Chapter 444: Soul Transformation

Under the dazzling light filling the sky, a solitary corridor stood, beneath it endless darkness, as if leading to the abyss of the netherworld.

On the corridor, Chu Yang looked at the resigned Yellow Spring Demon Emperor, a smile appearing on his face.

The Yellow Spring Demon Emperor also saw him, her soul body trembling violently, she gritted her teeth and said: "Kill me!"

In the Naihe Bridge space there is no concept of time; perhaps only a moment passed outside, but here endless ages have elapsed.

Upon entering the Naihe Bridge space, the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor immediately began trying every means to escape.

But no matter how hard she tried, it was all in vain; each struggle only provoked an attack from the dazzling light in the air.

Those attacks were like a cat toying with a mouse—not fatal, yet they made her feel pain deep in her soul.

Chu Yang smiled silently, took out a soul transformer resembling a Klein bottle, and walked slowly to the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor.

Seeing this, the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor instantly became alert, stepping back repeatedly, her voice trembling with fear: "You… what are you doing?"

"Kill me! Please kill me!"

A deep sense of helplessness welled up in her; in fact, the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor is a rather special existence among the Outer Evil Tribe.

Her overall strength is not strong; although she possesses the mid-stage cultivation of a Heavenly Demon Emperor, she is actually weaker than some early-stage Heavenly Demon Emperor experts.

Her greatest advantage lies in her bedroom skills.

She has pushed her innate divine ability to the extreme in this regard, wandering among the top Heavenly Demon Emperors.

If a top Heavenly Demon Emperor is in a good mood, he will bestow rewards sufficient for her to enjoy endlessly.

For example, the Sacred Heavenly Demon Emperor personally forged her natal Yellow Spring…

But at this moment, all of the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's abilities are utterly useless.

She did not try to seduce Chu Yang, because any powerhouse of the Myriad Realms or the Outer Evil Tribe knows their conflict is irreconcilable.

Being mortal enemies, how could they possibly share a bed?

"Don't be nervous…" Chu Yang chuckled, looking at the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor, "You'll be free soon."

Seeing his smile, the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor involuntarily trembled in her soul.

Just as she was prepared to sacrifice everything, seeking a desperate counterattack or even self-destruction, Chu Yang suddenly raised his palm.

A terrifying suction emanated from his palm; the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor had no time to resist, her soul being uncontrollably drawn in.

The soul transformer emitted a faint glow, making it look like glass; Chu Yang directly shoved the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's soul inside.

Then the soul transformer shook violently, like a high‑speed meat grinder, and from within came the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's anguished wails.

Soul Compression!

The last time the soul transformer was used, this research result was still a semi‑finished product; the unsolved problem was how to compress the soul to the extreme without relying on the power of the Soul Palace.

Now this problem has been solved, but Chu Yang and the Soul Palace research team are still uncertain whether the compression process will cause severe damage to the soul.

If the soul is damaged, the integrity of the memories retained after transformation will be affected.

Pan Gu monitored the soul transformer's status at all times, recording data on all aspects.

When a soul crystal fell from the other end of the soul transformer, Chu Yang also learned the detailed data from Pan Gu.

His eyes involuntarily brightened, and he immediately shared the good news with everyone in the Soul Palace.

Success! The built‑in soul compressor of the soul transformer works almost perfectly; in this process the damage to the soul is negligible and will not affect memory integrity at all.

Absorbing and refining the soul crystal, Chu Yang half‑closed his eyes and began to receive the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's memories.

The soul transformer cannot retain memories one hundred percent; at the Soul Palace's current research level, this is still unattainable.

The last time the soul transformer was used, the memory retention rate was about seventy percent.

During this period, the Soul Palace research team further improved the soul transformer, raising the memory retention rate to eighty percent.

For Chu Yang this is enough; at least from the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor he obtained the memories he wanted to see.

However, as he received the memories, Chu Yang's mouth corner twitched slightly.

In the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's memories there are many valuable things, but they constitute only a small proportion of the whole.

Moreover, most of them are essentially about romantic affairs…

At first she practiced on the demon brats of her own clan, then before she had fully grown she went to seduce those demon emperors and even Heavenly Demon Emperors.

Later she attempted to seduce the top Heavenly Demon Emperors, sparing no means.

In fact, many experts in the Outer Evil Tribe are skilled in charm techniques, but the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor stands alone unmatched on this path.

After receiving all her memories, if Chu Yang were to summarize her success story, it would be…

Nothing else, just practice makes perfect! Indeed, it is precisely because of the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's conduct that Chu Yang is quite interested in her soul and memories.

