The primordial soul’s vulnerability to sunlight has deep roots in Chinese spirit lore, where the sun’s Yang energy is destructive to dispersed or weakened Yin-type spiritual entities. This is consistent with descriptions throughout the novel: possession and soul battles are often nocturnal. Han Li’s improvised tactic—using a liquid poison against a soul—is not standard Daoist exorcism, but draws from folk narratives where corrupting substances (chicken blood, black dog blood) were believed to repel or weaken spirits. The Tugu Flower is a fictional herb, but its mechanism—harmful to both body and soul—aligns with a common xianxia concept: certain rare flora affect both the physical and metaphysical layers of a cultivator’s existence.
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Definition
The primordial soul’s vulnerability to sunlight has deep roots in Chinese spirit lore, where the sun’s Yang energy is destructive to dispersed or weakened Yin-type spiritual entities. This is consistent with descriptions throughout the novel: possession and soul battles are often nocturnal. Han Li’s improvised tactic—using a liquid poison against a soul—is not standard Daoist exorcism, but draws from folk narratives where corrupting substances (chicken blood, black dog blood) were believed to repel or weaken spirits. The Tugu Flower is a fictional herb, but its mechanism—harmful to both body and soul—aligns with a common xianxia concept: certain rare flora affect both the physical and metaphysical layers of a cultivator’s existence.
Story context
The hunter becomes the vanquished. This chapter delivers the final, decisive end of Yu Zitong’s remnant soul—not through a grand magical clash, but through cold, methodical extermination by a sixteen-year-old boy with a soft sword, a tube of poison, and a stroke of applied folklore. It is not a triumphant battle; it is a cleanup operation. And the moment Han Li allows himself a brief, uncharacteristic burst of joy, the world immediately reminds him that freedom is never without a price. The Iron Servant is still out there, pacing.
Why it matters
This chapter closes the Yu Zitong arc with finality. The soul is burned out of existence. No rebirth. No future return. That matters. In many cultivation stories, remnant souls linger as plot devices. Here, the resolution is absolute. Pay attention to Han Li’s internal recovery: the brief, giddy outburst is the only time in the entire early novel where he forgets himself. It will not happen often again. The Iron Servant’s presence now sets up the last remaining problem from Doctor Mo’s legacy: a physically invulnerable guardian with no obvious off switch. Han Li must solve this without intel, with empty poison, and with a dead man’s corpse as his only lead.
Quick facts
Source novel
A Record Of A Mortal S Journey To Immortality
First appearance
Destruction of the Primordial Soul
Chapter references
1
Type hints
RMJI chapter 61, Han Li kills Yu Zitong, primordial soul destruction
Guide tags
Soul Battle, Exorcism, Poison Tactics
Appears in chapters
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