Chapter 157: Soul Possession and Complete Memory Extraction

The bone staff that had been hovering above Han Shuo's head shifted its direction at some unknown moment, leaving his head and instead enveloping the necromancer within its radius. Terrified, the necromancer chanted necromantic spells incessantly, attempting to recall the bone staff, but his efforts appeared entirely futile.

Simultaneously, the Demonic Magic Edge darted forth, abruptly piercing the necromancer's chest. Crimson demonic flames instantly ignited across his skull, while Han Shuo suddenly crossed his legs and sat down, taking over the low-pitched chanting of necromantic spells.

Within a remarkably short span of time, the necromancer—whose head was engulfed in the red demonic flame—was burned beyond human recognition. His skull resembled a blackened chunk of charcoal, rendering his facial features indistinguishable.

An arcane incantation was murmured from Han Shuo's lips. With a wave of his hand, the bone staff emitted a net-like green radiance that shrouded the necromancer's head, sucking at something like a swirling vortex.

A wisp of grey aura suddenly drifted out from the necromancer's body, identical to the souls of the deceased in the arena just moments before. It was slowly caught by the green net and drifted toward Han Shuo alongside the bone staff.

As it reached the top of Han Shuo's head, the bone staff plummeted directly into his grasp. The green net, carrying the necromancer's soul, trickled thread by thread through Han Shuo's mouth, nose, eyes, pupils, and ears into his brain.

This rapid sequence of events left Emily, who stood nearby, dumbfounded and utterly at a loss as to what was happening. She simply could not comprehend why the necromancer, who had been so smug just moments earlier, had instantly lost his soul and been subdued by Han Shuo instead.

Once the net-like aura and the necromancer's soul flowed through his facial orifices into his brain, Han Shuo remained seated cross-legged and motionless. However, his facial expressions shifted continuously, flickering between joy, agony, and fury.

While Han Shuo sat motionless in meditation, the little skeleton, which had stood blankly in place the entire time, appeared somewhat puzzled. Wielding its bone blade, it wandered aimlessly around the arena. When it walked up to the sacrificial altar in the center, it actually fixed its gaze upon the blood pool belonging to Anstis, the summoner of the Three-Eyed Evil God.

"Get away from there!" Knowing that the little skeleton shared some mysterious connection with Han Shuo, Emily cried out sharply the moment she saw it wandering alone toward such a dangerous place.

The blood pool at the center of that evil altar had been formed from the blood and bodies of numerous guards and merchants, and who knew what venomous substances the necromancer had added to it. Emily was terrified that the filth within the blood pool might harm the little skeleton's body if it entered.

Unfortunately, Emily was not Han Shuo; her words carried no binding authority over the little skeleton whatsoever. Her shout of "Get away from there!" actually produced the opposite effect. The little skeleton turned its head, patted its smooth cranium, and gazed at Emily in apparent confusion before leaping forward and plunging straight into the blood pool.

"Oh, gods, the master is a madman, and even his summoned creature is a little madman!" Emily was on the verge of driving herself crazy, instantly cursing aloud in fury.

Even as she swore, Emily walked toward the altar, intending to figure out how to help the little skeleton. When she reached the platform and looked down, she saw the little skeleton splashing about in the blood pool with loud *splash-splash* sounds, playing in the gore like an innocent child. The expression of pure bone somehow conveyed a sense of joyful delight to Emily.

"Well, what on earth is going on with this little skeleton!" Seeing that the little skeleton was completely unharmed and seemed to be having a wonderful time, Emily was utterly speechless.

Earlier, the moment any corpse fell into the blood pool, its flesh and blood dissolved immediately, and its bones sank to the bottom without a trace. Yet upon entering, the little skeleton seemed entirely unaffected, a fact that left Emily extremely astonished. Recalling her first encounter with Han Shuo—when this same little skeleton had proved immune to numerous dark magic spells and chased her in a wild panic—Emily could only shake her head in bitter amusement, telling herself that some things simply defied her understanding.

Suddenly, Emily's long eyelashes fluttered rapidly, her eyes staring at the blood pool in profound bewilderment. Looking closer, she noticed that the blood within the pool appeared to be gradually diminishing.

Focusing her gaze directly on the little skeleton, Emily discovered to her shock that the seven bone spikes protruding from its spine were actually absorbing the blood from the pool. The discovery of this bizarre phenomenon wrung a stunned gasp from Emily, who murmured in disbelief, "Good heavens, just what kind of demon has he conjured up!"

The blood in the pool was progressively sucked into the seven bone spikes on the little skeleton's back as it frolicked. By the time the blood pool was drained to the bottom, the numerous bones inside, seemingly influenced by some mysterious force, all dissolved into bone powder that blended with the remaining blood and was absorbed in unison by the seven bone spikes.

This process lasted for half an hour, until everything in the blood pool had been absorbed by the seven bone spikes along the little skeleton's spine. Once the pool was completely empty, Emily noticed that the seven bone spikes had turned a bewitching, blood-like crimson, faintly radiating a sanguine glow and appearing all the more razor-sharp and terrifying.

The blood pool was square, plunging over three meters deep now that all its contents had vanished. Since the little skeleton stood barely a meter tall, it now gazed up from the bottom at Emily, seemingly contemplating how to climb out.

"Out of tricks now, aren't you?" Emily huffed in exasperation, intending to drop a rope down and haul the little skeleton up.

Before her words could even fade, however, the little skeleton fluttered the seven crimson bone spikes and wobbled its way up into the air from the bottom of the pool. Landing beside the dumbstruck Emily, the little skeleton ignored her entirely, once more beating its seven bone spikes to fly over to Han Shuo, who remained seated cross-legged with his eyes closed.

