Chapter 1196: Sacred Lady

When the middle-aged woman opened her eyes, she revealed a dash of blue in her pupils. Her face gradually changed during that instant as if she was forcefully removing time from her body. She no longer looked as a middle-aged woman, but like a young woman.

She had a calm expression. As if she did not feel the ice on the altar, she lifted her head and looked into the distance. The direction of her gaze was the entrance to the ninth Expanse Cosmos of Dark Dawn. Further down was where Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos was located.

In silence, she slowly lifted a pale hand to reveal a blue crystal on her palm. At that moment, there was a faint blue light shining on it. That light was incredibly beautiful. If anyone stared at it for a prolonged period of time, they would feel as if their hearts and souls had been sucked in, and they could not get out.

"This is the first time big sister's Sacred Soul Crystal... shone with such a light in over tens of thousands of years..." the woman mumbled softly. Her voice was incredibly cold.

"The light is pointing towards Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos, and the only thing that could make big sister's soul crystal have this sort of reaction in Arid Triad is the child she gave birth to. She could not forget it till she passed away."

The woman fell silent then. After a long while, a contemplative expression appeared on her aloof face. She swung her left arm at the layer of ice in front of her, and cracking sounds instantly echoed in the air. In just the span of a few breaths, the ice shattered and fell around her.

The next moment, ninety-eight shining planets appeared in the pitch-black galaxy. They seemed to be very far away from where the woman was, but it was precisely because they were far away that it could be seen that they formed a picture.

If there was a line connecting all the planets, they would form the image of a phoenix.

Right then, various figures walked out of thin air around the woman. There were many of them already, but more and more of them appeared, and after a moment, more than tens of thousands of them were in the area.

Their faces could not be seen clearly. It was as if they had fused with space itself, but the aura spreading out from their bodies made it feel as if they could freeze the galaxy in this Expanse Cosmos.

Once these people appeared, they bowed and worshiped the woman.

"Congratulations for your egression, Sacred Lady!"

The woman quietly stared at the tens of thousands of people around her and asked flatly, "What happened in Dark Dawn during the years I was in isolation?"

Swiftly one person stepped forward to share everything that had happened during the past years, including the gap in Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos as well as the great war happening between Dark Dawn and Saint Defier over it.

After some time, the woman closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she took a step forward.

"Do not tell the outside world about my egression. Su Er, take my place and pretend that I am still in isolation. I will be going... to Arid Triad," the woman said flatly.

A woman from the crowd behind her immediately voiced her obedience. Her body gradually changed, and soon, she took the appearance of her Sacred Lady. She then went to the altar and sat down there. A layer of ice slowly appeared and sealed the place again.

.....

In the world within the All Spirits Hall, Su Ming was bathed in golden light. His figure could not be seen clearly. In the distance, the old man from Heavenly Spirit Tribe had a gloomy expression on his face, and a look of pity appeared in his eyes.

At that moment, while Su Ming appeared the same, the 256 souls and 256 wills in his mind had already made it hard for him to accurately find where his first soul was.

This was what it meant to lose oneself. Even though Su Ming had not completely lost his way, if he stayed in this condition for a prolonged period of time or if any other changes occurred, he would definitely lose his origin soul.

At the instant it became difficult for Su Ming to lock down on his origin soul, his 256 souls suddenly jolted at the same time. The great power contained in the golden light filled all 256 souls, and they became much stronger than Su Ming's soul just moments ago.

At that moment, a bang rumbled loudly in his mind. The ninth split descended upon him.

256 souls shuddered and split up again to turn into 512 souls. Su Ming's mind also split up during that instant to turn into 512 parts from the previous 256.

This caused Su Ming, who already had a hard time locking down on his origin soul, to be completely unable to find his origin soul at that instant. He was lost. All of the souls he saw looked like his original soul, but all of them seemed to not be it as well.

When the old man from Heavenly Spirit Tribe saw this from the outside world, he let out a long sigh. He understood that Su Ming had already failed his spirit ascension. It was not that there was never anyone who had a comeback while they were lost and eventually succeeded, but most of them only had their souls split three or four times, which was why they would have hope in finding their origin souls while they were lost, but Su Ming's soul had split nine times. The level of difficulty was so high that it was practically impossible.

'His failure has nothing to do with him, but it's due to the presence of the foreign race in his soul. Oh well.'

