Volume 2: The Source of Life Chapter 1: The Origin of Soul Masters

  In the northern part of Mozambique, in the Marrabenta Mountains, there is a mysterious area called the Lost Forest by locals. The forest is at an altitude of 1,600 meters and due to its rugged terrain and some terrifying legends passed down among local indigenous people, few people set foot here.

  The endless forest stretches as far as the eye can see, seemingly sprawling since ancient times. All sorts of strange and peculiar plants fill the entire space, surrounding you on all sides. Commonly seen are those gigantic trees that block out the sky, so large that three to five people can't wrap their arms around them.

  The branches of the giant tree crisscrossed, with thick and sturdy branch willows growing out from the branches and hanging down. Some even spanned tens of meters in distance, straightly inserting into the soil, and among them, many arm-thick tendrils of plants entwined each other.

  In the dense forest below, a three-man team made its way through the thorny thickets of shrubs.

  "Crossing this forest and then crossing the Kenlata Mountain Canyon, we will arrive at our Nongshen Fortress's Ma Bu Mountain. There are probably still three days of journey!" Lin Miao Xian said encouragingly.

  Since she stepped into this forest, she seemed to have come back to life. Although her facial expression was still not rich, the flash of light in her eyes revealed the joy of a traveler returning home.

  That night, Lin Muxian immediately contacted the top and roughly explained the situation. Not long after, the top issued an order, no longer waiting for someone to be sent over to arrest her, letting her return to headquarters on her own to report back.

  Under the arrangement of Tianlong Association, we three people took a two-day flight with multiple transfers and arrived in Mozambique, southern Africa.

  The people of Tianlonghui, we left before entering the forest.

  "Hmm, master, what if I insist on my own opinion and they use torture to force a confession when there's no evidence?" I asked while leading the way with a wooden staff, carrying a heavy load on my back.

  "Rest assured, we are the Requiem Masters of propriety and will not resort to such barbaric measures. At the Ancestral Temple, according to tradition, we shall have the authority to witness with our own eyes what transpired that night from Peter's very soul."

  At this, I felt at ease and wasn't worried anymore. I smiled and asked: "Master, you've always been unwilling to talk about the affairs of our sect before. Is it okay to talk now? As an outsider who has just arrived, let me get a grasp on things."

  All along, I intentionally or unintentionally kept steering the conversation towards the composition of the Soul Master's power. From a large country to a small organization or family, there is always a distribution and composition of power.

  One way to quickly and intuitively understand an organization is to understand its power structure.

  Lin Miao furrowed his brow and said in a low voice, "You haven't received the official recognition of the sect yet, according to the rules I shouldn't tell you. But don't worry, we're almost there."

  "Oh! Never mind then, can't trouble you." I pretended to be disappointed and smiled, slowing down my pace.

  Lin Mou Xian hummed: "Stop always asking me, what about you? That night, you pulled Lin Hongyi to the side and mysteriously said something. Why did her face change from gloomy to smiling so quickly?"

  "This..." I was a bit tongue-tied for a moment. That night, I just told Lin Hongyi about the major events that would probably happen in the next nine years, in the form of prophecies. Such as the real estate market is about to soar, terrorist attacks, Olympic medals and so on. And let her promise to work hard to make money, when she has 10 billion, I'll be back.

  But how could I say these things to Lin Muyan!

  At this time, Lin Muxian suddenly said: "And what's going on with your hand? It can regenerate after being cut off."

  I was speechless for a moment, and I myself also wanted to know, but the free spirit that I currently possess absolutely cannot be revealed. Glaring at her, I said: "Isn't rebirth good? Would you be happy if I became disabled?"

  Lin Miao Xian said nothing more to me, coldly stared at me for a moment, then turned her head away.

  However, I couldn't see a hint of anger in her eyes. After that night, Lin Muxian said to me that she can't quite put into words what the feeling is, now she rarely puts on the airs of being the mistress. Although her face was still tense, she spoke much more than before.

  "It's okay if you don't say," Lin Muxian said: "When we return to headquarters, the elder of Xingzhi Tower will have a way to know."

  I pursed my lips and put on an expression of neither approval nor disapproval.

  "In a flash I said again: 'Master, tell me about the Star Tower, you've always had it on your lips, but I still don't know what the Star Tower is!'"

  Lin Mou Xian said somewhat impatiently: "I've already told you it's none of your business, so stop asking."

  This emotion is hard to appear on her, I couldn't help but smile in my heart, maybe it's like my numbness, indifference isn't her intention either, deep down, she's still an innocent and lively young girl!

  Just as he was about to use his desperate move, Kakabu, who had been silent until then, spoke up.

  "Fang Cheng Gege, you want to know about Star Tower?"

  I turned my head and glanced at her, walking while saying: "Do you know?"

  "Of course I know! Kakabu is a sacred messenger, and it was me who communicated with the elder of the Star Tower during the ritual!"

