Dead Eagle Valley, within the vast underground palace, the colossal Sand Giant Lizard and the materialized curse had both collapsed and disintegrated. The powerful Wilderness Spirit was torn apart, and Chabakunka's soul was burned down to a mere wisp. Just as Miss Dorothy was about to deliver the final blow, an unexpected spiritual entity appeared before her.
Diya Ding Baruk, the spiritual body of the last king of the Baruk Dynasty, was now suspended in mid-air, holding the spiritualized minyin zunzhan. His face was blank as he looked ahead. Upon seeing the sudden appearance of Diya Ding's spiritual body, Miss Dorothy immediately withdrew the electric light in her hand and stopped in the air some distance away, making no further moves. Out of caution, Miss Dorothy did not act rashly.
'Could this be... the soul of the last Baruk King, Diya Ding? As expected, he was stolen by the Netherworld Coffin Society people? This guy can still summon such a powerful spiritual body at this point. Is this the strength of a Scarlet'Silent' Extraordinary?'
Looking at the scene before her, Miss Dorothy thought vigilantly. After hearing Shadi's intelligence about Diya Ding, Miss Dorothy had been worried that the soul of this last king would be used as some kind of weapon by the Netherworld Coffin Society. At first, she was glad that the Netherworld Coffin Shaman hadn't spiritualized Diya Ding's soul during the battle, but now that he was about to be finished, he spiritualized it.
Facing the abnormal phenomenon before her, Miss Dorothy stared at Diya Ding with a vigilant expression. Just as she was fully focused on guarding against the king's soul before her, Diya Ding's soul showed no intention of attacking. He just quietly floated in mid-air, holding the minyin zunzhan, his expression as blank as ever, with no unusual movements. This made Miss Dorothy feel a hint of confusion.
Just as Miss Dorothy was wondering if she should make a probing move first, she noticed that the formerly sluggish Diya Ding's soul began to stir. Diya Ding's spiritual body's confused eyes began to tremble. He seemed to have sensed something, and his face gradually began to show emotion. It was as if he was twitching; Diya Ding's face rapidly changed amidst intense shaking. His expression switched quickly at a visible speed, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes joyful, and he also emitted a strange sound. The entire spiritual body's condition appeared extremely abnormal, causing Miss Dorothy's face to furrow slightly, and her vigilance and confusion deepened.
'This Diya Ding's soul... is a bit strange... This is not a normal spiritual body!'
Suddenly, Diya Ding's spiritual body's constantly changing expression suddenly fixed, settling into an angry expression with glaring eyes. Seeing the other party's expression solidify, Miss Dorothy prepared herself fully. However, who would have thought that Diya Ding's spiritual body's head would turn, looking towards a wall of the underground palace. Miss Dorothy noticed that Diya Ding was looking south, which was the direction of Kanak.
"Sha... Di..."
Opening his mouth, Diya Ding emitted a low, chilling sound in a hoarse voice. Then, his entire spiritual body quickly floated into the air. Subsequently, the sand scattered throughout the underground palace following the disintegration of the Sand Giant Lizard rolled up again, suspending in the air and forming a massive swirling dust vortex above the vast underground palace. Diya Ding's spiritual body was precisely located within this dust vortex.
In just an instant, a large amount of accumulated sand in the underground palace was swept up, forming a sandstorm-like phenomenon that continuously swept back and forth within the confined space of the underground palace. The swirling sand made it difficult for Miss Dorothy to open her eyes for a moment. At the same time, the last remaining wisp of Chabakunka's soul took this opportunity to escape.
'This is... sand? Does this guy, like that lizard Wilderness Spirit, also have the ability to manipulate sand?'
Covering her face with her hand, Miss Dorothy gazed at the increasingly angry and agitated Diya Ding's spiritual body at the center of the sand vortex. She stood ready, electric light condensed in her hand, prepared to attack at any moment. At this point, Diya Ding's actions were beyond Miss Dorothy's expectations.
"Sha... Di!!"
With glaring eyes, Diya Ding's spiritual body roared loudly towards the south, his voice filled with endless resentment. Immediately, Diya Ding turned around and, carrying the sand vortex surrounding his body, rushed directly towards the exit of the underground palace. He quickly passed through the long tunnel of the underground palace that had been repeatedly blown open and rushed directly out of the underground palace, out of Dead Eagle Valley.
Seeing this scene, Miss Dorothy, who had been preparing to face the enemy seriously, was suddenly stunned. She hadn't expected that Diya Ding's spiritual body would leave the underground palace without attacking her.
'This Diya Ding's spirit... seems not to be under the control of that Netherworld Coffin Shaman. Instead of dealing with me, he ran outside... Could it be that he sensed that Shadi was approaching and is going for revenge?'