Through the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's memories, Chu Yang gained a certain understanding of the overall strength of the Outer Evil Tribe, the distribution of its various races, and even the preferences and habits of some top Heavenly Demon Emperors.

Most importantly, in the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor's memories Chu Yang also discovered an unexpected delight.

That is, while honing her 'skills,' the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor also had experience practicing on humans, from which she distilled a great deal of experience.

The Outer Evil Tribe had long been plotting to create the Spirit‑Devouring Clan; ultimately the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor became the leader of this endeavor, and using her as a host, she gave birth to the first experimental specimen of the Spirit‑Devouring Clan.

However, that experiment failed—the specimen did not survive—but thanks to that failure, the Outer Evil Tribe succeeded in one fell swoop.

Chu Yang slowly opened his eyes, his expression rather strange.

All things considered, this Yellow Spring Demon Emperor not only dominates that special track, but she even managed to play tricks.

One of the founders of the Spirit‑Devouring Clan?

Using such cruel means to create a special race that ought not exist, the Yellow Spring Demon Emperor met this fate, enduring myriad pains before death—indeed, it could be seen as self‑inflicted.

He slowly rose, Chu Yang lightly lifted his hand, a spatial rift appeared beside him, and a streak of white light shot out from the rift.

Putting away the Heavenly Gate, Chu Yang walked out of the crystal palace and immediately saw Cang Miao standing outside with her hands.

Chu Yang smiled and said: "The Cang Lan plane awaits revival; as the Mermaid Queen, why don't you take charge of the overall situation?"

Now the Cang Lan continent has been incorporated into the Great Xia Dynasty; Cang Miao naturally will no longer call herself empress, but has been conferred the title of Mermaid Queen by Tang Huo'er.

Cang Miao swayed her fish tail, performed a courteous bow, and said: "The Holy Lord is in seclusion; I naturally dare not be negligent." "What do the Sea God Three Elders say?" Chu Yang suddenly asked.

The Three Elders of Sea God are the three strongest members of the Sea God Temple, and they are all Spiritual Product Tian Zhizun.

In fact, the Sea God Temple is a not‑weak super power in the Great Thousand Realm, but it has always acted low‑key, and for tens of thousands of years has been seeking a way to retake the Canglan Plane and return to its homeland.

When Chu Yang located the Sea God Temple and declared his identity and intentions, the Three Elders of Sea God were instantly overjoyed, and without hesitation they threw themselves into Great Xia, willingly becoming vassals.

Now the foundation of the Sea God Temple has moved to the Shenzhou Continent, truly a decisive and resolute move.

In fact, the Sea God Temple has long had an ancestral instruction: if anyone can help them recover their homeland, they will serve that person as lord.

Moreover, Great Xia is at its zenith, and Chu Yang becoming a giant is a foregone conclusion, so the Sea God Temple's members have no mental burden about becoming vassals of the Great Xia Empire.

Cang Miao said softly, "Thanks to the Saint Lord's great favor and Her Majesty the Empress's permission, the Canglan Plane may recuperate for the next ten years; aside from those stronger than Earth Supreme, no one needs to serve in the military."

Military service is a system of the Great Xia Empire; any force or plane under the Great Xia Empire requires every person to enlist when they reach a certain age and cultivation realm.

Upon discharge, these people can bring back substantial resources as rewards.

If they fall in battle, the Great Xia Empire will grant three times the resources as compensation.

And if one can achieve results in the army, they may retain their post, even become officials in the court; the benefits need no further explanation.

This system has created a virtuous cycle and competition within the Great Xia Empire; every family or faction strains to have their own descendants enlist.

If, before reaching the prescribed age limit, one fails to meet the cultivation standard for enlistment, they lose the qualification to serve.

Being unable to enlist means no resource rewards; over time, this widens the gap with other families or factions.

Cang Miao paused, then continued, "The three tribal elders are dividing seas for each sea race and contacting the various races of the Ten Thousand Realms Continent, attempting marriage alliances."

"They said… once this matter is settled, they will properly arrange the Spiritual Array that Chu King taught them."

Chu Yang nodded, "This is not urgent; the Merfolk need to recuperate, but do not dilute the bloodline for the sake of reproduction."

Marriage alliances can indeed let the sea races of the Canglan Plane expand rapidly, but it would inevitably dilute the bloodline.

The ordinary sea races are fine; their bloodlines have no special traits, so intermarrying with other races is actually beneficial without drawback.

But the Merfolk are different, and Chu Yang values them greatly, so he does not wish this to happen.

Cang Miao repeatedly nodded, "Saint Lord, rest assured, our tribe will certainly not do such short‑sighted things."

