(The censors' ultra-sensitive skin is maddening; the previous chapter got elbowed again.)
With a sob from Meng Hongchen, Ming Zhao successfully injected her with a teeny bit of evil-path genes.
In a place even Meng Hongchen herself knew nothing about, the two hidden energies of Yin Fire and Nether Water had already begun to seep into her soul and Martial Soul, subtly transforming them.
Compared to Zhongli Wu's violent transformation of Tang Ya, which had nearly destroyed her mind, Ming Zhao's method was relatively gentle, far harder to detect, and nearly impossible to undo.
He had mocked his own lack of destructive power more than once, but what he lost in one area, he gained in another. His weakness in destructive power was matched by the bizarre mechanisms and methods at his disposal. His Martial Soul was inclined toward conceptual terror to begin with, and could only display its greatest effect when used on Soul Masters.
More importantly, Meng Hongchen and Ming Zhao were simply too compatible.
Ming Zhao had been born with a Yin fate and a Yang body, while Meng Hongchen possessed the Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul, in which ice and fire coexisted. It was a perfect match for the Ghost Bride and Water Vengeful Spirit's two original powers.
That teeny bit of evil-path genes would not leave Meng Hongchen pregnant, but it was rapidly absorbed by her body and lay dormant within her soul and Martial Soul. Through subtle changes that even she could not detect, it would gradually turn her into what Ming Zhao wanted her to become.
She would not become a Martial Soul vessel like Zhang Lexuan and Li Ya, but her existence would be similar.
In the early stages of the transformation, it would only make Meng Hongchen more infatuated with Ming Zhao. But once it reached the middle and later stages, her understanding and views would begin to align with his.
And what were Ming Zhao's understanding and views?
All beings were ants; living creatures were nourishment.
On the surface, she would remain Jing Hongchen's most beloved granddaughter, the lofty little princess of the Sun Moon Empire.
Behind the scenes, she would grow cold and arrogant. Except when facing Ming Zhao, she would feel not the slightest attachment or pity for anyone else, not even her blood relatives, Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen.
This was cruel to Meng Hongchen, but it didn't matter. She would feel no regret or pain over it in the future.
She would have no chance to wake up.
"Fall into the wonderful dream I have woven for you, and sink so deeply into it that you can never pull yourself free..."
Of course, this little bit of evil-path genes alone was not enough to completely twist Meng Hongchen's understanding and turn her into Ming Zhao's god-chosen of lust, so he had prepared a second measure.
Holding the languid-looking Meng Hongchen in his arms, Ming Zhao gently stroked her back, smooth as silk. The faint, lingering fragrance of her body and the intimate scent left by their lovemaking wafted around his nose.
This was proof that Meng Hongchen had opened herself completely to Ming Zhao and entrusted herself entirely to him.
Now, she was also qualified to receive the second blessing Ming Zhao bestowed upon her.
The hand resting on Meng Hongchen's back lifted slightly, prompting her to raise her head. Her ice-blue eyes, full of sweetness and love, gazed tenderly at the man before her to whom she had entrusted her life.
"Brother Ming, what is it?"
"A little gift for you." A hint of a strange smile colored Ming Zhao's voice, like an invitation from a demon god who had escaped the abyss to an ignorant lamb.
"A gift?" Meng Hongchen did not notice the oddness in his tone, or rather, she did not care about it at all. She cared only about what Ming Zhao had said.
"Brother Ming, you're giving me a gift?"
Meng Hongchen lacked for nothing, but she was delighted to hear that Ming Zhao wanted to give her something. Even if all he produced was a blade of foxtail grass from the roadside, she would gladly take it in her hands.
So her eyes were full of anticipation.
Anticipation for her own steps into the abyss.
"Yes, you'll definitely like it." Ming Zhao stroked her long, silver-white hair, then used his Soul Power to communicate with the Storage Soul Tool on his finger and took out two objects radiating powerful Soul Power fluctuations.
Hundred-thousand-year Immortal Herb Soul Bones: the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass Left Arm Bone and the Infernal Delicate Apricot Right Arm Bone.
The two Soul Bones, one blue and one red, instantly froze the thin quilt covering them into an ice sculpture. In the next instant, it turned to ash and dust in the flames, revealing their bodies beneath, pressed together in a close embrace.
"This is...?" Meng Hongchen froze for a moment, her eyes slowly widening.
The powerful Soul Power fluctuations, the vast and boundless pressure of their attributes, and their spellbinding allure caused Meng Hongchen to lose herself for a moment.
"Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones. An ice left arm bone and a fire right arm bone," Ming Zhao said calmly.
"Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones?" Meng Hongchen sprang out of Ming Zhao's arms as though struck by lightning, staring in amazement at the two breathtaking treasures before her.
Of course, where she could not see,
Deep within the two Soul Bones, every line of the natural patterns that bore the imprints of their Hundred Thousand Year Soul Skills gave off an almost imperceptible glow.
Ming Zhao had set two ghosts alight, a paper person with Soul Douluo cultivation and a female ghost with Soul Douluo cultivation. He had transformed their original ghost power into spiritual imprints and attached them to the Soul Skill patterns on the two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.
Their role was even more important than that of the evil-path genes Ming Zhao had injected earlier.
The evil-path genes were merely the trigger; the spiritual imprints in the Soul Bones were the key to making Meng Hongchen open her arms and embrace him.
"Thanks to the Sea God for open-sourcing it."
This kind of subtle alteration was just like what Tang San had done to Huo Yuhao. Even after Huo Yuhao later changed his name to Huo Yuhao and became the God King of Emotions, he had failed to notice anything amiss and remained Tang San's most loyal lackey.
A change in one's views like this was the hardest thing to set right. Even if you told the God King Huo Yuhao that Tang San had controlled him his entire life, he would not believe you. Instead, he would think you were spreading lies to mislead the masses, trying to sow discord in his family.
And what Ming Zhao intended to do would be even more ruthless than Tang San's methods.
Not only would he do this to Meng Hongchen, the god-chosen of lust among the seven deadly sins, but also to Ye Guyi, the god-chosen of pride, Yu Mengdi, the god-chosen of envy, and the four remaining god-chosen of the deadly sins, who had yet to be decided.
Although those who followed the evil path generally regarded defying their superiors and fickle backstabbing as a source of glory, the evil god seated at the very top would only keep everyone, every evil god, in bottles for his own amusement.
The Gu worms and the god-chosen of the deadly sins could freely put on their show of vying for power and profit and slaughtering one another, but Ming Zhao would not give them the slightest chance to stab him in the back.
Once Meng Hongchen absorbed these two Soul Bones, Ming Zhao's first god-chosen would have set foot on the path into the abyss.
And she... would absorb them.
"Yes, Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones, and Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones with the attributes of Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire." Ming Zhao took out two special cloth pouches that could block Soul Power, put the two Soul Bones inside, and personally placed them in Meng Hongchen's hands.
"This is my gift to you."