Chapter 697: Master, We’ve Got the Complete Text

Those words were like a boulder dropped into a tranquil deep pool. Not only did Su Ming’s pupils suddenly contract, they also stirred a silent ripple in the deepest part of the Xuantian ring.

Inside the ancient hall, light and shadow lay dim. The ten-thousand-year-old roots hanging upside down above slowly dripped their remaining golden sap. Each drop landed on the greenstone platform with the faintest crackle.

The fingers hidden in Su Ming’s sleeve tightened slightly.

He did not blindly reach for the Xuantian ring on his chest, nor did he step back into a defensive stance. Facing a spirit-race sacrificial elder who had lived for tens of thousands of years and still wielded the remnants of the Royal Court’s authority despite his remnant soul nearing its end, any instinctive act of wariness would only alert the other party that he had something to hide.

Su Ming merely nodded slightly, lowering his posture and keeping his expression composed, with seven parts candor.

“Allow me to answer, Senior.” Su Ming’s voice echoed slowly through the vast, inverted Root Hall. “An elder does indeed reside in this junior’s ring. My master’s Soul Body has been damaged for many years. He can barely keep his origin from dissipating by relying on a few surviving fragments of soul cultivation techniques. He meant no offense to the dignity of the Qiming Royal Court.”

He stopped there.

He said nothing about Lin Yu’s true origins, the wonders of the Xuantian ring’s construction, or the entanglement between the Shen family and the human realm all those years ago. This was not a lie. He was simply telling three parts of the truth and letting the remaining seven sink naturally into his heart.

In the Way of Survival, truth and falsehood had to be mixed to protect oneself. To reveal everything would be to bare one’s back completely to another’s hand. But to stubbornly deny everything would only make him seem petty and invite the disdain of a mighty being from beyond the mortal world.

In the deepest part of the Xuantian ring, Lin Yu’s solid, dark-gold Soul Body huddled at the very core of the soul-nurturing formation, surrounded by seven layers of spiritual-sense isolation seals.

That old piece of wood had a sharp eye. Lin Yu secretly muttered to himself, Thank goodness I’d already concealed my presence. Otherwise, if that sacrificial elder from beyond the mortal world saw that I was just a human-world wage slave wearing the skin of a remnant soul, who knows what kind of body-snatching demon he’d take me for and casually erase. These elders in the cultivation world all ask questions politely, but they’ve probably already got bricks clenched in their hands. Not one of them can be trusted.

The instant Su Ming’s voice fell silent, Qingheng’s slightly closed eyes opened a crack.

An almost imperceptible, aged spiritual sense brushed lightly against the outside of the ring, passing through its material. The spiritual sense was extraordinarily pure, carrying a gentle warmth like the passage of time through plants and trees. It neither forced its way through the soul-nurturing formation’s defenses nor showed the slightest intent to seize or occupy anything. It touched the ring, then immediately withdrew.

“So that’s how it is.”

Qingheng slowly exhaled. His tone held the weariness and sigh of someone who had seen through the passage of time. “Your master’s soul cultivation method follows a perfectly orthodox path. It is indeed the foundational method of the Qiming Royal Court’s soul-sacrifice lineage, the Spirit Nourishing True Explanation. Unfortunately... what he obtained was only a fragment that had drifted into the human realm.”

The old man’s gaze fell on the back of Su Ming’s hand, as though he could see through flesh and bone to the remnant soul struggling to endure within the soul-nurturing formation.

“A fragment can nourish a soul, but it cannot mend one.” Qingheng shook his head with a sigh, his voice hoarse. “A method like this is like a water jar with a hole in it. Pouring in pure soul power can keep it from drying out for a time, but the longer the old wound lingers, the more death energy will eat away at the opening. Without the complete text to restore the laws of Heaven and Earth, he can hold on for three to five years at most. After that, his origin will weather away completely into ash.”

At those words, Su Ming’s heart sank.

Lin Yu never said so, and often even joked about the state of his Soul Body as if it were nothing. But how could Su Ming not know how much soul power his master had sacrificed to help him deduce formations and fend off powerful enemies? Every time his soul light dimmed, it consumed another portion of the scant foundation of life he had left.

Before Su Ming could ask anything, Qingheng suddenly turned his withered palm over.

A green jade leaf, about three fingers wide, appeared out of thin air in his palm. Dark-gold veins shimmered across its overlapping layers. The laws flowing over it came from the same source as the soul-nurturing formation inside the Xuantian ring, yet were immeasurably more profound and immense.

