“I am just… Di Huai’s… remaining thought. Di Huai… died long ago,” the little wooden puppet spoke haltingly, seemingly still unaccustomed to being able to talk.
Jiang Yizheng quietly asked Feng Zizhang, “What is a ‘thought’?”
Feng Zizhang shook his head in confusion.
As was well known, when powerful cultivators perished, they sometimes left behind a trace of spiritual consciousness or a wisp of divine soul nearby. The remaining spiritual consciousness could usually only transmit information, similar to a speaking will, while divine souls could engage in simple communication with the living. Spiritual consciousness could persist for hundreds of years, while divine souls typically couldn’t last long. However, neither possessed independent consciousness, and both would inevitably dissipate.
But looking at this little wooden puppet’s behavior, it seemed neither like spiritual consciousness nor divine soul, and it even had its own awareness.
Even Ning Buwei frowned, “What is this thing?”
“A ‘thought’ is something created by ancient powerful cultivators that exists independently of their own consciousness. They cannot share consciousness and memories with their master, but their perceptions, thoughts and gains are controlled by their master,” Chu Jun explained to him. “It can be understood as a puppet with independent consciousness but controlled by its master… This technique was already lost three thousand years ago.”
The little wooden puppet nodded and looked at Ning Xiu, “I… want to… help… Di Huai, repay… his kindness, complete, his, unfulfilled wish.”
Chu Jun looked at him calmly, “What did Di Huai want to do?”
“Di Huai, wanted,” the little wooden puppet said slowly, “to return, the half of the Linglong Bone, that Di Bai gave him, back to him.”
Ning Buwei snorted lightly. “Di Bai’s soul was already refined by him for the array, who can he return it to?”
The little wooden puppet wrung its hands together anxiously, “When he died… he thought he had exchanged Di Bai back, but Di Bai had already dissipated in the blood array, and——”
He glanced at Ning Xiu, “The half of the Linglong Bone in Di Huai’s body had already been depleted when he refined the blood array… I searched for thirty thousand years, and in the entire cultivation world, only that small piece of Linglong Bone protected by the banyan tree back then remained.”
Although the puppet spoke unclearly, Ning Buwei still managed to piece together what happened. Back then, Di Huai had taken advantage of Di Bai and the banyan tree being in seclusion to strike, taking the remaining half of the Linglong Bone and Di Bai’s soul. However, the banyan tree had protected a small piece at the cost of its life, hiding it in its dead heart until thirty thousand years later when it was discovered by Ning Xangyuan and Chu Jun…
After Di Huai obtained the Linglong Bone and Di Bai’s soul to sacrifice for the blood array, he discovered he also had half a Linglong Bone inside him. He wanted to use himself to exchange Di Bai back, but the Linglong Bone in his body had been depleted and Di Bai’s soul had completely dissipated. He thought he had succeeded though, so he left this “thought” to compensate the Di Bai he “believed” he had brought back.
Ning Buwei stared at the little puppet with a mocking smile, “What nerve.”
“Since you knew Di Bai was already dead, why did you follow Ning Xiu?” Chu Jun asked.
The little puppet anxiously said, “I, I didn’t want to hurt him! This child is, is the closest person to Di Bai that I could find. He is the Linglong bone that became human—”
“His closest person is his father,” Ning Buwei darkly interrupted him, pressing Ning Xiu’s small head back as he tried to turn around. “Go settle your grudges in the underworld, don’t involve my son.”
Ning Xiu nuzzled against his neck, drooling all over it, “Ah~da~”
Father~ Want to watch the little puppet talk~
The little wooden puppet floated helplessly in mid-air, with the Taiji seal following like a shadow above its head, silently emanating threats.
Chu Jun’s expression remained calm, “Do you know why Ning Xiu’s soul is unstable?”
The little wooden puppet nodded vigorously, afraid the Taiji seal above would crush down, “That small piece of Linglong Bone he used for bones was shattered by Di Rong and hidden in the tree heart to avoid Di Huai’s discovery… Although it later reformed into a small piece, it actually had many cracks.
Additionally, the essence soul and flesh Ning Xiu used to grow his soul weren’t the usual fusion of yin and yang. It was like his three hun and seven po souls were cobbled together, finally settling in this small cracked piece of Linglong Bone… Soul instability was inevitable.”
“If that small piece of Linglong Bone hadn’t been shattered and reconstructed by Di Rong leaving countless cracks, the endless vitality stored inside wouldn’t have continuously dissipated over thirty thousand years. When Ning Xiu was born, the vitality had coincidentally dissipated to a level a human could bear, and because there was enough essence, soul, blood and flesh from two people to combine and grow the soul to become human…”
The little wooden puppet murmured. “This matter couldn’t have happened if it was earlier or later by even a hair’s breadth. It happened against heaven’s will, but the path ahead is fraught with danger, and the soul could scatter at any time.”
