Jodye mused silently, "The abilities of source artifacts are influenced directly by my main soul, or in other words, the combination of my host soul and three hollow souls. This new life of the so-called main soul, Joseph Goldwolf, is basically the true union of our incomplete souls!"

Typically, this union would have minimum effects on one's growth.

"However, if the laws of fate summon your consciousness to the destiny platform and bestow you with a source artifact, then your hollow souls evolve into combat souls! Depending on the type of source artifact you bond with, your combat souls would have different effects on your artifact and growth! The soul is the key to unlocking the body's potential!"

In truth, Jodye was simply no longer the secret agent Trill Jodye of the past. That was merely his host soul's previous life! However, even if Jodye knew this, he couldn't change a nature he had already developed. At his core, he would always identify as Trill Jodye, in spite of accepting his new reality..

"Soul… spirit… body. If the soul is the key to unlocking the body's potential, then the spirit must be the doorway! My spiritual meridians are the gateway between my physical body and ethereal soul! My host soul is fused with the Volos warrior Janair Mazi's soul. We have become one, this being is the main soul. The Volos are Divine Dragons of the Legendary Realm. However, my soul is only synchronized with Sylvester and Xavier's souls. What does this mean exactly?" Jodye Trill was thinking rapidly, and his eyes were swimming with faint golden lights as if he had entered enlightenment, "It means that Sylvester, Xavier, and I remain separate but grow together. They'll feed off of me like parasites, but in return, I'll receive many benefits from them as well. Also, thanks to my heavenly grimoire, they can fight by my side! The united soul force of all this becomes a spiritual door! My spiritual meridians are in my physical organs, they can influence my body directly!"

Unfortunately, before Jodye could complete his train of thought, he heard an anxious scream right behind him. Right after that, Eureka jumped into his embrace purring gently as she rubbed her baby-like face on his own.

"Mew!" for some reason Jodye was able to vaguely understand Eureka, as though he innately understood the ancient fey language. Jodye's heart involuntarily experienced warmth as he realized Eureka had just called him "big brother."

Snapping out of it, Jodye realized that the curtain of fire had finally disappeared. As he glanced back at River, he was shocked to see her petrified and sitting on her b.u.m. She was staring aghast while pointing up with a shaking finger.

Jodye didn't need to follow her line of sight to know what she was looking at, as he immediately perceived their surroundings with his divine energy as soon the magical flames were gone. He didn't dare to try to break past those flames with his divine power, but now he didn't need to worry. Jodye and River were in an enormous cavern, that was presumably the home of their red-scaled friend here.

Since the tunnel that they came from was so slick that it proved impossible to climb up, there was only one exit. That exit was on the other side of this eighth level vicious beast. Right behind Jodye was the over 10-meter tall eighth level Vicious Red-scaled Fire Lizard! The menacing monster was glaring down with its crimson eyes and licking out its serpentine tongue. Jodye could recognize by its supreme yang scent that this beast should be a male.

It had blood-red scales that looked sharp and barbed like a steel pine cone, four claws on each leg, two bronze horns on its front legs, as well as a rune-covered bronze horn on its snout. It's terrifyingly sharp teeth were bared, knocking the wind out of Little River. Merely, the serene ice sh.e.l.l was still in perfect condition. As Jodye turned to stare into the crimson eyes of this eighth level vicious beast, there wasn't even a trace of fear in his gaze. This, in conjunction with the magical defense the opposite party had utilized, gave the vicious beast temporary pause. It didn't know how to react.

An eighth level Vicious Beast had almost unlocked its spiritual wisdom, making it far more intelligent than other animals.

"Baby sister Eureka, I want to keep this one as a slave, so he cannot die. However, he tried to kill your big brother, are you going to just let this go?" Jodye shamelessly cooed to the Twilight Sphinx in his embrace. Shockingly, he saw a tinge of rage color Eureka's eyes. He couldn't help but praise, "Baby G.o.d beasts sure are smart little guys!"