“This is the complete text of the Spirit Nourishing True Explanation.” Qingheng held the jade leaf in his palm, his tone as calm as if he were stating something trivial. “It contains complete records of the four supreme realms: Soul Condensation, Soul Preservation, Soul Transformation, and Returning Illumination. It can not only teach your master how to mend the cracks in his remnant soul, but also allow him to forge a straight path to becoming a mighty soul cultivator, even without a physical body to rely on.”

Su Ming’s breath tightened slightly, and a flicker of shock passed through his eyes.

But he did not immediately reach out to accept it.

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, especially when it came to a supreme secret art tied to the inheritance of a great clan.

“Senior.” Su Ming bowed deeply and said solemnly, “The spirit race’s cultivation methods are incredibly precious. I am merely a wandering cultivator of the human race. If I am to accept this, I can swear by my soul that I will never reveal a single word of this method to anyone in the human realm. If I break this oath, may Heaven strike me down.”

Before he could finish, Qingheng gave a faint laugh.

The old man casually set the green-veined jade leaf, heavy as a thousand catties, on the greenstone formation platform in front of him, then pushed it toward Su Ming’s feet.

“There’s no need to swear a Blood Oath.” Qingheng brushed the dust from the hem of his robe. “I’m giving you this method in gratitude for protecting the cocoons outside the ancient sleeping hall these past few days. I’m also doing it because the elder whose soul resides in your ring managed to cultivate a fragment of the Qiming inheritance to such a level. You could say the two of you share a bond through cultivation.”

Qingheng looked up at Su Ming, his eyes clear with an understanding born of having seen the ways of the world. “If this method falls into the hands of someone wicked, the laws left behind by our Qiming lineage will seek them out in due course, as Heaven’s Dao runs its course. If you are a man of your word, then a written Blood Oath would be gilding the lily. What I value is what you have done and the choices you have made these past few days. With your life hanging by a thread, you did not covet the opportunity before you. Even in the face of great danger, you still showed compassion. That is enough.”

Su Ming froze slightly. Then his expression turned solemn, and he respectfully cupped his hands toward Qingheng as he accepted the gift.

He held the jade leaf in both hands. It felt cool and smooth, and a pure power that nourished the soul immediately spread from his palm.

Su Ming understood that the other party was willing to hand over the complete text not because of his meager strength at the peak of the Golden Core realm, but because of the restraint and principles he had shown in the face of the Manifestation Realm battle over the past few days.

“Thank you for your generosity, Senior.”

Su Ming sent a message into the ring: “Master, we’ve got the complete text.”

Inside the Xuantian ring, Lin Yu watched the green-veined jade leaf fall into Su Ming’s hands. His soul light flickered violently several times. His usually fault-finding mind suddenly fell silent.

This kid... actually managed to wheedle the complete text out of the old man for me. Lin Yu let out a long breath of nonexistent stale air. Unusually, there was no teasing in his voice, only a hint of gravity. “Brat, keep your hands steady. Since this old man gave it so generously, we have to hold on to it just as carefully.”

Lin Yu did not rush to reach out with his soul power and devour the method in the jade leaf. Instead, he controlled the soul-nurturing formation to extend hundreds of extremely fine formation lines, wrapping the jade leaf tightly and sealing it layer by layer at the very bottom of the ring.

“Disciple, remember this.” Lin Yu reminded him in a low voice. “Don’t let the immense benefits right in front of you cloud your head. The complete Spirit Nourishing True Explanation is excellent, but it is ultimately the supreme Great Dao of the spirit race. This remnant soul of mine has absorbed too much turbid energy in the human realm. If I get greedy and try to cultivate it too quickly, the spirit realm’s pure Yang Life Essence will become entangled with my old wounds from the human realm. It’ll have the opposite effect, and my soul could end up exploding into pieces. We have to take our time and gradually work it in.”

Su Ming replied inwardly, “This disciple understands. The foundation of the Way of Survival is caution. The more peerless a secret art is, the less we should force ourselves to grasp it all at once.”

Master and disciple understood each other without needing to say more.

This complete text was Lin Yu’s hope of regaining his vitality, but it was not a plump piece of meat they could swallow whole right now. Qingheng’s gift was a good turn of fate. They could accept it, but they must not get carried away.