Li Ban had already cast a Protection Spell in his palm the moment he reached out.
The sharp, transparent ice crystals failed to pierce his flesh-and-blood hand; instead, his fingers closed around them, trapping them in his grasp.
"Just as I thought. You can shatter your body to escape, but those fleeing fragments are at their absolute weakest."
Li Ban did not waste a single moment. He drew his hand back and pressed it directly against his forehead.
Before the minuscule Wizard Embryo Fragment could mount any resistance, Li Ban directly assimilated it.
Assimilating a Wizard Embryo Fragment for the third time, Li Ban was thoroughly practiced; it took him less than a second.
This not only stunned Li Zhai beside him, but also shocked the larger Wizard Embryo Fragment in Priest Qian Que's palm into crying out.
"You want to become a Black Robe?!"
Priest Qian Que lowered his head, his expression grim. He stared at the Wizard Embryo Fragment trapped at his fingertips, not daring to let his focus slip for even a moment.
Only then did Li Ban leave the thoroughly confused Li Zhai behind and fly over to Priest Qian Que's side.
"That's the longest sentence I've ever heard you speak. You really must be shocked," Li Ban joked, though his face bore no trace of a smile.
Moving with his usual decisive swiftness, he took the Wizard Embryo Fragment from Qian Que's hand and pressed it into his forehead.
"How have you not become a Black Robe yet?" Xiao Suo's voice echoed out once more.
Compared to Li Ban's sudden willingness to absorb someone else's Wizard Embryo Fragment, the fact that he still had not fallen to corruption was far more shocking to him.
Although Li Ban was fast, flying directly to Qian Que still took him a breath of time.
Transitioning from a White Robe to a Black Robe did not even take a fraction of a breath.
Yet even as Li Ban stood before Priest Qian Que, his white priestly robes had not changed color.
"I don't want to become a Black Robe," Li Ban stated with absolute certainty.
Xiao Suo fell silent.
Was this something that could be avoided just by not wanting it?
"Wait a moment, Li Ban."
The white sealing spell dissolved, and Priest Chu Zhan, who had been guarding the perimeter, flashed to Li Ban's side.
To keep Li Ban's unique ability a secret, only the three priests knew the truth of this operation.
The other priests were stationed in the distance, helping to maintain the confinement spell, forbidden from approaching without direct orders.
Seeing firsthand that Xiao Suo could split his Wizard Embryo Fragments at will, Priest Chu Zhan wore an incredibly heavy expression.
Li Ban paused his assimilation. Keeping a tight grip on Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shard, he looked up at Priest Chu Zhan.
Meeting Li Ban's gaze, Priest Chu Zhan felt an intense sense of unfamiliarity.
For the sake of secrecy, Priest Qian Que had not allowed him to see Li Ban beforehand. Now that he finally was, Chu Zhan did not even know if the person he was looking at was truly Li Ban.
But the situation was urgent, and Li Ban wore an expression that clearly read, If you don't speak up, I'm going to assimilate it.
Priest Chu Zhan hurriedly raised his hand. "Since this Xiao Suo can split himself, could there be other fragments? I want to use the Mind Spell to scour his brain."
Li Ban stopped his movements. "It's useless."
Still, he knew that Priest Chu Zhan would not give up unless he was allowed to try.
Li Ban extended his hand anyway.
"If you want to try, you can do it in my hand. Priest Qian Que, please keep watch."
Priest Qian Que understood the gravity of the situation and felt no dissatisfaction at being directed by Li Ban. He stepped back slightly, keeping a comprehensive watch on the fragment in Li Ban's hand.
Now that the confinement spell had been lifted, they had to be careful that Xiao Suo did not use some other method to escape.
Seeing this, Priest Chu Zhan did not delay. He stepped forward and immediately cast the Mind Spell on Xiao Suo's fragment.
The Mind Spell could achieve entirely different effects depending on the shifting intent of the caster.
It could serve as a channel for covert communication between priests, or its coercive force could be increased, turning it into a spell for scouring memories.
This kind of spell would damage the target's soul, but since the target was Xiao Suo, Chu Zhan naturally had no reservations.
Priest Chu Zhan reached out, hovering his hand over Li Ban's palm from a distance.
Invisible fluctuations manifested, piercing through Li Ban's skin to seep into the Wizard Embryo Fragment tightly clenched in his grasp.
"Xiao Suo, do you have any other avatars? Where are they?"
Asking questions helped the priest search the target's mind for relevant information.
The three of them remained perfectly still for a moment.
Total silence reigned around them.
No one dared to speak.
Even Li Zhai, whom Li Ban had left on the bedchamber roof, did not dare to move blindly.
The surrounding guards stared up at the sky, not knowing what the three priests were doing, but understanding it must be something extremely important.
A moment later, Priest Chu Zhan finally withdrew his hand, his expression grave.
"I completely—cannot read Xiao Suo's thoughts."
According to what Li Ban and Qian Que had said, every single one of Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shards could store the memories of this incarnation's experiences, allowing him to share them upon rebirth.
Yet Chu Zhan's exploration had yielded nothing.
