The Story Never Ends
Chapter 130 - Testing The Soul

"Phoenix Arises"

A lifelike and a vivid projection of a phoenix which was thrice as large as previously came out of the halberd. Not only was it large but completely different. It had brown-colored feathers and four multicolored tails with devil horns on top of its head.

Aiden saw this and scoffed, "So, it was a spell from your middle-grade spiritual artifact. Even though it's far stronger now, do you think that it will save you?"

He then squeezed every bit of his energy into his axe such that even his body began to dry up. Slowly, he had become smaller and smaller and finally returned to his human form. However, it was worth it as his phantom had become larger again.

"Damn, although I acted tough, I had to go all out." He cursed as he knew that he wouldn't have been a match against him if he hadn't taken this step.

"Cough, cough-" he suddenly coughed out blood and found it difficult to stand. It seemed like his injuries were too heavy.

When Davion saw this, he thought that this was his perfect chance to strike. So, he slashed his halberd downward and the phoenix went after Aiden with a multicolored aura surrounding it.

Aiden felt a dangerous aura coming from above but he didn't react to it and just looked at it with worry. When the phoenix was a few meters above him, his phantom automatically raised its hands and transformed them into two serpents which were black and white respectively.

Then they elongated and rushed towards the phoenix. The phoenix dodged the black one but the white one was much faster and thus it got caught.

The white one bit on its neck and slithered around its neck. Taking this opportunity, the black one caught its claws and dragged it downward.

"My God! This phantom is too strong. I have to think of a way or else I'm done." He observed the battle seriously and tried to replace some loopholes.

A few minutes later, the phoenix still could not escape from its clutches and was about to be devoured by that phantom. Indeed, that phantom opened its mouth and was pulling it towards it with the help of its serpents.

"Damn, I can't go on like this. There is only one way remaining…" he made up his mind and dived down with his halberd and went straight to Aiden.

Since that phantom was busy with his phoenix, he would take this chance and kill him. Although it sounded dangerous, he could only replace this loophole.

Aiden was about to sigh in relief when he saw that he was about to win. But the next thing made his hair stand on end.

"Kid, it's cheating." He panicked when he saw Davion approaching him. He tried to run away but fell on his knees due to his injuries.

"Help.." He yelled towards his phantom.

Before the phantom could react, Davion had already neared him and hacked his halberd horizontally towards his neck. He wanted to chop it off and end this once and for all.

"No.." Aiden's body reacted in an instant and used his hands to catch the blade of the halberd. But with his feeble state right now, how could he have any success? Yet, he still managed to buy some time for his phantom to respond. 

The phantom immediately let go of its black serpent immediately and stretched it towards Davion. 

Davion didn't bother it and applied much force into his halberd. If he had any remaining spiritual energy then it would have ended in a jiffy. But there are no what-ifs during a battle…

The black snake managed to reach him and at the same moment, his axe also broke free from Aiden's hand and reached his neck.

"Explode" Davion didn't want to take the risk of taking the snake head-on. So, he simply blew his phoenix. 

"BBOOOOOMM"

The explosion was so huge that everything around a two hundred meters radius disintegrated into dust. All the vegetation was destroyed and the ground sunk hundreds of meters deep. Clouds of smoke rose in the air but it couldn't escape from the barrier. Thus, people from far away could neither see inside it nor sense it.

***

A while later, finally, there was some movement coming from the ground. A large hand slowly came out at first and slowly the whole body could be seen emerging. It was a big devil who seems to be in a bad state currently.

"Ahh! I'm about to die." The devil cried out in pain. Indeed, this person was Davion. 

"Both of my wings have been torn apart and my tail too. Not only that, I have a big hole in his stomach." He looked below and from that hole, he was able to see the scenery behind him. He didn't even notice where his internal organs had fallen.

Everyone would have died with this injury but with a devil king's body, he was barely able to survive. Yet, it was still not enough as he started feeling dizzy and even felt out of breath.

Thus, he fell on the ground and lay flat on the ground. He looked at the clear sky and thought, "Is this how it feels to die?"

"Hehe, but I've leveled up just now. Let's see how my golden finger helps me in this state…"

This was why he was not panicked and fearful of blowing away his phoenix this closely. He knew that he would be able to level up and recover in an instant after earning a lot of experience points from killing Aiden. And it happened immediately as he had thought.

The hole started covering itself as new cells and tissues were being regenerated. The same goes for his internal organs and his exterior body parts too. The blood stopped dripping and the wounds closed by themselves. In a few minutes, he had already reached his peak state. Maybe you could say that he had become much better than ever as he had leveled up?

After recovering, Davion sat cross-legged on the ground and suppressed his devil essence. He focused and steadily his aura was being withdrawn. Only then did he return to his normal form.

"This devil form is really strong. I don't know how to describe it." Davion sighed. The strong physiques provided by the Devil form combined with his own Body Tempering Art took him to a completely next level. Not only that, after buffing it with his lightning and dark energy, he was unstoppable. Although it was a tough battle, he was very satisfied with this art.

"Now there are things I don't understand. Why did my soul suddenly grow and become stronger? Why did my spiritual energy didn't evolve and become soul Qi?" He was confused.

"As for the second question, I think that this should be the case similar to Elder Edgar of the Blood Saber Sect. Although he had a soul, his Qi hadn't evolved and the soul looked childish. This is also one of the defects of the Devil Soul Art."

"If only I could have seen the soul of Aiden.." he felt slight disappointment as his soul seemed to have evaporated due to the explosion. If not then he could have learned more about it.

"Thinking about the first question, maybe it was due to my golden finger…" He murmured. He still didn't know how his panel worked. The only thing he knew was that every time he leveled up, his spiritual energy became stronger and control of it became better. Who knows if the same thing happened to his soul? So, he just let it slide for the time being.

"Talking about the soul, let's try whether I can bring it out of my body now." He was unsuccessful previously because of his soul becoming weak. Not only that, but he was also in a battle. So, he could only forget about it. But now it was a perfect time to try to.

He closed his eyes and focused on his Dantian. Above the devil essence, was a handsome-looking soul floating which seemed similar to Davion in every way except for those devil features. Currently, it was closing its eyes and staying still without any movements.

When Davion concentrated on it, he found himself in control of his soul. He then opened his eyes and thought, "Let's do it."

He tried to move and found himself successful. So, he rushed forward and came out of the body.

When he exited, he saw his physical body sitting on the ground.

"Interesting." He smiled and flew high up in the sky. He wanted to test his limits.

"Dang" 

When he reached a certain distance in the sky, he crashed on the barrier.

"Ahh! How could I forget about this?" He exclaimed.

Then he thought about what Aiden had shown him earlier on. It was the skull that controlled this formation. So, he descended and went to look for Aiden's spirit ring.

"In excitement, I had forgotten about this important thing. It would have been a shame if someone else found it in the future..." he shook his head.