Soul Continuation

Jiang Zizai, dressed in a coarse Daoist robe, emerged from the bolt of lightning with a hearty laugh, the vertical eye between his brows gleaming sharply. With a light whistle that carried the faint cry of a crane, Jiang Zizai drifted before the five of them, clasped his hands in greeting, and laughed. "Fellow Daoists Qing Yi and Qing Chu, it has been over a hundred years since we last met. Where have you two been roaming free? Hmm, and these three are?" Jiang Zizai looked at Golden Venerable, Flower Goddess, and Old Man Gu in astonishment, his face a picture of bewilderment.

Daoist Qing Yi, clad in a green crane-feather cloak, smiled as he introduced the three to Jiang Zizai. "This is Fellow Daoist Golden Venerable, Fellow Daoist Flower Goddess, and Fellow Daoist Old Man Gu." Golden Venerable, Flower Goddess, and Old Man Gu merely nodded coolly at Jiang Zizai. Their six eyes, gleaming with sharp light, continuously swept over him. Gradually, expressions of surprise appeared on all three faces. Golden Venerable was the first to lose his composure, letting out a soft snort.

Qing Yi and Qing Chu froze for a moment, then simultaneously used their divine abilities to examine Jiang Zizai. Their long brows rose, and they burst into laughter together. "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist! Congratulations! We have not met for over a hundred years, yet you have broken through that barrier as well. Once one enters the Void Realm, one truly gains great freedom! Congratulations, congratulations!" Qing Yi and Qing Chu kept offering Jiang Zizai their congratulations. The two Daoists were overjoyed. Another righteous cultivator of the Void Realm meant another source of support when they explored that ruin.

Jiang Zizai smiled faintly and returned the greeting. "The joy is mutual, the joy is mutual! These past days, this poor Daoist has contemplated the Heavenly Dao and gained a little insight, which led to this slight advancement. It cannot compare with the two of you." Shaking his hands, Jiang Zizai sighed. "Only after entering the Void Realm did this poor Daoist discover that you two had long since become figures of the Void Realm. Shameful, truly shameful!"

Qing Yi and Qing Chu exchanged smiles. Qing Yi shook his head. "You flatter us. Back then, my junior brother and I were fortunate enough to step into the Void Realm, but we kept it secret. It was merely—" After a pause, Qing Yi smiled. "The reasons behind it can be told to you today. Hmm, why has Fellow Daoist come to Qi Yuan Star? Why not come to our Origin Sect for a cup of clear tea along the way?"

Though Qing Yi spoke courteously, Golden Venerable beside him had already clapped his hands and laughed broadly. "Exactly. This little Daoist's cultivation is sufficient, and he qualifies to join us in taking a look at that place. Perhaps he may even gain some benefits. Especially since he specializes in lightning arts, and that lightning divine eye of his is exceedingly exquisite. There are several heavenly lightning restrictions within that happen to be useful to him!"

Jiang Zizai's eyes shifted. He looked over Qing Yi and the other five, then suddenly laughed. "In that case, respectfully accepting is better than standing on ceremony. This poor Daoist shall impose upon you, then!"

The six of them laughed together. Six streaks of escaping light flashed as they sped toward Qi Yuan Star.

As they flew swiftly, Jiang Zizai said in an apparently casual manner, "For the past several months, this poor Daoist has been pursuing Immortal Miao. A few days ago, I finally chased him here, destroyed his body with lightning arts, and extinguished his Primordial Spirit. Only then did I realize I had reached the vicinity of Qi Yuan Star. This poor Daoist had intended to visit Origin Sect for a few cups of wine, yet who would have thought I would encounter you all? Hehe, where have you all come from? Fellow Daoists Qing Yi and Qing Chu, where have you been wandering these past hundred years?"

Flower Goddess's gaze flickered, and she suddenly said, "That lecherous thief Immortal Miao was killed by you? Excellent! I, Flower Goddess, will remember this favor. Seventeen hundred years ago, I also pursued Immortal Miao, but he escaped me time and again. In the end, I only managed to seriously wound him. Now that he has died by your hand, it can be considered that Heaven's net is vast and wide, yet nothing slips through."

Jiang Zizai hurriedly offered a few humble words. He gave Flower Goddess a deep look and asked with a smile, "From what Senior has said, could it be that Senior is—"

Qing Chu said with a smile from the side, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, these three seniors have all been Void Realm experts for over a thousand years. Yet for all those thousand years, they have been seeking hidden paths and probing secret realms somewhere, which is why their names are not widely known in the cultivation world. To speak of it, among today's cultivators, these three seniors possess the greatest seniority and the deepest cultivation. Take Senior Old Man Gu, for instance. He had already reached the Nascent Soul Stage three thousand years ago. If not for certain unforeseen changes, he would have ascended long ago and no longer remained in this cultivation world."

