Chapter 106 The Spirit Boy, the Wonderful Use of the Dragon Balls...
The seventh day of the third lunar month, in a Miao village.
Ah Ling has gone missing.
Yesterday, on the day of the young woman's wedding, the entire Miao village was stained with blood. The moment the news reached her, she removed her silver crown and went into the village to slay a demon—
She had seen such a tragic scene in Snow City, but the girl never imagined how she would walk step by step on the road to the Miao village when the cold snow of the far north turned into the gentle breeze of her hometown.
Qingyu's killing formation brought peace to everything, and the Dragon Pearl was saved... as well as Su Xuanzhen, who ultimately left alone. The nine-tailed fox demon, after entering the Thousand Mountains, could never be found again—
Except for her.
A-Ling was dressed in her wedding gown. Her older sister ran over to help her up. Her mother was busy treating the injured with everyone else. Her father, dragging his injured body, kept thanking the cultivators from all races who had helped him that day.
Aguge is dead, and Azhao is in a coma.
But none of them blamed her—they said that Ah Ling had been deceived by a demon, and it was the demon's fault.
Ah Ling took one last look at the bustling, chaotic crowd, and gave a soft, bitter, and powerless smile.
"No, I was wrong."
...
She disappeared suddenly, but left them a letter—
She wouldn't do anything foolish; she just wanted to go out for a walk.
She really had no other choice.
...
Ah Zhao remained asleep, as if she had fallen into some kind of deep sleep. The little girl lay on the bed, breathing evenly, and did not wake up for a whole day.
Lin Fanxiang sat by the bed to take her pulse. The woman sighed silently, got up, shook her head at Azhi, and gestured for them to go outside and talk.
Outside, they all stood there. Besides Qingyu and the others, there was only the boy carrying the coffin. The cultivators from the Wa and Tu tribes had left this morning; the journey was short, and now that things were over, they wanted to go home and report back as soon as possible.
After all, what happened yesterday was no small matter.
Lin Fanxiang: "Ah Zhao's physical condition is fine. She may have been too frightened yesterday, and she is stuck in that moment and cannot wake up."
Upon hearing this, Azhi lowered her eyes and said, "Is it because... the child is too young and has been frightened out of his wits?"
"The Western tribe... the Western tribe's shamans might be able to cure it..."
She said this with a very haggard face, but there was nothing she could do; yesterday was a day of joy for everyone…
Today, Agu died, Aling went missing, and Azhao couldn't wake up... As the eldest daughter of the Miao people, she had to pull herself together, save people and heal the wounded, and hadn't had a moment's rest.
"If it's a soul that's been frightened away, I might be able to cure it."
Suddenly, a boy's voice, still somewhat childish, rang out, and everyone looked towards the strange boy carrying a coffin—
Although he was called a teenager, he still felt like a child, around thirteen or fourteen years old. He came with an invitation from the Western tribe and carried a large coffin on his back, which looked rather comical. However, he was surprisingly good at fighting, wielding the coffin with great flair.
Zhang Xuan looked at him. "I haven't asked yet... who you are?"
Qin Tianshu looked at the young boy thoughtfully. The scholar asked,
"Are you... a human or a ghost?"
Xie Tongguang looked up. The young man was carrying a coffin half a head taller than him. The sunlight cast a deep shadow. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and gave a sinister smile, revealing his white teeth—
"you guess?"
Qingyu leaned against the wooden stake under the eaves. The girl smiled when she heard this, "It's all the same."
Wen Chuan glanced at him indifferently. This child possessed an incredibly strong ghostly aura; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a ghost cultivator from Fengdu.
"Spiritual practice, summoning spirits?"
Spiritual cultivators are a type of cultivator that lies between human and ghost cultivators. They are like humans, yet also like ghosts; they are not even accepted by ghosts.
Few people in the Nine Provinces know about this kind of cultivator, because such people are extremely rare, and they die young—to put it simply, they are spiritual beings who can see people, demons, and ghosts.
Azhi was somewhat bewildered, but hearing their words, she asked anxiously, "Can you save Azhao?"
Xie Tongguang: "I don't know... We need to find out where her soul is first. I didn't see her soul here."
As he spoke, the young boy looked up at Qingyu and the others, "You guys are really amazing."
