From the Abyss Invasion to the Blasting Star.

【Soul Seal】

Skill Level: S

[Skill Cost: 300 Source Energy]

【Effect 1: Willpower Imprint】

[This imprint imprints an irreversible mental mark on the target's soul, forcibly implanting a single core command. The imprinted individual will disregard logic, emotion, and instinct, unconditionally executing the command until the soul imprint is erased by a higher level of spiritual power.]

[The Willpower Imprint effect only applies to a single target. Changing the target will remove the imprint from the previous target. The Willpower Imprint lasts for one month, after which it will enter the second stage of its effect.]

【Effect 2: Memory Imprint】

[Once the will imprint takes effect for one month, it solidifies, and the recipient's memories, instincts, and emotions will be altered into a false life script, from which they can never escape unless their memories are changed again.]

After reading the skill description of [Soul Imprint], Lu Heng looked up and stared into Lawrence Phoenix's eyes before using the skill.

After being hit by the skill, Lawrence Phoenix covered his forehead with his hands, knelt on the ground, trembling all over, and his whole body was soaked in cold sweat.

Lu Heng looked down at him and asked in a commanding tone, "Who is the traitor?"

Lawrence Phoenix gasped for breath as he answered, “George Gardner, I arranged for him to be converted into a bloodline. The original plan was to use him to control the Proxy Organization, but the plan changed before it could succeed.”

Lu Heng had already imprinted a steel mark on his soul, so he was certain that he had no ability to disobey orders or ask questions.

"Your mission is to prevent Moznis from ascending to demigod status, and to keep track of the Bloodline Clan's movements in real time. I will send someone to contact you."

After leaving instructions, Lu Heng opened the inter-star gate and left.

Lawrence Phoenix collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, his eyes filled with confusion.

He was extremely unwilling, and just when he was about to take control of the entire bloodline demon race, he stepped into a trap at the most crucial moment.

When he realized he had been tricked, he already knew where he had gone wrong: he had been too greedy.

Because he wanted to completely control Tiens, and the best way to achieve this was to obtain Tiens' heart.

Therefore, he had to go and get the heart himself, and it was this greed that led him to fall into the trap.

There's no turning back now.

After a long while, he got up from the ground and wondered what the [Soul Imprint] that Lu Heng had implanted in him was.

This skill is very special and different from other mind control skills.

Typical mind control skills involve using mental power to absolutely control the target, or even extending one's will into the target's brain to personally control the target's actions.

This mind control skill is very powerful, but it has a drawback: it requires constant maintenance.

In other words, this mind control skill requires continuous casting; once interrupted, the control effect will also disappear.

Because the spell needs to be cast continuously, there is a spatial distance limitation between the caster and the target. Once the distance exceeds the skill's range, the skill effect will disappear.

【Soul Imprint】is another method of control, which directly imprints a command into the target's soul, making that command an instinct for the recipient.

Therefore, the effect of the [Soul Imprint] skill will last indefinitely and does not require continuous casting.

This skill has another hidden feature: the recipient does not know what the "instructions" imprinted into their soul are.

That's right, the subject has no idea what the instructions are, because this mental imprint is no different from other biological instincts.

For example, all living things have a survival instinct, and the command level of the [Soul Imprint] is at the same level as the survival instinct.

Therefore, Lawrence Phoenix did not know what instructions Lu Heng had imprinted in his brain, but he could guess.

That's right, the subject will indeed be controlled by the [Soul Imprint] and unconditionally execute the imprint's commands. However, apart from these imprint commands, the subject is still a normal living individual.

In other words, if the stamped command is never triggered, the person will remain the same as an ordinary person until death.

Lawrence Phoenix only knew that a steel stamp command was imprinted on his soul, but he didn't know what the command was. He tried hard to think and guess what the command might be.

However, he searched through every layer of his memory but couldn't recall the specific instructions.

He considered one possibility: Could the stamped instruction he left behind have been to kill Moznis?
This guess is very likely.

If the stamped command is to kill Moznis, then when he sees Moznis, the command will be triggered, and he will carry out the command at all costs.

The methods and processes for executing instructions are influenced by factors such as the recipient's abilities, thoughts, and strategies.

In other words, the instructions of the [Soul Imprint] usually only require the achievement of a certain purpose, while the process of achieving that purpose is uncertain and is to be completed by the recipient on their own.

