780 The Soul and the Body

As their leader was stunned and confused, these mini Lava Monsters were also affected. They did not have souls or independent thoughts as they were simply energy combinations controlled by their leader. At this particular moment, they fell into a lifeless state and remained motionless.

At this instant, a red chain lashed across the sky, as though its length was infinite. It then quickly formed a grid-like web of chains.

At the same time, Salamander charged forward and flung two flaming chains which were extended from his body at the Lava Monster Leader, linking both of them together. Pure energy constantly poured into Salamander's body, while the Lava Monster Leader grew furious and terrified. It knew that the other party was absorbing its source of power.

The severe pain and huge sense of crisis roused it. It snarled crazily while trying to resist the attack. Although it had been greatly weakened, it struggled even more fiercely. For dimensional creatures, the most terrible thing was for their source of power to be absorbed as they would be erased from existence. For the dwarfs in the fairy-tale secret realm, although they had died, they would still be resurrected rather quickly under the nourishment of the secret realm's power. However, if the root of their power was absorbed by another, they would completely disappear. Naturally, the more advanced the imprints on these creatures were, the more difficult it would be for it to recover. For this relatively inferior Lava Monster Leader, its source of power was undoubtedly the most important to it.

Wang Zhong finally understood. It was not that Salamander did not work hard; it was just that the difference in their power was too large. As such, Salamander could not utilize many combat techniques. The fact that he could strip his opponent of its source power showed that Salamander was of an extremely high grade. The Flaming Spirit King's appearance was a result of Wang Zhong's level of understanding. Wang Zhong needed to up his game before he could figure out what kind of fire creature Salamander was.

A low and powerful soundwave suddenly radiated across the entire area, sending around seven to eight mini Lava Monsters flying. They flew and hit the Lava Monster Leader with great force, making its head spin. The movements of the other mini Lava Monsters also shadowed its reaction and slowed down. At this particular time, Salamander had already appeared right in front of the Lava Monster Leader as he pulled himself forward with his chains.

He stretched out his left hand and pressed the flaming imprint on the Lava Monster Leader's forehead.

"Bor lah dih oh shi…"

Those strange words were a language that Wang Zhong had never heard of. Salamander's expression was extremely solemn. It could be seen that the Lava Monster Leader's huge Fire Quartz was dimming at lightning speed, and the countless balls of fiery energy were transmitted and absorbed by Salamander's body after having passed through it. With that, Salamander's body grew brighter and more eye-catching.

White became pale yellow and then pale yellow turned golden. Golden flames! He now had a golden body!

It was as though the entire world grew silent.

The Lava Monster Leader lost its original radiance, and the energy of the reddish Fire Quartz attached to its head was emptied in just three to five seconds, turning into an ordinary black stone. Thousands of mini Lava Monsters surrounding the Lava Monster Leader seemed to have lost their energy source, and their bodies disintegrated in an instant. At the same time, small pieces of clear and crystalline Fire Quartz fell to the ground.

Pa pa pa pa pa!

The entire ground, stretching over a few hundred meters, was covered with red, sparkly Fire Quartz!

After taking off the clown mask, he threw Simba, who could not stop chattering, back into his Soul Sea. Wang Zhong immediately tried to process what had happened. Everyone and their Dharma Idols were supposed to complement each other. If one had managed to enter the Middle Phase of the Heroic Soul Stage, one's Dharma Idol would also follow suit. However, this situation of one's Dharma Idol evolving before its owner… It was unheard of.

There had never been a predecessor for Wang Zhong's Dharma Idol. His Dharma Idol possessed self-consciousness and also had the function of self-evolution. There had never been a person who could support this claim with proof. Such a thing may have existed in the past, but it had never been recorded.

Salamander had already reached the Middle Phase of the Heroic Soul Stage? Originally, Wang Zhong had only intended to let Salamander practice his skills. This was really an unexpected gain. Other than the increase in Soul Power, Wang Zhong could feel that Salamander's flaming body had become purer and that Salamander's power had increased greatly. It was probably due to him having absorbed the flame essence of the Lava Monster Leader. As such, his flames had also managed to evolve to a higher level.

At this moment, the entire area was shaking, definitely about to collapse. Apparently, Wang Zhong had just killed off the core of this secret realm. He subconsciously picked up a pile of Fire Quartz from the ground and rushed out.

Everyone was waiting for Wang Zhong. Upon the sight of him, they began to wave the Pioneering Orders at him. They wasted no time in activating the Pioneering Orders. They knew that the collapse of a secret realm wouldn't take much time. Everyone had to leave, or else they would be sucked into a dimensional gap, which was a fragment of space that could even make Heavenly Soul Stage soldiers despair.

