Soul Trigger

Chapter 663 The Giant Mouth
Seeing the hand embedded deep in Ji Li's chest, Aiquier was stunned, and it was as if a thunderous explosion had occurred in his mind, instantly transforming him into an evil spirit:

"Bastard! I'm going to kill you!!!"

"Don't be nervous, we're just taking away his resting place."

The scarecrow snapped her fingers, and the withered straw that wrapped her seemed to instantly be filled with some kind of magic.

Aquil's demonic form instantly exploded, revealing her human form with bulging veins on her face, struggling desperately:

"The Blood Silver Knight and the Dead Water Knight are already on their way. If I were you, I should run away right now!"

"The Deadwater Knight failed to gain the Bloodsilver Knight's trust; he is not involved in this mission."

As for the Blood Silver Knight… Angelica Laurent, even if she didn't fight that guy who wanted to take my stuff, that Dead Apostle would have stopped her…”

The scarecrow slowly turned its head, and its grotesque face, formed by gaps in its skin, seemed to curl up at the corners of its mouth, transforming into a sinister smile covered in stubble:

“I know you all very well, even better than you know yourselves, including you and your brother…”

Damn it... what the hell is this thing...?

Aiquiel was frantic, desperately trying to transform into an evil spirit while frantically calling out "Odin"—

The hand was still stuck in Pulitzer's chest, and although no blood was flowing out, Aquile had been studying the materials Angelica had given him these past few days.

She knew that once the spirit of the object and the spirit of the person merged, it would be almost impossible for them to separate if they were in love and both were in good health. Even so, it would require a high level of skill, knowledge of soul psychology, and even a high level of spiritual quality as a foundation.

If a violent separation is used, or if the body is taken away directly by special means... even if the human spirit does not die, it will become a soulless idiot!

Only a few days later, an enemy even more unknown and powerful than the sea fog appeared: Dead Apostles, Dead Apostles, Dead Apostles...

But why hasn't Odin responded to me yet?!
She clenched her teeth tightly, meaning she could only rely on herself:
"If you want a mortuary object, I have some here too. You can take mine first and let him go! It's just a piece of cake for you, right?!"

"Little sister, I'm not interested in your 'Crown Red Ant'..."

It lowered its head again, looking at Ji Li, who seemed to have just opened his eyes and was still somewhat bewildered:

"I want 'Kisame'..."

Ji Li, who was pretending to be unconscious, naturally heard everything it had just said. This was the first person he had encountered who could accurately name the personality entity in the personality relic.

And it's exactly the same name as the one given by the curse seal in the underworld... Is this the ability of this dead apostle?
But then another Dead Apostle appeared... How come I, a high-ranking member of the Tower of Babel, didn't know there were so many Dead Apostles in this place?

Upon realizing that the guy had no intention of killing him, Ji Li temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​using [Death Star] to retaliate.

Of course, Aquile couldn't possibly fight a Dead Apostle, and the end result was that both of them were slapped away.

He's been pretending until now, wanting to see what the mastermind behind this is up to, especially without revealing any information.

As it turned out, this scarecrow was a ruthless and taciturn man. He used his magic to tie the two of them up, stripped off their clothes, and began to dig out their hearts.

So what attitude should I adopt towards this guy now, in order to entice him to say something without overacting?

The Ascension Agreement simulated several logical frameworks of extreme fear and pleas for mercy for him, complete with his current face, almost making Ji Li burst out laughing—

Impossible. Even if it were a performance, he would never do such a thing.

Therefore, the only solution now is...

Ji Li stopped thinking, and as he took a deep breath, he actively guided the chaotic spiritual energy—

He suddenly straightened his chest, his entire body covered in dense black fish scales, his body convulsed like a fish, and he let out a tearing scream like a broken bellows as he convulsed wildly.

This sudden illness caused the scarecrow to let out a soft "Huh," and its hand jerked violently—

Something interrupted his spell.

But in Aquile's eyes, it was a different matter:

"You bastard, what did you do to him?!"

"I haven't done anything yet."

"You're talking nonsense, you..."

Suddenly, the shimmering black fish scales made Aquile instantly realize something:
"No... water! He needs water! The 'Reef' has caused him dehydration! Get him out of here!!!"

The scarecrow ignored Aiquier, snapped its fingers again to bind Aiquier even tighter with the humanoid straw, and then carefully stroked Ji Li's chest:
"Codenamed 'Reef,' the personality entity 'Kisame,' possesses three abilities related to fish and seawater, with the trade-off being dehydration."

