Chapter 820 The Soul-Locking Collars
Gawain seethed with rage and humiliation.
Yet under Kael’s cold stare, he knew that any attempt to flee would almost certainly end in his death.
Drawing a deep breath, Gawain placed the Soul-Locking Collar around his neck. His jaw rigid, he fastened the clasp.
Click.
The Soul-Locking Collar activated.
Gawain immediately felt a strange connection form between the collar and every part of his being—his soul, his physical body, his Origin Power, and even his consciousness.
If the collar were destroyed, so would he.
“Hahaha! It works!”
Torin clapped his hands, then walked over to Kael and took out a thin manual.
“Patriarch Lin, the authority granted by a Soul-Locking Collar falls into three categories. The first allows the wearer to be watched and listened to from a distance. The second inflicts torment. The third kills the wearer outright.”
Torin pointed to the incantations recorded in the manual.
“What kind of torment?” Kael asked, glancing at Gawain’s grim expression.
“There are many kinds. Do you see this incantation? It’s the Soul-Rending Hex. Once someone recites it, Gawain will collapse and writhe in agony.
“This one is the Agonizing Itch Hex. When activated, it causes unbearable itching across Gawain’s entire body, leaving him in much the same state.
“This is the Tendon-Seizing Hex. It causes his limbs to cramp and his entire body to stiffen.
“And this one—”
As Torin continued explaining the various incantations, Gawain’s eyes grew bloodshot and wet with fury.
Kael nodded, put away the manual, and released the remaining leaders of the four races from his Inner Cosmos.
They had not heard Torin’s explanation, so they offered no immediate resistance and stood obediently in place.
“Put on these Soul-Locking Collars. Once you do, you may live.”
Kael unleashed his immense pressure upon the assembled cultivators.
They trembled beneath its weight, but none of them reached for a collar.
Strangely, Gawain made no attempt to warn them what the collars could do.
I’m already wearing one. The rest of you can share my fate.
“What’s wrong?” Kael fixed his gaze on a Galactic Realm Heavenly Dragon. “Do you need my assistance?”
“Your command will be obeyed.”
The Heavenly Dragon picked up a Soul-Locking Collar and fastened it around his neck.
Once someone took the lead, the others followed. One after another, they put on their collars.
Within fifteen minutes, every convicted elder, commander, slave overseer, and former academy official from the four races was wearing a Soul-Locking Collar. They then looked toward Kael, waiting anxiously for what would come next.
“Arthur, test the incantations and confirm that the collars work on them.”
Every cultivator before him had reached at least the Stellar Realm. Kael needed to know whether the collars were truly powerful enough to restrain them.
“Yes.”
Arthur opened the manual and recited the Tendon-Seizing Hex.
In an instant, the Stellar Realm cultivators staggered and clutched their legs.
One of them yanked up his robe and stared at his calf. The muscles and tendons beneath his skin contracted again and again, sending waves rippling through his flesh.
“Aaaargh!”
He was the first to scream.
The other Stellar Realm cultivators soon joined him.
The Galactic Realm cultivators fared somewhat better. They had endured the torment of the devouring beasts within their bodies for many years, so they could just barely withstand the Tendon-Seizing Hex.
Even so, cold sweat streamed down their faces.
Arthur watched them writhe before reciting the Agonizing Itch Hex.
This time, even the Galactic Realm cultivators could not endure it. They clawed frantically at their own bodies.
The Stellar Realm cultivators suffered an even worse fate. They rolled wildly across the ground, alternating between sobs and uncontrollable laughter.
Kael turned toward Gawain.
As an Eternal cultivator, Gawain showed no outward reaction. Even so, Kael could sense the torment raging within him.
“What incantation comes next?” Kael asked Arthur without taking his eyes off Gawain.
“The most powerful one—the Soul-Rending Hex.”
Arthur turned to the next page.
“Try it.”
“Yes.”
Arthur immediately recited the Soul-Rending Hex.
Screams erupted throughout the plaza.
Gawain remained standing at first, but the muscles in his face began to spasm, and his eyes flooded red.
He did not last long.
Gawain collapsed among the Stellar Realm cultivators and screamed alongside them.
“That’s enough.”
Kael interrupted Arthur.
“I only wanted to confirm whether these restraints could control an Eternal cultivator. Now I have my answer.”
“Very well.”
Arthur closed the manual.
“Make only a small number of copies,” Kael continued. “Every control manual will remain in the custody of Arthur and the senior human leaders. No one else is permitted to learn or use the incantations.”
“Understood.”
With matters there settled, Kael rose into the air and flew toward the servants’ compound.
The area was now packed with Golden Dragons, Heavenly Dragons, Wyrms, and Serpents. Their cultivation ranged from the Qi Refining Realm to the Planetary Realm.
Every convicted overseer and former guard already wore a Soul-Locking Collar. The ordinary members of the four races had not been restrained.
Kael vanished and reappeared directly above the Dragon Pool.
He still remembered watching the Golden Dragons throw human cultivators into its depths.
Even now, millions of dragon hatchlings were being raised within the pool. Several Dragon cultivators were tossing ordinary blood offerings into the water, but humans would never again be among them.
“Remove every living hatchling from the pool,” Kael ordered. “You have one hour.”
The Dragon cultivators froze.
“Senior Lin, the Dragon Pool’s formation—”
“I intend to destroy it,” Kael said. “If the hatchlings are still inside when the hour is over, their deaths will be your responsibility.”
The Dragon cultivators no longer dared argue. They hurriedly summoned reinforcements and began transferring the hatchlings into Beast Pouches and nearby holding lakes.
One hour later, no living creature remained inside the Dragon Pool.
Kael flicked a finger.
A ten-colored flame plunged into the water.
The Dragon Pool’s blood-sacrifice formation shattered, and the entire pool burst into flames. Before long, every drop of water had evaporated.
The dried basin was filled with accumulated blood essence, shed scales, and the remains of dragon hatchlings that had died during failed transformations over countless generations.
Kael released more than a hundred violet-gold beetles.
The moment they were freed, they swarmed into the basin and began devouring the concentrated dragon essence and ancient remains.
One of the violet-gold beetles suddenly began spinning silk around itself, forming another cocoon.
Kael’s gaze sharpened, and he drew the beetle into his hand.
Once it emerged from this cocoon, what would it evolve into next?
Kael drew a deep breath and returned to the central district of Sunlance Academy.
He bid farewell to the Goshawk Patriarch, gathered the humans who were unwaveringly loyal to him into his Inner Cosmos, and flew directly toward the central teleportation array.
White light flooded the formation.
Kael vanished from Sunlance Academy.
He reappeared in space, far from Skyfire Planet.
His intended destination had been the Phantasmal Oasis on Skyfire Planet. Now that he had reached the Eternal Realm, however, he could alter the course of a teleportation at a moment’s notice and break free from its power before reaching his destination.
A tiny planet floated before him, only a few dozen miles in diameter.
Strangely, more than forty enormous planets revolved around it, each measuring over thirty thousand miles across.
“That tiny planet must possess an incredible mass,” Aethera said in astonishment. “How else could it force so many enormous worlds to orbit it?”