Spirit Realm Chapter 559-560

Chapter 559: Not Completely Dead…

The god corpses slaughtered all of the Pan Family clansmen in no time at all.

Once the six god corpses that went to pursue Pan Tong and the Pan Family elders returned, Qin Lie’s group discovered scorch marks and black scraps of cloth around and sticking out of their mouths.

“It seems that not even Pan Tong could avoid being devoured by the god corpses after getting burned,” Du Xiangyang said as he began to relax. He took pleasure in the Pan Family’s misfortune. “The Pan Family rushed here to try and use the remains of the ancient elites as fuel for a meteoric rise to power. They probably didn’t expect the core experts of their family to be slaughtered to the last man in just a couple of minutes.”

All of them knew that this one battle would utterly ruin the Copper rank force that the Pan Family was.

Even if Xue Moyan, Luo Chen, or Du Xiangyang didn’t seek vengeance, the Pan Family had lost so many of their expert martial practitioners. They would be torn to shreds by nearby forces and devoured.

Fighting between forces had always been bitter and bloody. One without the protection of experts couldn’t hope to defend against the attacks of others.

Upon returning to the desolate island, Song Tingyu, Du Xiangyang, Xue Moyan, Xie Jingxuan, and Luo Chen leaped from the god corpse that had carried them here. Even Gao Yu, having stored the body of the Evil God within himself upon being saved, dropped down from the god corpse with the others. All of them landed in the sand with a loud bang and then sat down on the beach once more.

Gao Yu wordlessly took out an emerald pill that looked like a brain. He sat down, swallowed it, and began regulating his breathing.

The eight god corpses resembled eight small mountains. They towered above the group, a brilliant golden sheen coming from them due to the splendid sunlight.

Qin Lie descended from the god corpse that had carried him and studied everyone’s accusing gazes. He couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

“Er… two days ago, I happened to experience a breakthrough,” he explained awkwardly. “I focused all of my attention on it… That’s why I didn’t realize what was happening to all of you.”

A few days ago, in a valley on another desolate island, Qin Lie waited for the Demon Sealing Tombstone to refine the metal, earth, and water spirits and produce droplets of essence. As he waited, he kept using spirit stones and soul crystals to try and gather his strength.

As expected, he ended up breaking through to the next realm.

As he broke through to the late stage of the Netherpassage Realm, all of his energy, his soul consciousness and spirit energy, became chaotic. He couldn’t spare even the slightest bit of his attention for anything else.

Upon finishing his breakthrough, Qin Lie immediately noticed that the eight god heads, which had been scattered around the valley, had flown into the air on their own.

The heads had shot away from the valley toward the sea in front of the island and dove into eight whirlpools raging in the water.

Qin Lie had followed them and was surprised to find that the eight headless god corpses, which Celestial Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain were supposed to have imprisoned, stood at the bottom of that region of the sea.

The eight god hands floated to their respective bodies, each fitting themselves to a neck. Although it was in the process of refining the metal, earth, and water spirits, the Demon Sealing Tombstone emerged from Qin Lie’s spatial ring of its own accord.

The tombstone moved to float high above the heads of the eight god corpses.

After positioning itself, numerous dazzling chains of godly light shot from the surface of the tombstone and entered the space between every single god corpse’s eyebrows, instantly forming a miraculous connection.

At nearly the same exact time, a prismatic halo of light shot from the surface of the Demon Sealing Tombstone and enveloped Qin Lie.

This halo of colorful light forced a memory into his soul consciousness, allowing him to instantly master some kind of ancient divine language.

As a result, he discovered that he only needed to touch the Demon Sealing Tombstone and give orders in that language. If he did, the god corpses would execute those orders to the fullest extent of their abilities.

The god corpses obeyed the commands of the Demon Sealing Tombstone. This meant that, through the Demon Sealing Tombstone, Qin Lie could indirectly control the god corpses and use them for his own purposes.

“God corpses this, god corpses that,” Du Xiangyang said as he stared at the eight intimidating god corpses glowing with golden light. He wore a look of confusion, eyes wide open. “Isn’t a god corpse already dead? How can they understand what you say?”

“Without consciousnesses, they shouldn’t be able to understand words or make sense of intent… right?” Xie Jingxuan said.

The very idea perplexed her.

“Who said that the god corpses had completely perished?” Qin Lie replied.

“They’re called god corpses, Qin Lie. God corpses!” Song Tingyu exclaimed. “Only the bodies of those who have perished would be called corpses, don’t you agree?”

