Long Chen wasn’t in a hurry to ask her what she needed help with. There was something more urgent that he needed to know, so he asked, “Before doing anything, let me ask you a question. The sword spirit inside that you mentioned, is she alive?”
“Only a sliver of spirit aura is left. But she has a strong attachment in her heart, so she should be able to survive. As for when she’ll wake, I don’t know.” Perhaps because Long Chen’s arrival had resulted in her removing the seal, she didn’t seem too hostile towards him. At least she had answered his question.
Alright. At least she isn’t dead …
When he heard her answer, he finally felt some relief. The teenage girl noticed the relief in his eyes. She eyed him once more and asked, “Is she important to you?”
Long Chen smiled but didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Didn’t you want me to help you do something?”
There was a cold glint in her bright eyes when she gently said, “Not many people have dared refuse to answer a question I ask. But I was able to break the seal all because of you, so you have the right to do so.”
Long Chen could tell that this girl was once a devil-like character with unpredictable mood swings and that she would kill without hesitation. Despite the seal, the coldness in her aura was still present. More coldness radiated from her pale cheeks and sharp chin. In general, her attitude towards Long Chen was considered gentle by her standards.
Long Chen didn’t speak, waiting for her to continue. She was too powerful, and she was visually attractive. Just like a peak tall enough to touch the heavens, she evoked the desire to conquer, but everyone who laid eyes on her lacked the courage to climb.
“My soul is very weak right now, so I need souls. The souls of young girls. Virgins,” she said coldly, enunciating every word.
“You want me to kill people for you?” Long Chen shuddered. This sounded similar to the Blood Saints’ motives. One wanted fresh blood, the other wanted souls.
“You’re reluctant to do that. Is it because of your laughable sense of righteousness?” The girl suddenly giggled. Her icy face suddenly became much more beautiful when she laughed. But her words sent chills through Long Chen. When she saw the disgust in his eyes, she compromised. “Whatever. No matter what, I owe you, so I should do it your way. One hundred young girls. You will take a hundredth of their souls from each of them. This won’t affect them much. They’ll only feel a slight headache, and will recover in a month.”
Long Chen knew that despite the creepiness in her words, she was probably not as evil as he imagined. If she truly was evil, she would’ve killed him already, even though he had saved her.
“What should I do?” asked Long Chen.
“To be honest, you should feel honored. I will give you a technique that will give you the ability to read and consume souls. This ability will grow as you become stronger. If you become much stronger in the future, it’ll definitely be very useful to you,” she said flatly.
“Read and consume souls?” Long Chen could feel that she was not talking about a combat technique. It was probably a divine-type ability, similar to Blood Transmutation and the Blood Devouring Domain. And if she was willing to speak so highly of it, then it had to be an impressive technique.
“Why are you giving it to me? Isn’t it more efficient for you to go consume the souls yourself?” he asked cautiously.
After the question, he felt an immense killing intent rushing at him, instantly crashing into his soul. Long Chen was startled, cold sweat sprouting from his back.
But the killing intent quickly disappeared. She was a little despondent, and she combed her white-jade-like fingers through her black hair, saying wistfully, “If I could do it myself, why would I be wasting my time here with you? If I use this skill, it’ll attract their attention and I’ll be sealed up again. Won’t you miss me if that happens?”
When she spoke the last sentence, a strange light flickered in her ink-green eyes, and Long Chen fell deeply into her gaze. He instantly felt like he was in a daze, even losing his ability to think. All he could think about was how the girl before him was the most attractive thing at the moment. She wasn’t wearing a shred of clothing and was in a seductive pose, as if making herself fully available to him. He felt a fatal attraction to her delicate, white-jade-like, feminine body.
He lost control of his body and reached out to touch her. That was when everything disappeared, and the girl stared coldly at him. “Did you see that? That’s the Soul Swallowing Gaze you need to learn.”
Long Chen’s chest tightened.
When he woke up, he thought the girl had used a seductive technique, but it was actually an eye technique.
It felt like all she had done was use her eyes to trap his eyes, even extending her influence on all of his senses, enveloping his soul.
“Soul Swallowing Gaze?”
“Mhm. Many people want to learn this but don’t get the chance. I don’t like to owe anyone anything, so if you learn this trick, you shall forget you ever saved me. If you aren’t careful with your words and make me unhappy, I’ll kill you,” she said, an ink-green light twinkling in her eyes teasingly.