Peng peng peng…

Everyone was disheveled upon landing. All of their clothes were tattered and burned. Wang Zhong was the last to land, and the others stared at him, stunned. What did this guy do exactly?!

He was merely at the Initial Heroic Soul Stage, but in the end… No one would believe it. Not only that, the entire secret realm had been destroyed. What the hell was that???

Oscar felt that he had been living in vain his whole life. After all, he was an ex-member of one of the top three exploration teams. He had met incredibly powerful people and geniuses before. There were indeed some who showed incredible power when they were still at the Initial Phase of the Heroic Soul Stage. However, he had never seen anyone like Wang Zhong before… He was truly a monster!

It might have been due to the fact that everyone looked like a mess; therefore, all of them could not help but to laugh until their stomachs hurt. It seemed like everyone was very open and comfortable with one another. This was the kind of exploration team everyone wanted to be a part of.

"I suddenly realized that meeting you guys will definitely make me lose money. This time we seem to have failed to complete the mission." Oscar laughed until his stomach hurt. It was a simple mission for the newcomers to train, yet he would have to suffer a loss of a few thousand Holy Coins. There were indeed no other leaders worse than him.

Suddenly, a huge heap of Fire Quartz tumbled to the ground. "Although I don't know how much these are worth, I think they should be enough to complete the mission."

Before leaving, Wang Zhong had quickly collected some Fire Quartz. What the hell? How could he leave empty-handed?

Everyone was stunned for a while before they began to happily pick them up. "Dude, seems like you have other talents, aside from causing trouble," said Sharmie happily as her huge boobs continued to bounce. It was obvious that girls liked shiny things, especially when they had fire attributes. "I want to make a necklace with these."

"We're going to be rich!" Oscar laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth. At the very least, these could cover their travel costs. The quality of these Fire Quartz was rather good. Although they were not expensive, it was easy to sell them off. Based on the good quality and large quantity, it should be possible to earn around 5,000 Holy Coins.

Everyone waited in the Queen's Bar until Oscar finished handling all the follow-up matters of the mission.

The mission was completed only after handing in some small Fire Quartz, but the reward was not only 1,500 Holy Coins as a detailed report on the Lava Monster Leader brought additional income to the team. In addition, the remaining Fire Quartz was wholesaled by Oscar to a senior of the Alchemy Union, but the price was less than his previous valuation. Each was sold for two Holy Coins, amounting to a total of around two thousand Holy Coins. Firstly, it would be a waste of time to sell the stones individually. Secondly, because he gave that senior a good deal, it incidentally solved the Glazed Crystal Glass problem for Wang Zhong. As such, it could be considered a mutually beneficial transaction.

With this income of around four thousand Holy Coins, after deducting the cost of this trip and the Pioneering Order, etc., each person got around three hundred Holy Coins. Originally, everyone intended to split the money according to their contribution and so as to give Wang Zhong a bigger share, but he rejected the idea. He knew that life was difficult for everyone. Newcomers at the initial stage definitely needed Holy Coins for many things; otherwise, it would seriously slow down their speed of cultivation. It was regarded as benefiting everyone in the long term. This was also the most effective way to increase the strength of the exploration team as soon as possible. Only when the team was stronger as a whole, then would it have opportunities to make more money in the future.

Sharmie was so elated that she almost fainted, but frankly, she felt faint because she was a little drunk. During the past two months after entering the Holy City, she had never been in such high and vigorous spirits. She drank alcohol as though it was water and accepted all toasts. Obviously, the rest of them were not any better.

Oscar then handed a brand new Glazed Crystal Glass over to Wang Zhong with a smile. "It's free of charge. It's sort of a small compensation for selling the Fire Quartz at such a low price. It's always much easier to find such things at the Alchemy Union."

Sure enough, having connections was important. Wang Zhong couldn't help but sigh. He had been struggling to find one for more than a month and still did not manage to get one. Due to having connections, the item arrived today even though Oscar had only asked for it the day before. They were definitely efficient.

In the Holy City, money alone could not get one everything. However, if one had both connections and money, everything would go smoothly for that person.

Naturally, having finally gotten the Glazed Crystal Glass, Wang Zhong no longer had the mood to celebrate with everyone. He had been looking forward to this for far too long.

He said goodbye to everyone and could not wait to return to his dorm. Various other materials for the making of the inverted Micro Mirror were already prepared a long time ago. The assembly of the mirror was a time-consuming task, but he had already finished working on it during the period he was searching for the Glazed Crystal Glass.

