Chapter 509: Soul Canon

The gazes of all the Nine Nether races were firmly locked onto the Nine Nether Soul Realm Key, while slaughter and pursuit unfolded ceaselessly across every corner of the Fifth Nether Abyss.

Meanwhile, within the Soul Nightmare, Hua Changxi, relying on the memories of Lady Chi Yan, avoided various hidden dangers in the valley and was happily harvesting rare soul plants one by one.

Within the valley, Soul-Nourishing Trees were visible everywhere.

The smallest of these soul trees required several people to encircle with their arms, while the stoutest boasted a diameter exceeding ten meters, astonishingly massive.

Soul-Nourishing Trees offered immense benefits to the divine soul.

The unique aura they emitted could calm violent soul bodies and, to a certain extent, nurture the divine soul; even ordinary people carrying a piece of Soul-Nourishing Wood could strengthen and nourish their soul bodies.

Wooden tablets refined from it could harbor divine souls (primordial spirits); with the soul residing within, the soul body could be nourished and repaired, ensuring that even while walking in the mortal world, the wearer feared no erosion by yang energy, keeping the soul body stable and intact.

Furthermore, it was an excellent material for crafting containers for soul artifacts; made into cases or boxes, they could hold soul fruits, soul plants, or soul pills, ensuring not a wisp of soul force leaked out.

Not only that, but the branches, leaves, and heartwood of the Soul-Nourishing Tree were also the primary ingredients for refining elixirs that nourish the divine soul.

Although Soul-Nourishing Trees were excellent, they were not easily obtained.

For no other reason than that the wood of the Soul-Nourishing Tree was extremely hard, impossible to fell with ordinary tools; otherwise, the Soul-Nourishing Trees in the Soul Nightmare Valley would not have remained so abundant, having long ago been chopped down completely by the experts of the Nine Nether races.

However, the difficulty of felling them posed no challenge to Hua Changxi.

She possessed the Black Broken Blade!

Having experienced how the Black Broken Blade sliced through Ghost Yin Wood in the Ghost Realm forbidden lands as easily as cutting tofu, Hua Changxi was fully confident in its ability to fell the Soul-Nourishing Tree.

In the next moment, she summoned the Black Broken Blade, carried it over to the largest Soul-Nourishing Tree in the valley.

This Soul-Nourishing Tree was undoubtedly the oldest in the valley; its main trunk was as stout as a dragon, with tangled roots and spreading branches whose leaves blocked out the sun and sky, casting a vast, dense shadow.

Hua Changxi circled the giant tree once, her gaze sweeping back and forth over the rough, hard trunk as she silently assessed the difficulty of felling it.

The main trunk was simply too massive to hope to topple with her strength; however, chopping down the thick branches extending outward should not present too much difficulty.

Thinking thus, Hua Changxi hesitated no longer; tapping the ground with her toe, her form light as a swallow, she carried the Black Broken Blade and soared up into the towering canopy that pierced the clouds.

For the following period, the originally silent Soul Nightmare Valley echoed continuously with the rhythmic "bang, bang, bang" sounds of woodcutting.

The sound persisted for a long time, appearing exceptionally crisp and persistent within this deep canyon.

The hardness of the Soul-Nourishing Tree exceeded Hua Changxi's expectations; perhaps because the tree she had chosen was too ancient, its wood having reached a state of perfection, every strike of her blade sent a rebounding force like a heavy hammer smashing back.

Only after chopping down nine branches, her arms numb and stiff from the vibrations until they nearly lost sensation, did she pause.

Hua Changxi rested for quite a while before recovering, then looked at the branches she had felled; each was dozens of meters long, with cut ends two or three meters thick.

"This should be enough."

After storing the Soul-Nourishing Tree branches in her Sumeru Bead, she did not immediately harvest the other soul plants in the valley but instead began collecting the wood shavings that had fallen during the chopping.

