"The hell are you talking about?"
Jin Wang let out a sigh and looked back at Hao Xuan with a rarely seen seriousness.
"Your soul, genius! If your abilities are related to your soul, especially if they directly affect it, then the more you use them or in this case, the more pressure you put on them, the harder it will be for your soul to bear."
"I always knew your ability had something to do with soul power but it seems like their connection is much deeper than I originally thought. All the things you're experiencing, the headaches, the sensitivity to light, sound and smell, erratic temperament, they all point to the same thing. Your soul is under too much pressure and is in return affecting your physical body."
"You cannot, and I can't stress this enough, you can NOT use your ability until you level up more. It can get much worse!"
It wasn't often that Jin Wang acted so somberly but whenever he did, Hao Xuan knew it wasn't anything to laugh about. He took his words to heart.
"What happens if I use it again? How worse will it get?"
Jin Wang rubbed his chin before answering.
"At worst, you can just explode. At best, your psyche will be thrown around like a rag doll. Meaning your behavior will change, how you look at the world will change, your very concept of right and wrong can change as well. Saints can become murders overnight and vise Versa. Your memories become distorted, what you once loved can become the thing you hate the most in the world."
"The soul, it is who you are. It is your very essence and being. So when you put too much pressure on it, it starts destabilizing. There is no telling what can happen. Just be careful when using that sh*t again."
"Yeah, I will," Hao Xuan bobbed his head up and down like an obedient child. None of what he heard just now sounded pleasant in any way, shape or form so he was going to listen to Jin Wang.
Jin Wang nodded as well and patted Hao Xuan's back.
"Good, now show me the dragon!"
Hao Xuan scratched the back of his head embarrassingly.
"Yeah, about that. She is actually too big for my Mind Palaces to hold so I put her away in a beast token. She wasn't even fitting in there so I had to jam her in. And it's the last one I have left so if I take her out right now then there's no putting her away until I can either level up and create a new Mind Palace or get a new token."
Jin Wang was taken aback, "She? It's a female?"
Hao Xuan shrugged, "I didn't ask but the voice that was cursing me out was pretty feminine so I'm just guessing at this point."
"Well, later then," Jin Wang waved his hand while getting up, "Let's get out of here first. Maybe removing the dragon will have removed the curse marks on the Orcs as well so we can check on them on the way out. And this time keep your guys out yeah? I don't want to fight against all those as*holes again."
"Fine fine. Get up everyone, we're leaving. And you! Get the hell out of the river or I'm gonna drown you in it!" he shouted while pointing at Bo was making himself at home in the purple river.
Hao Xuan gave them a few medicines to help recover their injuries and stamina, well to everyone but the Scorpion king. He didn't have anything on hand that was potent enough to heal his injuries.
The Scorpion King had regained his original power level of the Profound realm for this fight but even with him Hao Xuan and Company almost lost. None of them came out unharmed, other than Bo. That's how powerful the dragon was, and it was only an empty shell of its former self now.
The Scorpion King's tail which was cut cleanly off was already starting to grow back and the hard shell-like armor was starting to mend itself, albeit very slowly. At that speed, it would take him a couple of days at least.
He looked at the rest of the severs that were applying the meds with a disdainful expression before meeting Hao Xuan's eyes.
"I do not need your filthy elixirs. My body is strong enough to withstand anything!" he said haughtily.
Monk who was quiet from the beginning suddenly spoke up. His nonchalant voice ringing loudly in the Scorpion King's ears.
"Really? It didn't look like that when the dragon was about to swallow you whole that one time and we had to save your a*s."
The King's expression faltered for an instant but he acted like he didn't hear it and simply looked away.
"Alright alright, enough lollygagging. Let's go," Hao Xuan clapped his hands and walked out. He had already stored away every single drop of the liquid and taken away a few other things he found laying around the stone platform.
"Lolly what? What did he call me?!" Scorpion King looked around at the others in confusion and anger since he didn't understand the word, but nobody answered and they all followed behind Hao Xuan ignoring him.
The journey back was rather peaceful, although took much longer. About 5 hours later they finally emerged from the same entrance they had come in from, but this time there was nobody to welcome them.
"Alright, stay close, do not attack unless I say so.. And don't kill any of them," Hao Xuan said once again before leading the way.
