Ghost Child

The great sun hung in the sky, while clouds veiled it.

The oceans of this world were just as vast as those of his previous life!

One man and one spider rode the fish-powered wooden raft beneath them, speeding along as swiftly as galloping horses.

Fortunately, the daylight was good. There was neither wind nor waves, and the raft sailed steadily without a hitch.

Jing Qian lay silently atop Azure Pearl's broad back. Pure qi circulated through his small body, slowly nourishing his flesh and thickening the foundations of his bloodline.

This qi was no ordinary qi. It naturally arose from Jing Qian's soul, transformed from his overflowing Lifespan. It was exceptionally nourishing and a precious spiritual substance coveted by all living beings.

However, no matter how precious Innate Primordial Qi was, very few people would use their Lifespan to transform it directly.

In this realm of cultivation, Lifespan could be called the origin of all extraordinary attributes and the root of cultivation.

Not only was it extraordinarily difficult to accumulate through cultivation, but it also had wondrous uses at every stage of cultivation.

Regardless of a cultivator's background, so long as they possessed even the lowest-grade inheritance, they would have a more efficient way to use their Lifespan.

They would never wastefully transform their Lifespan directly into Innate Primordial Qi to nourish themselves.

Only the little Jing Qian, who possessed a strange space that gave him an additional way to obtain Lifespan, and who had yet to embark on the path of cultivation, could passively enjoy the baptism of Innate Primordial Qi.

This qi was nimble and ethereal yet fine and dense, like a spring breeze brushing across his face. It washed his tiny body thoroughly, leaving not even the cracks beneath his fingernails or the tips of his hair untouched.

It made Jing Qian groan in comfort!

His body was small, but the qi was abundant enough that even after nourishing him, some remained and slowly overflowed.

This portion of qi was not wasted either. The Azure Pearl beneath him swallowed every last bit of it.

With Innate Primordial Qi forging the foundation of his body, Jing Qian had undoubtedly leaped far ahead. Compared with his previous life, he had been given an entirely different fate!

Within the space of his sea of consciousness, Jing Qian was frantically playing a game of wits with two enemies, one tall and one short.

In his eyes, the souls of these two cultivators were Lifespan rations immensely beneficial to his growth.

But because of the disparity in strength, he could only find every possible way to lure the enemies into attacking with all their might, then use the Safe Zone surrounding the stone stele to rebound their damage.

This method had low offensive efficiency, but its advantage lay in its safety!

Jing Qian had only just been born into this world. His flesh and soul were both frail, so there was no need to take any risks.

Slowly absorbing the opponents' soul power from the rebounding force and increasing his own Lifespan was the proper path.

Within the narrow Safe Zone, he stepped through the Jing Family's secret Eight Trigrams Steps, darting and weaving about. From time to time, he would expose half his body beyond the Safe Zone to bait the enemies into attacking, then swiftly retreat inside.

The tall and short enemies knew only how to kill mechanically, and had fallen neatly into the trap Jing Qian had woven.

Every time they struck with all their might, the rebound made their internal organs tremble and their fists and feet split open, leaving them with slight injuries.

This directly caused their own soul power to scatter, whereupon the boy opposite them easily absorbed it.

"+0.01!"

"+0.01!"

Jing Qian's Lifespan rose steadily, and he was also looking forward to obtaining new knowledge.

For him at this moment, every bit of knowledge was immensely precious and not to be missed!

This method of steadily increasing his strength while getting free knowledge draws left him deeply intoxicated, unable to pull himself away.

If he did not also have to worry about the safety of his physical body outside, he would have wanted to grow permanently rooted in this space, until he had completely devoured the souls of these two enemies before going out to roam free.

As time passed, only one bad thing was quietly happening.

As his Lifespan continued to increase, Jing Qian's avatar within this space was instead undergoing constant reverse growth!

He was slowly changing from the swordsman youth of his previous life into a swaddled infant of this world.

His strength within the soul space consequently diminished, and the efficiency with which he harvested Lifespan declined along with it.

This was certainly a bad thing, but he had no choice in the matter.

From a long-term perspective, the gradual harmony between soul and body was also extremely important to his cultivation.

Jing Qian accepted this change calmly, without the slightest emotional disturbance.

After enduring the trials of life and death and the tempering of rebirth, his mind had grown greatly, and his emotions had also become more stable.

However, the work beneath his hands had not stopped in the slightest!

Instead, he was pushing it forward even faster!

He seized the last of his adult hours and began entering and exiting more frequently.

His Lifespan continued to increase slowly and steadfastly.

Finally, after tossing about dozens of times in succession, a great mass of blue-white smoke dispersed from the tall, thin, hemp-pole-like man and was successfully captured by Jing Qian!

In an instant, a sea of information poured directly into his soul consciousness!

On the shore of Crimson Pearl Island, Jing Su Shi watched her precious grandson gradually disappear into the distance and finally let out a sigh of relief.

Her family had suffered a great calamity. Cultivators from Qi Zhi Shi Island had led a band of Rogue Cultivator bandits in breaking through the island's defenses and invading its central heartland.

The clansmen whose deaths she had personally witnessed alone numbered seventeen!

The ancestors of the Jing Family and the Su Family had joined forces to plant the Island Tendon and ignite the Lifespan Furnace, founding Crimson Pearl Island's three-hundred-year legacy. Now, it had all been wiped out in a single day!

It was true that islands rose and fell frequently throughout this land of Huzhou.

Every few decades, some poorly managed island would inevitably be destroyed.

But a situation like Crimson Pearl Island's—clearly not yet driven to the brink of destruction, yet maliciously slaughtered and devoured whole by enemies—had never happened before!

The turmoil in Huzhou would surely give rise to countless bloody massacres!

After arranging a path to safety for her grandson, Jing Su Shi had no more attachments. Only the vicious hatred in her chest remained, waiting to be washed away with her enemies' blood!

She was advanced in years and short on Lifespan. Her cultivation could no longer withstand the erosion of time, and her strength had already declined greatly.

But after casting life and death completely aside, no matter what kind of enemy she faced, she would bite off a chunk of their flesh alive!

With her back to the sea and her face toward the great island that had given her life and raised her, Jing Su Shi's hunched back slowly straightened!

This old woman, nearly eighty years old, suddenly radiated a sharp and soaring spirit!

Just then, a series of cheerful children's cries came from the distance!

"Grandma! Grandma!"

"Hee-hee!"

"Your grandson missed you! Grandma!"

As they spoke, a boy and a girl came running over from afar, hand in hand, hopping and skipping.

All the cries just now had come from the little girl leading the way.

The girl was only seven or eight years old, with delicate, doll-like features and an adorable appearance.

But upon closer inspection, both her eyes were completely white, without the slightest pupil. Baleful Intent filled her brows and eyes, and she had already been dead for who knew how long!

Looking again at the boy whose hand she held, he was about as tall as she was, but a single horn grew from his forehead, while his face was cyan-purple, swollen, and bloated. He was actually an even stranger and more terrifying Ghost Child!

However, the girl was dead, while the Ghost Child was a living creature with cultivation!