The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 42
Han Eol’s Soul Sea had originally resembled a jade-green ocean.
But through the Great Method, the newly surging Demonic Spirits bore the color of crimson blood.
As red mixed into green, Han Eol’s Soul Sea grew turbid.
Yet that cloudiness lasted only at first. As moments passed, the crimson tide of Demonic Spirits overwhelmed the green entirely.
Thus Han Eol’s Soul Sea transformed completely into a blood-red sea—the Blood Pool itself.
The water level of that Blood Pool rose in a heartbeat, threatening his vessel-shaped Soul Vessel. One wrong move and the crimson tide would breach its high walls and invade his very soul.
Nor was that all. The waves grew fiercer by the moment, shaking the vessel’s ramparts until they seemed ready to collapse. Cracks spread across its lower foundation, and blood began seeping through in trickles.
Han Eol’s soul recoiled in panic, desperate to flee to safety.
But the Blood Pool rushed in from all sides. There was nowhere to run.
‘This can’t happen.’
Even as consciousness threatened to slip away, Han Eol instinctively fought to protect his soul.
Rip.
A sound like tearing cloth erupted from Han Eol’s Upper Dantian.
As his Upper Dantian forcibly expanded, the water level of his Soul Sea dropped again.
But immediately fresh Demonic Spirits poured in, raising the level once more.
This cycle repeated endlessly.
Whenever Han Eol forced his Upper Dantian to expand and lower the water, Demonic Spirits surged in at once, threatening to drown him anew.
Chapter 2
‘No—I can’t—I’ll really die like this.’
Han Eol braced himself for his Upper Dantian to tear and expanded it violently all at once.
His Upper Dantian did tear in places, and blood streamed from his eyes, nose, and ears.
Now Han Eol had precious little time left.
His soul thrashed with urgency.
Then it happened. One hundred and eight malevolent spirits resembling Asuras, fleeing the Blood Pool in chaos, forced their way into Han Eol’s Upper Dantian.
In that instant, the High Monk’s sermon blazed through Han Eol’s mind.
We Buddhist monks who serve the Buddha will surely have Buddha statues encircling our monastery walls. If you diligently cultivate your practice method, I am confident that one day you will reap such fruit.
Just before Han Eol set out on the Highland’s fifth expedition, a High Monk in Chiangmai of Midland had imparted this teaching.
Of all moments, Han Eol recalled the High Monk’s words now.
Of course, Han Eol had not cultivated the Buddhist cultivation method as the gifted ones of Chiangmai did.
Yet he could perceive what those monks could not.
The Soul Sea, Soul Axis, Soul Pedestal, Soul Vessel, Soul Tower. And the soul itself.
The gifted ones of Chiangmai in Midland knew the Buddhist cultivation method but could not directly witness these soul-related phenomena with their own eyes.
Conversely, Han Eol knew no such method, yet he beheld the Soul Sea, Soul Axis, Soul Pedestal, Soul Vessel, Soul Tower, and soul with vivid clarity.
‘If I cannot surround the Soul Vessel with Buddha statues, then so be it—you spirits will become substitutes for them.’
The moment Han Eol’s will crystallized, a hand wreathed in brilliant color burst forth from his inner vision and seized the one hundred and eight Asuras in swift sweeps.
The colorful hand then pressed them onto the outer walls of Han Eol’s Soul Vessel, now split and cracking.
Just as sandbags are stacked to seal a breach when a dike threatens to burst under flood, Han Eol grasped at the spirits in desperation, reinforcing the perimeter of his vessel with their forms.
Against a tide like a tsunami, one had to try something—anything.
As Han Eol pressed the one hundred and eight Asuras around his Soul Vessel like stone statues, the malevolent spirits bore the brunt of the savage, rushing tide and waves.
Shrieeeeeek!
Each time the Blood Pool lashed down, the one hundred and eight spirits wailed in agony.
In return, Han Eol’s Soul Vessel showed no further signs of collapse.
Han Eol’s soul at last drew a breath of relief.
His desperate, makeshift measure had saved his soul.
Shortly after, Han Eol’s soul rapidly stabilized.
‘Whew.’
As his spirit calmed, order was restored.
Han Eol’s soul positioned itself in a safe corner within the Soul Vessel and devoted all effort to repairing his torn Upper Dantian.
Once he had barely restored his Upper Dantian, the Blood Pool too began to settle. The blood-red sea that had raged like a tempest moments before showed signs of gradually subsiding.
Throughout this process, Han Eol absorbed over ninety percent of the Demonic Spirits within the Blood Pool.
This meant no more Demonic Spirits remained to surge into Han Eol’s Soul Sea.
By then, Han Eol’s physical body had also completed its reconstruction.
While the Demonic Spirits in the Blood Pool passed through their rampage, absorption, and stabilization phases, Han Eol’s skin, muscles, organs, and bones underwent complete transformation.