"Senior Old Man Gu! Three thousand years ago!" Jiang Zizai's mouth twitched. The vertical eye between his brows spun rapidly as he suddenly cried out, "Could Senior Old Man Gu be the current Island Lord of Canglang Island?"

"Eh? Interesting! You little fellow know of Canglang Island?" Old Man Gu gave Jiang Zizai a surprised look, then frowned. "My Canglang Island lineage has always been passed down through a single line. Aside from three or five close friends, no outsiders know of Canglang Island's existence. Where did you, little fellow, learn this old man's name?"

Jiang Zizai abruptly halted his escaping light, and Qing Yi and the others stopped after him. Floating in the void, Jiang Zizai stared at Old Man Gu with an ever-changing expression, then suddenly threw back his head and laughed. Qing Yi and the others looked at him in confusion, unable to tell what had gone wrong with him. Then they heard Jiang Zizai laugh wildly. "Of course this ancestor knows! Back then, this ancestor even met you face to face. Hmm, weren't you the little brat following that old man Li Weng? Hehe, this ancestor gifted you a Blood Soul Yin Lightning back then, but your master used his own body to block it!"

Old Man Gu's expression shifted repeatedly. He suddenly swung up his fishing rod, bringing down thousands upon thousands of azure streams of water upon Jiang Zizai's head. Old Man Gu shrieked, "Blood God Ancestor! So it is you, devil! Go die!" Within the waterlight, thumb-sized Kui Water Divine Lightning bolts flickered in and out of sight, densely flooding toward Jiang Zizai.

This change came from beneath the elbow; Qing Yi, Qing Chu, and the others had no time to react. None of them could have imagined that Jiang Zizai, the famed Demon Subduing True Person of the cultivation world, would have ties to some Blood God Ancestor. Yet seeing Old Man Gu, normally so amiable, filled with killing intent, and layer upon layer of sinister, terrifying bloodlight suddenly rising over Jiang Zizai's face, Qing Yi and the others still reacted instinctively. Several streaks of sword-light shot from their hands, hesitantly twisting toward Jiang Zizai.

Jiang Zizai gave a sinister laugh, and his body suddenly transformed into a spray of blood shadows that shot into the sky. Countless bloodlights, carrying a pungent stench of blood, surged toward the five of them. The sword-lights dimmed the instant they touched the bloodlight; the flying swords had been tainted by it, their spirituality greatly weakened. Jiang Zizai had long intended to launch a surprise attack midway. The moment his body transformed into countless bloodlights, a violet thunderbolt shot from within them, silently blasting toward Qing Yi's chest. Behind the bloodlight and lightning followed three hair-thin strands of crimson brilliance. Within them, countless tiny twisted faces could vaguely be seen changing at high speed. The instant those three strands appeared, shrill ghostly howls rang out from nowhere in the void.

Golden Venerable, Flower Goddess, and Old Man Gu possessed profound cultivation and powerful protective treasures. Several masses of intense light shielded their bodies, and the bloodlight outside could not come near them at all.

However, because of Jiang Zizai's reputation as the Demon Subduing True Person, and because of their former friendship with him, Qing Yi and Qing Chu had not guarded against him in the slightest. Though they instinctively released two streaks of sword-light, the sword-lights wavered uncertainly, and they had not activated their protective treasures in time. Countless bloodlights pierced through their bodies and burst out from behind them. The violet lightning blasted a transparent hole as wide as a bowl through Qing Yi's chest. The thunderlight exploded, scattering Qing Yi's flesh and blood in every direction, and he lost consciousness on the spot. The three thin strands of bloodlight burrowed into Qing Chu's body. Qing Chu's body suddenly stiffened, thick black vapor erupted beneath his skin, and viscous black blood spewed from his seven apertures.

Countless bloodlights drilled out of Qing Yi and Qing Chu's bodies, their color several degrees brighter. Jiang Zizai's triumphant laughter rang through the void. "Origin Sect killed Immortal Miao, so this ancestor will kill their ancestors! Hehe! Hehe! Hehehe!" Amid that gloomy laughter, the countless bloodlights twisted and reassembled into Jiang Zizai's original body. He drew up a streak of lightning over a hundred zhang long and prepared to flee into the distance.

"Trying to run?" Golden Venerable sneered.