"Mew!" Eureka's tiny voice sounded like the notes of a flute as it magnified and echoed throughout this vast cavern they had entered. It seemed as if nature itself had answered the kitten's call, as the temperature plummetted. This suddenly reminded Jodye of his mother, and his mood instantly turned solemn. The serene ice sh.e.l.l shook and broke into five sharp meter long ice blades, in the shape of a claw!

"Magic, it's magic!" Jodye marveled. Was this Lifeblood magic?

Eureka hopped out Jodye's embrace as powerful serenity qi momentum exploded from the twilight sphinx kitten's body. As Eureka swiped out with her paw the ice claw slashed across the face of the Vicious Red-scaled Fire Lizard!

"Spluuuurrrt."

"Roar~~~~!"

The slap made the red-scaled fire lizard's body spin by 180 degrees, as it crashed pathetically on its back. A considerable gash appeared on the Vicious Red-scaled Fire Lizard's maw as its blood rained down, threatening to burn the two children with its boiling hot temperature. Jodye picked River up and rapidly fell back, narrowly avoiding the boiling blood.

Jodye's eyes s.h.i.+ned! Eureka was powerful! Albeit a bit uncreative, she was definitely intense, "Eureka, seal him!"

"Mew!" Eureka released another proud shout, stirring the serenity laws in the surroundings. River Nile watched in shock as pink and silver ice encased and sealed the Red-scaled Fire Lizard faster than the beast could claw its way out. After a mere two breathes of time the eighth level vicious beast was totally frozen, its life force slowly eroding away.

Jodye Trill fearlessly approached the frozen Red-scaled Fire Lizard. He felt as if those crimson eyes were still glaring at him with thick hatred and killing intent. Jodye knew that this beast still had the heart of a dragon sleeping somewhere inside. He had to make sure that the dragon's heart continued to sleep. He glanced at Eureka and spoke a single word, "More."

"Mew!" Eureka increased the power of the serenity qi, and the pink parts of the ice started to turn purple and colder by a wide margin. Jodye finally saw a trace a panic appear in the eighth level vicious beast's defiant eyes. However, he knew the creature had not yet given up. Thus, Jodye sat down in the lotus position and meditated to arrange his thoughts.

"Spiritual power… spiritual power… the ethereal turned material, isn't this what true essence is? Could true worldly essence be the spiritual door that links a star with the heavens? Are the heavens the equivalent to the soul of the stars? Of the universe itself? If this is true, it temporarily explains why with spiritual power it becomes possible to temper my soul with sky energies!"

Eureka!

Sudden enlightenment!

"If I compare my body to the universe, and my spirit to the myriad of worlds, the functionality of the universe seems to be the same as what we aim for on the path to being strong. After tempering my soul with divine energies, I can fuse my own force comprehensions into my soul! This is body and soul dual cultivation! However, with my origin and essence force added in it becomes triad cultivation. The cultivation of the body, spirit, and soul!"

There was a cracking sound that echoed throughout Jodye's mind, as his soul felt sublimated as his divine spirit grew twice as powerful. His soul sea's maximum capacity doubled twice, and [Pharaoh's Law] deactivated on its own.

His divine cla.s.s soul had reached the next rank! It became divine awareness. Now, Jodye didn't need to summon [Pharaoh's Law] to possess divine awareness. He finally reached this level on his own through his own comprehensions! Now, once he activated [Pharaoh's Law] again, he was curious how it would feel.

Before that, however, Jodye decided to take advantage of his new divine power and push his soul cultivation method, the Cosmic Vision Scripture, to the second stage's intermediate level. This would allow him to train the soul skill, Calamity Stare. After all, because the Red-scaled Fire Lizard had dragon blood, the yang laws in this cavern would naturally be at a decent level of saturation.

Using his divine awareness, Jodye drew in divine spirit source and yang qi from his surroundings, while River Nile watched him curiously. River was totally shocked to see nearly invisible lights swimming around Jodye before pouring rapidly into his left eye. After an hour pa.s.sed Jodye's eyes snapped open, both glowing with divine light.

