Can Only Become a Lich

Those eyes, which were originally filled with a sinister aura belonging to the Fang Yan, now shone with a completely different light—a hint of bewilderment at first awakening, followed by extreme novelty and curiosity.

Huo Yuhao held his breath and asked softly, "Senior Tian Huo, how are you feeling?"

Heavenly Fire Venerable did not answer immediately. He first tried to move his fingers, rubbing them twice on the soil.

Then, he bent his knees and raised his arms, each movement careful.

Gradually, the movements began to become smoother.

Heavenly Fire Venerable suddenly sat up from the ground, looked down in disbelief at his hands, which were now truly under his control, and tried to clench his fists, feeling the long-lost sense of power transmitted from his flesh and bones.

Then, he raised his head and looked at Huo Yuhao. On his old and ugly face, he forced out a smile full of surprise, excitement, and even a bit of foolishness.

A booming voice burst forth from "Fang Yan's" throat, echoing throughout the silent valley. "Brother Huo! This is truly... Thai hot! This body... this body is so obedient! It's like... it's like it was born to be mine!! Hahaha!!"

Just as the Heavenly Fire Venerable was "playing" with his new body--

Huo Yuhao, who had been standing quietly at the edge of the magic circle, suddenly frowned and his eyes locked onto Heavenly Fire Venerable.

"This feeling—" Huo Yuhao's voice lowered, carrying a hint of seriousness. "Isn't something right."

"What's wrong, Brother Huo? I feel great—" Heavenly Fire Venerable's smile hadn't fully bloomed when his words abruptly stopped.

In that instant, he also sensed something was wrong with his body! It was a chilling feeling—that life was quietly slipping away!

The excitement on his face vanished instantly. He immediately sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to scan the body that had just "recognized him" with his Soul Power.

However, no matter how the Heavenly Fire Venerable investigated, every part of his body seemed to be functioning well under the control of his soul.

"I can't find it—where exactly is the problem?" Heavenly Fire Venerable opened his eyes, his brows furrowed, and his gaze towards Huo Yuhao was filled with confusion.

Huo Yuhao's divine sense had already swept through every corner of the Heavenly Fire Venerable's body.

At this moment, he slowly withdrew his divine sense, sighed softly, and a hint of regret appeared between his brows. "Even if we use soul secret techniques and soul fusion arrays to solve the coordination problem between body and soul, we still cannot achieve perfect harmony."

"Senior Tian Huo," Huo Yuhao, looking at Heavenly Fire Venerable, whose expression had changed slightly, and offered a solution.

"To truly resolve this problem of waning vitality, you need to fuse a fragment of the Fang Yan's soul, allowing his soul to become the adhesive between you and this body."

Upon hearing this, Heavenly Fire Venerable shook his head without hesitation. "Devouring other people's souls is fine. But fusion, that's not my style."

He patted the dirt off himself, a hint of nonchalance in his voice. "That's enough! To have a physical body again for a few more days, to be able to run and jump, to feel the coolness of the wind on my skin—I'm already very satisfied! This body can probably last for—about seven more days?"

Heavenly Fire Venerable estimated the rate at which his life force was fading.

Huo Yuhao hesitated before saying, "Um— Senior Tian Huo, actually, it's fine after seven days. You can still control this body and experience this world then."

"Huh?" Heavenly Fire Venerable was taken aback, not quite understanding. "What? Nothing? My life force has dissipated, so I'm dead, right? Won't my soul just float away again?"

Huo Yuhao calmly explained, "Life force dissipates, the body dies, but it's not the end. Combined with the runes I left when dealing with this body—you will transform into another form of existence, a lich."

Heavenly Fire Venerable: "Huh?"

"A special kind of undead life form," Huo Yuhao explained, "The body is in a state of death, but the soul can perfectly reside within it and be controlled at will."

"Action, perception, and the use of Dou Qi qi will not be greatly affected. It's just that the energy required for cultivation will be transformed from the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi into negative energies such as death energy."

Heavenly Fire Venerable: "Huh?"

Huo Yuhao didn't explain further. His gaze shifted to his left hand, which he had been loosely clenching.

There, a soul belonging to the Fang Yan is sleeping.

Huo Yuhao raised his right hand and quickly formed a complex hand seal, his fingertips instantly emitting golden light!

[Purification Light]!

Amidst the deep chanting of incantations, a gentle golden beam of light precisely entered the ball of soul light in the left hand.

Laugh--!

There were no screams, no other sounds. All the resentment, consciousness, and impurities contained within the soul of the Fang Yan were stripped away and purified.

In just a few breaths, that soul transformed into specks of the purest, most primordial soul light, scattering like fireflies, slowly merging into the world, and completely returning to nothingness.

Within Huo Yuhao's mental world, the Guardian Mirror Simulation a hand, which then slapped itself hard across the face with a "smack": "I'm truly impressed! You killed someone, stole their body, and then even gave them a one-stop service of soul purification and deliverance! You're really something else!"

"That's it, now this guy doesn't even have the chance to turn into a ghost and bite you, or to be reincarnated as a protagonist and come back to seek revenge!"

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, "Just to be safe."

His gaze returned to his left hand. The spot where Fang Yan Yan's soul had been completely purified and dissipated was not empty.

Several strands of pure Soul Power, deliberately stripped away by the Purification Light and free from any impurities, were slowly suspended, emanating a gentle and pure aura.

Huo Yuhao extended his index finger and gently tapped it.

"Go."

Those few strands of pure Soul Power, as if guided, transformed into a barely perceptible golden light and instantly entered the body occupied by the Heavenly Fire Venerable.

"Hmm!" Heavenly Fire Venerable felt a gentle coolness. The weakness that had been constantly fading from the depths of his body also lessened considerably.

"You're trying to make the most of every fish!!" The Guardian Mirror was speechless.

Huo Yuhao completely ignored the Guardian Mirror's complaints and said to Heavenly Fire Venerable, who was sensing the changes in his body, "Senior Tian Huo, with this bit of Soul Power as a buffer, the rate at which this body's life force is draining will be greatly slowed down, and it should be able to last for about a month."

Huo Yuhao paused, then earnestly reminded him, "Within this month, you should seize the opportunity to cultivate using this body and try to recover your Dou Zun level strength as much as possible. Once you transform into the Lich form, you will no longer be able to absorb ordinary Heaven and Earth Origin Qi for cultivation."

After giving Heavenly Fire Venerable some instructions, Huo Yuhao created a Divine Sense Clone and led Heavenly Fire Venerable to a small space Library Pavilion.

Unlike the level 5 and 6 Spiritual Formation used by the Canaan Academy teachers and students for cultivation, Huo Yuhao successfully set up Seventh-Level Spirit Gathering Formation in the small space of the Library Pavilion after many failures.

Only those with the strength of Dou Zong or higher can enter this level of Spiritual Formation normally. Otherwise, their meridians and bodies will be crushed by the excessively dense Heaven and Earth Origin Qi.

This is a perfect opportunity to allow Heavenly Fire Venerable to recover his strength.