The Underworld Emperor's fingers had totally sunk into the old man's wrists, as if they were merging together.
The old man tried to lift his fingers up to avoid having contact with the Underworld
Emperor's body; but the heels of his hands couldn't be separated from the Underworld Emperor's hands. The heels of the old man's hands and the Underworld Emperor's hands merged together, resembling a flower.
If the situation continued, his hands and the Underworld Emperor's body would become one and the same.
A formidable shout bellowed out from the old man's mouth.
His sleeves waved violently, releasing shocks everywhere. The large waves formed in the green water of the pond and hurled toward the wall of the stone jar. As the waves bounced back from the walls of the stone jar, loud sounds, sounding like battle drums, bellowed out.
The Underworld Emperor's body drifted up in the pond, as if he were weightless.
Assaulted by the spiritual soul of the Old Dragon, many cracks appeared on the shield formed by the soul fires on the Underworld Emperor's body. The surface of his body had countless tiny and dense foaming and rotting spots after being eroded by the water in the pond.
Yet, his hands held onto the old man's arms tightly; more precisely, his hands were growing into the old man's body.
As the water rocked in the pond, their sleeves were gradually torn into shreds. Their arms were locked together, and the bones and flesh inside their arms were tangled together as well. They couldn't be separated anymore.
As the process of integration went on, the distance between the two became decreased. Their faces were just inches away from each other.
The old man saw clearly the indifference and calmness in the Underworld Emperor's black pupils.
The Underworld Emperor could see the fear in the old man's eyes, which was fear in the truest sense of the word.
The old man couldn't bear the thought of being swallowed. He attempted to dismantle the Heaven and Earth in a Jar.
Even after he dismantled the Heaven and Earth in a Jar, the old man still couldn't separate himself from the Underworld Emperor's body; but at least, he didn't have to soak in the alcohol-like green water of the pond…
As the old man was thinking of this, he suddenly felt something not quite right.
Some thoughts flashed rapidly in his mind.
They were the inescapable Heaven and Earth in a Jar, the poisonous pond water, and the control of the spiritual souls…
"Hahahahaha!!!"
The old man suddenly laughed so violently that the tears almost came out from his eyes. "You are truly incredible, Your Majesty. You claimed that you could affect my spiritual soul; and I almost believed you!" he exclaimed while looking at the Underworld Emperor.
The Underworld Emperor looked at the old man quietly as he said, "What I have said is actually true."
"No!" the old man shouted. "These are all illusions! You can't scare me anymore!"
Having said that, the old man summoned his spiritual will. The water of the pond in the Heaven and Earth in a Jar started rotating rapidly, forming a whirlpool.
The old man's and the Underworld Emperor's bodies were like the stones in the whirlpool, being washed continuously.
Not long afterwards, the shield of the soul fires on the Underworld Emperor's body was totally eroded away, and the water of the pond washed over his body.
Countless tiny bloody holes formed on the Underworld Emperor's face, and then spread out.
His body was visibly eroded, exposing the golden and jade-like bones, with the fine and dense bubbles on the surface.
After a long while, the whirlpool in the green pond gradually died down.
The Heaven and Earth in a Jar had slowly expanded. The water in the pond lowered to the bottom, and the night sky rose up to a high elevation again.
Standing by the edge of the pond, the old man remained silent while looking at the water in the pond.
The green lotus leaves gathered together again, covering the greenish pond water. There was nothing left in the water, not even a speck of bone, nothing except for the peculiar bones of that large demon that died in the water many years ago.
The old man looked at all the places in the Fiend Prison.
Those soul fires resembling the little Underworld emperors had already flown out from the cracks, and gradually disappeared into nothingness.
The Underworld Emperor was dead.
The old man looked at his own arms.
The Underworld Emperor's hands were not there, no wound, not even a trace of the Underworld Emperor.
What had happened earlier was indeed the illusion.
Thinking of the dangerous scene a moment earlier, the old man flew up to the top of the cliff, with the fright still lingering. He walked toward the outside of the Fiend Prison.
Here was the second level of the Fiend Prison, unbearably hot. The flowing lines among the cliffs had been mostly broken. The cells on both sides in the darkness were soundless.
It was conceivable that the prisoners in the cells had all died noiselessly because they couldn't withstand the sudden compression of the space.
As he walked forth, the old man gradually calmed down, and started inhaling the energy in the pond water left by the Underworld Emperor.
All of a sudden, he halted his steps in the barren field.
He sensed a powerful and vigorous energy inside his own body, as if he had reached a much higher Cultivation state.
The energy and the new Cultivation state were wonderful, he thought, as if he had drunk the truly pure wine, making him feel ecstatic and blissful.
Was it the moment of his ascension?
The old man thought of it in surprise and happiness, his feeling of leaving the human world getting stronger and stronger; in the end he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
If it wasn't due to his inability to ascend and his fear of dying, why would he be willing to turn his body into the Fiend Prison and have stayed for so many years in the underground of Zhaoge City?
Now he was eventually to ascend, and to become a true divine dragon. How could he not feel ecstatic?
The old man's laughter echoed in the quiet Fiend Prison, like the thunder.
But, the laughter suddenly stopped.
The old man felt dumbfounded.
He knew full well that he was in the ecstatic mood at the moment and in a mood of laughing happily, with the laughing intent still lingering on the corners of his eyes; why did he stop laughing all of a sudden?
It seemed as if someone shut him up against his will.
In the next moment, he suddenly opened his mouth to make the remark, "Where did your happiness come from?"
The old man's face turned exceedingly ashen.
He didn't intend to speak at all.
Who said that then?
The prisoners in the Fiend Prison were all dead; so whom was the question directed at?
Soon after, the old man felt that his body was experiencing a sort of change, as if he was getting shorter.
As he looked at his hands, he found that both of his hands became whiter and more elegant.
The old man's pupils shrank slightly. He recognized these hands, because it was not long ago that these hands had held his wrists and sunk into his body.
The parts of his body where he couldn't see went through some changes as well.
His eyebrows had gradually gotten thinner and eventually disappeared; and his pupils grew gloomier and darker, like the black jewels.
"You…are still alive?!" the old man said in a trembling voice.
"Yes."
The voice came out from his own mouth.
It was his own voice, but the old man knew full well that it was from another person.
"Are you inside my body?"
"Like I said, I'm the best in the world as far as the control of the spiritual souls is concerned. What has just happened is not an illusion."
The old man's body trembled uncontrollably.
He realized that the energy and the strength he had experienced earlier were not the benefits of eating the Underworld Emperor.
The great moment he had felt earlier was obviously not the ascension; so what was this then?
"It's death."
"What do you…you…want to do with me?"
"You should be able to feel it. I'm killing you right now."
"No! You can't do it! Yours and my spiritual soul have already merged together; if you killed me, you would be dead as well!"
"Had you ever wondered why I left the chaotic gate and let you have the opportunity to eat me?"
"It was the only way you could kill me; but…actually…you didn't expect to live to begin with."
"That's right. I wanted to die. If I could die with you, it would be a wonderful thing."