"You think far too little of us!" Flower Goddess laughed sweetly.

"Sky-Rending Seal! Open!" Old Man Gu shouted. His thin, withered body swelled like a balloon, expanding until he stood over a zhang tall. He lightly drifted before Golden Venerable and Flower Goddess. Golden Venerable and Flower Goddess formed strange hand seals, then gently pressed their four palms against Old Man Gu's back. Threads of violet radiance flowed rapidly through their arms and into Old Man Gu's body. Old Man Gu released a resounding shout and changed his hand seals nine times in succession. His right thumb suddenly swelled to three times its original thickness, and he lightly pressed it toward the lightning streak that had already fled nearly a hundred li away.

Bang! Old Man Gu's thumb exploded. Light and shadows flickered through the void, and the space within a hundred zhang of Jiang Zizai, who was speeding away on his escaping light, suddenly collapsed. A pitch-black opening appeared out of nowhere, swallowing in one gulp the nearby Spiritual Energy, all manner of wandering energy, and even the light in the void.

Jiang Zizai let out a terrified howl, but even that howl was swallowed by the black hole. His body and escaping light were shredded by the destructive energy inside it. In the blink of an eye, his body was reduced to ashes, and the separated wisp of his Primordial Spirit was scattered into nothingness as well.

"Ancient talisman seals truly are more powerful than the Dao arts of our age." Old Man Gu stared blankly at his split and mangled thumb and sighed somewhat bleakly. "What a pity that we can only enter the third level."

Golden Venerable folded his arms over his chest, raised his head to look at the sky, and gave a careless snort.

Flower Goddess floated over to Qing Yi and Qing Chu's sides, at a loss as she repeatedly cried, "This is bad! Qing Yi and Qing Chu's essence blood has been completely drained by the bloodlight, and their Primordial Spirits are nearly scattered as well. Qing Yi's bodily injuries are concentrated, but Qing Chu has an extremely vicious evil curse hidden inside him, devouring his Primordial Spirit. This... what should we do?"

Old Man Gu's long brows rose as he urgently said, "Quickly use the Purple Azure Luo Pill we obtained from the ruin to protect their Primordial Spirits and preserve their lives. Hmm, hurry to Origin Sect. Their Origin Sect has a great household and vast resources; see whether they possess any life-saving treasure! They were struck by Blood God Ancestor's Soul-Scattering Bloodlight. Leaving aside their drained essence blood, their souls have now left their bodies. Whether they can be saved is truly uncertain!"

Old Man Gu and Golden Venerable carried Qing Yi and Qing Chu, while Flower Goddess cleared the way ahead. Three streaks of escaping light sped toward Origin Sect.

In the rear mountain of Medicine Mountain at Origin Sect, within the cave where Yaoying had cultivated that day, Lin Xiao and Qing Chu squatted beside the pool on the ground, quietly observing Yaoying. In the pool, she had only just grown a head, half an upper body, and a right arm. Part of Yaoying's body had divided into countless patches of moss spread throughout the cave. From the underground river, she continuously extracted the medicinal power from the remnants of spirit medicine and medicinal liquid discarded by Origin Sect's pill hall, condensing it into thick medicinal juice that slowly gathered back into the pool. Yaoying drew out the tiniest amount of Spiritual Energy from that juice to restore her body.

Qingchu stared blankly at Yaoying. After a long while, she sighed softly. "Little Qing... don't be so reckless in the future. Look at this time—you were smashed into pieces again!"

Yaoying was busy repairing her body and had not yet had time to grow hair. Her little bald head gleamed as she crooked her mouth and snorted. "I'm not afraid. Even if I become fragments, as long as my demon consciousness exists and my demon core remains unbroken, there is nothing to fear. Hmph, stingy Big Brother Lin won't let Yaoying eat those ready-made spirit medicines. He insists on making me painstakingly draw medicinal power from that river."

Lin Xiao extended his right index finger and fiercely flicked Yaoying on the head. Lin Xiao said coldly, "This is a lesson for you. Use the medicinal power in this underground river to restore your body. If I let you swallow those superior spirit medicines and recover too quickly by borrowing their power, you would be this reckless again next time!" The flick was extremely hard. Yaoying cried out in pain, and her large eyes immediately filled with tears as she looked pitifully at Lin Xiao.

