Chapter 630 - 567: The Human Heart Is Too Complicated.

Chapter 630: Chapter 567: The Human Heart Is Too Complicated.

"In my first life, my True Spirit had not awakened. Lost and adrift, I was swept away by the tide of fate. My spirit became corrupted, and my True Spirit dimmed."

"In my second life, my True Spirit remained dormant. The corruption in my spirit grew, and the Scorpion Soul evolved into endless Demon Fiends and foul creatures, slaughtering the world. I was once again reduced to dust and bone."

"In my third life, I was protected by a senior’s treasure and awakened the memories of my True Spirit. But having already fallen twice, I ultimately could not withstand the boundless darkness and sank into depravity once more."

"In my fourth life..."

"In my fifth life..."

"In my sixth life... Who am I? Why am I here?"

"In my seventh life... The Holy Beast has descended. I shall be the vanguard of the Saint Race and purge the world of its sins..."

"In my eighth life..."

"In my ninth life..."

"In my tenth life... Hahaha... A direct heir of the Celestial Palace, fallen so low as to become a vanguard for the enemy, sinking into self-depravity! How laughable! How tragic!"

"In my eleventh life, the world was utterly corrupt. I wished to become the Dawn and illuminate the darkness! I struggled for three hundred years before I fell..."

"In my twelfth life..."

"In my thirty-eighth life..."

In the Purification Soul Pavilion, Chu Mu slowly set down the crystalline, light blue Jade Scroll.

The Jade Scroll was crafted from Celestial Trace Crystal Stone. It was said that even the traces of heaven could be engraved upon it, so its perfection at storing and recording information was self-evident.

And within this Celestial Trace Jade Scroll was the record of a Celestial Palace Golden Core Cultivator’s Soul Purification journey.

The properties of the Celestial Trace Crystal Stone had allowed this Soul Purification journey to be almost perfectly replicated and sealed within.

The repeated descents into depravity, the overwhelming despair, and even every subtle shift in the cultivator’s state of mind... were all incomparably clear.

The cultivator had not left his real name, only the title "Chi Ling True Master."

He had entered the Yellow Desert Sea to incubate Scorpion Eggs. In that era, just as he had predicted, although the Yellow Desert Sea was still boundless, the Sand-tailed Scorpions were not as endless as they are today.

This Chi Ling True Master spent nearly a full year incubating the Scorpion Eggs to maturity.

After entering Purifying Soul Mountain, he spent another three years to stir that trace of corruption within his spirit. Then, with the resolve to face death, he banished both the corruption and his own spirit into a dream of a thousand years.

This so-called "dream of a thousand years" was, in fact, a boundless, illusory cycle of reincarnation.

It was not much different from a so-called Heart Demon.

It was a struggle between succumbing and persevering in the deepest part of one’s spirit.

Each "life" referred to a cycle of falling into depravity and then holding on.

After all, the human heart is incredibly complex.

What’s more, the battle took place in one’s own Spiritual World. It was... home-field advantage!

For a person, they could lose countless times. But as long as they won just once on their own spiritual home turf, they could naturally dispel and purify all the corruption and evil.

But for the wisp of corrupting Divine Split from the Celestial Derivation Holy Beast, its goal was to make a person sink again and again, until their spirit was completely defiled.

For that same corrupting Divine Split, a single loss meant all its previous efforts would be for naught. It would be doomed to be dispelled and purified.

However, despite this advantage, one thing was extremely clear.

The human heart was far too complex.

In other words, from the moment a person gained self-awareness, the things they experienced were far too numerous and far too complicated.

The higher one’s Cultivation and the longer one’s years of cultivation, the more complex one’s heart inevitably became.

Thus, no one could ever know what kind of Spiritual World they would fall into.

One might relive their childhood memories, becoming their younger self. It would all feel real, so how could they possibly realize that this self was merely part of a false Spiritual Illusion Realm?

If the True Spirit remained dormant, they wouldn’t even know their own mission. How could they possibly speak of dispelling and purifying the corruption?

It could also be a place of deep significance or a particular memory—all things one had personally experienced, all just manifestations of oneself...

This was what was known as... falling into depravity!

But the wisp of corruption from the Celestial Derivation Holy Beast was clearly different.

It was not its Spiritual Illusion Realm. The corruption itself was an invader, so its mission and instincts were naturally clear.

One side was in the open, the other in the shadows.

One side was acting with premeditation, while the other was lost and sinking into confusion.

Therefore, what seemed to be a home-field advantage was also the most fatal weakness.

Moreover, each fall into depravity would cause the cultivator’s True Spirit to dim. In the end, they would reach a state of complete self-unawareness, utterly lost in the Spiritual Illusion Realm, and from that point on, irretrievably fallen.

The wisp of corruption, on the other hand, would completely erode the Spiritual World, turning from guest to host and usurping the rightful owner’s place.

In that great hall filled with hundreds of thousands of memorial tablets, a considerable number of them represented those who had already fallen completely.

However, since the Divine Soul was separated from the physical body, even if one succumbed, it was only the Divine Soul that fell, only the Divine Soul that was usurped.

In this prison-like land, those hundreds of thousands of memorial tablets—and the countless souls who had fallen—were, in a sense, equivalent to an alternative cage.

After all, a successful purification would annihilate a sliver of the Celestial Derivation Holy Beast’s divided soul. A failure, resulting in a complete fall, meant one’s own spirit would drag the Scorpion Soul down with it, which also served to weaken the Celestial Derivation Holy Beast’s power.

For the individual, success or failure was a matter of life and death.

But for this place, for the Celestial Palace, success and failure were clearly not as important. After all, regardless of the outcome, their ultimate goal was achieved.

A cascade of thoughts flowed through his mind. Chu Mu slowly returned the Celestial Trace Jade Scroll to its wooden rack and glanced around. Racks stood in dense rows, and every Jade Scroll was made from Celestial Trace Crystal Stone.

After a moment of contemplation, Chu Mu stepped forward and began to peruse the Jade Scrolls, one after another.

The different ways each person had fallen, their struggles to persevere amidst endless despair—all of it entered his perception with successive, stark clarity.

「In the blink of an eye, several months had passed.」

He had read through all several thousand Celestial Trace Jade Scrolls on the nine floors of the Purification Soul Pavilion.

Only after setting down the final Celestial Trace Jade Scroll did Chu Mu walk out of the Purification Soul Pavilion.

Over the past few months, just as he had guessed, the Trial Takers from the Desert Sea Heaven and Earth had all entered Purifying Soul Mountain, each one becoming a Soul Purifier.

The only difference lay between humans and demons.

Humans were designated as "Celestial Palace Disciples," while demons were here under the banner of "Demon Court Soldiers."

The Celestial Palace Disciples had no restrictions and could do as they pleased.

The "Demon Court Soldiers," however, were separately quartered in several mountain ranges to the southwest of Purifying Soul Mountain, their movements restricted.

If they wished to read the Jade Scrolls in the Purification Soul Pavilion, they had to apply in advance. Only after a review and approval by Celestial Palace Cultivators could they obtain a single Celestial Trace Jade Scroll to glance at, and even then, there were extremely strict time limits.

The ancient rift—or rather, the hatred—between humans and demons was also reflected with stark clarity, even here on Purifying Soul Mountain, a place where both races shared a common mission.

It was not hard to imagine just how much terrifying, deep-seated hatred had accumulated from the countless years of bloody wars between humans and demons in ancient times...

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