Finding a Clue

Li Ping'an's home.

Wang Xingyu lay flat on the bed, breathing steadily, but his eyes were closed. He had been lying like this for two whole days.

Xiao Wu sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes slightly red, with tear stains still clinging to her face.

In the corner, Gu Kesi was bound hand and foot with iron chains and hung from the roof beam, still unconscious.

"Big Sister Xiao Wu, Brother Feng Xiaotian will definitely wake up."

Li Ping'an came over with a towel and gently comforted him, "He's so smart, he'll definitely be alright. Dad's still looking for clues at the City Lord's Mansion, maybe we'll have news soon."

Xiao Wu nodded without saying anything.

Two days have passed, and she doesn't want to speak. If she still can't find any clues today, she'll set off to find Da Ming Er Ming, or go directly to Tang San.

"Please just call me Wang Xingyu, not Feng Xiaotian."

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

As soon as they finished speaking, they both turned their heads at the same time.

On the bed, Wang Xingyu opened his eyes and turned his head to look at them.

Xiao Wu froze for a moment, then threw herself at him, hugging him tightly, tears streaming down her face. "You scared me to death! If you hadn't woken up, I was going to go find that Little San!"

Wang Xingyu smiled and patted her on the back.

Li Ping'an also came over, his face full of surprise. "Feng Xiaotian —no, Brother Xingyu, you're awake! How are you? Do you need anything?"

"Give me a glass of water first."

As soon as she finished speaking, a red light flashed, and Xiao Wu found herself holding a glass of water.

Wang Xingyu took the water and started talking about the Soul Battlefield while drinking it.

"It was Gu Kesi's soul that pulled me into a special space, where we fought purely with our bodies and weapons, without any Soul Power. Gu Kesi's body was stronger than mine, but he didn't have as many weapons, so I won."

"A soul? What does that look like?" Li Ping'an asked curiously.

"It's pretty much the same as a normal body, except for the lack of Soul Power; otherwise, there's no difference."

"Was your battle that difficult? You were unconscious for two days and two nights," Xiao Wu asked worriedly.

Wang Xingyu pondered for a moment.

Memories from the Soul Battlefield flood back.

He had lost count of how many times he had killed Gu Kesi, perhaps five or six hundred times, and the time involved was definitely much longer than two days and two nights.

The flow of time there must be different from that outside.

Later, Gu Kesi's soul began to change, and his body became covered with small holes, no longer intact.

During the final kill, Gu Kesi's soul did not regenerate; instead, it shattered into small orbs of light.

He touched one of them out of curiosity and discovered that it was Gu Kesi's memory.

Gu Kesi only has one true Martial Soul, which is his Body Martial Soul; his stomach has mutated into Devour Giant Mouth.

This Martial Soul possesses a very powerful innate ability: it can devour the opponent's Soul Power for its own use, unlike his Blue Silver Grass, which can only be borrowed temporarily and will dissipate after a period of disuse.

Using this ability, Gu Kesi often secretly captures Soul Master to absorb their Soul Power.

Until he captured a child with Soul Martial Soul — Innate Full Soul Power, but unable to attach Soul Ring, and could only remain at level ten for life.

His only Soul Skill is Soul Battlefield, which can pull the opponent into the soul battlefield as long as the difference in Soul Power is no more than 30 levels.

The child was no match for Gu Kesi, but to Gu Kesi's surprise, after the child died, his Soul Martial Soul transferred to him.

Later, Gu Kesi found an Evil Soul Master through the Longxing City Spirit Hall Branch and obtained a Soul Skill similar to reverse sacrifice.

By tormenting the opponent's mind to a certain extent and then making them use this evil technique, one can obtain the Soul Power of the opponent's Soul Ring and even increase the age of one's own Soul Ring.

What surprised Gu Kesi even more was that after torturing his opponent to the point of dementia in the Soul Battlefield, he could still obtain the opponent's Martial Soul and memories using this evil technique.

That's how Gu Kesi got his Third Martial Soul, the Black Dragon Martial Soul.

However, it seems there's only a limit of three; any more and it won't balance out.

Wang Xingyu then realized that he had used it completely wrong.

He should have tortured Gu Kesi first, instead of bombarding him to death as soon as Gu Kesi revived; otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to do so many rounds.

Wang Xingyu speculated that the soul seems to be composed of five aspects: memory, thinking ability, emotional instinct, will to survive, and Martial Soul.

By eliminating the opponent's thinking ability, emotional instincts, and will to survive, one can obtain the opponent's memories and Martial Soul.

Unfortunately, although he defeated Gu Kesi and obtained Gu Kesi ' memories, learning of the existence of this evil technique, he did not obtain Soul Martial Soul.

Unable to use Soul Battlefield.

However, a white crystal appeared in his soul, the nature of which he did not know. He also leveled up, and his Soul Power is currently at level 49.

"It's not difficult, just very time-consuming. However, the rewards are plentiful."

Wang Xingyu already knew the clues about the Goddess of Life. He glanced at Li Ping'an with a strange look in his eyes.

Li Ping'an was a little confused by the stare, and before he could ask, Wang Xingyu had already turned to Gu Kesi, who was hanging in the corner.

"How is he now? He's probably completely gone."

Xiao Wu walked over and reached out to check Gu Kesi's pulse. Cold, still, he was dead.

At the dining table, Wang Xingyu chewed his food heartily. Although Soul Master's physical condition was much stronger than that of an ordinary person, he was still starving after being unconscious for two days and two nights without eating a single grain of rice.

Xiao Wu sat opposite her and asked curiously, "Xingyu, have you found the clue you're looking for?"

Wang Xingyu nodded and, while eating, recounted the part of the tree god legend from Gu Kesi's memories.

Legend has it that 20,000 years ago, a crack suddenly appeared in the sky above this land, and countless strange creatures poured out of the crack, turning everything they passed into scorched earth, leaving no one alive.

Just as this area was about to become a complete wasteland, a giant tree appeared out of nowhere, purifying all the monsters and mending the cracks.

This tree is very likely the Ancient Tree of Life, the very embodiment of the Goddess of Life.

As for that crack, it was probably caused by the instability of spacetime in some world.

After hearing the story, Xiao Wu asked, "Where is that giant tree now? How do we find it?"

Wang Xingyu swallowed the food in his mouth. "The giant tree has long since disappeared, but it did leave behind a method for finding it."

He cleared his throat and read aloud the few sentences that Gu Kesi remembered.

"When foreign enemies trample the mountains and rivers, divine light descends from the sky."

Only when both feet drink from the same river can one see the roots of an ancient tree.

Don't ask where you're going when you reach the ends of the earth; just turn around and you'll find the door.

Xiao Wu frowned and thought for a moment, "What does that mean?"

Wang Xingyu held up three fingers to explain each sentence.

The first sentence likely refers to the idea that when extraterrestrial enemies invade, gods will come to the rescue.

The second line, "Two people drinking from the same river," likely refers to two groups sharing the same river, which is proof of peaceful coexistence.

To find what God left behind, we need symbols of peaceful coexistence between the two groups.

He paused, then put down his chopsticks.

The third line, "Turning back reveals the door"—it's both far away and right before your eyes. This trace may seem very ordinary.

Very ordinary traces, yet they were always right before his eyes. He quickly went through all the scenes he had seen along the way in his mind, and it seemed that only one thing matched.

Xiao Wu nodded, her expression suggesting she understood, yet also not quite.