SPIRIT SOUL

When Kyle woke up after an unknown amount of time, he still felt disoriented.

For a moment, Kyle felt as if his head would fall off his shoulder at any moment.

Fortunately, that was not possible owing to the fact that he was lying on the ground.

Despite the occasional shift in the landscape that made twigs and thorns dig into his back, he slept rather peacefully.

Opening his heavy eyelids he stared straight upwards.

There he saw a ceiling that was made of glass, revealing countless bright, and shining stars in the endless sky.

It had been months since he had been confined to the Razkadan castle walls.

As such, the view above felt nice and refreshing. He didn't even notice that his lips curled slightly upwards as he saw the night sky.

'I am on the highest floor… I guess?'

Unable to make his body move right now, Kyle could only continue lying on the ground.

But that didn't bother him so much.

Instead, he felt oddly reassured and nothing seemed to affect him.

The death aura didn't permeate the area he was in, taking the pressure off his mind.

Additionally, not a single Undead bothered him about any kind of trial.

Because he had solved the normal trials, Kyle assumed that he was given some time in order to rest.

Thus, he made no effort to get up and remained on the ground.

Meanwhile, Arashi, who had grown quite a bit emerged next to him, only to curl up on his chest.

His Spirit Soul's weight made him feel certain that he was neither dreaming nor hallucinating.

And, thinking that he had finished a mammoth task, his smile widened.

The mind-numbing sensation that had bogged him down was slowly dispersing.

And, with that the last traces of tensions lingering in his body vanished as well.

After relaxing a bit more, Kyle finally decided to stand up.

Now, he only had to face the highest floor, and whatever awaited him there.

Carefully picking up Arashi, he placed his Spirit Soul on his shoulder.

From the looks of it, Arashi had grown to more than 20 centimeters.

And, if he would continue to grow that fast, they would have to find a different place for the Horned Tempest Fox to stay.

But that could wait for now. His Spirit Soul wouldn't magically grow big in a few hours.

Instead, he had to be ready for whatever challenges awaited him.

With that in mind, Kyle accessed his spatial rings in order to take out the silver serpent spear.

At the same time, he took a look at the content of his spatial rings, in order to see if everything was still there.

Fortunately, that was the case, and nothing seemed to be missing.

Glad about this, Kyle turned his attention to take a look at his surroundings. This allowed him to realize that he was in a hallway that led him in a specific direction.

All the other directions were a dead end.

As such, it was clear that he had to move forward on the one and only path he could take.

It was almost as if the Undeads were trying to pressurize him for what he would have to face.

With that in mind, he continued walking through the designated hallway which appeared to be a narrow passage.

Yet, instead of looking straight ahead, he turned his attention back to the stars above.

They were much more interesting than the barren hallway that lacked exquisite furniture, artworks, or something that could hold his attention in any way.

As he kept staring at the sky, something caught his attention far ahead from the corner of his eye.

That made him avert his attention and spot a particular batch of hues.

He would have missed it if not for his Nurture ability that was activated, and empowered by some soul force.

'Will I finally see the young Lady?' Kyle asked himself.

He could sense the hue of the being with silver hair and glowing, crimson eyes that he had already seen multiple times during the last few months.

However, until now, he hadn't seen the young Lady and he had only heard the other Undeads talking about her.

Kyle only knew her hair and eye color as well as the fact that her voice sounded young.

He had deduced the last fact when she had lectured Li for unnecessarily dragging the third trial for too long.

Nonetheless, age was just a number for Cultivators, and not something one could really pay attention to.

As such, someone who looked like a youngster could be thousands of years old as long as his or her cultivation was high enough.

Because of that, Kyle couldn't help but be a little bit interested in the young Lady.

His curiosity about knowing more about her was high because she had gifted him the spatial ring with the bat emblem. He couldn't fathom the reason for her doing so.

In the end, he could only assume that she wanted something from him, just like the others.

Yet, the moment he entered the large hall after walking through the hallway, Kyle couldn't help but be flabbergasted.

A black crucifix was placed right in the center of the hall.

It was roughly more than two meters tall and had golden, glowing outlines.

However, that was not what caused Kyle to be so astonished.

As he neared it, he saw that there was a woman chained to the crucifix.

He estimated her to be roughly in her late teens or early 20s.

The chains seemed to hold her tightly in place, making her unable to move.

Despite the scene that made it look like she was in need of help, Kyle felt skeptical about it.

He believed the trial was testing his decision-making skills and if an illusion could trick him but it was too early to conclude this.

His eyes were fixated on the woman whose skin was ashen pale and flawless. Her silver hair hung down her back.

Furthermore, he assumed that her long black eyelashes and closed eyelids were hiding her glowing, crimson eyes.

All of this would mean that the chained woman was in fact, the young Lady.

This was also what the familiar hues he perceived were telling him.

Nonetheless, Kyle was unable to avert his attention from the young woman.

Her body was perfectly proportioned and though she was slim, she had curves in all the right places.

Even amongst all kinds of cultivators, he had seen in his past life, the woman in front of him could be considered as a sleeping beauty, the cream of the crop.

Cultivators were known for looking beautiful because their impurities would be expelled the further they advanced in their cultivation.

However, the woman in front of him seemed to be a cut above the rest, almost unreal and other-worldly.

Her appearance alone proved his earlier assumption about the young Lady's race to be correct.

And, the moment she opened her eyes, revealing the glowing, crimson eyes, they pierced into the depths of his soul.

Only a moment later, she opened her mouth.

He could see two little teeth jutting out of the corner of her mouth.

