has been restraining me; my soul cannot leave at all. But my consciousness can leak out a bit… Hmph, if my soul could escape this cursed ring, I would have left long ago!”

“Very well, let’s try it now.”

As the master of the Blood Pattern Ring, Shi Yan could vaguely control some of its functions. However, he had already made up his mind. No matter what, he would never dissolve the power binding the Profound Ice Cold Flame within the Blood Pattern Ring. This entity was too sinister and powerful, constantly scheming to seize his soul and possess his body. Compared to the Soul Gathering Orb, he feared the Profound Ice Cold Flame even more! Therefore, from beginning to end, he had consistently emphasized that he would not release even a shred of the Blood Pattern Ring’s constraint.

“Enough nonsense! Hurry up and proceed. The Soul Mirror formed by the Soul Gathering Orb could bring over the demon’s soul at any moment. Once that demon soul emerges, we must immediately rush to the Soul Gathering Pool. You must obtain the Soul Gathering Orb before the demon finds you, so you can use it to absorb him; otherwise, you will only meet a dead end!”

Hearing the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s urgency, Shi Yan dared not delay. He took a deep breath and slowly withdrew his consciousness from the Blood Pattern Ring. Glancing around, Shi Yan felt the location was unsuitable. This place was near the entrance to the valley where the Soul Gathering Orb resided; there was a possibility that members of the Gu family might pass by. If experts from the Gu family arrived, they might release their divine sense to search the area, potentially discovering his tracks. Thinking for a moment, to be safe, Shi Yan flew down from above and rapidly moved away from the valley. A few small hours later, Shi Yan arrived near the earthen hill. He carved out a hole in the hill, crawled inside, and began the process of condensing the false soul.

Activating the Soul Gathering martial technique, various negative forces surged out. In the acupoints that had not been purified, those negative emotions capable of affecting his mind seemed to still linger. Shi Yan deliberately directed his released spiritual power to gather a portion of the negative emotions from his acupoints, slowly guiding them into his mind. Hatred, greed, delusions, obsessions, resentment—these thoughts repeatedly surfaced in Shi Yan’s heart. Following the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s detailed explanation, as soon as these thoughts surfaced in his mind, he immediately combined them with the negative emotions, gradually coalescing them in his brain.

After a long, long while, a hazy gray vortex materialized in Shi Yan’s mind, saturated with various negative emotions and Inner Demons. These emotions condensed into a mass that continuously affected Shi Yan, making him clench his teeth and fill him with thoughts of bloodthirsty slaughter. This was somewhat similar to the situation when Shi Yan purified forces in his acupoints, yet it was weaker; it hadn't completely shattered Shi Yan's willpower or driven him into a state of self-oblivion.

“Alright, let me adjust it for you.” A wisp of the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s consciousness flew out from the Blood Pattern Ring, silently drifting toward Shi Yan’s mind. Shi Yan reacted as if facing a great enemy, not because of the vortex forming in his mind, but out of fear that the Profound Ice Cold Flame might suddenly cause trouble. He cautiously sensed the consciousness emanating from the Flame, only to find that this consciousness was not powerful; it seemed to contain no mixed memories or intellect, resembling his own spiritual power—just a pure surge of mental energy. Furthermore, this surge of mental energy carried no inherent invasiveness.

Shi Yan dared not relax, remaining secretly vigilant, prepared to resist at all costs if the Flame’s mental energy made any hostile move. He worried the Profound Ice Cold Flame might try some trickery.

Fortunately, this surge of mental energy from the Profound Ice Cold Flame seemed genuinely benevolent. This cold aura entirely infused the center of the gray mass. Upon receiving the infusion of the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s icy soul energy, the various Inner Demons within the mass in Shi Yan’s mind seemed to disperse evenly, and even the negative emotions he had gathered became placid under the Flame's cold energy. “It’s done. Inject your soul into it and then withdraw immediately!” signaled the Profound Ice Cold Flame.

Not daring to delay, Shi Yan focused his spiritual power, condensed his consciousness, slowly gathered his soul aura, forming a beam of light that fiercely pierced into the false soul.

In an instant, Shi Yan plunged into layers of illusions: the early death of his parents, the dullness of his life, the suffocation of being near death during an exploration—all flooded his heart.

All sorts of monstrous figures with green faces and grotesque fangs also surfaced in the phantoms, all baring their teeth and brandishing their claws, attempting to drag him into the Nine Nether Yellow Springs… Then, there were peerlessly beautiful, alluring women, scantily clad, their jade bodies exposed, adopting postures of a thousand enchanting charms… All manner of illusions manifested within the false soul. The moment Shi Yan’s soul beam pierced through them, he was startled to see countless scenes of wickedness and lust.

Finally, the dangers and temptations quickly vanished. When Shi Yan realized he had passed through all those illusions, he gasped in shock. Within the false soul, countless miniature reflections of himself appeared!

Those reflections were trapped within various illusions, their expressions ferocious and savage, embodying a violent bloodlust ready to destroy everything. None of the soul reflections of himself within the illusions appeared normal!

“Those are the reflections left by your soul imprint. Your soul imprint activated the false soul, allowing it to possess some of your consciousness. Relax, this false soul has no magical power and cannot affect you. You only need to place the false soul in front of you when you touch the Soul Gathering Orb; it can block the Orb’s spiritual attack, allowing you to grasp it.”

“The false soul…”

Shi Yan was astonished. “Why—why do I still feel like I’m inside those illusions? Why, why do I feel as if I haven’t truly exited? The ‘me’ inside those illusions… feels like the real me. What is happening?”

“You left your soul imprint inside. Although the false soul lacks magical power, it is still a condensation of your Inner Demons and is interconnected with your true soul. It’s normal for you to have that feeling. When you truly form a Demon Soul, your experience will be even more marvelous, but I will never tell you the real method for cultivating a Demon Soul!”

Demon Soul! Demon Soul!

Shi Yan withdrew his consciousness from the Blood Pattern Ring, his eyes suddenly flashing brightly. He muttered under his breath, “Sooner or later, I will trick the method out of you! Hmph!”

His consciousness left the Blood Pattern Ring, and the Profound Ice Cold Flame could not hear his self-muttering, but it still flickered.

Three days later.

Shi Yan, who had been constantly observing the sky, suddenly noticed rows of dark shadows appearing overhead, slowly flying toward the largest mine owned by the Gu family.

Shi Yan looked up immediately and recognized those dark shadows as the Azure Blood Demon Bats he had once ridden.

His expression shifted slightly. Shi Yan calculated that from his current location to the Gu family's mine would take at least half a day. However, reaching the valley where the Soul Gathering Orb was located would only take two hours!

Pondering for a moment, Shi Yan immediately made a decision and rushed toward the valley where the Soul Gathering Orb lay. He knew that a sudden change was imminent!