The sun had already begun to sink westward. Light slanted through gaps in the canopy, drawing long pillars across the ground. The air smelled of pine resin and rotting leaves, stuffy and faintly bitter in the back of his throat.
There wasn't much time.
Illusion Bell still needed two more Soul Rings to complete its set of five. Qin Chuan quickened his pace, darting through the forest. His toes tapped against tree trunks and rocks, and he moved so fast that the birds in the branches flew away before they even had time to startle.
In the outer reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest, Soul Beasts were generally low-level. Hundred-year Soul Beasts were the most common, while thousand-year ones appeared only occasionally.
Qin Chuan swept through the forest, making plans as he went.
He knew exactly what he needed for Illusion Bell's fourth Soul Ring. The first three Soul Skills worked together: Shadow Hypnosis relaxed the target, Sinful Haze invaded their mind, and Flowers Falling in a Dream struck at their mental defenses. Together, they could handle the vast majority of targets.
But something was still missing.
Memory.
Where was a person's mental defense most vulnerable?
Qin Chuan had figured it out during his three years in the Underground Temple. The answer was simple—the past.
Everyone had things they didn't want to look back on. Childhood beatings, lost loved ones, mistakes they had made, regrets they couldn't speak aloud. Normally, these things were buried at the very bottom of their memories and rarely surfaced.
But what if someone could forcibly dredge those memories up?
The resulting shock would be fiercer than any other mental attack.
After walking for about twenty minutes, Qin Chuan reached an open grassy clearing in the forest. In its center grew a clump of waist-high shrubs, covered in purple flowers about the size of a thumb.
Qin Chuan stopped in front of the shrubs and silently activated his Six Paths Reincarnation Eye.
Purple patterns spun once in his pupils, and his vision instantly pierced the dense leaves.
On the branch with the most flowers, right in the middle of the shrubs, a butterfly was resting quietly.
Its wings were folded together, measuring roughly twenty centimeters across. Their color was unusual—not a single shade, but a blend of several: purple, blue, and pink, bleeding into one another in rings like watercolor pigments spreading across the surface of water.
In the middle of each wing was a circular pattern.
The pattern looked just like a pair of eyes.
The pupils were deep purple, surrounded by pale blue, with a faint pink ring on the outside. From a distance, they looked like a beauty's eyes embedded in the wings, gazing quietly at you.
[Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly].
Qin Chuan's lips twitched.
He had seen this Soul Beast in Teacher Gangzi's notes.
Although Teacher Yu Xiaogang was weak, his expertise in Soul Beast taxonomy was truly among the best on the continent. His manuscripts recorded thousands of rare Soul Beasts, including the Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly.
The notes were quite clear: The Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly was an insect-type Soul Beast that fed only on pollen from the Immortal Herb of the same name, the Lovesickness Heartbreak Flower. It could never live more than ninety-nine years. It had no combat ability or defenses, and its flying speed was average. Innate Soul Skill: Memory Kill.
Yu Xiaogang had circled the words "Memory Kill" three times in red ink.
Beside them, he had added a short note: "This Soul Skill can forcibly awaken a target's deepest memories. Its mental attack is extremely powerful, far surpassing Soul Beasts of the same level. It's a pity its lifespan is too short, so nobody pays it any attention."
Nobody pays it any attention.
Gangzi, you sure had a way with words.
Combat Soul Masters looked down on white Soul Rings under a hundred years old, considering them embarrassing. Support Soul Masters wouldn't choose such an unconventional Soul Beast either. As a result, the Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly had become one of the most overlooked Soul Beasts on the continent.
And yet it was exactly what Qin Chuan needed.
Choosing Soul Rings for a life-type Martial Soul followed a completely different logic from choosing them for a combat-type Martial Soul. Combat types focused on lifespan: the older the Soul Beast, the more powerful the Soul Skill. Life types focused on special effects, with the Soul Beast's innate ability at the core.
Qin Chuan stepped into the shrubs, parted the thorny branches, and slowly approached the butterfly resting on a flower stem.
The thorns pricked the back of his hand, leaving several faint white marks. Purple pollen clung to his black robe, speckling his sleeves.
When he was three meters away, the Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly woke.
Its wings slowly opened, and the two "beauty's eyes" shimmered in the sunlight.
Qin Chuan could sense its alarm. This butterfly had a strong mental perception. Though its body was pitifully weak, it was far more sensitive to danger than an ordinary Soul Beast.
It beat its wings, trying to fly away.
Qin Chuan gave it no chance.
He reached out and pinched the base of its wings between his fingers.
Its wings fluttered twice between his fingers, stirring a gust that carried a stuffy scent of pollen. The colorful scales dusted his fingertip, feeling slick and greasy to the touch.
"Stop struggling," Qin Chuan said softly.
The Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly stopped struggling.
Then it unleashed its Soul Skill.
A sudden buzz rang through Qin Chuan's mind. The Star Dou Great Forest disappeared before his eyes. The shrubs vanished, the butterfly in his hand vanished, and every sound vanished.
In their place was a hazy, indistinct scene.
Qin Chuan knew this was the Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly's Soul Skill, Memory Kill. It was forcibly awakening his deepest memories.
He didn't resist.
He had deliberately let Flowers Falling in a Dream through as well, to feel its effects. This time was no different. He wanted to see just how far Memory Kill could go.
The scene gradually came into focus.
More than a decade ago.
Heaven Dou Empire, Skywater City, Yuze Village.
A dilapidated house with mud walls and a thatched roof. A streak of water ran down one corner from a leak in the roof, drying and getting wet again and again, leaving ring after ring of yellow stains.
The room was tiny, with only a wooden plank bed. A layer of straw covered the bed, topped by a coarse cloth washed until it had faded white.
Qin Chuan saw himself—the infant version of himself, wrapped in swaddling.
A scrawny baby, wrapped in a gray piece of cloth patched several times over, lay on a pile of straw. His mouth opened and closed, letting out a thin, feeble wail.
The sound was so weak it was almost like a kitten's mew.
Qin Chuan's chest began to tighten as the scene kept moving.
A young woman picked him up and brought him to her chest. Qin Chuan felt warmth. It passed from his mouth to his throat, then into his belly, wrapping his whole body in its glow.
It was the first mouthful of milk he had ever drunk. The warmth lasted only a short while.
Then it was gone.
The scene jumped.
Qin Chuan saw the young woman lying on the dirt by the doorway. A man lay beside her, both of them motionless. Dark red seeped into the earth around them.
The baby cried in the house for a long time, but no one came.
The scene jumped again.
An old man with a deeply wrinkled face lifted the baby from the pile of straw. His hands were rough, his fingers covered in calluses. He held the child awkwardly, but with great care.
It was the old village head, Boen.
"Poor little thing." The old man's voice was hoarse, as if his throat were full of sand.
Qin Chuan's nose began to sting.
The scene kept rolling. It sped up, flipping through frame after frame like someone was rapidly riffling through an old photo album.