Soul Farewell

Everyone heard the "clang, clang" of stabbing coming from the White Tower's fifth floor.

No one knew whether he had succeeded. They couldn't understand why he had suddenly leaped out of the White Tower and hurried back to Luo Hongyan.

"Did you fail?"

Seeing that he seemed displeased, Luo Hongyan blinked in surprise. "With your natural strength, you still couldn't destroy the formation on the fifth floor?"

"The stones used to build the skull formation are harder than metal. I couldn't pierce them with the Dragon-Patterned Spear."

Though displeased, Pang Jian wasn't discouraged. He said frankly, "Maybe my method was wrong. Could there be some special trick to prying that thing loose?"

He described the skull's shape, the many souls and ghosts inside it, and the Spirit Turtle surrounded by them.

He also told her about the square spiral patterns made of crystals that he had seen on the first floor, and how the spirit formations arranged in those patterns had produced an unusually dense concentration of spiritual energy.

After listening carefully, Luo Hongyan furrowed her brows and pondered for a moment before saying, "The formation on the White Tower's lowest floor, made up of all those crystals, is the source of power that operates the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda."

"The patterns you saw are called Primitive Cloud-Thunder Patterns. Those crystals brimming with spiritual energy are... Spirit Jade."

Pang Jian was taken aback. "Spirit Jade?"

Greed suddenly gleamed in Su Yuntian and He Rong's eyes.

"Spirit Jade is a higher-quality, purer form of spirit stone. Above it is an even rarer kind of stone called Spirit Crystal." After a casual explanation, Luo Hongyan continued, "As for the hollow skull, it should be a Soul Array that locks in and absorbs souls. You couldn't break it not only because your method was wrong, but also because your realm is too low."

"Breaking a Soul Array involves spiritual sense and the soul. It's a completely unfamiliar field to you; there's no point explaining it."

She explained the matter, emphasizing that Pang Jian's cultivation realm was too low for him to destroy the Soul Array.

Pang Jian understood that he had only just begun cultivating. He hadn't broken through the Qi Refining Realm yet, nor had he undergone the transformation Zhou Qingchen had described.

Without advancing to the Pulse-Opening Realm, spiritual power couldn't flow through all the meridians in his body. Naturally, he couldn't release it outward, leaving him little different from an ordinary person.

Only after reaching the Pulse-Opening Realm and being able to use the spiritual power he had accumulated would he undergo a qualitative leap.

As Pang Jian fretted over this, Luo Hongyan's gaze fell on his dantian. She suddenly asked, "How long until you break through?"

Pang Jian narrowed his eyes and focused on the sensation. "It shouldn't be long. When I cultivated on that formation with all the Spirit Jade, the speed surpassed anything I'd experienced in any other place."

"That man in the Pit Well beside Shangguan Qin still hasn't come out. You have time for now."

She glanced toward the foot of the mountain, then looked up at the sky. "Go to the bottom floor of the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda. Gather spiritual power from that Spirit Jade and try to break through to the Pulse-Opening Realm."

"As long as you complete the first stage of the Pulse-Opening Realm and can circulate spiritual power into that Dragon-Patterned Spear, you'll have a chance to destroy the Soul Array."

She had offered a way to resolve their predicament.

Seeing that she wanted Pang Jian to break through in the middle of a crisis and turn the tide, Su Yuntian, He Rong, and the others thought her suggestion was absurd.

With their limited knowledge, no one who had just entered the Pulse-Opening Realm could open the meridians in their arms in such a short time and make spiritual power burst from their palms.

"All right!"

Pang Jian turned and left.

"Is he really only in the Qi Refining Realm?"

Su Yuntian looked baffled.

"Sister Ning, is he really a hunter from outside?"

Su Meng couldn't help asking too.

Luo Hongyan glanced at her. Her face retained its usual cool indifference, but she still nodded.

