CHAPTER 261: CHAPTER 261: RESTORING THE SOUL, CECILIA’S WHEREABOUTS

The Dark Golden Golem nodded and carefully stepped into the poison mist. After making sure neither he nor Johnnie was affected, he slowly pulled out the Seven Sword.

Then he opened his mouth and swallowed the Seven Sword whole.

Johnnie and the others felt their scalps tingle at the sight.

"Master, will this clone eat people?" Nalorin Sylvia blurted out.

"No!" Johnnie said at once.

Even if the Dark Golden Golem could, he would never allow it.

Hum!

With the Seven Sword in his belly, the Intent of the Sword and the poison mist spread around the Dark Golden Golem, but he himself didn’t change.

He had a mechanical body, controlled by Johnnie’s mind, and was immune to poison.

"How is it?"

Johnnie asked quickly when he saw no reaction.

The Dark Golden Golem sensed it carefully, then shook his head. "No. I can’t refine and absorb it."

"No?" Johnnie frowned, a bit disappointed.

The Seven Sword was his way to kill Domains. If the poison couldn’t be cleared, it would be hard to kill them in the future.

"But don’t worry, my lord," the Dark Golden Golem went on. "I can’t refine and absorb it, but the Seven Sword can."

"What do you mean?" Johnnie asked, confused.

The Dark Golden Golem explained, "The Seven Sword is special. It can refine these toxins and merge them into the blade."

Poison tempering?

Johnnie was still uneasy. "Will it harm the Seven Sword?"

"No," the Dark Golden Golem shook his head. "By refining the poison, the Seven Sword’s stats might even improve, but it could take some time."

"That’s fine. As long as the poison gets cleared," Johnnie said. He moved the Dark Golden Golem into the Map of Heaven and Earth to slowly deal with the poison.

"Let’s go back to the Undead monster cave. I need to restore the Intensity of the Soul." Johnnie picked up the loot and looked at the two women.

This time, after killing several Divine powerhouses, he only got five divine essences and nothing else.

Also, after calling down the heavenly tribulation, his soul was hurt even worse. His head still throbbed with sharp pain. He had to heal his soul fast.

"Master, you can’t trigger the heavenly tribulation so lightly anymore. It’s too dangerous," Maiev said with worry. She hadn’t gone into the Map of Heaven and Earth this time because she feared Johnnie might run into danger again.

"Yeah, I’ll be careful," Johnnie nodded.

He had noticed the changes in the last few heavenly tribulations—not just stronger power, but much higher soul damage to him.

If he kept calling them down, his Divine Soul might really be wiped out and he’d die for good.

Still, there was a gain: using the heavenly tribulation this time pushed his Lich bloodline fusion to 4%.

But he didn’t feel any change in his body yet.

Maybe it won’t show until the Lich blood fully fuses.

Johnnie even thought about using the heavenly tribulation to fully fuse the Lich blood and see what would happen to his body.

But he held back. Right now, the most important thing was raising the Intensity of the Soul—and he couldn’t withstand the tribulation anyway.

Johnnie returned to the Undead monster cave.

In the few days he’d been gone, strong Demon race had taken it over again.

He didn’t waste words. He started killing at once, sparing neither the Undead monsters nor the Demon race players.

[Killed stage 6, stage 5 Undead monster half-orc. Your level has reached stage 6, level 8. No more EXP can be gained.]

[Soul Steal triggered. Intensity of the Soul +1]

...

The prompts kept popping up. Johnnie’s Intensity of the Soul rose quickly, and his soul injury slowly healed.

From killing Domains, he had gained a lot of EXP and reached stage 6, level 8, so killing these weaker Undead monsters no longer gave experience.

He didn’t care. All he wanted was Intensity of the Soul. This time he planned to raise it as much as possible.

...

Time passed. Seven days went by without him noticing.

These days, Johnnie didn’t stop for a moment. He slaughtered the Undead monsters without mercy.

He cleared all three floors of the Undead monster cave at least three times. His Intensity of the Soul went up by nearly two million points, his soul injury fully recovered, and he even got a solid boost on top of that.

"My lord, Blade King has surrendered!" Coco’s voice sounded in his mind.

Johnnie’s eyes lit up. His soul had healed and his power was back at its peak. It was time to look for Cecilia.

Too bad the Seven Sword still hadn’t refined the poison.

According to the Dark Golden Golem, it would take at least another week.

Johnnie didn’t mind. With a thought, he led the two women into the Map of Heaven and Earth.

Inside the Map of Heaven and Earth.

Blade King was sitting on the ground, hair a mess, eyes dull and empty. He’d been tormented for days.

"Human, let me out!" He saw Johnnie like a lifeline, struggled to his feet, and lunged at him.

Bang!

