“What’s going on? Could the Soul Extinguishing Sword backfire on its master?” Yuan Ming frowned, his expression shifting unpredictably.

Although he had found information about the Soul Extinguishing Sword from Sha Hao’s memories, Sha Hao wasn’t the sword’s creator, so the information was incomplete.

He had long suspected that the sword’s qi could bypass an enemy’s defenses, directly attacking and devouring their soul. Such a terrifying power must come with a significant cost.

It seemed that the sword could indeed easily kill enemies of higher cultivation stages, but the price was that it would backfire on its master, making it a double-edged sword that harmed both others and oneself.

Previously, Yuan Ming had exhausted almost all his soul power to deal with Zuo Qinghui, whose cultivation was far superior to his own. Facing the sword’s backlash, he had no means of self-preservation. Fortunately, he had the Stealing Heaven Cauldron as his trump card.

In truth, without the Stealing Heaven Cauldron’s miraculous effects on nurturing and stabilizing the soul, he might not have dared to embark on the perilous path of soul cultivation, a journey fraught with danger and near-certain death.

Yuan Ming took a deep breath and looked at the Soul Extinguishing Sword on the ground beside him, his eyes revealing a complex emotion.

Suddenly, he let out a surprised “Hmm!”

The warm current from the Stealing Heaven Cauldron hadn’t stopped; it continued to flow into his soul, splitting into two streams.

Yuan Ming quickly used his spiritual consciousness to inspect his body. What he saw startled him.

A crack had appeared on his soul, likely caused by the fierce qi of the Soul Extinguishing Sword. It might have been too small to notice before.

Now, under the influence of the Stealing Heaven Cauldron, the crack hadn’t healed but had deepened significantly, making it seem like his soul could split into two parts at any moment.

The two streams of warm current were being injected into the two parts of his soul divided by the crack.

How could this be?

Yuan Ming was bewildered, but at least the excruciating pain in his soul had subsided. Although the crack was deepening, it didn’t seem to have a significant impact on his soul.

Inside the Five Elements Illusionary Formation, Zuo Qinghui had taken the opportunity to stick several runes on himself and swallow an elixir, his pale complexion gradually improving.

The golden ruler treasure circled around him, emitting a golden glow that enveloped his body.

At the same time, he patted his waist, and a Vajra spirit beast shot out from his spirit beast bag, transforming into a white shadow that lunged at Zuo Qinghui.

Hua Zhi and Lei Yu also charged at Zuo Qinghui from above and below.

Zuo Qinghui couldn’t afford to continue healing his soul wounds. He pointed a finger at the golden ruler, which transformed into dozens of ruler shadows, slashing towards the Vajra.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming activated the five formation flags in front of him. Green shadows flickered above Zuo Qinghui’s head, manifesting as countless giant tree tiger shadows, resembling a vast forest.

A tremendous pressure descended, causing Zuo Qinghui to pause, and the speed of the golden ruler treasure to drop significantly.

The Vajra ducked, dodging the golden ruler’s attack, and punched Zuo Qinghui’s chest with a clenched fist.

The golden light shield around Zuo Qinghui barely withstood the Vajra’s blow, but he was sent flying by the immense force.

“Crack!”

Three silver lightning bolts shot out from the nearby void, striking Zuo Qinghui’s back.

Dozens of purple-black vines shot out from another direction, their tips forming green wooden swords that stabbed at Zuo Qinghui. Zuo Qinghui roared, and the golden ruler treasure shone brightly, spinning around him and creating a dense array of ruler shadows that shredded the silver lightning and purple-black vines.

Although he was a Nascent Soul stage cultivator and severely injured, he wasn’t someone Hua Zhi and Lei Yu, who were at the Foundation Establishment stage, could handle.

The Vajra was stronger than Hua Zhi and Lei Yu but was already injured. Zuo Qinghui, though heavily wounded, cast spells continuously, panting heavily. He reached for his storage bag at his waist, and a purple spear with nine blue dragon patterns appeared, the Purple Star Nine Dragons Spear he had bought at an auction.

A blood-red cylinder, half a foot thick, also appeared above his head.

Yuan Ming’s expression turned serious. Ignoring the anomaly in his soul, he cast the Crow Cry Illusion, and eight crows emitted black sound waves that instantly enveloped Zuo Qinghui.