After lecturing Yaoying a few more times, Lin Xiao stood, took Qingchu's hand, and said indifferently, "Qingchu, let Yaoying reflect properly here. If she causes trouble like this again, she may not have such good fortune next time." After glaring fiercely at Yaoying, who was putting on a pitiful expression, Lin Xiao pulled Qingchu outside. He summoned a faint white cloud and departed in grand fashion. Lin Xiao's Crimson Dragon Sword had been destroyed, and he had not yet found a flying sword of pure fire attribute, so he had learned Origin Sect's cloud-riding and mist-soaring art to use as transportation.

Yaoying angrily waved her fist in the pool. She looked pitifully at her incomplete body and muttered in a low voice, "Yaoying, you are so pitiful... so pitiful... smashed apart again... boohoo!"

Lin Xiao had only learned the cloud-riding and mist-soaring art for a few days, and his flying speed was barely faster than a galloping horse. He leisurely flew toward the residence with Qingchu, gesturing as he pointed out the scenery throughout Origin Sect.

All at once, alarm bells rang out from every mountain peak in Origin Sect. Countless streaks of sword-light rose into the sky from far and near, sealing Origin Sect's mountain gates across hundreds of thousands of li in the blink of an eye.

Lin Xiao and Qingchu were still staring in astonishment, unable to understand what had happened, when a white cloud rushed over from afar. Daoist Yi Yi swept his sleeve, wrapped up Lin Xiao and Qingchu, then turned and charged back in the direction they had come from. Dazed by the restriction art that had swept him up, Lin Xiao vaguely heard Daoist Yi Yi shouting, "Good heavens, this is terrible! Two Qing Generation ancestors have been grievously wounded and are about to have their souls scattered! We have searched all the sect's reserves and cannot find any treasure capable of saving them. Little friend, now it can only depend on you."

Amid whistling sounds that tore through the air, Daoist Yi Yi rushed like a madman into a great hall with Lin Xiao and Qingchu. With a sweep of his sleeve, he carelessly tossed Lin Xiao onto the floor. Lin Xiao staggered and barely managed to steady himself, while Qingchu rolled all the way across the floor and landed a long distance away in utter disarray. Fortunately, Yi Xin reacted quickly enough to grab Qingchu, preventing her from slamming headfirst into one of the hall's pillars. Qingchu, who had been tossed until the world spun around her, had only just steadied herself when she saw all the elders of Origin Sect gathered in the hall. She was so frightened that she immediately shut her mouth and obediently crouched behind Yi Xin, not daring to move.

Before Lin Xiao had recovered his wits, Daoist Yi Yi was already pushing him into the center of the hall. Qing Yi and Qing Chu lay there on the floor like corpses. Only a faint warmth remained at their hearts. Old Man Gu and the other two had continuously used the spirit medicines obtained from the ruin to sustain their lives along the way, allowing them to cling to life until now.

Lin Xiao had no time to ask for details. He crouched beside Qing Yi and Qing Chu, swiftly ran his hands over the vital points of their bodies, then used his divine sense to inspect the conditions within them. Only then did he raise his head and tell the Origin Sect elders, who were frantic with worry, in a firm voice, "They can be saved! However, we need a Mystic-grade Immortal Pill, the Soul Continuation Pill! I know the pill formula and spiritual arts, but my cultivation is far too lacking to refine a Soul Continuation Pill!"

Daoist Yi Xin abruptly stepped forward and asked in shock, "What level of cultivation is needed to refine a Soul Continuation Pill?"

Lin Xiao said gravely, "At the very least, the middle to late stages of the Void Realm! I can provide the pill formula and the spiritual arts for refining it, but... this is, after all, an untransmitted secret of my Great Luo Pill Dao!"

Daoist Xuanyuan beside him said solemnly, "The pill formula and spiritual arts will absolutely not be leaked. In the future, my Origin Sect will never refine another Soul Continuation Pill either! Furthermore, to thank little friend for this great kindness, my Origin Sect will certainly offer a generous reward."

Lin Xiao shook his head and waved his hand. "There is no need to speak of rewards. However, the ingredients needed to refine a Soul Continuation Pill are all easy enough to find except for one... which is extremely difficult!"

Flower Goddess, standing beside Qing Yi, stepped forward gracefully and asked softly, "Could little friend tell us what spirit medicine is so difficult to find?"

Lin Xiao glanced at Flower Goddess and nodded. "Senior, this junior Lin Xiao greets you! The most difficult spirit medicine to find is a drop of heart's blood essence from the Ten Thousand Year Blood Dragon hidden beneath the Misty Ocean of Great Horn Star! It must be taken while still hot, and it must enter the furnace while still hot for pill refinement! Therefore, that Ten Thousand Year Blood Dragon must be captured alive for it to retain its spiritual efficacy!"