CHAPTER 628: DEEP IN THE SOUL

Chapter 628: Deep in the Soul

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Great Thunder Mountain, Great Thunder Temple.

The temple itself stood majestic and towering, radiating golden splendor.

Halls stretched continuously, bathed in Buddha's light, with Sanskrit chants echoing constantly.

Pilgrims came and went at the mountain's base, devoutly kowtowing with flourishing incense offerings, creating an atmosphere of solemn sanctity.

However, directly above this magnificent Buddhist temple, in a dimension invisible to ordinary people, there quietly existed a distorted subspace—the Demon Kingdom.

The interior of the Demon Kingdom stood in stark contrast to the Great Thunder Temple's tranquility.

The sky was a murky dark red, permeated with the strange odor of decay mixed with blood.

The earth resembled a dried, cracked riverbed, covered in viscous dark red "mud"—upon closer inspection, it was actually coagulated blood.

Faint moans and hollow laughter drifted through the air, sending chills down one's spine.

At the center of this space coiled a colossal entity.

It was a massive golden-scaled python, but with an extremely bizarre form.

Its body meandered like mountain ranges, covered in scales as brilliant as gold. Yet where its head should have been, there grotesquely sat a human-like face that seemed both smiling and not, carrying some solemnity while exuding endless evil.

The face's eyes were vertical snake pupils, containing cold and greedy ferocity.

This was the incarnation of the Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python.

Around its massive body crawled thousands of women with graceful figures and beautiful appearances.

They wore thin gauze clothing, their eyes vacant and dull like soul-drained dolls, writhing like snakes as they crawled and entwined among the python's cold, slimy scales, uttering incomprehensible murmurs.

Snakes are inherently lustful.

This Demon Kingdom was the nest of its twisted desires.

These women were all carefully selected believers it had either forcibly abducted or bewitched, their souls long since toyed with and devoured, leaving only hollow shells for its defilement.

The Heaven-Piercing Golden Scale Python possessed three tails.

On the tip of the thinnest tail was tightly coiled a blood-soaked figure—none other than Gu Changsheng.

Gu Changsheng's current state was pitiful. His Taoist robe had long been torn to shreds, soaked through with blood. Deep wounds revealing bone gaped open with flesh curled back, some places even showing glimpses of stark white bone. ꞦÃＮo͍𝖇ĘＳ

His collarbones were pierced by two black bone spikes, firmly locking him in place and completely sealing his cultivation.

Excruciating pain left his face deathly pale, with cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

But he clenched his teeth tightly, stubbornly refusing to utter a single cry of agony.

Those once sharp eagle-like eyes were now bloodshot from the intense pain, yet still burned with unyielding fury, glaring fixedly at the nauseating human-faced snake pupils mere inches away.

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

The Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python's human face emitted a grating sound, its vertical pupils filled with mockery. "Little one, quite tough bones. This immortal underestimated you, an ant from the lower realm."

Its tail tip tightened slightly, driving the bone spikes deeper into Gu Changsheng's flesh. Gu Changsheng grunted, his body trembling violently, but still made no sound.

"Tell this immortal."

The Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python leaned closer, its blood-filled mouth emitting a sinister hiss. "Where did that strange sword technique of yours come from? Those secret arts and supernatural abilities not belonging to this realm? What are they called?

Don't tell this immortal they're inheritances from this realm. Your soul's aura... can't deceive this immortal's perception!"

It stared fixedly at Gu Changsheng.

The golden vertical pupils reflected Gu Changsheng's face.

And seemingly reflected Gu Changsheng's entire life.

Gu Changsheng laboriously raised his head, spat out a bloody mouthful of saliva, and rasped hoarsely: "Want to know? Kneel down, kowtow three times, call me grandfather, and I... cough cough... if I'm in a good mood, perhaps... perhaps I'll tell you!"

"Stubborn fool!" The Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python's human face darkened, golden light erupting from its vertical pupils, radiating killing intent.

The tail coiling Gu Changsheng suddenly whipped.

Smashed him brutally onto the blood-stained ground!

BANG—!

Gu Changsheng felt like all his bones were shattering, his internal organs seemingly displaced, as he vomited a large mouthful of blood.

"This immortal's patience has limits."

The Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python's voice resonated from all directions, also seeming to explode within Gu Changsheng's mind and soul's depths: "Since your mouth is so stubborn, don't blame this immortal for using extreme measures.

The suffering of soul searching will make you regret ever being born human!"

Before the words faded, its massive snake pupils suddenly contracted, two intensely condensed golden beams shooting out, directly piercing Gu Changsheng's brow.

Gu Changsheng's pupils constricted sharply. He wanted to struggle, but was firmly pinned by the bone spikes, unable to move.

A cold, immense consciousness filled with endless greed and malice, like the sharpest awl, brutally stabbed into his sea of consciousness.

"ARGHH—!!!"

This time, Gu Changsheng could no longer endure it, unleashing a heart-rending scream.

The pain didn't originate from his physical body.

But from the ultimate torment of his soul being forcibly torn, churned, and peered into!

His consciousness felt thrown into a boiling oil cauldron.

Countless memory fragments were violently ripped out by that terrifying power.

The Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python's consciousness rampaged recklessly through Gu Changsheng's soul depths, greedily searching for the information it desired.

It saw Gu Changsheng's past battles.

Saw Gu Changsheng executing those exquisitely refined, unheard-of sword techniques...

Just as it was about to touch the deepest secret.

The moment it was about to see the true source of Gu Changsheng's power—

BOOM!

An unimaginable scene violently crashed into its consciousness!

It was a vast, boundless, immeasurably expansive sky.

The sky wasn't azure blue, but roiled with endless, thick leaden black clouds.

Within the clouds, countless terrifying lightning bolts thick as mountain ranges madly darted and roared!

As the majestic heavenly might surged forth, the Heaven-Piercing Golden Scale Python felt chilled to the bone, realizing its own insignificance like an ant.

It seemed something immensely terrifying was hidden within those overwhelming clouds.

CRACK—!

As a lightning bolt flashed.

Deep within those clouds.

A massive golden Thunder Eye slowly emerged.

It was cold, indifferent, aloft.

Seemingly gazing through endless time and space...

Coldly watching this ant that dared to peek!

...