Earlier, when she had pretended she couldn't hold on and had frantically begged Pang Jian for help, only Su Meng had looked ready to come to her aid.

—Though Su Yuntian had held her back, so she hadn't been able to do anything.

"He's really only in the Qi Refining Realm?"

Su Meng asked again.

This time, Luo Hongyan ignored her. Pang Jian had already disappeared into the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda again.

Su Yuntian and He Rong watched Luo Hongyan from a distance. With guilty consciences, they didn't join the conversation, instead whispering to each other.

"That Ning girl knows the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda well. She even knows about the Primitive Cloud-Thunder Patterns. I didn't know any of that," He Rong murmured.

Su Yuntian muttered in a low voice as well, "That kid really is only in the Qi Refining Realm! At that level of cultivation, he can actually resist the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda's spiritual corruption. It's simply unbelievable."

"Those Spirit Jade..." He Rong hissed.

Just then, Luo Hongyan's meaningful gaze shifted from the White Tower and paused on his face. Her lips tightened, a chill at their corners.

He Rong, who had been eyeing the Spirit Jade, suddenly felt uncomfortable all over. His face darkened as he snorted.

He knew that Ning girl was only at the first stage of the Pulse-Opening Realm, so he had nothing to fear from her.

The more he looked at the girl who had once been engaged to his nephew, the more he loathed her. So when Luo Hongyan had been in danger, he had immediately chosen to step away.

Deep down, he had actually hoped that the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda would pull her soul from her body. He wanted to see her die before his eyes.

It seemed that would wash away the humiliation she had inflicted on him and the He Family.

The White Tower's lowest floor.

Pang Jian had returned. Sitting cross-legged above the Primitive Cloud-Thunder Patterns, he cleared his mind of distractions and instantly entered the cultivation state of the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art.

As his cultivation grew more refined, he could now enter that state in an instant whenever he focused his mind.

His thoughts settled, and as soon as the "Spirit Pot" he visualized appeared, streams of spiritual power from the Spirit Jade below were drawn into him.

The spiritual power flowing through the formation of Primitive Cloud-Thunder Patterns was like countless streams, rushing toward the same vast, deep ocean.

In Pang Jian's perception, his Spirit Sea was that boundless ocean, taking in the myriad streams of spiritual power through the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art!

He had never experienced such efficient cultivation before. It was so swift that it moved him.

The streaks of light formed from spiritual power entered his dantian above, then followed the heart of a funnel-shaped vortex straight down into the ocean of spiritual power below.

He could clearly feel the spiritual power in his Spirit Sea filling up bit by bit.

At first, the refined, gathered spiritual power was only a shallow pool. Gradually, it became a pond, then a lake, then a sea!

A Spirit Sea was a sea of spiritual power. Only when the spiritual power gathered into an ocean could one be considered to have reached the pinnacle of the Qi Refining Realm.

It was also the vastness expected of the ninth level of the Qi Refining Realm!

Feeling the wondrous changes in his Spirit Sea, Pang Jian knew that his breakthrough to the next realm, the Pulse-Opening Realm, wasn't far away.

Time flew by. Immersed in cultivation, Pang Jian didn't notice night falling once more.

Under the night sky, the Su and He families didn't light a fire. They huddled together, waiting anxiously.

They didn't know when the person Shangguan Qin feared would suddenly appear, and they didn't believe Pang Jian could reach the Pulse-Opening Realm in such a short time and destroy the Soul Array on the White Tower's highest floor.

"Tomorrow, once it's fully light, we'll pick the rare flowers and herbs on the island first."

He Rong had made up his mind. He immediately conferred with Su Yuntian. "Whether that Ning girl and the kid can break the Soul Array inside the White Tower or not, we have to take care of our own business first."

The rare flowers and herbs on the island were worth a fortune. If they knew how to pick them, they could take some spirit herbs out and exchange them for plenty of spiritual materials.

