A Rising Name: Nascent Soul Refining

“Senior Nan Longhou is connected to the Extreme Heaven Gate? Fellow Daoist Yun, you never mentioned this before!” the old woman asked, her expression shifting. The dark-faced man also revealed a look of shock and anger.

“Did I not mention it? Perhaps I was negligent in overlooking the matter. However, this old friend of mine never formally joined the Extreme Heaven Gate. If the two of you are still concerned, you are welcome to join our sect. As long as you become an Elder of the Ghost Spirit Sect, the Extreme Heaven Gate will not be able to do anything to you,” Elder Yun said with a faint smile, unhurried and composed.

“Hmph! I am already this old; I have no interest in being constrained any further.” The old woman gave a cold snort and refused outright.

“I am accustomed to idleness. I have no interest in joining your sect either,” the dark-faced man said flatly after a slight frown.

“What a pity! If the two of you were willing to join our Ghost Spirit Sect, it would greatly bolster our prestige. But I will not force you, Fellow Daoists. Killing Nan Longhou here, the Extreme Heaven Gate will not truly avenge a dead man. It is regrettable, however. Though I have been friends with Nan Longhou for over a hundred years, he has been extremely tight-lipped about the matters of the Fallen Devil Valley, not revealing a single hint. All I know is that a map of the route Granny Cangkun used to enter and leave the Fallen Devil Valley is stored in a hidden grotto-heaven here. If we enter the Fallen Devil Valley using this map, our safety will naturally be far more guaranteed. So, when we catch up to him, do not destroy his Nascent Soul immediately. I will use a Soul Search Technique to see if I can extract any other useful information.” The old man did not grow angry at their refusals. Instead, he changed the subject and spoke of other matters.

“But what if the route map happens to be in that jade box the boy surnamed Han took away? That would be rather troublesome,” Wang Tiangu said, a look of concern on his face.

“That is easy to handle. At worst, we can make the matter public and let all the sects of the Heavenly South know of it. Then, not only the Righteous and Demonic Paths, but even the Heavenly Dao Alliance will press him for the map. We can then fish in troubled waters. Does a mere Falling Cloud Sect have such an appetite to monopolize the treasures of the Fallen Devil Valley on its own? Compared to the route map, I am more interested in the information about the Fallen Devil Valley stored in Nan Longhou’s mind. If I can learn those things, even if everyone knows the method for entering the Fallen Devil Valley, we will still have a great advantage,” Elder Yun said slowly.

“If that truly turns out to be the case, we can only do that. But before that, we can try to see if we can trade the route map from him using other conditions. After all, in this world, there is no transaction that cannot be made. Even if there is already enmity between us, the same principle applies,” Wang Tiangu proposed after some thought.

“Hehe! Brother Wang, your proposal is even more prudent than mine. But speaking of which, that boy’s abilities are truly bizarre. Is he really the same age as my disciple Wang? His combat experience seems far more cunning than us old fellows. Even Fellow Daoist You fell for his tricks. In a one-on-one fight, I’m not sure I could handle him either,” Elder Yun let out a long breath and muttered.

“I asked Chan’er. This person was originally just an ordinary disciple of the Yellow Maple Valley, and his cultivation was indeed only at the Foundation Establishment stage. How he suddenly advanced by leaps and bounds to possess such great divine powers, I am not too clear. However, if this brat was not far more powerful than we expected and had not interfered, how could the four of us have allowed Nan Longhou to escape so easily?” Wang Tiangu’s eyes flickered, and a hint of vexation appeared on his face.

He was clearly recalling the scene where Han Li attacked them with the black mountain peak and, at the end, used the Supreme Miao Divine Restriction to block their path!

Hearing this, the old woman and the others could only smile bitterly.

“Speaking of which, let’s first go back and unseal Fellow Daoist You. With his Nascent Soul-stage cultivation, he should still be savable. I am also somewhat worried about my young nephew. When that Han brat left, he released a black-red light blade that looked a bit like the Demonic Blood Slash I cultivate. I wonder if there is any serious trouble,” Wang Tiangu suggested next.

“Alright. Since we can’t sense him now, let’s go back and take a look first. When the secret technique of that old friend of mine, Senior Nan Long, wears off, it will still be time to chase after them,” Elder Yun agreed.

Immediately, the group once again mounted their flying lights and shot into the passage.

In the blink of an eye, they returned to the ruins of the Jade Musical Pavilion. They saw Yan Ruyan half-crouched on the ground, looking at a loss, while Wang Chan lay prostrate on the ground nearby, completely motionless.

“What’s wrong? Was Chan’er struck in a vital point?” Wang Tiangu’s voice turned cold. Even so, his voice was exceptionally calm.

“No, but my husband’s legs…” Yan Ruyan hesitated, a look of anxiety on her face.

Wang Tiangu stepped forward and took a look. His brow immediately furrowed tightly.

Wang Chan’s legs were severed neatly at the knee. Beside him lay the two severed shins, but bizarrely, not a single drop of blood had been spilled at the cut.

“My husband and I had already jointly activated the protective blood mist of the Blood Spirit Grand Art. But I don’t know what secret technique the enemy used. It was incredibly fast and arrived in front of us in an instant. The blood mist couldn’t block it at all. My husband only had time to jump halfway to avoid a cut across his waist. But his legs…” Yan Ruyan said with some helplessness.

