The soul was swapped but the person never returned.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Just as dawn broke, Xuan Qingxian carried glutinous rice balls he had bought from East Street to Huichun Fangtang. The servant inside recognized him and joked, "Immortal Master, have you come to see your sister and brother-in-law again today?"
The woman, who hadn't slept well and was suffering from backache and leg pain, shakily made her way down the stairs, just in time to hear the servant's teasing remark about her sister and brother-in-law. Suddenly, her backache and leg pain disappeared, but she was furious.
If this is her younger sister, then could her brother-in-law be Chen Muyao?
Zhou Yulin took a deep breath and clenched her fist.
No problem, Senior Brother will handle it...
Sure enough, her usually good-natured senior brother spoke up for her.
But to Zhou Yulin's surprise, the man actually nodded and smiled as he acknowledged it, "Not bad."
“You’re wrong.” Looking up, Xuan Qingxian saw her junior sister, who was filled with murderous intent, holding onto the stairs at the corner of the stairs. She spoke coldly, “I am his savior.”
Upon hearing this, Xuan Qingxian belatedly came to a conclusion, pointed to himself, and said somewhat uncertainly, "Then I am his savior?"
One was fatal, the other was life-saving.
The servant could tell that it was hard to say whether the sister and brother-in-law were really a couple, but the two people in front of him were probably a pair of fellow disciples from the same school.
The woman lifted the hem of her bamboo-green skirt, sat down, and calmly took the rice ball that Xuan Qingxian handed her. While eating, she slowly said, "After Senior Brother left yesterday, I realized that there were some questions I forgot to ask him."
Xuan Qingxian propped his head up, strands of hair slipping through his fingers. "Tell me about it."
"Senior brother, do you remember the cultivation method for those with useless spiritual roots that Elder Guiyun taught you?" Last night, before falling asleep, Zhou Yulin suddenly realized something: she didn't study hard, but her senior brother did. There was no knowledge of the Xuanling Sect that her senior brother didn't know.
“A useless spiritual root.” Xuan Qingxian didn’t answer immediately. He pondered for a few seconds, his tone unhurried, and his all-knowing gaze slowly fell on the woman, with a hint of inquiry. “Why does Junior Sister want to know this?”
Zhou Yulin's heart was pounding, but she remained calm on the surface. "I have a friend who has been unable to cultivate since childhood because of his useless spiritual root. I originally wanted to help him, but I didn't listen to the knowledge about useless spiritual roots at all and had long forgotten about it."
"It's really good that Junior Sister has made new friends after going down the mountain." Xuan Qingxian's focus was indeed not on the waste spiritual root. He looked gratified. Zhou Yulin, who was standing next to him, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and listened attentively to her senior brother's earnest teachings, "The cultivation method for waste spiritual roots is different from ordinary cultivation."
"A common cultivation method in sects is to let the spirit enter the body and transform it into the corresponding element through the spiritual veins, thereby enhancing the ability of the corresponding element. The width of each person's spiritual veins is different. The spiritual veins of cultivators who have just started Qi Refining are the narrowest, and their cultivation speed is limited, so they break through to the next realm very slowly. However, there is no transformation step for waste spiritual roots. As long as the spiritual power absorbed into the body disappears like a bottomless pit."
Zhou Yulin knew all this. "Does that mean a useless spiritual root can't cultivate?"
"People with useless spiritual roots are extremely rare. They have no element to which they belong, and they cannot even achieve the most basic body tempering, let alone choose a profession after reaching the Golden Core stage."
Xuan Qingxian recalled a book he had read in the library, “However, it seems that even those with useless spiritual roots are not entirely without a way to cultivate. The Qingyun Sect has a treasure pool called the Marrow Cleansing Pool. The water in the Marrow Cleansing Pool has the effect of cleansing the spirit. If one successfully cleanses the spirit, one can begin to cultivate. Unfortunately, there have been people who have cleansed their spirits over the years. The process of cleansing the spirit is extremely painful and even life-threatening.”
After listening, Zhou Yulin understood a bit more. "I will have a good talk with my friend. But senior brother, if a waste spiritual root doesn't need to convert the spiritual power it absorbs, then wouldn't the spiritual power entering the body be directly converted into cultivation?"
