Inside the evolving Flaming Sun Abyss.
Qin Lie’s main body was sitting quietly on top of his one-level Soul Altar. The Soul Altar was suspended right above the Origin Sea.
By now, Yellow Springs Purgatory had broken down into many smaller patches of land, floating above the Flaming Sun Abyss.
At first glance, it looked like the Flaming Sun Abyss was covered in countless smaller floating continents.
As Qin Lie continued his study, the smaller patches of land floating in the sky fell towards the Flaming Sun Abyss like meteors.
When they made contact with the ground, they swiftly became part of the Flaming Sun Abyss and expanded its size.
The Flaming Sun Abyss was growing bigger and bigger with each passing moment.
Thousands of volcanoes surrounding the Origin Sea were spouting lava from the ground.
The hot lava swam across the land like burning streams or slithering fire, merging together to form a mysterious pattern of fire.
Qin Lie was completely absorbed in his study of the laws of the Abyss. He hadn’t opened his eyes once throughout the process, and he seemed to have become one with the Flaming Sun Abyss.
Suddenly, a bit of dark light peeked out of his glabella.
The Soul Suppressing Orb, the round object that looked like his third eye slowly came into view.
At the same time, in Nine Hells Purgatory.
Qin Lie’s Dark Soul Beast avatar shed its human form in favor of gargantuan Soul Beast body.
The giant's pupils burned blue and green as he stared icily at Austin’s invisible soul.
The flames burning in his eyes looked like the flickering eyes of a wrath. It gave off an eerie, evil feeling.
A sense of fear suddenly assaulted Austin’s consciousness.
“Whoosh!”
The grayish brown soul that had been trying to find an opening through the lightning storm after going invisible transformed back into a faceless Abyss Devil shadow.
However, the shadow still felt unsafe despite having changed forms, so he transformed again into the whirlpool that was the Nine Soul Hell.
“Austin!”
“The Nether Monarch!”
Beside Qin Shan, the Flame Emperor and the Ice Emperor shouted in warning.
These Genesis Realm experts had also summoned their own Soul Altars to construct various profound barriers around them.
They were trying to create more walls behind the lightning storm so that Austin wouldn’t be able to possess Ling Yushi.
However, they quickly realized that Austin—now in the form of the Nine Soul Hell—wasn’t looking at them.
The Nine Soul Hell flew toward Qin Lie’s Dark Soul Beast avatar without warning.
It was as if Austin had decided to change target and attack Qin Lie instead.
“Qin Lie! He’s coming for you!” Ling Yushi shouted.
Qin Shan grimly clutched the Heavenly Lightning Pool in an attempt to attack Austin with the little power it had left.
However, the Dark Soul Beast avatar suddenly opened its mouth and let out a shrill howl.
What was strange was that they couldn’t hear any sound at all.
Their souls, however, were in terrible pain. They felt like their souls could explode at any moment.
Even the black rocks that made up Nether City were suddenly covered in cracks.
It was as if the entire Nether City had been mauled by an invisible beast.
Qin Shan immediately noticed that the Nine Soul Hell flying towards the Dark Soul Beast had changed its shape in that moment.
“Bang!”
The Nine Soul Hell made of Austin’s soul fragments abruptly exploded into a billion wisps of grayish brown soul light.
“Roar!”
Austin screamed in terror as the light shining out of his soul turned intermittent and broken.
It was as if Austin was hurt to the point where he couldn’t even express his terror in full.
The Dark Soul Beast glared hatefully at the Nine Soul Hell as its bluish green eyes gleamed with cruelty and iciness.
Even Qin Shan, the Flame Emperor, and the Ice Emperor felt chilled by the glint in his eyes.
It was as if Qin Lie’s subsoul had shed all of its emotions.
“Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh!”
After Austin’s soul light was scattered all over the place, many ancient and mysterious characters unique to the Abyss had emerged from them.
These characters looked like the true core of Austin’s power. They flashed incessantly as they attempted to rejoin one another.
It was as if Austin would recover if these characters were allowed to rejoin themselves.
“Bang bang!”
However, the Dark Soul Beast avatar howled soundless and destroyed those soul characters one by one.
The bigger ones splintered into smaller symbols instead of vanishing entirely after exploding.
These smaller symbols were completely free of Austin’s soul imprint. The only thing left after the explosion was the purest inheritance.
“That’s… that’s the Soul Hell’s origin imprint.”
Ling Yushi was so excited that her voice was stuttering. She bit her bottom lip as her desire to know the meaning behind the smaller symbols slowly got to her.
Suddenly, realization struck her like lightning before she turned to Qin Shan hurriedly. “Grandpa Qin Shan, can you please dispel your lightning barrier?”
Qin Shan looked at her oddly before asking, “Girl, are you sure?”
“Yes! I’m very sure!” Ling Yushi repeatedly nodded in a hurry.
“Alright then.”
He nodded once, and the lightning barrier protecting everyone inside Nether City returned to his Heavenly Lightning Pool.
Ling Yushi’s long, purple hair suddenly danced in the air as she stared intently at the scattered symbols.
Freed from Austin’s control and feeling a familiar bloodline presence, the tiny symbols flew toward Ling Yushi like they were returning home.
The purple dots that were tinier than even fireflies immediately melted into Ling Yushi’s body upon contact.
“No, no…”
“It’s you again, it’s you again…”
Austin’s scream was intermittent, hopeless, and full of despair.
The Abyss characters that were still being destroyed as Austin’s presence grew weaker and weaker.
As more and more purple dots entered Ling Yushi’s like rain, the light in her eyes grew more and more intimidating.
Both the Flame Emperor and the Ice Emperor could sense that Ling Yushi’s soul energy was growing at an extraordinary rate.
“Qin Lie is helping her.”
The Ice Emperor inhaled deeply and stared at the Dark Soul Beast’s pupils.
He noticed that the bluish green flame in his eyes was growing dimmer and dimmer.
It meant that Qin Lie had spent an unbelievable amount of soul energy to defeat Austin.
But it still came as a tremendous shock to the Ice Emperor.
Even without his physical body, Austin was still the former Nether Monarch and one of the most powerful Abyss Devils in the Abyss Purgatories.
Qin Lie shouldn’t have been able to defeat someone this powerful, especially because Austin was famed throughout the galaxy for his soul secret arts.
However, Qin Lie was able to destroy Austin’s soul fragments repeatedly as if he had gained infinite power out of nowhere.
“What happened to Qin Lie? How did this happen?”
The Ice Emperor was very curious. He stared at Qin Lie’s Dark Soul Beast avatar intently as he tried to figure out the reason.