Frowning, Miss Dorothy thought seriously in her mind. She had just heard the name Diya Ding had called out. It was clear that Diya Ding was now heading straight for Shadi!
But the key issue was, according to Miss Dorothy's intelligence, Shadi was currently attacking Kanak, which was about seven to eight kilometers away from Dead Eagle Valley. How did Diya Ding know that Shadi was there? Was his sensing ability actually this powerful?
In her confusion, Miss Dorothy began to control her Corpse Puppets outside the underground palace, intending to observe the state of Diya Ding, who had rushed out of the underground palace. When she saw the scene outside again through the eyes of the Corpse Puppets, she couldn't help but feel a sense of surprise.
Outside the underground palace at this moment, above Dead Eagle Valley, sand filled the sky, and strong winds howled. The sky, which had been radiating hot sunlight, was now incredibly dark. A tornado-like swirling sandstorm was rapidly forming above Dead Eagle Valley and was still expanding. This sandstorm was none other than the one formed with Diya Ding's spirit as the core. After leaving the underground palace, it actually stirred up more external sand, transforming into a more powerful sandstorm.
'This guy actually... grew...'
The tornado-shaped sandstorm formed by Diya Ding was raging at high speed above Dead Eagle Valley. While stirring up sand all over the sky, it was also growing rapidly. From initially being only the size to fill the entire underground palace, it gradually began to grow to the point of covering the entire Dead Eagle Valley. Outside the underground palace, there were now continuous sounds of chaotic howling. Miss Dorothy's bird corpse puppets had to quickly fly away into the distance, leaving the gradually expanding sand tornado formed by Diya Ding.
Under the combined observation of numerous bird-shaped Corpse Puppets from multiple perspectives, Miss Dorothy observed that the swirling sandstorm centered around Diya Ding was rapidly moving towards the south. While moving, its size was increasing, and after stirring up more sand along the way, it formed an even larger tornado sandstorm. Its target was very clear; it was obviously Kanak, south of Dead Eagle Valley, where the Revolutionary Army was currently launching its final siege against the Savior Sect forces.
'It's moving south... It really is going to Kanak to find Shadi. This Diya Ding's soul is being driven by the resentment from his life to seek revenge, but why can it stir up such a sandstorm? Could it be that Diya Ding's Extraordinary ability during his life was similar?'
Looking at the gradually growing Diya Ding sandstorm, Miss Dorothy thought anxiously in her heart. In Diya Ding's current state, he was not easy to deal with, but Miss Dorothy's target, the minyin zunzhan, was still on Diya Ding's body, so Miss Dorothy had to deal with him.
'The most urgent task now... is to figure out what state this Diya Ding's spirit is in. A normal spiritual body doesn't have the ability to manipulate such a large sandstorm. There must be something strange about this Diya Ding's spirit...'
Miss Dorothy thought this way, but before figuring out what was going on with this Diya Ding's spirit, she decided to do the more important things first.
Miss Dorothy quickly walked over to Naifnis, who was lying unconscious on the ground. She glanced at Neff's soul fire slowly drifting over from not far away. Miss Dorothy picked up a stone and drew a magic circle beneath Neff's body. Then, following the method Uta taught her, she consumed'Silent' Spirituality to perform a ritual that accelerated the return of Neff's soul. When Neff's soul fire re-entered her body, Neff's eyelids twitched slightly. Finally, she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Hoo... hoo... I'm finally back. I almost thought... I was going to die... Thankfully... thankfully..."
After sitting up, Naifnis said while breathing a sigh of relief, still showing a trace of lingering fear on her face. It was clear that having her soul leave her body and be swallowed was not a pleasant experience.
"You worked hard, Senior Nefelnis... See, I told you nothing would happen. I've roughly confirmed the entire process."
Patting Naifnis's shoulder, Miss Dorothy said to Naifnis. How long after a living person's soul leaves their body can they return without dying? Is the main body of the curse the person's physical body or soul? How long does it take for a soul to be dissolved after being swallowed by the Great Shaman? After a soul is swallowed, will the curse affect the swallowed spirits or the Devourer?
Miss Dorothy had meticulously consulted Uta and Sazhuoya, two experienced'Silent' Extraordinary, on this series of questions. For questions they weren't sure about, Miss Dorothy even used divination to determine the answers. Only after confirming various key pieces of information from multiple sources did Miss Dorothy formulate the plan to attract Chabakunka to swallow Neff's soul, thereby drawing the curse to attack Chabakunka.
Therefore, although this plan seemed like a dangerous gamble, in Miss Dorothy's eyes, it had high feasibility. Although Naifnis was extremely worried about the plan, Miss Dorothy was full of confidence from the beginning.
"Hoo... that Corpse Coffin Shaman is finally dealt with, but he seems to have left some trouble behind, Miss Dorothy... What about the soul he summoned at the end?" After letting out a sigh of relief, Naifnis asked Miss Dorothy again, and Miss Dorothy pointed to the exit of the underground palace as she answered.
