As Huang Yulang desperately fought back against the phantom trying to devour him, he saw another uninvited guest—one identical to the Striped Tiger he had slain.
He plunged into despair.
‘I can’t even handle this old geezer, and now there’s a vicious tiger out for revenge.’ Huang Yulang knew he was utterly finished.
Scenes from his past flashed uncontrollably through his mind.
He had struggled so hard to finally set foot on the path of cultivation, and for what?
Huang Yulang smiled miserably.
‘This is the path I chose.
There’s no use regretting it now.’
“Father, Mother, your son has failed you.”
“Master, Senior Brother, I won’t be able to see you again.”
ROAR—
The Striped Tiger materialized in Huang Yulang’s Sea of Consciousness, appearing behind the phantom that was relentlessly devouring his Divine Sense.
A tiger’s roar resounded through the heavens and the earth.
Huang Yulang felt his Sea of Consciousness tremble violently, as if his Three Souls and Seven Spirits had been shattered by the roar.
His eyes rolled back, and he fell completely unconscious.
The phantom soul of Yun Ji was positioned directly in front of the Striped Tiger’s gaping maw.
The terrifying sonic attack instantly shattered his soul into countless fragments.
An autumn breeze blew gently through the night, stirring faint ripples on the calm lake.
As the sky gradually brightened, Huang Yulang remained in a deep coma by the shore, his expression only flickering occasionally.
The unconscious Huang Yulang seemed to be having a very long dream.
In it, he was chased by vicious ghosts, reunited with his parents, and became an accomplished cultivator who could fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, a revered and powerful figure.
But the dream also featured a stranger.
This stranger started out as a youth making his way in the world and, after many trials, joined the Water Cloud Sect, embarking on a long and arduous journey of cultivation.
From youth to middle age and finally to his senior years, his progress was limited by his aptitude.
His cultivation remained stuck at the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation.
Despite trying countless methods, he was never able to break through to the Perfection stage.
Regretfully, he gave up and traveled to the remote Yun Country to become its National Preceptor.
The dream was fragmented, featuring all sorts of people and events, but the details were hazy.
Night fell once more before the comatose Huang Yulang finally stirred and awoke.
He was struck by a splitting headache, and it felt as if his mind was suddenly flooded with memories that weren’t his own.
They were a chaotic jumble, impossible to sort through.
“Am I dead?” Huang Yulang forced himself to focus, struggling to his feet and looking around in a daze.
Before him was still the vast Reed Lake.
Huang Yulang was stunned.
He tried to remember what had happened, but a sharp pain shot through his mind, causing him to collapse to the ground again.
After a long while, his thoughts gradually returned.
Huang Yulang remembered everything that had happened before he passed out.
His expression changed, and he quickly looked inward at his Sea of Consciousness.
The old Daoist’s soul was gone, and the big tiger was nowhere to be found.
His Sea of Consciousness, which had originally been about a hundred meters across, had now expanded to over one hundred and twenty meters, and it seemed to be brimming with Soul Power.
“I’m still alive?
I wasn’t possessed?” Huang Yulang didn’t know what had happened after he lost consciousness, but he was certain he hadn’t been taken over.
Joy erupted in his heart.
As for where Yun Ji and the big tiger had gone, he couldn’t be bothered to think about it.
He was ecstatic.
‘There are still a lot of fragmented memories in my head that aren’t mine,’ he thought, but he didn’t pay them much mind.
As long as he was alive, nothing else mattered.
“Hahaha!
Thank the heavens, I’m still alive!
Hahaha!” His head was still throbbing, but Huang Yulang laughed with pure excitement.
He quickly checked his body.
Aside from his throbbing head, he seemed to be fine.
Huang Yulang finally relaxed.
He wanted to leave this place immediately, but he had a sudden feeling he’d forgotten something important.
“The Storage Pouch?” Huang Yulang froze for a second before it hit him.
‘The old geezer’s body is still at the bottom of the lake, isn’t it?