“In that case, why didn’t you immediately use a technique to reattach Chan’er’s legs? You should know that spell,” Wang Tiangu asked, still gloomy.

“I tried several limb-reattachment spells, but for some reason, they had no effect at all. They simply wouldn’t reconnect. Although no blood flowed from the wound, a cloud of black qi gathered at the wound, lingering without dispersing, and I couldn’t drive it away no matter what. Perhaps that’s why the spells failed. And it’s why my husband fell unconscious,” Yan Ruyan said, her brows tightly locked, uncertain.

“Oh, that is possible. With the two of you joining forces and the protection of the Blood Spirit Grand Art, how could an ordinary attack injure you? Let me take a look!” Wang Tiangu’s expression relaxed slightly as he focused on Wang Chan’s wounds.

At the wound on the severed leg, there was indeed a faint wisp of black qi, indistinct and shimmering.

Wang Tiangu raised his hand. Five fingers flickered with black light as he gently grasped at the evil qi. A black qi mass the size of a soybean appeared on his fingertip.

He intended to casually use true fire to burn the evil qi away, but a thought suddenly struck him. He patted another part of his waist with his other hand, and a small bottle appeared in his hand.

Wang Tiangu wrapped the light black qi mass with spiritual power and sent it toward the bottle’s mouth.

With a “swish,” the evil qi was sucked into the bottle. He then carefully put it away.

It seemed Wang Tiangu intended to study this later to gain some understanding of Han Li’s techniques.

What Wang Tiangu did not notice was that, upon seeing this, a complex expression flickered across Yan Ruyan’s face before immediately returning to normal.

After Wang Tiangu also grasped and removed the evil qi from the other leg, Yan Ruyan silently aligned the severed limb with the wound and began casting a spell for reattachment.

Only then did Wang Tiangu nod in satisfaction before turning and walking to the side.

There, Elder Yun and the others were surrounding the ice statue of the cultivator surnamed You, staring blankly.

“What’s the matter? Why don’t you fellow Daoists unseal him?” Wang Tiangu walked over and asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Unseal him? How? We never thought this thing would be more insidious than we imagined!” The old woman muttered, a glimmer of fear in her eyes.

Elder Yun, his face dark, stood silently in place.

“What does that mean?” Wang Tiangu asked, but his gaze swept over the ice statue, revealing a thoughtful expression as he vaguely guessed what was happening.

“Watch carefully, Brother Wang,” the dark-faced man suddenly said. He casually gestured at the ground, then threw his hand toward the ice statue.

A fist-sized piece of broken jade shot directly at it.

There was a crisp sound. A blue light flashed. The moment the broken jade touched the ice statue’s surface, it was instantly transformed into the same blue ice, then shattered into countless crystalline shards that vanished without a trace.

The dark-faced man was not finished. Separated by about three meters, he extended a finger and lightly tapped.

A wisp of blazing white true flame shot from his fingertip, sweeping toward the blue ice.

The result was that the moment the true flame touched the blue ice, it flashed with the same light and vanished instantly, as if it had been absorbed.

Wang Tiangu sucked in a breath of cold air!

“This blue ice is so insidious. It seems Fellow Daoist You’s physical body is already necrotic; there’s no point in preserving it. We can only have Fellow Daoist You’s Nascent Soul emerge and find a suitable body for Possession when we return. Fellow Daoist You hasn’t used his one chance for Possession before, has he?” Elder Yun sighed and then suddenly asked.

“No. This body was his original one,” the dark-faced man said, seemingly more familiar with the cultivator surnamed You.

“Good. Then let Fellow Daoist You’s Nascent Soul exit his body on his own,” Elder Yun said, nodding.

The cultivator surnamed You, trapped within the blue ice, seemed to have heard their words. Suddenly, his entire body blazed with white light. With a dull “bang,” his body turned to ashes and vanished without a trace.

Within the crystalline blue ice, only the Nascent Soul of the cultivator surnamed You remained, an inch or so tall. It was clutching a thumb-sized jade pendant with both hands. Its small face was filled with chagrin and venom.

It opened its small mouth and spat a ball of fiery red Burning Yang Nascent Fire onto the jade pendant in its hand. Then, it raised the pendant above its head.

Immediately, red and white flames a foot high erupted around its body. It then charged forward without hesitation, intent on breaking through the ice.

“Wait!” Elder Yun seemed to think of something and hurriedly tried to stop it.

But the words came too late. The Nascent Soul of the cultivator surnamed You slammed solidly into the blue ice.

The result was a scene that sent a chill down the spines of all the cultivators present.

The seemingly powerful red and white flames, the moment they touched the ice wall, seemed to ignite something.

All the ice walls suddenly blazed up, instantly turning into a mass of blue flames that swallowed the red and white flames, along with the Nascent Soul, in a single gulp.

The red and white flames were bizarrely transformed into blue flames in the blink of an eye. A blood-curdling scream came from the Nascent Soul. Trailing blue flames, it madly rushed toward the mid-air, but only flew a little over thirty meters before it began rolling and wailing in agony within the blue flames.

Moments later, the sound ceased abruptly. The Nascent Soul, within the flames, was refined into a ball of white light. Once the white light scattered, the cultivator surnamed You was annihilated in body and soul, ceasing to exist from this world.