Inside Xie Zhaolin's sea of consciousness, the blood-red rune that had just taken form suddenly burst into dazzling crimson light.
The laws of the Heavenly Dao turned into golden chains, piercing through the link of divine sense and directly binding the very source of the gray-robed man's Primordial Soul. He threw his head back and let out a miserable scream. The slave brand, sealed under the witness of the Heavenly Dao, had already burned itself deep into his soul!
"No… this can't be…" His whole body spasmed. He frantically urged his Golden Core to resist, but an invisible force shattered the killing strike he'd condensed in his hand.
That interrupted attack turned back and raged through his meridians like a wild storm.
"Pfft—!"
The gray-robed man vomited a mouthful of fresh blood and staggered backward uncontrollably. His complexion turned ashen at a speed visible to the naked eye. Blood seeped from all seven orifices, and the sharp pressure he'd carried just moments ago crumbled instantly.
Xie Zhaolin watched coldly, her fingertips brushing lightly across the skin of her throat where his claw had cut her.
It all seemed long, but in truth, it had taken no more than five breaths. Just one more instant and she would've fallen into the Yellow Springs. But that single instant had already decided the outcome of this battle.
She let out a cold laugh.
"Kneel." Her voice was soft but filled with authority.
His face twisted in rage, yet his legs bent against his will. With a heavy thud, his knees smashed into the hard ground, sending dust scattering. He could only glare at her with eyes full of venom. But under the absolute binding force of the Heavenly Dao contract, not even a flicker of killing intent could escape.
Very soon, even that hateful expression collapsed. His body convulsed violently, and he clutched his head with both hands, screaming as the slave contract burned his Primordial Soul.
"Ahhh!"
Blood gushed from his seven orifices. His face twisted into something inhuman, his fingers digging into his scalp until bloody lines split open, yet the pain didn't lessen in the slightest. Any thought of disrespect toward his master was met with merciless punishment.
Xie Zhaolin watched without the slightest ripple in her gaze as he rolled madly across the ground. His lips were chewed to bloody shreds, yet he still couldn't stop himself from crying out again and again, "Spare me… spare me… ahhh!"
At last, when the punishment ended, he collapsed like a dead dog. Shaking, he crawled back up, kneeling properly once more. The venom in his eyes had already been replaced by fear, but she knew that hatred still lingered, locked away by the contract, never to be shown.
"Raise your head." Her voice was like ice.
He immediately tilted up his bloody, mangled face, forcing himself to wear a fawning smile. But his gaze was hollow, his lips twitching uncontrollably. The contract allowed him to keep his hatred, but never to reveal it.
The five beast souls encircled them, watching indifferently.
Shuang Ling flicked its tail against the ground with irritation, Xue Xiao's eyes flashed with satisfaction, and Dian Diao crackled with lightning that sent jolts through the gray-robed man's body, forcing him to grin even wider through his agony.
Xie Zhaolin stepped forward slowly, her boot crushing down on his hand. The crisp crack of shattering bones echoed clearly at the bottom of the abyss. His face twisted with pain, yet he didn't dare let out even a grunt.
"Does it hurt?" She bent down and yanked his hair, forcing his bloodstained face upward. "When you planted the Soul Chasing Seal in me, it hurt far worse than this."
His expression warped, but the contract immediately forced him to grin obsequiously.
"M-master is right…" He trembled violently. "Th-this slave deserves death…"
Even the humiliating word "slave" was shackled by the contract itself.
"Do you hate me?"
His whole body shook, and for a moment his eyes flickered with struggle.
The very next second, his face froze as the contract's power burned again, setting his soul ablaze. He was forced to drag out another twisted smile. "How… how would I dare? To serve my master is my greatest blessing!"
Blood dripped from his torn lips, but he still had to hold his posture of false reverence.
The contract hadn't reshaped his thoughts. It only locked away any notion of disobedience in the deepest part of his soul, using the cruelest method possible. The corner of her lips lifted with satisfaction. This was the first time she'd used a slave contract, and its effect was even better than she'd imagined.
"Your name."
He flinched, pressing his forehead to the ground. "This slave is called Mo Yan."
"What's your true identity?" She nudged his chin up with the tip of her boot.
Mo Yan's pupils shrank sharply, clearly resisting the contract's pull. But soon, strangled noises forced their way from his throat as blood seeped from his seven orifices once more. "I-I serve under Xuan Ming Demon Sovereign… I'm the Seventh Demon General…"
A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.
A demon? And not just any demon, but one of the demon generals?
Her eyes narrowed. "Will this contract affect your true body?"
Mo Yan's lips twitched uncontrollably. "N-no… this… this is a severed soul fragment…"
The contract's crushing weight forced the truth from him.
So this was a demonic secret art: the Soul Severing Art. By completely cutting off a part of the Primordial Soul, it could be refined into an independent clone.
That way, body and clone could cultivate separately, and the clone's Dao insights could even flow back into the main body.
The best part was that even if the clone was controlled, the main body would remain unaffected. But if the clone died, the main body would suffer double the backlash.
A hint of regret flickered in her eyes.
She'd originally thought she might use this contract to control Mo Yan's true body. Now it seemed that was just wishful thinking.
But when she thought about it again, it made sense. If clones could really drag down the main body, then with his mere Golden Core cultivation, he would've been enslaved long ago. How would he have survived until now?
This Soul Severing Art wasn't unlike the Soul Splitting Rebirth Art she'd once practiced.
But the demonic art was clearly far more profound. Not only could it be used by living cultivators, it could also conceal itself from certain Heavenly Dao laws. Otherwise, her contract should've traced back to his true body.
"So everything that happens here…"
Her fingertip gathered a wisp of baleful qi, and Mo Yan's face twisted in agony.
"T-the true body… won't know…" He forced out each word with great difficulty, his voice weakening, "unless… the clone returns…"
"Your technique. Hand it over." Her tone was flat.
Mo Yan trembled as he pulled a pitch-black jade slip from his robes and offered it with both hands.
She swept it with her divine sense, confirming it contained the complete Soul Severing Art. Then her voice dropped cold again. "Anything else I should know?"
His body went rigid, sweat pouring from his forehead. "It… it can't be cultivated by humans…"
She didn't respond. She just stared at him with a chilling silence.
The next instant, her boot slammed into his face, grinding it deep into the stone.
"If you ever dare hide anything again—" her voice was sharp as frost, "I'll let you taste true soul refinement."
Mo Yan shivered and slammed his forehead against the ground. "Yes! Yes! The Soul Severing Art needs demon blood as its catalyst! If humans try to cultivate it, their meridians will reverse! At best they'll go mad, at worst their souls will scatter!"
She looked at his pitiful state and spoke coldly. "If you'd been honest from the start, you wouldn't have suffered all this."
She pocketed the jade slip. She couldn't cultivate it for now, but even the theories on soul division were worth studying.
Still…
"If you're a demon, why go through all the trouble to disguise yourself as a human cultivator?"