Zhang Chen absorbed nearly thirty million Skill Points in three days, while the upgrade for the Soul Hooking and Soul Stealing skill required only ten million.
Zhang Chen immediately allocated the Points, and in the next moment, the Soul Hooking and Soul Stealing skill upgraded:
[Skill 5 (Level 3): Soul Chain (0/100000000)]
[Skill Interpretation: Same as above, saving characters.]
[Note 1: Capable of hooking the soul of anyone whose lifespan has reached its limit.]
...
[Note 4: Once you’ve hooked the other person’s soul, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have the power to kill them. Of course, when the chain binds them, they can’t harm you either. Three days later, the skill expires, and they are returned to their body by the Law. You can use the Soul Hook skill on the same soul once within three days.]
...
Zhang Chen glanced at Note 4 and immediately chuckled; the skill’s cooldown had surprisingly shortened to three days and seamlessly coincided with the cooldown period.
In other words, as long as Zhang Chen wished, he could continually keep the opponent’s soul beside him, as long as he wasn’t afraid of the opponent killing all his relatives and friends around him.
Then Zhang Chen laughed, casting a glance at the Ba Snake Remnant Soul also devouring Essence Qi, and slowly closed his eyes: "I now have a fallback strategy, so there’s no rush to use it. I can test my own limits against the Ba Snake’s limits."
Ever since acquiring the Jade Brick, he had become somewhat overconfident, and with the Guardian Dao of his Golden Scissors, he felt that perhaps he could attempt to face the Ba Snake Remnant Soul.
The most critical factor was the Thunder in the sky; that was Zhang Chen’s source of confidence.
Zhang Chen focused his thoughts, manipulating the water vapor in the world to guide the Celestial Thunder to continuously strike around him.
A bolt of Thunder stretched from the sky to the earth, transforming into a rope as thick as a baby’s arm, pulling down from the clouds. Zhang Chen used water vapor to form a protective shield around him, enveloping himself within it.
This was Celestial Thunder! Zhang Chen refused to believe that the Ba Snake Remnant Soul dared to face the power of Celestial Thunder directly.
Moreover, the Ba Snake’s soul was in a state of dissipating Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Even the Princess didn’t dare act recklessly in the Material Realm, so Zhang Chen couldn’t believe that this mere Remnant Soul had such strength.
At worst, he still had the Soul Hooking and Soul Stealing skill to protect him! What was there to fear? He had to experiment!
If the Ba Snake struck him then, perhaps he could give the Ba Snake a surprise.
As time slowly passed, Zhang Chen gradually became more vigilant, absorbing Skill Points while covertly observing the reaction of the Ba Snake Remnant Soul.
The Ba Snake Remnant Soul, seeing the Thunder shielding Zhang Chen, showed a hint of dread in its eyes.
Regular Thunder might be tolerable, but this was Celestial Thunder born of the clash between realms, containing the Power of Order. It was the bane of ancient entities like it.
When three days had passed, the Ba Snake sensed the bind between itself and Zhang Chen had dissipated, but it did not act rashly.
The reason the Ba Snake Remnant Soul didn’t act rashly was, firstly, due to the Power of Thunder, and secondly, because it did not have much time left. It had to devour sufficient Qi before its body’s lifespan exhausted to preserve its strength as much as possible.
Furthermore, from Zhang Chen, it felt an exceedingly dangerous Qi Mechanism (the Divine Power within the Pangu Stone). For it, finding a way to preserve itself was the most important and urgent matter, and it did not wish to create more trouble, as this young man was rather peculiar.
Thus, the two fell into a brief calm, with Thunder rumbling continuously outside, while both continued devouring the Creation within Ba Snake’s body.
As time passed, the Essence, Qi, and Spirit within Ba Snake’s body dispersed continuously into the world, and its body shrank continuously. After six days, Ba Snake had shrunk to a mere mile in size, severely shrunken.
At that moment, the Ba Snake Remnant Soul glanced at Zhang Chen, then transformed into a stream of light and flew away, disappearing into the void.
Watching Ba Snake’s distant figure, Zhang Chen’s heart stirred, feeling a desire to hook it back, but ultimately he chose prudence.
If he hooked Ba Snake back, even though Ba Snake’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit would continue to dissipate, who knew how long it would take to completely vanish? If it took three to five years, would he even have the chance to face it? Everyone he had met might end up killed by Ba Snake.
Unless he had the power to obliterate Ba Snake’s Remnant Soul, Zhang Chen decided not to act recklessly.
"What a pity, I can’t kill it; otherwise, this would be the best opportunity to subdue the Ba Snake Remnant Soul." Watching Ba Snake’s distant figure, Zhang Chen felt a bit wistful.
"That Ba Snake is a being above Fruit Level; it’s not something you can shake." The Great Freedom Celestial Demon beside Zhang Chen sneered, "Even if you have the Pangu Stone for Guardian Dao, you can only just barely protect yourself."
Six days had passed, and excluding occasional lost time due to sleep, Zhang Chen had absorbed a total of 38,000,000 Points, amounting to thirty-eight million in total.
At this time, the thunderclouds in the sky had ceased, and the turbulent magnetic fields of the world were gradually being corrected and restored under the Great Thousand World Law.
"It’s time to enhance my strength; otherwise, when powerful beings from all corners arrive, I might not have the chance to quietly absorb Skill Points." Zhang Chen faced the icy wind, an invisible protective shield of water vapor enveloping him tightly, giving no opportunity for the cold wind to invade.
Zhang Chen’s eyes fixed on the Golden Finger Interface, showing the skills that could be upgraded:
[Skill 1 (Level 5): True God Golden Light (0/20000000)]
[Skill 2 (Level 3): Dragon Qi (0/2000000)]