Even if the subject is incapable of achieving the goal, they will still carry it out unconditionally and risk their lives.

Lawrence Phoenix shook his head slowly, thinking that the order couldn't possibly be to kill Moznis.

Because he simply doesn't have the ability to kill Moznis, if the order from the steel stamp is this, he can only go up and die.

If this is the stamped instruction, what's the difference between this and killing him directly?
Lawrence Phoenix dismissed the guess in his mind, couldn't think of any other possibilities, and didn't have any strange ideas that didn't fit his own thinking.

He also considered another possibility: perhaps the newly generated "imprinted mind" was forcibly making him ignore its irrationality, so he couldn't figure out what the instruction was no matter how hard he tried.

Since he couldn't figure out what the stamped instructions were, he could only temporarily step aside and think about another problem.

That is, how to get rid of the influence of the [Soul Imprint]?

He was indeed controlled by this skill, but his nature as an intelligent life form remained unchanged.

He didn't want to be controlled by others, and everything he did was just to save his life.

Now that his life is temporarily spared, he naturally wants to break free from the control of the [Soul Seal].

Can the effects of the [Soul Seal] be removed?
Of course, most mental skills can be countered, but the higher the skill level, the harder it is to remove their effects.

【Soul Imprint】is an S-rank skill. To remove the effect of this skill, one must use power exceeding S-rank. Simply reaching S-rank is not enough; one must be above S-rank.

Above S-rank power, the only other level of power is SS-rank or demigod-level power.

Finding an SS-rank skill to remove the [Soul Seal] is impossible, which means his only hope is demigod-level power.

……

the other side.

After leaving the Pillar of Earth Flame, Lu Heng reunited with his teammates and went to find George Gardner.

George Gardner, the captain of the White Eagle Federation's Paranormal Organization, brought a team with him.

In this Abyss Battlefield, all recruits were teleported to the same location.

In fact, the fact that everyone gathers at the start of the Abyss Battlefield is an advantage for the recruits.

There's no need to figure out how to meet up at the start; we can immediately begin discussing action plans and arranging task strategies.

This was originally an advantage, but the presence of traitors has led to too many variables in the situation.

Actually, when Lu Heng first met George Gardner, he had a pretty good impression of him. He was better than the other White Eagle team captains he had met before.

Lu Heng initially refused his invitation not because he had a problem with him, but simply because he had things to do and didn't plan to travel with any teams in the early stages of the Abyss Battlefield, which is why he declined.

According to the initial plan, Lu Heng would seek his cooperation during the final battle to prevent Moznis from advancing to demigod.

Unexpectedly, this person had already been transformed into a bloodline, and was personally arranged into the agent by Lawrence Phoenix.

……

The team moved forward quickly. Su Muyu released the Azure Phoenix to contact other recruit teams and locate the White Eagle team.

Lin Zeyu asked curiously, "What do you want with George Gardner? Are you going to cooperate with him to attack Moznis? Now is indeed a good opportunity."

Lu Heng coldly denied his guess: "Kill him."

Lin Zeyu didn't understand at first: "Kill who?"

Lu Heng confirmed again: "George Gardner."

Lin Zeyu blinked and asked in confusion, "I have no objection to killing him. We've killed enough White Eagle ability users before, one more won't make a difference. But what's the reason?"

Lu Heng replied, "He is a traitor who has already been transformed into a bloodline."

Lin Zeyu was stunned for a moment: "Hiding so deeply? No wonder the recruit team suffered such heavy casualties, it turns out the leader was a traitor."

Xie Shi'en let out a breath and said, "We should have expected this. The recruit team is losing members too quickly, and even with such rapid losses, George Gardner hasn't focused on investigating the traitors."

Lu Heng had already thought of this.

In this Abyss Battlefield, the rate of casualties among the Conscripts was indeed too fast. Before the battle time was even halfway over, more than half of them had already been eliminated.

If it were any other low-level Abyss Battlefield, it wouldn't be so bad, but this Abyss Battlefield has gathered the strongest superhumans among humanity.

This is the first time humanity has entered a world with a danger level of 9, and also the first time an offensive draft has been initiated.

The recruited superpowered warriors are all elites from the top ten superpowered mercenary groups. Each of them has experienced dozens of battles in the abyss and survived life-and-death struggles.

