Chapter 1328: Deep Abyss Spirit Crossing

The Centipede Venom Head watched in deep despair as its soul flew uncontrollably towards Chen Ling. As the Venom Head of the Ghost Mocking Abyss, it naturally knew the King’s methods: the souls of all enemies who fell to the King would be manipulated at his whim. It had believed that as a harbinger of disaster for the Ghost Mocking Abyss, the King might spare it. However, it now seemed the King had no intention of letting it go, perhaps because it had foolishly challenged him. The mere thought of being thrown into that red paper umbrella, enduring endless torment and degradation, and becoming one of the King’s many toys, made the Centipede Venom Head immediately wish it would simply dissipate completely. Unfortunately, the centipede knew nothing of soul magic and had no way to make its own soul dissipate.

Just as the centipede closed its eyes in despair, a hand gently grasped its throat. The centipede trembled, ready for endless pain, but after waiting a long time, the pain never came. It cautiously looked forward. A figure, draped in a large red theatrical robe, stood in the wind, one hand grasping the empty space before him, his brow slightly furrowed as if meticulously examining something.

“It seems… possible?” Chen Ling mused, raising an eyebrow.

Before the centipede could fully comprehend what was happening, Chen Ling pulled a boning knife from his pocket with his other hand and, grabbing the Centipede Venom Head’s soul, directly thrust it into the knife! The Centipede Venom Head felt its vision blur and immediately lost all sense of itself. When it regained awareness, it found itself in Chen Ling’s hand. It took a long, bewildered moment for it to slowly grasp the truth: it had become a boning knife. Or rather, it had become the ‘spirit’ of a boning knife.

Chen Ling casually tossed the boning knife, and it spun as it fell to the ground with a soft clink. With his hand still outstretched, Chen Ling calmly addressed the boning knife: “Return.”

The Centipede Venom Head froze. The next instant, its soul exerted its power: two rows of sharp centipede legs sprouted from the sides of the boning knife, flailing rapidly in the air. The knife then shot across the void like lightning, flying back into Chen Ling’s hand. Chen Ling’s eyes gleamed with insight. Imprisoning the souls of his spoils within objects, granting them self-awareness and ‘life’—this was Chen Ling’s new ability from his twisted Way of the Drama God—Yuan Gui Du.

To some extent, Yuan Gui Du could be considered a strange poison. The deeper Chen Ling wounded an enemy and the more of this toxin he injected, the more he could control their soul after their death and departure from their body. Therefore, although the Centipede Venom Head was not personally killed by Chen Ling, Chen Ling had wounded it most severely, and the toxin had already permeated deep into its soul. Even if it ultimately died at Wu Yi’s hands, it still belonged to Chen Ling as a spoil of war.

“I know you can hear me,” Chen Ling said calmly to the boning knife with centipede legs in his hand.

The Centipede Venom Head’s heart trembled, causing the entire boning knife to shake.

“You hate me; I understand. You wish to kill me; I also understand,” Chen Ling said calmly. “To be honest, I quite admire you. You have more spirit and courage than any other Venom Head. If I had gained control of this body earlier and come to the Ghost Mocking Abyss, perhaps many misunderstandings could have been avoided. However, things have come to this point, and discussing these matters further is meaningless.

“Now, I give you two choices: First, become my venomous blade and serve me. I guarantee not to deliberately torment your centipede descendants, and in fifty years, I will release your soul to return to the world. Second, refuse me, and I will imprison your soul in the royal palace’s latrine, never to find peace.”

While he offered two choices, Chen Ling actually only gave it one path. If the Centipede Venom Head insisted on being stubborn and seeking death, then Chen Ling could only make its life worse than death. The Centipede Venom Head was naturally not so foolish. Originally, it thought it would be trapped in the red paper umbrella, tormented for eternity, but now Chen Ling had given it a relatively comfortable ‘cage’ and promised to release it after fifty years, naturally making it overjoyed! Without hesitation, it vibrated once more, signaling its response to Chen Ling. It chose the first option.

Chen Ling gripped the boning knife’s hilt, tossed it gently upward, and as he raised his hand to point at a nearby cliff, his calm voice resonated once more: “Go.”

The next second, the boning knife streaked through the air by itself, crashing into the cliff at an imperceptible speed, forcibly slicing off a corner of the cliff! Immediately after, the boning knife’s gravity control activated, suspending the falling debris in mid-air. The fragments then orbited the knife before rocketing back into the sky like missiles. While Chen Ling’s previous recall of the knife demonstrated his absolute control as its master, the current feat showed the Centipede Venom Head’s spontaneous cooperation. This boosted both the knife’s speed and attack power severalfold, without requiring any conscious effort from Chen Ling. With such a self-actuating Dao-based weapon, Chen Ling’s combat prowess ascended to a new level!

But Chen Ling’s experiment did not stop there. As he gently raised his hand, another long-dormant ability was activated: Soul Memory Technique!

Inside the boning knife, the Centipede Venom Head’s soul suddenly flickered. Chen Ling, as if seizing something, spread his five fingers in the air, and a lethal glob of venom inexplicably materialized. This was the Centipede Venom Head’s ability from its living days: a super-potent venom secreted from its body, capable of killing an eighth-tier being!

The Soul Memory Technique was an ability Chen Ling had extracted from Kongwang long ago, capable of awakening some of a soul’s abilities from its previous life for his own use. However, the prerequisite was that Chen Ling needed to be in a ‘mastery’ state over that soul. The former Chen Ling had no means of mastering souls, and this ability had been dormant until now. But now, everything was different. With Yuan Gui Du, once a soul was imprisoned within an object, his mastery over it was complete!

The self-reconstruction of biomagnetic fields and consciousness frequencies allowed Chen Ling to see souls and modify his own soul. Yuan Gui Du allowed Chen Ling to imprison the souls of his spoils within objects for his own use. Soul Memory Technique allowed Chen Ling to awaken the abilities of souls he controlled from their previous lives, enhancing himself. These three abilities, in Chen Ling’s hands, formed a perfect closed loop, creating a unique and terrifying soul manipulation system. Moreover, the more people Chen Ling killed in the future, the stronger this snowballing combat power would become!

Chen Ling raised his hand, and the boning knife flew precisely back to him, humming faintly. The fierce wind stirred by the boning knife whipped the hem of Chen Ling’s theatrical robe, resembling a wild red beast surging over the countless venomous insects of the Ghost Mocking Abyss, its menacing claws and fangs bared.

Chen Ling couldn’t help but burst into laughter! “Today is a good day!” he roared. “Bring me wine! Tonight, I… This King! Shall not return until utterly drunk!”