Deacon Yue struggled to her feet, her body aching, the spiritual energy within her in chaos. Lam Minh's self-destruction had injured her more severely than the entire battle before it. She looked at the deep crater created by the explosion, a complex feeling in her heart. There was regret for losing a perfect specimen, yet also a slight relief for having eliminated an overly dangerous and insane enemy.
"It's over," she whispered, coughing up a mouthful of blood. "I must report back to the Holy Master."
She was about to turn and leave.
When...
She froze. Her silver eyes widened, staring intently at the center of the crater.
An unbelievable phenomenon was taking place.
From the void, golden specks of light began to gather again. A scene she had only just heard about, but had never witnessed with her own eyes.
A perfect body, a radiant Golden Core, was slowly being regenerated from scratch.
"No... no... impossible..." she stammered, taking a step back. A fear she had never known was gripping her heart. "What... what is this? A demon... you're a demon!"
Lam Minh, having fully resurrected, floated gently up from the crater. He was no longer in his Dragon God Battle Armor, but stark naked, yet he exuded an even more terrifying pressure.
He looked at the frightened Deacon Yue and gave a smile devoid of any warmth.
"Hello. We meet again," he said. "I told you. The game is only just beginning now."
Deacon Yue, after a moment of terror, regained a sliver of a great expert's composure. She knew that fleeing was useless. This person, after "dying and coming back to life," seemed even stronger than before.
She gritted her teeth, gathering the last of her spiritual energy. The crescent moon appeared behind her again, but it was much fainter.
"No matter what you are," she roared, "I will seal you again today!"
She performed her dance once more, and countless ice blades and moonlight threads were created, shooting towards Lam Minh.
But this time, Lam Minh didn't dodge. Nor did he defend.
He just stood still, letting all the attacks hit him.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A scene that drove Deacon Yue to despair.
All of her attacks, upon hitting Lam Minh's body, shattered like glass, unable to leave even a single scratch.
"How... how is this possible?"
"I already told you," Lam Minh said, slowly walking forward. "The rules of the game have changed."
He appeared right in front of her, so fast she couldn't react.
He didn't use a weapon. He just used a single finger, gently tapping the crescent moon behind her.
CRACK!
The moon, the very source of her power, cracked like a mirror.
"Ah!" Deacon Yue let out a pained scream, spitting out a large mouthful of blood as her entire body was sent flying backward.
She had completely lost her ability to fight.
She lay on the ground, watching Lam Minh slowly approach, despair being the only thing left in her eyes. She had used every trump card, but her opponent was like an unbeatable, unkillable god.
This was the first time she had felt true powerlessness.
"Why... why can you do this?" she asked with difficulty.
Lam Minh stood before her, looking down with cold eyes. "Because you all made the biggest mistake."
"What... mistake?"
"You made me your enemy," Lam Minh said. "But you failed to kill me the first time. And you will never get a second chance."
He raised his hand, and a small, golden fireball appeared in his palm.
Deacon Yue closed her eyes, awaiting death.
But just then, Lam Minh suddenly froze. He frowned, looking at Deacon Yue's chest.
He sensed another aura, one that didn't belong to her, existing there.
A very weak, but incredibly pure aura.
The aura of a human.
Not a "Saint Child," but the pure soul of a human.
"There's... someone else inside you?" Lam Minh asked, astonished.
Hearing his words, Deacon Yue's desperate expression suddenly changed. An unprecedented panic appeared in her eyes.
"No... no! You're lying! Kill me! Kill me now!" she screamed frantically.
Her strange behavior made Lam Minh even more suspicious.
He didn't kill her. He used his spiritual sense, carefully probing inside her body.
And then, he saw it.
Inside her silver Golden Core, a tiny soul, bound by dark chains, was curled up in a corner.
It was the soul of a young woman.
And when he looked closely at the soul's face, he was stunned.
That face...
Though it had matured, though there were slight differences.
He still recognized it.
It was one of his closest friends from his previous life. Someone he thought had died in the great massacre that year.
...
Time seemed to stop.
