novelraw Chapter 965: A Flood Of Souls
Chapter 965: A Flood Of Souls
Han Yu’s soul Qi stores had grown tremendously over the years. Between his cultivation and the Eight Emotions Lotus they had reached a terrifying level.
Even then...
Nearly half of it had vanished from one activation.
Usually the technique struggled even against opponents a realm above him. The Eternal Smiling Ancestor was countless levels beyond that.
If the creature had been complete... Han Yu knew this would have failed instantly.
The only reason it worked was because the Ancestor was incomplete.
A reflection.
A fragment.
An unborn existence.
Even then his soul Qi was pouring away like water.
Within his Soul Space the Eight Emotions Lotus trembled.
The little lotus seemed strained.
Yet it still helped him.
Threads of Soul Qi moved through it and returned to Han Yu in orderly streams.
It guided the power.
Stabilized it.
Without it Han Yu was certain his soul would have collapsed already.
He summoned his halberd.
His hands were occupied.
His gaze could not move.
So he controlled it through spirit sense.
The halberd rose into the air.
Then descended.
BOOM!
It struck Yongnian’s frozen body.
A crack appeared.
The Frost Bat twitched.
The halberd rose again.
BOOM!
Another strike.
More cracks.
Second after second passed.
Han Yu struck again and again.
The cracks spread slowly across the ice shell.
Yongnian remained trapped inside.
A full minute passed.
Then...
KACHA!
The cracks covered the entire shell.
The frozen body shattered.
Yongnian exploded into fragments.
Blood.
Ice.
Broken flesh.
Everything scattered into the sky.
SCREEEEEECH!
A terrible screech erupted.
The Eternal Smiling Ancestor broke free.
The violet frost upon its body shattered.
Han Yu felt the backlash immediately.
"PUAH!"
He spat out a large mouthful of blood.
His body shook.
Pain exploded through his head.
The backlash from releasing the Soul Petrifying Glare hit him like a mountain. Thankfully the Eight Emotions Lotus moved. It released soft waves through his Soul Space and absorbed most of the impact.
Even then Han Yu nearly blacked out.
Above them the Eternal Smiling Ancestor flickered violently.
Its vessel was gone.
The ritual pillars had all disappeared.
The connection had broken.
The massive spring in the sky began shrinking.
Its edges blurred.
The smiling figure faded.
The giant image collapsed inward.
Minute by minute it reduced in size.
Until finally...
Only a tiny spring remained.
Barely one meter wide.
Han Yu and Madam Cold Fang had already fallen back to the ground.
Neither had strength left.
Madam Cold Fang sat against a rock.
Her breathing was uneven.
Her Dao Embryo had vanished.
Han Yu lay on the snow while staring upward.
"Did it work?" he muttered.
"It has to." Madam Cold Fang replied softly.
The little spring continued fading.
It was almost gone.
Then suddenly... Inside Han Yu’s Soul Space the Eight Emotions Lotus shook.
"Yi Ya!"
The small voice sounded out.
Han Yu froze.
"Yi Ya! YAAAAAAAA!"
The lotus cried again.
The next moment...
A terrifying suction force erupted from Han Yu’s body.
The tiny spring that was disappearing suddenly stopped.
Then it stretched.
Like rubber.
Pulled toward Han Yu.
"What!?" Madam Cold Fang shot upright.
Han Yu himself was equally shocked.
The spring twisted.
Compressed.
Then—
KACHA!
Space cracked!
A massive fracture appeared in the air.
The tiny spring tore apart.
The crack expanded.
One meter.
Three.
Ten.
It turned into a spatial rift.
Both of them stared.
Han Yu immediately thought the worst.
"The Ancestor is breaking through?"
But nothing came out.
Instead... White wisps emerged.
One after another.
Then dozens.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Han Yu’s eyes widened.
"Souls?"
He recognized them immediately.
Human souls.
Weak.
Strong.
Old.
Young.
All of them poured from the rift.
Madam Cold Fang stood frozen.
The flood increased.
It became a river.
Then an ocean.
The souls drifted toward Han Yu.
"No wait—"
He barely got the words out. The souls rushed into him. His body was flooded instantly.
And inside his Soul Space the Eight Emotions Lotus erupted in joy.
"YI YA!"
The lotus spun wildly.
Roots spread.
Petals opened.
It began devouring the souls greedily.
Thousands disappeared.
Then tens of thousands.
Han Yu felt his soul energy rise explosively.
The lotus grew brighter.
Larger.
The little figure within it laughed joyfully.
Madam Cold Fang stared at him in disbelief.
The flood of souls continued.
And Han Yu suddenly realized something terrifying.
These were not random souls.
These were all the souls sacrificed by the Eternal Smiling Ancestor.
Every victim.
Every smiling corpse.
Every ritual.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Perhaps even more.
All of them had been trapped.
And now...
The Eight Emotions Lotus was eating them all.
Han Yu continued absorbing the souls pouring from the rift.
At first he had simply focused on taking advantage of the opportunity. Soul Qi was precious. Every bit of it required years of accumulation, tempering and cultivation. Even the Blood Sect with all its people providing Eight Emotions Energy could barely compare to what he was receiving right now.
But the longer he watched...
The more shocked he became.
The stream was endless.
Minute after minute the souls continued pouring from the crack in space.
The rift had already expanded to dozens of meters and the white torrent still had no end in sight.
Han Yu’s eyes widened.
"This is impossible..."
Yongnian had sacrificed many people.
That much Han Yu knew.
Villages.
Travelers.
Entire groups.
Even then...
The number should have only reached several thousand at most.
There was no way there should be this many souls.
Then realization struck him.
His expression changed.
"These are not just Yongnian’s victims..."
He finally understood.
These souls belonged to every sacrifice ever offered to the Eternal Smiling Ancestor.
Every worshiper.
Every ritual.
Every era.
Every generation since the deity had first been worshiped.
The souls had been trapped all this time.
Stored.
Accumulated.
Fed to the Eternal Smiling Ancestor endlessly.
And now... The destruction of the ritual had released them all.
Nearby Madam Cold Fang stood silently. She had no idea what she was witnessing. The white wisps meant nothing to her. She could only sense some strange energy flooding into Han Yu.
Yet the amount made even her uneasy.