Everyone wore grave expressions after hearing this, except Ning Xiu who was happily chewing on Ning Buwei’s hair tie. After finishing with that, he became interested in Ning Buwei’s ears, reached to touch his own ears but couldn’t find the right spot, and sulkily squirmed around in Ning Buwei’s arms.
Ning Buwei slapped his little bottom, and Ning Xiu turned his head to look at him, “Da~”
Father what are you doing~
After saying so much, the little wooden puppet’s speech finally became fluent, “Back then Di Rong gave half of his banyan wood to Di Huai. Before Di Huai died, he gave me that still-vital wood, and I’ve been hiding in this piece of wood… Later I was accidentally picked up by Shang Nuanwei who carved me into a puppet.
The Linglong Bone and this banyan tree share the same roots and origin, born together. This piece of banyan wood can fill the cracks in the Linglong Bone, preventing Ning Xiu from suffering from soul instability.”
So the “same roots and origin” in Chu Jun’s divination referred to this piece of banyan wood used to make the puppet, which was indeed closely related to the Linglong Bone. And “life and death offsetting each other” probably corresponded to this “thought” Di Huai left behind to repay kindness.
However, Di Bai was already dead. No matter how much Di Huai regretted it, he couldn’t achieve the “offset” mentioned in the divination.
Even dying together would feel inauspicious.
****
Previously when Ning Xiu’s soul was unstable, he first had the jade leaf from Yan Lanpei, then took the Soul-Calming Flowing Cloud from Canghai Tower, later used the Soul-Stabilizing Pills and soul-calming sachet. Not to mention every day Ning Buwei and Chu Jun had to take turns reciting soul-calming incantations and using spiritual power to protect him, afraid the little one might suddenly have his soul scatter with no way to find it.
Now that the banyan wood had been merged into his sea of consciousness, the sword hanging over Ning Xiu’s head finally disappeared. Although the little one had been happily oblivious to what was happening from start to finish, both fathers couldn’t help but breathe sighs of relief.
Ning Xiu was full of energy, turning his head wanting to find the little puppet, then wanting to grab his little bell, but halfway through got distracted by the little blue bird Chu Jun gave him.
The little blue bird was docile and lovely, beautiful and could sing, a fluffy ball in Ning Xiu’s palm, “Chirp~”
“Ah~” Ning Xiu gently stroked its feathers.
So soft~
While Ning Xiu was having great fun playing with the little blue bird, Chu Jun and Ning Buwei watched Di Huai’s remaining “thought” completely disappear into the Taiji seal, but didn’t feel relieved.
‘Di Huai’s blood sacrifice array back then didn’t succeed because he regretted at the last moment, but it also never completely disappeared. The Linglong Bone is the key to the array’s success. Now in the cultivation world only the small piece of Linglong Bone in Ning Xiu’s body remains…you all should be extra careful.’
The “thought” specially reminded them before dissipating.
A vicious and despicable person, yet in the end left behind such a “thought”, wandering the world for over thirty thousand years searching for someone who had already vanished.
If he had known it would end like this, why did he do it in the first place.
****
Since the flying boat was hastily carved by Chu Jun at the time and needed repairs in many places, Ning Buwei and Chu Jun decided to stay in the Floating Sky Realm for a few more days, and let the children who had been constantly traveling with no time to cultivate have some training.
Feng Zizhang had just formed his golden core, successfully entering the ranks of Golden Core cultivators, but always felt that his successful core formation was purely luck.
“The Venerable gave me some pointers, Father stuffed me with some Jade Spirit Pills, and I formed my core,” Feng Zizhang said with a bewildered expression. “I didn’t comprehend any dao.”
Jiang Yizheng was still in early Foundation Building with no progress, but wasn’t anxious at all, instead comforting Feng Zizhang, “Don’t worry, comprehend slowly, maybe you’ll understand after you form your nascent soul.”
“That makes sense.” Feng Zizhang nodded.
Although Yang Lingzhu was only ten years old, she had also built her foundation. However, because she practiced medical dao, she didn’t like touching swords and learned other spells poorly. She spent most of her time quietly studying herbs in corners. Seeing Feng Zizhang and Jiang Yizheng discussing dao comprehension, she didn’t interrupt, just quietly listened.
Cui Yuanbai’s true form was the Purple Flame Knife, so he never had to worry about cultivation level from the start. Human cultivation levels didn’t apply to him. His only task now was to refine the Purple Palace in the knife for his own use.
