A few days ago, after the dark-clothed lady left the Ashland Mansions, she didn’t immediately leave the vicinity.
She was just a few meters away from the mansion when Daisy and Dave Ashland concocted their plan to have her killed using Kent’s master.
Of course, she didn’t like the idea; however, she remained calm and manipulated them as they intended to manipulate him.
For days, she stayed there, monitoring their movements. When she heard of an Atomic Divine Body, her greed surfaced, and she decided to claim it for herself and her secret organization.
She knew that once she enslaved Li Hua and introduced her to the Dark Devil Church, her ranking would rise, and she might gain more authority to extend her reach.
The idea excited her. So she waited until hours ago when she overheard Daisy and Dave talking about someone tracking the Atomic Divine Body and that they would be sending reinforcements.
Naturally, it was the moment she had been waiting for, considering she had never known the location of where the Atomic Body was held.
But with the soldiers now deployed there, she followed them and then waited. She expected many things to happen.
The first was a powerful person coming with Kent, considering she had learned he was the disciple of the woman who had dealt her the greatest defeat.
Fifteen years ago, she had nearly died when she chose the saintess as her first kill to fully initiate herself into the Dark Devil Church.
This failure set her back many years and ranks. So, she was waiting for Kent to go and ask for reinforcement from his master.
She wanted that, mainly because she sought to kill the saintess and avenge her humiliation years ago. This time, she had prepared well and intended to use the element of surprise to kill her.
But then Kent appeared, and she had to make changes to her plan.
She wanted the guards to kill the overly confident Kent, after which she would use his dead body to taunt the saintess.
But that plan also failed.
So, she formed a new one. Since Kent had proven to be a very powerful human with untapped potential, she decided to steal him from the saintess and make him her slave. Naturally, she would have succeeded.
But her mistake was not killing Kent rather than her dream of making him her slave.
Her mistake was threatening a Primordial Chaos Dragon with slavery.
That was why, at that very moment, she had a sword through her heart, blood dripping from her mouth and nostrils, and a look that screamed one thing: fear in her eyes.
She was terrified beyond measure. Blood drenched her entire body, and the very air around her was as sharp as a million tiny swords. The scene was surreal, but what was even more bizarre was Kent.
His appearance.
His demeanor.
His presence.
The Kent standing before the dark lady, Lady Sandra—widely known in the Dark Devil Church—was a completely different person. He looked like Kent, but he didn’t feel like Kent. The Kent before her now was like a devil who thrived on slaughter.
The aura around him is full of hate and resentment.
Lady Sandra was shivering as her life force and soul essence were draining rapidly through a runic rope that had pierced her forehead.
Five minutes later, Lady Sandra fell back and died. Then the runic rope coiled. Without casting a look at her, Kent formed a series of hand seals and muttered something.
The runic rope coiled tighter, and a red bead about the size of an adult’s thumb appeared after a few seconds. The energy radiating from it was pure soul energy.
Then Kent fell back and collapsed.
Immediately, Kent collapsed, and his body began exuding a potent, chaotic energy. His skin started changing as dark red dragon scales appeared. Within moments, his entire body was covered in tiny, intricate dragon scales.
The chaotic energy radiating from him gradually calmed down. Ten hours later, around 7 in the morning, Kent woke up amidst a gruesome scene of headless bodies.
“My head…” he muttered, clutching his temples.
His vision was blurry, and the sight around him was far from pleasant. Fortunately, he could close his eyes and communicate with the tower.
<What happened, Tower?> Kent asked.
[You blacked out, Master,] the tower responded.
Indeed, Kent had blacked out right after Lady Sandra threatened to turn him into her slave.
But that wasn’t all that happened. He knew something significant had occurred. The fact that he was still alive and free of any slave seal confirmed that he hadn’t been captured.
To confirm further, he carefully opened his eyes. There, lying before him, was the lifeless body of the woman who had threatened him.
Yet the question lingered: how had he been able to kill a peak Root Sage when he knew he wouldn’t have survived a single attack from her?
<Tower, what happened after I blacked out?> he asked again.
If anyone could answer his questions, it was the tower.
[You killed the lady after you blacked out, Master,] the tower replied.
Kent wasn’t convinced. The idea that he had killed the woman with his own hands felt improbable.
“Did I really kill her? But why can’t I remember anything about the fight—how it started and how it ended?”
Kent was utterly confused. None of it made sense. Yet, he knew one thing: blacking out often meant losing all recollection of what happened next.
But then he also knew that sometimes, you could indeed remember what happened after you blacked out. That is if you were recording it.
<Tower, do you have a recording of the battle? You said you would record it,> Kent asked, fingers crossed.
[Video has been recorded and is now rendering. Estimated time until full rendering: 7 days.]
[Because the master’s soul isn’t that strong, depending too much on the tower would affect your health. So, I am using only a sliver of your soul to run this process. Using more soul energy will have a negative effect.]
“I see. At least everything will be made known in 7 days,” Kent sighed.
He stood up and went to retrieve his sword. However, the moment he stood up, he saw a red bead radiating intense soul energy a few steps behind him.
Kent quickly moved and picked it up. His Appraiser’s Eye then scanned it.
***
[Extreme Soul Bead (Forbidden Pill)]
[Grade: Tier 7]
[Soul Essence: 502,001/502,004]
— This bead has been condensed from a human’s soul and life force. It has also been amplified using forbidden dark magic, making it 3000 times more potent.
— But although the bead is forbidden, it contains the purest form of soul energy.
— Absorbing this bead will enhance one’s soul in many ways. It also nurtures the soul and makes it very rich in concentration.
— It is said that if a soul cultivator absorbs a soul bead, their chances of forming a soul body are very high. It also improves the spirit root to a certain degree.
***
“Looks like good stuff,” Kent muttered as he quickly placed the bead in his space ring and went to retrieve his sword.
He gazed at the scared expression on Lady Sandra’s face and smirked.
“Serves you right. Wanting to make me your slave… How bold!” Subconsciously, Kent leaked a very powerful aura that shouldn’t belong to a Level 5 Root Master.
He entered the cave where Li Hua had just woken up and held a lost expression on her cute little face.