Benz stepped in and kicked him away, slamming him to the ground.

Johnnie froze—not because he admired Benz’s courage, but because Blade King looked so weak.

This guy was a Divine powerhouse. Benz was only stage 9, peak legend—one step from Half-God, but without crossing that step, the gap should be huge.

"What’s wrong with him? Why is he so weak?" Johnnie asked.

Coco explained, "My lord, the illusion the Map of Heaven and Earth creates can now devour divine power. If it gets stronger, it might even devour a Divine Soul."

"Really?" Johnnie’s eyes brightened. "Could we directly pull a Domain or a Divine Soul into the Map of Heaven and Earth?"

"I’m not sure," Coco said after thinking. "We’ll only know after the Map of Heaven and Earth upgrades again."

Johnnie nodded. He remembered one fragment of the Map was here in the land of confusion, in the hands of a Demonic Creatures Divine powerhouse.

He’d rescue Cecilia first, then look for it.

He refocused on the ragged Blade King and said, "Talk. Where is Cecilia?"

Atlas and the others stared at Blade King with cold eyes.

Gulp.

Blade King swallowed and forced himself to stay calm. "Human, I can tell you, but you have to take me out first."

He had just heard them say the Map might devour a Divine Soul. He was scared of being trapped here and dying for real.

Johnnie hesitated, then still took Blade King out of the Map of Heaven and Earth.

Atlas, Finn, and Bellina quickly followed.

They were all worried about Cecilia.

They appeared in the Undead monster cave.

Blade King looked around, felt the familiar air of the land of confusion, and let out a breath. Some color returned to his face.

"Hurry up. Where is my sister?" Finn pressed, angry.

Blade King swallowed, took a deep breath, and said, "Telling you might not help. Not long after I took Cecilia, Lord Pitiless found out. She’s in Lord Pitiless’s hands now."

"Pitiless? That Core God powerhouse?" Johnnie’s face changed.

When he killed Mountain Hunter, he’d already learned that man worked for Pitiless.

With his current strength, he was no match for a Core God. Even against a Lesser God, his chances were slim.

What’s more, the Seven Sword is stained with deadly poison and still hasn’t recovered, so his strength has taken another big hit.

He had already done his best to avoid that Core God powerhouse, but he never thought Cecilia would end up in his hands.

A cruel grin crossed Blade King’s face. "Human, forget it. Once she’s in Lord Pitiless’s hands, you can’t save her."

Johnnie frowned, a flash of killing intent in his eyes.

No matter how strong Pitiless is, he must save Cecilia.

He asked again, "One more thing. Why did you take Cecilia?"

Blade King attacked the Montemar Empire but only took Cecilia. There had to be a reason.

"You don’t know?" Blade King glanced at him, then said without hiding it, "It’s because that woman is pregnant."

"Pregnant?" several gasps sounded behind him.

Johnnie felt a murderous glare. He didn’t need to look to know it was Finn.

He felt a bit awkward and didn’t dare turn around.

Atlas took a step forward, grabbed Blade King, and asked in shock, "What did you say? Cecilia is pregnant?"

"You didn’t know?" Blade King looked at their reactions, then understood and said calmly, "Makes sense. With your abilities, you wouldn’t notice it."

Johnnie’s brows knit tighter. "What does that have to do with you taking her?"

Blade King swallowed, broke free of Atlas, and explained, "It’s about the fetus in her belly. I sensed the life in her womb has a dragon bloodline—an atavistic Celestial Dragon. It can help me find the Dragon Pulse."

Dragon bloodline?

Johnnie thought of something. When he saved The Red Carp, he did obtain the Celestial Dragon bloodline.

He never expected that after being with Cecilia, she would get pregnant—and the fetus would be an atavistic Celestial Dragon.

It was unbelievable.

"Cecilia is really pregnant?" Johnnie felt dazed. This news felt even less real than his rebirth.

In his last life, he was all alone, struggling among great powers to protect Earth, and in the end died in battle.

Even after being reborn, with many women around him, he never thought he would have a child...

"Kid, what, you don’t want to own up?" Finn’s angry voice came, glaring at Johnnie, his fists cracking.

Johnnie snapped out of it, gave an awkward smile, and said, "Brother-in-law, I’m not that kind of man."

"Bah!" Finn snapped. "You bully my sister and still want to take advantage of me!"

"Enough!" Atlas scolded Finn. "Johnnie is now my granddaughter’s husband. Don’t be ungrateful."

Johnnie was stunned and didn’t know how to react for a moment.

He’d been wondering how to explain this to Elder Yett Senior, but the old man had already accepted him.

"Grandpa, this guy is not a good match," Finn said angrily. "Look at him—women all around him, and he bullies my sister!"

The more he spoke, the angrier he got. He glared at the two women beside Johnnie.