Chapter 566 - Cen Shuyin’s Soul
Since the olden days, regardless whether in the world of mortals or cultivators, there were rumors of reincarnation. The mortal world made many guesses regarding this, and all they had were random pieces of news, so they were not particularly sure about reincarnation.
But for cultivators, reincarnation existed. However, reincarnating would not be of much use to most cultivators as the would lose their memories of their past lives, so even if they did reincarnate, they would become an existence completely unrelated with their past life.
In reality, this was the same for most mortals too. Many people would often dream of scenarios completely unrelated to their current life, when in fact those were shards of memories from their past life. As such, the story of Meng Po’s Soup arose in the mortal world, that every soul had to cross the Nai He Bridge and drink a bowl of Meng Po’s Soup before reincarnating.
Precisely because cultivators knew that memories of their past lives would be lost after cultivation, most cultivators were unwilling to reincarnate after their souls entered the Underworld, or they would use any means possible to prevent their memories from disappearing during reincarnation.
Some extremely powerful cultivators could actually retain their memories forcefully after reincarnation, and they would subsequently return to being one of the strongest of thier generation.
The Underworld was originally the place where the corruption of souls’ memories and consciousness happened, and after spending a sufficiently long time in there, one would automatically proceed for reincarnation, never to be seen again.
Although this is the case, the number of leftover souls in the Underworld kept growing.
At this point, a tiny weak soul was carefully wiggling its way around a corner full of souls. Just like the others, she did not want to reincarnate.
This was because she would no longer know who she was after reincarnating, so what’s the difference between going or not going? Instead, she would rather stay here and have her memories slowly fade away.
There are some things, even if you just remember it for a moment longer, would be better than not remembering anything in a new life. The only downside was that there were too many souls around, so she was looking for a slightly larger area for herself, but it was a difficult task to complete.
Now she was drifting towards the outside of the group, and based on her estimates, she would only have a few years left. Once these years were up, her memories and consciousness would be completely taken by the Underworld, and she would go straight for reincarnation.
All she wanted was to find a quiet corner, and gradually reminisce about everything that had happened to her since she started cultivating. Her mother, Heaven Seeking Palace, and everything that happened between her and Mo Wuji…
If Mo Wuji were here, regardless how spa.r.s.e the soul had become, he would be able to sense that this was Cen Shuyin’s soul.
What set her apart from other souls was that, while weak and spa.r.s.e, Cen Shuyin’s soul was complete, and not some broken soul.
At this point, Cen Shuyin felt a familiar aura: her body.
Strong emotions overwhelmed her, which almost caused her soul to break apart.
Souls and primordial spirits were different. Primordial spirits could escape, but a soul was merely a sort of spa.r.s.e form of consciousness. After a primordial spirit was destroyed, it could be remade, but if a soul was destroyed, there was basically no way of remaking it.
Mortals did not cultivate, hence most of their souls remained in a spa.r.s.e state, unable to retain their memories or intelligence. However it was different for cultivators, as their memories were not only stored within their primordial spirits, but also in their souls.
When a cultivator died, it meant that his primordial spirit was destroyed, and that his soul and body became separated. As the soul has no way to reenter the physical body, it would automatically enter the Underworld.
Once in the Underworld, there was no chance of finding one’s physical body. Even the strongest person could only use means to protect his own consciousness to remain as himself. No one could leave the Underworld to search for their body, and on top of that, most cultivators’ bodies had been destroyed after they died.
Because of that, Cen Shuyin was very surprised to actually feel the aura of her physical body.
One had to realise that she had died in the restricted s.p.a.ce outside of the cultivation world, and she believed that Mo Wuji would have preserved her body. But no matter how capable he was, he shouldn’t have been able to bring her physical body to the Underworld in slightly over 10 years.
The souls in the Underworld varied in strength, but regardless how strong a soul was, it could only be a little denser and survive for a little longer. They generally did not possess any offensive abilities, except for a small minority that cultivated with unique soul techniques.
Cen Shuyin’s soul was spa.r.s.e, but could still barely make it out from the large group of souls.
Souls in the Underworld had unparalleled speed, hence despite how spa.r.s.e her soul was, she sped through the area swiftly. But this speed came at a price: her soul became thinner with every moment.
Days later, Cen Shuyin’s soul had become so spa.r.s.e to the point that it almost could not be seen any further. If she had stayed in one corner without moving, her soul might have survived for years, maybe even decades. But since she rushed through the Underworld so quickly, there were barely over 10 days left for her.
Another 10 days pa.s.sed, and just as she couldn’t keep it together any longer, she felt a giant whirlpool. Her physical body lay on the other side of the whirlpool which gave off vibes of h.e.l.l, giving off an aura of death.
