Chapter 69
Soren suppressed the demonic might in.
Ethel’s eyes closed and she went down like something cut loose.
A slight wave of his hand wrapped her in demonic energy and floated her upright before him, her awareness surfaced a little.
"Demon Emperor... what... what happened to me?"
"Don’t worry, two soul powers are merging inside you, it may shake your memories and the way you see things."
"You’ll be fine soon."
"I’ll stay beside you, sleep."
"When you wake up, you’ll be reborn."
"Mm... With the Demon Emperor beside me, Ethel isn’t afraid of anything."
Whatever he said, in whatever tone, it made her feel safe, she was asleep a second later.
Soren swept the area once more, confirmed no fluctuations remained, and brought her down to flatter ground.
A clear pool sat here, a waterfall came down nearby and threw water half a meter into the air.
Under the last of the sun the surface went gold and scaled, rare spiritual fruits and strange flowers grew along the banks, good scenery, the kind you didn’t see twice.
Black Dragon Mountain stayed cleaner and safer than ordinary ranges.
The fox cries from the Dragon-Suppressing Stele kept the major races out, and herbs and fruit grew everywhere untouched.
The sun went down, night came.
Ethel’s thick lashes stirred, her eyes opened, and the first thing in them was Soren’s expressionless face, which she found exceptionally handsome.
"Hiss"
She drew a thin breath, the Tree Spirit’s soul power had merged, and her head felt like it was splitting open.
The extra memories in her mind confused her more.
Soren explained it briefly.
Her mouth fell open, she could hardly believe what she was hearing, she had the experience and memories of an Upper-Tier Spirit Emperor in pharmacology and alchemy?
Normally he’d have let her work through it herself, seeing her frozen there in joy, he frowned instead.
"It isn’t just experience and memories."
"There’s also Upper-Tier Spirit Emperor soul power."
"But something’s strange..."
"With that much soul power becoming part of your own, you should be going through a far more astonishing change, Ethel, do you feel any impulse to break through?"
She shook her head, careful about it.
"I... I’m sorry."
"I don’t feel anything like that."
"I’ve disappointed the Demon Emperor." She twisted the corners of her clothes in both hands and bit her lower lip, distressed at having nothing to show.
"There’s no disappointment."
"It’s strange, that’s all."
Soren said it to settle her and unfolded the Strategy Encyclopedia, characters formed line by line out of intertwined Great Dao energy.
[Ethel possessed an unawakened Holy Constitution.]
[It inherently isolated any soul power full of dark, sinister energy or malice.]
[Her body could be compared to a sealed room, crammed full of soul power that remained segregated by an invisible protective mechanism.]
[She need only consume a spiritual fluid known as Soul Melding Fluid to disable the isolation.]
So this was the Holy Constitution’s built-in firewall.
Ethel had to authorize the removal herself before that outside soul power could truly become hers.
With the answer in hand, the problem got simple.
Soren explained the Soul Melding Fluid to her, listening, looking up at him, she felt again that the Demon Emperor was profoundly mysterious, he knew everything, and he could do anything.
"I can brew the Soul Melding Fluid."
"It takes three different herbs."
"And since I’m at the King Realm, I only need a King-grade spiritual fluid."
Ethel clapped her small hands.
"Demon Emperor, could you wait here a moment? I’ll be right back!"
He agreed, she ran a few steps, stopped, and turned back, nervous.
"Demon Emperor... can I use the herbs growing in these mountains?"
Black Dragon Mountain belonged to him, she didn’t dare touch anything on her own authority.
"You don’t need to ask me about that again."
"Use what you want, when you want."
"Consider it a privilege I’m granting you."
She nearly jumped, clapped her hands, thanked him several times over, and scurried off into the trees.
Ethel had the Black Crow Alchemy Emperor’s memories and experience, even if she’d never brewed a spiritual fluid in her life, this should be a walk in the park.
Once she fused that soul power properly, her strength was going to climb hard, then she could start on higher-grade pills.
She had the herbs together quickly, the pharmacology and alchemy system of the Azure Spirit World had a low entry bar, there were no cauldrons required, and no open-flame refining, wrap the herbs in Spirit energy, run specialized hand seals, extract and fuse the essences.
Easy to enter, and brutal to master.
What looked simple was intricate underneath, anyone who achieved real accomplishment was treated as a chosen one by their race, sought after wherever they went.
It took her half a day.
Soren examined the fluid, exceptionally pure, herb ratios grasped to perfection, technically only King grade, the quality and potency were pushing right up against Venerable.
The Black Crow Alchemy Emperor’s experience had raised her success rate.
What it proved was that Ethel had genuine talent under it, inherited memory was worthless if the hands couldn’t match what the memory knew.
First attempt, that quality, Soren was satisfied.
He reached out and stroked her hair. "You did very well."
"Thank you, Demon Emperor!" Joy was written all over her face, his recognition made her a hundred times happier than the brewing had.
"Drink it now, I’ll watch over you right here."
"Mm! I’ll drink it right away."
She took the jade vial from his hand, clutched it against her chest, and trotted off to a quiet spot nearby.
One mouthful in, pain twisted her face, though it stayed inside what she could bear.
Soren estimated a day or two for full absorption, with time on his hands, he went back to his own cultivation.
His Heavenly Dao Demonic Form sat at Conversion Degree 52, his devouring speed had passed the Emperor level long ago and now ran somewhere near the Ancestor Realm.
His Hell Demonic Form sat at 53, which put the power of his Hell of Illusion above ordinary Emperor level demonic techniques.
He could keep pouring effort into both and keep climbing, after some thought he set his sights on the Beast Demonic Form instead, he had two reasons for it.