Corrupt Creations

After leaving that secret dark underground place, Velgor returned to his glorious and lonesome throne, where he was silently admiring the item he had just stolen from his ancestor. 

It was a purple crystal that was bathing in a very strange purple colored soul energy. Naturally, that purple crystal was not a normal item, but the core of a mystical demonic being. A banshee. 

From inside that crystal core, the Shadow Demon was able to extract the Soul Trap skill Velgor loved to use and many other useful things. However, that core had another precious function that could only be used once. It was able to manipulate the soul of an individual, transporting it to another body. 

That was one of the special bloodline skills a banshee could use. However, there were many risks involved in the whole process. One of them being the target's soul integrity. It had to be wiped or at least weakened enough to handle the process. But matters regarding the soul and its intricacies, was a topic not even the strongest practitioner in this world, was well-versed enough. So, in the end Velgor was still taking a risky step, but he would gladly take it in the name of advancement. 

But that was not the real problem. The point is, no normal practitioner could possibly live after having their soul damaged. Their bodies would die alongside their soul. Velgor needed to wipe his target soul without making his body life signs stop. 

For that reason, after making hundreds of thousands of tests, Velgor had developed the crude concept that a practitioner's body would only be able to resist and survive that soul wiping process, if he or she was at least a Profound Mana Realm cultivator. That was naturally a false statement, but it had a tinge of truth. 

Profound Mana Realm cultivators, could not resist a soul attack, naturally falling in the end. But their bodies would be able to maintain their life signals for some time. That was only possible, because their Mana was profound enough to delay the effects of a complete death between body and soul. However, that time was so short that he had to be precise when acting. 

That was the primary reason he has been nurturing Seth. At the speed things were going, at most in a year he believed Seth would be ready. However, Velgor himself was not yet. 

There was a fatal problem in using the purple crystal core, and that was the lack of energy. That's why he asked Barghest to develop an auxiliary method while using the "Crimson Agent". But a recent information he received from Ninth Shadow, made him finally decide to make a move against his clan ancestor and speed up the progress of his plans. 

Velgor stopped admiring the purple core and used his Mana to activate the Sound Transmit Formation. 

Ninth Shadow was hiding in the forest at the outskirts of a small village called Misty Horizon. He wasn't at exactly the same place where the purple Skystone mine was located, since there were many members of the Lion's Pride Golden Palace there. He was twenty kilometers away, on top of a small mountain, making sure to secretly observe everything. 

He had set up a small tent at that place, where there was a Sound Transmit Formation in case Velgor needed to give him orders and that formation just started to give a response. 

Ninth Shadow immediately entered the tent and created a barrier around it with his strong Mana, immediately connecting the formation to receive his next orders. Even before it was totally connected, he had already knelt down in reverence. 

"Master." 

"Ninth Shadow. What is the situation at your side?" 

"I've been carefully observing the situation, and the Lion's Pride Golden Palace has finally started the excavation process. It seems Qiao Duyi, the leader of the Eight Lion Guardians is the one responsible for the operation. He was overlooking everything some days ago and at the same time, he is the one that was storing the purple Skystones in some of his spatial rings." 

"Interesting. How much time do you think it will take for them to mine everything?" 

"I heard their conversations and the estimated time for that is longer than I thought. It will take at least three months for them to take everything out, without alerting their enemies." 

"Hm... That's good. Let them do the hard work for us and we will reap the benefits at the end.  I want you to keep watching their moves and be prepared to receive company from First and Second Shadows. Make sure to follow the orders I've given them, since they are absolute." 

Velgor didn't even wait for a reply and disconnected the formation from his side. Ninth Shadow was a loyal follower and he knew he would do everything according to his wishes. 

The workers from the Lion's Pride Golden Palace kept doing their job, not knowing about the darkness that was soon about to descend from above their heads. 

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A whole week had passed by. The night had just descended when two figure moving at an incredible speed, decided to come to a halt. 

Seth and Lan Xue have been continuously traveling for a whole week. Each day, they stopped for about two to four hours for a brief time to recharge their energies and cultivate. 

Seth suddenly took a wooden cube out of his spatial ring, setting the Evergreen Tavern at a peaceful isolated location. Lan Xue wasn't able to get accustomed with the scene of that cube turning into a big Tavern. She understood there were masters that had a great affinity with the spatial element, but the general knowledge about them was limited to their great success; the spatial ring. 

Other than that, it was really hard to hear or see a work from anyone that trained in the spatial element. Using it in battle? That's impossible in the knowledge of the people that lived in this continent. 

Actually, the element of space, required such a huge amount of talent and efforts to learn, that those who were versed enough in it and were able to produce spatial rings, were already considered as masters; dragons among men. Those who were able to set teleportation formations, were not dragons among men, but gods among men. 

But in regards to combat situations, the closest from the application of spatial laws people were able to see in this planet, were dark elemental techniques that could open sub-spaces, like the ones Seth could use. 

That's why when Lan Xue saw that normal cube turning into a tavern, she couldn't help but admire that item. 

Both of them entered and Seth went up to the bar to get a drink in order to pass some time. He really liked that bar, since there were many different elfish drinks that were not only sweet, but contained just the right amount of alcohol. 

Lan Xue approached the stairs and was about to go up, when Seth's voice resounded. 

"Have you ever heard about the demonic Cerberus Clan?" 

Lan Xue hadn't initiated a conversation throughout their whole journey. Actually, she didn't even reply to some of Seth's phrases while they were traveling; what led to a very boring travel for the both of them. 

This time though, Seth decided to change his approach. He was betting in a risky conversation where he was going to expose some things for her, but at least, his first phrase was already enough to awaken some interests on Lan Xue. 

After some seconds Lan Xue replied: "I heard some things about them. Why are you speaking about a clan of demons?" 

"Well... Because the mission we are going to do, is to investigate some areas inside the Desolate Scorching Wasteland, trying to look for clues left behind by them." Seth wanted to investigate about the things he discovered when he destroyed the Luberus family. 

Lan Xue furrowed her eyebrows. After a whole week traveling together, she was finally able to hear about what Seth wanted to do. She hadn't asked anything, because whatever mission he had in store for them, if it weren't about charging head on against an army of Higher Ground grade practitioners, or exploring the Forbidden Lands, she could pretty much do anything easily. 

Dealing with a missing clan of subordinates, was not outside of that range of tasks she could afford to do, but this whole topic, generated some interest on her. 

"What are you after? What is your final objective?" 

Seth felt like he had gotten it right. She was really interested now. 

"Sigh... I want to destroy them once and for all. But they have been hiding so well for the last few years, that most people think they had been extinguished together with the Devil Empress." 

"... Are you saying those tales are false? Those tales that tell they all died protecting their empress?" 

"That's pretty much it. That clan of stinking dogs have not died at all. The whole situation with the Devil Empress was orchestrated, and they are probably hiding somewhere inside the Desolate Scorching Wastelands." 

Lan Xue heard Seth's intonation, that told her he was certain about his conjecture and asked: "How do you know about all of that?" 

"Hm... Because I've actually seen them with my own eyes before."