Chapter 43 Part 2

The only difference was that Mu Cheng was black.

Mu Cheng grasped Lian Yunzhi’s hand, which had reached out and then withdrawn—the touch was the same, ethereal and cool, like clouds.

Mu Cheng’s voice also rang out beyond Lian Yunzhi’s mind for the first time in a long while:

“—Perhaps I am just a soul.”

Lian Yunzhi’s eyes widened slightly.

The “shells” of other souls were formed from Divine Souls. If the current Mu Cheng was a soul, then did that mean the Black Mist wrapping his Primordial Spirit was his Divine Soul?

[Yes.]

Mu Cheng answered.

[My original Divine Soul, like part of my Primordial Spirit, had been torn into countless pieces and turned into light specks scattered across Xiaoze State. These Black Mists formed the new one.]

These Black Mists had coexisted with Mu Cheng for ten thousand years. They had entered his body countless times, transformed his shell, become his power, been controlled by him causing madness, and scattered from his body countless times to form Xiaoze State’s illusions, bringing him new cycles of suffering.

In this way, time and again, the Black Mist had caused Mu Cheng’s ten thousand years of rage, hatred, and pain, and also borne all his ten thousand years of rage, hatred, and pain.

They had long fused with each other, cycling and coexisting. Thus, at the moment Mu Cheng’s original Divine Soul shattered, these Black Mists—having once been his power and carried his emotions—became his new Divine Soul.

“From now on, I am no longer the Spirit Washing Body with Myriad Absorption Spiritual Root, but a monster with a pitch-black Divine Soul, unprecedented… Will you still like me?”

Mu Cheng’s Divine Soul held Lian Yunzhi’s hand and asked softly while looking at him.

Lian Yunzhi: “…”

When did I ever say I liked you?

He placed his other hand on Mu Cheng’s chest. Fine tendrils extended from his fingertips—not real vines, but his Primordial Spirit. His Plant-Form Primordial Spirit pierced the Divine Soul’s chest like a long needle and stabbed fiercely into Mu Cheng’s Primordial Spirit.

Lian Yunzhi smugly watched Mu Cheng’s stunned expression and trembling fingertips.

Hah.

Finally got one over on him.

Lian Yunzhi coldly withdrew his Primordial Spirit and exposed his lie: “Your Primordial Spirit told me you weren’t actually worried I’d change my mind because of your physique alteration.”

But the liar trembled with laughter as he embraced him, his icy cool Divine Soul kissing his lips.

“…But you still gave me an answer.”

You said you like me.

.

Thanks to Fang Tianxin.

During the time when Lian Yunzhi had no interest in anything external, Fang Tianxin stayed by his side and nagged Fu Qing with many questions, one of which was—how do the souls that emerge from the Lost River live after being taken back?

Fu Qing said there were two ways to live in total.

One was to be sent for reincarnation.

The other was to reshape the body with Pregnant Body Lotus Root.

Lian Yunzhi naturally chose the second, but Pregnant Body Lotus Root had to be purchased at a high price from a large auction house. First, though, he had to break the formation and leave Xiaoze State.

This made the three Evil Cultivators who were hacking and burning inside the array particularly detestable.

“Don’t rush,” Mu Cheng comforted Lian Yunzhi. “My soul is unstable and needs cultivation to solidify. And don’t you need to go into seclusion too?”

“Seclusion here?” Lian Yunzhi frowned.

Mu Cheng smiled: “You are the array’s master. Wherever you want to seclude yourself isn’t up to you to decide?”

Lian Yunzhi’s eyes lit up.

In an instant, the entire Ten Thousand Woods Protective Boundary Array shifted with Lian Yunzhi’s movement, covering the entire Jade Mountain within it.

Lian Yunzhi set the Jade Mountain as the undisturbed center of the array, then removed his outer robe and stepped into the hot spring pool. He turned to Mu Cheng beside him: “I’m starting cultivation. Are you going to cultivate the Divine Soul Technique too? How will you cultivate? With the Soul Forging Technique?”

When Lian Yunzhi read the Soul Forging Technique in the Scripture Pavilion, Mu Cheng had been in his Knowledge Sea, so Lian Yunzhi knew Mu Cheng had memorized it too.

But Mu Cheng just smiled, leaned over, and burrowed into his Knowledge Sea.

Lian Yunzhi: “…”

Fine, Divine Soul Dual Cultivation counted as cultivation too.

.

Divine Soul Dual Cultivation was of course very useful, but consecutive sessions greatly diminished the effects.

Thus, three days later, Lian Yunzhi drove Mu Cheng out and dug a cave in the Jade Mountain by himself, entering seclusion to cultivate.

Mu Cheng looked at the familiar cave mouth blocked only by vines and chuckled softly. He closed his eyes and began cultivating the Soul Forging Technique.

Planning to knock on the door again in a couple of days.

.

The core of the Ten Thousand Woods Protective Boundary Array was “protection,” not “entrapment.” It could shield the array’s master from enemy disturbances, but if someone quickly felled a large number of overhead branches and fled rapidly, the Ten Thousand Woods Protective Boundary Array could not stop them.

Yet three months later, when Lian Yunzhi ended his dual cultivation and opened his eyes, one Evil Cultivator was still wandering in the Forest Labyrinth.

.

The Evil Cultivator who refused to leave was named Wu Ying, a notorious villain in the Upper Immortal Realm known as the Man-Eating Demon. He was famous for cultivating the Man-Eating Technique. The cultivators who had perished in his mouth numbered at least in the thousands if not ten thousand. Through this cannibalistic method, he had advanced step by step to Peak Soul Transformation, where he had lingered for over a century. His failure to advance was not due to insufficient cultivation but fear of the Void Refining thunder tribulation.

Evil Cultivators’ thunder tribulations were always terrifying, especially with such an evil art. Thus, upon hearing that an “Immortal Treasure” had emerged in Xiaoze State that could resist thunder tribulation, he rushed over immediately. Even trapped here for three months, he showed no intention of retreating.

“Come out!”

Wu Ying shouted.

He slashed forward with his blade, igniting fierce flames beneath the blade edge.

But the trees’ regeneration outpaced their burning, and new tree walls layered up beside him again.

“Aren’t you the new genius who defeated the Myriad Absorption Spiritual Root? How come you’re a cowardly turtle hiding in your shell?” Wu Ying sneered. “Or are you scared of Grandpa’s reputation? Scared of being eaten by me? Tsk, a Peak Soul Transformation genius with Top-Grade Wood Spiritual Root… That would indeed suit my taste. I hear you’re a beauty too…”

But no matter how he taunted, not a trace of spiritual power stirred around him.

Wu Ying’s brows furrowed darkly. With a sinister expression, he gripped his blade and walked forward, continuing to search for the array’s nexus—the Ten Thousand Woods Protective Boundary Array could of course be broken, but unfortunately, he was not proficient in formations.

“Bang!”

His blade suddenly tripped over something. Looking down, it was an incredibly thick vine.

…The nexus?