Divine Soul True Fire was the very essence of a Great Expert in the Divine Mansion Realm.
Once ignited, it could never be extinguished.
Though it could grant a brief, explosive surge in strength.
The price was the utter destruction of the Divine Soul, with no hope of ever being reborn.
"Yan Kui, you..."
Hua Yu's voice was hoarse.
Yan Kui looked back at Hua Yu and forced a smile uglier than tears.
"Please allow me to call you Master."
"Master, I fear death. More than... anyone else."
"I crave pleasure. I fear the strong. To stay alive, I could kneel before the Southern People, kowtow to them, and be their dog."
"But there is one thing..."
"I cannot stand by and watch you die!"
"Over a thousand years ago, you dug me out of a pile of corpses and gave me a full meal."
"You taught me cultivation with your own hands, lifting a mud-legged peasant like me all the way to the exalted position of Fifth Priest."
Yan Kui raised his head, tears rolling down his face.
"You were my master and my mother. My debt to you is as weighty as a mountain!"
"Today, I return this life to you!"
His words fell.
The void behind Hua Yu suddenly twisted violently.
Raging spatial turbulence swallowed Hua Yu in an instant.
"Yan Kui!"
Hua Yu's anguished scream echoed from the void.
Having sent Hua Yu away.
Yan Kui felt a great weight lift from his shoulders.
He took a deep breath.
Burning himself to nothing, Yan Kui's strength had drawn infinitely close to late-stage Divine Mansion, but infinitely close was still only mid-stage Divine Mansion.
He looked at the Blood Abyss Demon Venerable's face, so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
He grinned.
His eyes brimmed