Spirit Sea

Xuan Zi's arrival interrupted the tangled thoughts in Zhang Lexuan's mind.

She hurriedly took two steps back to make room for Xuan Zi. Unable to hide the worry in her expression, she softly asked,

"Xuan Zi, Yue Ling... um... what did Mu En say?"

From the moment Xuan Zi entered the room, his face had been terribly grim, without a trace of his usual laziness.

He looked at the unsettled Zhang Lexuan beside him and sighed inwardly. His tone was especially heavy. "This child's condition is very troublesome. There's a wisp of an Evil Soul Master's remnant soul in his Spirit Sea, completely bound to him."

"Mu En has already tried to devise a solution, but it simply can't be forcibly stripped away."

"If we force it, at best, his Spirit Sea will be damaged. He'll be muddleheaded for the rest of his life and become a cripple."

"At worst, his soul will shatter, and he'll die on the spot."

At those words, Zhang Lexuan was completely stunned.

Her lips parted slightly, her eyes filled with disbelief, while her hands trembled faintly on instinct.

She had originally thought it was merely ordinary spiritual damage inflicted by an Evil Soul Master, something that could improve with rest and treatment. She had never imagined it would be this dangerous.

Frowning, she asked with some confusion,

"When we rescued him, we watched the entire time. We never gave the Evil Soul Master a chance to get close enough to corrupt him. How could this..."

Xuan Zi let out another long sigh. His gaze fell upon Yue Ling, who lay peacefully unconscious on the bed, his eyes full of complicated emotions.

"That's hard to say."

"We can only wait until he wakes up and ask him properly."

"Most likely, he was targeted and tampered with by an Evil Soul Master lurking in the shadows when he was still in the village as a child. He was too young then to notice anything wrong."

After saying that, Xuan Zi steadied himself and carefully wrapped Yue Ling tightly in the blanket, holding him securely in his arms like a Swiss roll.

He cradled Yue Ling with one arm, pushed open the door with the other, and headed outside.

He turned to Zhang Lexuan and continued,

"I'll take him to the Sea God Pavilion first. Mu En already has a treatment plan there.

"We can use the power of the Golden Ancient Tree to forcibly suppress this remnant soul and seal it in a corner of his Spirit Sea." Xuan Zi revealed a trace of melancholy and relief. "At least there's a way to stabilize him. It's better than sitting by and waiting for death."

Zhang Lexuan nodded gently. Looking at the sleeping youth, she said in a low voice, "This is the only way. As long as he's still alive and well, there's still hope."

"Mm."

Xuan Zi answered solemnly. Saying no more, he held Yue Ling in his arms, turned, and headed toward the Sea God Pavilion.

Zhang Lexuan followed him out of the room and silently watched the two figures recede into the distance, her heart a chaotic mess.

All the conflicted, secret thoughts in her heart were now overwhelmed by deep concern.

She only hoped that this attentive youth, who brought warmth to others, would safely endure this trial.

At this moment.

Xuan Zi was flying toward the Sea God Pavilion with Yue Ling.

The scenery in the sky constantly changed, and the air currents were fierce. Yet Xuan Zi neutralized all of them with Soul Power.

Yue Ling could no longer sense anything from the outside world, as though his body and soul had been separated.

Within the Spirit Sea.

This was the unique space where a Spirit Master's consciousness and spiritual power resided. It had no fixed boundaries of heaven or earth and stretched endlessly beyond sight.

Below the entire space lay a Spirit Sea glowing with warm white light. Countless tiny specks of light floated in the air, each one a fragment of Yue Ling's daily memories and spiritual power.

However, some strange things were mixed within it.

At the core, where the sea of consciousness shone most brilliantly, was both the place where Yue Ling's soul had taken root and the place where that remnant soul had entrenched itself.

That wisp of remnant soul had transformed into a twisted cyan humanoid phantom. Its outline was hazy and broken, with strands of filthy, sinister black mist coiling around it. It could hardly be considered a complete form.

It relied entirely on the various negative emotions it had plundered in the past to barely maintain its shape.

It could never take even half a step out of this Spirit Sea. Every time it struggled to move, the entire white-glowing sea churned and roiled.

Yue Ling stood opposite the phantom, man and soul facing each other from afar.

The remnant soul was already utterly listless, yet the vaguely formed eyes still carried undisguised greed and ferocity as they locked tightly onto the youth before it.

But all it received in return was the indifferent, disdainful smile curling at Yue Ling's lips.

The reason the situation had barely stabilized was entirely because his second martial soul, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, was secretly exerting its power. It had temporarily suppressed the other party's attempt to seize his body and greatly depleted the remnant soul's origin power, bringing the situation back under control.

This was already the best possible outcome.

If this Evil Soul remnant had truly been completely unrestrained, with nothing able to contain it, then he would truly have been out of options.

In the end, he would probably have had no choice but to kick his legs up and quietly wait for death.

Yue Ling's heart was filled with unease. He could only silently pray that Mu En, along with his teacher Xuan Zi,

could think of a reliable way to completely imprison this remnant soul, leaving him room to live and cultivate normally. Could it be that he would have to remain trapped in his own Spirit Sea for the rest of his life, entangled with this Evil Soul day after day?

If that were the case, neither the path of cultivation he yearned for nor his wish to avenge his entire village and family could ever be realized.

Outside.

The meeting had already ended.

Only Mu En, Xuan Zi, and the unconscious Yue Ling remained in the enormous Sea God Pavilion.

Xuan Zi carefully carried Yue Ling, whose consciousness had fallen asleep, and followed Mu En into a secluded secret chamber deep within the Sea God Pavilion.

The entire chamber was simply furnished. The most eye-catching object was the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow Jade Bed in the center of the room, pure white from end to end.

Mu En's aged gaze fell upon the ice bed. He slightly raised his hand and pointed at its surface, signaling Xuan Zi to place the youth on it.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xuan Zi nodded gently, removed the blanket wrapped around Yue Ling and stored it in his Soul Tool, then carefully laid him flat upon the cold jade bed.

Yue Ling lay quietly with his eyes closed, his eyelashes resting softly against his cheeks as he waited for Mu En to begin setting up the seal.

The Ice Marrow Jade Bed possessed an extremely powerful property. If an ordinary non-ice-attribute Spirit Master lay on it for too long, their meridians and skin would be frostbitten by the extreme cold. Yet it was also a treasure capable of suppressing emotions.

It would continuously freeze the surging emotional fluctuations within a person's heart. (Simply put, it froze you until you didn't feel like talking.)

The foundation upon which this wisp of remnant soul relied to recover its strength was negative emotions such as hatred and despair.

While on the ice bed, Yue Ling's emotions would be forcibly calmed by the piercing cold, and he would no longer be able to generate any emotions.

Unable to receive even the slightest nourishment, the remnant soul's origin would only slowly weaken day after day.

Though the process was destined to be difficult to endure, there was no other choice.

Furthermore, the extreme cold could reinforce the barriers of the entire Spirit Sea, laying a solid foundation for the golden seal Mu En was about to establish.

From then on, every time the remnant soul slammed against the sealed prison, the biting cold attached to it would force it back. Its struggles would grow weaker each time until it was eventually driven into a remote corner of the Spirit Sea and trapped there completely.

The bone-piercing cold seeped through Yue Ling's skin and pores little by little, flowing slowly through his limbs, bones, and every meridian in his body.