The most critical part was a runic array to assist in the observation process. This was the main supplement for the process of internal power observation and the most special thing about the entire Micro Mirror. It was not to be used like a simple 'microscope' to magnify and observe cells just like during alchemy lectures. The main direction of observation was not pure matter, but the energy of matter contained in these substances. This was the subject of discussion in Cellular Cosmology.

He carefully cut the Glazed Crystal Glass, polished it into a suitable shape, and inlaid it onto the Micro Mirror. He finally managed to do it. After more than a month of hard work, he finally could get started. Wang Zhong was really looking forward to it.

Due to inadequate preparation, there were not many materials to examine. He had only bought a little bit of Evil Demon Blood at a roadside store on the way home. It was rather difficult to get this back on Earth, but in the Holy City, it was merely an ordinary street good. There were countless slaves with this so-called demonic bloodline in the city. Whenever there was demand, they would draw blood from these slaves. Evil Demon Blood could be bought anywhere in the market, and the price was not high.

He placed a drop of Evil Demon Blood between two transparent microscopic slides and looked into the Micro Mirror. That little bloodstain that seemed ordinary to the naked eye immediately appeared exceedingly strange.

With this expensive and high-precision instrument, an extremely rich cell morphology could be observed under the most basic magnification, which had been proven many times in the Tyrants' alchemy classes.

Under magnification, the Evil Demon Blood's entire cell structure could be seen. The cell shape was a round body covered with green barbs. With the help of the special power from the runes of the Micro Mirror, he could also see the crystal-like layers on the surface of these barbed green cells.

They were thin layers of energy bodies, with rather obvious energy characteristics. The demon cells that were wrapped by these energy bodies appeared huge and aggressive, as though they were individuals with minds of their own. This reflected the most basic nature of the Evil Demon Blood. Even if one just observed a single drop of Evil Demon Blood with the naked eye, one would notice occasional movements in the blood.

Was this the nature of all Evil Demons? Immortalized blood? According to legend, there was a special kind of high-rank demon. As long as there was a drop of its blood left, it could be reborn under certain conditions. On the other hand, after human blood left the host body, it would be considered dead. Vitality in dead blood was a quality that human blood did not possess.

The Tyrants had actually conducted a lot of research in this area. The regenerative nature of demonic cells and its indestructible characteristics were often used by the Tyrants to transform themselves; they were attempts to obtain the same regenerative power and resilience of the demons. There were quite a lot of people who went down this path, but frankly, very few had succeeded. Furthermore, the Tyrants' research angle and understanding of Evil Demon Blood were capped to the surface level. Practicing Cellular Cosmology was a unique approach, as it targeted the internal energy of the cells. Although the two different research types could occasionally arrive at the same conclusion, in fact — whether it was the research process itself or the research direction and objectives — the two had nothing in common.

Wang Zhong recorded down his observations and compared it to the theories in the book. At the same time, he developed his own understanding and conclusions. Cellular Cosmology was more like a form of guidance and speculation. There were not many actual and accurate conclusions; thus, everything needed to be confirmed and verified by the successors themselves.

There was energy in the cells. Was this unique to demons? Or do all kinds of cells look the same?

Wang Zhong finished recording everything that he could observe from that drop of demon blood and felt a little unsatisfied. His room had all sorts of things; thus, he began to observe everything that could be placed on the microscopic slides.

He soon realized that the energy contained in cells was not unique to Evil Demon Blood. Even if it was just a non-living thing like white gauze or a drop of water, little signs of energy activity could be observed from the surface of the cells. Naturally, the energy activity in the cells was much milder than that of demon blood and was almost imperceptible.

Everything in the world had physical energy, but the amount of energy and its effects were different. He tested many things in succession and recorded down many different observations. Cell energy had gradually been stripped of their mysterious coat in Wang Zhong's eyes. Maybe the regenerative secret of demons lay in their unique energy form and not because they 'contained energy' themselves.

Lastly, he attempted to observe his own blood. According to reason, as a human at the Heroic Soul Stage, there should be extremely active energy contained in his body's cells, or at least, it should be richer in energy as compared to that drop of low-rank demon blood. However, the results left him a little stunned. Just like what the book had mentioned, once human cells left the body, they indeed could not contain Soul Power, or maybe… the soul?

In the beginning, the cells were rather active, but just a few seconds later, those energy bodies that were originally diffused on the surface of the blood cells began to dissipate at a high speed. Finally, they became completely dead, and there was no trace of any energy remaining.