[Starrealm Leap activated!]

[You look toward the mountain range at the farthest end of your sight, and dazzling starlight immediately erupts, swallowing your body!]

[Your figure vanishes and immediately slips into the void…]

[The point you chose for the leap is the mountain range at the end of your vision, but just after you slip into the void, before the leap and flash can even begin, you are forcibly dragged out of the void by an invisible mighty force and returned to reality!]

[That is an Eternal mighty force surpassing Immortality, and also the power of a god and Buddha that you cannot resist!]

[You cannot resist. You can only watch helplessly as the giant palm falls, and under that world-destroying strike, you and the earth together are crushed into dust and powder…]

[Your vision goes black, and a thunderous roar echoing across the heavens rings in your ears…]

[…]

[…]

[You are dead!]

Lin Xun twitched the corners of his mouth and looked speechlessly at the three blood-red words before him.

“…Back when Sun Wukong was suppressed by the Buddha Tathagata, this was probably how he felt too.”

Just as he thought he would immediately see Immortal soul reborn beside the extinguished iron furnace… the hellish game instead immediately displayed several lines of prompt text.

[Your soul has advanced to Immortality and can continue to exist apart from the Shell!]

[Do you want your Immortal soul to remain here, or do you want to be reborn beside the Resting Page?]

[You may be reborn directly beside the Resting Page, or you may spend 1 point of soul strength to continue remaining at the place of death in soul form and carry out actions such as Reshape, Possession, and so on.] 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

[Before you make your choice, your soul will remain in an Invincibility state at the place of death for a certain amount of time. During this period, you cannot perform any actions until you make the corresponding choice.]

[In future deaths, if you do not modify the option, your continued existence or rebirth will by default be decided according to this option.]

[Please note: the Invincibility state will only appear during the first death after first entering Immortality.]

[Warning! If you die while in soul form, you will be forcibly reborn beside the Resting Page, and your soul strength limit will be permanently reduced by one point.]

The hellish game swiftly displayed several lines of prompts and continued showing text.

[The giant palm of malice transforms into countless streams of black smoke and dissipates, leaving behind a palm-print ravine as large as a city upon the desert earth!]

[And your Immortal soul is right at the very center of this massive palm print!]

Lin Xun’s first reaction was, “Do I even need to choose? Obviously I should respawn and run!”

But after noticing that the hellish game had given him some Invincibility time to choose, Lin Xun’s eyes shifted, and he was no longer in a hurry.

This should be a benefit given by The Book of Salvation. After all, once an Apostle advanced to Immortality, the soul no longer needed to rely on the game’s protection to continue existing on its own, so the death mechanism of the game would naturally change.

That was why the hellish game gave a period of Invincibility for the Apostle to choose the future default rebirth method. If the Apostle did not express a strong enough intent at the moment of death, the game would continue by default using that method.

At that moment, he noticed that the option to possess a Shell had turned gray, clearly indicating that possession could not be carried out during the Invincibility period. Only after making a choice would that option become effective again.

Remaining as a soul only required spending 1 point of soul strength, allowing one to revive on the spot rather than going back to the respawn point.

Other Apostles would still need to spend another 1 point of soul strength to Reshape a Shell, but Lin Xun had numerous Shells and could directly possess another Shell and get back up to continue clearing the game.

Soul persistence seemed like a completely profitable deal, but in reality there was still a certain amount of risk involved.

After the body was annihilated, only the very first time would the hellish game grant Invincibility time for soul persistence. Any future persistence after death would no longer have that Invincibility period.

And during the extremely brief interval from being a naked soul state to possessing a Shell, that was when the soul was at its most dangerous.

If facing an extremely powerful BOSS, then after an Apostle chose to persist as a soul, they would probably be slapped dead by the BOSS before they could even possess a Shell, suffering a permanent reduction in soul strength limit.

On the other hand, when facing sudden accidental deaths, such as dying to a trap, soul persistence at the Immortal realm was also a divine technique.

This Great Dark Endless Delusion Bodhisattva should already be at the realm of Eternal True God. Even if he spent 1 point of soul strength now and chose soul persistence, then possessed the little dragonkin’s Shell, he would only be instantly killed again.

It would be better to take advantage of the Invincibility time to first see what the following plot would look like, then choose according to the situation.

[Black lotus flowers descend one after another from the clouds above, forming a stairway for heaven and man.]

[A graceful woman holding a precious vase, her face covered with black gauze, steps on lotus flowers as she descends into the mortal world and arrives before you.]

[Wusi City immediately erupts, and countless commoners cry out the name of Great Dark Endless Delusion Bodhisattva.]

[The woman looks at your soul and softly rebukes, Wicked beast, if you will not convert now, then when will you?!]

[That gentle rebuke is like rolling heavenly thunder, resounding across the desert wasteland. The tens of thousands of people within Wusi City all hear the Bodhisattva’s words clearly as well.]

[She raises the precious vase in her hand. Violent winds rise, and endless suction comes from the mouth of the vase, drawing in sand, stones, and dust…]

[Great Dark Endless Delusion Bodhisattva points the mouth of the vase at you, seeking to suck your soul into the bottle…]

[The people of Wusi City all know that you killed the Bodhisattva’s subordinate god. One repayment for another, this demon god of yours must be converted under the Bodhisattva’s boundless Dharma power and become the Bodhisattva’s dharma-protector mount.]

[Perhaps before long, thangka paintings and carved Buddha statues of you being ridden beneath Great Dark Endless Delusion Bodhisattva will begin circulating through the city…]

[The people of Wusi City cannot help clapping and cheering, all watching with eager anticipation the scene of your imminent suppression.]

[Yet no matter how the precious vase displays its divine powers, your soul remains firmly in place without moving in the slightest. The vase is simply unable to shake your soul at all.]

[The woman furrows her brows, and the pull coming from the precious vase in her hand becomes even fiercer…]

[You sneer and say to the Bodhisattva before you, Little miss, if you want to take your grandpa here as a mount, that’s not impossible. I can let you ride to your heart’s content, then you will let Me ride back once in return and perform some kind of Guanyin sitting lotus divine art, that would be no problem either…]

[The moment these words leave your mouth, the woman’s dark black pupils fill with icy killing intent. She lowers the precious vase and softly says, Wicked beast, your arrogance is quite something. Do you really think I can do nothing to you?]

[A divine art from beyond the heavens can protect your soul, but unfortunately… it cannot protect everything!]

[As she speaks, she lightly reaches out with a fair white hand, and the earth beneath your feet immediately breaks apart. A solitary mass of land lifts into the air, carrying your soul upward.]

[Great Dark Endless Delusion Bodhisattva smiles faintly while pinching her fingers, then raises the precious vase once more, sucking in the entire chunk of earth along with your soul into the vase!]

[She strokes the precious vase in her hand and says, This divine art from beyond the heavens is strange in origin. It must be reported to Lord Enma.]

[This foreign dragon demon is a rare dharma-protector mount indeed… but with such a foul mouth, it must be properly converted.]

[After saying this, she steps upon black lotus flowers and ascends steadily into the blue heavens, vanishing beyond the sky…]