And it happened not once or twice. Han Eol endured eighteen cycles of physical collapse and reconstruction.
Through this ordeal, his body was remade as if heaven and earth had been sundered anew.
First, Han Eol’s skin fully absorbed the function of Bark-Skin, gaining complete defensive and resistance enhancements.
Moreover, Supreme Dragon Clan Scales were broken down to the molecular level and densely coated throughout his skin.
These scales, far surpassing mere Bark-Skin, granted him a body of incomparable resilience.
Han Eol’s left middle finger also underwent a change.
The option of the Pyros Ring transferred entirely to his left hand’s third finger.
Beyond that, Han Eol absorbed a clock hand made of self-metal into his wrist.
This would prove useful when he wished to visit the ruins scattered across the Five Continents.
And then there was the Skull Bracelet.
The Skull Bracelet that Han Eol had acquired from the Spirit Clan’s artifact vault was not truly valuable for the bracelet itself, but rather for the six hundred malevolent spirits bound within it.
Yet those spirits had dissolved in the Blood Pool, melted away, and been reborn as one hundred and eight Asuras. They then clung to the outer wall beneath his Soul Vessel like sculptures, becoming part of it.
These Asuras had three heads and six arms each, their entire forms gleaming blood-red, casting an unsettling and grotesquely savage impression.
Beyond this, it was difficult to discern immediately what other abilities had been etched into Han Eol’s body.
In truth, Han Eol had no mind to examine such things at the moment.
After the tempest had swept through, Han Eol was coming to understand in his bones what it meant to be utterly drained.
‘Ughhhh. Thought I was done for.’
In the shimmering Blood Pool, Han Eol lay limp, his vacant eyes barely flickering open.
Chapter 3
‘What in blazes is this? How did it come to this?’
After the Great Method concluded, the Spirit Clan’s Twelve-Star Seat stared into the coffin with an expression of blank bewilderment.
The Blood Pool, rippling like gore, showed no apparent change from before.
At least, not to the naked eye.
Yet the Twelve-Star Seat could sense it clearly.
‘It’s not the Blood Pool. Urgh. The refined Demonic Spirits I’ve accumulated over nearly 2 Trillion Years, that vast wellspring of Demonic Spirit I poured into the Blood Pool—it’s all vanished. Grrrrr.’
The shock was so great that the Twelve-Star Seat clutched the back of his neck.
For the Spirit Clan, 2 Trillion Years was, by human reckoning, nearly ten thousand years—an eternity.
‘All that preparation, all those Demonic Spirits I’d gathered for my ascension to the Four Continents and for my direct descendants—gone in a single instant. This cannot be. This is impossible.’
The Twelve-Star Seat staggered, unable to bear the shock.
Unaware of this, the Nine-Star Seat offered his congratulations to the Twelve-Star Seat.
[Truly, you are wise, Twelve-Star Seat.]
[What?]
[Thanks to your swift judgment and bold decision, it seems our Spirit Clan has gained an enormous asset. Just look over there.]
The target the Nine-Star Seat indicated with his golden foreleg was none other than Han Eol.
Han Eol was now naked, examining the fruits of the Great Method. His skin radiated a soft crimson brilliance, almost like jade, and whenever that supple-looking skin received external impact, it released a dark, lustrous sheen.
The one assisting Han Eol’s test was the Three-Star Seat himself.
Having seized the body of a Dragon Clan member, the Three-Star Seat possessed the greatest physical offensive power among the Spirit Clan’s seats.
Now the Three-Star Seat extended the claws sprouting from his foreleg and raked them across Han Eol’s chest.
Dragon Clan talons can slice through the hardest metal on the Five Continents as easily as cheese. Save for the Spirit Clan’s Blood Pool legions, there was scarcely anything in this realm that could withstand Dragon Clan talons.
Therefore, the moment Han Eol allowed the Three-Star Seat’s blow to land, his body should have been torn to ribbons.
Yet observe the result.
Clang!
Where the Three-Star Seat’s claws met Han Eol’s skin, only sparks erupted, not a single mark left behind.
The Gilit Clan’s Bark-Skin could never produce such a miracle. This was courtesy of the Supreme Dragon Clan Scales the Three-Star Seat had provided.
Broken down to the molecular level by the Twelve-Star Seat’s special Blood Pool, then fused with Han Eol’s skin through the Nine-Star Seat’s Supreme Absorption Unit, the Supreme Dragon Clan Scales now repelled the Three-Star Seat’s talons.
The Three-Star Seat struck again, this time with speed invisible to the eye, raking across Han Eol’s face.
Han Eol took the blow undefended.
Yet it did not hurt at all. The moment his face received the impact, it automatically released a dark, lustrous gleam.
Once the shock dissipated, his face returned to its reddish hue.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Three-Star Seat unleashed a barrage of strikes.
Han Eol absorbed them all with his bare body.
