By the time the mountain had come to a stop, all that remained in the rubble was a series of black light and dust from the center of the explosion.
Within this ten-meter lengthed center was a ball of green and black light with Jing Mingfeng inside of it. His head was perked up at the skies and his mouth wide open, though no sound was coming out. Only tears were escaping from his person now as he cried in silence…
Now that he was able to think clearly, Jing Mingfeng was able to piece together what had been done…
Multiple images were flas.h.i.+ng through his mind; each one of them originating from Jing Wuying, techniques like Soul Imitation and Voice Concealment were among those images with clear details and etched deep in his mind.
There was a reason why Jing Wuying had decided to pa.s.s down that information through this method…
When Jing Wuying first awoke, his body was by no means ‘fine’ as he mentioned. There was no way he’d be able to ‘heal’ from the wound given to him. It was a fatal wound.
Truthfully speaking, Jing Wuying didn’t have much longer to live even if he hadn’t been hit by that attack. He was reaching the end of his natural lifespan. The failure to become a Soul Emperor meant being unable to extend his lifespan, so all that awaited Jing Wuying was a fitting death. Being a Half-emperor allowed him some modic.u.m of longevity, but it was nothing but a stop-gap measure. Another few years and he would die a natural death.
Jing Wuying was able to absorb some of the energy from the Soul Fusing Array when he was down in the mines. And given his experience with trying to become a Soul Emperor, the pure energy that coursed through his body at that time was fairly easy to absorb despite him being unknowledgeable about how the Soul Fusing Array functioned. Forcing the energy into his body might’ve been helpful, but it was also detrimental to his health. He was only lucky that he gained more from it than he lost.
Stealing away that energy away from patriarch Qin gave Jing Wuying a small power-up. It would never be enough to help him become a Soul Emperor, but he’d at the very least be strong enough to kill patriarch Qin and then find a place to properly digest the new energy. That way, he’d be given a slight extension on life for a few more years.
He just never imagined that patriarch Qin would have the Soul Sealing Mandate on hand!
He was powerless to fight off the power of the Soul Sealing Mandate and couldn’t even offer up a layer of defense against it. While he didn’t die from the following attack, he wasn’t too far away from it…
There was no recovering from the wounds he got. Even if he tried his hardest, Jing Wuying had only another ten days or so before his strength would give out. He’d have to give up on the new energy he gained in order to do that, but he’d die frail and powerless either way…
Jing Wuying didn’t want a death like that. He wanted a more meaningful death!
Jing Wuying was a man whose name was known to many in the world back in his peak days. He killed many Soul Kings before and gained countless treasures from them. Soul armaments, soul skills, herbs, minerals, and other resources…he simply couldn’t even begin to number the amount.
Of those bounties he won, there was one thing in particular that shone above all else.
The art of Soul Inheritance.
It wasn’t an offensive or even defensive-type of soul skill. What it did was far beyond either of that. It could impart the training of a person onto someone else!
Author note: This is similar to the ‘inherited arts’ from many Wuxia novels.
Power was something people had to work for. Whether they be soulbeast or soul cultivator, both ent.i.ties would have to learn to walk before they could run. But this technique, which could allow one to profit without putting in the work, could truly be said to be overwhelmingly powerful.
But a powerful technique like that would, of course, require an equally enormous price. Soul Inheritance imparted the training of a person to another at the cost of the user’s life!
How many people in this world would be willing to sacrifice their own life for the sake of another? To give away the hard-earned fruits of labor for someone else to enjoy?
The technique wasn’t something that could impart every little thing either. If there was too drastic of a difference between the essence of the two souls, the technique would fail to transfer much. It was possible not even a fraction of power would be transferred.
The ‘essence’ of one’s soul. In simpler words, this was the purity of blood between people. Kinsmen would have the best effect when Soul Inheritance was used upon another. But even then, the amount of power gained afterward would still vary.
Jing Wuying had long since predicted the day of his death and was prepared to give all he could offer to Jing Mingfeng. For that reason, the elder spent many days to divine the secrets of Soul Inheritance. He just never expected for that day to come so quickly.
He came to the decision very quickly. When he was ‘healing’, Jing Wuying was actually just waiting for enough strength for him to activate the technique.
Jing Wuying knew Jing Mingfeng would refuse had he known the truth. He would have to use a white lie to wait for the proper moment and then let his soul do all explaining…
……
All of the energy that exploded out from Jing Mingfeng was all but settled now. He didn’t look any different than before Jing Wuying imparted his training onto him, but Jing Mingfeng could feel it. An enormous amount of power was hidden within his body now. It was melding with his blood, flesh, bone, and even soul now so it could be made available for him to use. And now, he was far stronger than before…
“Great-grandfather…”
Tears leaked from his eyes as he thought about what his great-grandfather had left behind for him. It pained him to think about it, but he would recover. The tears were already starting to slow…
Jing Mingfeng was one of the fortunate ones to escape the annihilation of his family the day before. He had been a Soul Sprite when he fled. He was left with nothing but a deep hatred for the ones who killed off his family and forced to hide as he wandered the continent. Alone, he had to rely on foraging for anything that might’ve made him stronger. And some times, he had no other choice but to make use of the Soul Concealment Art and Face Disguise Technique to commit acts of thievery. All the while with a forced smile on his face as he fought to live and grow stronger…
He was alone and weak. So weak that he didn’t even know who was responsible for the annihilation of the Jing. But no matter how long he wandered the continent, Jing Mingfeng never forgot about the memory.
So he was happy beyond doubt when Jing Wuying found him. No longer was he alone to shoulder the revenge of his family! Under the helpful hand of Jing Wuying, he was able to become a Late-stage Soul Exalt within a single short year. And then with the scuffle for the Extreme King Pills, he was able to break through to become a Soul King.
He thought that by following his great-grandfather, he’d be able to take revenge on his enemies.
But now…even his great-grandfather had suddenly departed from his life…
He was alone once again…
Jing Mingfeng had already been determined to shoulder that revenge before, but today…today he was even more willing to see his revenge through!
“Great-grandfather…Mingfeng won’t let you down. Please let our kinsmen know from the underworld. There will be a day when I pay back our enemies a hundred times over!!”
His eyes blazed with a chilling frost. Jing Mingfeng’s hands were clenched so tightly that his nails dug deep into his skin as he pledged out loud for the world to hear!
This was a vow for not just the Heavens or his family to hear. It was a vow for his very own soul as well!!