Volume 2: The Source of Life Chapter 11: Sleeping Peacefully

  There is a mysterious forest in the Mabu Mountains of northern Mozambique.

  Very, very long ago, so long ago that even names didn't exist yet, this mysterious forest had already been here.

  If someone looks down from high altitude, this vast forest is often shrouded in a mass of white fog. Even when the clouds and fog are thin, it's impossible to see the details inside.

  After the development of technology, many archaeologists tried to venture into this still undeveloped virgin land, but the results were always shelved due to various problems. The local indigenous people were deterred by the terrifying stories that had been lingering in their ears for years.

  So, few people know that among these lush and vast peaks, there lives a group of extraordinary human beings.

  The population of this ethnic group is between 700,000 and 800,000, distributed in the forests and mountains surrounding Xingyi Tower.

  These people have had the same dream since birth, that is, to become a noble Soul Reaper.

  But to become a Soul Reaper, apart from external factors, personal qualities are the key. Therefore, even if the current Soul Reapers are in a thriving period, their numbers do not exceed one thousand people.

  The world of the Soul Master has always been very peaceful, quietly guarding the Star Tower and obtaining soul equipment and some cryptic instructions.

  Seeking Star Memories is the unchanging mission of the Eternal Soul Master.

  Apart from this, Soul Masters are constantly practicing soul equipment. Furthermore, they delve into the exploration of the origin of life and comprehend the memories of the stars.

  However, after that period known as the "Desolate Hell" by the Soul Masters, many small sects' Soul Masters could not withstand the spiritual hole drying up, and the reality of various sects frantically scrambling for spiritual holes was unbearable, so they had to flee to distant lands.

  More than a hundred years have passed, and the spiritual cave has gradually returned to normal. The group of wandering soul masters who went far away from their hometowns have successively returned. However, after going out, they came into contact with many things, and when they returned, they brought not only various strange objects but also ideas.

  Their views have changed!

  Afterwards, there were two tribes in the world of the Soul Masters.

  Those who have never left the Star Tower are called Nest People, and those who go out to explore and return with achievements are called Academic People.

  However, as time passed, the distinction between the two groups has become less clear-cut than it was initially.

  Because after those soul masters left the Star Tower at first, they used their own skills to mix very well outside, and brought many apprentices and family members back when they returned.

  Among the 70,000-80,000 people currently living in the Ma'anshan Mountains, the vast majority are those who followed that group of scholars back then.

  But now many stubborn nest people, their fathers are all scholars.

  So, as time passed, the distinction between the Nuo people and the Xue people in the Yuanshen Temple is no longer based on blood lineage but on ideology.

  The Nest people adhere to the old tradition, still believing that the duty of the Soul Master is to maintain the spiritual pillar of the Star Tower, explore the origin of life, and take it as their responsibility to find the memory of the stars.

  Scholars believe that the ultimate goal of a Soul Master is to continuously strengthen their soul device. They emphasize interacting with the outside world, not being conservative, integrating modern technology, and hiding and controlling in a way that allows them to blend into external society.

  Two vastly different ideologies collided, the scholars' ideology far more accepted than the Nest's practicality. However, the Nest's ideology was closely tied to the Star Tower, while the soul vessels, considered the lifeblood of the Legacy Souls, were in the hands of the Star Tower.

  So over the years, although contradictions and conflicts have never stopped, nothing major has happened.

  "Can't a soul tool be crafted by oneself?" I couldn't help but interrupt Kakabu's narrative at this point.

  "The Soul Vessel is distributed by the Star Tower each time a sacrifice is made." Kakabu replied.

  This makes me a bit surprised, these soul devices that are filled with all sorts of abilities aren't actually made by the Soul Masters themselves?

  As for Star Tower, I couldn't help but become more curious.

  "Fang Cheng," Lin Miao Xian said expectantly: "What's your plan after all? Speak up, I'll cooperate with you."

  I smiled slightly and glanced at Kaka beside me, saying: "If we just go back directly like this, of course it's not okay. So, we need to find a place to hide first. Then... you can teach me how to cultivate my soul tool on one hand, while on the other hand, you'll sneak back to Menpai to gather information from acquaintances. I want to know why your master was imprisoned and what attitude the lord of Nongshenbao has towards this matter..."

  Before I could finish, Lin Muxian hastily said: "There's no time, my master is weak and often ill. In his early years, he was seriously injured in the lungs during a battle with the gate beast, and whenever the weather is slightly bad, he becomes short of breath. He can't stay in the judging hall."