Xuan Qingxian had never thought of this angle before, but now that his junior sister had brought it up, he found it somewhat interesting. "Theoretically speaking, that's how it is, but in reality, no one has ever put it into practice, and I can't guarantee that what's said in the books is true."
At least she learned more about the useless spiritual roots. Zhou Yulin recalled the scene of seeing Xuan Qingxian at Xie Wuwang's house. Just as she was about to ask her senior brother if he knew Xie Wuwang, someone sat down next to her, carrying a strong smell of Chinese herbal medicine.
The young man was dressed in a stone-blue robe today. Both the white and blue colors were extremely gentle. His long black hair was tied up. Zhou Yulin glanced at him and only saw a silver wristband embroidered with auspicious clouds. Then she met a pair of cynical eyes. "You dropped the glutinous rice ball in your hand on the ground."
Zhou Yulin looked down and noticed that the perfectly round rice ball she had just made had somehow leaked open, and the filling stuffed inside had fallen to the ground along with the oil paper. She closed the oil paper and started making the rice ball again.
As for Xuan Qingxian, who was sitting to the side, she politely offered him the rice balls she had bought in advance. However, Chen Muyao only glanced at her and politely declined, saying, "No need, I have already eaten breakfast."
Xuan Qingxian could see the other party's distant attitude, but she didn't insist.
"Are you feeling any better?" He frowned slightly, puzzled, recalling the young man's pale face as he fainted. "Demonic energy entered your body, but how could your body be so weak?"
Logically speaking, a body capable of absorbing demonic energy should be much stronger than that of an ordinary person, but the person in front of him was a sickly, weakling, which Xuan Qingxian found hard to understand.
"Why didn't you kill me back then, Immortal Master?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the seemingly peaceful atmosphere between the two instantly shattered like thin ice.
Aside from being uninvolved, Zhou Yulin was concentrating on making rice balls.
Xuan Qingxian suppressed his innate dislike for people with demonic energy and said lightly, "Yesterday's matter was a misunderstanding. If you feel any dissatisfaction, I apologize to you."
"You can only fool yourself with that, Immortal Master."
The young man was completely unmoved by Xuan Qingxian's rhetoric, his tone full of sarcasm and mockery.
"Who are you kidding?" Zhou Yulin, who had just finished making rice balls, finally sat down at the table. The words, spoken in a truncated manner, left her only with a blank expression. "What did my senior brother lie to you about?"
"..." Chen Mu glanced at the woman and remained silent.
Xuan Qingxian, however, cheerfully said, "Little Moon, your friend's medicine is in the medicinal cuisine. It should be ready by now. Go and get it."
Zhou Yulin left with her glutinous rice ball. Her senior brother hadn't said anything, so she also needed to find an excuse to slip away first.
She wasn't unaware of the impending fight between the two. She wasn't worried about her senior brother, as he was always sensible and wouldn't fuss over such trivial matters. However, she was a little worried about Chen Muyao, fearing that he might get beaten to death by her senior brother because he was so deserving of a beating.
Thinking of this, she turned around. Dust floated in the morning light, but her eyes were brighter than the sunlight. The light danced on the bamboo-green hem of her dress. "Senior brother, you're right." Chen Muyao glanced casually at Xuan Qingxian, whose expression suddenly looked like he had swallowed a fly. He was curious about what she meant by "you're right."
*
Zhou Yulin slowly woke up from her coma. She had just arrived at the medicinal meal when someone knocked her unconscious from behind with a stick.
Upon waking, she found her hands and feet bound. Looking around, she realized she was in an underground chamber. The walls and ceiling were covered in what appeared to be grotesque, scribbled formations. "An anti-formation formation?" Zhou Yulin quickly recognized the unusual pattern. Normal formations ended with an outer circle, but this one started with a circle. "Soul-transferring formation, conversion formation..."
Zhou Yulin almost immediately thought of something, "Soul swapping."
Soul swapping was one of the three forbidden arts, allowing the soul of the living to enter the body of the dead. Puppetry, soul swapping... Zhou Yulin's brows furrowed tightly. This matter was gradually exceeding her expectations. If someone was indeed secretly researching forbidden arts, what was their purpose?
With the addition of Liu Yuning's diary, it was almost like a resurrection of a dying person, finally providing an answer. There was no miracle at all; Liu Yuning had died long ago, at the age of fifteen. Later, this body was inhabited by a different soul, and she was no longer the beloved second young lady of the Liu family.