  Kakabu's weirdness had already lost my interest, hearing her say that, I said without thinking: "Then let's go, brother will buy you a lollipop to eat!"

  "Really?" Kakabu suddenly jogged to my side, looking up at me with a smile. Actually, if you set aside her mysterious and inscrutable gaze that seemed to see right through people's hearts, Kakabu was quite cute. Her big eyes, straight nose bridge with a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on it, small yet delicate mouth, slightly upturned to form an arc.

  I glanced at her lightly and nodded: "I said so!"

  "Haha, then I'll say it," Kakabu paused for a moment and said: "The Star Tower is an ancient existence of our Soul Reaper clan, with a history that predates even the earliest records. The elder who resides in the Star Tower to cultivate must abandon all positions within the clan, focus on exploring the origin of life, and comprehend the memories of the stars. In the eyes of all Soul Reapers, the orders issued by the Star Tower are above everything else."

  "Kakabu!" Lin Muxian suddenly shouted loudly, "The sect has a strict order, not to reveal anything about the Soul Masters to outsiders."

  Kaka couldn't help but laugh: "Lin sister, I'm a holy messenger, I don't have a sect!"

  Lin Mu was dazed and didn't know what to say anymore.

  Although Mingzhi Card told me these things, there must be his own reasons, but at least for now, these messages are of great use to me. I hurriedly asked: "Go on, what organizations does the Soul Realm have?"

  "There aren't many, just one Star Tower!"

  Kakabu further explained, and I finally had a general impression of the world of Soul Masters.

  The origin of the Soul Master is now untraceable, but according to some religious descriptions, it has existed since ancient times. Unfortunately, there was a period of interruption in the inheritance of the Soul Master, and the current ancestor of the Soul Master is a saint who lived 500 years ago.

  Before his ascension, the saint brought hundreds of selected disciples to this place, worshipped the Star Tower, and left behind rules and regulations.

  Not long after the death of the saint, the disciples, for reasons that have never been recorded in any religious texts, quickly split up and established their own schools. Within a few decades, nearly a hundred different Soul Master sects had appeared around the Starry Skies Tower.

  The dispute has begun!

  "Why must they gather here?" I thought to myself. This place is desolate and isolated, really not a good location for establishing a sect.

  "Because the Star Tower is pressing down on a spiritual cave."

  Ling hole, a spring hole with highly concentrated spiritual energy. In addition to this piece of ling hole that has been pressed by the Star Tower, there are many large and small springs scattered around the Ma Bu mountain range surrounding the ling hole.

  The spiritual energy emanating from there is not as dense as the spiritual holes, but it's also much thicker than the outside world. These sects were established on top of these springs.

  However, the spiritual energy emanating from the spiritual orifice is not always the same, and with the cyclical changes of the sun and stars, the spiritual energy emanating from the spiritual orifice also changes frequently.

  In the past, the Soul Masters had a difficult time. During that period, most of the small springs dried up, and the spiritual energy emanating from the larger springs was also very thin.

  At one time, it was completely unable to meet the needs of the cultivators of various sects. As a result, in order to seize the spring eye and trigger a struggle, there were frequent occurrences. The relationship between the various sects was extremely tense. Those who established small spring eyes on top of their sects had weak forces, and in order not to be pulled away by the big sects to do vanguard work, they chose to leave here and go out to make a name for themselves.

  Those magical legends were created by these people.

  "But in recent decades, the Ling Hole has been erupting, and the phenomenon of competing for the spring eye has completely disappeared." Kakabu pushed his glasses and smiled all over his face.

  "What other sects are there besides Nongshenbao?" I asked.

  Kakabu said: "There are many, such as the Lihé Pài, Xīngchén Pài, Qiáng Zhòng Mén... over 30! However, only two have strong powers, the Ling Shòu Mén and the Pán Shān Gǔ."

  "That's enough, Kakabu!" Lin Moxian couldn't help but shout again, for today had revealed too many things.

  Kaka made a cute ghost face and said, "Okay, okay, if we keep talking, Sister Lin will get angry." Then she pulled my hand and whispered with a smile, "Do you want to know more? Let's chat slowly!"

  And so we made our way slowly through the jungle, and from Kakaq's mouth I learned much more.

  A hundred years ago, the various sects were still quite loose, but as technology developed, ordinary people posed a greater threat to Soul Masters, so the elders of the Star Tower issued a strict order: without the permission of the Star Tower, all Soul Masters are not allowed to leave the Ma Bu mountain range.

  For the sake of governance, Star Tower has appointed a series of power distributions, with the most powerful being the Star Tower Tribunal. Currently, the high-ranking official in charge of the Star Tower Tribunal is Kayas, who is also the master of the Ling Beast Gate, one of the largest sects within the Legacy Soul Sect.

  He is also Kaka's grandfather.

  This chapter has a lot of introductory content, so everyone can take their time to read it. Then, there will also be another one this afternoon.

  Also, vote on Monday, everyone.