They appeared to be different from her other teeth as they looked like fangs.

"Dear brave challenger,

After awaiting your arrival for centuries, you finally came and conquered the Razkadan castle.

Please rescue me from the fangs of the Undeads that planned to sacrifice my pure body and soul to the God of the Underworld, and darkness.

I plead with you, break open the chains and help me flee!"

The moment the young Lady spoke, Kyle's mind rumbled.

Though she spoke in a pleading tone, his eyes widened upon realizing what was going on.

'She can manipulate and control my mind!'

Owing to the Nurture ability that allowed him to see hues, he had been able to figure out a few things about the young Lady.

Amongst this was the possibility that she had multiple racial traits and two awakened cultivation veins!

Being able to control mana and spirit force, the young Lady was able to do two things.

And both of these things influenced Kyle, who could feel the effects.

First, she could control blood which he presumed to be owing to her racial trait or possibly due to an affinity.

Other than that, there was still the Path of Spiral.

It allowed her to attempt controlling his mind, using spirit force!

Nevertheless, Kyle didn't think that the mind control was strong because he could fight it a bit.

Though, this was probably owing to the fact that she used only a fraction of her spirit force to activate her mind-controlling ability.

Yet, that was not what astonished him, and he could see right through her act.

As such, he couldn't help but cringe listening to the young Lady trying to trap him like a gullible person.

Clearing his throat, he asked in a rather clear voice,

"I didn't plan to be rude...but how long will this roleplay take? I kind of know who you are, and other than the crucifix that looks impressive, I must say, the chains are not even embedded with any strong runes. They're just decorations."

Hearing him made the young Lady look down at the chain.

Upon realizing her mistake, she cursed under her breath.

She hadn't considered him to be so sharp and her error made her look like an utter fool right now.

A moment later she lifted her arms, breaking open the chains as if they were made of paper.

She then descended to the ground as a distinct red hue enveloped her feet, slowing down her pace.

Somehow, this was extremely enchanting and caused Kyle to stare at her feet.

His eyes slowly traveled up her long, slender legs before they stopped upon reaching her hips.

It was at that moment when Kyle slapped his own cheeks as he grumbled.

"Is she doing that intentionally or not?!"

Even though Kyle was sure that the young Lady was a Vampire, he felt that there was more to it.

Based on everything he had seen and perceived until now, the immense attraction he felt made him think that she might also be a Succubus.

The way she walked, behaved, and spoke, every single act of hers seemed to have a bewitching sensation.

It was rather inconvenient and distracting owing to the fact that he had just wanted to receive the rewards of the last few trials before leaving.

At least that was what he had initially planned. Now his mind was a mess because the young Lady's roleplay and captivating behavior confused him.

Trying to avert his attention from the bewitchment of the young Lady, Kyle noticed something. This made him recall the book of Karnias heritage.

Within the book that was comparable to a diary, Karnias had written something, which he now recalled.

Thus, looking at the young lady, he carefully asked the two questions he was most interested in.

"Is Karnias your father?...And was, or is Karnias really a reincarnated soul of the old universe?"

While these questions might sound simple, he was unable to gauge if she would tell him the truth.

He could have instead asked about the Undead's plan, and what they wanted him to do for them.

But Kyle didn't think that this was the correct way to approach the current situation.

That was even less appropriate after he had to face the seemingly simple, yet, seducing power of the young Lady.

After completing all the grueling tasks, this was something Kyle didn't expect to find in the Castle of the Undead.

"You are truly fascinating, my little beauty! Not only can you control your desire to pounce at me much better than I expected, but your questions...are truly something that I didn't expect."

After she said this, she stopped speaking and puckered her lips.

With cat-like grace, she approached him with slow steps.

Meanwhile, Kyle's eyes were glued on her and whether it was owing to her revealing clothes, the fact that his body was in its prime, or the young Lady's natural bewitching sensation, it didn't matter.

What mattered right now was that Kyle was trying really hard to control his urges as well as his lower body that was responding to the stimulating sensation.

Gulping down his saliva, he began to circulate Soul force through his entire body.

It served as an added support to his willpower that was fighting to get back control of his body and mind. But while he did so, the young Lady had disappeared from his sight.

A moment later, he felt a light touch on his back that slowly moved down towards his pants.

Yet, instead of continuing, the young Lady moved closer to him.

Her chest touched Kyle's back as she whispered in his ears in a seductive voice.

"Are you sure you can take it?"

Her voice was barely a whisper, but the scent and presence she radiated seemed to be screaming at him.

This confused Kyle, whose mind seemed to be malfunctioning. Nevertheless, out of instinct, he turned his head in the direction of the young Lady as he retorted with the same question.

"Can you take it?"

Somehow, he felt as if he was much more experienced than the young Lady.

And, this feeling further confused him.

Only the bewitching sensation was something Kyle had never felt in his past life. Other than that, he had always been rather open.

As such, he stared deep into the glowing, crimson eyes of the young Lady.

She was standing uncomfortably close to him and her face was less than ten centimeters away from him.

This was rather dangerous considering that she was extremely powerful, and a single mistake could end his life.

However, if his assumption was correct, he wasn't running into trouble. Instead, something nobody would have expected from someone who radiated a bewitching sensation happened.

While instinctively retreating two steps, the young Lady covered her face for a second before realizing what had just happened.

"You tricked me!"

This sudden exclamation that seemed to be uncalled for caused Kyle to lift his right eyebrow.

He could only stare at her dumbfounded before repeating the question in his head.

'I...tricked you?'