"That thing is outside now, and it's becoming a bigger and bigger problem. We need to solve it quickly, but before that, we need to figure out exactly what it is and why it has such abilities," Miss Dorothy said to Naifnis. Naifnis frowned and asked back after hearing this.
"Then how do we figure out what it is?"
"That's simple, just ask him."
Saying this, Miss Dorothy pointed her hand in another direction in the underground palace. At that moment, in the shadows there, the body of Moen, a member of the Netherworld Coffin Society, lay quietly. Above Moen's body, another flickering soul fire was floating, which was Moen's soul.
Senior members of the Netherworld Coffin Society usually have a special incantation to prevent soul summoning. This incantation immediately sends the soul of the person it is attached to into the depths of the Netherworld after death, increasing the difficulty of summoning. However, in front of the cursed hand of the Haftar curse entity, this incantation was worthless. Moen's soul was so affected that he couldn't even return to his own body, let alone enter the Netherworld.
Under Miss Dorothy's arrangement, Naifnis quickly set up a soul summoning magic circle, summoning Moen's soul from a very close distance. Then, after Miss Dorothy completely killed Moen, Naifnis successfully restrained Moen's soul, forcing it to revert to a spiritual body form. Now, Miss Dorothy could use a ritual to force Moen to answer any questions.
"Do you know who the Shaman was that possessed you just now?" Facing Moen's spiritual body in the soul summoning magic circle before her, Miss Dorothy asked directly, and Moen's spiritual body nodded in response.
"I know... that was Lord Chabakunka, one of the important figures in the Society. He is the planner and person in charge of various operations on the Adus side of the Society."
"Chabakunka, huh..." Listening to Moen's words, Miss Dorothy secretly memorized the name, then continued to ask.
"Was the spirit Chabakunka summoned at the end Diya Ding, the last king of Adus? Why could he control sand and dust? He felt very different from other spirits... What's his background?"
Miss Dorothy asked Moen solemnly, and after a slight pause, Moen slowly began to speak.
"Yes, that soul was indeed the last Baruk King... Under Lord Chabakunka's command, after long-term preparation in Adus, when Diya Ding was defeated by the Revolutionary Army, we obtained his soul and offered it to Lord Chabakunka. Diya Ding's soul is an important experimental tool and research material for Lord Chabakunka and his colleagues."
"Research? What research?"
"According to Lord Chabakunka, the name of this research is 'Artificial Wilderness Spirit'," Moen's soul answered Miss Dorothy's question silently. Hearing Moen's response, Miss Dorothy and Naifnis were both startled at the same time, looking at each other and seeing a hint of surprise in each other's eyes.
"Artificial Wilderness Spirit? Explain it clearly? What kind of research is this?"
"Artificial Wilderness Spirit refers to the research of artificially creating Wilderness spirits in places outside the Starfall Continent where Wilderness spirits no longer exist. This research is carried out by the Wizard Spirit Teachings under the Society, aiming to create more powerful regional souls for the Society to command.
"Artificial Wilderness Spirit has several research directions, among which the fastest progressing and most successful direction is called 'One Soul of Royal Land'... which is the use of the soul of a recognized ruler of a region, transforming it into the Wilderness Spirit of their territory..."
Moen continued to answer Miss Dorothy's words silently. Listening to Moen's words, the strange look in Miss Dorothy's eyes deepened. She opened her mouth and continued to ask.
"Transforming the soul of a ruler into the Wilderness Spirit of a territory... Is that possible?"
"Of course it is. A public ruler carries the cognition and memory of all intelligent souls within their ruled territory. In the collective cognition of countless people, the ruler of a place can represent that area. Using this cognition as a key and link, the ruler's soul can be transformed into a Wilderness Spirit. Using the power based on cognition, the ruler's spirit can be tightly bound to the land, becoming the soul of the territory and controlling the things on the territory...
"This is a complex research involving the Spirituality of 'Light','Silence', and even a trace of 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment). The process is very profound and can be better researched by Shamans who can control both 'Light' and'Silence' Spirituality...
"It is rumored that in some Main Continent countries, there are secret methods to maintain the power of monarchs through the worship and recognition of their citizens. The Shamans of the Society were inspired by these rumors and began researching Artificial Wilderness spirits. Currently, this research has achieved some stable small results, and there is only one Kingdom-level experimental result, which is Diya Ding.
"According to Lord Chabakunka, as the only Kingdom-level experimental subject, Diya Ding still seems to have many flaws, but he already possesses many basic abilities of a Wilderness Spirit. Now, in a sense, Diya Ding is the soul of the land of Adus. He can mobilize the natural Spirituality on the land with his will to create specific phenomena."