As the Nine-Star Seat observed this spectacle, he sent a telepathic pulse to the Twelve-Star Seat.
[Hehehehe. Quite effective, wouldn’t you say?]
[Eh?]
The Twelve-Star Seat, whose mind had been scattered by the Blood Pool, raised his head in response to the Nine-Star Seat’s telepathy.
The Nine-Star Seat, smiling faintly, spoke his honest thoughts aloud.
[To be candid, I wavered over whether it was right to surrender my Supreme Absorption Unit to our new Six-Star Seat. As you know, that unit is a masterwork I toiled to create, literally pouring my blood into it.]
[Mm.]
[But now my heart feels light. I believe I made the right choice, giving my most treasured possession to our new Six-Star Seat. Though I lost something great, the Spirit Clan in turn has gained a brilliant future.]
[Hmmm.]
[Look at the Three-Star Seat over there. That stubborn fellow cherished those Supreme Dragon Clan Scales like his very life, didn’t he? Yet he gifted them to our new Six-Star Seat without a trace of regret. See how delighted he is, inspecting the Six-Star Seat’s body? Hahahaha.]
Once the Nine-Star Seat finished speaking, the Twelve-Star Seat found himself at a loss for words.
Indeed, the Three-Star Seat appeared even more elated as he examined Han Eol’s body from every angle.
He resembled a doting grandfather bestowing all his wealth upon his only grandchild—a tsundere through and through.
With the Nine-Star Seat followed by the Three-Star Seat both acting this way, the Twelve-Star Seat was even more speechless.
‘My Blood Pool. My time, my effort. Krhrhrhk.’
He could only weep in silence.
For the past few days, Han Eol had spent his time in the Colosseum-shaped structure built by the Spirit Clan.
Naturally, the structure here had quarters prepared for the Spirit Clan’s twelve Star Seats.
Han Eol had inherited the quarters of the previous Six-Star Seat.
‘The Spirit Clan’s abilities are truly remarkable.’
Han Eol marveled at the sight of the vast garden sprawling beyond the wide windows.
The Colosseum here was unmistakably a solitary structure built in the middle of a desert.
Because of this, with not a single walking path nearby, the building stood alone and barren, appearing desolate at first glance.
Yet through whatever magic the Spirit Clan had woven, each Star Seat’s quarters contained a garden as beautiful as paradise.
Within that garden lay a great lake, and there existed all manner of trees and herbal plants, flowers, colorful birds and small harmless creatures, even a dense forest and a modest mountain peak.
‘Wow, this is a garden? This is practically a national park.’
Han Eol was left speechless by the garden’s enormous scale.
Over the past few days, Han Eol had strolled through the garden made for him alone and occasionally visited the Blood Drop Library, passing his time in leisure.
Naturally, Han Eol had also spent time in conversation with the other Star Seats.
The Star Seats cherished Han Eol immensely. Their affection for him shone through their every action with vivid clarity.
The Three-Star Seat and Nine-Star Seat in particular seemed quite fond of him.
[The new Six-Star Seat, you know. Don’t you think he’s quite something?]
The Nine-Star Seat spoke first.
[Indeed. You’re right about that. He’s a fine junior. Quite fine indeed.]
The Three-Star Seat promptly agreed.
Encouraged by the response, the Nine-Star Seat began to elaborate more specifically on Han Eol’s strengths.
[As you well know, among our Spirit Clan, those specialized in offense are rare, aren’t they? So it seems that according to records, all the Annihilation-Class Specimens throughout history have possessed foul temperaments without exception.]
[I’ve seen such records myself. Judging solely by the behavior documented in historical texts, those Annihilation-Class Specimens seem like complete madmen.]
[That’s right. Their foul nature meant that every Annihilation-Class Specimen died young.]
[Hmph. That’s precisely the problem. A foul temperament is one thing. And it’s unavoidable that such vile natures make many enemies. Since they’re born with abilities oriented purely toward offense, their dispositions were bound to become twisted. But the real problem is that the Annihilation-Class Specimens show no self-preservation whatsoever.]
The Three-Star Seat muttered with concern.
His words rang true.
According to Spirit Clan records, nearly all of the Annihilation-Class Specimens were so arrogant that they ignored the counsel of their seniors, deaf to all advice.
Intoxicated by their own power, they slaughtered other races at will, and they showed no fear of charging alone into treacherous terrain where countless enemies lay in ambush.
Beyond merely lacking fear, the Annihilation-Class Specimens throughout history deliberately threw themselves into traps set by other races, as if to make a show of it.
In fact, throughout the Spirit Clan’s long history, only a handful had been designated as Annihilation-Class Specimens, and nearly all of them thrashed about like madmen before succumbing to their own power.
The leaders of the Spirit Clan throughout the ages had lamented precisely this point.
And the current Star Seats felt the same.
The Puppeteer Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Juno
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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