Chapter 302 - Chapter 302: Chapter 271: Soul Collecting_1

Chapter 302: Chapter 271: Soul Collecting_1

Hum!

Prince Jade squeezed the finger Jue, causing the entire hall to quiver slightly. A black curtain of light rose, enveloping everyone within.

This black light curtain was something Xu Mu had seen for the first time, and a trace of surprise couldn’t help but appear in his eyes.

As the curtain rose, Prince Jade soared to the front of the God Refining Tripod, casting spell after spell into it. The originally calm God Refining Tripod began to show faint traces of golden light, and the dim runes also gradually took effect.

The others quickly flew up to the tripod and started executing their spells, harnessing the power from their respective tripods.

The originally ordinary ground began to display a web of veins giving off a golden light. These veins connected to form a complex formation network.

The light rose from the ground and converged towards the central God Refining Tripod. Xu Mu felt his own spiritual power beginning to be absorbed and depleted.

What it boils down to is that I am basically a battery!

He complained in his heart.

However, this was quite normal. Based on their cultivation and abilities, even if the God Refining Tripod was given to them, they couldn’t control it either.

The majority of the work was to assist. While Prince Jade operated the God Refining Tripod, they could use the nine tripods to help lessen the pressure on him.

The God Refining Tripod, which at first only glowed faintly, immediately shone brightly like it had come to life and turned golden once it received the assistance of the nine grand tripods.

“Open!”

Prince Jade huffed lightly, and the lid of the God Refining Tripod gradually opened.

“If not now, when!”

Prince Jade scanned his surroundings, and people like Xu Lingyu immediately sat cross-legged. Then, ethereal soul bodies flew out of them.

This was a method of soul leaving the body that only soul cultivators could effortlessly employ. It was greatly different from ordinary cultivators simply releasing their souls.

These soul bodies hovered in front of each person. After executing some unknown spell, they suddenly emitted pulsating waves of exceptional fluctuations.

Xu Mu could feel the fluctuations, as if his hand was placed in water. The force of the surge was very clear, but he was not able to see, nor could his Divine Intent capture, anything.

With the mysterious soul waves being released, the originally calm Nine Layered Hell suddenly started howling with gusty winds.

Whoo, whoo!

Just like the eerie winds blowing across the mountains!

The sound of the wind grew louder, and indistinct murmurs of people could be heard.

Like shrieks of pain and despair, mixed with cursing and begging, as if the world was being cursed constantly.

This scene would scare an ordinary person out of their wits, but for the people present, it was nothing to bother about.

They were cultivators, all of whom were great individuals in the middle and later stages of the Golden Pill cultivation. Even if real demons and ghosts appeared, they would have no option but to bow down before them.

“They are here!”

Xu Mu opened his eyes to see strands of black smoke passing through the black barrier and entering the hall.

Its targets weren’t Prince Jade or the grand tripod, but Xu Lingyu and the other cultivators who had their soul bodies outside.

This is the role of bait!

They would attract all the resentful remnants lingering in the prison.

Hum!

At this juncture, Prince Jade activated the power of the God Refining Tripod. An invisible aura appeared, generating a powerful suction force that pulled all the black smoke into the grand tripod.

“Aaaaah!”

Faint cries, like mosquito whines, came from the grand tripod.

Xu Mu also felt that the depletion rate of his spiritual power had greatly increased.

This is soul refinement!

“You all take turns presiding over it!”

Prince Jade’s voice came out.

Everyone could only nod in agreement.

Then Prince Jade left the control of the grand tripod. Relying on the nine separate tripods, everyone took turns to stimulate the power of the God Refining Tripod, absorbing the constant surge of black smoke.

Prince Jade focused on restoring his spiritual power in order to remain in the final moments when he could refine the remnants’ souls.

Xu Lingyu and others concentrated earnestly, continuing to display the soul fluctuations and attracting more and more remnants.

