Amon dropped to the ground. His body was in an extreme state. His clothes were gone, while his body was full of shredded wounds and burns. Blood oozed out from those wounds.

His arms and legs were deformed beyond recognition. His left arm was slightly better than the rest of his body, but not unscathed. His eyeballs had burst. Blood leaked from his nose, mouth, and ears. If anyone saw him, no one would think he was still alive. Yet, he was.

He didn’t understand what had happened. The last thing he remembered was that he was torn and eroded by a torrent of violent energies. After that, it was nothing but pain.

He didn’t know how much time had passed by the time he could roughly formulate a thought again. He groaned. Despite the intense pain, he tried to sense his surroundings. All his traditional senses were gone. The only sense still available was his cultivation sense. He sensed powerful auras all around him, but not living ones.

He sighed in relief. He didn’t have to worry about predators then.

Though in great pain, he forced his mind to focus on his restorative art, the Nine Moon Restorative Mantra. This was all he could do. He couldn’t move at all in his current state. He was about to call Lin Li to come out of the black space ring to feed him recovery and regrowth pills when he heard Bo Wu’s unsettling laugh.

"Hehehe... I thought I needed to wait longer, but it seems an opportunity has presented itself."

"Hrgghh...!!" Amon felt like something had gripped his heart tightly.

He immediately submerged his subconsciousness into his energy space. The space where his demon core had resided had undergone a massive transformation. Energy threads like spiderwebs filled his energy space. They all converged on his black energy core, which was completely wrapped in black smoke.

As if detecting Amon’s consciousness, the black smoke shifted and formed a face. It was Bo Wu’s mocking face. "Hehe, I got you now."

Amon felt his consciousness slowly receding. It was like a thick curtain had suddenly been pulled over him. He had already lost most of his senses in his body due to his wounds. What little sensation he had remaining also started to ebb. He no longer felt the pain. He no longer felt anything, only total darkness.

Black smoke seeped out of Amon’s mangled body. They wrapped around him. This smoke began to heal his body.

"Hehehe," Amon laughed, except it was not his voice. It was Bo Wu’s. His laughter continued to reverberate throughout the cavern.

*

Time continued to pass; days, months. Around five months later, Amon rose from the ground. The black smoke no longer covered his body, which had healed. However, his skin was no longer the same. The tattoo that had covered his left arm had now spread to his entire body.

He stood and laughed. It was Bo Wu’s voice in the laughter.

"Hahaha! I finally fulfilled my mission!"

His face showed an expression as if he realized something. He quickly looked around the place. "Where is it? Where is it?" He asked. If the thing had been gone, everything would have been wasted.

Finally, he found it. It was the black space ring. He picked it up and cursed, "Bloody hell! All this trouble for this stupid little ring. What exactly is so special about it?"

He tried to send his mind into the ring, but there was no reaction. Though he occupied Amon’s body, his soul was not linked to the ring. He couldn’t access it.

He hit the ring a few times on the ground. It seemed durable. It must be. Amon’s normal ring had disintegrated when he passed through the black pond. This black ring, however, didn’t appear to have a scratch.

He had seen Amon conjure many things. He knew they were all from this black ring. He wondered whether the denizens inside knew what was going on out here. Would they come out and challenge him for the possession of this ring?

He dismissed his worry. If they were, they would have come out by now.

He looked around. The crimson dagger and the Xian Cloth had also fallen through to this place. Despite their high grade, they bore many scratch marks. In terms of the Xian Cloth, holes were even seen along its fabric. Despite its imperfect condition, Bo Wu used the yellow cloth to cover his naked body.

He ignored the dagger and looked around the place. The cavern was small. It didn’t take long for him to survey it. As he had feared, the only entry and exit point was the swirling black energy on the ceiling. He had fulfilled half of his mission. The remaining half was to get out of here and deliver both Amon’s body and the black space ring to Hai Di.

He flew up until he reached the swirling black energy on the ceiling. He extended his hand, but hesitated when he was about to touch it. He could feel its tremendous power. Like Amon, he also thought he was a goner when Amon fell into the black pond. He didn’t understand how Amon survived.

He looked down at the Steel-clad Titan’s skeletons. Even such a durable beast was reduced to that. In theory, even with him protecting Amon’s left arm, they would still not survive.

Bo Wu thought, ’If they could survive the journey in, then they could probably survive the journey out?’

The thought emboldened his hand to proceed. His finger touched the swirling black energy, and he immediately knew it was a bad idea. On the other side, they were pulled once they touched the black pond. On this side, his finger experienced a strong repelling force. Not only that, but the repelling power also blasted his fingers apart.

"Oh, drat!" Bo Wu cursed. He didn’t feel pain from losing those fingers. This body was not his anyway. He was pissed because this meant he was trapped inside this place.

He heard an amused voice. "Hehe. Having trouble?"

"Huh?" Bo Wu looked around. It took a few seconds before he realized the voice came from inside his head.

"Amon...?" He asked. "Impossible! I should have devoured your consciousness!"

"Then how do you explain hearing my voice? Or perhaps you have gone insane?"

"Hm..." Bo Wu seriously considered that possibility.

Amon’s chuckling voice was heard. "Hehe. Do not underestimate me. Do you think you can get rid of me so easily?"

"Hmph! So what? Our role has reversed. I am the one in control now. All you can do is make noise. You are nothing but a ghost who can’t even manifest yourself the way I did. Hehe, how does it feel to be trapped inside your own body?"

"It is weirdly enlightening. It allows me to contemplate many things fully. Speaking of which, I have some questions for you."

"Why would I bother to answer?"

"Do you have anything better to do?"

"..."

"I’m going to ask anyway. From the way you acted just now, I assume your primary objective is to secure the black space ring?"

"You are already aware since then?"

"I’m already aware since you wrestled control over my body. I simply remained silent. So, do you mind answering my question?"

"Well, if you have witnessed it, why bother asking? Isn’t it already obvious? Let me reward you for maintaining your consciousness by giving you a bonus answer. The black space ring is not the only thing Hai Di wants. Your body is included in my objective. That’s why I was soul imprinted into you, to hitchhike on you and eventually take possession of your body."

"Really? What for?"

"Well, I won’t answer that one."

"Why? From the way it looks, you are trapped in here. We are both fucked, anyway. Why don’t you just come clean?"

"Hehe. Keep persuading me. See if you can succeed."

"You know what? I think you cannot answer me because you don’t have the answer yourself. You don’t know why Hai Di wants my ring and body. For all you are, you are nothing but Hai Di’s lowly pawn, who carries out his order without question."

"I am not a pawn!" Bo Wu hissed.

"Ho... So, you can get offended as well? Hehe. Truth be told, are you truly a hell beast? From the records I read, a hell beast is not a beast known to submit to anyone or anything. Furthermore, now that I can fully sense your being in my energy space, I have a feeling that your soul is incomplete."

"Stay away from my soul!"

"Oh? Are you afraid I can do something in my current state?"

Bo Wu frowned upon Amon’s remark. He sent his thoughts inward to scan Amon’s presence. He could not detect it. In all intents and purposes, Amon’s awareness should have been erased. He didn’t understand how his previous host could still converse with him.

His previous thoughts returned. Could he truly have gone insane? Could Amon’s voice that he heard right now be a figment of his imagination?