In fact, there is a pattern in the abyss battlefields experienced by people with superpowers.

The stronger the ability user is, the more dangerous the abyss battlefield they are recruited into. However, there is a strange phenomenon: the more dangerous the abyss battlefield, the lower the casualty rate of the recruits.

The reason for this phenomenon is that the more dangerous the abyss battlefield, the stronger the combat power and the more survival experience the recruited superhumans are, resulting in a lower casualty rate.

This time, the recruited superhumans were the strongest at the top of the human world, but the casualty rate was already more than half, which is completely contrary to normal patterns.

The reason lies with George Gardner.

It was only after Lu Heng learned that George Gardner was a traitor that he understood something.

When George Gardner first extended the invitation, Lu Heng declined. At the time, George Gardner did not show any displeasure and politely said that they could cooperate again in the future.

At the time, Lu Heng thought he was expressing friendliness and was someone he could cooperate with. Now, thinking back, he realized that he didn't actually want to stay in the team.

He was pleased to hear that he would be acting alone, and naturally did not show any displeasure.

……

Two hours later, Su Muyu found the target and reported, "Target found, in the underground cave to the right ahead, three kilometers away."

Without wasting any words, Lu Heng directly instructed, "Set up a sniper rifle and kill him."

Upon hearing that the operation was so swift, Lin Zeyu was immediately delighted. He found a spot, hung from the top of the cave, and began to set up his sniper rifle, aiming at George Gardner, who was three kilometers away.

"Target locked, Witcher's Mark applied, I can blow his head off at any time."

After Lu Heng finished charging up, he said, "Fire."

Bang!
Without hesitation, Lin Zeyu pulled the trigger. The bullet left the barrel and instantly broke through Mach 3 speed, heading towards George Gardner.

The moment the bullet reached a distance of 500 meters, George Gardner reacted, immediately raising his defensive shield and simultaneously taking cover behind the cave rocks.

He was incredibly fast, and in an instant, he hid behind the rocks.

Lin Zeyu saw everything through the scope, a smile curving his lips. He raised his hand to pull the trigger and clenched his fist.

Whoosh!
The bullet pierced through the void in an instant, and appeared behind the rock the next moment, slamming into George Gardner's forehead with a "bang".

The defensive shield shattered instantly, and George Gardner's head exploded like a watermelon, spraying blood mist everywhere.

The next moment.

George Gardner's other body parts also shattered, turning into a stream of scarlet blood that caught up with the exploding blood mist, enveloping the attacked blood mist and churning and merging in mid-air.

A moment later, the blood coagulated and he returned to human form.

George Gardner reverted to a crimson humanoid monster, gasping for breath.

Seeing this, the other recruits around were stunned.

George Gardner gasped for breath and roared, "What are you doing? Can't you see there's an enemy attack? Kill the attackers!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sword light shot out from the cave, its speed far exceeding that of a bullet.

Lu Heng's sword, Soaring Dragon Hunting the Sky, cleaved George Gardner in two through his chest.

The moment the sword light flashed, the dragon's breath and flames surged, burning his second burst of blood to ashes.

George Gardner struggled angrily in the flames, roaring, "Lu Heng, what are you doing?"

Lu Heng replied coldly, "Kill you? Can't you see?"

Knowing he was no match for Lu Heng, George Gardner quickly shouted to his teammates and other recruits, "What are you doing? He's been possessed by a demon! Stop him!"

Lu Heng stood proudly in the void, sword in hand, and said in an unquestionable voice, "I will only kill George Gardner; anyone else who touches him will die."

Upon hearing this, the other recruits began to hesitate.

Because the recruits present had all survived countless life-or-death battles; they were not stupid.

They had just witnessed George Gardner explode into blood and then reform.

This means of survival is a racial ability of bloodline demons.

While ordinary superhumans may acquire this ability through special means, the probability is very small. It is more likely that George Gardner himself is of bloodline.

“We know you’re strong, but before you kill someone, at least explain why you’re doing it,” one recruit questioned.

Lu Heng cleaved George Gardner's head in two with a single sword strike, then glanced at the mission interface and said, "You'll understand once you look at the mission interface."

As George Gardner roared, the second challenge in the mission interface was shown as completed.

[2. Find and eliminate the corrupt traitors. (Completed)] (End of Chapter)