276: I am Venerable Huanhai!

Jiang Donghua manipulated the now thick and solid Soul Power, tirelessly and with a hint of excitement from 'shearing the sheep,' once again fiercely pressing down on the old monster's remnant soul, which had become so thin it was almost dissipating and its reactions were extremely sluggish.

The remnant soul seemed to have finally exhausted the last trace of its original power supporting its existence, and could no longer maintain its form!

Instead of letting out an angry roar as before, it suddenly contracted and collapsed violently!

Immediately after that...

"Boom!"

A silent yet violent explosion, originating from the very core of the soul and powerful enough to shake the entire dark space, suddenly erupted!

The remnant soul, at its very last moment, chose to self-destruct!

Terrifying explosive energy instantly swept through the entire dark space, tearing it into fragments!

The originally viscous darkness shattered like a mirror, piece by piece, revealing something deeper and more primordial behind it?

Outside, in the secret chamber...

Mu Chen, who had been anxiously observing Jiang Donghua and his own changes, suddenly widened his eyes, his face completely drained of color!

He watched in horror as the black cursed mark on his chest, which had been dormant for five years, now wriggled violently as if alive!

Immediately after, the blackness spread like an out-of-control tide, rapidly covering his entire chest, and even spreading towards his neck and arms!

An indescribable agony, mixed with extreme pain and a strange sense of liberation, instantly swept through his entire body!

"Ugh ah—!"

Mu Chen couldn't help but let out a muffled groan of pain, his body trembling violently.

"What the hell happened?!"

He thought the curse had completely spiraled out of control and erupted!

He thought his death was imminent!

And at the core of that explosion, Jiang Donghua, who bore the brunt of it, felt an unprecedented impact!

The explosive energy generated by the self-destruction was far more violent, domineering, and pure than any previous soul impact!

The amount of information and soul pressure contained within it reached a peak!

Just as his Soul Power was about to be devoured by this destructive energy...

A clear, grand, yet gently smiling soul voice, like a great bell, penetrated the chaos of the explosion, directly resounding within his soul perception.

"Hehe, I really didn't expect this!"

This voice was completely different from the resentful and insane roars of the remnant soul from before!

It was filled with a sense of open-mindedness from having experienced many vicissitudes, and a hint of playfulness?

Immediately after, the voice uttered a name that would shock anyone who knew it.

"This Venerable, Venerable Huanhai!"

Jiang Donghua's heart trembled violently!

Venerable Huanhai?!

He seemed to have vaguely seen this name in a fragment of some extremely ancient Alchemist's handbook!

That was a legendary Eighth-Grade Alchemist Grandmaster?!

Before he could think further, the voice continued, its tone as relaxed as if it were chatting.

"Little fellow, don't be afraid."

"What you are hearing now is not this Venerable's lingering consciousness, nor is it a thought of seizing your body."

"This is merely a soul recording I left beforehand before my demise."

The soul recording, which called itself Venerable Huanhai, continued to speak with a calm voice, yet tinged with a faint regret and reminiscence.

"Before my death, this Venerable was a Grade 8 Alchemist, with a cultivation reaching the Eight-Star Dou Zun realm, living in seclusion in the Sound Valley of Central Plains."

"Eight-Star Dou Zun?! Sound Valley of Central Plains?!"

Jiang Donghua's heart once again churned with tumultuous waves!

This background was far grander than he had imagined!

Central Plains was the heart of the Fighting Qi Continent, a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers resided, and the Sound Valley was one of its most mysterious and powerful forces!

With the identity of an Eight-Star Dou Zun and a Grade 8 Alchemist, Venerable Huanhai must have been a colossal figure who could shake the Central Plains with a mere stomp of his foot during his lifetime!

However, Venerable Huanhai's next sentence caused Jiang Donghua's heart to suddenly clench.

"Unfortunately, an innocent man gets into trouble for possessing a treasure. This Venerable, by chance, obtained something I shouldn't have, which attracted the covetous gaze of the Hall of Souls!"

"Hall of Souls?!"

Upon hearing these two words, Jiang Donghua felt a chill deep within his soul!

That was the most mysterious and terrifying super force on the Fighting Qi Continent!

Its strength was unfathomable, its actions strange and ruthless, specializing in collecting the soul bodies of powerful individuals!

Venerable Huanhai's voice took on a hint of helplessness and mockery.

"Those rat-like cowards who hide their faces and devour human souls!"

"They coveted what I possessed, and even more, they wanted to capture my soul body."

"A great battle, hehe, though this Venerable fought hard and killed several Elder Zun, I was outnumbered. In the end, my physical body disintegrated, my soul was severely wounded, and I had no choice but to burn my remnant soul and escape into this ruin, which I had prepared long ago, setting up restrictions to await a successor who might not even exist."

The words revealed an astonishing amount of information, and Jiang Donghua instantly understood the source of the curse.

This was simply the unwilling resentment and final resort of a top-tier expert who had been hunted to death by the Hall of Souls!

"Little fellow,"

Venerable Huanhai's voice seemed to carry a hint of a smile, seeing through Jiang Donghua's thoughts.

"I tell you these things not to expect you to avenge this Venerable. The Hall of Souls is a deep and murky water, far beyond what you can touch now."

"It's merely to let you know the cause and effect. Your ability to come here, break open the shell of my Soul Devouring Curse Seal, and awaken this final recording of mine, is your destiny."

Hearing this, Jiang Donghua secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He was truly afraid that this old monster would leave behind some terrible setting like 'if you don't avenge me, I'll curse you to death'.

It seemed that this Venerable Huanhai was quite a sensible person after all.

"This Venerable has little time left, so I shall bestow this last bit of power upon you."

Venerable Huanhai's voice gradually became ethereal and illusory.

As his voice faded, the dark space, shattered by the self-destruction, and Venerable Huanhai's final soul recording, began to slowly crumble and dissipate like weathered sand sculptures.

But they did not completely vanish; instead, they transformed into pure, incomparably profound halos of light, shimmering with wisdom!

These halos seemed to possess sentience, like rivers flowing into the sea, eagerly and gently merging into Jiang Donghua's wisp of Soul Power that remained outside, and then, through the soul connection, surged mightily towards Jiang Donghua's main body!

"Ugh!"

Jiang Donghua, sitting cross-legged in the secret chamber, suddenly trembled and couldn't help but let out a muffled groan!

A massive stream of information, like a bursting flood, frantically poured into his mind!

This was not a complete inheritance.

Instead, it was fragmented pieces of Venerable Huanhai's knowledge as a Grade 8 Alchemist and Eight-Star Dou Zun, accumulated over his hundreds of years of life, concerning alchemy, soul cultivation, Fighting Qi cultivation, insights, experiences, and even some scattered memories!

The sheer volume and complexity of this information surged in like a tidal wave!

Although incomplete, the experience, insights, knowledge, and occasional flashes of inspiration contained within it were undoubtedly an immense treasure for Jiang Donghua at present!

He would need a very long time to slowly digest, absorb, and understand these fragments, but without a doubt, this inheritance would have an immeasurable and profound impact on his future!

And at the same time, the spreading black patterns on Mu Chen's chest outside also began to rapidly dissipate like a receding tide, eventually disappearing completely!