CHAPTER:17 [Evil Heart]
Kai's jaw dropped. Corruption only occurred in those who had contracted themselves with demons. He had only encountered two demons in his life and had never formed a contract with either of them.
So he asked Nia why this was happening.
Hearing that the demonic DNA inside him was trying to surface, Kai pressed further.
After discussing a few more things with Nia, Kai stopped caring about the details. He felt extremely weak. The DNA was consuming his mana at a terrifying rate and the toll on his body was becoming unbearable. He decided to rest.
Once again, he was pulled into that black space. This time he was fully mummified and sealed inside a tomb. No matter how hard he resisted, he couldn't even lift a finger. Then, just as suddenly, the banging on the bone door of his dorm room jolted him awake.
He went through the usual motions — breakfast, academy, classes — but his mind was elsewhere. During recess, Feng Lin invited him to lunch. As they ate and chatted, Kai caught something interesting. His own situation was so dire that he could barely focus, so he asked with a distracted expression,
"Who defeated you again?"
Feng looked at him with a pout.
"Guess I'm too boring for you. I said I fought my heart demon and conquered it."
The moment he heard "heart demon," Kai's eyes lit up. This could be the answer to his predicament. Even though Feng's smug face annoyed him, he didn't have the luxury of time.
"Feng, what's a heart demon?"
Feng narrowed his eyes, confused. Everyone knew what a heart demon was.
"You don't know? Simply put, it's the culmination of your pent-up evil emotions and bloodlust. After a certain stage in cultivation, you will eventually have to face your heart demon. It makes breaking through your limits extremely difficult."
Feng went on a long lecture about heart demons. Kai listened with full attention. When he finished, Kai asked one more question.
"What if someone has a literal demon inside him? What then?"
Feng looked at him suspiciously while sipping his soda, but he didn't question his friend.
"Then you would need a shaman to enter your consciousness. The academy doesn't have any, so you'd have to learn the method yourself from the library."
Kai asked one final question.
"How do you enter your consciousness?"
Feng looked at him strangely.
"Through your Baihui point, obviously."
Kai thanked him and immediately ran to the library. After searching through rows of bookshelves, he finally found the books on shamanism. He used his Authority of Knowledge on them and memorized every single detail in minutes. He returned the books to their places and headed straight back to the dorm.
Once in his room, he changed clothes and followed the instructions exactly. He placed both hands on the floor, poured mana into it, and imagined the runes forming a perfect circle. After engraving the runes, he sat in the center in a lotus position, closed his eyes, and focused on his Baihui point.
The runes began glowing with illusory light. Suddenly the entire room was swallowed by blinding brightness as Kai entered his consciousness.
He woke up inside the dark space — still mummified and sealed in the tomb, but this time he had far more freedom. This was his consciousness. His control was absolute. With a roar, he tore apart the ragged dark silk and shattered the casket. He laughed maniacally, thinking he had escaped.
Then he saw the creature staring straight at him.
Kai instantly jumped backward to create distance.
The creature vanished and reappeared right in front of his face, punching him and sending him flying meters away. But Kai wasn't planning to fight head-on. While moving, he quickly placed runes in a circular formation. Once the circle was complete, he stood in the center, deliberately baiting the creature to attack wildly.
The moment the creature lunged to punch him, the runes activated. Chains of light erupted and completely wrapped around the creature of darkness, binding it in place.
The moment the creature was detained, Kai's own form returned to normal. He was surprised to realize that his consciousness now looked exactly like NOVA's realm — a lifeless white and devoid foggy world.
Kai stared into the creature's blood-red eyes. He placed his left wrist vertically, fingers closed, palm facing right and pressed close to his heart, while his paralyzed right arm hung limply at his side. In a domineering, calm voice, he declared:
"Creature of the divine consciousness,
I command thee by the eternal chaos!
Begone from this realm of void and nothingness!
Thy darkness shall be devoured, thy shadows consumed!
By the unyielding white flame of this devoid chaos,
I purge thee, blood of the first demon king!
Be swallowed whole… and become the foundation of my uprising!"
His voice echoed through the foggy world. The realm itself responded to the command. Following his will, the white fog ignited into unyielding white flames that engulfed and devoured the creature.
Kai watched as the demon was consumed. The flat world suddenly shook violently. Mountains sprouted from the ground and the land filled with liquid, exactly like the realm where he first met NOVA.
As the liquid touched his feet, the familiar sensation from that first summoning washed over him. After a brief moment of reminiscence, Kai left his consciousness and returned to the real world.
He opened his eyes only to see darkness — the natural result of his windowless room. Impatiently, he pulled up his status.
Str: 90
Agi: 80
Dex: 78
Int: 150
Mana: 500
Status:
Perm debuff: erasure existence
Temp debuff: body deformation, Authority of defiance not available due to host broken state.
Chaos poisoning: 60.0
Class: Guardian A
Skill:
Shapeless Shield: the user can shape the shield however he wants.
Authority:
Authority of defiance.
Authority of observation.
Authority of knowledge.
Warning: The host is connected to the god system.
Kai was happy the corruption issue was finally resolved… until he saw the new number. Chaos poisoning had doubled to 60.0. Stunned, he immediately summoned Nia.
A white glitchy screen appeared before him. Nia answered indifferently:
After explaining the situation, Nia returned to completing her previous tasks. Kai couldn't stay awake any longer. Exhausted, he collapsed into sleep.
END OF CHAPTER:17