271: Spiritual Realm Soul Body

The furnishings in the secret chamber were quite simple, with only a stone bed, a few jade shelves for storing medicinal herbs, and some simple utensils, nothing too extraordinary.

However, the rich medicinal fragrance and a strange energy fluctuation permeating the air indicated the unusual nature of this place.

Mu Chen walked to the stone bed, his back to Jiang Donghua, and remained silent for a moment.

Then, he slowly raised his hand, unbuttoned his gray cloth shirt, and pulled his upper garment down to his waist, revealing his back and chest.

“Look here.”

His voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.

Jiang Donghua’s gaze immediately focused on Mu Chen’s chest, just above his heart.

There, a shocking, dark mark was clearly visible!

The mark was about the size of a bowl, and its color was not a bruise or a birthmark, but a strange, deep, almost black hue!

Its edges were irregular, subtly wriggling as if it were some living thing, yet also resembling a grotesque runic brand, exuding a chilling and ominous aura that made one's heart palpitate.

What made Jiang Donghua’s pupils constrict even further was that, with Mu Chen’s breathing, the rich medicinal power and vitality emanating from the rare herbs in the secret chamber were drawn by some invisible force, gathering in threads towards that black mark, then, like a clay ox entering the sea, silently devoured by it!

During the process of consumption, the surface of the black mark even faintly emitted an extremely subtle yet bone-chilling sizzling sound, accompanied by a strange aroma reminiscent of flesh being slowly seared and rubbed!

This bizarre sight caused the experienced Jiang Donghua to frown deeply for a moment, falling into profound thought.

“This kind of curse, which continuously devours the host’s vitality and energy, and possesses burning and corrosive properties, is definitely not an ordinary bloodline curse or soul curse. It’s more like some active, parasitic, malicious energy body, or an extremely obscure and sinister secret technique curse…”

Jiang Donghua rapidly eliminated various possibilities in his mind, but for a moment, he couldn't find any ancient records that perfectly matched.

He raised his head, looking at Mu Chen with a solemn gaze, and asked in a deep voice.

“Did you have this thing since birth?”

Mu Chen slowly shook his head, put his clothes back on, and turned around, his face showing a complex expression mixed with pain, fear, and anger.

He took a deep breath, needing immense courage to slowly begin speaking, his voice low and hoarse.

“No, it wasn’t congenital.”

His gaze became somewhat distant, lost in that unbearable memory.

“That was five years ago.”

“At that time, I had just reached the Peak of Nine-Star Dou Ling, full of vigor, and took on a high-difficulty mission released by the Inner Academy: to investigate an ancient ruin on the edge of the Black-Corner Region…”

Mu Chen’s voice carried a barely perceptible tremor; the memory itself held bone-chilling coldness and immense fear. He slowly spoke, uncovering the scar from five years ago.

“That ruin was said to have been left by an expert who perished centuries ago, located deep within an extremely secluded canyon on the edge of the Black-Corner Region. At the time, the mission description was vague, only stating that there might be a great treasure, but the risk was extremely high.”

“I, along with several other fellow disciples from the Inner Academy, and many experts from the Black-Corner Region who had heard the news, almost simultaneously broke into the core area of the ruin. It was there that we encountered that thing!”

Mu Chen’s breathing became somewhat rapid, and his face grew paler.

“That was no great treasure at all! It was an old monster that had died over a hundred years ago, yet could still exist in a soul body state!”

“What?!”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Donghua’s pupils suddenly constricted, and a tempest raged in his heart!

Dead for over a hundred years, and its soul body could still maintain its form and be aggressive?!

This simply defied common sense!

How powerful would Soul Power need to be to sustain such a long period without dissipating after the decay of the physical body?!

A lingering fear appeared on Mu Chen’s face.

“That soul body was extremely violent, utterly irrational, killing anyone it saw!”

“Its attack methods were unpredictable and its power was terrifyingly formidable! Fortunately, at that time, the secret realm had attracted a large number of Black-Corner Region experts, and the scene was extremely chaotic…”

He gave a bitter smile.

“After the initial panic, we intruders had no choice but to temporarily join forces. Everyone’s primary goal was to eliminate that mad soul body first!”

“Otherwise, no one would survive!”

“It was a brutal battle beyond description.”

Mu Chen’s voice deepened.

“Dou Wang Experts were torn apart like weeds under that soul body’s attacks, with no fewer than dozens perishing! Even a Dou Huang expert from a major power in the Black-Corner Region had an arm brutally torn off, heavily injured, and fled!”

Jiang Donghua listened, his heart filled with awe.

A Dou Huang lost an arm, and dozens of Dou Wang Experts died or were injured!

The strength of this soul body in its lifetime was simply horrifying!

“Finally, by pooling everyone’s strength and paying an unimaginable price, we managed to forcefully blast apart and annihilate that soul body.”

As Mu Chen spoke, a hint of pain flashed in his eyes.

“However, at the very last moment before it completely dissipated, it let out an extremely malicious soul shriek, and its remaining Soul Power transformed into several fragments, like cursed arrows, randomly shooting towards the few people closest to it!”

Mu Chen slowly raised his hand, pointing to the black mark on his chest, his voice filled with bitterness and despair.

“And I was one of the unfortunate ones struck.”

A brief silence fell in the secret chamber.

In Jiang Donghua’s heart, a monstrous wave had already been stirred!

Dead for over a hundred years, yet its soul body could still severely injure a Dou Huang and slaughter Dou Wang Experts—what terrifying Soul Power would that require?!

“Spirit Realm Soul! This is definitely the strength of a Spirit Realm Soul!”

Jiang Donghua was almost certain!

Only when Soul Power had entered the Spirit Realm was it possible to maintain such immense power after the physical body had perished for a hundred years!

“Possessing a Spirit Realm Soul, if he wasn’t an Eighth-Grade Alchemist Grandmaster in life, then he must have been an peerless expert whose cultivation reached at least the Dou Zun level!”

Jiang Donghua quickly made his judgment. Whichever it was, it was definitely an old monster standing at the pinnacle of the Fighting Qi Continent’s pyramid!

Such a terrifying existence, a soul curse unleashed with its last remaining power and monstrous resentment before death.

Its insidious, malicious, and difficult-to-remove power was simply terrifying!

Far beyond ordinary injuries or toxins!

No wonder even Great Elder Ye Tianxing could only shake his head with a bitter smile; no wonder Master Alchemists of the fifth and sixth grades were helpless!

This was simply not a problem that ordinary elixirs could solve!

This involved the level of the soul's origin!

Jiang Donghua's expression became unprecedentedly solemn.

He finally understood that Mu Chen’s problem was a hundred times more troublesome than he had initially imagined!