“Without their heads, they can be called god corpses. However, when their heads and bodies join together to become one entity, they can no longer be considered a dead body devoid of consciousness,” Qin Lie said, narrowed eyes gleaming brightly. “They still possess simple consciousness and soul fragments. They haven’t completely perished yet.”

“They’re… not completely dead…?”

This revelation shocked everyone.

Everyone except Gao Yu.

“It’s probably the same situation as the Evil God’s,” he suddenly exclaimed. “Whenever the Evil God’s soul perishes, instead of dissipating, it becomes numerous wisps of imperishable thoughts that scatter throughout the world.”

Everyone turned to look at Gao Yu, surprise evident on their faces.

With a stoic expression on his pale face, he wiped lingering traces of blood from the corner of his mouth and said, “The souls of almost all beings that reach the Imperishable Realm and beyond don’t dissipate naturally. Even if their bodies die and their souls go silent, they may still remain scattered across the world as thought fragments.”

“It would seem that Gao Yu understands this very well.” Qin Lie smiled.

Gao Yu’s injuries swiftly stabilized after he swallowed that pill. His spirit energy reserves, which were low, also replenished at a rapid rate. This made everyone inwardly click their tongues in wonder.

All of them figured that the pill he consumed must’ve been extraordinary. They had no other way to explain his quick recovery.

“Even if a martial practitioner’s body were to die and have their soul extinguished, as long as they reached the Imperishable Realm, they can’t truly be considered dead,” Gao Yu continued, an icy expression on his face. “Unless someone uses a secret art to refine and wipe away all traces of their soul, they will never truly be killed.”

“Are you saying that the soul of a martial practitioner at the Imperishable Realm or above must be refined with the power of thunder and lightning to completely wipe out their memories, experiences, and thought fragments?” Song Tingyu asked in surprise. “Like the souls at the thunder lagoon?”

“No, nothing so troublesome.” Gao Yu shook his head. “The thunder lagoon was specifically intended for the refinement of Pure Soul Springs. The thunder and lightning of the thunder lagoon was gentle and only suited for tempering a soul. In order to destroy a soul, you would only need to blast it with the most violent power of thunder for an instant, reducing it to nothing.”

“So what exactly are the Evil God and the god corpses?” Song Tingyu questioned further.

“The Evil God and the god corpses… their bodies were probably formed after their imperishable souls self-destructed.” Gao Yu paused for a moment before continuing, “Even if this were considered the death of one’s soul, it cannot be considered a true death. In the future, under the right circumstances, these remnant souls that perish on their own accord have the chance to reconstitute and be reborn in nirvana.”

“A soul can be reborn even after self-destructing?” Xie Jingxuan was also shocked.

“Not every soul! Only an imperishable soul!” Gao Yu impatiently corrected her. “Only beings who reach or have surpassed the Imperishable Realm can choose to self-destruct in the face of a powerful enemy they aren’t able to resist. It allows them to avoid complete annihilation.”

His words stunned everyone into silence.

“Gao Yu is correct.” Qin Lie smiled calmly, then added, “These eight god corpses may have been beheaded, but they couldn’t be considered completely dead. They used the method that Gao Yu explained to make their souls self-destruct and scatter through every corner of the world. Soul fragments subconsciously return to their body if they are close to it. Over the course of many years, if enough return, the body will regain a semblance of simple consciousness and a weak soul aura.”

“Many remnant soul thoughts get absorbed and refined by martial practitioners that happen upon them, whether they do so by coincidence or good fortune,” Gao Yu continued. “These remnant souls would no longer be able to return to the body.”

“Remnant souls of Imperishable Realm beings or stronger randomly roam this world,” Qin Lie said solemnly. “After being worn down over long periods of time, they become incredibly faint, almost indistinguishable to the point where even peak experts aren’t able to sense them. Some remnant souls that endure the ravages of time might only have hints of memories inside of them. They end up with these memories when they aimlessly wander into special places. More importantly, people can obtain remnant souls by accident.”

“By accident?” Du Xiangyang asked, a strange light appearing in his eyes.

“You’ve probably heard of martial practitioners that reached the most difficult, critical points in their cultivation, such as breaking through to the next realm, and suddenly had flashes of inspiration, right?” Qin Lie asked. “They would seem to have abruptly understood the laws of the world, almost as if a god had explained a miraculous spirit art to them.”

Du Xiangyang wasn’t alone. A thoughtful expression appeared on everyone’s face, all of whom began nodding soon afterward.