  I comforted her, "Don't worry, the one Kiyas is after is not your master, nor you, nor me. He's just looking for an excuse, a pretext to achieve his goal. So, before things are settled, that is, before he takes you back, Kiyas won't let your master die."

  I don't know much about Kaya, nor am I very clear about the power structure of the Soul Masters, but everything is interconnected. Especially when it comes to power and interests, no matter what ethnic group, the means used are all roughly the same.

  Lin Miao Xian fell silent for a moment, and then nodded her head in trust of me: "I'll listen to you."

  I smiled softly and said, "Let's go, we'll find a place to settle down first, then think of a way to rescue your master."

  As I gained a deeper understanding of the world of Soul Masters, I became more and more convinced that my initial decision to change strategies was a wise choice. If I wanted to infiltrate the Star Tower and gain the favor of the Elder of the Star Tower, who would tell me about the secrets of soul reincarnation, it was an impossible task for me to complete in my limited nine years.

  I have no choice but to conquer, and only by conquering this tribe can I get the answer I want.

  Strategy one but change, the method of doing things must also change, but many things are common. Just like doing a project, I am the commander-in-chief of the project, and what this project ultimately wants to achieve is to conquer the entire world of Soul Masters.

  It is well known that no matter what project you are doing, there are two necessary factors.

  One is base, two is personnel.

  Now I, Lin Muxian, plus Kakabu, barely have enough personnel, but still lack a base.

  Lin Miao Xian grew up here since she was a child, but after being selected to enter the Nong Shen Fortress to cultivate her soul equipment, she never went anywhere else.

  Helpless, Lin Muxian suggested that they could first go to the village where she was born before entering Nongshenbao.

  Her parents have passed away, but she still has an aunt there.

  The layout of each village in the Ma'anshan Mountains has its own characteristics. In addition to being surrounded by water sources, they also rely on sects.

  Every Soul Master sect has at least one village nearby, where the villagers provide the sect with necessities of life, and the Soul Master sect also selects suitable young talents to practice soul equipment from each village.

  This is a symbiotic relationship.

  When it comes to practicing soul equipment, Lin Miao Xian gave me a secret book 'Qī Líng Nèi Jīng', according to her, this Qī Líng Nèi Jīng is about how to control the spiritual power inside the body.

  Generally speaking, after a successful Soul Summoning, there will be a stream of spiritual energy of varying sizes within the body. However, at the beginning, the trajectory of these streams is completely disorderly.

  This unorthodox method of flowing is useless for the growth of a Soul Master, in other words, without corresponding guidance of spiritual energy flow's secret methods, after successfully summoning, the Soul Master will make no progress.

  So, a secret recipe for controlling spiritual energy flow is extremely important.

  "The Original Spirit Inner Canon" is a cultivation secret method passed down through generations in the Nongshen Fortress. According to Lin Mouxian's own introduction, this "Original Spirit Inner Canon" is extremely famous throughout the entire Yīhuàn Shīmén school, and many outstanding talents have abandoned their original sects' olive branches to enter the Nongshen Fortress just for this book.

  As for whether Lin Muxian is helping his own sect gain fame, I don't know. But even if the Spirit Inner Canon is excellent, it's still useless to me.

  Because I don't have any circulating spiritual energy in my body, every time I absorb spiritual energy from the heavens and earth, it is sucked away by my heart of freedom. Without any circulating spiritual energy in my body, what's the need for this secret manual that controls the flow of spiritual energy?

  In Lin Mouxian's teachings, the Yī Hún Shī's use of soul devices is also closely related to spiritual power.

  Each Soul Reaper has a different Zanpakuto that is suited for them. After the Asauchi ceremony, senior members of the Gotei 13 will bring the new Soul Reaper to a dark, enclosed chamber.

  Every sect of Soul Masters has such a place, and this place gradually had a unified name: the Hall of Souls.

  In the Soul Temple, all sorts of soul artifacts were flying about in the sky, most of which were low-grade soul artifacts. Occasionally, a few three to five grade soul artifacts would appear. The Soul Master closed his eyes and stood in the temple, then exerted himself to force out the spiritual energy within his body, attempting to communicate with the surrounding flying soul artifacts.

  In general, there will be one or two low-level soul artifacts that attract the Soul Master, and then the Soul Master selects one of them to start their own soul artifact cultivation.

  Of course, there are also people who can't communicate with any soul device at all, that's okay, after coming out of the Soul Temple, the sect will distribute a ordinary first-order soul device.

  However, this kind of soul master, even the elders of the sect would not have the energy to teach and cultivate.