A powerful demon instantly annihilated countless mischievous lesser demons; a sword cultivator was instantly recognizable as a spiritual cultivator; even a scholar, a female healer, and the one next to him... a sword cultivator who was afraid of ghosts?
Zhang Xuan was originally standing next to Xie Tongguang, but as they talked, the boy slowly began to move, until he stood next to Qin Tianshu, at which point his stiff body relaxed slightly.
Qin Tianshu: "..."
What will we do when we get to Fengdu?
Zhang Xuan turned his head slightly to look at the scholar, his eyes filled with numbness. He lowered his voice to save face, "I was reading last night."
He was bored, so he went to read the ghost stories Qin Tianshu had given him.
Qin Tianshu: "..."
Qingyu didn't care about any of that. The girl crossed her arms and tilted her head back slightly as she pondered the scene she had witnessed when she entered the bathhouse: Agu's corpse, the fox demon, the human heart, Azhao, the magnolia flower... and the dragon ball.
Qingyu and Wenchuan exchanged a glance. "Dragon Ball?"
...
Speaking of the Dragon Balls, Qingyu had a vague idea of why A-Ling had disappeared—
The red fox in the main room was the one that Shangguan Han'er bought at the Yunzhou Auction, and it was also the one that A Ling was unable to buy.
At that time, I heard from A-Gu that A-Ling wanted to buy it for A-Zhi, who was in Jianxue City at the time. She meant well, thinking that her sister had nothing from her hometown in a foreign land, and wanted to buy it to make her happy.
As a result, the Shangguan family was very arrogant when her sister married into Jianxue, especially since her brother-in-law Wen Guhuaiyuan had a high opinion of Shangguan Ming. Naturally, A-Ling disliked the Shangguan family very much, not to mention the auction that day and the "price gouging" of the two rooms.
On the day the Shangguan family was massacred, when Qingyu passed by Shangguan Han'er's corpse for the last time, she noticed something wriggling faintly inside her mouth. The girl wasn't afraid; she knelt down and pried open Shangguan Han'er's mouth—
That was a Gu worm.
Although we don't know exactly what happened between them, Shangguan Han'er's final madness and death bear the shadow of A Ling. The red fox was also brought back to Yizhou by A Ling.
And the fox clan that ultimately fought for the Dragon Ball was that red fox.
Fate is cruel. Although the true grudges behind this are unknown, the Dragon Pearl is indeed a treasure, perhaps even possessing uses they are unaware of. Otherwise, the Miao tribe wouldn't have spent such a fortune to buy it, and the fox tribe wouldn't have fought so fiercely for it.
"Used in medicine, for raising Gu poisonous insects."
Ah Zhi said somewhat helplessly, "Grinding dragon pearls into powder can make Gu worms grow faster, and they may even contain more spiritual energy, making their Gu nature stronger."
"We also saw it in an ancient book. The Dragon Ball has been hidden in the deep sea for many years and contains a great deal of spiritual energy... It says that if the Dragon Ball is ground into powder and added to the blood of the person taking the medicine, and then taken together, it can improve one's talent, fundamentally expand one's spiritual veins, and make the 'talent' of a demon or cultivator extremely strong."
"At that time, we already... our target was A-Zhao. Later, a shaman elder from the Western tribe took the initiative to come to us."
"The elder didn't actually know what had happened. He only told my father that there was a dark aura in the Miao village, as if it was doing something against the will of Heaven. If it continued, it would surely jeopardize the fate of the Miao people."
“After much deliberation, our father said that using dragon pearls in medicine to improve one’s natural talent was a deception, and for the sake of the future, we could no longer continue to use dragon pearl powder in medicine.”
"After that, we never ground the Dragon Ball into powder again. The remaining Dragon Ball powder was only used to raise Gu, and the Dragon Ball was always kept deep in the main room."
They were too greedy, wanting to use dragon ball powder in medicine to improve the natural talents of this generation of Miao children, fundamentally turning them into the chosen ones of heaven...
The crowd fell silent for a moment. Dragon Balls, blood, talent... truly, an unexpected and incredibly alluring effect, a way to entice demons.
Qingyu finally said, "Let's put all that aside for now. I suspect... that part of A-Zhao's soul is inside the Dragon Ball."
Xie Tongguang spread his hands upon hearing this, "I can only say that I really didn't see the little girl's soul. Either it drifted away, or as you said, it went into something."
"Oh, and if the Dragon Balls really do contain spiritual energy as you say... then her soul definitely can't get out."
