Chapter 2668: Tempting Fate
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
After considering it for a long time, Su Mo still doubted how long it would take if he were to study the Life and Death Rule by himself.
The Dosu Tree, which had been of great use to him, had had its actual natural being taken away, while its spirit remained non-responsive in its core diameter. It must have fallen asleep, and he could not rely on it for a while.
So he had to use his devouring skills, and to do that, first he would have to find an expert in the Life and Death Rule or someone with the Life-and-Death Primordial Spirit.
Next, Su Mo left the palace and looked for his teacher, Reverend Jin Wu.
“Teacher, you have a broad set of knowledge. Do you know anyone who has the Life-and-Death Primordial Spirit or who has mastered the Life and Death Rule?”
In the palace, Su Mo bowed towards Reverend Jin Wu and asked in all seriousness.
“You’re asking for someone who has the Life-and-Death Primordial Spirit or who has mastered the Life and Death Rule?” Reverend Jin Wu paused momentarily when he heard that, then he said, “I’ve never heard of anyone who has the Life-and-Death Primordial Spirit, but there are a few who are adept in
the Life and Death Rule.”
“Oh, who are they?” Su Mo asked, his spirits instantly lifted.
“Tai Ying Sovereign of the headquarters studied it. Other than him, several branch members are experts in that Rule too, but I don’t know specifically who they are. I’ll have to check,” said Reverend Jin Wu. He had never paid attention to who studied the Life and Death Rule. He was only certain the
Sovereign was one of them, He was not invested in the ordinary martial artists of the other branches.
“Tai Ying Sovereign?” Su Mo repeated. He could never devour the Sovereign’s Rules, but he could ask him to save Qian Xunyue.
“Teacher, can you arrange a meeting with Tai Ying Sovereign? Or ask for his help to save someone?” Su Mo asked.
“No!” Reverend Jin Wu shook his head and continued, “Tai Ying Sovereign and Lord Fa Wu don’t get along very well. It’s basically impossible to ask for his help.”
Su Mo frowned. If things were really bad between Tai Ying Sovereign and Lord Fa Wu, this would be troublesome.
“Wu Shan, who do you want to save?” Reverend Jin Wu asked curiously.
“Her!” With a flick of his arm, Su Mo conjured a coffin from thin air. Qian Xunyue, dressed in white, lay within.
Reverend Jin Wu stepped up to examine the lady in the coffin.
“Teacher, can you save her?” Su Mo asked. Reverend Jin Wu might not have studied the Life and Death Rule, but he had attained the Great Completion Supreme Realm, so Su Mo was hoping he had other methods.
“The vitality of this woman’s flesh had been completely cut off, her spirit has long since dissipated, only a wisp of longing looms. It’ll be very difficult to save her!” said Reverend Jin Wu solemnly.
“Please tell me, teacher. No matter how hard it is, I want to save her!” Su Mo saluted Reverend Jin Wu with his fists balled together.
“The Life and Death Rule or the Life Rule alone could save her, you know that much. But the Life Rule would have to be above the Seventh Order in order to revive her, and even so she won’t really be living,” said Reverend Jin Wu.
“What do you mean?” Su Mo asked doubtfully. What did he mean by “not really living”? What was going on here?
“Because her spirit has dissipated. The Life Rule could only restore her vitality, thereby enhancing her longing and producing a spark of intellect. True, she could live again, but only as a vessel without her past memories or intelligence,” said Reverend Jin Wu.
Su Mo was stunned to hear that. Zi Xiao had not mentioned this before, had he not known? Or had he withheld the information on purpose?
“Teacher, then how can I really save her, so that she lives like a human again, like she used to?” Su Mo bowed and asked.
“You’ll still need the Rule of Life. Save her mortal flesh, then enhance her longing to produce intellect. Most importantly, you’ll have to gather her soul,” said Reverend Jin Wu.
“Gather her soul? How?” Su Mo asked hurriedly.
“The gathering of souls, as the name suggests, means to gather the scattered fragments of her Spiritual Soul,” Reverend Jin Wu said solemnly, and then added, “Her Spiritual Soul has dissipated but, because of her longing, it won’t enter reincarnation. You have to go to her place of death, use the Great
Super Power to reunite the Spiritual Soul, then her revival will be completed,” he admonished.
“Tse!” Su Mo acknowledged the instructions and asked again, “Then, teacher, do you know the Super Power to perform the gathering of souls?”
“A Merit-based Kismet is required to perform such a Super Power, and one would have to master the Life and Death Rule to its highest peak to do so,” said Reverend Jin Wu.
