Chapter 578 Within The Soul

My hands instantly went down toward the shadow, glowing and glistening in a golden glow.

The shadow didn't understand what was happening as my hands clasped upon his neck. 

It tried to wiggle and wriggle out of my grasp, but from within the glow around my hand net like inscriptions spread out and surrounded the shadow, enclosing it within a golden cage.

"You got him?" asked the old man.

"Yes," I said.

"Then I can come back," he said as he retreated away from beating up the shadows.

The formation above us began spreading once again growing back to its original form, and at the same time culling and killing any of the dark creatures that were far too deep into the palace perimeters.

The monsters died in droves, evaporated to nothingness as the formation crossed them and destroyed them, leaving the shadow looking completely stupefied and confused.

"What have you done!?" it shouted.

"Why are you complaining, you tried to kill me and now you feel wronged when I try and defend myself?" I smiled.

"You're a devil!" it said.

"Wow, calm down, I haven't even done anything yet to be called a Devil. Anyway, what do you want to do with this?" I asked as I handed the old man the captured shadow.

"I'll destroy it," he said

The old ma held a fist and was about to obliterate the shadow.

For a split second, I saw the shadow's malformed mouth quiver, as if he forced down a smile.

"Hold on," I said before the old man swung down.

"What is it?" asked the old man.

"I find it strange," I said, "Actually it's very strange, this thing should have struggled more, why is it playing so meekly? Once captured it gave up, and when you threatened to destroy it, it didn't try and protect itself, as if it had wanted to be destroyed…"

"Perhaps it had given up and realized it had no way to survive?" said the old man.

"No creature would ever give up struggling to live and survive, unless they knew they either weren't dying… or their goal is to die," I said.

"Do you consider a heart demon a living creature then?" asked the old man.

"Its goal is to possess and control a body, then become a living being, so it's not far fetched… but then again the word heart demon isn't that simple, what caused this to manifest is something we don't know, and simply destroying it will not solve the issue of it being created in the first place. Yes, it's a heart demon after all, if we don't find a way or if we don't understand how it came to be, then it can just manifest again the same way it did the first time..."

"I have a way to find that out," he said as he reached out for the shadow.

The shadow began squirming and tried desperately to avoid the extended palm of the old man but at the final second, the shadow jumped into the palm.

"Sit down!" I said as I pulled the shadow back.

"I wouldn't trust the shadow that much, did you want to do a soul search?" I asked.

"Indeed, it was the only way to understand this Heart Demon's purpose and reason,"

"Since you're the progenitor and creator of this Heart Demon if you allow it into your consciousness it will devour it and consume you," especially since you're half sane… but that part I wasn't going to say loudly.

The old man thought for a moment and said, "Then are you going to be the one to do it?" he asked.

"No, this is too powerful and too dark for me…" I said

"Then we have no choice," the old man interjected.

"I didn't say that, I meant that I won't be able to, but my avatar sure as hell can," I said.

"Avatar? i never knew you had one…"

"Everyone has their secrets," and I'm not your junior brother, yet once again I won't say that out loud.

I summoned Shen Mo's body from within my Poison God's book. I had thankfully organized myself to have the most important and crucial items on my possession to be within my Poison God's heritage, as for the rest of the random stuff they can either be in a fake side bag, or inside the pagoda. The Lord of Lords pagoda is unfortunately inaccessible right now due to spatial interference. But the rest is easily accessible since it's a part of me.

Shen Mo's body appeared in front of me and I switched between the two consciousness.

"This body is even weaker than the one you're using… it's barely at the ascendant stage, what do you plan to do with this?" asked the old man.

"It may be weak physically and in terms of cultivation, but when it comes to soul cultivation I doubt it has a match," I replied proudly.

"I admire my junior brother's pride in his ability, but too much of it is arrogance and arrogance will only lead you to ruin," he said.

I didn't want to argue with the old man and said, "Give me your hand," I said.

"What do you need me for?" he asked.

"I'll take you both into my sea of consciousness," I replied.

"Are you insane, you'll give him two meals instead of one this way," he said.

"How about you trust me for a second? I promise even you will be surprised after this," I said.

The old man thought for a moment, then steeled himself, he probably was thinking that no matter what as the senior brother he'll have to fix his junior's mistake anyway and he was going to soul search the shadow inside my sea of consciousness at the same time.

Once the old man gave me his hand, I clasped it and pulled all of us inside my sea of consciousness.

It didn't take long before we were within my world. Unlike Shen Bao's mind which was an endless sea and a fortress that protected the mind. Shen Mo based his mental sea upon the Dark Forest of the Poison Planet.

I located the old man instantly, he manifested right next to a shabby looking shack at the top of a hill that overlooked the entirety of the forest.

As for the shadow, it manifested in a random area in the forest a bit away from the hill.

"…" the old man was looking around, slightly dissatisfied.

"You seem displeased," I said behind the old man.

"Ah yes, a bit, I thought it would be a bit eccentric or different, but this isn't that bad," he said.

"But who said this was normal?" I muttered.

"Strange, why do I hear you from high above?" the old man said and turned to finally look at me.

But his eyes seemed to widen in utter shock as he realized what he was looking at.

A manifestation that looked nothing like a human, person or a being that should exist. My appearance was molded after the corrupt soul of Shen Mo, and that soul was tortured and punished and had become a dump to all vile and evil thoughts and feelings for me. A perfected demonic soul that could wish to have nothing but to share in its agony and misery with the world itself.

This was far more brutal and dangerous than a Heart Demon, a demonic soul that sought to destroy and consume, not to mention it was the size of a moving mountain.