Chapter Thirty-One: Soul Fusion Technique

“Don’t, don’t hurt them… be careful… quick, get out of the way…” Lin Fan was drenched in sweat, tossing and turning in bed, muttering in his sleep.

At that moment, the bedroom door was unlocked from the outside. A round, pudgy face with big ears poked in, then quietly closed the door behind him. Tiptoeing to the bedside, he reached out and clamped Lin Fan’s mouth and nose tightly. Within two minutes, Lin Fan jolted awake from his nightmare.

Startled, Lin Fan cursed inwardly. Chased from dreams into reality? Who was I before I lost my memory? So many people want to assassinate me?

He instinctively rolled over, breaking free from that greasy, intrusive hand. Looking up, he saw Lin Hai and breathed a sigh of relief, staring at him in shock. “Uncle? What are you doing? Are you trying to murder me for money?”

“Look at you—who’d want to harm a pauper like you? Your cousin is downstairs cooking. Come on, I’m taking you out for breakfast. I need to talk with you.” Lin Hai whispered.

Lin Fan inhaled sharply, nodded wildly, and quickly dressed before sneaking out the window with Lin Hai.

The two left the villa and returned to their familiar breakfast stall, sitting in their usual spot and ordering their usual meal.

Before Lin Fan could pick up his chopsticks, Lin Hai asked with concern, “Nephew, what’s wrong? Did you have another nightmare last night?”

Lin Fan, still shaken, replied, “Yeah. Like a soap opera, it keeps rerunning… Ugh, let’s not talk about it. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.” He shook his head vigorously and then asked, “You woke me up so early—is it just to avoid my cousin, or is breakfast not the real reason?”

Lin Hai forced a dry laugh and asked intently, “Where is it?”

“What’s what?” Lin Fan was confused.

“Come on, are you still half asleep? That rustic, tattoo-faced peeping maniac?” Lin Hai couldn’t resist a jab.

Lin Fan frowned, thinking to himself, who in this area hasn’t had their body sullied by your dead-fish eyes? You’re one to talk.

He snorted, then coldly pointed to his own head, shrugged, and said nothing.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Are you stupid? Did your brains get eaten by dogs? I knew nothing good would come from you sneaking back to the bedroom yesterday! Do you realize, it’s like lighting a firecracker right under your ass—pure suicide!” Lin Hai was livid.

Lin Fan didn’t mind, instead grinning, “Uncle, isn’t it cool? I actually have a companion spirit beast. My luck’s off the charts—I scored a top-tier item! Next time I run into any shrimp soldiers or crab generals, little ghosts or demons, I’ll just summon it to help me fight! Who needs magic? Finally, I can graduate…”

He deliberately shook his head in front of Lin Hai, flaunting his excitement.

Lin Hai saw his nephew straying wildly off course and hurried to correct him. “Damn it! That’s called cowardly growth, useless nonsense! You’re not even as good as those androgynous freaks from hell—at least they wave a butcher’s knife around; you want someone else to do your dirty work? Don’t you feel any shame for my careful guidance and nurturing—after all the shit and piss I went through raising you…”

Lin Fan quickly waved his hand, cutting him off. “Alright, alright! Stop! You’re making me sick. You have a point, but things have changed. Now I have an expert helping me—why bother doing it myself?”

Lin Hai gave Lin Fan a scornful glance and spat, “You clueless idiot! You think you’re invincible just because you’re backed by some little ghost? Haven’t you read the ‘Chronicle of Creation’ lately? Damn, picking up trash and thinking it’s treasure!”

Lin Fan retorted, “Are you jealous?”

“Jealous? You must be blind! It’s a red-eyed evil spirit—not even the strongest in the spirit world. It’s uncertain whether it can appear during the day. If it meets a demon beast in human form, it can’t even protect itself, let alone you. But I do admire its intelligence; compared to it, you’re just an imbecile!” Lin Hai said mercilessly.

Lin Hai’s sharp rebuke made Lin Fan recall the records about demon beasts and spirits in the ‘Chronicle of Creation.’

After the soul leaves the body, only those who have suffered extreme harm and undergone soul mutation remain in the human world as spirits.

Spirits’ power can be judged by their eye color. Soul bodies are classified into four levels, from weakest to strongest: green-eyed vengeful spirits, red-eyed evil spirits, black-eyed demon spirits, and white-eyed spiritual spirits. Within each level, darker colors indicate greater strength.

Advanced spirits aren’t born directly from mutation; they evolve from the lowest green-eyed vengeful spirits by absorbing various negative emotions from humans and natural yin energy.

Those who died with deep injustice become green-eyed vengeful spirits. If they stay long in places dense with yin energy, they accumulate resentment, which, through cultivation, transforms into energy. When it reaches a critical point, they explode and evolve into a higher-level spirit.

Each level builds on the last, and if no one intervenes, they eventually upgrade to the supremely intelligent and powerful white-eyed spiritual spirit that traverses both worlds.

