509: Chapter 509 Soul Self-Destruction

Nie Ning carefully examined the soul body of Que Guan in his hands.

After reaching the Seventh Rank, the soul undergoes a comprehensive evolution, allowing it to survive for a long time even after leaving the original body.

However, it is ultimately just a soul body; without the support of a physical vessel, it is difficult to unleash its full power.

Furthermore, as time passes, without special preservation methods for the soul body, the spiritual essence within the soul will slowly dissipate and transform into the primitive state of 'spirituality.'

This spiritual essence is also the necessary medium for the birth of living beings, rather than being part of some legendary reincarnation cycle in a world of the dead.

The reason reincarnation is spoken of is that the Spiritual Power of certain powerful individuals is so heaven-defying that it causes the spiritual essence to re-condense after dissipating.

These people often possess certain memory fragments from their previous lives.

Unfortunately, the quantity of the soul is fixed; once the spiritual essence condenses to a certain degree, a new soul is born, rather than waiting for the original spiritual essence to re-converge into the original soul.

When powerful individuals reincarnate, other spiritual essences are often mixed in, which is the reason many reincarnated individuals do not acknowledge their previous lives.

As for why some people are born with powerful Spiritual Power, it is because Spiritual Power and the soul are not the same thing.

Spiritual Power is a derivative of the soul; the fixed quantity of the soul does not mean that Spiritual Power is also fixed.

Just like a chemical reaction, some people's souls can convert into more Spiritual Power, which is what is commonly referred to as talent.

However, any acquired enhancement of the soul will revert to factory settings upon death.

...

"You traitor! Do you know what you are doing!"

Que Guan's soul body roared loudly at Nie Ning.

Even now, he still only thought that Nie Ning had betrayed them, never imagining that Nie Ning was not from the Latta World at all.

Nie Ning smiled. "Of course I know. I was on their side all along. You were just too stupid to realize that I am not from this world at all."

As he spoke, Nie Ning reverted to his original appearance.

Only then did Que Guan realize that Nie Ning was actually one of those Extraterrestrial Demons!

Even though it had become a soul body, Que Guan still felt an inexplicable chill.

Since the other party could disguise himself as a descendant of a Sacred Beast and was not even restricted by the Power of the World, just thinking about it was terrifying.

If not handled well, this could be the beginning of the end for the Latta World!

Thinking of this, a sense of determination welled up in Que Guan's heart.

In that very instant, the surrounding elements began to fluctuate violently.

"Not good! It is going to self-detonate!"

Claude shouted upon seeing this.

Nie Ning was given a huge fright.

After all, this was a Seventh Rank expert; even a weakened version was not something he could withstand.

If he were caught in the direct blast, he would likely lose a layer of skin even if it didn't kill him.

Nie Ning reacted very quickly, using the soul-slashing secret technique of the Stairway to Godhood to condense a blade of Spiritual Power.

Immediately after, he inlaid a world rune onto it, and the blade of Spiritual Power slashed straight towards Que Guan's soul body.

Because Que Guan had already decided to self-detonate, it did not put up any defense and was thus split in two by the blade of Spiritual Power.

But before Nie Ning could breathe a sigh of relief, Que Guan's body, which had been split in two, began to expand.

Seeing that Nie Ning was about to be caught in the explosion, Claude gritted his teeth and threw out a purple jade pendant, which formed a translucent shield around Nie Ning.

'Boom! Boom!'

The impact formed by the explosion engulfed Nie Ning.

When the explosion subsided, Louisa flapped her dragon wings to blow away the smoke and dust.

Inside the broken shield, Nie Ning's skin was blasted until it was a bloody mess.

'Phew~'

Nie Ning let out a long sigh of relief.

Thanks to the jade pendant from just now, the explosion did not cause him too much damage.

One had to admit, he had underestimated the decisiveness of these experts.

Playing the self-detonation card without a word—anyone would find that hard to deal with.

"Thank you."

Nie Ning looked at Claude and thanked him sincerely.

Although this kind of explosion would be unlikely to kill him outright, it would certainly have left him severely injured, and he didn't know how long it would take to fully recover.

"Hmph!"

Claude crossed his arms and looked disdainful. "This was a high-quality Soul Protection Jade; it will all be put on the account of the Extreme Phase Demon Palace."

If Nie Ning did not possess the Power of the World and had not demonstrated extraordinary reaction abilities, he would not have saved Nie Ning at all.

However, it had to be said that Nie Ning's performance was indeed impressive.

Not just his keen senses, but also his speed in formulating strategies.

Perhaps it was Nie Ning's nature, or maybe he had experience with backstabbing, but such people often lived longer.

"That is natural. Even if the Extreme Phase Demon Palace does not reimburse it, I can pay for this expense myself."

Nie Ning said with a smile.

At least for now, these two were not as guarded against him as before, which was good news.

"By the way, you two previously called me..."

'Crackle~'

Just as Nie Ning was about to ask what they had called him to do, the rock wall above began to collapse, and huge stones fell down.

"This is not a place to talk. Let's go somewhere else."

Louisa returned to her original form, then transformed into a cloud of fire, carrying Nie Ning as she flew upwards.

Claude reached out and beckoned, and several small flags used for isolating auras flew into his hand, after which he followed the two through the cave entrance and left.

...

A moment later, Nie Ning and the others arrived at a lake; by this time, Nie Ning's injuries had already recovered.

The group isolated the lake water and entered the bottom of the lake, where Claude used a mystic tool to clear out a space for activity.

Looking at the castle that had appeared in the middle of the lake bottom, Nie Ning opened his mouth in surprise.

'These people really know how to enjoy themselves.'

Although it wasn't anything valuable, Nie Ning had always lived rough in the past, at most building a basement for himself to live in.

Walking into the castle, all kinds of furniture were fully equipped, and there were even Artificial Spirit butlers providing service.

The group each found a seat and sat down.

Nie Ning drank the tea brewed by the Artificial Spirit and his eyes lit up; the flow of magic power within his body had even accelerated slightly.

'Authentic Yuntai Mountain tea.'

Nie Ning felt quite emotional; as expected, he was still a bit envious of the wealthy.

If he remembered correctly, Yuntai Mountain tea was truly worth ten thousand high-grade magic crystals per tael, and long-term consumption could refine the purity of magic power.

Moreover, it was imported from outside, and even if you had money, you couldn't buy it.

After finishing the tea, Nie Ning looked at the empty wound on Claude's abdomen. "Why don't I help you heal that?"

After all, he had helped him, so it wouldn't be right to be sarcastic to him now.

"No need. This is not a wound caused by a common tool; with your abilities, you are unable to heal it."

Claude refused directly.

Although Nie Ning could use the Power of the World to help him heal, the experience from just now was not enough to make him trust Nie Ning.

Besides, this kid had a knack for stabbing people in the back; who knew if he would play any tricks in secret.

Seeing this, Nie Ning didn't feel it was appropriate to say anything more.

The other party was an Eighth Rank expert; if he really couldn't hold on, he would say so, or perhaps he really didn't need his help to heal.

...