In the shadowed depths of the Twin Peak Hill's rear mountain, an ancient well loomed the northwest corner, its stone rim weathered by decade of neglect. Above it, the vast Souleater Kodama's gnarled branches swayed without wind, their rustling leaves whispering secrets too vile to comprehend. The sound was a chorus of countless taunts, indistinct yet piercing, as if the ghost tree itself were alive with the anguished souls it had devoured.
Ruru Rosa felt the whisper taunts bore into her skull like a million steel needles, each one driving deeper into her mind through her every pore. Her vision blurred, darkness creeping at the edges, and with a guttural cry, she spat a mouthful of blood, the coppery taste flooding her senses. Her body trembled, her soul and spirit tugged toward the Kodama as if caught in an invisible current. The tree's presence had become a yawning black vortex, hungry to devour her essence entirely.
"Souleater's Gaze!" Ruru gasped, her voice raw with extreme pain. Her instincts screamed at her to look away, to break the Kodama's cursing hold, but her eyes were locked, as if bound by an unseen force. The ghost tree's myriad eyes, embedded in its twisted bark, stared back, their malevolent glow paralyzing her will. "It's the Souleater Kodama's innate divine…"
In desperation, she struck herself across the face with such force that her head snapped to the side, breaking the gaze's hold. The pain was sharp, grounding, but it freed her from the tree's grasp. She staggered, her breath ragged, barely clinging to consciousness.
Yet beneath the Kodama's twisted haunting canopy, Lordi was still cultivating. He stood untouched, as if the ghost wood's dread soul devouring power held no sway over him.
From Ruru's vantage, Junior Brother Payne was the picture of serene intensity—his bearing poised, his presence as unshakable as an ancient pine rooted in stone.
His features were striking, sharp yet refined—a face carved with the quiet precision of a master sculptor. High cheekbones framed piercing eyes, now half-lidded in deep meditation, their depths hiding untold focus beneath a surface of perfect calm. His lips were set in a neutral line, betraying neither strain nor effort, even as the Kodama's essence surged into him.
One hand rested lightly against the great tree, fingers splayed. Where his palm met bark, the wood darkened, withering like parchment held to flame. Yet Lordi's expression remained undisturbed, his breathing slow and measured, as though this act of near-devouring absorption demanded nothing of him.
Handsome, yes, Ruru thought. But more than that—unmoved, untouchable, like a blade sheathed in jade.
Ruru's pulse hammered in her throat, each beat a drum of stunned reverence. "Lordi-kun's soul... it's monstrously strong!"
The Souleater Kodama's innate divine was was a tempest of annihilation, a soul-rending assault that shredded the soul and spirit so potent that even early-phase Human Path Foundation Stage cultivators dared not meet its gaze. She had escaped only because the ghost wood's hunger eyes were fixed on Lordi, her own suffering merely collateral.
She had thought this Junior Brother Payne doomed, yet here he stood, not only unscathed but draining the Kodama's life force under its soul-devouring attack.
Ruru's breath caught.
What kind of crazy monster...
...feasts on a Souleater?
While in the meantime, Lordi's breath hitched, his mind reeling with terror.
He had expected agony violence—a crushing strike from the eye growing ghost tree's gnarled limbs, a blast of vicious force hurling him away. Yet as seconds bled into minutes, the giant ancient tree remained still, its monstrous presence almost... docile. It did not resist. It did not attack. It simply let him drain its energy, as though indifferent to his predation.
That's not right.
A cold realization slithered down his spine.
"Wait—"
His pulse spiked.
Had the Kodama already struck?
Not with spectral claw or ghostly branch, but with something far deadlier—might be some soul-relating spirit assault, invisible, insidious.
Lordi suddenly snapped back to awareness. Beside him, Senior Sister Ruru was already injured—clear evidence of the invisible attack's power. But fortunately, his body, under the AllFullOS's control, remained untouched.
Any minor physical attacks could disrupt the Retard AwfulOS System's one-click cultivation process, but soul-based strikes? They were nothing. Even a mighty spiritual assault—like Fairy Lith's Doom Soul Eater Chime, an otherworldly force capable of shattering minds—meant nothing to him.
As Lordi processed this, the spirit energy surging from the Kodama wood threatened to consume him. It was a torrential flood, an unstoppable cascade of raw ascension power. The energy roared through his meridians, supercharging his cultivation strength at a breakneck pace.
Above him, the colossal Kodama tree thrashed violently, its emerald canopy shedding leaves in a frenzied storm—as if the giant ancient ghost tree itself was screaming in agony.
"CEASE!"
A voice, faint yet laced with undeniable authority, echoed in the air.
The words had barely rung out when Lordi felt a seismic jolt all over his body. An unseen domineering force passed him, hurling him skyward.
The system fled instantly.
~ Ding! *System Notification Chime*
[AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0]
> External attack detected.
> Cultivation session status: TERMINATED
> Host control: RESTORED
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In a single, shuddering instant—
The countless glistening malice eyes embedded in the Kodama's bark snapped shut. One by one, like candles snuffed by an unseen wind, their ghostly gazes winked out of existence.
The colossal tree twisted, its gnarled limbs creaking as its form contorted back into that of a grizzled, ancient tree. The suffocating ghost aura, thick as a burial shroud moments before, dissolved without a trace.
It was as though the last screaming whispers of a nightmare had been silenced mid-breath. The air itself grew heavy, too still, as if the world dared not acknowledge what had just happened.
Had it all been an illusion? A trick of the dark?
Or had something far worse simply finished watching?
Lordi slammed into the earth from above, impact cratering beneath him.
THUD!
Survival instincts screamed through his veins—crimson light erupted around him as he triggered the Blood Spectre Footwork Art, muscles coiled to urge him vanishing in a flash.
But before he could move—
That voice slithered through the air again.
"A soul... unbreakable, unyielding—adamant beyond the frailties of mortal essence."
"A skeleton... wrought from the primordial marrow of perfection itself, each bone a testament to perfect grade indomitable will."
"A Dao Heart... unsullied by the mewling whispers of Inner Demons, untouched by the taint of hesitation."
A thunderous hum, thick with the weight of epochs, shook the very fabric of existence—a sound not born of malice, but of something far older, far deeper.
"I find myself... intrigued."
The command rolled forth like divine decree, carving silence into submission. "Speak. Which abyss-drenched prodigy, which favored apostle of our most exalted holy sect, now stands before me?"