Lu Yun wasn’t opposed to the beliefs of the human dao era. In fact, as someone who’d reincarnated into the world of immortals from modern Earth, he held the very same principles. What he disliked, however, was someone attempting to force those beliefs onto him in order to change his thoughts against his will, which was precisely what Qi Hai had been doing.

Moreover, there was something from Su Xiaoxiao’s memories that made him see Qi Hai in a negative light even before he’d met the man.

Qi Hai was the reason why Su Xiaoxiao was known as Doctor Poison, and why her tomb had taken on the layout of pearl-in-jade, teetering between the saint of the world of immortals who’d saved countless lives and a demon who’d reaped endless souls.

She’d slaughtered all of the inhabitants of some major worlds because they’d all been turned into zombies via corpse poison—a development orchestrated behind the scenes by Qi Hai.

The ancient had taken up residence in the dragon palace upon entering hell, whereupon Su Xiaoxiao had paid him a visit, but her attitude was far from friendly. Qi Hai, on the other hand, had been paying her a lot of attention.

……

Qi Hai’s soul shuddered when he heard Lu Yun’s threat, but he swallowed his protests.

“I’ll give you two choices: either stay in the dragon palace and don’t do anything, or go wherever you should be.” With that, Lu Yun bent his mind to refining the soul shroud and replica.

Qi Hai sighed and turned to leave. He didn’t return to hell, but instead went where he needed to go.

Lu Yun looked up in the direction he’d left in, his gaze frosty. If Qi Hai insisted on becoming an enemy, Lu Yun wasn’t opposed to sending him back through the reincarnation cycle.

Upon his departure, a ripple spread from the enormous Enneawyrm Coffinbearers, Nine-Phoenix Casket, and Enneaqilin Coffinbiers. Something seemed to have been lifted, and hell seemed to further sharpen into focus.

……

Bam!

A terrible crimson light washed over the ancient tomb. Lu Yun hovered in midair with blood seeping out of every pore, painting the tomb red.

The shamanic race was vicious in nature to other races, and even more so to themselves. When refining and nurturing a replica, shamans made use of their own blood. That was the only way for the replica to become a perfect copy of one’s self.

Rather than a method to refine replicas, this was a technique invented by great shamans to create new bodies for themselves. However, the race hadn’t reached a point where they could control the powers of creation. Unable to create real bodies, they’d instead turned to refining replicas with the same method.

The shamanic method of creating replicas was the greatest of all. Not even the replicas of the human dao era could rival its results. The Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood was now the same scarlet as Lu Yun’s blood, and the tree slowly took human form.

The Dark Moon Shaman King’s soul had been refined into a shroud, entering the wood with part of Lu Yun’s nascent spirit. Suddenly, a terrifying soul-severing power shot out from the tree and slammed into Lu Yun’s consciousness.

“Is this the power of severing the soul?” Anguish flashed through Lu Yun’s eyes and blood drained from his face when the power threatened to tear apart and crush his three ethereal and seven corporal soul-parts. “What the hell is this?!”

A possibility came to him through the harrowing pain.

“Living spirits after the human dao era have no true spirits… Is it because they’ve been pulled out by something like this?” Hellfire burst out from Lu Yun’s eyes, but it still wasn’t enough to counter the strange soul-severing power.

Even the Tome of Life and Death had retreated to the side; Lu Yun had to endure this himself!

Great pain hammered at his mind like tidal waves. In the era of shamanic rule, only the shaman kings were able to endure such terrible power. Lu Yun stayed rooted to the spot, cocking his head as he endured the pain coming from deep within his soul. It should’ve been unbearable, but he’d once experienced pain much greater than this.

Death!

He’d died before coming to the world of immortals, right in front of the Tome of Life and Death. The tome had brought his soul to this world before it could scatter. That experience had branded itself into Lu Yun’s mind. The moment between life and death had nurtured his will like the greatest panacea.

He wasn’t Qi Hai.

Though Qi Hai had traveled along the wheel of reincarnation, he’d done so in a way that was more like a parasite finding a new host. He’d take over a host body and use its soul to nourish his own true spirit.

He’d never been through death himself, and his true spirit always left before its host died in search of his next body. It wasn’t until his true spirit awakened in the Primordial Era and became one with his soul that he’d returned to being Qi Hai.

That wasn’t really death. Great power could be found at the brink of life and death, and Lu Yun had absorbed that power. The only thing that could cause one to retain their memories while experiencing death was a treasure like the Tome of Life and Death.

Much of that experience was despair. Currently, the soul-severing power reignited the experience of hovering near death, sending looming terror and despair percolating through his mind. Torment and fear tore into him at the same time.

……

It was a delicate act, enduring the pain of having one’s soul ripped apart and avoiding the yawning maw of destruction. What kept him buoyant from the bottomless abyss was the power of that fine line between life and death.

Lu Yun’s soul maintained a careful balance as it advanced slowly.

Moments later, he opened his eyes, his expression returning to calm. His hands made quick hand seals and sent compressed crimson light into the Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood.

Just refining a regular replica isn’t useful. If I am to create a replica, it has to be the best! Flames burst out of Lu Yun’s eyes as he changed the movements of his hands. One continued refining the replica while the other drew upon hellfire to refine a treasure. He was doing both at the same time with aid from the Tome of Life and Death!

……

After some time, the crimson light in the air vanished and an unassuming young man appeared before Lu Yun.

Qing Yu’s Sidekick.

Known as the shitstirrer of the world of immortals, the young man who’d disrupted the Sovereign Meet finally truly descended upon the world.

“If you weren’t my replica, not even my Spectral Eye would see through you. This soul-shrouding method of the shamanic race sure is something!” Horror shadowed Lu Yun’s expression as he looked at the replica.

The Spectral Eye could see through life and death, and had gained even more mysterious abilities in its improved form. Even so, it couldn’t see the replica as what it was.

“From now on, your name is Xing...” Lu Yun paused bemusedly, “Xing Chen, the successor of the primeval Star Shaman Tribe!”