She was giving him a good gift, so obviously, he would take it. He nodded and said, “In that case, you may give it to me.”
“I’ll give you the Soul Swallowing Gaze, then I’ll need to cultivate to recover my strength. You sit here to cultivate too. Once I succeed, I’ll get you out of this damn place,” she said coldly.
“How long do you need to cultivate?” There were many things Long Chen had to do.
“It could range from one or two days to one or two months.” The girl walked up to him, until the gap between them was less than half a meter. He looked down and saw a startling patch of snow-white skin on her chest, and he could smell a sweet fragrance. A fire ignited within him.
“Do I look good?” A low, demonic voice rang in his ears, and he felt numb.
“Good enough to bring down kingdoms and city walls,” he said instinctively.
“A satisfactory answer.” Then Long Chen felt a sting in his head, like a needle had pierced through him. It was so painful that his entire body twitched and he almost passed out.
Thankfully, the suffering only lasted for a few moments before it disappeared fully. When he snapped back to reality, drenched in cold sweat, he realized that there was additional information in his brain. It was the cultivation method of the Soul Swallowing Gaze.
“If you still haven’t mastered it when I wake up, I will dig your eyes out,” she said, staring into his eyes.
Judging from the fact that she was a thousand-meter-long corpse and how she had been sealed in the gigantic coffin beneath his feet, he knew that the girl was an extremely powerful master. She might even be an ancient witch, probably the senior of his seniors. It was only appropriate for him to be demure and respectful towards his seniors, so he nodded.
“Right, what is your name?” the girl asked mildly, sitting on the old coffin.
“Long Chen. What about you?” he asked after gathering his courage.
“Li Xuanji.”
***
Long Chen was deeply shaken when he truly started to cultivate the Soul Swallowing Gaze. From this, he deduced that Li Xuanji was definitely not as heartless and vicious as she made herself out to be. He’d obtained the Soul Swallowing Gaze in exchange for breaking the seal to save her. And it was an extremely worthwhile trade.
His special abilities were all from the Inherited Blood Essence, so his Dragon Soul Transformation, Blood Transmutation, and its extension, the Blood Devouring Domain, were all formidable presences. Towards the end of his cultivation of the Soul Swallowing Gaze, he felt like it might be on their level.
The technique was layered, and he had only touched upon its first layer. Li Xuanji had told him to aim for the second layer before she finished her cultivation. Once the first layer was complete, the secret technique of the second layer would appear in his mind, and so on until he fully mastered the technique.
Long Chen’s other techniques, like Blood Transmutation, didn’t require cultivation. His other combat techniques, while they were powerful to him, were menial to someone like Li Xuanji. That was why the Soul Swallowing Gaze was Long Chen’s first secret technique of a higher cultivation difficulty. Completing the second layer before she finished her cultivation would not be simple.
However, there was a deeper concern in his mind.
He worried about the people he cared most about. Ling Xi was in a deep sleep, but Dongfang Xuanxiao and Mo Xiaolang should have been able to escape after Ling Xi used Heaven Bearing Sword Prison on the Patriarch. Yin Mengyao hadn’t participated in Xiaolang’s rescue, but she was also in danger. The one Long Chen was most concerned about was Yang Lingqing. He and Dongfang Xuanxiao had forced Beitang Ming to cancel the wedding, but Dongfang Xuanxiao was on the run and Long Chen was dead to them. So why wouldn’t Beitang Mo make a move now?
Long Chen knew that panicking now was meaningless. All he could do now was attain the second layer of the Soul Swallowing Gaze before Li Xuanji finished cultivating.
The first layer was called Seduction. It was the move that Li Xuanji had used on Long Chen. In battle, it could make the opponent momentarily lose focus. It seemed like a simple move, but if used well, it could turn the tides of a battle. Once cultivated to mastery, if Long Chen would be able to use Seduction to control a weaker individual’s thoughts and actions.
Of course, Li Xuanji had used sex to seduce him before. There were many ways to seduce a person, and Long Chen wouldn’t use this type of seduction against a manly man.
Next, he had to cultivate the second layer, called Soul Snatching. If he could master its initial stage, he would be able to use it on non-cultivators or people with little cultivation. He could then take pieces of their souls to nourish his own. The soul was tied to energy, comprehension, reaction speed, and more.
Quieting his mind, he began cultivating. It was a good technique, and if he could master it, it would be an amazing trump card.
Also, it had many layers. Who knew what amazing tricks awaited him if he cultivated it to the end?