Seeing this, Priest Qian Que stepped forward. "Let me try."
He traded places with Chu Zhan.
Chu Zhan consciously took over the duty of keeping watch.
Meanwhile, Li Ban remained motionless, simply waiting for them to finish their attempts so he could immediately assimilate Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shard.
He would not give Xiao Suo any chance to escape.
A moment later, Priest Qian Que also stopped. "No feedback."
If the Mind Spell of a Solar Priest had failed, there was no point in anyone else trying.
Li Ban was not disappointed. He pulled his arm back, ready to proceed with the assimilation.
Right at that moment, the Wizard Embryo Fragment let out a sneer.
"You want to read my mind? Wait until you become Great Wizards."
"Then we won't read it." Li Ban pressed the fragment into his forehead.
A split second before the fusion took hold, he suddenly heard Xiao Suo's voice ring out in his mind.
"Do you want to know why they couldn't read my mind?"
He did not.
Li Ban gently closed his eyes and began the assimilation.
"Heh—"
Xiao Suo's laughter carried a hint of helplessness.
"You really are dead set on sacrificing yourself."
"I'll tell you anyway."
"Because I am an inner demon—"
Xiao Suo's voice vanished from Li Ban's mind.
Assimilating the Wizard Embryo Fragment was instantaneous. Even though Xiao Suo's parting words surprised him, Li Ban did not halt the process.
With the fusion complete, Li Ban opened his eyes once more.
A speck of light flashed through his eyes before quickly fading away.
By absorbing four of Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shards (even though two were merely smaller, temporarily split-off pieces), Li Ban had harvested a massive amount of spiritual rhinoceros.
Li Ban was already at the 6th Tier with full spiritual rhinoceros. He simply stored the excess spiritual rhinoceros inside his own Wizard Embryo Fragment.
While Li Ban underwent the assimilation, Priest Qian Que and Priest Chu Zhan kept their eyes glued to him.
Before leaving the Unreturning Place, Priest Li He had decreed that whenever Li Ban assimilated any of Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shards, he had to be supervised by multiple Dark Moon Priests or a single Solar Priest, just in case he suddenly fell to the darkness and became a Black Robe after the fusion.
This fusion, however, went off without a hitch.
Li Ban still stood solemn, his white robes fluttering.
Priest Qian Que smiled.
Priest Chu Zhan, meanwhile, cupped his hands in a solemn salute, his voice deep. "I am truly in awe."
Assimilating another's Wizard Embryo Fragment without devolving into a Black Robe.
Chu Zhan had considered that he might be capable of such a feat himself.
But he had never dared to try.
Not even once.
Yet Li Ban had now tried it four times.
And he had not fallen a single time.
Just how strong must his willpower and conviction be?
Li Ban did not let the praise go to his head.
When it came to absorbing Xiao Suo's Witch Embryo Shards, he indeed possessed an unparalleled advantage that others lacked.
Turning to the two priests, he asked, "Right before the fusion, Xiao Suo claimed to be an inner demon. What did he mean by that?"
"An inner demon?" Chu Zhan startled, exchanging a glance with Priest Qian Que.
"Hold on. We'll discuss this when we return."
Priest Chu Zhan flew down to the ground to rendezvous with the other two Imperial Dynasty Priests and ask them to handle the cleanup.
He quickly returned. "Let's head to the Floating Pavilion."
Li Ban followed the two grim-faced priests away.
Before leaving, he glanced back toward the roof of the bedchamber.
Li Zhai stood there in the cold wind, wearing only thin clothing.
Li Ban gave a faint nod before vanishing into the sky.
"Your Highness?" the nearby guards approached.
Li Zhai looked down at them all.
Above him was a landscape he could not see.
But even if one lived halfway up the mountain, they still had to walk their path properly.
He hopped lightly down from the roof and stood with his hands clasped behind his back, exuding a regal bearing.
"Lock down Xihe Hall!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The guards cupped their hands over their sabers and responded with solemn reverence.
"What is an inner demon? Inner demons are a trial every Solar Priest must face."
Inside the Floating Pavilion, Chu Zhan, Li Ban, and Qian Que sat facing one another in the main hall.
Knowing that Priest Qian Que disliked speaking, Chu Zhan, who was also preparing for his own advancement to Solar, took on the task of explaining it to Li Ban.
"You breezed through the Cloud-Hidden stage and reached Star Glow very quickly, so you probably aren't too familiar with the mental cultivation requirements at this level."
"Under normal circumstances, we only focus on the cultivation specific to our current tier. But your situation is a bit special. You've advanced far too quickly, so I'll just lay out all the requirements spanning from Star Glow to Solar."
Li Ban listened closely to Chu Zhan's every word, occasionally lowering his eyes in deep thought.
Upon advancing from Cloud-Hidden to Star Glow, a priest's mental strength surged exponentially. The drawback, however, was emotional volatility; certain personality traits would be vastly magnified until they became fatal flaws.
Take Priest Pei Jun, who was killed by Du An. He had always been sharp-tongued but soft-hearted, but after reaching the Star Glow stage, he became incredibly harsh and overbearing.
