Chapter 1271: The Ring Spirit
Translator: Sigma_ Editor: SSins
"You're not it!"
Ming Hao held the Blood Vein Ring, his face dark and evil and his eyes deep as he shouted.
The black smoke suddenly fumed from the ring surface. It was clearly the dark, sinister soul of Ming Hao.
He used the soul to enter the ring to investigate. It seemed like he was struggling with the Ring Spirit inside to confirm his assumptions.
Listening to Ming Hao, everybody changed their visages and looked at him.
Xuan He and Frederick exchanged looks, their faces stern. They didn't stop him and just frowned at the ring.
As Shi Yan heard Ming Hao say that, he was shocked as he felt a lightning strike shoot through his head and tear the layers of the uncertain mist.
As soon as Ming Hao's soul had entered the ring, the connection between Shi Yan and the Ring Spirit was gone instantly. Shi Yan didn't know what was going on inside the ring, but he guessed that the Ring Spirit wasn't normal.
He screened his memory to recall the situation when he collected the two other parts of the Ring Spirit. The first time, it was in Broken Star Area, and it was the part that Xuan He had left. The memory Xuan He had left shouldn't have any problem because after the Ring Spirit had fused with it, there wasn't anything strange.
The second part he got on Desolate from the bones the Charteris family had refined from Xuan Shan's skeleton.
After that fusion, the Ring Spirit had been silent for a long time...
Then, the Ring Spirit became unusual. It had concealed a lot of things. It didn't want to give Shi Yan more information. It seemed like the Ring Spirit had its own thoughts and didn't want to accompany Shi Yan anymore.
When the Ring Spirit encountered Bloodthirsty's finger in Black Iron City of Tsunami Chamber of Commerce, it had a massive change. It immediately cut off the connection with Shi Yan and talked to him arrogantly that it had only one Master.
After that event, the Ring Spirit seemed to become a complete stranger. It became more active when they communicated as it asked Shi Yan to find Bloodthirsty's remains, offering him great conditions.
Considering these events, Shi Yan realized that after the Ring Spirit got the part of memory from Xuan Shan's bones, it changed. It had become a stranger to him.
Before that, the Ring Spirit was just a Tool Spirit that didn't have many complicated thoughts. After it had fused with the memory part from Xuan Shan, the Ring Spirit seemed to turn into a creature with high intelligence. It became greedy and it knew how to entice people, persuading them with conditions and dealing with the others...
Taking a cold breath, he looked at Ming Hao. Just like Xuan He and Frederick, he was waiting for Ming Hao's explanation.
The darkness on the Dark Island vanished. The winner that had defeated Thor, Randolph, of the Charteris family of the God Clan – floated up from the island. He looked a bit like Harson but much older. His countenance was stiff and indifferent as if he was a distant person.
Although Randolph had only the First Sky of Incipient God Realm, he had mastered the Burning Purgatory Upanishad. That's how he won the battle.
Leaving the Dark Island, he didn't look at Xuan He, Frederick, or Shi Yan. He just stood quietly behind Ming Hao with a respectful countenance. It looked like he was protecting Ming Hao.
Xuan He snorted, his eyes dark and sinister. He apparently hated Randolph. With his odd characteristics, if he had a chance, Xuan He would mock and ridicule Randolph a lot.
After a while, the shadow in Ming Hao's eyes became clearer, but its facial expression wasn't clear enough to be distinctive. His eyes rolled as he maintained the wisp of a soul inside the ring. He looked at Xuan He and explained with a cold voice.
"That year, you, Lao Luo, and Xuan Shan kept a part of the Ring Spirit's memory for each of you. You guys represented Master to choose the successors. Lao Luo did it in Grace Mainland with the big price of his death. You couldn't use the Origin of Ancient Demon Continent, so you failed."
Then, Ming Hao paused, his face more bizarre.
"Xuan Shan didn't choose God-blessed Mainland of my Imperial Dark Tribe. He instead chose Ancient God Continent of the God Clan. All of you thought that Xuan Shan had lost his mind and that I had filled him with illusions."
Ming Hao snorted and said to Xuan He. "Your brother Xuan Shan wasn't the Chief of any force but in my heart, Xuan Shan wasn't weaker than any of us. Until now, I really liked Xuan Shan. Our friendship was really good. You guys had thought that it was me who had ordered Xuan Shan not to go to God-blessed Mainland or he just wanted to give me face or something. Especially you, Xuan He. You assumed that I had caused Xuan Shan's death. You thought that because of me, Xuan Shan didn't go to God-blessed Mainland and went to Ancient God Continent instead to get killed there."
"Isn't it true?" Xuan He sneered. "That year, my younger brother had idolized you. Because of you, he didn't go to God-blessed Mainland. If he had gone to God-blessed Mainland, he wouldn't have been murdered!"
At this moment, Xuan He's evil and plain expressions were gone. He became sinister and sharp as if he had turned into someone else.
"I know there has always been a knot in Xuan He's heart. There always has been. You kept thinking that I had caused the death of Xuan Shan. That's why you had purposely hurt my little sister. You had coldly and heartlessly put an end to your relationship with Adele. You've made Adele embrace the pain for several thousand years. Until now, Adele hasn't forgiven me yet. She thought that it's was I had damaged her relationship, the love of her life," Xuan He's voice turned glum as she sighed.
Xuan He's visage became grimaced. He snorted and said nothing. Apparently, Ming Hao's words were true.