"Shangguan Qin's gesture meant we should leave this island as quickly as possible and inform the powerful members of our clans that it exists." Su Yuntian furrowed his brows, growing more and more agitated. "She thinks we can't save her, which means there's danger around her that could easily kill every one of us."

Su Yuntian continued, "You're right, Brother He. We absolutely can't count on that Ning girl and Pang Jian. Trying to cram at the last minute and turn the tide isn't realistic!"

"Mm. Even if we joined forces with that Ning girl, we probably wouldn't be a match for the person in the well," He Rong said fearfully.

The two quickly reached an agreement. They would wait until dawn, gather some rare flowers and herbs, then leave on a bamboo raft.

They also planned to take another route, avoiding the one Pang Jian had pointed out. They hoped that would let them evade the "Spirit Sha" they had encountered. They would rather spend more time getting out of the Cenji Mountains than take any risks.

In the pitch-black night, the "Spirit Sha" lurking in the grass around the island quietly stirred beneath the cover of darkness.

Apart from the area around the White Tower, which the "Spirit Sha" avoided, they had searched the rest of the island.

The "Spirit Sha" had found a pile of corpses on the grass behind Shangguan Qin. The four missing servants from the Su and He Families, along with several cultivators from the Galaxy Alliance and Blood Moon, had all been piled there.

One of the "Spirit Sha" floated in midair in the night, watching Shangguan Qin and the Pit Well made by the Phoenix Bone.

It had been refined from Luo Meng's soul,

This "Spirit Sha" formed from Luo Meng hadn't tried to investigate the well while Pang Jian was at the critical moment of breaking through to the Pulse-Opening Realm.

—It feared disturbing the unknown being inside.

After quietly observing the area, it saw a slender white cord wrapped around Shangguan Qin's ankle.

The other end of the white cord dangled into the Pit Well, seemingly connected to the person she feared below.

If Shangguan Qin moved too far from the well, it seemed she would tug on the cord and alert the person beneath it.

And she didn't seem able to undo the white cord, so she remained trapped beside the Pit Well.

Atop the mountain, Luo Hongyan, hidden in the darkness, watched Shangguan Qin at the foot of the mountain.

In the deep night of the Fourth Realm, and from so far away, Shangguan Qin could no longer see her.

But through the "Spirit Sha," she could observe Shangguan Qin's every move, including the slender white cord.

Suddenly, an idea came to her.

The "Spirit Sha" Luo Meng under her control slowly descended from midair and landed before Shangguan Qin, who sat there in a daze.

Shangguan Qin, who had long since given up struggling, saw Luo Meng appear out of nowhere. She rubbed her eyes, and when she realized Luo Meng was still there, she still couldn't believe what she was seeing.

She laughed silently, as if in a fit of madness, and waved at Luo Meng. Then her shoulders trembled as she sobbed.

Her weeping made no sound.

Tears streaked her face as she gazed at Luo Meng, now a "Spirit Sha," still thinking she was seeing an illusion born of her own mind.

She remembered so many things she and Luo Meng had gone through. Though he knew she had been cruel enough to cause the deaths of her first two husbands, and knew she loved Ouyang Duanhai, the man had still stayed quietly by her side.

In the end, this was also the man who had resolutely gone to his death to save her.

She shook her head miserably, not knowing how she could face Luo Meng after death. Guilt filled her heart.

Gradually, she didn't even dare to look up, afraid to meet the eyes of the Luo Meng she thought was a hallucination.

But the controlled "Luo Meng" had long since lost his own awareness. He merely stared at her, blank and lifeless.

The "Spirit Sha" Luo Meng didn't know who she was or understand why she was crying.

"Heartless woman. You've only realized you regret it now, but it's too late."

On a low hill in the distance, Luo Hongyan gave a cold snort. Seeing that Shangguan Qin had revealed nothing useful, she signaled for the "Spirit Sha" to leave.

The "Spirit Sha" Luo Meng vanished at once.