If he were at his peak, Zuo Qinghui wouldn’t be so easily affected, but now his resistance to soul cultivator illusions was greatly reduced. He immediately fell into an illusion, his body freezing in place.

Yuan Ming gritted his teeth, grabbed the Soul Extinguishing Sword from the ground, and poured his spiritual and soul power into it. The sword emitted a joyful hum, releasing a black sword qi over ten feet long.

With a loud shout, he swung the sword in the air.

A black sword qi, seven or eight feet long and as wide as a door, shot out, exuding a powerful soul-absorbing force. Hua Zhi, Lei Yu, and even the Vajra felt their souls being pulled, as if they would be sucked out and devoured by the sword qi.

The three of them quickly retreated, feeling that the farther they were from the black sword qi, the better.

The black sword qi moved with lightning speed, piercing Zuo Qinghui’s head and slashing his soul.

Zuo Qinghui’s body trembled, black light spewing from his seven orifices. His sea of consciousness and soul shattered, annihilated by the terrifying sword qi!

The golden ruler treasure, Purple Star Nine Dragons Spear, and blood-red cylinder fell to the ground with a clatter, losing their master’s control.

Yuan Ming immediately threw the Soul Extinguishing Sword to the ground. This time, it didn’t backfire but emitted a dark glow, absorbing scattered soul power.

The sword trembled slightly, emitting a satisfied hum. The four runes on its blade deepened in color before it finally calmed down.

Indeed, a fearsome sword!

Yuan Ming couldn’t help but marvel.

He stopped the operation of the Five Elements Illusionary Formation, sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes to inspect his sea of consciousness, ignoring the spoils of battle.

The warm current from the Stealing Heaven Cauldron had almost stopped, but the crack in his soul had deepened significantly. The two parts of his soul’s power were almost completely separated, seemingly about to split into two distinct parts.

Yuan Ming couldn’t help but regret.

He had thought that with the Stealing Heaven Cauldron’s protection, his soul wouldn’t be too affected by a small crack. Now, it seemed the cauldron had accelerated the splitting of his soul.

Although it didn’t seem to have any immediate adverse effects, who knew what might happen in the future?

He had never read about any cultivator’s soul splitting or being cut without resulting in soul collapse.

But there was no use regretting now. If he hadn’t acted decisively, he might have been killed by Zuo Qinghui, his body and soul destroyed.

With this thought, Yuan Ming calmed his mind and tried to use the Death Moon method to repair his soul.

However, as soon as he activated the method, the soul power in the two parts of his soul began to circulate, causing the crack to widen visibly.

Yuan Ming’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly stopped the soul power, but it was too late. The crack had reached its limit.

With a soft “crack,” his soul split into two, with about one-fifth of it separating completely.

Yuan Ming’s emotions exploded, his heart racing. He braced himself for severe soul damage or even collapse, like a prisoner awaiting execution.

But nothing happened. Apart from a brief headache, everything seemed the same as before.

“What’s going on?” Yuan Ming was puzzled and continued to inspect his soul.

The larger part of his soul remained stable in the center of his sea of consciousness, absorbing surrounding soul power.

The incense burner mark emitted another warm current, merging into his main soul. The part that had been cut off began to regenerate visibly, seemingly able to recover soon.

Yuan Ming realized that with the Stealing Heaven Cauldron’s protection, his soul could still heal, explaining why he hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

The separated part of his soul floated around his sea of consciousness without dissipating.

This intrigued Yuan Ming.

He focused on the separated soul and found that its soul power was not weak, roughly equivalent to two soul crows.

As he thought about this, the separated soul transformed into a transparent soul crow.

Yuan Ming was astonished. This part of his soul was so responsive that it immediately transformed into a crow upon his thought? Could it transform into other things? As soon as the thought arose, the soul crow transformed into a soul bat, resembling Sha Hao’s blood bat.

Yuan Ming experimented with various forms, his spiritual consciousness spreading out like a wave.

The next moment, the soul flew out of his sea of consciousness, transforming into a soul crow that flitted around the cave dwelling. Yuan Ming watched with a smile, which suddenly froze. This soul crow, though similar to his other soul crows, had a fundamental difference—it had a certain degree of self-awareness. While this wasn’t obvious in his sea of consciousness, it became apparent once released.

His other soul crows could share his vision and perform tasks while he did other things, but they were entirely under his control. This transparent soul crow, however, had a degree of autonomy.