This reliquary originated from a deep-diving drowning victim, and is rated as a third-tier extraordinary projection. After merging with a human spirit, it can grant at least one second-tier apprentice, and at its highest potential, it can directly become a fourth-tier knight…”

Like a quality inspector, it muttered to itself some performance parameter of the reef, this place of rest:
"But no, you're faking it."

"Although the mist was isolated outside the cave by the spiritual circuits I set up, it has only been three minutes and forty-seven seconds since I brought you here, excluding the time you spent in the mist along the way."

Even if you could enter the demonic state, the dehydration shouldn't be this severe, so..."

Ji Li's screams gradually turned into roars. Ai Guier struggled with all her might, the straws binding her breaking one by one, but she was still only a hair's breadth away from breaking free.

The scarecrow continued to study Ji Li like the most meticulous scientist, completely ignoring Aiquier's anxious roars and Ji Li's screams.

Is this kid ignoring me completely?
Seeing his professional and meticulous demeanor, Ji Li's thoughts changed slightly.

The rate at which his spiritual energy became disordered suddenly intensified. At the same time, he began to invest a small amount of cognitive index into the personality entity "Kisame".

This subtle change was clearly also sensed by the scarecrow that was touching Ji Li's spiritual essence:

"Hmm... Your spiritual quality is actually gradually increasing? This makes no sense. It seems that there are indeed things about you that I haven't understood yet, such as the transformation into an evil spirit."

Neither of the first two chosen spirits possessed such an ability. Logically, under the shattered white ring, demonization should only occur with external intervention. So it's because of your inherent uniqueness? But next week…”

It sensed that the spiritual energy within Ji Li's body seemed to be constantly becoming more violent:

"Your spiritual energy is spiraling out of control and backfiring? In other words, the Resting Object is about to devour you... Interesting, very interesting. It seems this could bring me some additional gains..."

The strange changes in Ji Li's body seemed to have changed the scarecrow's mind. It completely abandoned the idea of ​​removing Ji Li's mortise and tenaciously pierced Ji Li's body with countless straw roots branching out from its palm:

"Let me see what secrets your body holds..."

The straws began to tremble, making his screams even more piercing, and the scarecrow seemed to have touched something, suddenly waking up:

"No...no...the Well of Souls is so shallow, yet it possesses such a vast 'depth of the soul'?"

"...How could this happen to an ordinary person?"

Doesn't this mean that you are completely different from other people's spirits, and that you alone can bear multiple resting places?

Shocked, he quickly began the next experiment—

The straw suddenly swelled up, as if transforming into some kind of conduit, and began to transport something into Ji Li's body:
"I'm warning you, don't do anything rash from now on, because your brother is a very interesting experiment. If he succeeds, all of you will be unnecessary, and we'll only need him."

But similarly, this process will be extremely dangerous; if anything goes wrong, you will lose your brother forever.

Aiquier ignored him. She could sense that it was spiritual energy of various different auras, because each strand of spiritual energy possessed a very obvious spiritual pressure.

She was no longer as active as before, but was exhausted, her eyes red and swollen as she stared intently at the scene before her, her teeth chattering, and a fierce rage burning in her eyes.

But this appearance suited the scarecrow's wishes, unlike the noisy and annoying thing it had done earlier.

It began to concentrate intently on manipulating the spiritual energy transfer, pouring all of it into Ji Li's body, completely unaware of Clementine entering the cave, as the results of the experiment made it tremble all over:

"It works...it actually works?! Your soul can actually accommodate multiple types of spiritual matter?"

Its body began to throb, as if it had fallen into some kind of extreme excitement:
"I originally thought the treasure was in Odin's sacred land, but I never expected you to be the real treasure..."

"It's such a waste to use you as a disposable tool. You should be my unique treasure. I apologize to you."

I will heal you, comfort you, care for you, and make you the happiest person in the world…

Click.

A strange noise made it jerk its head up, and a fiery red chitinous jab was rapidly enlarging in its field of vision—

Bang! ! ! !

The scarecrow's head suddenly collapsed, then rose high like a boneless doll.

The powerful gust of wind shattered countless straw pipes, tearing apart a shower of straw fragments that spread throughout the cave in a visible, translucent shockwave.

"you?!"

Aquil was radiating heat, appearing as if he had entered a demonic state. His limbs were red, and the long horns on his mask were also emitting intense heat.

"They actually broke free of their restraints? A third-tier apprentice? Wait! There's more here..."

Before he could finish speaking, the red fist slammed into his face again.

"Fuck you!"

