Phantom Water Fleeting Life Record

Jing Hongchen flew straight toward the Sun Moon Empire with Yi Hongchen, Liu Yueming, and Yan Hongchen in tow. Like a shooting star, they carved a straight path above the clouds, leaving the vast desolation of the Extreme North far behind.

Along the way, Yi Hongchen gently drew Liu Yueming into his arms and let her sleep against his shoulder. Her brows remained faintly furrowed; even in her dreams, she could not fully relax. Her fingers unconsciously clutched the corner of his clothes tightly.

Seeing this, Yan Hongchen said quietly, "Dad, stay with Mom for now. I need some time to myself to think about the Sea of Spirit. Once we get home, I'll explain everything to you properly."

Yi Hongchen glanced at him, his gaze filled with both heartache and relief. "Rest for a while first." His voice was soft, afraid of waking the person on his shoulder. "Don't push yourself so hard. You've had a hard time on this trip too."

Yan Hongchen had wanted to say more, but when he met Yi Hongchen's bloodshot eyes, he ultimately did not argue. He nodded, leaned over, rested his head on Yi Hongchen's other shoulder, and closed his eyes.

His breathing gradually steadied, but his consciousness did not truly sink into sleep.

The moment Yan Hongchen's consciousness entered the Sea of Spirit, he sensed a familiar, gentle ripple.

The Phantom Water Spirit Toad came forward to greet him. Its Glazed Rainbow Eyes gleamed brilliantly in the Sea of Spirit, while a faint blue halo radiated around its body.

It looked very happy. It swam a circle around Yan Hongchen before finally stopping.

"Master, you've returned to the Sea of Spirit!" Its voice was crisp and full of delight. Then it shifted aside, revealing the two figures behind it.

Yan Hongchen narrowed his eyes. They were the Gathering Source Crystal Crab and Emeraldsong Rain Crane that had previously sacrificed themselves.

The soul forms of the two soul beasts floated quietly within the Sea of Spirit, their shapes complete and their outlines clear.

The Gathering Source Crystal Crab lay in one spot, occasionally waving a claw; the Emeraldsong Rain Crane kept its wings folded, its long neck slightly bowed.

They no longer possessed their original consciousness and merely operated according to some instinct, but their presence was undeniably real.

"These are my two companions." The Phantom Water Spirit Toad spoke with a hint of pride. "They are also formed from Master's soul rings. Their souls remain and can manifest within the Sea of Spirit."

Yan Hongchen considered this for a moment, gradually coming to an understanding. Different methods of sacrifice led to different results.

The most tyrannical form of sacrifice offered up the entire soul, leaving not even a trace behind. What he had experienced, however, was a gentler sacrifice: the soul rings had been given to him, while the souls themselves had been preserved, allowing the Phantom Water Spirit Toad to communicate with them in the Sea of Spirit.

"Good. Little Spirit Toad, when I'm not here, you can play with them and won't be lonely."

He paused, his gaze falling upon the vast Sea of Spirit. "I need to search here for your inheritance memories."

The Phantom Water Spirit Toad knew what troubled him, and its tone softened. "Master, take your time. My inheritance memories are called Phantom Water Fleeting Life Record. You'll have to look through them yourself."

Yan Hongchen nodded, and his consciousness sank into that ocean of memories. The contents of Phantom Water Fleeting Life Record were as vast as mist.

Yan Hongchen first skimmed through the structure of the entire inheritance. It was divided into two major main sections and numerous miscellaneous sections.

One concerned spirit refinement, called Phantom Sea Condensing Truth; the other concerned body tempering, called Return-to-Origin Body Forging.

He quickly browsed through the spirit refinement section, then looked over the body tempering section, only to find that neither was of much help to his most urgent needs at present.

Both were foundational cultivation methods that required long-term, painstaking refinement. They could not quench an immediate thirst.

He was not discouraged and continued flipping through the seemingly scattered miscellaneous sections. At last, he found an unusual one.

Legend had it that there was a flower that grew upon the power of human memories. When there were flowers, there were no leaves; when there were leaves, there were no flowers. Flower and leaf would never meet. It was called the other shore flower.

The reason Phantom Water Fleeting Life Record recorded this was because someone had developed a special technique capable of replicating and extracting a portion of a person's beautiful memories and spiritual power, transforming them into "spiritual memory water."

