Heaven Soul Returns to Heaven, Earth Soul Returns to Earth, Life Soul Returns to Ourselves!

The two left that bloodstained village and headed west.

After walking for roughly two hours, Li Changqing stopped before a hillside.

The terrain here was gentle, backed by verdant mountains and facing a stream, with towering pines and emerald cypresses lining both sides.

Sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, scattering across the ground like fragments of gold.

A soft breeze carried the fragrance of grass and trees, occasionally punctuated by birdsong, making the place feel tranquil and peaceful.

"This place will do."

Li Changqing looked around, nodded, and decided, "The feng shui is good. It has mountains behind it and water before it, with spiritual energy gathering here. Your mother will like this place."

Ye Guyi nodded silently. Without refusing, she gently set down her mother's body.

Then she knelt on the ground and began digging with her hands.

She did not use soul power, nor did she ask Li Changqing for help.

She simply scooped out the dirt, handful by handful.

Before long, her fingernails were packed with mud and grit.

Even when the skin on her fingertips wore through and beads of blood seeped out to mix with the soil, she did not seem to notice.

Li Changqing stood beside her without intervening or urging her on.

He knew this was the last thing she could do for her mother as a daughter.

After more than half an hour of digging, a neat grave pit finally took shape.

Ye Guyi carefully placed her mother inside, arranged her clothes and hair, then took off her own tattered outer garment and gently covered her mother with it.

She knelt before the grave and kowtowed three times heavily.

Her forehead rested against the dirt for a long time without rising.

At that moment, Li Changqing extended his right hand.

A faint golden glow flowed across his palm, warm and gentle, carrying an indescribable aura.

He loosely curled his fingers and lightly drew them toward the grave.

The next moment, a ball of golden light slowly rose from the grave and floated in midair.

The light sphere was about the size of a fist, its entire body a warm pale gold.

Its surface rippled like water, and within it, a miniature humanoid silhouette could vaguely be seen curled up as though asleep.

Ye Guyi seemed to sense something and abruptly raised her head.

When she saw the golden glow, a trace of astonishment flashed through her eyes. "What is that?"

Li Changqing withdrew his hand. The golden sphere floated above his palm, slowly rotating. "Your mother's Life Soul."

"Life Soul?"

Hearing those words, Ye Guyi frowned and asked in confusion, "What do you need my mother's Life Soul for? Even if you want to revive her, there's no need to do this, right? And... what exactly is a Life Soul?"

Li Changqing shook his head and explained with rare patience, "You're wrong. If your mother's Life Soul isn't preserved, she'll follow the rules and enter reincarnation. By then, even if you truly become a god, what can you do? Can you conjure another mother out of thin air?"

He paused before continuing, "If the soul is gone, how can you speak of resurrection?"

Ye Guyi froze. She had never considered that question.

Seeing that she seemed deep in thought, Li Changqing explained further, "As for the Life Soul... it's simple. After a person dies, the seven corporeal souls disperse. Of the three spiritual souls, the Heaven Soul returns to heaven, the Earth Soul returns to earth, and only the Life Soul remains, wandering through the human world."

"This 'heaven' is not the Divine Realm, but the actual sky. The same goes for 'earth.'"

"Therefore, only by possessing the Life Soul can one be said to truly possess the most important part of a person. With the Life Soul, it will be possible to reshape the soul and bring them back to life in the future."

He glanced at the golden sphere in his hand, his tone carrying a hint of emotion. "Those evil soul masters commit countless atrocities, using living people to increase their cultivation and refine soul tools. What they truly covet is this Life Soul. They simply do not know of its existence. They only know how to use evil arts to seize the origin power of living beings, without understanding what lies at its root."

Ye Guyi was left dumbfounded.

This knowledge was from a realm she had never encountered before.

Even when her mother had been alive, she had never mentioned such things to her.

