System: Replicating The Heavens-Chapter 501: Ch : PLM (15): Transformation of Soul

Alex closed his eyes for a single breath.

When he opened them again, the hesitation, pain, and turbulence in his gaze were gone. What remained was a terrifying calm. He reached out and gently placed his hand where Alicia's shoulder should have been, his fingers passing through her soul form without resistance.

"I won't let this be in vain," he said quietly.

Without another word, Alex summoned his auxiliary system. The transparent screen appeared before him. He immediately opened the exchange window and added a vast number of treasures he had replicated from others throughout his lifetime, including his comprehension of Dao, several special physiques and bloodlines, weapons and pills, martial arts and unique techniques, as well as fragments of cultivation experience and perfected battle insights.

The numbers on the screen surged upward at a frightening speed, the Boundless Coin total climbing rapidly as each item was stripped away from his being. With every confirmed exchange, Alex felt his memories dulling, insights fading, strengths dissolving into nothingness. Yet his expression did not change. He did not hesitate, nor did he slow down. Every treasure he offered was fuel for a single purpose.

All he wanted for now was to survive the Loren's Curse.

Finally, the Boundless Coins in his account surged from 700,000 to 1,150,000.

"I'm ready. Proceed with strengthening my soul to the absolute limit it can endure."

As Alex spoke, he silently sat down right in front of Elryn. He did not even bother to open the shop through the auxiliary system to search for a treasure that could strengthen his soul. Elryn was clearly curious about what Alex intended to do, and Alex was confident that Elryn would take action simply to satisfy that curiosity.

As expected, Elryn studied him for a brief moment, then nodded. With a casual wave of his hand, the space around Alex distorted.

The next moment, Alex found himself standing in a boundless void of pale light. Before he could react, the light surged inward, crashing directly into his soul. There was no gradual process. His soul was torn apart instantly, shredded into countless fragments by an overwhelming influx of soul essence.

"Arghhhhh~"

The scream tore out of Alex's throat as his consciousness was violently dragged inward.

In the boundless void of pale light, his physical form no longer mattered. What was being targeted was not flesh, bone, or blood, but his soul.

The moment the soul essence surged into him, Alex felt as if an entire universe had collapsed inward. His soul did not crack or fracture; it actually exploded. Countless invisible fragments scattered through the void, each one carrying a portion of his consciousness, memories, will, and identity. The pain he felt in that moment was terrifying. It was not the kind of pain that assaulted nerves, but the kind that erased thought itself, a pain that threatened to dissolve Alex into nothingness.

Truth be told, Alex had experienced terrible pain in his life, but he had never experienced this kind of pain where he could feel even fragments of his soul tearing apart again and again.

The surge of soul essence did not pause or slow down. It continued to pour into Alex's soul endlessly. It was like a flood far beyond what any mortal could endure. Due to the constant flood of Soul Essence in all the fragments of Alex's soul, each soul fragment was seized, compressed, refined, and reforged again and again. The process was brutal beyond imagination. The soul fragments were crushed until they lost their original shape, then stretched, torn, and layered with dense, luminous soul matter.

Alex felt himself die, again and again.

Each time his soul shattered completely, his consciousness flickered on the brink of annihilation. His memories blurred, faces he remembered threatened to fade, names he dared swear never to forget lost meaning, and even the hatred he felt toward Loren's Curse wavered under the overwhelming agony. The pain was so intense that every passing second felt like an eternity.

Yet there was something deeper inside Alex that refused to break.

At this moment, a single memory surfaced inside Alex's mind.

They saw a beautiful woman looking lovingly at a newborn child. Then she took out a token that transformed into a pendant, which she hung around the child's neck. The word "White" was written on the pendant.

Tears rained down her face as she spoke gently, "Remember, my son. Your name is Alex White, and you belong to the White Family, which is one of the greatest powers in the entire universe. When you grow up, if you ever set foot on the path of cultivation, this pendant will guide you back to our home. And if you cannot cultivate and instead live your life as an ordinary person, then this pendant will protect you from all dangers throughout your lifetime. I only hope that you can live happily." [Ref. Ch: 121]

To Alex, this pendant was the only connection he had to his original family. In his entire life, if there was something dearer to him than his own life, then it was this pendant. Who knows how many times he dreamt of meeting his mother again? Who knows how many times he had thought of looking for his family?

Unfortunately, due to his low strength, he was not even qualified to talk about them, let alone begin to look for them.

As these memories resurfaced inside Alex's mind, his willpower actually received a boost. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and continued to endure the inhuman torture so that his soul would become stronger. Only when his soul is strong can he take the next step in getting rid of the Loren's Curse without needing to spend billions of Boundless Coins.

Even as his soul was torn apart, Alex clung to a single thought like an anchor buried deep within the storm.

I cannot fall. I cannot fall before looking for my mother and my family.

That thought became a core inside Alex's mind. No matter how many times his soul was destroyed, that will remained intact, pulling the fragments of his soul back together. Slowly, painfully, the reforging began to change.

Who knows how much time had passed, the soul fragments finally stopped dispersing randomly. They began to orbit one another, drawn together by an unseen force. Threads of condensed soul essence wove between them, stitching the fragments together into a denser, more resilient structure. With every cycle of destruction and reconstruction, his soul grew heavier, sharper, and more real.

But even so, the pain Alex was experiencing did not lessen in the slightest bit.

Alex had no choice but endure the pain.

He gritted his teeth until he tasted blood that no longer existed. His scream turned hoarse, then silent, but the agony continued to rage inside him without pause.

As the process of his soul reforging continued, there came a point when pain intensified sharply, and Alex felt as if his soul had crossed into a domain it was never meant to touch.

In that moment, Alex also felt something born from his soul going through a transformation.

It was his ability to replicate treasures.