Chapter 218 - A Thought of Heaven, A Thought of Hell

If this continues, there really won’t be any suitable hosts for me to possess, I’ll have to force a possession or attempt a long-distance possession.It’s uncertain whether the power of my Soul of Demon can sustain me all the way to the Black Reaper Camp to carry out a long-distance possession.

If I had known I’d be discovered, I wouldn’t have worried about conserving energy and done a long-distance possession right from the start.

But in this world, there’s no such thing as knowing in advance... uh... at least I, Nord, don’t have the ability to foretell.

If I did, I certainly wouldn’t have foolishly set a trap for the young Red Dragon, nor would I have traveled so far to scheme in the Fairy Wilderness.

Just as Nord fell into despair, suddenly he sensed a familiar presence that drew him with a powerful attraction.

The Soul of Demon, having left its body again, drifted instinctively towards that direction.

Nord saw a familiar face that was etched in his memory, "Flinn!"

His own blood brother who chose a completely different path, who betrayed his nature, his deity, willing to become a mental slave to humans, a traitor to his race.

"Stay away from me." When he realized the target was Flinn,

Nord’s Soul of Demon, without a second thought, turned and fled, dashing towards the nearest other perception, preferring to possess one of the Purgatory Hyenas or even any beast-like bodies over his own blood brother, Flinn.

It wasn’t that he was moved by old sentiments and couldn’t bear to harm Flinn.

In his eyes, so-called kinship was nothing but a burden, the most exquisite offering.

His transformation into the Soul of Demon was originally due to the sacrifice and gnawing of the poor, pathetic Priest who raised them and tried to change them, earning Yenogu’s favor and blessings.

If he could, he would love to tie Flinn to the Demon Altar and sacrifice the traitor to Yenogu himself; he was sure it would once again please him.

He had known for a long time that this guy had always been lurking around, meddling and ruining his, and the Black Reapers’ affairs, but too slippery to be caught.

Unexpectedly, at such a critical moment, he emerged again.

Nord now dared not let Flinn touch him, let alone enter his body.

Ever since he devoured that pitiable, pathetic Priest, Flinn had made a sacred vow of revenge, swearing upon his soul and life that Nord would perish at his hands.

Even if his own Soul of Demon were truly annihilated, due to its Abyssal attributes, it would be dragged into the Abyss, into Yenogu’s territory.

With Yenogu’s favor towards him, he believed it wouldn’t be long before he became a powerful Demon and one day return to the Material Plane.

But if he fell into Flinn’s hands, into his body, a holy revenge judgment awaited him - even if not utterly destroyed, he would be imprisoned forever, with the prison being Flinn’s body.

For Nord, this was truly the most terrifying fate.

Flinn seemed to sense his location just as well, determined not to let him go, he sprinted towards him.

The Martial Monk profession endowed Flinn with extraordinary speed. When he started to run on all fours in the characteristic way of the Jackalwere, his speed was astonishing, doggedly pursuing Nord.

What’s more, there was another troublemaker in the air.

Just as Nord was about to enter the body of that Abyssal Hyena and catch his breath,

An arrow from the sky pierced the hyena’s neck, and what’s worse, with a critical hit piercing the main artery, blood spurted out, indicating it wouldn’t live.

Nord turned around again.

At this moment, the Red Copper Dragon carrying Gaven hovered down, less than ten meters from the ground.

This time, Gaven wasn’t toying with aerial suspension but sat firmly on the Dragon Saddle, which was necessary to free his hands to shoot.

As for Aivensa, she somewhat brought it upon herself, using humiliation as a means to smoothly get Gaven and his party to mount the young Red Dragon.

Her position as Gaven’s aerial mount was seriously threatened, especially when she inadvertently overheard Gaven asking Lord Virginia to find Roderick something resembling the Enlarge Necklace for a magic saddle.

This sense of crisis peaked.

It wasn’t that she was worried the young Red Dragon would one day replace her in Dragon Oak Territory.

But following behind Gaven came with its benefits.

Most of the golden glitter and Magic Equipment in her Dragon’s Nest have been earned by Gaven.

If she wasn’t vigilant, that shrewd businessman would surely keep her share for himself.

For her little gold coins, for the future richness of her treasury,

Aivensa decided to sacrifice a bit of her pride and sell the riding rights for a thousand Gold Coins a month, but only to Gaven and Lord Virginia, the latter’s rides costing extra.

With the healing power of little gold coins, even being ridden by others didn’t seem so unbearable.

Little did she know, Aivensa was gradually stepping into a trap set by her conniving in-laws.

Even with the profound resources of Yaling Castle, such unique Magic Items were rare finds, and substitutes weren’t so easily obtained.

She thought she’d overheard the conversation by accident, but in fact, it had been spoken for her to hear.

Gaven aimed three successive shots of Psychic Bullet directly at Nord’s invisibly lurking Soul of Demon.

Such spiritual entities, insusceptible to ordinary physical attacks,

It had to be psychic ability.

Even after being weakened repeatedly, Nord’s Soul of Demon still possessed a high level of will and cohesiveness.

Not until the third psychic bullet did it finally hit its mark.