Initially, these fragmented souls were simply formless blots of black, slowly, faces of ghosts began to appear in the black mist, then came fragmented souls with hands and feet.

It was clear that these fragmented souls had merged, devoured each other, and pieced together, all appearing extremely eerie.

Some had eight eyes, some had three hands, others had eight feet. None resembled a normal human being.

Once the fragmented souls completed their whole formation, the pressure on everyone significantly increased.

The strength of the God Refining Tripod was getting stronger and stronger, otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to absorb the fragmented souls.

Simultaneously, these fragmented souls began to resist the force of the God Refining Tripod, seizing the opportunity to attack everyone within the hall.

In other words, everyone not only had to hold control of the God Refining Tripod, but also block the attacks of the fragmented souls that could strike at any time.

Multi-tasking!

The difficulty was evident.

On the other hand, individuals like Xu Lingyu, who were used as bait, found it relatively easier and comfortable to handle the situation.

Their martial methods were inherently effective against the fragmented souls, and unlike people like Xu Mu, they also did not need to split their attention to control the God Refining Tripod, hence they found it much easier to handle.

At this point, individual differences began to show.

Those with a high realm, strong abilities, and deep understanding of the spell managed it more easily.

However, those who lacked martial development, who were weak and had a shallow understanding of martial methods found it much tougher.

Xu Mu was one of them.

Of course, Xu Mu intentionally exhibited such a demeanor, as he didn’t want to attract too much attention.

After all, he had spent the least time comprehending and his martial level was not high. If he had been too conspicuous, he would definitely arouse suspicion.

Seeing Xu Mu’s situation, a smug look of schadenfreude inevitably spread across Murong Shun’s face.

The control of the God Refining Tripod constantly rotated among the nine individuals, seemingly without end.

Seven days had passed, and countless fragmented souls continued to pour into the Celestial Prison, causing Xu Mu to feel a chill down his spine.

Just how many fragmented souls were hidden inside this Celestial Prison? Or how many people had died here over the past hundred years?

Otherwise, how could there be so many fragmented souls?

Moreover, the God Refining Tripod was terrifying enough to be able to contain so many fragmented souls, and it didn’t seem to have reached any kind of limit.

According to the time, it should almost be over.

Xu Mu thought to himself.

Except for him, the other eight people were also feeling different degrees of exhaustion, clearly reaching their limits.

In charge of serving as bait, Xu Lingyu and others were also sweating, constantly needing to retract their spirits to regenerate their strength.

At this point, the entire hall was almost covered by fragmented souls, everyone being constantly attacked by a few fragmented souls, draining their increasingly limited energy.

At last, Prince Jade finally opened his eyes, personally taking control of the God Refining Tripod and in a blink of an eye absorbed all the fragmented souls in the hall.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, believing that they can now wait for the mission to conclude.

Murong Shun shot Xu Mu a resentful glance, wondering how he managed to hold on until the end, when every time it was his turn, he seemed to be on the verge of giving up.

This damn guy has quite the luck!

The others glanced at him too, feeling his luck was truly amazing.

Xu Mu wore a relieved smile, which irritated Murong Shun even more.

Xu Lingyu also took a breath, recalled his spirit back into his body.

Just as everyone thought Prince Jade would cover the God Refining Tripod to initiate the process of soul refining, Prince Jade took out a Magic Artifact wrapped in a grey cloth strip and threw it in.

On the cloth strip, peculiar faces of ghosts were drawn, looking extremely ferocious and eerie.

Everyone in the field was taken aback.

Had they ever heard about this step in the process of soul refining?

As soon as the grey cloth strip was thrown in, the ghost faces on the fabric immediately came alive, flying out, turning into nine green-faced and sharp-fanged evil ghosts, and began devouring the fragmented souls inside.

Seeing this scene, the soul cultivators seemed to have thought of something and their faces turned pale.

“The Myriad Souls Banner!!!”