Cen Shuyin hesitated for a short moment, before she charged headfirst into the whirlpool.
She wouldn’t have lasted long without going in, so why would she have cared so much?
Once inside, she could feel an aura belonging to her much more clearly. Her speed dropped, and sadness overwhelmed her. Her physical body was right in front of her, but her soul could not last long enough.
At that moment, a familiar aura was brought into her through the whirlpool, immediately condensing her spirit. Emotions welled up inside as Cen Shuyin was definite this time that the aura did come from her body. Moreover, the aura that had condensed her soul was actually from the Grade 9 immortal herb of legends, Underworld Heart Flower.
She had heard of the Underworld Heart Flower before as some of the stronger souls did mention it. His immortal herb seemed to be very rare, and not only could it condense a soul, but also allow one to find his/her own body in the Underworld. Could someone have brought her physical body to her?
As soon as her soul became denser, Cen Shuyin frantically increased her speed.
While her soul turned from spa.r.s.e to dense, and subsequently as she charged off, a soul hidden at the corner of the whirlpool revealed itself.
This soul was almost at the level of a rather dense primordial spirit, and it seemed to have a solid sh.e.l.l of sorts. He stared in shock as Cen Shuyin’s soul left as he mumbled to himself, "There’s actually someone who’s summoning this ant of a soul with Underworld Heart Flowers, what a waste, a waste…"
Without another word, the dense souls followed behind her. In his eyes was a look of excitement.
He could not sense the aura of Cen Shuyin’s physical body, but he could see her soul. As long as he followed behind her, he could continue absorbing the aura of the Underworld Heart Flower to strengthen his soul. No, he did not have to absorb the Underworld Heart Flower. All he had to do was to consume the soul in front of him.
Why had he hid at the border of the whirlpool for so many years? Wasn’t it to enter the Soul Condensing Immortal Pool from this place and out from the Underworld, so that he might return to the Immoral World?
As long as he could return to the Immortal World, he was confident that he could resculpt a body for himself. Having a soul create a body might have been a joke for others, but it was not to him, Zhu Lai.
He had spend countless years in the Underworld, and not only did his soul not dissipate, but it had become denser instead. Based on his original plan, he would emerge from the Soul Condensing Immortal Pond in a few hundred year’s time. However, since he had met someone that was using the Underworld Heart Flower to condense souls, how could he not mooch of this from behind?
He just had to absorb some Underworld Heart Flowers through the soul in front and he could have the chance to get out of the Underworld in advance.
Cen Shuyin continued her mad rush through the whirlpool. Souls were made of pure consciousness, much more ethereal than primordial spirits, hence all souls had the natural instincts to avoid all cracks in the void.
Thus, a few days after entering the whirlpool. Cen Shuyin was still safe and sound. On top of that, as she met with more of the Underworld Heart Flower’s aura, her soul became denser and denser.
Mo Wuji was not the same as other people. He was simply too generous, to the point that almost every nook and cranny of the area had been filled with the aura of Underworld Heart Flowers.
At the same time, the soul following behind Cen Shuyin was become more restless by the second. He could see Cen Shuyin’s denser soul, which created an itch in his heart. How he dreamed of kicking her to one side and absorbing all those Underworld Heart Flowers for himself.
But he was also aware that if he did so, he would only be able to absorb the aura once. Only by staying behind Cen Shuyin and waiting for the moment that she was about to charge out of the Soul Condensing Immortal Pond, would he be able to benefit the most when he gobbled her up then.
Many days pa.s.sed once again, and fear began to rise up in the soul. The amount of Underworld Heart Flowers that Cen Shuyin absorbed was simply too much.
Even an Immortal Emperor shouldn’t have had such a large fortune right? If he met with a top tier expert, how would he still eat Cen Shuyin up?
As he thought about this, the soul did not want to wait any longer. He intended to consume Cen Shuyin earlier, and once he did so, he could absorb all of the Underworld Heart Flower aura that had not completely dissipated in her. Who knew, perhaps he would be able to absorb a Underworld Heart Flower with a smidge of her physical body’s aura. If that was the case, then all of the benefits he gained over the years wouldn’t even be comparable to this one.
Cen Shuyin had spend quite a number of years in the Underworld, so she was not that naive either. Soon she noticed the dense soul that was chasing after her. Souls harming one another was very commonplace in the Underworld, and on top of that, she knew very clearly what the Underworld Heart Flower meant for souls. Hence, she sped up wildly, not even stopping to absorb the aura of Underworld Heart Flowers anymore.
But Cen Shuyin’s soul was just too weak. Although she had absorbed some Underworld Heart Flowers, she was nowhere close to the level of that dense soul which was chasing after her.
As the aura of her body wafted over, Cen Shuyin knew her physical body was near.