Level up!

Intermediate level of the Murderous Sight Stage!

The second stage of the Heavenly Vision Scripture!

Jodye felt his soul force increase once more, and his third level divine cla.s.s soul source stabilized. His mind felt clear and stalwart, making Jodye marvel. This feeling was different from utilizing [Pharaoh's Law] to temporarily augment his abilities. He felt truly matured, genuinely wiser. His thinking was at least 30% faster, and his comprehensive skills had improved once more.

Jodye felt like he had just undergone a slight transformation! He was a new person.

Jodye Trill suddenly confirmed the path of his growth in this strange new life. This was definitely the path to becoming unrivaled. However, it was an impossibly tricky path to walk. He knew what he needed to do, and that was to continue moving forward step by step! Tempering the body was painful and tempering the soul was excruciatingly so, but the suffering was nothing if he would become stronger after the pain.

"Mr. Jupiter, are you okay?" River Nile's cute little voice entered Jodye's ear.

Jodye Trill turned to face her with a smile, "I am all right."

"You were cultivating, right? Did you achieve a breakthrough?" asked River Nile curiously.

"You could say so," Jodye Trill looked a bit distracted, as he was asking his heavenly grimoire if it was possible to pa.s.s some of the refined flesh and blood energies of the Red-scaled Fire Lizard to another. After receiving the answer he refocused on River, "However, the true breakthrough will come after we refine this beast."

River Nile's eyes lit up when she heard the word 'we'. She wasn't being excluded? In fact, River Nile knew she would benefit greatly from refining this beast. She just never thought any expert would pa.s.s up such benefits or share with someone too weak to say anything.

"All right," Jodye dusted his pants off as he stood up, and walked a few steps forward to stare at the Vicious Red-scaled Fire Lizard in its crimson eyes. He could tell that the beast was injured, but still full of vibrant life force. It was in no danger of dying at all, despite being encased in serenity powered ice that was slowly sapping its vibrancy. However, Jodye just smirked as a blue light s.h.i.+ned in his right eye, "Let's take care of you next, big guy!"

Serene Stare!

Upon seeing an icy blue light shoot into the eyes of the Vicious Red-scaled Fire Lizard, Eureka released the ice cage covering the beast without being told, before hopping back into Jodye's embrace. The eighth level vicious beast collapsed powerlessly onto the ground. It no longer looked vicious. Now, there was a dazed but calm look in its crimson eyes. It seemed totally docile.

With his serene stare ability, Jodye reflected the scene of his opponent's most peaceful moments in its heart. Once successful this caused the opponent to drop his guard and fall into a pleasant and peaceful illusion, leaving them open for attack.

However, Jodye didn't intend to attack. His [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] floated over to the beast and then sent him some soul messages.

[No mental defenses detected.]

[Would host like to enslave captured variant Level 8 Vicious Red-scaled Fire Lizard Beast?]

'Yes!' thought Jodye Trill immediately.

The next instant, the heavenly grimoire flipped open to the sixth page. Bright violet light expanded as millions of mysterious fate runes poured out of the heavenly grimoire and into the body of the Red-scaled Fire Lizard. The eyes of the beast winced in pain before recovering clarity, which then instantly changed from a look of peace to one of terror! The heavenly grimoire suddenly sent out eight black chains covered in a black fire as it dragged the clawing and screaming creature inside before shutting tight. When this black fire appeared, Jodye felt his lifeblood boil, making him observe the flaming chains seriously. The eight chains wound and hugged the [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] as they burned in black flames. Jodye Trill was slightly disturbed, but he didn't have time to consider when he received another soul message from the heavenly grimoire.

[a.s.sistance required from Pharaoh's Law.]

"Eh?" With a thought, Jodye activated [Pharaoh's Law]. As soon as he did, his world instantly turned upside down.