Soul Trigger

Chapter 696 A Starting Point

He turned his head and looked ahead; in front of the cave, a dense swarm of creatures was surging in.

A four-legged spider, made of two beautiful legs pieced together, tumbled and surged toward Ji Li.

A beautiful centipede with legs covered in proboscis, its flesh-colored body swarming towards him.

There is another kind of one-legged creature with round, long thighs, but no normal feet. Instead, flesh-colored high heels are attached to it, and it has a beautiful bald head...

These are just a few examples; many more monsters composed of female sexual characteristics are on the way.

They are bizarre and extremely grotesque in appearance. Any single part of them is enough to drive people crazy, but no one wants to be pounced on by a creature with ten beautiful legs and four pairs of genitals.

Yet, deep within his soul, Ji Li felt no discomfort. Even though witnessing all of this made his scalp tingle slightly, he genuinely felt that he should be surrounded by it all—

"Are you kidding me?"

He suddenly sprang into action, creating all the personality entities he had ever used in the dream:
No facial bones, Blade Master, Death Star, Death Knight...

Several individual entities rushed in and began a one-sided massacre.

The monsters were annihilated with ecstatic screams; their blood was a translucent, viscous liquid with a rich, sweet aroma.

It seems this is what 'denying' oneself means...

He could feel the boundless kindness and warmth emanating from this space; it was a part of his soul, embracing him, accepting him, and indulging his every action.

Even now, he felt a pang of guilt, and a resistance stemming from his survival instinct—

This can't go on; he's killing a part of himself.

He could probably understand why "denying" oneself seemed to be a difficult thing for most people with a spiritual aura.

But even the allure of his true self couldn't stop his desire for advancement—

He needs greater strength, a more resolute will, and a stronger soul.

Only in this way can one recover those lost memories, understand the truth behind one's time travel, and rise above all else.

Liquid splattered as Ji Li mercilessly destroyed the entire flesh-colored space, reaching its deepest point where he saw a pink and enormous tentacle monster.

The remnants of its personality swarmed forward and began to torture and kill it.

The entire process was effortless; Ji Li could even sense that the thing had virtually no chance of resistance.

Because from the very beginning, he was able to overcome that hurdle in his heart, to stop his instincts, and to command his soul with his will, and now to know what he should do.

Soon, those enchanting sounds grew fainter and fainter, and he gradually felt a power welling up in his heart, growing stronger and stronger.

The data from the Ascension Protocol flooded his vision like a waterfall, propelling his thinking to new heights—

So-called lust is nothing more than such an inconvenient thing.

This is a flaw in his character, and he doesn't need such a flaw.

Abandoning lust will make his emotions more stable, his life happier, his future brighter, and his path to godhood will be just around the corner...

what?
Ji Li suddenly woke up:

"Stop it, all of you!!!"

In an instant, the individual entities that had been fighting amidst the chaos vanished into thin air:

I want to gain greater power, but that doesn't mean I have to castrate myself—

This method is wrong!
The tentacle monster began to grow back, and the surrounding flesh buds also recovered. The whole world began to be dyed with colorful five-colored particles, rapidly transforming into another appearance.

"Nine natures, nine extinctions, the so-called extinction of inferior nature, actually achieves the result of moving towards divinity by completely eliminating desires... What a joke!"

As his mind cleared, the nightmare transformed the entire dream into something else entirely.

The continuous drizzle, the gloomy sky, the towering skyscrapers that seem to stretch to the horizon, and the endless stream of multi-level aerial vehicles.

Ji Li saw the dirty, dark alley from his childhood, where several small mice crawled out of the trash can and, together with cockroaches, scurried into the sewers.

He saw a dirty, disheveled child hiding in the alley with gang symbols painted on his face and a leather tool bag hanging from his waist.

The boy's eyes were gloomy and bloodshot as he stared intently at the car parked by the roadside, its wing-like doors wide open. A woman in sky-high heels and fishnet stockings took the money from the pimp and got into the car with him. The surface of her wheat-colored thighs was outlined in an alluring shape by the extremely fine diamond-patterned fishnet, reflecting the neon lights of the sky.

Even as the fish-mouthed high heel disappeared into the flying car door, he didn't look away. In the sound of rain, he seemed to hear a boy swallowing.

Is this... another kind of lust?
Ji Li looked at the scene before him, lost in thought.

Because he actively refused and interrupted the Nine Extinctions, it directly jumped to the Nine Desires?

So, is recreating the scene from his memory now the process of imprinting "lust"?
However, the Nine Extinctions are about discovering and eliminating one's own flaws, and there is no order in the process of discovering these nine flaws.

The Nine Desires are derived from a profound desire, a desire that is enough to create the self, and it is a continuous process of digging downwards, passing through nine layers of depravity to a deeper and more fundamental desire, with only one starting point.

Why is this starting point lust?

At this moment, a voice awakened Ji Li from his reverie:

"Little cockroach, get out of here."

Young Ji Li turned his head and saw a socialite wearing a mink coat.

She was accompanied by several subordinates dressed in black, holding umbrellas, carrying bags, a photographer, and several bodyguards.

One of them stepped forward and kicked the boy away.

The socialite herself went to the nearby monument, flashed a bright and enthusiastic smile, and posed for the photographer as he pressed the shutter.

Ji Li remembered this scene; it was on this street that he met his childhood playmate Mark.

This is the very bottom of Murphy's Colossus, teeming with prostitutes, gangs, and the black market, but it's also the place where an Ascended once emerged.

The forces that had once cared for him became famous and built a monument in his honor. The area around the monument was the cleanest place on the entire street, and they respected the ascendant.

The mink-haired socialite standing next to him, Ji Li remembered, was a singer from the Black Well Apartment above.

Because of the layered and interwoven architectural design, that place is located directly above this street, and it is home to some internet celebrities and socialites, as well as mistresses who are kept by some big shots.

Memories kept surfacing around him under the influence of the nightmare dream, and the scene twisted.

He squatted under the awning, watching the pimps take the girls away.

They returned exhausted, covered in injuries and smelling strange, their knee-high socks stuffed with illegal banknotes, but their faces were full of joy as they tossed the contraband to the children who gathered around begging for it.

Mark went too, while the young Ji Li stood behind him, watching the scene indifferently.

One day, the ascendant returned to his homeland like a god, and he scattered illegal cash that had long been banned as if it were charity.

People flocked there because this was where the illegal currency circulated.

Ji Li scoffed at this, but Mark dragged him along.

Mark got 20 yuan, he got 2 yuan, and he was kicked down by the bodyguard because he accidentally stepped on someone's foot. It was that female singer in the mink coat again.

Just as young Ji Li was about to be beaten, the god-like ascendant came over and stopped them.

He pushed the female singer aside, grabbed a handful of money, and asked Ji Li if he thought the woman was pretty.

Ji Li glanced at her and said, "You're a freak."

The female singer was naturally beautiful, but young Ji Li disliked her.

The ascendant, however, was delighted. He grabbed another handful of money and said, "Lucky boy, your chance has come."

Take your pants off and have sex with her right here, and all the money is yours.

Before Ji Li could make a move, the female singer had already taken off all her clothes and, amidst the shouts and commotion around them, started to pull at Ji Li's pants.

She had no interest in "cockroaches" like Ji Li, but she was willing to do anything with cockroaches to please an ascended being.

Ji Li stood in the corner, expressionless, watching the boy carry his clothes home, the clothes filled with banknotes.

That was the day he remembered most vividly, and also the day he gave up being a thief.

(End of this chapter)