Remarkably, it would not harm the foundation of one's spirit. It would only cause the recipient to sleep for a time, in order to process the lingering effects produced by those extracted beautiful memories.

However, its requirements were stringent. The caster needed to reach at least the fourth realm of Phantom Sea Condensing Truth—Mirror Lake—to accomplish this without harming another person.

Moreover, this water was used to cultivate special plants, not for healing. Yan Hongchen's brow furrowed slightly as he read this, then slowly relaxed.

This method taught how to extract spiritual water, turning the intangible into the tangible. But it was not the healing method he sought; it was merely a method of application. What he needed was the opposite approach.

If intangible spiritual memories could be turned into tangible flowing water and stored to nourish plants, then... how could tangible healing water be integrated into the intangible spiritual plane for spiritual healing? How could healing water take effect within the Sea of Spirit?

He flipped through the records faster. The contents of the miscellaneous sections flashed rapidly through his consciousness, and in another section not far from that one, he found a method that recorded the opposite technique.

This method could fuse water attributes on the physical level with spiritual attributes on the mental level. However, it was more inclined toward creating illusions—a mirage technique.

Its requirements were not low either. One had to cultivate Phantom Sea Condensing Truth to the third realm—Abyssal Sea—before they could learn to use it.

A weight lifted from Yan Hongchen's heart. As long as there was a way, it was enough.

He did not rush to leave. Instead, he returned to the spirit refinement section, Phantom Sea Condensing Truth, and carefully examined all five realms from beginning to end.

Gentle Waves, Thousand Illusions, Abyssal Sea, Mirror Lake, Return to the Void.

The more he read, the more familiar they seemed. A guess gradually formed in his heart: these appeared to correspond in some way to the spiritual power realms from ten thousand years later that he remembered.

He followed this line of thought and deduced further.

The first realm, "Gentle Waves," targeted the stage before one opened a Sea of Spirit. It was meant to lay a foundation.

The second realm, "Thousand Illusions," corresponded to advancement after the Sea of Spirit had been opened, when spiritual power began to become agile and ever-changing.

The third realm, "Abyssal Sea," corresponded to the Spirit Abyss Realm. The fourth realm, "Mirror Lake," corresponded to the Spirit Domain Realm. The fifth realm, "Return to the Void," corresponded to the Divine Origin Realm.

Yan Hongchen drew a deep breath. The origins of this inheritance were even more ancient than he had imagined. Though he did not know the full story, he only needed to know that his next task was to raise his spiritual power to the Spirit Abyss Realm—the third realm of Phantom Sea Condensing Truth, Abyssal Sea.

Yan Hongchen believed that when the cart reached the mountain, there would be a road; when the boat reached the bridge, it would naturally pass beneath it. He would learn the truth in time. As long as he reached the third realm, he could learn the technique that fused water attributes with spiritual power, then develop further variations from it.

Next, he returned to the body tempering section, Return-to-Origin Body Forging. This cultivation method differed from other body-tempering techniques. It did not begin with flesh, skin, and bones, but worked from the inside out, laying its foundation in the five viscera, then moving to the meridians, then flesh and skin, then bones, and finally linking everything through the blood to return to the origin and form a complete cycle.

The choice of which organ to use would result in vastly different cultivated physiques. If one chose the kidneys as the foundation, one would attain a spotless, immaculate body—pure in constitution and immune to all poisons. If one chose the lungs as the foundation, one would attain an indestructible body—physically mighty and impervious to blades and spears... It varied from person to person.

Yan Hongchen pondered for a moment. He currently lacked suitable resources to cultivate this method.

If he had to choose, he had two directions—one was the heart, which was closely tied to his martial soul; the other was the kidneys, which corresponded to the attributes of his first martial soul.

But the heart belonged to fire, while the kidneys belonged to water. Water and fire clashed. If he chose one path, the other would have to be set aside for the time being.

But if he wanted to pursue a path where water and fire complemented each other, he could not follow the text blindly. He would need to adjust and alter the cultivation method himself.

Yan Hongchen did not think this was urgent. His consciousness sank into the inheritance, greedily poring over it.

Time lost all meaning within the sea of consciousness. He felt as though he had only just begun, yet also as though a long time had already passed.

"Master." Phantom Water Spirit Toad's voice suddenly rang out, carrying a hint of urgency. "Someone outside is calling for you to wake up."

Yan Hongchen was slightly startled, and his consciousness swiftly pulled away from the ocean of knowledge.