"Oh dear, our second young lady has finally woken up."
A man's playful yet low voice echoed through the tunnel. Footsteps drew closer, and a person almost entirely concealed in a black cloak appeared before them.
"If I'm not the second young lady, then who are you?"
"Oh, so you're not as stupid as I thought." He squatted down. "Liu Yuning, Liu Yuning, I put a lot of effort into you back then for the soul-swapping experiment. I never expected you to be so disobedient, sneaking out on your own and coming back half-dead."
"Your little lover wanted to run away with you, so I pushed him into the pond and drowned him." The man in black laughed. "Now I've taken a fancy to that half-dead Xie Wuwang, but you ran away with him. I had no choice but to use some tricks to bring him back. Don't you think you're a jinx who brings misfortune to those around you?"
Zhou Yulin laughed at these shameless remarks. "Me? A jinx?"
She moved closer, her eyes showing no fear. "You didn't kill me back then, so I've come here today to take your life."
Shh, he's coming.
With a silencing talisman stuck to her mouth, Zhou Yulin could only glare angrily at the man in black.
The conversation between the people above gradually became clearer after a period of silence.
"I thought you wouldn't come back." The middle-aged man's aged voice fell.
"Master Liu is too kind. I just need to go out on some business."
That voice? Chen Muyao!?
Zhou Yulin's face was ashen; this life-or-death game was over.
"Do you think you're qualified to negotiate with me?" The Liu family head the young man was referring to was none other than Liu Yuning's father, Liu Wuquan, the current head of the Liu family. He narrowed his cloudy eyes and looked at the person sitting below with far from friendly eyes.
"A sickly man with half his body buried in the ground."
The old man sneered, seemingly unconcerned, "Now that you're in the Liu residence, your life or death is entirely up to me."
Unable to speak, Zhou Yulin silently mourned for himself: "Even feeding kills doesn't happen like that, brother."
Chen Mu, have you lost your mind?
"What are you still standing there for? Why don't you offer the young master a cup of tea?"
Six strong and sturdy servants surrounded him, the old man's eyes already gleaming with determination. As for Xie Wuwang, he had never taken this sickly son-in-law seriously. He was just a dog who had married into the Liu family. If he wanted him dead, it would only take a word from him. It was only because his eldest daughter was making a fuss that he had already taken action.
Zhou Yulin's heart clenched. She didn't know the situation above, but she knew Chen Muyao's physical condition. This man looked strong, but in reality, he had a hard time even stepping on an ant! It was all over. Once Chen Muyao died, the life-sharing Gu would take effect, and Zhou Yulin would die as well.
Zhou Yulin was already preparing to wipe away her tears.
However, the fighting lasted for less than a minute.
The boy's clear and melodious voice rang out first, like the gentle flow of water.
"Who told you I'm a sickly man with no spiritual power?" The stunningly handsome young man moved his wrists, which he had just been exercising, and sneered, "Now are you qualified to negotiate with me, Master Liu?" He called out softly and slowly.
Under the pressure of the Nascent Soul's spiritual power, Liu Wuquan was unable to utter a single word.
The young man in front of me is definitely not Xie Wuwang. Who is he?
The old man stared intently at the person opposite him. "Who are you?"
"The one who will take your life."
The boy stood up, his clear voice languidly asking, "Now, do you recognize me?"
"I have no grudge against you."
"If I hurt her, then I will have a grudge against her."
His eyes narrowed, but his tone was full of threat.
“If you like my daughter, I… I can marry her to you.”
"Oh?" The young man smiled, his tone somewhat teasing. "I wonder which daughter Patriarch Liu is referring to?"
"If you are willing to let me go, the two of us are not out of the question."
"Two? Patriarch Liu is really generous."
This statement is extremely sarcastic and ironic.
The old man, seemingly oblivious, continued with his own delight, "They say a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl. If it's for the sake of the Liu family's revitalization, it's an honor for the two sisters." The old man's expression had shifted from arrogance to humility and flattery. "I wonder if you, sir, are satisfied with this deal?"
"It's acceptable."
Upon hearing those two words, Zhou Yulin, who was listening downstairs, could no longer sit still.
Marrying two wives is acceptable?
Chen Muyao truly lives up to his reputation as a male protagonist in restricted novels.
You're dreaming.
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