Lam Minh stood there, motionless, his spiritual sense completely immersed inside Deacon Yue's Golden Core. He stared at the small, chained soul, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
That soul, although it had the mature features of a woman, had familiar facial lines that were unmistakable.
The short, stylish hair. The large, round eyes that always shone with intelligence and a hint of stubbornness. And the charming little mole at the corner of her mouth.
"Xiao... Xiao An?"
He whispered the name unconsciously. A name that had been buried in his most painful memories from his past life.
Tran An, his childhood best friend. A genius tactician, a brilliant young commander of the human resistance. He had witnessed her sacrifice with his own eyes, using her body to detonate an armory, halting the advance of a Madakaros legion and creating a chance for him and the others to escape.
He had always tormented himself over that death. He had always believed that if he had been stronger, if he had been more decisive, she wouldn't have had to die.
And now, her soul had appeared here. Imprisoned inside the body of an enemy.
Why? What the hell had happened?
While Lam Minh was still reeling in shock, Deacon Yue, or rather the entity occupying this body, realized its secret had been exposed. Her panic turned to frenzy.
"No! What did you see? KILL ME NOW!" she screamed, trying to muster her last bit of strength to self-destruct, to destroy the imprisoned soul within.
But Lam Minh snapped back to reality.
"YOU WANT TO DIE? IT'S NOT THAT EASY!" he roared, a roar filled with rage and pain.
He no longer had any intention of killing her. He had to save Xiao An's soul.
He used his Golden Core spiritual energy, forming thousands of energy threads, and stabbed them into Deacon Yue's body, sealing all her meridians and her Golden Core. All her attempts to self-destruct were extinguished.
"Let me go! You bastard! Let me go!" she screamed madly.
Lam Minh completely ignored her. He focused all his spiritual sense, trying to communicate with Xiao An's chained soul.
"Xiao An! It's me! Lam Minh! Can you hear me?"
The small soul seemed to hear his call. It slowly lifted its head, its lifeless eyes looking towards him, but there was no reaction. It seemed her consciousness had been sealed for a very long time.
The dark chains wrapped around her soul radiated a malevolent energy, constantly eroding her will.
Lam Minh tried to use his Dragon Qi to break the chains. But as soon as the Dragon Qi touched them, the chains emitted an even stronger dark energy to resist.
"Damn it!"
He realized these chains were directly connected to the soul of the entity occupying the body. If he forcefully destroyed them, Xiao An's soul would also be severely damaged.
This was an incredibly sophisticated and cruel soul cage.
"Haha... it's useless..." Deacon Yue laughed weakly. "This human's soul has completely fused with mine. You can't save it. Kill me, and it dies with me. Spare me, and one day, I will completely devour it, making it a part of me. You... have no choice."
Lam Minh looked at her, his eyes as cold as ice.
He knew she was right. He was facing an unsolvable problem.
While he was at a loss, a warm, gentle aura radiated from his storage ring.
It was the "Turtle Origin Water Crystal" that the Golden Turtle had given him.
"Even if your soul is damaged, just swallow it, and you will be healed instantly."
The Golden Turtle's words echoed in his mind.
A glimmer of hope appeared.
He couldn't save Xiao An directly. But if... if he could separate her soul, even if it got damaged, he could still use the Water Crystal to heal her.
But how to separate two fused souls?
He once again sank into thought. He rummaged through the memories of those he had killed. The memories of Black Shadow, of Twelfth, of the Deacon...
And then, he found it.
In a very deep corner of the memory of the Golden Core Deacon he had killed in the previous base, there was a piece of information about a forbidden art.
A forbidden art of the "Saintly Way," used to swap or separate a soul from its body.
It was called the "Saintly Soul Separation Art."
This was an extremely dangerous art, requiring the caster to have an incredibly strong soul and absolute control over energy. A small mistake could cause both souls to be crushed together.
But for Lam Minh now, this was the only hope.
He looked at Deacon Yue, who was looking at him with a mocking expression, believing he was out of options.
Lam Minh gave a cold smile.
"You think I have no choice?" he said. "You're wrong. I always have my own choice."
He no longer hesitated. He would perform this forbidden art.
He would gamble one more time. Gamble with his own soul, for a chance to bring his friend back from hell.