"Wretch! You're just as detestable a bastard as your master!" Although the little skeleton's face bore no expression, Emily distinctly felt that it was smugly showing off to her, prompting her to burst into a flurry of angry scolding.

Then Emily watched as the little skeleton continued to flap its seven bone spikes, circling the massive chamber in flight. Its initial wobbles gradually smoothed out as it flew, and its speed grew increasingly rapid. Eventually, it moved so fast that Emily's eyes could barely keep track of its movements.

At that exact moment, Han Shuo exhaled softly and abruptly spoke, "It's finally done!"

Startled, Emily tore her gaze away from the little skeleton's trail, her lovely eyes locking onto Han Shuo. Suddenly, she froze, staring at his eyes in sheer astonishment, momentarily forgetting to ask what had actually happened.

Han Shuo's eyes had become preternaturally bright, dazzling like the most luminous stars in a vast, starry sky. They appeared so captivating and profound, yet radiated a mysterious, unfathomable depth.

"What is it?" Seeing Emily stare at him with a lovestruck expression, Han Shuo stood up, walked over, gently pinched her tender cheek, and asked in mild perplexity.

"N-nothing, I just noticed your eyes are much brighter, and even your temperament seems to have undergone some sort of change." Blushing slightly, Emily swatted away the hand that had been teasing her cheek and murmured softly.

"Hehe. Who would have thought that devouring this necromancer's soul would carry such supplementary benefits?" Han Shuo laughed heartily with delight.

"Hurry up and tell me, what on earth happened?" At this point, curiosity was practically driving Emily out of her mind. She lunged forward, grabbed Han Shuo by the neck, and demanded fiercely.

"Cough, cough, alright, alright!" Pushing away the hands clamped around his neck, Han Shuo chuckled and explained, "I told you before that the martial arts I cultivate are extraordinary. Not only have they strengthened my physical body, but my cerebral domain has been expanded as well. When he tried to use soul-erosion magic to seize my soul and acquire all my memories, the expansion of my cerebral domain caused me to be affected by the erosion in reverse, allowing me to perceive all the memories within his soul.

"Logically speaking, for a necromancer of my level, my mental strength and brain processing speed should certainly be inferior to his since he has practiced soul-erosion. An ordinary person would have had their soul hijacked and their memories plundered before they even figured out his name.

"Unfortunately for him, my brain has undergone brutal reinforcement, and the resilience of my nervous system is far beyond anything he could have imagined. I accessed all the memories within his soul at a speed far exceeding his, and then seized his soul in turn, taking everything he had. It's as simple as that."

Listening to this explanation tumble from Han Shuo's lips, Emily was left completely tongue-tied and incredulous. She shook her head continuously at him and breathed in disbelief, "Incredible, truly incredible. Just what kind of monster are you?"

Reaching out, Han Shuo pulled Emily into a tight embrace and grinned impishly, "Alright, alright, don't be so shocked. We can leave this place now."

With those words, the Demonic Magic Edge, which had remained planted in the necromancer's chest, flew up and instantly landed in Han Shuo's hand. At the tip of the blade was a severed finger, upon which rested a spatial ring. Han Shuo unceremoniously claimed it.

" Brat, stop flying around and get down here." With a smiling shout directed at the little skeleton, which was still tirelessly circling in the air, Han Shuo watched as the creature danced its way over to him. It skidded to a halt in mid-air like an emergency brake, dropped to the ground, and waved its bone blade.

"It—it went into the blood pool and absorbed all the blood and the bone-powder slurry into those seven bone spikes!" Fearing that Han Shuo was unaware of what the little skeleton had done while he was in meditation, Emily hurriedly explained.

Nodding, Han Shuo smiled and said, "I know. This isn't the first time it's been this bold; it's no big deal. Look, it can even fly now. Isn't that wonderful?"

"I have no idea what kind of demon you've conjured up. I've realized it actually seems to have its own emotions—and I don't know if it was just my imagination, but when I mocked it for not being able to climb out of the blood pool, it immediately flew out of there looking thoroughly pleased with itself. Really, I could feel it showing off to me, I swear!" Looking at the little skeleton, Emily suddenly recalled the earlier incident and explained herself hurriedly to Han Shuo.

"Hehe, don't be surprised. There are far too many mind-boggling things in this world. I believe your feeling wasn't an illusion, because I've experienced the exact same thing myself. I can't say for sure what is going on right now, but I'm sure that as it continues to evolve, it will give me an answer eventually." Showing no trace of surprise, Han Shuo pointed at the little skeleton and smiled.

Hearing this, Emily froze. After a long moment, she smiled bitterly, glanced between the little skeleton and Han Shuo, and scolded playfully, "You're both just monsters."

"There's nothing strange about it. You'll have to get used to everything about me, because I suspect even more astonishing things will happen to me with increasing frequency from now on," Han Shuo said with a loud laugh, looking exceptionally cheerful.

"Brian, your growth rate is so terrifying that your future achievements are unimaginable. Who knows, perhaps soon I won't be able to help you with anything at all. And I... I am merely a widow. Will you abandon me in the future?" Gazing at Han Shuo, Emily suddenly thought of the days to come, her lovely eyes fixed on him with a trace of inexplicable anxiety.

"Don't be foolish. I am with you not because of what you can do to help me. Even if our statuses change in the future, it won't affect us at all." Han Shuo gave Emily a deep, intense look as he spoke. Seeing the joy bloom across her face, he took her hand and said, "Let's go, let's leave this place first. There's no need to check out the other areas; I believe I've already obtained what you needed."

Without lingering any longer, the two of them left the place hand in hand. Just as the sky was beginning to grow pale at dawn, they slipped away as stealthily as they had arrived, entirely unnoticed by anyone.