Among the Twelve Styles of Soul Control, there was one style called the Soul-Stabilizing Needle.

These wood shavings could be used to craft the wooden needles for stabilizing souls.

The Soul Nightmare Valley was rich in soul force, which isolated some of the erosion from the Nether Nether Qi, so Hua Changxi felt no discomfort while staying inside the valley.

Recalling the Nine Nether experts she had seen earlier, she sat down right there and began refining the wood shavings to craft Soul-Stabilizing Wooden Needles.

Time slipped away quietly; only when the wood shavings were exhausted did she stop.

Looking at the several hundred Soul-Stabilizing Wooden Needles of varying thicknesses before her, Hua Changxi felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Although the Soul-Stabilizing Needles made from Soul-Nourishing Wood could only stabilize souls and could not inflict harm on the divine soul, she was still very satisfied.

Next, she began harvesting other soul plants.

Soul-Continuing Flowers were the primary material for refining Soul-Continuing Pills and Soul-Continuing Incense; Soul-Guiding Worms were the main ingredient for boiling the oil used in Soul-Guiding Lamps.

Both the Soul-Continuing Technique and the Soul-Guiding Technique were spells within the Twelve Styles of Soul Control, so she collected a relatively large quantity of these two types of soul flowers and soul worms.

Facing the soul plants in the valley, Hua Changxi ultimately suppressed her greed; she did not become like a locust swarm, and after collecting a controlled batch of soul plants, soul fruits, and soul flowers, she stopped.

Having gathered the soul plants she wanted, Hua Changxi considered the purpose of her journey fulfilled and began to ponder how to exit the valley.

However, recalling the numerous Nine Nether experts who had appeared in the Fifth Nether Realm, she felt it would be better to stay in the valley a while longer.

With nothing else to do, she took out the spoils of war she had accumulated along the way since descending into the Nine Nether.

Looking at the pile of storage items on the ground, Hua Changxi suddenly realized that from the First Nether Realm down to the Fifth, she had killed quite a number of Nine Nether creatures.

In the time that followed, she began to tally her gains.

First was a pile of Nether Stones, ranging from low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, to top-grade, and even including Nether Marrow Stones.

The grade of Nether Marrow Stones was just like that of Spirit Marrow Stones in the mortal world, serving as the primary resource for experts at the Marshal Realm to cultivate.

Then came various Nine Nether Nether Plants and Nether Fruits, as well as all sorts of Nine Nether books.

Finally, there was a heap of ghost artifacts, demon artifacts, nether artifacts, and other magical tools.

"What is this?"

Amidst a pile of dust-covered, blackened books and eerie magical tools wreathed in gloomy, turbid qi, two items stood out remarkably.

One was a sheet of strange paper, white as snow.

The other was a silver-white bead, thumb-sized, swirling with dense and pure soul force.

Hua Changxi picked up the sheet of paper; as soon as she opened it, two characters written with iron strokes and silver hooks, imbued with a certain pure, supreme yin essence—Soul Canon—leaped into her vision.

After skimming through the Soul Canon, she not only learned the general situation of the Soul Race but also discovered that the silver-white bead was named a Soul Bead.

The Soul Bead was not an object naturally born of heaven and earth but a life-bound supreme treasure condensed by the Soul Race from their own soul source.

Because the Soul Race specialized exclusively in the Soul Dao, unlike other races in the Nine Nether Realm who could condense ghost bodies or temper demon bodies, the Soul Race was born with only a pure soul body, making their frontal combat power and defensive capabilities relatively weak.

But this absolutely did not mean the Soul Race was weak, bullying, or at the mercy of others.

The Soul Race possessed three unique racial advantages bestowed by heaven.

The first was Soul Domain Construction.

Experts of the Soul Race could construct an absolute domain with their own soul force—the Soul Domain.

Wherever the Soul Domain extended, the Soul Race member was the absolute ruler; the laws within the domain were governed by their soul intent, and all living souls were under their control.

