192: Chapter 191 The Heart Blade Solidifies

After an incense stick's time, Zhou Lie retrieved a palm-sized dark red jade box from the bottom of that cyan flying boat's cabin.

The jade box was engraved with dense Seal runes, which were flickering slightly at this moment, as if resisting something.

Even through the jade box, everyone present could sense the aura emanating from within—

Bloody, cold, and carrying a faint trace of Dragon might.

It was the aura of the Blood Bone Venerable.

Xu Zhaoyang took the jade box, his gaze falling upon those Seal runes.

"Such an exquisite Seal..." he murmured softly, "These runes are not something the Heavenly Heart Sect could possess."

He raised his right hand, and a wisp of dark golden light condensed at his fingertips.

That light was extremely thin and sharp, like the keenest blade.

He made a gentle slash.

The Seal runes shattered in response.

The jade box opened.

A fist-sized dark red bead lay quietly inside the box.

The bead was dark red throughout, with countless fine, blood-colored patterns flowing on its surface. These patterns wound like snakes, slowly slithering across the surface of the bead, and with every movement, a trace of bloody aura emanated from within.

Deep within the bead, a phantom figure was vaguely visible.

That figure was extremely faint, so faint it was almost invisible, and one could barely discern the outline of a person.

A shriveled body, protruding spine, and sunken eye sockets.

The Blood Bone Venerable.

His remnant soul was curled up deep within this blood fiend demon core, sleeping, waiting for the day it would be awakened.

Xu Zhaoyang stared at the bead, silent for a long time.

Then, he took out a palm-sized mysterious black jade box.

That jade box was pitch black, with the Sea Quelling Department's unique Seal Formation engraved on its surface, capable of insulating all aura leakage.

He placed the blood fiend demon core into the box and closed the lid.

The Seal Formation activated, and those mysterious black runes flickered slightly, completely sealing off all aura within the box.

"Take it back to the Sea Quelling Department," he said in a deep voice. "Ask the Elders of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion to personally take action and use the Soul Searching Technique to dig out all the memories from this remnant soul."

"Yes!"

A black-armored personal guard took the jade box and solemnly tucked it into his robes.

Xu Zhaoyang turned around, his gaze falling upon the hovering mysterious black flying boat, and upon the figure of the youth at the ship's rail.

Jiang Hanzhou.

The youth who possessed Dragon might.

He looked at him, and a thoughtful glint flashed in his dark golden eyes.

Then, he stepped onto the waves and ascended to the flagship.

"Set course for home."

His voice echoed in the night sky.

...

The mysterious black flying boat continued sailing eastward.

Jiang Hanzhou sat cross-legged in the corner of the cabin, his eyes slightly closed.

His heart and mind had sunk deep into his Sea of Consciousness.

There, the Heart Blade was floating quietly.

On the dark golden blade, those winding, Dragon-like patterns were clearer and deeper than before. The cold glint at the edge of the blade was also sharper and purer than before.

And surrounding the Heart Blade, countless tiny dark red specks of light were slowly rotating.

Those were the remnant soul fragments of the Blood Puppets.

In the battle just now, the Heart Blade had slashed through over a hundred Blood Puppets, completely erasing their remnant souls. But while erasing them, those remnant soul fragments were also absorbed by the Heart Blade, becoming a part of the dragon patterns on the blade.

At this moment, those dragon patterns were flickering slightly, as if digesting the remnant souls just absorbed.

Jiang Hanzhou's Divine Sense slowly extended, touching those dark red specks of light.

The moment he touched them, he sensed—

Countless fragmented images, countless twisted sounds, countless chaotic emotions, surging in like a tide!

Those were the memories of those Blood Puppets from when they were alive.

They were originally ordinary fishermen and villagers, abducted to the island by the Blood Bone Venerable and refined into Blood Puppets using evil arts.

During the refining process, their Physical Bodies were eroded by the power of blood fiends, and their Divine Souls were twisted by evil arts, eventually turning them into monsters that only knew how to kill.

But before they became Blood Puppets, they had also been human.

Some had wives and children, some had parents, some were preparing to go fishing, and some had just built new houses.

Those images flashed by, so fast they were almost impossible to capture.

Jiang Hanzhou's Divine Sense gave a gentle jolt, shaking away the surging remnant soul fragments.

He did not need those memories.

He only needed them to become nourishment for the Heart Blade.

The Heart Blade gave a slight tremor, and the dark golden dragon patterns on the blade suddenly lit up!

Those remnant soul fragments surrounding it, as if summoned, surged madly into the blade!

With every fragment that merged, the dragon patterns on the blade became a fraction clearer, and the cold glint at the blade's edge became a fraction sharper.

The resentment, fear, and despair contained within those remnant souls were instantly crushed, purified, and absorbed by the Dragon might within the blade the moment they merged with the Heart Blade.

Only the purest Soul Power remained.

The Soul Power merged into the Heart Blade, and the Heart Blade became more solid.

The winding dragon patterns on the blade began to change at this moment.

The originally pure dark golden patterns now had a layer of extremely faint blood color. That blood color was extremely faint, so faint it was almost invisible, but Jiang Hanzhou sensed it.

Those were the traces left by the remnant souls of the Blood Puppets.

Not resentment, not obsession, just the simple traces of having "existed."

The Heart Blade had absorbed them, and thus it carried them.

From now on, they would continue to exist in another way.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes.

Two beams of dark golden light shot out from his eyes, flashing and vanishing in the darkness.

He lowered his head to look at his hands.

His hands were still intact, but he could sense that the Heart Blade deep within his Sea of Consciousness had grown a little stronger.

It was not an increase in power, but an improvement in "texture."

If the previous Heart Blade was a freshly forged rough casting, then the current Heart Blade was a semi-finished product that had undergone preliminary polishing.

It was one step closer to becoming a true Divine Soul blade.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and continued to refine the remaining remnant soul fragments.

The flying boat cut through the waves, and the night grew deeper.