Chapter 2488: Subduing the Divine Hall

Jian Chen felt extremely curious after hearing Chu Jian’s words. Would the restraint preventing the Martial Soul lineage from reaching Grand Prime be temporarily removed?

However, even if the restraint was removed, there would still be a tremendous chasm between them and the supreme level of Grand Exalts. He struggled to understand just how the Martial Soul lineage would be able to stand up to Grand Exalts once all nine successors gathered.

However, there was one aspect he was basically certain about. It would definitely not depend on personal cultivation.

This was because there was a huge chasm between Grand Prime and Grand Exalt. It was impossible for people to breakthrough so easily. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the Saints’ World to only possess a handful of Grand Exalts despite all the Grand Primes.

“It’s just a pity that the age when the nine successors appeared is far too distant from current times. Many of the records and archives have been lost, so we’re unable to look into it in great detail.” Jian Chen felt even more curious about the Martial Soul lineage. He had realised since a long time again that there was probably a huge story behind the Martial Soul lineage. It would never be as simple as it seemed on the surface.

After all, the Martial Soul lineage was the only inheritance in the entire Saints’ World that had gone on unbroken.

“And the Martial Soul Mountain came from the previous aeon at the very least. It’s impossible to get a clear understanding about just how long it has been around from the history on the Martial Soul Mountain alone, and it’s not possible to find out who it came from. Moreover, I feel that it seems to hide even more profound secrets than the Tower of Radiance in the Radiant Saint Hall,” Jian Chen wondered as he looked at the mountain below him.

Very soon, the eight successors of the Martial Soul lineage parted. Jian Chen also returned to where he spent most of his time cultivating.

Along the way, he passed by the Neptunean Divine Palace. He could not help but stop and think about what his fifth senior sister had said; she had told him to go check on Zi Yun.

He stood before the Neptunean Divine Palace as he stared at the deep blue structure. In the end, he did not approach it. Instead, he turned around and left.

He knew Zi Yun had developed feelings for him, but he had no interest in this at all. Since he had already explained everything to Zi Yun, it would be the best for him to maintain his distance and let time dissolve Zi Yun’s feelings. Constant contact with her might be detrimental instead.

“Artifact spirit, are you going to yield now, or do you choose to continue being stubborn?” Jian Chen arrived before the divine hall from the Gloomwater sect and asked the artifact spirit indifferently.

He was already prepared to leave the Martial Soul Mountain, but the divine hall before him made him feel powerless. If the artifact spirit still did not yield and continued to resist, it would be impossible for him to take a grumbling divine hall that could shrink and grow whenever with him. He would not even be able to take interplanar teleportation formations.

“Don’t you even think about making me yield,” the artifact spirit replied stubbornly like before.

“It looks like I can only continue using you for my experiments with Martial Soul Force,” Jian Chen said coldly. He sat down before the divine hall and used it to familiarise himself with the techniques involving Martial Soul Force.

He would not be able to leave the Martial Soul Mountain before he subdued the divine hall. After all, the divine hall possessed far too many treasures. It even had hell water, an item that could interest even Grand Primes.

Jian Chen also wanted the hell water because he knew it was a divine item that could refine the soul. It even possessed fragments of ways, making it have wondrous effects.

“I’ll practise the Phantasm technique as my third secret technique,” thought Jian Chen. The Phantasm technique was different from the Soul-destroying technique and the Heaven-severing technique. If the Soul-destroying technique and Heaven-severing technique were focused on offence, then the Phantasm technique would be for auxiliary purposes.

This was a technique to influence the souls of people through Martial Soul Force, directly creating illusions and disorienting their minds.

Under the influence of the Phantasm technique, people with weaker wills or were far weaker than the caster could even become lost in an illusion for all of eternity.

Of course, this was only one of the effects of the Phantasm technique. It had another effect, which was puppeting the soul.

The so-called puppetting the soul was temporarily gaining control over the target’s mind, allowing people to control the target to fulfil their own purposes.

Of course, puppetting the soul was very difficult to achieve. It was useless against cultivators of the same level and was only effective against people much weaker.

Afterwards, Jian Chen began to practise his Phantasm technique on the artifact spirit. He was obviously unable to control the artifact spirit through the technique, but he could subject him to illusions.

The artifact spirit of the divine hall was very powerful, but most of this power came from the divine hall. If he could not use the power of the divine hall, he would be extremely frail.

As a result, Jian Chen was able to influence the artifact spirit with the Phantasm technique.

In the next period of time, the artifact spirit would constantly call out strangely, blabbering about nonsense. Under the influence of the Phantasm technique, he had fallen into illusions, experiencing matters that only he knew.

He would sometimes laugh out loud or cry and sometimes be excited or frightened. His emotions changed frequently, experiencing a multitude of feelings.

“Master, don’t! Don’t erase me! I’ve been loyal to you, whole-heartedly serving you. Please, master, don’t erase me…” Suddenly, the artifact spirit called out in fright as if it had encountered something extremely terrifying.

The light in Jian Chen’s eyes flickered from this sight. He was taken by surprise. “I never thought this Phantasm technique would be so powerful; even the artifact spirit of a medium quality god artifact can’t resist it. Or maybe artifact spirits of god artifacts are more vulnerable to illusions than cultivators?”

Five years later.

“Artifact spirit, let me ask you again. Are you going to accept me as your master? If you do, all your pain and torture will vanish, but if you don’t, there’ll only to be a lot more of it. And if you continue being stubborn, I’ll directly erase you from existence once my Martial Soul Force becomes powerful enough,” Jian Chen called out as he sat before the divine hall.

He had already grasped all three secret techniques during these five years, causing the artifact spirit misery. The artifact spirit had to go through hellish torture daily.

Although Jian Chen was unable to harm him with his current strength, the torture and torment was even more difficult to endure than being heavily injured.

“I- I yield. I accept you as my master…” This time, the artifact spirit finally gave in completely.

“Good!” Jian Chen was overjoyed. He had finally subdued this divine hall after so much difficulty.

The following was far simpler. With the artifact spirit’s cooperation, Jian Chen refined the medium quality god artifact successfully.

At the same time, he learnt the name of the divine hall, the Watercloud Hall.