Seeing Feng Zizhang ask him, he honestly said, “Brother Zizhang, I could beat a hundred Golden Core cultivators like you.”
Feng Zizhang: “…………”
Yang Lingzhu asked him. “What about someone like your father?”
Cui Yuanbai rubbed his nose, “Which father?”
Yang Lingzhu had probably figured out their complex family structure these days, “Your Father Ning.”
“A Golden Core cultivator like Father—I can only beat half of one, and Father has many cultivation methods different from ordinary cultivators, with lots of strange formations and talismans, I’d probably get sealed,” Cui Yuanbai said.
“What about your Father Chu?” Yang Lingzhu asked again.
“He would refine me into scrap metal,” Cui Yuanbai said with certainty.
The others: “…………”
On the other side, Chu Jun looked at the black mist appearing and disappearing behind Ning Buwei, and placed a small Taiji seal on his brow.
Ning Buwei felt heat on his brow and said, “It’s fine, I should be preparing to reform my nascent soul.”
“You’re usually not seen cultivating.” Chu Jun took a familiar stroll through his sea of consciousness, but almost got buried in the dense spiritual power inside.
Ning Buwei embarrassedly rubbed his nose, “Many of us demonic cultivators’ techniques like to take shortcuts. You always have excess spiritual power leaking out… cough.”
For powerful cultivators like Chu Jun who had reached Mahayana, even if they did nothing but stand still, spiritual power would leak out and surround them. To demonic cultivators like Ning Buwei who didn’t take the proper path, this was equivalent to a walking ball of spiritual power. He had already very much restrained himself from absorbing too much, but after several Shenjiaos he started losing control.
In various senses, Chu Jun appeared quite appetizing in his eyes.
Chu Jun immediately understood, taking Ning Buwei’s hand that kept rubbing his brow, and said seriously, “There’s an even faster way.”
“Hmm?” Ning Buwei squinted as sunlight from the window dazzled him.
Once Shenjiao began, it became addictive. The overwhelming pleasure and spiritual stimulation were indescribable. The intimacy and entanglement between souls often gave an illusion of two people merging into one.
Chu Jun’s presence was everywhere. Ning Buwei accurately found his soul in the misty haze, fierce and urgent as if wanting to tear him apart and devour him. But this time Chu Jun didn’t let him have his way, instead pulling all the surrounding dispersed mist and spiritual power over, softly reciting cultivation mantras in his ear.
What was originally a very enjoyable process suddenly became somewhat strange for Ning Buwei.
He almost uncontrollably recalled his youth in the Self-Reflection Pavilion of Wanxuan Academy, during many candle-flickering deep nights, Chu Jun sat straight-backed opposite the desk, his white clothes spotless, even the collar had to be tightly covered. Behind the ugly mask, those unbelievably beautiful eyes quietly watched him, softly reminding when he wrote something wrong.
His voice at that time should have been altered by some technique, not particularly pleasant, but Ning Buwei would deliberately write things wrong, just to hear him calmly recite them.
And then feel happy for the entire night because of it.
The strict and serious Head teacher Chu from hundreds of years ago was now pressed against his ear, reciting dual cultivation mantras in a hoarse voice, yet still pretending to be proper.
Those beautiful phoenix eyes slightly lowered. Ning Buwei raised his hand to break through the flowing clouds, the spiritual power around rippling in circles. His fingertips felt the warmth of eyelids and the tickle of moving eyelashes.
Ning Buwei’s fingertip brushed past his eye corner, crossed his nose bridge, and pressed against his lips. His gaze was deep, “Head teacher Chu, teach next time.”
Chu Jun’s breathing faltered for a moment. He lightly closed his eyes, then reached out to pull him into his embrace, taking him down into the dense mist and spiritual power.
Although Ning Buwei was very provocative and domineering at first, he was ultimately several major realms below Chu Jun, and later couldn’t quite handle it. But Chu Jun remained unhurried and at ease throughout, showing no signs of fatigue. When he tried to use formations to escape back to his own sea of consciousness, his soul was firmly confined in place by Chu Jun.
“Surnamed Chu!” Ning Buwei was furiously embarrassed, “You did this on purpose, didn’t you!?”
Letting him have his way at first, but now when he had no strength he couldn’t even run away.
Chu Jun gave a light laugh.
The black soul was completely swallowed into the white mist. At first it still struggled and resisted, but then gave up and went with the flow, letting the other do as he pleased.
In the end, he painfully listened to Chu Jun explain a complete set of dual cultivation mantras in his ear amid irresistible pleasure.