The effect of the shock was also quite mediocre, only resulting in a delay of a few seconds.

But these few seconds were enough for Flinn. With a leap, he pounced directly onto it, opened his mouth wide, bit into the invisible and intangible Soul of Demon, and with a gulp, swallowed it into his stomach.

"What are you doing?" Gaven recognized Flinn’s identity at a glance, the Martial Monk Flind who had previously warned them.

By now, it was completely certain that the story he had told them was true.

The old Priest of Lathander hadn’t completely failed; he had at least cultivated a lawful and good Martial Monk Flind who, in order to help him take revenge, didn’t care about life and death.

Gaven had previously tried to find and contact him, but his methods of concealment were remarkably clever, and he had failed to locate which mountain crevice Flinn was hiding in.

Gaven didn’t know that to minimize the chances of exposing himself, Flinn reduced his hunting frequency as much as possible. After a hearty meal, he would choose a small cave to meditate in isolation for six or seven days, leaving no trace of activity, naturally avoiding exposure.

However, Flinn’s act of swallowing the Soul of Demon whole puzzled Gaven, whose hands naturally aimed his great bow at him.

All demons and devils are masters at eroding souls, and swallowing them is like placing a bomb inside one’s body, always at risk of being overrun and replaced.

Hou!

The young Red Dragon roared as it charged forward.

The previous Jackalwere’s scream in Nord’s voice had alerted him that Gaven’s choice of targets wasn’t arbitrary.

It must be related to the self-destructing Jackalwere Leader.

Now, wherever Gaven pointed, that’s where he would strike.

The Jackalwere Monk became his new target.

"Wait, he’s one of us," Gaven quickly interjected.

The young Red Dragon, which was about to pounce, forcibly performed a sharp turn in mid-air.

As for Flinn, who had swallowed the Soul of Demon, he sat cross-legged, directly entering a martial monk’s meditative state, disregarding everything happening around him.

Two contrasting faces alternated on the Jackalwere Monk’s visage.

One was of an imperturbable, desireless enlightened monk.

The other was a ferocious, wrathful face with a twisted demonic expression.

The same face, but with different expressions, completely changed its temperament, as if it belonged to two different people.

Flinn’s current state was the typical heaven in one thought, hell in the next.

He was fiercely struggling with the Soul of Demon inside his body.

"Flinn, you race traitor, you have defiled the bloodline of the Jackalwere; your existence is the greatest curse on the Jackalwere. We are born to embody slaughter, to pursue death as our innate duty. Abandon your pathetic path and embrace me; I will grant you boundless strength and eternal life."

"We are a distinct race, not merely the physical continuation of some evil entity. I have proven with my actions that we have the right to choose for ourselves. Even if it’s more difficult, this path is viable. Your current degeneration and corruption are merely a display of your incompetence. Don’t push all of this onto nature or demons; it’s not someone else who turned you into a demon—you did it to yourself, you turned yourself into a demon beyond redemption."

"Bullshit, you’ve never embraced dark power; how would you know its strength, its allure? If you truly believe that with willpower alone you can overcome everything, then embrace this power. If you indeed can overpower it with your will, then I will believe what you say, and fulfill your crimes willingly... Come on, why don’t you come? You coward... If you are so capable, come on..."

As the struggle continued, Flinn’s condition evolved beyond mere shifts in expression.

It was as if he were performing a monologue with two voices, each voicing entirely different convictions, quarreling with each other.

It was still the timeless battle between light and darkness.

Priest Bennett’s experiment hadn’t ended with his death—it continued through the lives of the two Jackalwere brothers.

In any case, their destinies had been changed by the old Priest, including Nord, whose own path to extremity was due to the Priest.

"Master Flinn, don’t listen to him, this is just his provocation. Once your soul is infused with demonic power, this imprint will torment you for eternity and ultimately drag you into the Abyss," Gaven couldn’t help but speak out to remind him.

Dark power is like poison; never believe that you can resist it with mere willpower.

He had seen many people, incredibly self-assured, with formidable will, become deep ensnared, never to escape.

The former is a thousand, ten thousand times more frightening than the latter.

Because its harm isn’t apparent in life, on the contrary, it provides tremendous, addictive strength.

The price paid is simply a descent into darkness, into evil.

As for what happens after death, many people, especially those who are deeply mired, no longer care.

The simplest and most effective way to deal with such things is to never touch them, never giving them a chance to challenge your consciousness.

But Flinn’s condition was clearly absorbed in introspection, shutting out all external senses, only facing the struggle within, "These are nothing but tricks used by you demons to beguile people; darkness is darkness, evil is evil. I don’t need to embrace it or prove anything to it. I only need to defeat it, to stop it from consuming my inner self.

I can’t stop all darkness, nor all evil, but I can stop you, my brother, from going further and further down this path; I can prevent your soul from falling into darkness, into the Abyss. That’s not where you should be going. Where you should be going is to Judge Death, where all your sins, all your evils will be judged."

Gaven didn’t need to remind Flinn, who was evidently an expert in this field and very aware that dark power wasn’t something to fight and conquer but to expel. When he held steadfast to his heart, darkness had no means to prevail.

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