When that temperament clashed with Du An—someone who appeared placid on the surface but harbored extreme pride within—it planted the seeds of a massive disaster.
—
The other priests at the Unreturning Place had tried to advise Priest Pei Jun.
But such psychological issues could only be truly resolved if the person in question overcame them on their own.
Others could only offer guidance.
Under normal circumstances, someone like Du An, who had just become a Cloud-Hidden Priest, would never have been able to harm Pei Jun.
But no one could have anticipated that the Black Robe Xiao Suo would actually risk his own life to help Du An. That was why Priest Pei Jun perished before anyone could react.
Thus, to advance from Star Glow to Dark Moon, one not only needed to absorb enough masterless Wizard Embryo Fragments, but also overcome their massive character flaws and achieve absolute self-mastery.
Once self-mastery was attained, their scattered power would condense and solidify, transforming their star glow into a dark moon.
The priest's corresponding power would become like the bright moon overhead, illuminating a Cubic Heaven and Earth.
By this point, the Wizard Embryo Fragment would have largely taken shape. It was like a primordial planet—devoid of life, but operating under set physical laws.
Dark Moon Priests were heavily disciplined in their conduct, but if they wanted to advance to Solar, they needed to undergo a colossal eruption.
They had to thoroughly ignite their suppressed emotions and will, using that opportunity to fuse their spirit and spiritual rhinoceros into one.
From this, the dark moon would transform into a blazing sun, breathing life into the dead Wizard Embryo Fragment.
However, if the eruption was not complete, or if the spirit and spiritual rhinoceros failed to fuse perfectly during the process, they would end up like Priest Qian Que. Though he had advanced to become a Solar Priest, the embryonic world formed by his wizard embryo lacked vitality. It struggled to progress any further and could not form a self-sustaining cycle.
And that difficulty, in truth, stemmed entirely from inner demons.
An inner demon was essentially the amalgamation of a small world's flaws. It directly targeted the priest themselves and possessed terrifying offensive power.
The greater the underlying issues during the transition from Dark Moon to Solar, the stronger the resulting inner demon would be.
Priest Qian Que's underlying issues had been incredibly severe.
That was why even he believed he could not overcome his inner demon.
Without defeating the inner demon, he could not repair his world's flaws, meaning his wizard embryo world naturally could not function properly.
Therefore, Priest Qian Que had practically lost all hope of ever advancing to the Divine Offspring tier.
After listening to Priest Chu Zhan's detailed explanation, Li Ban finally clarified many concepts he had previously only half-understood.
Back in the Recycling Station, driven by sheer pragmatism, Li Ban had spent all his time learning and practicing new spells with Zhu Yao. He had never delved deeply into mental cultivation.
But hearing this brought a brand-new question to his mind.
Inner demons mostly existed within a priest's consciousness, forcing the priest to confront them internally.
If Xiao Suo was also an inner demon, how had he managed to get out?
"That Black Robe Xiao Suo is full of lies. You shouldn't blindly trust his words." Priest Chu Zhan still refused to believe that Xiao Suo was an inner demon.
Someone capable of making every single priest in the Wizard World forget his death—if he really was an inner demon, just how terrifyingly powerful must the original body that spawned him be?
A mere 8th Tier priest certainly could not achieve such a feat.
At this, Priest Qian Que quietly chimed in. "Solar Priests aren't the only ones who get inner demons."
Li Ban slowly nodded. "If that's the case, then it makes sense. Xiao Suo—is a Great Wizard's inner demon."
"Hiss—"
Chu Zhan drew in a sharp breath.
It was not a difficult leap in logic to make.
Li Ban had drawn upon Shi Ming's experiences as a reference.
Shi Ming wasn't an inner demon; he was Shaman Ming's mortal corpse.
And yet, even as a mortal corpse utterly incapable of cultivation, he possessed an innate Undying Halo simply due to his unbreakable connection with Shaman Ming.
That alone warped the rules of the Wizard World to a certain degree.
And establishing the rules had always been the exclusive domain of the Great Wizards.
"We must report this to the Wizard Lords," Priest Qian Que said grimly.
Realizing that Li Ban did not grasp the true terror behind his own deduction—that Xiao Suo was a Great Wizard's inner demon—Chu Zhan spoke up to warn him.
"A Great Wizard's inner demon typically exists within their own wizard embryo world. If one managed to escape into the Wizard World, it implies that a Great Wizard has either lost control, or—fallen."
Li Ban slowly nodded.
He suddenly realized something.
Shaman Ming had once mentioned that Xiao Suo was a special existence, someone who had never fallen into the Recycling Station.
That meant Xiao Suo must have survived through several progress cycles as well.
Was it really possible that the various Wizard Lords were unaware of his existence?
But even if they knew, they had never stepped in to destroy Xiao Suo.
So, would Priest Qian Que reporting Xiao Suo's situation to the Wizard Lords really accomplish anything?
The three Great Wizard Lords had not bothered to intervene before, so it was unlikely they would step in now.
I cannot rely on outside forces to destroy Xiao Suo, Li Ban thought.
I will only have peace of mind if I do it myself.