“There are many examples of that. Three hundred years ago, there was a senior of Heavenly Sword Mountain that had been stuck in the Fragmentation Realm for many years. One day, while he was cultivating at the peak of a mountain, he felt a sudden rush of inspiration and learned an amazing sword art. That sword art is known as the ‘Nine Suns Flaming Sword Art.’ The sword art I cultivate is a variation of it.”

Du Xiangyang recounted this tale in wonder.

“It is said that, ten thousand years ago, a person named the ‘Nine Suns Heavenly Monarch’ used a spirit art called ‘Nine Suns Daylight.’ The Nine Suns Heavenly Monarch perished a long time ago, of course, but Nine Suns Daylight and the Nine Suns Flaming Sword Art are extremely similar to each other. Maybe…”

“Similar records exist within Illusory Demon Sect as well,” Xue Moyan exclaimed softly. “Seven hundred years ago, an Illusory Demon Sect disciple with extremely low talent experienced a fiendish rebound while cultivating. Everyone thought that he had become an invalid as a result. However, when he awoke from the ordeal, he actually learned some kind of dark demonic secret arts. From then on, he seemed to have transformed into an entirely different person. He became extremely intelligent, his cultivation of Illusory Demon Sect’s spirit arts progressed by leaps and bounds, and he became the most dazzling genius in all of Illusory Demon Sect’s history in one go. Could it be that…”

“He may very well have coincidentally absorbed the soul fragment and memory of an Imperishable Realm expert!” Qin Lie said gravely.

“Does that mean the Evil God and the god corpses have yet to completely die?” Luo Chen asked in amazement.

“Some of the bodies of ancient elites from the Land of Buried Gods are in the same situation as them. Their souls haven’t completely dissipated,” Qin Lie said with a nod. “I can confirm that the Blood Progenitor and the Voodoo Progenitor have not died completely.”

Even more shock leaped to everyone’s faces.

“You’ve obtained the body of the Evil God, Gao Yu. Are you going to refine and absorb his inheritance to empower yourself… or are you going to seek out his remnant souls and regather his soul?” Qin Lie suddenly asked.

“What are you planning to do with the Blood Progenitor’s body?” Gao Yu retorted.

Qin Lie paused for a moment, then coughed dryly and smiled. He no longer pursued his question.

“Qin Lie, you…?” Xue Moyan exclaimed in complete surprise. “The Blood Progenitor may not be completely dead, but you… you’re going to…? Qin Lie, he’s the progenitor of Blood Fiend Sect!”

“I will assume that he is completely dead,” Qin Lie said calmly.

Chapter 560: Splitting the Spoils

In all actuality, Qin Lie didn’t consider himself beholden to Blood Fiend Sect. He certainly wouldn’t treat the Blood Progenitor as an elder.

The body of the Blood Progenitor was just a tool to him.

The remnant souls of the Blood Progenitor had yet to gather in the body, so he only saw it as a weapon at his disposal.

If Qin Lie were to allow the Blood Progenitor’s remnant souls to reform into a whole and let him revive, what would happen?

Perhaps the Blood Progenitor’s first act would be to kill them!

Qin Lie didn’t want to bring trouble upon himself, nor did he want to let go of the prize already in his possession, so he never planned to gather the Blood Progenitor’s remnant souls.

“But… m-my father…” Xue Moyan’s voice trailed off.

Xue Li’s body had been destroyed and half his soul had been refined, which left him desiring a new body. Before Qin Lie entered the Graveyard of Gods, his main goal had been to find the body of the Blood Progenitor for Xue Li to possess.

However, once they reached the Land of Buried Gods, Qin Lie inadvertently used his True Soul to go inside of the Blood Progenitor’s body and use its power.

The Blood Progenitor’s body could be considered useful to Qin Lie as well. If he used it like a spirit artifact, it would make Qin Lie significantly stronger. Since that was possible, would he still be willing to give it to Xue Li?

Xue Moyan couldn’t be certain.

Everyone stared at Qin Lie, eyes shimmering because they were dying to see what he had decided on.

“I entered the Graveyard of Gods with two goals in mind. Finding traces of my grandfather and learning whether or not he died in the Graveyard of Gods came first,” Qin Lie said with a smile. “Finding the body of the Blood Progenitor for Senior Xue Li came second. Before entering, I promised him that I would do my best to get it for him.”

Xue Moyan’s face lit up with excitement, her hopes rising once more.

“You’re right.” Qin Lie smiled and nodded, then firmly said, “I plan to give the Blood Progenitor’s body to your father so his soul can possess it.”