The second was Soul Fire Refinement.

The Soul Clan is the only race capable of condensing Soul Fire. This fire has no form or substance, yet it can incinerate the soul bodies of all races; nothing can withstand it.

Third, their Soul Consciousness penetrates heaven and earth.

The Soul Clan is born with powerful Soul Consciousness, far surpassing other races.

Not only can they perceive the finest details from a thousand li away, but they can also ignore spatial barriers to communicate and sense via thought across distances, and even briefly attach themselves to powerful living beings or artifacts like invisible shadows.

Simultaneously, they can easily seize souls and spirits or tamper with others' memories; even cultivators of profound cultivation will have their minds controlled if they are slightly careless.

This grants them unparalleled capabilities in intelligence gathering and soul manipulation.

However, the Soul Clan also possesses a fatal weakness.

The Soul Bead is both the source of their power and their core destiny.

Once the Soul Bead is accidentally shattered or forcibly seized by a powerful enemy, the foundation sustaining the existence of their soul body will instantly collapse.

If the soul body is sufficiently powerful and condensed, it will not dissipate immediately, but will instead fall into extreme agony and despair: soul power will wildly dissipate, the soul body will crumble inch by inch, and finally turn into nothingness.

"Hoo~"

After reading the *Soul Canon*, Hua Changxi exhaled a long breath.

Venturing out for training was indeed extremely necessary; only after stepping out does one realize the vastness of heaven and earth, and that every race has its own strengths.

Hua Changxi recalled that she had never directly encountered anyone from the Soul Clan.

In that case, this *Soul Canon* and this Soul Bead must have been spoils taken after other races in the Nine Nether killed members of the Soul Clan.

Looking at the Soul Bead, Hua Changxi worried that remnants of the original owner's Soul Consciousness might still linger within it, so she summoned a wisp of Nanming Separation Fire and carefully tempered the Soul Bead once.

Under the tempering of the Nanming Separation Fire, nearly thirty percent of the soul power contained within the Soul Bead was consumed, yet she still felt this was very necessary.

This was the Nine Nether, after all; in the Nine Nether, possession techniques were merely entry-level spells!

She did not wish to stumble due to a moment's carelessness.

Only after the Soul Bead was properly tempered did she take it into her hand.

It felt ice-cold, much like the sensation of holding a Soul Crystal.

Hua Changxi's eyes shifted as something occurred to her; she immediately removed the 'Follow the Heart' mask and placed the Soul Bead into the formation slot.

When she donned the mask again and shifted her thoughts to change her Dharma Robe, the aura surrounding her instantly became identical to that of the Soul Clan.

"Next time, I can disguise myself as a member of the Soul Clan."

Hua Changxi took out the Soul Bead, carefully stored it away, and then picked up the *Soul Canon* again to study it in detail.

Soul Fire cannot be condensed by non-Soul Clans; Soul Consciousness is limited by the soul body.

However, the construction of a Soul Domain was something she could learn.

The Nine Nether is dangerous; having more skills never hurts.

Afterwards, Hua Changxi began cultivating according to the methods recorded in the *Soul Canon*.

After some time, she opened her eyes, her brows slightly furrowed.

The construction of a Soul Domain was severely limited by the strength of the soul body.

[Realm: Infant Transformation Stage 9.999 billion/1 billion; Divine Sense: 10 billion points]

Without having opened a Spirit Platform, even though her physical body had reached the threshold of the eighth layer, her soul body's strength was still only comparable to that of a Soul General of the Soul Clan.

Therefore, the Soul Domain she constructed could only control cultivators of the Nine Nether General Stage, the Human Infant Transformation Stage, and those below.

However, when combined with Lady Chi Yan's Nightmare Technique, the Soul Domain she constructed should still be able to trap cultivators of the Nine Nether Marshal Stage and the Human Spirit Platform Stage.