[You know that the White Elephant Demon’s actions must have some deeper meaning. Facing the other half of the Great Dark Heavens rushing toward you, you also raise the Demon-Suppressing Evil-Subduing Great Vajra Pestle in your hand and imitate it by launching all-out attacks!]

[The souls of these Great Dark Heavens are not particularly sturdy, and like the initial Asuras, they cannot withstand your full-force attacks.]

[But though your weapon can strike their souls, it cannot block the Crescent Blades in their hands.]

[Those Crescent Blades are intangible and insubstantial, and can actually ignore your vajra pestle’s parry, pass through your weapon, and slash directly onto your body!] 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

[With one careless mistake, you are struck by a sneak attack from a Great Dark Heaven, which cuts across your lower back…]

[You have suffered a soul attack!]

[Soul strength -1]

[Current remaining soul strength: 6/7]

Lin Xun only felt as though a blade had suddenly stabbed viciously into his head, and his vision spun.

His face turned pale, and a look of horror involuntarily appeared on it.

“Damn! This thing really can cause damage directly to the soul!”

Lin Xun had experienced countless kinds of monsters in the game. Aside from the Soul-Annihilation Bookmark specially produced by the library, he had never seen an ordinary monster possess a method that could directly ignore the Shell and harm the soul.

Monsters could only first destroy an Apostle’s fleshly body before then being able to damage the soul.

[At the same time, in the distance, the White Elephant Demon is also caught off guard by a sneak strike from a Great Dark Heaven. It cries out in pain, its expression twisting as sweat pours down its forehead…]

[The two of you are each trapped within the encirclement of the Great Dark Heavens, enemies on all sides. If things continue like this, it will not be long before both of you suffer soul-dispersal!]

Although Lin Xun had just obtained nine lotus seeds capable of restoring soul strength, no amount of soul strength could withstand being burned through like this.

If his soul strength were to reach zero, then because he possessed the Soul Secret The Fire Never Dies, his soul would not be annihilated, but that one-point reduction to the upper limit of soul strength would be unavoidable.

“Damn it, this Evil-Execution Hall is really damned bizarre. Even a ninth-difficulty chapter can produce monsters that wound the soul…”

[You immediately activate the Bee Queen Visage and once again summon the consciousness body of the Knowledge-Seeking Primordial Ancient Dragon.]

[You do not make it transform into ancient dragon form, but instead keep it in dragonborn form so that it can fight back-to-back with you!]

[Because you know full well that ancient dragon form is huge, and the number of attacks it can receive at once would also increase. If you use ancient dragon form and make even the slightest mistake, you will be instantly killed!]

[Not with the destruction of the fleshly body, but with annihilation of the soul!]

[You and the dragonborn stand back-to-back against the enemy, one wielding the vajra pestle, the other gripping the dragon lance. The pressure on you instantly decreases, because the number of enemies you each have to face at one time is smaller, allowing you to focus more intently on dodging attacks and killing enemies!]

[In the distance, when the White Elephant Demon sees you silently summon an out-of-body avatar to fight the enemy together, it cannot help grinding its teeth in anger. Unfortunately, it has not learned such a great divine art and can only fight alone.]

[It wants to open its mouth and join hands with you against the enemy, but having just spoken harsh words moments ago, it feels somewhat unable to lower its face, leaving it deeply conflicted.]

[Not long afterward, when a Great Dark Heaven strikes it once again, its face turns deathly pale. At last it makes up its mind, deciding to set aside its dignity. Just as it is about to speak, it suddenly hears you roar from afar…]

[Senior Brother, what are you still standing there for? Hurry over and join forces against the enemy! You are about to be unable to hold out!]

[You and it are fellow disciple brothers in the end. What sea of blood and mountain of hatred could there be between you? If you do not put aside the estrangement between you now, then in a moment you really will suffer soul-dispersal!]

[The White Elephant Demon is stunned. Your condition at this moment is clearly far better than its own. There is no sign at all that you cannot hold out.]