Xue Moyan gazed at him in disbelief.

“So daring!” Du Xiangyang instinctively praised Qin Lie.

Luo Chen gave Qin Lie a strange look as if he were meeting him for the first time. He couldn’t help but look at him again.

However, after a moment of quiet, disappointment appeared on Song Tingyu’s face.

She had always been on Qin Lie’s side and knew that Qin Lie’s relationship with Xue Li was one of cooperation. They definitely weren’t close like a student and a teacher.

She figured that, even if Qin Lie chose not to give the valuable body of the Blood Progenitor to Xue Li, he still wouldn’t owe him anything.

Strictly speaking, Qin Lie really didn’t owe Xue Li a thing. Xue Li had taught Qin Lie the Blood Spirit Art, and Qin Lie had helped Xue Li break free of the spirit pattern pillars.

Both of them were even.

“Thank you!” Xue Moyan said sincerely, bowing.

Qin Lie waved his hand and shook his head. “Don’t thank me so soon. You saw the bloody spirit diagrams inscribed into the Blood Progenitor’s body. They connect it to me and… I can control it. If Senior Xue Li wants to possess the body of the Blood Progenitor, it might mean that I’ll still hold power over him.”

“What?” Xue Moyan gasped in shock. “How can that be?”

“I don’t know.” Qin Lie grimaced. “Later, when Senior Xue Li sees the Blood Progenitor’s body, he’ll decide what to do.”

“And here I was, thinking that you were being extremely generous,” Luo Chen said coldly. “So that’s how it is… hmph!”

Du Xiangyang continued to grin.

It also occurred to him that, even if Xue Li possessed the body of the Blood Progenitor, Qin Lie would still be able to control and use it.

“Let’s see what Senior Xue Li decides on,” Qin Lie said, shrugging helplessly. “I won’t force him.”

“Are there any problems with the bodies of the ancient elites just laying around, Qin Lie?” Du Xiangyang suddenly asked. “What’s your plan?”

“This area is vast and doesn’t have anything that we can use as a suitable hiding place. We can’t stay here for long.” Qin Lie thought to himself for a moment, then said, “The Blood Cloud Mountain Range of the Heavenly Calamity Continent is a good place for that. It’s a pity that Blood Fiend Sect is still public enemy number one. Once people find out we’re there, we’ll immediately be pursued by the three great families. Even with these eight god corpses, we aren’t a match for them, so we can’t go there at the moment.”

“Then… where can we go?” Du Xiangyang asked in astonishment.

“Do any of you know of places nearby that are well-hidden and not far from a continent?” Qin Lie asked. “There has to be somewhere we can hide the bodies of these ancient elites, they can’t be stored in spatial rings.”

Gao Yu had been able to store the body of the Evil God inside of him because it had acknowledged him. The Evil God then shrank into a black grain of rice that Gao Yu was able to put away.

Qin Lie could store the body of the Blood Progenitor in much the same way. However, instead of gaining its acknowledgement, Qin Lie had a connection to the body through the spirit diagrams.

Qin Lie’s True Soul could enter the mind of the Blood Progenitor, so he would naturally have a way to store the body.

Unfortunately, aside from the body of the Blood Progenitor, Qin Lie couldn’t store the eight giant god corpses, let alone all the bodies of the ancient elites.

“We need to find a place to hide all of the bodies?” Xue Moyan blinked, her eyelashes fluttering.

“You know of a suitable place?” Qin Lie asked hurriedly.

He had to find somewhere to hide the bodies of the ancient elites as well as the eight god corpses. If he couldn’t, others would eventually find them.

This region of the sea was close to the Heavenly Calamity Continent and the Heavenly Slaughter Continent. Xue Moyan happened to be familiar with both continents, so she had an idea of places they could hide the bodies.

“When every force banded together a thousand years ago and destroyed Blood Fiend Sect, my mother and many uncles from the sect travelled far from the Heavenly Slaughter Continent and found an extremely well-hidden place to take shelter.” Xue Moyan hesitated for a moment, then said, “The remaining members of Blood Fiend Sect have been cultivating there ever since.”

She looked at Luo Chen and the others, then fell silent.

Aside from herself and Qin Lie, who both cultivated the Blood Spirit Art and could be considered members of Blood Fiend Sect, everyone else was an outsider.

Even until now, Blood Fiend Sect remained public enemies of every continent and faced the oppression of every force. Black Voodoo Cult and the three great families zealously hunted down the survivors of Blood Fiend Sect. The location in which they hid definitely couldn’t be exposed.