Humans have three souls: Heaven, Earth, and Man. Once any one of these souls is incorporated into the absolute spirit, it's like ink being dropped into the ocean. How could it possibly be extracted? If you're lucky, that soul will lose consciousness and be considered dead. If you're unlucky, the soul will forever remain hidden in that spirit, weeping, neither alive nor dead for eternity.
Zhang Xuan: "Then what should we do? What if the soul really is hidden inside the Dragon Ball..."
"Easy,"
Xie Tongguang said naturally, "Just like I said, grind the whole dragon ball into powder and have Ah Zhao drink it."
Well, filling an ink bottle into the sea... is better than separating that single drop of ink from the ocean.
The entire Dragon Ball?!
Lin Fanxiang frowned, "The Dragon Balls possess immense spiritual energy; even ordinary ones are highly nourishing when used in medicine. Ah Zhao is still so young."
Qin Tianshu lowered his eyes, his scholarly voice unusually somber, “There is no other way… If a person’s divided soul enters such a spiritual object, it is extremely difficult to extract it.”
"and……"
"And the best outcome is death, otherwise a soul that knows nothing will stay in the spirit world day and night, neither alive nor dead."
Xie Tongguang, who looked to be thirteen or fourteen but was actually only twelve, said frankly,
"Believe me, psychics are professionals when it comes to the study of souls."
Although his words were calm, even somewhat comical, the underlying message was still heartbreaking—
Yesterday morning, A-Zhao was perfectly fine. The little girl was running around energetically, and everyone in the Miao village liked to tease her, to which she would respond with a smile.
Qingyu remembered that when they parted the night before last, A-Zhao's face was flushed, not from being drunk, just from being red. She was treasuring the magnolia flower, her face beaming with joy.
"Sister Qingyu's flowers are so beautiful. I will definitely cultivate hard, make good friends with both humans and demons in the future, and then protect them!"
The little girl was born in winter. She's supposed to be eleven years old, but she's actually only ten years old and a few months old. She's so young. If she were really in Dragon Ball, unable to see the light or hear the sound day and night, just crying, walking, and guarding...
Qingyu first looked at Wen Chuan, "Will the spirit-summoning technique work?"
Wen Chuan shook his head helplessly, "The Dragon Ball is taken from the body of a dragon. Once it attracts a spirit, it will dissipate. If A Zhao's soul is really inside, it will also disappear."
A moment of silence fell over the crowd; it seemed that only Xie Tongguang's absurd method remained...
Finally, Qingyu looked up at Azhi and said, "Sister Azhi, give it a try."
Cai Cai: "Coo coo coo".
The chick chirped a few times in Qin Tianshu's arms, as if it understood their words and echoed their idea.
Let's give it a try. If we don't, a child as young as A-Zhao will be trapped for eternity, unable to live or die.
Azhi lowered her eyes, her eyes reddening, as if tears were about to fall. "I...I need to discuss it with my father...No, no,"
She suddenly uttered these words, and the woman seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, or perhaps she was slowly pondering.
Finally, she looked up at everyone and said, "I'll make the decision. The Dragon Ball... will be fed to A-Zhao."
Father and elders had already said that Azhi had gone home, Agu was too foolish, and Aling and Azhao were too young... From now on, Azhi would be the next head of the Miao village.
These past two days... my parents seem to have aged more than ten years. When they received the letter about A-Ling's disappearance, my mother almost fainted. My father was also taking care of her. Otherwise, they would definitely come to see A-Zhao now.
At this moment... she must stand up, whether it's making decisions or stabilizing the hearts of the villagers, she will ultimately bear all the consequences and pressures.
A-Ling looked at Xie Tongguang and said, "Although I don't know who you are, you came to the banquet with an invitation from the Western Clan and claimed to be a spiritual cultivator. Fine, I'll believe you."
"I just want to ask, what's the worst possible outcome if Ah-Zhao were to take the entire Dragon Ball?"
Xie Tongguang paused for a moment, then the young boy sighed, looked up at Azhi, and said...
“I can help her summon her soul, but I need spiritual power. As long as there is enough spiritual power, A-Zhao will definitely be able to live.”
"Since her soul and the Dragon Ball have entered her body at the same time, she may very well become uncontrollable in the future. As for how uncontrollable she will become... it depends on the properties of the Dragon Ball itself."
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