[It knows that you are only saying this to preserve its dignity, and for a moment all kinds of mixed feelings surge through its heart, leaving it deeply uneasy.]

[Only half a stick of incense ago, it had hurled vicious words at you and wanted to smash you to death beneath its hammers, yet now you have lightly brushed all of that aside…]

[The White Elephant Demon has no time to dwell on these thoughts. Seizing a good opportunity, it lets out a roar and sweeps its hammers in a wide arc, blasting every monster around it into soul-dispersal!]

[Taking advantage of the moment, it immediately stomps on the ground and leaps over to behind you.]

[It, you, and the dragonborn stand back-to-back with one another, jointly fending off the enemy…]

[With the powerful White Elephant Demon joining in, the battle finally truly stabilizes. You kill enemies again and again, yet never once again suffer an injury to the soul.]

[While killing enemies, the White Elephant Demon struggles internally for a long while before finally speaking… Th-thank you.]

[Its voice is as soft as a mosquito’s hum, somewhat hard to hear clearly.]

[You intentionally ask, Hm? What did Senior Brother say just now? The voice was too soft, you didn’t hear it clearly…]

[The White Elephant Demon’s face turns red, then white, and then red again. Grinding its teeth in anger, it nearly gets struck by a Great Dark Heaven again, and finally snaps, Nothing! If you didn’t hear it clearly, then to hell with it!]

[After quite a while longer, it lets out a sigh, then continues speaking to you. Right now what you are facing is the third layer of the Evil-Execution illusion, with one hundred and eight Great Dark Heavens.]

[These ghostly monsters can ignore the fleshly body and wound the soul, not because they possess boundless great divine arts, but because inside the Evil-Execution Grand Formation, you and it have already, without even noticing, undergone soul departure from the body.]

[Therefore, the grand formation can directly harm your souls.]

[The first four layers of illusion were established by the Bodhisattva in order to punish those inside the formation. Their purpose is not to kill, but to torment. The true killing moves are the final two layers of illusion.]

[Once, a Buddha who had attained the third fruit rank, Anagamin (Immortal+ grade god), was confined within it by the Bodhisattva and ground all the way into soul-dispersal. He simply could not pass through the final two layers of illusion.]

[Dragon demon… sigh, Junior Brother, although the way you conduct yourself is rather foul-mouthed, it knows that your true heart is not bad. You only made all those acts of resistance because you were unwilling to be forcibly taken in as a disciple by the Bodhisattva.]

[Back when disciples like us first entered the sect, which one of us was truly willing in our hearts to submit, to become another’s mount or plaything?]

[You should not have died here… Unfortunately, even if you and it join forces against the enemy now, at most you will only be able to hold out until the fifth layer of illusion.]

[But you shake your head and say, That is not necessarily true. Senior Brother, do you still remember what I said earlier about man can conquer heaven?]

[The White Elephant Demon is stunned. Just as it is about to refute you, it sees the look of confidence on your face. After thinking for a moment, it decides not to say dispiriting words that would strike at your confidence.]

[Although it does not speak, just from its expression you know exactly what it is thinking.]

[You continue, Senior Brother, if it does not believe you, then why not make a wager with you.]

[If you and it can leave the Evil-Execution Hall alive in the end, then you win. Otherwise… well, there is nothing otherwise. If it fails, then naturally it will simply be death and Dao extinction.]

[Well then, Senior Brother, does it dare make this wager or not?]

[Seeing how calm and composed you are, the White Elephant Demon cannot help secretly wondering whether Junior Brother is deceiving it, or whether you truly have absolute confidence.]

[Whatever the White Elephant Demon may be thinking, your words still plant a sliver of hope in its heart.]

[It replies, A wager it is! What is there not to dare wager on! Say what the stake is!]

[You smile faintly and say, As for the stake… it is still too early to speak of the stake now. Once you and it escape with your lives, then it will not be too late to come and collect the stake.]