His Storage Pouch is a real treasure, how could I just leave it?’ Information about the pouch flooded his mind; it contained not only that terrifying Magical Flying Sword but also a very important Cultivation Technique.
Huang Yulang turned to jump into the lake but paused, puzzled.
‘How did this information suddenly pop into my head?’
He was confused but couldn’t dwell on it.
‘My Master and Senior Brother both have Storage Pouches.
I’m a cultivator now, too.
How can I go without a Storage Magical Artifact like this?’
SPLASH.
Huang Yulang dove into the lake.
Over an hour later, he excitedly emerged, holding a small, purse-like Storage Pouch.
“So this is a Storage Pouch?” Huang Yulang was amazed.
It was hard to believe a palm-sized pouch could hold so much.
Without bothering to check its contents, Huang Yulang scanned his surroundings.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he got his bearings and sprinted away.
He ran without stopping until dawn, covering a vast distance.
Spotting a barren mountain in the distance, he unhesitatingly dashed into its forests and disappeared from sight.
After a full half-month of recuperation, Huang Yulang’s headache finally subsided.
At the same time, the memory fragments in his mind that weren’t his own began to grow clearer.
Sitting in a meditative posture, Huang Yulang slowly opened his eyes.
His once-stunned gaze now held a new complexity.
The memories weren’t his; they belonged to the old geezer.
It seemed the man’s possession attempt had failed.
Instead, his soul had disintegrated, becoming nourishment for Huang Yulang’s Sea of Consciousness and leaving behind fragments of his most important memories.
As he recalled scenes from the old man’s century of cultivation, Huang Yulang shook his head and sighed.
Yun Ji had been an Outer Disciple of the Water Cloud Sect and was now a Steward Elder operating outside its walls.
Even after becoming the National Preceptor of the Yun Country, he maintained contact with the Water Cloud Sect, gathering supplies each year to turn over to the sect in exchange for cultivation resources like Spirit Stones and Elixirs.
The man had been able to find him because his Cultivation Technique allowed him to lock onto a person’s aura.
And while he had killed many people, he wasn’t some great, villainous monster.
Yet he had died at Huang Yulang’s hands all the same.
Huang Yulang felt no pity for the man.
Given his position, killing was often a necessity—the same reason Huang Yulang himself had been forced to kill him.
Furthermore, he had gained a wealth of experience and information about the cultivation world from the memories, all knowledge he desperately needed.
He’d never expected to gain such a windfall from this ordeal.
Huang Yulang untied the Storage Pouch from his waist.
He focused his powerful Divine Sense and shattered the brand the previous owner had left on it.
His Divine Sense flooded the pouch.
Inside was a space about a meter wide, containing a three-foot-long, azure longsword.
It was exquisitely crafted and radiated a potent Spiritual Qi.
The sword was named the Jade Water Sword, a high-grade Water Attribute Flying Sword.
The old man had practically bankrupted himself to acquire it from the Water Cloud Sect, spending over three thousand low-grade Spirit Stones.
Huang Yulang’s Divine Sense enveloped the Jade Water Sword, forcibly dispersing the Divine Soul Brand left by its previous owner.
Only then did he take it in his hands to examine it.
“What a fine sword.” Huang Yulang had no idea what it was made of, but it was beautiful, its blade covered in profound runes.
It was leagues better than the Spirit Wood Sword his senior brother had given him as a parting gift.
Thinking of his old sword, he remembered it was now destroyed.
He had been in such a rush to leave that he hadn’t even taken the broken pieces with him.
Shaking his head, he channeled his Wood Attribute Spiritual Qi directly into the Jade Water Sword.
However, he frowned when the Jade Water Sword seemed to reject his Wood Attribute Spiritual Qi.
Even when he forced the energy into it, the Sword Qi it released was limited in power.
After a moment’s thought, Huang Yulang understood.
The Jade Water Sword could only unleash its true power when fueled by pure Water Spiritual Power—its Attribute determined as much.
Huang Yulang didn’t mind.
Even used as a common blade, it was far more powerful than his old Spirit Wood Sword.
