Saulâs expression changed drastically, and the calm he had just maintained collapsed in an instant.
âYou?â
Kongsha withdrew her foot and turned to glance at the ancient Soul-Devouring Mire still entangled with frost.
âUnfortunately, I can only control part of the tentacles. Otherwise, I wouldnât have been blocked by this palace for so long.â
She continued looking down at Saul. âNo need to struggle. Just be obedient and listen to me.â
Now that Kongsha had discovered the secret of his palms, Saul didnât bother pretending anymore. He bared his teeth and cried out in pain.
âAhh⊠Youâare you dragging me into this whole conversation, refusing to just finish me off quickly, because you want my mind to collapse and turn me into Veiled Crystal Essence too?â
Kongsha nodded with satisfaction. âThatâs right. So I hope youâll be as well-behaved as the first time we met, and not play any tricks or schemes. That way, Iâll make good use of your transformed Veiled Crystal Essenceâso you wonât be wasted, such a special existence.â
Her eyes were filled with madness. âIf Gorsa finds out I used his stuff, heâll definitely be furious. Haha! But with the state heâs in now, he wouldnât dare come in to catch meâhe can only stomp his feet outside in frustration. Just thinking about it makes me so happy!â
For a moment, Saul couldnât tell whether Kongsha truly wanted his mind to collapseâor if she was simply chasing madness itself.
But looking at her now, Saul felt a chill spread through his heart.
After laughing for a while, Kongsha pulled her foot back, squatted down, and looked at Saul.
âBut thereâs no need to feel sorry for him. Do you really think he trained you out of kindness?â Kongsha tilted her head, tracing the blood at the corner of Saulâs eye with a finger. âDid he tell you he wouldnât interfere with your studies to avoid misleading your understanding?â
Saul narrowed his eyes slightly. Master Gorsa had indeed said something like that.
âIâve heard that kind of talk too. Thatâs why I agreed to the final transformation. Heâs just pretending to let you research yourself, while quietly seasoning you into something more delicious. When his experiments actually need you, heâll turn the grateful you into his raw material. Do you know Ivan? He studied hard, meditated diligently, and completed his body modification with great effortâŠâ
âBut do you know what happened to him in the end? His carefully modified body was ground into paste by Gorsa and made into a graceful shadow coat for Lady Yura.â
Shadow coat?
Saul instantly thought of Lady Yura, whose body was a silhouette that could blend into various mediums.
So that shadow⊠was made from the body of one of Gorsaâs studentsâŠ
Kongsha withdrew her hand, then raised her bloodstained finger to her vivid red lips, speaking somewhat indistinctly, âWith such excellent aptitude for mental power, Gorsa must have had an eye on you. Iâve heard that his resurrection experiment has made breakthrough progress. I think your soul will soon be taken.â
âDid he give you some kind of three- or five-year deadline? Thatâs just a lie to keep you obediently working for him.â
Saul said nothing, but his face grew increasingly grim. His lips were tightly sealed, the color drained from them.
Kongsha knewâSaul was getting nervous.
He was nervous because even if he survived today, he couldnât escape Gorsaâs claws.
Death might actually be the best outcome.
Worse than death was having his soul refinedâenduring endless pain and torment for all eternity.
To long for death and be denied it!
She could sense that Saulâs once extremely stable mental form had begun to tremble.
Because the long-held beliefs in his mind had been upended in a single night.
Saul clenched his teeth, and his voice came trembling through the gaps, âI admit we share a common enemy. Thatâs all the more reason we shouldnât kill each other. Your method of ascending through Veiled Crystal Essence is extremely dangerous. Let me go. Iâm very good at body modificationâI might be able to help you.â
But Kongsha only shook her head. âWhether youâre sincere or not, thank you, Saul. But⊠itâs already too late.â
âThree years ago, when I took that elven doll, I stepped onto a path of no return. Elves are stubborn creatures. After being influenced by the elf, I became even less able to accept what Iâd been transformed into.â
âDid you know? I used to be very beautiful, and I had great talent. Even without Gorsaâs modifications, I was confident I could advance to a Third Rank apprentice. But I had no choiceâI gave up on myself and lost my future. So⊠I have to find myself again, even if it means opposing Gorsa, even if it means enduring the pollution of the elves!â
She paused. âAt that time, my eyes had already gone out of control. Without the elven relicâs suppression, I wouldâve been completely corrupted long ago. From that point on, I didnât dare stay too long in the Wizard TowerâI was afraid Gorsa would notice something was wrong.â
Suddenly, Kongsha pressed both her hands to her temples. With a bit of pressureâpopâshe removed her head.