“Uncle, Mouse can’t be that weak, right? At least he’s a red-eyed evil spirit. With people like us and hell’s messengers hunting him, where are all those black-eyed demon spirits, let alone white-eyed spiritual spirits? The expert who wrote the ‘Chronicle of Creation’ only met one white-eyed spiritual spirit in his legendary life.” Lin Fan tried to comfort himself, lacking confidence.

Lin Hai, still eating, continued to chip away at Lin Fan’s last bit of confidence. “Is that so? What if you run into a demon beast? That so-called leader of the demon child clan attached to you isn’t invincible among red-eyed evil spirits. What’s he got—two shitty claws? Plus a knack for running when things get tough? If he doesn’t get beaten until he pisses and shits all over the place, I’ll forgive all your debts to me.”

As Lin Hai finished, Lin Fan’s body suddenly trembled—his eyes flashed blood-red.

Lin Fan felt himself dragged into a vast sea of blood, unable to sense any sign of life. His body lost control, and his mind nearly collapsed instantly.

A heavy murderous aura reached deep into his soul, as if binding it.

He felt a terrifying sense of spiritual suffocation.

A powerful soul force surged into his consciousness.

His soul, his mind, all his resilience—under the onslaught of this blood-red ocean—were as fragile as paper, collapsing at the slightest touch.

His already weak soul seemed wrapped in blood, dragged into the endless sea, corroded bit by bit.

He had a visceral sense that the thick blood would slowly infiltrate his soul, change him little by little, ultimately turning him into Tang Hao’s puppet…

Suddenly, a sharp scream burst from Lin Fan’s mouth:

“Damn you and your ancestors! Shameless old bastard! Even if I’m weak, killing you is as easy as squashing a dung beetle!”

Fusion of soul and body, borrowing a corpse to return to life? A soul corpse? Lin Hai sensed something was off and dared not act, staring blankly at Lin Fan.

Meanwhile, within Lin Fan’s body, he still couldn’t gather spiritual power or control his consciousness—he couldn’t even sense his physical state.

But as his mind sank deeper into the sea of blood, he saw a ray of white light shoot forth from nowhere!

A purifying light from deep within his consciousness!

He suddenly witnessed the blood ocean, under the illumination of that light, torn apart like a crimson curtain, dissolving in an instant.

He found himself back in his own mind.

Now, he regretted his decision, realizing he had underestimated Tang Hao’s soul’s terror—he could barely withstand the first wave of Tang Hao’s attack!

Lin Hai observed the red glow in Lin Fan’s eyes slowly fade and breathed a sigh of relief, though his rage soared. He stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and pointed at Lin Fan, cursing, “Little bastard! Damn it! If you’ve got guts, come out now! Don’t hide in my nephew’s body like a cowardly turtle. Come out! Get out here!”

Lin Hai was unsure what to do—faced with a body hosting two souls, he feared hurting Lin Fan by mistake.

Lin Fan realized things were spiraling out of control, not as he’d expected. He quickly retreated to his soul world, his eyes vacant as he entered his spiritual consciousness.

Within Lin Fan’s mental realm, his soul appeared in his own form, floating in an endless void, facing Tang Hao, who hovered opposite in red robes. “Damn it, little ghost, explain what just happened!”

Tang Hao seemed exhausted, his presence flickering. “Brother, don’t worry! I won’t harm you. It was just an accident. Honestly, I couldn’t hurt you even if I tried. You saw it—the purifying light carrying destructive and corrosive power will always protect you. With it here, no soul can invade your body!”

Lin Fan finally relaxed. “Brother, next time you want to try something, can you give me a heads-up? You scared me half to death!”

Tang Hao nodded, “Alright. Actually, it wasn’t deliberate. This soul fusion was an experiment—I wanted to test our combined skills. You felt that surge of spiritual power, right?”

“Soul fusion? Is that real? You can do that? I definitely felt the tremendous power—so strong!” Lin Fan was both thrilled and curious.

Tang Hao replied earnestly, “Yes, that’s good. Next time we’re in danger, we can use this move. That ugly old man was right about one thing—if I appear during the day, I have to burn a huge amount of spiritual power to maintain myself. If I fight, my soul will collapse and even perish quickly!”

Lin Fan exclaimed, “No wonder my uncle said you’re weak! That’s a serious flaw! Don’t worry, my uncle likes to slander and do shady things. We won’t cause any big trouble during the day.”

“Brother, next time don’t forget to control the purifying light. Don’t pierce my soul, or I won’t be able to use the fusion skill,” Tang Hao reminded him.

“Alright, awesome! We just learned a killer move by accident! Mouse, I want to call this move ‘Transformer’—what do you think?” Lin Fan looked at Tang Hao excitedly.

Tang Hao’s eyes flashed with excitement, “Agreed! I like it!”

“You little pervert! Come out here, I could crush you with a single finger…” At that moment, Lin Hai’s curses echoed from outside, transmitted through Lin Fan’s body, catching him off guard.