The only problem was that his cultivation was currently too low, and he hadn’t learned Magic Techniques like the Sword Control Technique.
He remembered seeing the old Daoist form Finger Formulas, sending the Jade Water Sword shooting through the air with astonishing power.
The mere thought of it was thrilling.
Fortunately, he also had a Water Attribute Spiritual Root.
If need be, he could specialize in cultivating it in the future.
He was confident that, sooner or later, he would also be able to slay his enemies using Sword Control, just like the old geezer.
His face filled with anticipation, Huang Yulang admired the sword for a while longer before finally returning the Jade Water Sword to his Storage Pouch.
Besides the Jade Water Sword, the Storage Pouch held a few robes, some miscellaneous bottles and jars, and a dozen or so thumb-sized, rhomboid crystals of various colors.
These were Spirit Stones, the currency used for trade among cultivators.
Their different colors represented different Attributes.
Although these low-grade Spirit Stones contained a fair amount of Spiritual Power, it was too impure to be suitable for direct absorption and Refinement.
Just as Huang Yulang was about to inspect the bottles and jars, he noticed two jade tablets tucked away in a corner of the Storage Pouch.
“What’s this?” With a surge of his Divine Sense, Huang Yulang lifted the jade tablets out of the Storage Pouch and into his palm.
One was an exquisitely carved Token, bearing the three ancient seal-script characters for “Water Cloud Sect.” Huang Yulang’s eyes lit up as an idea formed in his mind.
He set the Token down.
The other tablet was a square piece of Nephrite Jade.
From the old man’s memories, Huang Yulang knew this was a legendary Cultivation Technique Jade Scroll.
The incredibly important technique he had sensed back when he left Reed Lake must be recorded on this very scroll.
Although his cultivation was too low to practice Divine Techniques right now, there was no harm in taking a look.
He pressed the Jade Scroll to his forehead and released a stream of his Divine Sense into it.
He saw it was densely packed with tiny, ancient characters written in seal script.
Celestial Soul Technique.
Seeing the name, Huang Yulang was surprised.
This wasn’t an ordinary Magic or Divine Technique, but a Secret Technique dedicated solely to cultivating the Divine Soul.
A person has Three Souls and Seven Spirits.
The first soul, Fetal Light, determines life and death.
The second, Shuang Ling, illuminates wisdom.
The third, Nether Spirit, stirs interest.
The first spirit, Non-toxic, dispels poisons.
The second, Foul Lung, regulates breath.
The third, Corpse Dog, promotes sleep.
The fourth, Swallowing Thieves, wards off external evils.
The fifth, Purification, cleanses internal maladies.
The sixth, Queyin, restores vitality.
The seventh, Fu Shi, sharpens reflexes.
The human body is itself a profound mystery, and the Three Souls and Seven Spirits are more esoteric still.
The seven spirits govern the external; regulating them strengthens the physical body, and a strong body, in turn, allows the seven spirits to flourish.
The three souls govern the internal—illuminating wisdom, stirring interest, and determining life and death.
The seven spirits nourish the three souls, regulating yin, yang, and the five elements to bring about a higher state of being.
The Celestial Soul Technique is divided into seven layers: the Human Soul, the Spirit Soul, the True Soul, the Divine Soul, the Immortal Soul, the Celestial Soul, and the legendary seventh layer, the Undying Soul.
At the Great Success stage of the Human Soul, the three souls act as one to warn of life-and-death dangers.
At the Great Success stage of the Spirit Soul, the three souls will not scatter even if the physical body perishes.
At the Great Success stage of the True Soul, the soul can leave the body at will and manifest in the world.
At the Great Success stage of the Divine Soul, one becomes as mysterious and unpredictable as a phantom descending upon the mortal realm.
At the Great Success stage of the Immortal Soul, a single thought can span myriad worlds and be entrusted to all creation.
At the Great Success stage of the Celestial Soul, one becomes the lord of gods and ghosts, their might oppressing all of creation.
And achieving the Undying Soul grants one the state of being Immortal and Undying Supreme Transcendence.