Chapter 4003: Dealing with the Soul Eater Emperor
The Soul Eater Emperor's emotions were highly unstable, swinging between moments of calm and frequent bouts of madness. In his crazed state, he rambled endlessly, mixing relevant and irrelevant things, peppered with countless curses. Amusingly, he didn't stick to one language over several hours of ranting, he used at least dozens, including human, common, and other races' tongues.
Lin Moyu was able to piece together what had happened. Back then, Wan Xuanling had captured the Soul Eater Emperor as an experiment, fusing him with a world spirit. After the fusion succeeded, the Soul Eater Emperor gained intelligence. Wan Xuanling's plan was that, after fusion, the world spirit would become the dominant will, allowing him to control the Soul Eater Emperor. Through the Emperor, he could then control countless Soul Eaters a terrifying force.
But unexpectedly, after the fusion, the Soul Eater Emperor not only gained intelligence but became the dominant will, suppressing the world spirit. The world spirit had empowered the Soul Eater Emperor, but failed to control him. Even at the eternal level, a world spirit was no match for the Soul Eater Emperor.
Wan Xuanling, however, had a backup: he could detonate the world spirit, severely wounding the Soul Eater Emperor. Later, a great war broke out. Wan Xuanling returned gravely injured, and the Soul Eater Emperor seized the chance to devour him. To the Emperor, Wan Xuanling was a mortal enemy for capturing him, never realizing his intelligence was a gift from Wan Xuanling.
At the last moment, Wan Xuanling self destructed and detonated the fused world spirit. The resulting power gravely wounded the Soul Eater Emperor not just physically, but to his very core. His strength plummeted to the Dao Lord level, and he fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how many millennia passed before he awoke when the Human Sovereign arrived. He searched for a way out, but with the gate closed, he was trapped. Many more years passed until the Lord of Hell opened the gate, and he finally escaped. Outside, he found the world's rules had changed and fell into slumber again. But it wasn't true sleep he needed to feed, as Wan Xuanling's attack had left his power and intelligence unstable. Without feeding, he would revert to mindlessness and his strength would continue to drop.
So he began destroying worlds and devouring living beings. After consuming many, he needed time to digest, so he slept again. In this cycle of waking and sleeping, he gradually adapted to the new rules. The countless worlds and lives he devoured stabilized his power and brought more thoughts what he called increased wisdom.
He realized this couldn't go on forever. If one day all worlds were eaten, he'd be finished. Devouring beings was only a stopgap. Then he thought of Spirit Nurturing Wood. The world spirit that was detonated hadn't been completely destroyed using Spirit Nurturing Wood, he could regenerate it. If the world spirit recovered, so would he.
Such was the Soul Eater Emperor's story. Lin Moyu wasn't sure whether to pity him. Once, he'd been a carefree Soul Eater Emperor, mindless but supreme. But he was captured by Wan Xuanling, and gaining intelligence may never have been his wish. After so many years, though, none of it mattered now the Myriad Spirits Pavilion was empty, the world had changed.
Lin Moyu asked, "Do you know the specifics of what happened back then?"
The Soul Eater Emperor, still half crazed, replied, "Know what? I know nothing! They're all dead! All dead! All deserve to die!" Clearly, nothing more could be learned those events were buried by time. He didn't even understand what the Myriad Spirits Pavilion was, so there was no point probing further.
Now that Lin Moyu had obtained the Heaven Covering Stone and Immortal Jade, his plan was more than half complete he just needed to return and carry it out. The immediate issue was how to deal with the Soul Eater Emperor.
He had two options: seal it here (difficult, since the Emperor could ignore ordinary formations; if the Spirit Treasure Hall were intact, he could just close the door, but now that wasn't possible), or kill it. But killing it wasn't easy World Burning Fire would take at least a hundred years to refine it, maybe longer. Lin Moyu didn't want to waste so much time, and letting it live was risky: if someone opened the gate in the future, it might escape and threaten all worlds again.
How could he destroy it quickly? Lin Moyu thought of one possibility: Spirit Annihilation Art! The only offensive art in the Myriad Spirits Secret Art, Spirit Annihilation targets world spirits, not Soul Eaters. But this Soul Eater Emperor had fused with a world spirit, making it his core. When Wan Xuanling detonated the spirit, it wasn't fully destroyed some remained, protected by the Soul Eater's power. If Lin Moyu could erase the world spirit, he'd erase the Emperor's core. Even if it didn't die, it would at least fall into slumber or lose intelligence and revert to mindlessness.
"If this works, it's a good solution," Lin Moyu thought. But first, he needed to shatter the Soul Eater Emperor to make it easier to use the Spirit Annihilation Art. His realm was still low, and he'd just learned the Myriad Spirits Secret Art he wasn't sure how effective it would be. Breaking the Emperor into fragments would weaken it and enhance the art's effect.
Soul Eaters are hard to kill even the Soul Eater King's avatar, when smashed to dust, couldn't revive. Even World Burning Fire struggled to fully destroy one. Now, facing the Soul Eater Emperor, Lin Moyu had no guarantee.
"Great Dao World Ending Palm!" After another rebirth, Lin Moyu unleashed his full power, smashing the Emperor into fragments, then pounding the pieces into powder. Only when it could be crushed no further did he check the World Burning Fire's effect. As expected, refining was slow it would take at least a hundred years, maybe more.
Though Lin Moyu could endure, he didn't want to waste that much time if there was another way. He tried using the power of death to corrode it, but his realm wasn't high enough the effect was even worse than the World Burning Fire.
Taking a deep breath, after another rebirth, a purple light flared.
Spirit Annihilation Art!
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