Spirit Hall...
First there had been Qian Xunji, that disgrace to the Angel Clan, followed by a few fools with love-addled brains. With just one sane Pope and two sane Saintesses instead, the Spirit Hall Empire would have united the Douluo Continent long ago, and Tang San and his companions would never have had a chance to grow.
Love-addled brains were truly terrifying.
Xu Qingjia sighed inwardly as he leafed through the lives of Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.
Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan. His martial soul was the singular velvet sky chrysanthemum.
Ghost Douluo, Gui Mei. His martial soul was a special body martial soul: a ghost.
Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill was the Two Forms Stillness Domain.
It was a dual-attribute domain that could freeze everything within it, including an opponent's movements and even the soul skills they unleashed. When their soul power could no longer sustain it, the domain would dissolve.
"Perhaps these two are just the candidates I need." A sharp gleam flashed in Xu Qingjia's eyes.
After all, pairs capable of unleashing a martial soul fusion skill were rare to begin with. With a few adjustments and another boost to their strength, once the two became Ghost Messengers and their souls entered the Book of Life and Death, the enormous energy required to sustain the Two Forms Stillness Domain could be supplied directly by the book. Through the Ghost Gate, the Book of Life and Death could connect to the entire Netherworld, effectively granting them an inexhaustible source of energy.
The Two Forms Stillness Domain, with unlimited endurance!
If he were choosing Ghost Messengers from remnant souls below godhood, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo were undoubtedly the best value. Compared with other dazzling geniuses, their martial soul fusion skill could unleash terrifying power that went far beyond one plus one equaling two. They were an exceptionally worthwhile choice.
With that thought, Xu Qingjia hesitated no longer. He released all the other remnant souls, keeping only Chrysanthemum Douluo, Ghost Douluo, and... Yu Xiaogang.
As he looked at that feeble true spirit, an amused smile curved Xu Qingjia's lips. He had no intention of granting Yu Xiaogang divine investiture as a Yin Marshal or Ghost Messenger, but he imagined the reunion between Tang San and his teacher, Yu Xiaogang, after twenty thousand years would surely be deeply moving.
It was merely a small favor done in passing.
Rather than explore the Nether Sea further, Xu Qingjia turned and returned to his divine domain. With a wave of his hand, two white motes emitting extremely faint light drifted from his palm and hovered in midair. They were the last remaining wisps of Chrysanthemum Douluo's and Ghost Douluo's true spirits.
"Oh?" Nearby, Electrolux looked over at the sound and saw through the condition of those two true spirits at a glance. Their three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls had long since been worn away by the Netherworld's environment. Now only a wisp of true spirit remained in each, no longer subject to the Netherworld's erosion, yet so weak that they might collapse at any moment.
"Divine Investiture!"
Xu Qingjia slowly uttered those words, his voice carrying divine indifference and inhuman calm, imbued with the absolute majesty of the laws themselves. The instant his words rang out, an indistinct, dark Ceremonial Robe appeared on the youth. The beads hanging from his crown struck one another, and the clear chimes of the laws echoed through the divine domain.
Deep within Xu Qingjia's soul, beyond anyone else's perception, a pale-gold spirit bead of faith and incense offerings merged into the dark-gold Book of Life and Death. As its pages turned on their own, a ray of divine light interwoven with black and white slowly rose. It condensed and took shape in the air, finally becoming two divine tablets that seemed one seamless whole, yet remained as distinct as two separate streams.
"Black and White Impermanence, take your places at once!"
The Underworld had ten Yin Marshal Ghost Messengers: Ghost King, Day-Walking God, Night-Walking God, Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head, Horse-Face, and Bird Beak, Leopard Tail, Fish Gills, and Yellow Wasp, who specifically governed the birds, beasts, fish, insects, and other creatures of the animal realm.
There were five Four Heavenly Kings, ten Nine Great Dragon Kings, and eleven Ten Great Yin Marshal Ghost Messengers. Perfectly normal.
As Xu Qingjia's words fell, the black and white divine tablets shot toward the two dim true spirits like arrows loosed from a bow. In an instant, faint yet unmistakably real divine light rose from both spirits. As though drawn by an invisible force, the dense underworld energy within the divine domain surged toward the two true spirits in desperate need of nourishment.
Xu Qingjia pressed his hand downward. With his absolute control over the divine domain, he instantly stilled the surging energy. At a thought, the two true spirits, gradually taking shape, slipped out of his divine domain and plunged straight into the boundless Netherworld beyond.
The instant the true spirits entered the Netherworld, its long-dormant energy seemed to find an outlet. The still, placid Nether Sea suddenly raised a towering wave hundreds of meters high. It swept forth like the wind, pouring entirely into those two true spirits.
"In theory, this should work." Xu Qingjia gazed at the two enormous black and white cocoons rapidly forming in the Netherworld and murmured softly.
They were both worlds of the dead, after all, so their energy was more or less the same. His divine domain did not have enough energy reserves to sustain two beings at the Limit Douluo level simultaneously. More precisely, they were two incomplete ghost gods whose combat strength rivaled that of Limit Douluos.
How high or low their cultivation had been in life no longer mattered. The reshaping of their ghost-god bodies had already altered their upper limits.
Divine investiture through the Book of Life and Death was like that through the Investiture of the Gods: whether one possessed a physical body mattered greatly.
By attaining godhood in the flesh, as he himself had, one could largely escape the constraints of the Book of Life and Death and become a truly free individual. One could also continue improving through cultivation, gradually mastering the full power of Yama rather than being bound by the identity of "Yama."
But receiving divine investiture after death was just like what was happening to Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo now. Their cultivation would instantly rise to the upper limit of their current ghost-god bodies, reaching the heavens in a single step, but they would also become completely subject to the Book of Life and Death. They could no longer advance through their own cultivation, and could only improve slowly through the power of faith and incense offerings.
Even if he lost his divine investiture in the future, the cultivation and abilities he already possessed would not disappear. Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo, however, would be sent straight back to their original forms, reduced once more to those feeble wisps of true spirit.
The Book of Life and Death slowly opened deep within Xu Qingjia's soul. The two pages recording Black and White Impermanence gradually changed along with the transformation outside, the information upon them becoming ever clearer and more solid.
Time slipped quietly by, second after second.
"Elder Yi." After a long while, Xu Qingjia suddenly called softly. His warm, jade-smooth voice carried a barely perceptible trace of concern, and a faint smile rested in his dark eyes. "This time, we can return to the mortal world together."
"My situation is not urgent." Electrolux's tone was calm, as though he cared little about his own condition.
Xu Qingjia gently shook his head and spoke earnestly. "Elder Yi, I am extremely sensitive to the state of souls and similar beings. Here in my domain, this fragment of your divine sense cannot absorb any energy to recover. Every moment you remain here, you continue consuming what little of your essence remains."
"Moreover, you drifted through the Netherworld for who knows how long before this. Your essence has already been severely depleted. This fragment of divine sense must be restored as soon as possible."
Otherwise, this fragment of Electrolux's divine sense might truly vanish completely
from heaven and earth.
That was what he had seen in the Book of Life and Death.
After three years together, day and night, the two had long since become both teacher and student and friends. Naturally, Xu Qingjia was unwilling to watch this elder, who had given him so much guidance, quietly fade away before his eyes.
The regrets of Peerless Tang Sect would not unfold before him again.