The King of Beast Trainers
Chapter 288 - 164: Soul-Slashing Knife_2

Chapter 288: Chapter 164: Soul-Slashing Knife_2

"The soul, mixed with the consciousness of the living entity from before they died, can also be said to be the soul’s memory."

"Those so-called ’soul searching’ techniques in the Xianxia novels probably target this aspect."

"Essentially, the soul is an energy body, which is the necessary nourishment to sustain the life of an undead pet beast; the soul is non-toxic, it’s the consciousness within the soul that can be harmful."

"The accumulation of these consciousnesses can lead to the corruption of both undead pet beasts and necromancers, causing them to lose their sanity and fall into madness."

"Just like using spices to ’deodorize’, it should be possible to cleanse the consciousness from the spiritual body, but it’s too difficult, not unlike creating a new recipe. Even if I had all the ingredients of the Star-Moon Continent before me now, figuring out the right combination, I don’t know how many years that would take. This, one must leave to fate; it cannot be forced."

"However, aside from that, there logically should be another method to remove the impurities from the soul."

"If you treated the spiritual body as an ingredient that has unwanted parts, then, thinking brutally simple, just cut it off."

"But then, ordinary extraordinary cooking equipment simply doesn’t have the ability to cut the soul."

Lu Ran, looking at the Mouse Spirit dissolved by a mere touch of his kitchen knife, fell into contemplation.

With ordinary kitchen equipment, it’s like passing straight through a spiritual body, not causing any harm, whereas with extraordinary kitchen equipment, just coming into contact would deform the spiritual body and collapse the soul, but still wouldn’t cut it.

"It must be because ordinary extraordinary kitchen equipment lacks the attribute for cutting the soul, but what if kitchen tools made from soul-related minerals were forged, could they potentially ’cut’ the spiritual body?"

Lu Ran then turned his gaze toward the Soul Suppressing Stone, wondering if it could be forged into a knife.

Regardless, he would have to find a way to obtain more during this expedition into the Secret Realm.

He needed a Soul-Slashing Knife!

A blade that could smoothly slice through a soul!

But, setting aside the question of whether a Soul-Slashing Knife could actually be forged, even if it existed, Lu Ran wasn’t sure he could rely on "cutting" to separate the spiritual body from its consciousness.

The concept was too abstract; even if Yan Sizhen were reborn, he’d probably need to ponder over the tough problem created by Lu Ran.

This would likely require a profound understanding and cognition of the soul.

"Soul Sword Intent."

"To achieve this step, I need Soul Sword Intent. If I master Soul Sword Intent, maybe even without the Soul-Slashing Knife, I could directly inflict cut-like damage on the spiritual body with a weapon."

Before long, in his research, Lu Ran conceived a new approach.

But it’s still the same issue, Soul Sword Intent is an extremely abstract ability.

As for this research direction, Lu Ran decided to pass the buck.

"Mr. Husky, you think you’re pretty incredible, don’t you? Take the Soul Suppressing Stone and play with it. I’ll give you a few mice, and you better grasp the Soul Sword Intent quickly—just remember, don’t eat the mice."

Subsequently, Mr. Husky was summoned by a baffled Lu Ran. While the shameless Boss Lu initially received some protest in the form of howls, Mr. Husky was quite interested in the Soul Suppressing Stone and the spiritual bodies and immediately set off to tinker.

Of course, Lu Ran didn’t expect Mr. Husky to succeed.

If Mr. Husky had already fused with the Absolute Comprehension Attribute, or if Mr. Husky was a necro system Pet Beast, then Lu Ran might have held some hope. But as it stood... it was more about getting accustomed first.

Lu Ran also understood that he definitely couldn’t solve the drawback of the necro system in a short time; it was a long-term project.

"Hmm???" However, just after sending Mr. Husky away, Lu Ran suddenly thought of another potential method to separate the soul and consciousness.

"Could I really be a genius?"

Lu Ran pulled out the Sword Grass from the Sword Nurturing Pot in his backpack, looking at it and falling into deep thought.