Although she didn't know why the scarecrow's restraints had suddenly loosened, all she wanted to do now was smash that bastard to pieces—

She just boasted that she would protect her brother, but she turned around and became like this. What kind of useless person is she?
How utterly useless must one be to let something like this happen to them twice?
With a loud bang, the scarecrow was slammed to the ground by Aquile, who was riding on its neck.

She punched it repeatedly in the face with brute force, the ground rumbling and exploding with cracks and flying debris.

The intense heat from that fist seemed capable of scorching spiritual energy, smashing the scarecrow's head until it was charred.

But the scarecrow's voice still came:
“Extreme emotions can indeed trigger a burst of spiritual energy. I did consider the possibility that this might happen when I conducted the experiment on Pulitzer in front of you, but it's useless, you're too weak…”

boom!
A punch abruptly shattered its sound, but for some reason, dense straw sprouted from the carapace encasing the fist.

“If you continue, you only have ten seconds left to live. Stop now, and you can breathe for a few more minutes. It seems you'll have to consider your sibling bond…”

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!"

Aquil's voice, transformed into a jumbled mix under the influence of the evil spirit, as his carapace-like fists pounded wildly like a madman, completely ignoring the straw that was constantly growing all over his body.

Even if one arm were to suddenly break off, turning into a flurry of grass clippings, the other fist would still be raised and slam down:

"As long as my belief is strong enough, I can become stronger, and I can beat you to a pulp!!! I don't care if you're a Dead Apostle or a Restless One!! He's my brother!!"

boom! ! !
There was a loud bang, but it wasn't a cracking sound; it sounded more like the dense, crisp cracking of a haystack being split open.

Aquil's other arm was also completely shattered, and straw began to grow all over her body, sprouting from the inside out, abruptly silencing her.

The next moment, the burning flames suddenly erupted from the back of her head, transforming into a cloak of hot, long hair that fluttered in the wind. But the equally wildly growing straw began to rapidly invade the newly formed spiritual essence.

At the same time, the scarecrow's leisurely voice could be heard:

"You are the third person I have ever met in my life to complete the oath so quickly, and you are of considerable research value."

It rose again, straw filling its head.

Aquil's body crashed to the ground, almost falling apart, its carapace now filled with black haystacks, still emitting a strained, angry roar:

"...YOU——BITCH..."

"The growth of spirituality is indeed achieved through the outburst of emotions: sudden enlightenment between life and death, the loss of loved ones, the hope that rises after a heavy blow, and the indifference after seeing through everything..."

But all things considered, your life is only a little over a decade long, and the anger you unleash for your loved ones is far from enough to shake my power—”

"what about me?"

The scarecrow froze instantly, and in the instant it turned its head, it saw a vast ocean and a towering tsunami—

A spiritual pressure illusion?!
Driven by the malevolent spirit, the illusion vanished abruptly, replaced by a deep-sea monster with long, tentacle-covered hair and standing on two feet on the ground.

It was blue-black all over, with smooth skin, no eyes, only a gaping maw.

Fins sprouted from all over its body, and a deep blue veil, like that of a jellyfish, draped its back. Its jointed limbs were strong and powerful, and its suckers made a gurgling sound as they hit the ground.

Pulitzer.

But what horrified it even more was seeing the monster constantly transforming, giving rise to all sorts of ferocious and aggressive deep-sea creatures, while Kisame's skin was also constantly peeling back.

At the same time, it released an aura that was both incredibly familiar and unbelievable to him—

"Evil spirit nature... no, that's not right, this is... Dead Apostle transformation?!"

It glanced sharply at Aquile on the ground:
"You interrupted my experiment?! You..."

Before the words were even finished, a violent, deep blue spiritual energy swept through the entire cave, turning everything into a vast ocean.

Pulitzer's form vanished completely, replaced by a gigantic maw, wide with narrow eyes, that lunged upwards at the scarecrow like a whale swallowing it whole.

"You've become a Dead Apostle?!"

Faced with the oncoming gaping maw of the abyss, the scarecrow's aura became completely chaotic, transforming into countless blades of grass that surged outwards.

This is autophagy, this is the aura that only autophagy can emit... It's the [Autophagy] that only a Dead Apostle can possess!!

boom! ! ! !

Its jaws snapped shut, the seawater churned, the whirlpool contracted, and everything transformed back into Kisame's form.

It was embracing Aiquier, who was still in a state of demonization but only had his upper body left, as he gradually collapsed and rolled up, transforming back into Ji Li's appearance:

Lao Tzu was originally a disciple who died.

Angelica, standing outside the cave, stared at them with a look of utter disbelief.

"Captain, you're late."

(End of this chapter)