Li Changqing held out his hand toward her, the golden glow resting in his palm, and said softly, "I've already nourished this Life Soul with the power of merit. It's stable now. Tell me, do you want to store it within your martial soul or in your Sea of Spirit?"

Ye Guyi barely hesitated. "Naturally, in my Sea of Spirit."

Li Changqing nodded, unsurprised.

The Sea of Spirit was the most central and private space of any soul master.

It was both a soul master's most vulnerable place—if invaded, one could become an idiot at best and perish at worst.

Yet at the same time, it was a soul master's strongest barrier. Unless its owner permitted it, external forces found it extremely difficult to invade.

Placing her mother's Life Soul within her Sea of Spirit would be safe, while allowing her to sense her mother's aura at all times.

For Ye Guyi, it truly was the best choice.

Thus, Li Changqing said nothing more. He simply gave a gentle push with his right hand, and the golden glow slowly drifted toward Ye Guyi's brow.

The instant the glow touched her skin, it was like a drop of water falling into a lake, sending rings of golden ripples outward before silently merging into her.

Ye Guyi closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into her Sea of Spirit.

It was a vast golden expanse without end, filled everywhere with a sacred, warm aura.

And at the center of that space, she saw her mother.

Ye Wanqing stood there quietly, looking exactly as she had in life, still as beautiful and dignified as ever.

Only, her gaze was somewhat vacant, as though she were immersed in a long dream, barely aware of the outside world.

She simply floated there quietly, as though waiting for something.

Looking at her mother's figure, Ye Guyi's nose stung, and she nearly burst into tears again.

But she held them back.

She looked deeply at her mother and silently swore in her heart, Mom, wait for me. I'll make you open your eyes again, and I'll call you Mom with my own voice.

Then her consciousness withdrew from her Sea of Spirit.

When she opened her eyes, Li Changqing was standing beside her, watching her calmly.

"After becoming a god, you can use divine power through the Life Soul to reshape your mother's Heaven Soul and Earth Soul."

Li Changqing said, "As for her physical body, there's even less to worry about. At that level, reshaping a body is merely a matter of lifting a hand. So your most important task now is to work hard on raising your cultivation and become a god as soon as possible."

Ye Guyi stood up and brushed the dirt from her knees. Then she looked solemnly at Li Changqing and bowed deeply. "Thank you."

Li Changqing waved a hand, his tone casual. "It's a small matter. Don't take it to heart. Whether you can reach that point will still depend on your own fortune."

"I know."

Ye Guyi straightened, her gaze resolute. "But I still have to thank you. If it weren't for you, my mother wouldn't even have the possibility of resurrection, and I would have died there as well. I'll remember this favor."

Li Changqing did not respond. He turned and walked down the mountain.

Ye Guyi gave the fresh grave one last look before quickly following him.

The two walked side by side along the forest path.

After a moment of silence, Ye Guyi asked, "Where are we going next?"

Li Changqing did not turn around. His voice was calm but clear.

"Shrek City. Shrek Academy."

"Shrek Academy?"

Hearing that name, Ye Guyi stopped short, surprise appearing on her face. "Why are we going to Shrek Academy out of nowhere? Wouldn't it be fine to keep going like this? The two of us can join forces, hunt evil soul masters, and improve our strength. Isn't that good enough?"

Li Changqing shook his head without slowing down, his tone calm but methodical. "First, Shrek Academy is the best soul master academy on the entire continent, without question. Some of its ideals are somewhat old-fashioned and extreme, such as placing too much emphasis on so-called 'justice' and 'rules,' but one cannot deny that its foundation, resources, and influence are among the greatest on the continent."

He paused and continued, "Second, your martial soul is the Holy Angel, possessing light and purification attributes. My martial soul has similar abilities. If the two of us keep wandering outside like this and our whereabouts are exposed, what do you think the Holy Spirit Cult will do once they set their sights on us?"

Ye Guyi thought for a moment, and her expression changed slightly. "They'll... send powerful people to surround and kill us?"