  These things Lin Mu Xian almost forced into me with a hard pour, so my brain although not a genius, but also not stupid. She said it once, and I remembered.

  Lin Miao Xian wants me to grow up quickly, not to suddenly become a 5th or 7th level Soul Master, at least cultivate to the second or third level, this way, combined with my own various abilities, my strength is quite good.

  I also have such a wish, but unfortunately, the fact that there is no circulating spiritual energy in my body will not change due to my strong desire.

  Compared to Lin Muxian, Kaka Bu has been constantly analyzing the relationship between the Nests and the Scholars. In short, her point is that the Nests and the Scholars do not get along as harmoniously as they seem on the surface, and the accumulated contradictions may erupt at any time, which will happen very soon.

  In this way, the three of us wandered in the dense forest for two days. During which I found that the trees here grew particularly luxuriant, not only because they had been undisturbed by human destruction for many years and had become towering trees.

  I once saw an old locust tree that was struck by lightning and broken, the tree was as thick as two people hugging together. Logically speaking, it should have taken at least 30 or 50 years to grow like this, but I was surprised to find that there were only seven annual rings at the broken section.

  After careful observation, I found that it's not a special phenomenon. Many large trees are actually quite young but have grown very sturdy.

  Not only that, but the forest also often appears with small animals that can't be named. In my hundreds of past lives, I didn't pay much attention to small animals, but when a strange bird with a cat-like face and wings as long as two meters flew over my head and plunged into the darkness behind me, it's hard not to be surprised.

  But having seen the Ling Wolf before, I can also understand the reason for the appearance of these mutant small animals.

  In short, this is a mysterious area with particularly high vitality.

  "Be careful, don't touch that red membrane."

  Under Kaka's reminder, I dodged a thin red membrane that floated over like a gauze.

  This is the effect of the 9th-level soul artifact 'Boundary of the Underworld' that was jointly cast by the many elders of the Star Tower a very, very long time ago.

  A strip of crimson membrane floated and fluttered outside the Ma Bu mountain range, wandering aimlessly. Those who were unaware would easily stumble upon it. Of course, as a 9th-grade soul artifact, its attack power was negligible across such a vast area, and the main function of the Spirit Boundary was to serve as a warning.

  When a certain area, often has living organisms colliding with the red membrane, it will attract the attention of the patrol team. Those archaeologists who have gone through great difficulties to cross the Kenta Mountain Gorge and try to explore this mysterious forest are faced with these mischievous and playful patrol team members.

  "Tomorrow we can cross the boundary of the underworld, brother. Rest well tonight." Kakabu suddenly burrowed into my arms, his cute little head tightly pressed against my chest.

  "Uh, go back to your nest and sleep? This branch can't hold the weight of two people."

  Resting in the forest, there is no safer place than in a tree, as long as some measures are taken to prevent snakes from entering, one can rest with peace of mind.

  Kakabu Yang rushed towards me with a smile, holding my small hand tightly. "I won't," she said with her mouth pouted, "even if I die from falling down, I will still hold onto you."

  Five meters away, Lin Miao Xian slightly furrowed her brow, glanced over faintly, then turned her face to gaze at the bright moon in the night sky, lost in thought.

  That night, Kaka was acting very strangely. She hugged me and chattered on like an old woman, from her vague memories of childhood to her current nine-year-old life.

  In her mouth, I've been promoted from 'brother' to good brother, dear brother, only brother, forever brother, till-death-do-us-part brother...

  Afterwards, Kaka Bu made another improper move. Her small hands holding my thigh moved up continuously, and her head leaning against my chest gradually invaded downwards. In the end, her small hands and head successfully met under my crotch.

  This time I didn't stop her, I want to see what she wants to do anyway.

  In her clumsy hands, my pants were pulled down. She raised her face to look at me, and her clever big eyes were filled with expectation and curiosity.

  "What do you want?" I said coldly.

  Kakabu didn't say anything, his small hands gently rubbed against each other a few times, and then he lowered his head.

  Her face was hidden by her hair, and I couldn't see her expression. All I felt was a warmth in my lower body. It's hard to describe the feeling, it was somewhat comfortable, yet there was a strange gentleness that made my mood suddenly calm.

  I let out a gentle breath and lay comfortably among the branches, closing my eyes.

  At this time, Kaka pounced back on my chest, raising a satisfied gaze and lightly laughing at me: "Salty, a bit smelly."

  A gentle breeze came, blowing the leaves rustling, and Kaka's pure and satisfied eyes at this moment were deeply imprinted in my mind, until a long, long time later, I still haven't forgotten.