“Does the Merit-based Kismet require achieving the Kismet Realm for it to work?” Su Mo asked, astonished. The Kismet Realm would mean the Sovereign Rank, and it would be impossible for him to get there in the next few centuries, let alone decades.
The higher the training, the harder it would be to level up. He was currently at Ninth Grade, High Rank. He still had the Supreme Being Realm and the Supreme Realm to go. The difference was just too great.
And he had to achieve the highest peak of the Life and Death Rule first. Even if he got back to the Cosmic World and devoured the attainments of Zi Xiao’s Rules, he could not achieve that.
“Yes, it is essential. That’s the ideal situation anyway. It could be worse!” said Reverend Jin Wu.
“What’s worse?” Su Mo asked.
“The other possibility is that the lady’s scattered soul has entered reincarnation,” said Reverend Jin Wu.
“Can she still be saved?” Su Mo said, getting anxious.
“Yes. It can only be done with reverse reincarnation,” said Reverend Jin Wu.
“Reverse reincarnation?” Su Mo repeated, stunned. He could tell this task would be unquestionably arduous. Reincarnation was the Rule of Heaven, reversing it would mean going against heaven. He could imagine what difficulties lay ahead.
“To get to that, first you need to master the Rules of Reincarnation, and you must be extremely accomplished in that aspect to pull it off!” Reverend Jin Wu’s voice stirred, and when he saw Su Mo with a blank face he added, “Whether it be the gathering of souls or the reverse reincarnation, if you want to
save the girl, you are tempting fate, defying the heavens, and violating the life cycle. You shall walk a difficult path.”
Su Mo stayed silent. He had thought he was so close to reviving Qian Xunyue, but he had been too naive.
Indeed, it was no different from tempting fate to bring the dead back to the life they once had again.
“Wu Shan, here’s some advice for you. It’s best you lay her to rest!” Reverend Jin Wu sighed and warned, “Her longing lingers probably because you have promised her something, that’s why it hasn’t left. If you give up on that, then whatever longing she has will be set free, and she’ll be released of her
burden.”
Give up?
Su Mo murmured when he heard Reverend Jin Wu say so. He had never thought of giving up.
He had been unwilling to give up ever since he had started as a weakling. Now that he was so close to the Supreme Being Realm, how could he give up?
He would regret it for life if he did so!
“Teacher, I have a request. I wonder if you can help me with it,” Su Mo bowed to the Reverend and said solemnly.
“Go on,” said Elder Jin Wu.
“Teacher, can you check for me, who else in the Ancient Cloud Star Alliance, other than Tai Ying Sovereign, has mastered the Life and Death Rule or has the Life-and-Death Primordial Spirit?” said Su Mo. Giving up was out of the question. He would try anything.
“Fine, I can have someone check for you!” came the Reverend’s response. He knew Su Mo would not give up and would look for anyone with those abilities to help save the lady in the coffin.
“Thank you, teacher!” Su Mo expressed his sincerest grat.i.tude.
Then, after they talked for a bit more, Su Mo returned to his palace.
He had to wait for Reverend Jin Wu’s results before taking specific action.
In the hidden chamber, Su Mo lightly opened Qian Xunyue’s coffin, which was placed in front of him.
The power of the formless Rule of Life permeated from his body and flowed into her.
The Life and Death Rule was a combination of the Life Rule and the Death Rule. So, it was easy to use one on its own.
Su Mo was prepared to ‘extend’ Qian Xunyue’s life. His Life and Death Rule was barely at First Order Great Completion, but it was better than nothing. Gradually infusing the life force on Qian Xunyue would only be good for her.
According to what Zi Xiao had previously mentioned, Qian Xunyue’s longing would only last for less than a hundred years now.
This time was not at all sufficient for Su Mo to study the Life and Death Rule thoroughly. There was not even enough time for him to go back to the Cosmic World.
So he had to try to increase her vitality and enhance her longing.
Sure enough, as Su Mo infused more and more life force into Qian Xunyue, her body eventually showed faint signs of vitality. The longing that loomed also seemed to have become stronger.
Su Mo was very pleased. As long as he kept improving his Life and Death Rule, he could make Qian Xuanyue last a bit longer, until the day she could be revived.
After several hours, Su Mo stopped triggering the Life Rule only when the consumption of mental strength overwhelmed him.
“Tt seems T’ll have to study the Rule of Reincarnation someday!” Su Mo sighed as he put away Qian Xunyue’s coffin. If her dissipated Spiritual Soul entered reincarnation, then he had to reverse it and change her fate.
“One day, I’ll succeed!” Su Mo took a deep breath and began his training in seclusion. He waited for Reverend Jin Wu’s investigation results as he trained..