"More than that."

Li Changqing sneered. "They'll mobilize every force they can, cast a net over heaven and earth, and set trap after trap, waiting for us to walk right in. When that happens, no cry to heaven or earth will bring help. Even if we possess immense abilities, we won't be able to withstand their relentless attrition."

"But joining Shrek Academy is different."

His tone shifted as he analyzed, "With our qualifications, entering the academy won't be difficult. Not only will we receive the academy's resources, but we'll also gain its protection. No matter how rampant the Holy Spirit Cult is, they won't dare openly come to Shrek Academy to kill people unless they have some unavoidable reason."

At that point, Li Changqing glanced sideways at Ye Guyi. "Do you know why your rank is so low?"

Ye Guyi was stunned, then protested indignantly, "How is it low? I'm not even twelve yet, and I'm already close to breaking through to Soul Elder. That already makes me a genius among people my age, okay?"

"Close to breaking through?"

Li Changqing chuckled, his tone faintly teasing. "If you had sufficient resources, you wouldn't merely be close to becoming a Soul Elder. You would have already entered the Soul Elder realm steadily, perhaps even be pushing for a higher level."

Ye Guyi opened her mouth, wanting to argue, only to realize that what he said did seem to make sense.

Ever since she was little, she and her mother had lived a wandering life without a fixed home.

Their resources had all come from spoils taken from slain evil soul masters, or from occasionally accepting bounty missions in exchange for supplies.

Her current cultivation had depended entirely on the talent of her martial soul and her own hard work.

If she truly had a stable supply of resources...

She did not dare think further.

Li Changqing ignored her silence and continued, "As for the third reason, as far as I know, Shrek Academy has an internal department called the Inspection Corps, specifically responsible for investigating, capturing, and exterminating evil soul masters. By joining it, we can not only share Shrek Academy's intelligence network regarding evil soul masters, but also exchange information, to a certain extent, with the intelligence channels of the other three great empires."

He stopped and turned around, looking seriously at Ye Guyi. "Remember this: in this world, intelligence is often more important than force. Unless your strength has reached the point where you fear no one—where even a Rank 99 Ultimate Douluo can be faced calmly—intelligence is the foundation on which you survive."

Ye Guyi stared at him blankly for a long while without speaking.

She suddenly realized that this boy, several years younger than herself, viewed problems from an angle and depth far beyond her own.

He not only possessed formidable strength, but also meticulous thinking and clear plans.

Compared to him, the way she had acted before truly had been too rash and childish.

At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

Her martial soul seemed to possess a particularly special ability.

It allowed her to increase her cultivation by killing evil soul masters!

This was a unique trait of the Holy Angel martial soul, and one of the important reasons why she had nearly reached the Soul Elder realm before even turning twelve despite lacking much in the way of cultivation resources.

If Shrek Academy's resources and intelligence support were added to that...

Wouldn't she be able to improve rapidly in a short amount of time?

Wouldn't she have an even greater chance of ascending to godhood like the legendary Angel God from ten thousand years ago, then reviving her mother?

Hehe!

At the thought, Ye Guyi could not help curling her lips upward. Her eyes gleamed with excitement and anticipation, as though she could already see a wonderful future beckoning to her.

She quickened her pace to catch up with Li Changqing ahead of her, her voice filled with eagerness. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry to Shrek Academy!"

Li Changqing glanced at her. Seeing how eager she was, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

This girl changed moods awfully fast.

Just moments ago, she had been overwhelmed by grief. Now she looked like she had been injected with adrenaline.

Still, that was fine.

Having drive was better than being lifeless and dispirited.

"Let's go."

He withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace. "We need to reach the next town and find lodging before nightfall."

"Got it!"

The two figures, one in front and one behind, vanished at the end of the mountain road.

Sunlight spilled down, stretching their shadows longer and longer until they finally intertwined, indistinguishable from each other.