Chapter 79: Devouring Souls
“As long as you spare my life, I’ll tell you where my wealth is hidden. There’s no need to wipe me out completely!”
“Oh?”
Jiang Min suddenly raised her eyes, her hand paused briefly atop the jade array disk. She was surprised—the soul before her, though seemingly weak, had been a cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment in life.
At the beginning of Foundation Establishment, the realm was no longer divided into twelve layers like Qi Refining, but into four stages: Early, Minor Completion, Major Completion, and Perfection. Foundation Establishment Perfection was but a step away from forming a Golden Core. If this female cultivator’s soul truly held such cultivation in life and retained her strength in death, Jiang Min would have perished upon meeting her.
Seeing Jiang Min halt her actions, the soul assumed she’d been persuaded and a faint, almost imperceptible smile played at her lips. She hurried to press her advantage: “I’ll guide you to my cave dwelling. Find something to contain my soul—if nothing else, use this Ancient Mysterious Blue Lotus for now.”
Her tone softened, reverting to the lofty attitude she’d held before Qi Refining cultivators, laced with an almost undetectable hint of bewitchment.
Jiang Min narrowed her eyes, as if pondering, then raised her brow in a naive, youthful manner and said, “Alright, don’t trick me. I’ll remove the array, but if you go back on your word, I can destroy you at any time.”
Thinking Jiang Min was convinced, the soul sneered inwardly—a young girl was easy to fool. Relaxing her guard, she maintained a friendly expression and spoke warmly, “Pay to ward off disaster. As long as you let me go, I—”
Whoosh!
A streak of light flashed like lightning from Jiang Min’s lips, shooting towards the soul. The soul was shocked, but bound by chains of spiritual energy, she could not escape. Helpless, she watched as the peach branch pierced her chest, and a powerful force of devouring surged from the branch, dragging her soul uncontrollably into it.
“You—ah!”
The soul raged, struggling with all her might, but the next moment, a shrill scream burst forth as she was drawn into the branch like a whirlpool, shrinking until she was utterly devoured.
Jiang Min watched, her gaze unruffled, lips faintly curved. She raised her hand and the peach branch returned to her palm.
“Spare your life? To leave a hidden threat?”
Since enmity had already been forged, Jiang Min never intended to spare her. Unexpectedly, the soul had tried to tempt her with bewitchment—fortunately, Jiang Min’s spiritual awareness was strong and her mind clear, utterly unaffected. Let the soul taste the agony of annihilation, without hope of reincarnation.
As for the soul’s possessions, with the peach branch’s devouring, Jiang Min now knew.
The female cultivator’s lifetime memories, fragmented, flowed back through the peach branch.
Feng Qiuer.
A native of Xiang Mountain, a solitary cultivator. She grew up among common folk, stumbled upon a fateful opportunity, and began her cultivation journey. After more than a hundred years of hardship, she reached the peak of Foundation Establishment. Yet three months ago, in her cave deep within the Southern Wilderness Ridge, she failed to form her Golden Core and died.
---
Upon her death, she used a secret art she’d obtained by chance, sacrificing her soul’s strength to escape her body, seeking another to possess.
Perhaps her luck was too poor. Feng Qiuer’s soul searched the Southern Wilderness Ridge in vain, unable to find a suitable host—not even any living creature fit for possession!
With her soul growing weaker, she faced the prospect of dissipating into nothingness unless she entered reincarnation or practiced ghost cultivation. At that moment, Feng Qiuer discovered the Ancient Mysterious Blue Lotus in the lotus pond, so she lodged herself within this treasure, slowing her soul’s decay.
She decided to wait for another cultivator to pass by. If she found someone suitable, she’d possess them; if not, she would reluctantly pursue the path of a ghost cultivator.
Soon enough, Qi Yan and his companions arrived. Feng Qiuer actively drew their attention, letting them discover the Ancient Mysterious Blue Lotus, and orchestrated a bloody drama among them.
With only Qi Yan remaining, she cared little that he was male, preparing to possess him—only for Jiang Min to appear as the unexpected predator, slay Qi Yan, and claim the Ancient Mysterious Blue Lotus.
Feng Qiuer rejoiced: Jiang Min was female and only at the Qi Refining stage. She planned to seize an opportunity to possess Jiang Min, but was caught off guard by Jiang Min’s powerful spiritual awareness. Forced to resort to trickery, she hoped to lure Jiang Min into her cave’s traps to possess her...
Jiang Min digested Feng Qiuer’s memories, and after a long while, sighed, “The path of cultivation, truly perilous.”
Through Feng Qiuer’s century of life-and-death struggles and her demise during Golden Core formation, the hardships of a solitary cultivator seeking opportunity and survival unfolded before Jiang Min.
She gained much.
After absorbing the memories, Jiang Min recalled the location of Feng Qiuer’s cave—west of the Southern Wilderness Ridge, near the Soul-Burial Gorge.
Feng Qiuer had practiced both arrays and mechanisms in life, so her cave was guarded by layers of arrays and puppet sentries.
Yet with her memories, Jiang Min knew how to break them.
“A cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment has considerable wealth. Most of Feng Qiuer’s possessions are on her person, as well as her insights into arrays and mechanisms.”
“But what interests me most is the cultivation method she obtained in a blessed land—‘The Seven Celestial Chapters.’”
Thinking of this technique, Jiang Min’s eyes narrowed.
Feng Qiuer had happened upon this method in a blessed land, and upon investigation, found it suited for cultivators with five elemental roots. She kept it hidden away.
According to her memories, this five-element technique could take one to the Golden Core stage, and its cultivation method greatly accelerated progress.
Just the promise of increased cultivation speed was enough to tempt Jiang Min. Even if she did not practice this method, studying it would yield valuable insights.
“There’s still time before the trial ends. I might as well visit Feng Qiuer’s cave now.”
“I’ll scout the place. If the arrays are difficult, I won’t rush—after the trial, I can return…”
With this in mind, Jiang Min collected the illusionary arrays she’d set around, and hurried toward Feng Qiuer’s cave.
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Dawn broke.
Birdsong echoed through the morning mountains.
Jiang Min traveled for a long while, arriving before a sheer cliff. Water trickled down its surface, moss covered the stone, and nothing seemed amiss.
But Jiang Min knew this was a technique of shifting and hiding—the entrance to Feng Qiuer’s retreat lay behind this cliff.
“Let’s give it a try… Hmm?”
Her spiritual sense constantly scanned her surroundings, and suddenly, her expression tightened. She glanced toward a nearby mountain path, then, wearing her Cloud-Chasing Boots, retreated to a distant hiding place.
Soon after, two middle-aged cultivators—one stout, one slender—approached from the mountain path.
The tall, slender one held a small compass, whose needle pointed straight at the cliff. As they reached the base, the compass’s glow intensified.
“This is the place.”
The slender cultivator nodded, then placed his hand lightly on the cliff, sensing it before saying, “There’s an array here. I’ll break it.”
“There may be mechanisms or puppets beyond—then you’ll have to act, brother.”
“No problem,” the stout cultivator replied with a cheerful smile.
Far away, Jiang Min suppressed her presence, using keen eyesight to observe the two.
She frowned slightly.
“Aren’t these the two I met in the general store, the ones who bought a map of the Southern Wilderness Ridge?”
“So, both are Feng Qiuer’s disciples—Zhang Yi and Yan Sixteen.”
Jiang Min’s gaze darkened.
Things had gotten complicated…
Because both men had reached the early stage of Foundation Establishment.