The old man from Heavenly Spirit Tribe shook his head with the look of pity and regret. He could already imagine how when the 512 souls became stronger due to the power contained in the golden light, they would start merging and devouring each other.

Only when a person was in control of their origin soul could they guide the fusion during that moment. When all of them become one whole entity... then a soul of an Ancestral Spirit who had fused with all the other souls would appear!

It was also during this moment that the physical body, cultivation base, and soul would go through a metamorphosis at the same time. Only with the soul of the Ancestral Spirit as the seed, the Berserker Body in Death Realm as the roots, and the cultivation base as the leaves could Su Ming truly take the step to change from a Successor Spirit to an Antecedental Spirit.

'It's a pity... but it doesn't necessarily mean that he failed either. It just means that his mind has been wiped out and replaced by another newly born mind. If that's the case, from a certain point of view, he is still himself, and there's still a possibility of me making a deal with him.'

A glint appeared in the old man's eyes before he sighed quietly. This was something no one could help Su Ming with. Even the old man could do nothing about it. He could only watch as Su Ming's face in the golden light filled with deep confusion.

Su Ming was lost. He was lost among the 512 minds and souls. He could not find his origin soul. When the 512 souls were made to gain completion due to the golden light, he could only watch in a daze... as they started devouring and fusing with each other.

A life-threatening sense of danger instantly rose in Su Ming's mind. He had a strong feeling that if he could not find his origin soul and it was devoured by the other souls, it would mean that he would die.

Perhaps the soul which would come on top in the end would also believe itself to be Su Ming, but it would just be like the independent will of the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole—that person would no longer be truly Su Ming.

The devouration and fusion of the souls had already started. The 512 souls collided against each other, and booming sounds continuously rose in Su Ming's head. As the souls devoured each other, the life-threatening sense of danger arose in all of Su Ming's souls, making it hard for him to differentiate which of them was his real one.

'What should I do?!'

Anxiety filled the minds of all 512 souls at that moment. It was as if all of them were real, but also as if all of them were fake.

When Su Ming saw that some of them had already been devoured during the fusion, he suddenly saw a hint of blue light appear in a soul that was being devoured by three souls at the same time.

The blue light was very faint, but at that moment, it was like a lighthouse in the dark in Su Ming's mind. He had no time to think. At the instant it shone, he sent his entire mind into the soul who was being devoured.

At the instant his mind fused with the soul, Su Ming's heart trembled. He had a strong feeling that this soul was his origin soul. It was his soul from before he was split into 512 parts.

He could not understand why he would have this sort of feeling. The urgency at that moment caused him to be unable to think about anything. He believed wholeheartedly that this was his original soul. Thus, he immediately started devouring and fusing with the souls around him.

Su Ming had long since become numb to the feeling of intense pain. When one of the five hundred something souls was devoured, the soul who devoured it would not be the only one who would become stronger. All the souls would become stronger.

Gradually, the number of souls in Su Ming's mind lessened. When there were only two hundred something left, each of the souls became much stronger than Su Ming's soul before he performed the spirit ascension.

As the fusion and devouration continued, there were a few times Su Ming was nearly wiped off, but since his mind was with the soul, it meant that Su Ming was fighting continuously against hundreds of Su Mings. This was an indescribable feeling, but to Su Ming, this was much more dangerous than the battle of Arts he experienced in the world outside.

Gradually, the souls became fewer: 128, 96, 64...

Su Ming did not know how much time had passed. He could not divide his attention to focus on anything else. He could only immerse himself in the devouration and fusion of his souls. When there were only ten souls remaining in his mind, including his own, Su Ming could clearly sense that his current soul had become so strong that it surpassed his previous soul by a lot. It was impossible to compare the two. They were already two completely different life forms.

Booming sounds echoed in Su Ming's mind when the remaining ten souls started a crazed devouration. There would only be one that would last till the end, and the one who was left would control the body. It would become the new Su Ming.

If the soul Su Ming chose was the one who lasted till the end and his origin soul, he would still be Su Ming, but if either of the two did not happen, his mind would be wiped out, and he would be replaced by another mind that would be born from the new soul.

As time trickled by, the number of souls in Su Ming's mind went from ten to eight, then to five. When there were only two left, one of them was Su Ming's, and he fought against the other one.

The two souls were infinitesimally close to becoming an Antecedental Spirit. Their presence and the ripples of power were enough to shake the hearts of all outsiders, but they still had to fuse into one. Only then could they truly transform from a Successor Spirit to an Antecedental Spirit!