NOVPUB
Chapter 106: Everlasting Demonic Follower
The man floated in the air, wearing a black-and-white robe. His amethyst eyes glared menacingly at the old man, and his smile was like a harbinger of death. Although the floating man exuded no aura, the old man knew he was one of the most powerful figures on the continent, a name already known throughout the world. The old man was certain that he would die if he became his adversary.
"Sect Master of the Piercing Heaven Sect, Ryu Hyuk-Jae." His heart trembled at the unexpected appearance of this man. He had no idea how the Sect Master had learned of his presence here, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Without hesitation, the old man tried to create distance and break his escape talisman. He knew that his mission had already failed. With the Sect Master personally showing up, continuing the mission was impossible.
Shadows of the Lightning
The shadows surrounding him suddenly took the form of black lightning, which then shot toward Ryu Hyuk-Jae with incredible speed. The old man didn’t wait to see if his technique hit the target, instead, he activated his movement technique to escape.
Without looking back, he had already created a wide distance and broke the escape talisman, intending to teleport elsewhere. But a chill ran down his spine as Ryu Hyuk-Jae’s voice echoed behind him.
"You’re truly bold to try infiltrating my sect and then attempt to escape?"
Ryu Hyuk-Jae clasped his hands, and the surrounding wind transformed into sharp, invisible blades. Before the old man could successfully teleport, the blades sliced through the space with precision, disrupting the escape talisman. The space he tried to pass through for teleportation was blocked by the strike, rendering the talisman useless.
He reappeared nearby, making no difference in his escape attempt. Sect Master Ryu Hyuk-Jae wasted no time, pointing his index and middle fingers at the old man.
Fingers of Hell
A small speck of black shot toward the old man with such speed that even the eye couldn’t follow it. Before it reached him, the black speck expanded, revealing a giant maw of black flames. The intense heat emanated from the flames, and he was certain he would be consumed by this inferno, dying in a hellish blaze if caught by the monstrous maw.
He drew out his dagger, forged from thunder iron, and unleashed the full power of his lightning laws. Strands of lightning surged into a powerful strike that connected with the fiery maw, but to his dismay, the flames remained unaffected.
Without hesitation, he prepared to use his movement technique again, but before he could act, the space around him grew heavy. The wind pressed down on him, and the space itself felt like a prison. In that moment, the old man realized the terrifying extent of Ryu Hyuk-Jae’s abilities.
"He controls the laws of wind, fire, and space! He’s even combined wind and space, turning the air into a suppressive force."
He struggled to move, knowing that even a fraction of a second was crucial in a battle at the emperor stage. As he lamented his failure, his eyes caught sight of a palm closing in, aimed directly at his middle dantian.
"Wait, Sect Master!"
Suddenly, a young man’s voice rang out, causing the Sect Master to halt his attack. Ryu Hyuk-Jae’s technique wavered for a moment. The old man didn’t miss this slight opening and prepared to make his escape.
He dashed forward, taking advantage of the small gap in Ryu Hyuk-Jae’s technique, moving at his fastest speed for an emperor stage cultivator. But before he could cover more than three meters, the space in front of him felt as if it had turned into a heavy object, causing his movements to become sluggish and his body to feel unbearably heavy. He collapsed to the ground, as if crushed by an immense weight.
Ryu Hyuk-Jae, momentarily shocked by Aldrian’s sudden appearance, was stunned by the sheer power radiating from him, capable of suppressing even an emperor stage cultivator. He wasn’t particularly concerned about the old man’s attempt to escape—at such close proximity, it was impossible to get away from him, no matter how hard he tried.
"No wonder he was able to kill an emperor stage Black Rock Snake and destroy an entire mountain," Ryu Hyuk-Jae thought to himself.
Aldrian, with a calm demeanor, spoke, "Apologies, but after sensing the disturbance, I came to check. I didn’t expect to catch something this big. Sect Master, he’s here because of me and my group’s presence. Could you hand him over to me for my use?"
