“Oh, shit, my head hurts…”
I had no idea how long I’d been asleep.
When I woke up, the Xu Tide had already ended. There were no more Spatial Rifts outside the village, and the rampaging Monsters were gone.
The villagers had resumed their work, and order had returned.
Cluru was sitting at a table not far away. Across from her was the one who saved me, the enviable and infuriating Foxy Sister Liyah, with her mature, beautiful, big mouth.
“So… you’re looking to recover their Soul Fragments?” Cluru was sniffling, wiping away tears, as if she had just heard a heartbreakingly tragic story.
“Mm.”
Sister Liyah smiled. There was a touch of weariness in her smile, a bit of self-mockery, nothing like a child:
“I’ve waited a long time for this day. The establishment of Reincarnation gave me a chance to mend what was broken… This time, I won’t let it slip away again.”
“Wuwuwu, that’s too tragic!” Cluru grabbed a pile of tissues and blew her nose hard.
“?”
Did I miss some major story animation?
“Mmm—”
I weakly moved my arm, trying my best to sit up.
Only to tumble down onto the floor.
“I mean… are you two just going to watch me fall like that?”
I simply lay on the ground in resignation, rolling my eyes.
“A Cultivator won’t get hurt from a little fall.” Sister Liyah looked at me unconcernedly, showing no intention to help.
But what about you, Cluru?! You lousy octopus, how could you betray me too?
“You flashed a light in my eyes, so we’re even.”
Fine, fine, I’d heard octopuses hold grudges, and now I was experiencing it firsthand.
“But why were you crying so hard? Did someone step on your tentacle?” I looked at Cluru in confusion.
“Let’s help this Senior Sister!” Cluru picked me up with her tentacles, shaking me, “She’s so pitiful. Let’s help her find her lover’s Soul!”
“What nonsense is that… She’s just a little kid, how could she have a lover?” I was completely baffled.
“You can’t judge a Cultivator’s age by their appearance.” Sister Liyah sipped her tea.
“So how old are you?”
“Twelve.”
“……”
“Anyway, let’s help her!” Cluru shook me even harder.
Up and down, left and right, back and forth.
I was about to throw up from all the shaking.
“Stop, stop, stop, stop! Fine, fine, we’ll help, okay? It’s just Resurrection, right? Just yell, ‘Rise again, my beloved!’ and it’ll all be fine, right?”
“This is a serious matter—stop joking around!” Cluru shook me again.
“Aaah, okay, I get it! Let me down!”
Only then did Cluru set me down, holding me in her arms like a baby, patting me to comfort me.
“So, your lover had an accident, her Soul was shattered, and now you want to find the pieces?”
“Mm…” Sister Liyah nodded sadly.
“For something like this, you should look for Hou Tu, she’s the expert at this!”
“I did,” Sister Liyah sighed gloomily, “But she’s been gone too long. Even Hou Tu couldn’t find it in a short time.”
“There’s actually a Soul even Hou Tu can’t recover? That’s impossible, even if it was from a few hundred years ago, it wouldn’t stump her.”
“It’s been more than a few hundred years.”
“More than?” I drew in a sharp breath, “If I may ask, how long ago did your lover pass away?”
“A few thousand…”
“Ha, just a few thousand? That’s easy.”
“…… quintillions upon quintillions.” Sister Liyah paused, then finished her sentence.
“……”
Are you here to mess with me?
Has the universe even existed that long??
“You two can’t help, so don’t trouble yourselves.” Sister Liyah stood up, “I’ve already tried every method I could.
Trust me, I’ve tried more than enough. Anything you could do, I’ve already done.
Alright, I’m leaving. Xiao Ming and Shaori said you all went into the Wenxue Ancient Realm. Master Yiqin sent me to protect you through the Xu Tide. Now that it’s over, it’s time for me to go.”
“Wait! Wait!”
I scrambled to my feet and shouted at Sister Liyah’s departing back, “There’s something you said that I absolutely don’t agree with—‘Anything you could do, I’ve already done’? I can’t accept that.”
“You’ll just have to accept it. Some destinies simply cannot be changed.”
“? Saying that makes me doubt if your tail is real or just an accessory.
Of all the long-tailed people I know, not a single one bows to fate.”
“Heh.” Sister Liyah neither confirmed nor denied.
“Add a few more quintillions if you like. The Soul isn’t material; material things don’t change structure with the passage of time, there’s no atomic decay.”
Sister Liyah’s steps slowed: “Then what is the true nature of the Soul?”
“If you ask from a biological standpoint, it’s just the electrical signals between neurons—there’s no such thing as a Soul, really. Once the body dies, it’s dead.”
“What about outside of biology?”
“If your eyes could do more than just ‘capture light,’ and had ‘cryptic pigments’ that allowed you to see magnetic fields, then you’d see… after a living being dies, there really is a Soul.”
“Especially Cultivators, who have developed the ability to use spiritual energy as a substitute for neurons—their Souls are clearer and stronger.”
“What about those who aren’t Cultivators?”
“Then we have to talk about the Reincarnation Disk—because it not only created the Underworld, but an entire system, a set of rules.
A system where, after every living being dies, the Reincarnation Disk creates a neuron carrier for them to transfer and protect their Soul.
So the Reincarnation Disk gave everything a Soul, gave life meaning, and gave death a place to belong.”
Dahlia turned around, tilting her head: “Looks like you know quite a bit.”
“Maybe I don’t know as much as you, but I’ve had my own share of adventures and unique insights.” I answered with a confident smile.
Dahlia returned to sit at the table.
Cluru glanced at me, then at Dahlia.
She quickly used her tentacles to move me to the chair opposite Dahlia, then brought over a little stool for herself, lying on the table and staring at us with excitement.
“You’re right, but before the Reincarnation Disk existed, even further back, before all the infinite, chaotic, formless universes were born—what happened to the Souls of those lives?” Dahlia asked.
“You’re too fixated on the words ‘Soul.’” I shook my head, “Or maybe, you care too much about ‘existence.’”
“Of course I care, because the Soul is the basis of her existence. If I want her back, I need her complete Soul.”
“Heh.” I chuckled, but didn’t continue discussing the topic of Souls. Instead, I changed the subject, “Do you know Di Jiang?”
“Di Jiang?” Dahlia frowned, “That ancient immortal remnant with the strange face?”
“Yes, that’s him. His face is really odd, all his features squished tightly together, but his head is huge, with the rest of the space just blank…”
“Why bring him up?”
Di Jiang’s appearance was honestly mentally disturbing.
“He didn’t always look like that. The reason he became like this… you can actually blame me.”
“You?”
I sighed softly: “That day, when I was absorbing the law of space, space collapsed, and we were dragged by the chaotic space into a… terrifying place.
A place that, even now, I dare not recall, nor can I comprehend.”