Beneath the beautiful face, Saul saw a familiar half of a lovely womanâs face.
But the glass dome atop Kongshaâs head had changed.
The once milky-white substance had turned into dried reddish mucus, stuck to the inner wall of the dome, half-dried and clinging.
And those eyeballs that sometimes surfaced and sometimes vanishedânow lacking buoyancyâlay curled at the bottom of the glass dome.
A thick layer of white fuzz covered the eyeballs, like food left in a trash heap for months.
The moment Saul laid eyes on this scene, his mental form boiled like a pot of water.
He struggled desperately to suppress the violent chaos of his mind, terrified that the âsteamâ would blast his skull apart!
âKongshaâŠâ Saul gritted his teeth. âYouâve already mutated.â
But Kongsha didnât care at all. âYes. But itâs fine. Once I obtain the Veiled Crystal Essence from your collapse, Iâll be able to use your high-quality soul power to replace my locator device.â
She patted her still-beautiful head. âHow about the head of an Elven King? Hehe⊠Iâll be the first one in the Wizard Tower to replace locator device. Once I fully fuse with it, Iâll gain complete control of the ancient Soul-Devouring Mire. Then Iâll personally take revenge on Gorsa!â
Kongshaâs head suddenly leaned in close to Saulâs eyes.
Even if Saul closed his eyes, he could still see the white-furred eyeballs and congealed blood inside that head.
Kongsha also sensed that Saulâs mental form was growing increasingly unstableâalready showing signs of losing control.
The time was ripe. Kongsha smiled with satisfaction.
A collapsing mind, the special field of the Forest of Four Seasons, and a dash of Soul-Devouring Mire corruptionâŠ
She was about to obtain a perfect piece of Veiled Crystal Essence!
Kongshaâs lips stretched into a wide grin, all elegance and charm now gone.
âNo⊠I can only⊠hold on⊠this farâŠâ Saulâs breath was faint. Suddenly, in a moment of utter despair, he opened his eyes wide and looked straight at Kongshaâs face, shouting, âPenny!â
Kongsha froze. Then she chuckled. âA stunning beauty like me is sitting right next to you, and youâre calling out another womanâs name?â
But just as she finished speaking, she suddenly saw a flash of silver light and then a silver butterfly appeared out of thin air, landing on Saulâs forehead.
âWhatâs this?â Kongshaâs mind instantly flashed through everything she had ever learned, but none of it matched the image of this butterfly.
Then she heard the butterfly speak.
âEmotion module suppression complete, Brother Saul!â
âEmotionâŠâ Kongsha didnât even have time to think about why emotions needed to be suppressed. The next moment, she saw Saul suddenly open his mouthâclenched for so longâand extend a tongue that was deep gray, nearly black.
At the tip of his tongueâsomehow, using an unknown intricate methodâwas drawn an extremely complex magic formation.
Kongsha had a good memory. She instantly recognized that this formation looked very similar to the one on Saulâs palms.
In factâit was an advanced version of the formation in his palms!
And now, this magic formation was emitting a dazzling black glow.
The moment she saw that black glow, Kongshaâs consciousness faltered.
But she quickly snapped out of it and pointed angrily at Saul lying on the ground. âYou! That mental form instability just nowâit wasnât a sign of collapse at all!â
âThatâs right,â Saulâs voice suddenly became relaxed, he retracted his tongue, and countless gray translucent tentacles suddenly grew out from his back.
These tentacles hooked onto Kongshaâs arms and waist at a speed that was completely impossible to dodge, and lifted her up directly.
Kongsha tried to struggle, but found that she could not get rid of these tentacles at all.
She could use her mental power to control these tentacles just now, but now she was easily bound by them.
Saul, who had just been imprisoned by the ice spikes, got up from the ground with a swift movement.
Kongshaâs head was pressed by the tentacles, and she was forced to turn her gaze back to Saul. Then she was shocked to find that the man in front of her not only had no wounds on his body, but even his appearance had changed.
Saul actually changed from a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy to an adult man with a slightly similar appearance.
(End of Chapter)
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