Ryu Hyuk-Jae, still smiling, responded to Aldrian.
"Of course, young master. I’ll leave him to you. I detected an unknown presence approaching the sect, and when I saw him trying to infiltrate, I assumed it had something to do with you, given your history with assassination attempts. I had intended to interrogate him."
Ryu Hyuk-Jae glanced at the old man and said, "He’s still too naïve, trying to infiltrate this sect with that kind of technique, especially when the entire wind and air in these mountains are my playground." His ability had reached the point where he could turn the elements of an area into his domain, able to detect any unwelcome presence simply through the flow of wind and air.
"Thank you, Sect Master. With this man, I can now try something new," Aldrian said as he approached the helpless man. With no strength left to resist, the man could only watch as Aldrian placed his hand on his forehead.
"You... will... not... gain... anything... from me," he managed to say with great difficulty. Did this young man intend to search his memories? If so, he would be disappointed. The man almost welcomed the challenge, hoping Aldrian would trigger the failsafe and cause his death—it would be a better outcome.
But after a few moments, he felt something inside his mind snap, and shock surged through him as he realized what had happened.
"Impossible! He broke the seal!"
He wanted to scream, but his voice failed him while Aldrian’s hand remained on his forehead. At this moment, Aldrian intended to try something new and test the extent of his recently acquired knowledge.
"I’ve acquired a technique from a scripture, called ’Everlasting Demonic Follower’, It’s a method to enslave others by placing a slave seal on their soul."
The soul resides in the upper dantian, near the forehead. This is a place where the essence of a cultivator’s life is located. It is the most vulnerable part of the body for any cultivator, and only techniques specifically designed to protect the soul, which are exceedingly rare, can strengthen it. Such techniques are typically only found within powerful families and ancient clans.
As Aldrian began to plant the slave seal on the man’s soul, he saw it in detail for the first time. In the past, when accessing memories, he had always bypassed this part of the upper dantian, not dwelling on it because of the soul’s delicate nature and his lack of knowledge on how to handle it properly.
Once, he had encountered the soul of a captured devil prisoner. While in the midst of his research, the soul had begun trembling uncontrollably before shattering like broken glass, killing the prisoner instantly. Every subsequent attempt had ended the same way.
It was only after studying the Heavenly Demon’s scripture that Aldrian finally understood the fragility of the soul. He realized he couldn’t simply insert his energy and manipulate the soul at will. First, he had to insert only a minimal amount of energy into the area where the soul resided, known as the soul space. Then, he had to carefully adjust the energy so it wasn’t excessive when making contact with the soul.
After making contact with the soul, Aldrian placed the slave seal marked with his own unique symbol, upon it, and the man’s soul instantly fell under his control. With the task complete, he retracted his finger and watched as the man’s head fell to the ground. Although Aldrian couldn’t see it with his eyes, the man was attempting suicide using the poison he had prepared in his mouth.
As he tried to crush the poison, an excruciating pain suddenly pierced his head, as if thousands of knives were stabbing into his mind. The unbearable agony forced him to abandon his plan for suicide. The moment he stopped thinking about ending his life, the pain vanished, leaving him gasping for breath.
He glanced up at Aldrian, who observed him with amused eyes.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... You can’t do that. You’ll only die when I say so. But you’re far more useful alive, so why not enjoy life a little longer?"
Sect Master Ryu Hyuk-Jae watched the scene unfold with astonishment. To turn a middle Emperor-stage cultivator into a slave while being only at the middle Earl stage himself—his experience of the world expanded in that moment. Typically, if someone attempted to place a slave seal on someone with higher cultivation, there was always a risk the seal could be broken due to the difference in cultivation power.
Yet here, it seemed even an Emperor-stage cultivator was not safe from this young man. Ryu Hyuk-Jae shifted his gaze to Aldrian, who stood over the man still gasping for breath. With a swift motion, Aldrian pulled off the man’s mask, revealing the weathered face of an old man.
"Who are you? And what position do you hold in the Thunderous Shadow Pavilion?"