"Say, does Sword Grass have a soul, and whether it’s conscious or not, if you smack it with a Soul Suppressing Stone, is it possible to directly slap out a sword made of soul Sword Grass?"

"Isn’t that a natural Soul-Slashing Knife?"

"Woof woof woof woof!!" The very next moment, Lu Ran snatched Mr. Husky’s Soul Suppressing Stone back, and to Mr. Husky’s astonishment, started pounding on his cherished weapon with the stone.

As expected, it wasn’t as easy as Lu Ran had hoped.

Sword Grass that hasn’t become an extraordinary life form is no different from a common plant.

Perhaps after becoming an extraordinary life, Sword Grass might have a chance to transform into undead plants, but currently, this Sword Grass still did not possess a soul.

All methods proved futile, leaving Lu Ran feeling dejected, and even attempts to have the Sword Grass directly cut the soul proved ineffective.

"This is really tough, no wonder so many Beast Trainers from the Death Divine Sect and Reaper have been unable to solve this problem." Lu Ran lamented with a headache.

Right now, the closest approach for him seemed to be grasping the Soul Sword Intent.

Lu Ran decided to first take Mr. Husky along to research the Soul-Slashing Sword Intent. As for the breakout mission, Lu Ran wasn’t in a rush; his duty was to defend the city. As long as he alone stood his ground and defeated the enemy, victory would be his, even if the entire Death Divine Sect were to be wiped out!

The ones who should be worried were those attacking the city.

Without any information on the adversary, he couldn’t very well go out blindly to solo the enemy.

Even if a fight was inevitable, he’d have to wait for the enemy to show themselves a bit before going in for the attack. To complete their mission, the enemy couldn’t possibly stay hidden forever.

At this moment, Lu Ran appreciated the value of the "Evil God’s Eye trait" even more. If he had already contracted with Crow General, and it had mastered the Eye of the Evil God, he would be able to curse and cause the entire opposing camp to die explosively from afar, sparing him from such passivity.

......

Meanwhile.

Black Feather was summoned by Missionary Gao Li, who inquired about Lu Ran’s situation.

"What???"

"Grilled soul, steamed soul, boiled soul, smoked soul?"

Missionary Gao Li was shocked. As an old hand Necromancer who couldn’t do without souls for his three meals a day, he felt an ache in his stomach upon hearing Black Feather’s report and could only think of it as twisted.

However, after a moment’s thought, he smiled and said, "Let him be, this time we’ve really found a jewel."

Seeing "King of Sudden Death" keen on researching necro system and wanting to help Necromancers overcome their disadvantages, Gao Li felt exhilarated. It was common for a preacher to find a new recruit with great talent.

But finding someone not only with great talent but also with such a noble ideal was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

He felt that if Headquarters were to learn about Lu Ran’s situation, he might not be nurtured as a "Saint Level," but he would definitely receive focused training and could become a core member.

Of course, if Lu Ran really hit a stroke of incredible luck and made a breakthrough, that would be another matter altogether – it’s likely that a host of Divine Envoys would embrace "King of Sudden Death" as the Sect Hierarch’s successor. Gao Li sneered, feeling he was letting his imagination run wild; such a thing was impossible.

"Continue to keep a close eye on him."

"Yes." Black Feather nodded, content with the shocked expression of the preacher. It seemed that even an experienced old Necromancer found this "King of Sudden Death" to be exceedingly mad.

...

On another front.

The nine trialists from various nations of Blue Star once again gathered.

"I’ve found out that the one occupying Midwood City is a Necromancy Cult missionary named Gao Li. He has three level 30 undead pet beasts, all Dominator Species, and he’s just a second-level Necromancer," disclosed the Moonlight Knight from the Golden Generation.

"Inside Midwood City, he’s probably the strongest enemy."

"His subordinates, although numerous, should not possess any formidable figures."

"If we can persuade the Imperial Remnant Army to join us in the attack, taking down Midwood City shouldn’t be difficult!"