Xue Moyan couldn’t afford to trust anyone other than Qin Lie.

“We won’t go with you.” Du Xiangyang raised his hand to make his opinion known. “I want one body of an ancient elite. If I can take it and absorb the fire energy inside of it, I’ll leave.”

“I also found a body that is suitable for me,” Luo Chen said with a snort. “If I can have it, I’ll leave as well and turn a blind eye to your matters.”

“If we can find a boat, I’ll leave too, Qin Lie,” Gao Yu said.

“You’re not coming with us?” Qin Lie didn’t care about Du Xiangyang or Luo Chen, instead turning his attention to Gao Yu. “Where are you going?”

“I journeyed from the Scarlet Tide Continent to the Land of Chaos just to participate in the Trial and find the body of the Evil God,” Gao Yu stated bluntly. “I’ve achieved my objective and have other things to do. So… I won’t be going with you.”

“Where will you go? Back to the Scarlet Tide Continent?” Qin Lie asked, his brow furrowed.

“First, I need to find Jia Yue and find a way to banish the ice spirit from her body. After that… I have my own destination.”

Gao Yu didn’t explain any further.

Like Xue Moyan, he only trusted Qin Lie. He didn’t want anyone else to know.

“I have ways to help all of you obtain the bodies of ancient elites that fit the spirit arts that each of you cultivate, but I cannot help you with ones that do not. You won’t be able to take those ones,” Qin Lie said gravely. “As for the ones that suit each of you, you’ll need to find a ship to transport them. I’ve searched for all of the bodies and found twenty-three on the islands and in the water nearby. There are seven of us, so we’ll be able to have at least three per person.”

The moment he said all of this, everyone trembled and looked at him in disbelief.

“What? You have a way for us to store these bodies?” Du Xiangyang shouted in shock.

“You’re willing to split all twenty three bodies evenly among us!?” Luo Chen stared at Qin Lie deeply.

“Maybe we should split them up according to contribution?” Song Tingyu said worriedly.

In her opinion, everyone would have been buried in the Forbidden Land of Ice if it weren’t for Qin Lie.

Since Qin Lie saved everyone’s lives, all of the spoils logically belonged to him.

Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, and even her and Xie Jingxuan didn’t deserve any of the spoils.

She felt that Qin Lie should just take everything!

“I have the Demon Sealing Tombstone, the eight god corpses, the blood essences of six of the seven spirits, and the six Pure Soul Springs,” Qin Lie said with a smile. “I feel like I should split the bodies of the ancient elites with you and am willing to do so.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

Before Qin Lie told everyone that he would split the spoils evenly amongst everyone, Du Xiangyang and Luo Chen only wanted one body of an ancient elite that suited them. Even then, they thought that Qin Lie wouldn’t have necessarily allowed them to have that much.

Their thoughts were basically the same as Song Tingyu’s. They figured that, since they hadn’t helped in the Forbidden Land of Ice and nearly became a burden to Qin Lie, they didn’t deserve anything.

None of them would have escaped the Graveyard of Gods without Qin Lie.

All of them would have died.

Deep inside, Du Xiangyang and Luo Chen saw the bodies as Qin Lie’s rightful reward. Although they wanted to have one each, they were afraid that Qin Lie wouldn’t want to give them away and naturally didn’t dare to be greedier.

The moment they heard Qin Lie say he would distribute all twenty three bodies amongst them, they found it difficult to believe him.

“R-really? You’d be willing to do that?” Du Xiangyang asked excitedly.

“The six of you can choose three bodies each. I’ll take the other five,” Qin Lie suggested. “If Chu Li is still alive, I’ll give three to him and keep two for myself. How does that sound?”

“Great!”

Aside from Song Tingyu, who felt nothing but regret, everyone else nodded vigorously, exhilaration on their faces.

“Senior Sister Xue, let us first go to the place you spoke of. Blood Fiend Sect can’t just hide like this forever,” Qin Lie said, looking at Xue Moyan. “Du Xiangyang and the others know that we cultivate the Blood Spirit Art. If they really wanted to deal with us, all they’d have to do is share that information.”

“Once I return to Heavenly Sword Mountain, I’ll talk to my grandmother. I’ll do everything I can to convince her to use her power to change Heavenly Sword Mountain’s view of Blood Fiend Sect!” Luo Chen promised.

Although it was extremely difficult for her, Xue Moyan agreed with Qin Lie.

“Alright then. Let’s go.”