After a brief chat with her, Chu Yang left the Canglan Plane.

The reason he mentioned the Three Elders of Sea God was not because he valued those three Spiritual Product Tian Zhizun, but because he is quite concerned about the Merfolk.

The Spiritual Array Cang Miao referred to is a special Spiritual Array left by Chu Yang for the Merfolk, which can greatly reduce the damage and consumption the Merfolk suffer when condensing Merfolk tears.

Chu Yang has already tried it; whether Merfolk tears or Merfolk blood‑tears, both can catalyze the spiritual embryo, but the effects differ vastly.

However, if the quantity of Merfolk tears is sufficient, the catalytic degree achieved is also not to be underestimated.

Thus Chu Yang left this Spiritual Array so the Merfolk can periodically condense and store some Merfolk tears without harming their fundamentals.

After leaving the Canglan Plane, Chu Yang made a circuit around the Ten Thousand Realms Continent.

This place serves as a plane hub, and now it has taken on an initial scale.

Besides the Saint Sun Realm and the Canglan Plane, the Great Xia Empire also governs several lower sub‑planes and one higher sub‑plane.

One part consists of sub‑planes that fell in the ancient decisive battle, now reclaimed by Great Xia's iron cavalry.

The other part voluntarily submitted, seeking shade by leaning against a big tree, and joined the Great Xia Empire.

It must be said, Tang Huorie, whether in recognizing talent or managing forces, is in no way inferior to her innate talent in cultivating the true meaning of Tai Chi.

Chu Yang made a circuit of the Ten Thousand Realms Continent; everything here is orderly, and among the strong from various sub‑planes or different races, there is no discrimination of strength, the overall atmosphere is excellent.

Chu Yang went straight to the Great Xia Imperial Capital, then used a teleportation array to go to the Tianlu Continent.

Taking Xiaoxiao and Dantong with him, Chu Yang entered the ruins of the Ancient Heavenly Palace.

The matter of reviving the Heavenly Emperor has been delayed for a long time; Chu Yang has been swamped lately, and reviving the Heavenly Emperor now would undoubtedly maximize its impact.

Moreover, many opportunities in the Ancient Heavenly Palace can further boost Xiaoxiao and Dantong's strength, allowing them to catch up with Tang Huorie.

Among the several factions under Chu Yang, the Great Xia Empire dominates alone; other factions lag far behind at the top‑tier level.

Without Saint Product cultivators, that is the biggest hard flaw!

However, Xiao Yan has successfully forged the peerless Imperial Flame and is about to break through the Saint Product; Lin Dong has also fully assimilated the great opportunity he accidentally obtained, and is likewise just one step away from the Saint Product.

On the way, Xiaoxiao reported to Chu Yang the contents of the Great Thousand Palace meeting.

The so‑called meeting involved all factions participating in the Demon‑Slaying Project, plus representatives from the Ten Thousand Tombs Land and the Sword Domain, gathering to discuss the Great Thousand Realm's future development and measures against the Outer Evil Tribe.

It is worth noting that after the meeting, Sun Wukong began seclusion, and a Saint Product Core Elder from the Great Thousand Palace took over the duties of presiding over the Saint Abyss Continent.

Although the Great Thousand Demon Buddha refines its own relics to merge with the Tianyang Staff for future travels across the heavens and myriad realms,

the Great Thousand Demon Buddha and Sun Wukong felt like old friends at first sight, got along famously, and valued him greatly, so the demon Buddha's relic set aside a portion of its origin, essentially granting Sun Wukong a destiny.

It can be foreseen that when Sun Wukong emerges from seclusion, his strength will at least reach the late Saint Product!

If he advances further, breaking through the Saint Product peak to even the giant tier, that is not impossible.

Qin Tian, over these few days, visited the Lord of the Undead and the Blue Robe Sword Saint respectively, and his ideas received approval from these two giants.

In this meeting, an event occurred that shook the entire Great Thousand Realm.

It was that Fan Wuye, as the representative of the Ten Thousand Tombs Land, boldly announced at the Great Thousand Tower that henceforth the Ten Thousand Tombs Land will look to Chu Yang as its leader!

That undoubtedly set off a thousand ripples; many were puzzled, yet

Regarding the ancestral instruction left by the Immortal Great Emperor back then, almost no one knows it except a few high‑level members of the Tomb‑Keeper lineage.

While everyone harbored doubts, they couldn't help but regard Chu Yang with even more respect.

If the former Chu Yang only possessed the demeanor of a newly risen giant, now…

He is now the genuine third giant! His subordinates are countless, backed by the Lord of the Undead, and his own strength is extraordinarily great. (End of chapter)