However, he had an agony that was deep to the bones in his eyes. This kind of pain had tortured him for ten thousand years and made him suffer. It had eroded and rotted his heart through so many lonely, desperate nights.
Frederick looked at Xuan He, shaking his head as he sighed. He had sympathy for his good friend.
Frederick and Xuan He had befriended for so many years. He knew Xuan He was a laid-back man who had destroyed many beauties from different clans.
However, Frederick also knew that the current Chief of, Imperial Dark Tribe, Adele, also Ming Hao's blood younger sister, was the nightmare who had weighted Xuan He's whole life. She was the only one Xuan He had loved for the rest of his life. Xuan He had planned to hold her hand to be together through the endless river of Time.
Unfortunately, the Creator didn't want him to live in peace. When Xuan He knew that Xuan Shan didn't go to God-blessed Mainland and went to Ancient God Continent to die there, he blamed everything on Ming Hao.
He assumed that Ming Hao had caused his brother's death. He hated Ming Hao to his bones!
However, Ming Hao had countless appearances and he had never met him in person. Without a certain proof that Ming Hao had caused all of this, he couldn't do anything to him.
But he couldn't be with Adele any longer!
Because of Xuan Shan's tragic death, he had thrown the revenge to the woman he had loved the most. He purposely hurt Adele and made the only one he loved bear loss and wounds!
He didn't find happiness afterward, either.
It was contrary that every time Adele felt hurt, Xuan He felt the agony ten times worse!
Frederick still remembered when Xuan He knew Adele had chosen an average aristocrat of Imperial Dark Tribe to marry. He had suffered from a great loss and pain. His heart died at that moment. Frederick understood this old friend of his more than anyone else. He knew how difficult it was to Xuan He to survive ten thousand years.
Sometimes, Frederick even thought that he would rather stay in the darkness than live a daily-tortured life like Xuan He.
In his eyes, the time Xuan He had suffered was the true darkness and suffocation.
"Xuan He, you never knew that when I realized that Xuan Shan wanted to go to Ancient God Continent, I had tried my best to stop him. I had begged him to go to God-blessed Mainland. For him, I had shed off my face to discreetly contact my sister and asked her to yield."
Ming Hao took a deep breath and sighed, "Xuan Shan had agreed with me at that time. Then, he quietly came to Ancient God Continent. Just like us, he wanted to take revenge for our Master. Xuan Shan had planned it carefully. He wasn't dumb. At that time, the God Lord's body had turned into ashes and they got nothing from his soul while the Four Great Heavenly Kings had scattered around the universe to search our holy land. Ancient God Continent didn't have the real experts at that time."
"But my brother died," Xuan He sounded harsh.
"The God Clan didn't cause his death. It was the Ring Spirit."
Ming Hao's eyes were cold. He stooped to watch the Blood Vein Ring and spoke in a low-pitched voice. "We all thought that Xuan Shan failed. None of us had ever thought that he actually succeeded. He had stolen a part of the Ancient God Continent's Origin. With the power of the Ring Spirit, he had successfully guided a soul from another universe. But something bad had happened. I don't know what had happened back there. It still remained a mystery until now. But now, I know that the result is that the soul from the other universe had swallowed the part of the Ring Spirit that Xuan He kept. It had fused with the Ring Spirit's memory and carved itself on Xuan Shan's bones after he died. After Xuan Shan died, the Ring Spirit had trained and strengthened Harson."
Listening to him, Xuan He, Frederick, and Shi Yan discolored in fright.
"My force has been investigating this for so many years. We've finally come up with that conclusion, but I wasn't so sure until Shi Yan had fused with the soul from Xuan Shan's bone into the Blood Vein Ring. Still, he didn't come to the holy land after that. He didn't know things he should know. From that event, I've made my vague conclusion.
"In Black Iron City, I asked the President of Tsunami Chamber of Commerce to deliver Master's finger as I wanted to confirm it one last time. When I found that it was so craving for that finger and the connection between the Ring Spirit and Shi Yan became so thin and I got more certain. I sent my soul to Bai Ye Feng and Mu Wei to seize the ring and check it. But Frederick's monster corpse had broken my plan," continued Ming Hao.
"You'd arranged for the President of Tsunami Chamber of Commerce to deliver that finger? But why is he still allowing my monster corpse to get there?" asked Frederick.
"He's a businessman," replied Ming Hao.
"You should continue," Frederick contemplated and then nodded.
"I couldn't touch the Blood Vein Ring so I couldn't verify it. But I was observing continuously. When this kid came to the holy land and the Devouring Island, he opened the ancient formation. After he got out, he bragged about collecting Master's remains. When that happened, I understood it clearly."
Then, Ming Hao looked at Shi Yan, snorted, and said, "I could almost confirm that the original Ring Spirit was gone. But I also doubted you. I wasn't so sure if you were the real you. I doubted that you were killed and that thing had possessed your body. I thought maybe it had bound your soul so you would be under its control.
"In my thoughts, in any of these circumstances, I would never allow you to be the next Master. I could guess the new Ring Spirit's purpose. After it fused with the three pieces of the Ring Spirit's memory, it knew every secret that even the Cortege of Eight didn't know. It wanted to collect our Master's remain to possess his body. That way it could become our new Master."
Shi Yan, Xuan He, and Frederick were petrified. They now almost believed in all of what Ming Hao was telling them. They were restlessly anxious as they looked at the ring.