Chapter 159: Soul Imprint

In a way, the elders were absolutely right.

When Yu Ci activated the Returning Void Harmonization Method, his body and mind entered an extremely calm and harmonious state, as if merging into nothingness, leaving only vibrant innate Qi pulsating within. In this state, every fluctuation became especially clear. The excitement from killing the Hook-nosed Ape earlier burned like a lively flame, disrupting the technique’s flow and even affecting his spirit and Qi.

If this state persisted, his cultivation efficiency would naturally drop. But soon, a warm, gentle aura spread from the depths of his heart like a pool of warm water, immersing him entirely. The “flame” was extinguished, and the overwhelming comfort that followed allowed him to naturally enter a state where both body and mind faded into the void.

This was thanks to the True Void Violet Mist Jade.

Once the Myriad Cosmos Sect’s treasured heirloom, it had passed through several hands before finally ending up with Yu Ci. Slowly, it was beginning to reveal its unique effects. Especially after his spirit had been injured, this warm jade had continuously nurtured his soul, purifying the heart demons and intrusive aura spawned by his weakened spirit. Its healing was slow and gentle—nothing like the forceful energy of the True Form of the Heavenly Dragon. Initially, Yu Ci had even overlooked it. But over time, its effectiveness became impossible to ignore.

He became aware of this during his cultivation of the Returning Void Harmonization Method. As Elder He Qing had said, the method didn’t directly boost cultivation, but it cleansed body and mind, calming the spirit and sharpening sensitivity to Qi fluctuations. In this state, the wafting purple mist emitted from the Warm Jade could no longer hide from Yu Ci’s perception.

In this state, the “Void Within the Mind” opened up, and Yu Ci’s mind entered it.

It was still raining in the Void Within the Mind, a constant drizzling sound. The “Dragon Fish” darted about within the clouds overhead.

Yu Ci had come to understand that this rain was the sign of the Heavenly Dragon’s Innate Qi merging with his spirit and innate Qi. The “rain drops” were the essence of the Heavenly Dragon’s Innate Qi, descending to nourish his flesh and soul. The Dragon Fish, influencing the rotation of the Void Within the Mind, represented the adaptation of this essence to his body and soul. This was not about one absorbing the other, but about mutual integration—coexistence becoming assimilation, ultimately achieving unity.

Only the Primordial Origin Qi Method, with its unique integration of physical and mental imagery, could naturally achieve this. Other techniques, even if capable of absorbing the Heavenly Dragon’s Qi, would require an arduous transformation process to digest it—and would suffer great losses during forced conversion.

The Returning Void Harmonization Method played a significant role here. Its primary strength lay in reverting all internal and external Qi to its original form—the most primal Yin and Yang energies—eliminating distinctions between self and other. It was highly effective for refining foreign energies. Used in conjunction with the Primordial Origin Qi Method, it complemented it perfectly.

But for Yu Ci, the combination of these two methods had another benefit. When he had originally constructed the structure of the Void Within the Mind, he had followed the basic Yin-Yang principles described by Meng Wei. However, this had been a purely conceptual approach, lacking direct experience. After cultivating Returning Void Harmonization Method, his grasp of Yin and Yang deepened, allowing him to gradually refine the basic structure of the Void Within the Mind.

This adjustment progressed naturally as his comprehension grew—subtle, continuous, and effortless. This was also a defining feature of the Primordial Origin Qi Method.

Now, even though the Void Within the Mind had undergone near-complete transformation, Yu Ci paid it no mind. His focus was locked onto something else.

Through the misty drizzle, fragments of light and shadow scattered throughout the Void Within the Mind. From far away, images of mountains, vegetation, and wild beasts flickered in and out—positions and scale constantly shifting. Prolonged focus could cause dizziness, but Yu Ci had grown accustomed to it.

This was quite different from the projections once cast by the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror in the Void Within the Mind. It was no longer a static forest image, but something dynamic and constantly shifting. Unfortunately, the scenes appeared in scattered fragments, never forming a coherent whole.

This shift began after Yu Ci retrieved the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror from Immortal Chi Yin. Over the past days, he had already adapted. Now, he merely held his focus steady as the flickering images shifted. He had a clear objective in mind. As his focus sharpened, the images accelerated in their transformations, rushing through countless scene fragments—then suddenly stopped.

Yu Ci’s eyes snapped open. 

At the same time, a streak of starlight shot out from his sleeve, pierced through rock and walls, and vanished in an instant.

This was a divine starlight emitted from the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror. Yu Ci maintained constant mental contact with it. Unlike back in Cliff City, he could now slightly adjust the trajectory of the starlight via his will, guiding it through the mountain and up to a courtyard halfway up the slope.

Within the courtyard, two life forces pulsed like magnets, tugging at the starlight, making it eager to dive in and embed itself.

Yu Ci couldn’t visually determine their cultivation levels, but in this mental state, he could sense them directly.

Using himself as a reference, Yu Ci was surprised.

The dark-faced daoist—Lakes and Seas Wanderer—had formed a Yin Spirit and was likely at the mid-stage of Divine Connectivity. He was clearly a formidable cultivator. But the seductive woman in red, Chu Yan, looked flirtatious and dependent, yet her cultivation was even higher—at the upper stage of Divine Connectivity, where the Yin Spirit could already exit the body.

Even more interesting was how, under the perception of the divine starlight, Chu Yan’s aura was dim and unclear, as if deliberately obscured. Without the starlight’s acute sensing, even Yu Ci might have been fooled.

Hiding it from whom? Naturally, the one beside her.

Yu Ci’s curiosity grew. 

Without hesitation, the divine starlight shot downward, easily embedding itself into Lakes and Seas Wanderer’s forehead and taking up residence in his Niwan Palace. The effect was immediate—his figure emerged from the void, transforming from a sensed presence into a visible image, with the surrounding environment gradually coming into view.

Through the starlight, Yu Ci took in everything. Just then, Chu Yan laughed charmingly, exuding elegance and allure. Unfortunately, she covered her lips with a jade hand, so Yu Ci couldn’t make out what she said. Lakes and Seas Wanderer laughed heartily in response. The two had already packed up and were heading out—toward Sky Rift Valley.

Zhao Xiqiao had been right—Lakes and Seas Wanderer had indeed come to join the action at Sky Rift Valley. As for Chu Yan, suppressing her high-level cultivation and humoring this lustful man? If there weren’t some scheme involved, only a fool would believe it.

After some thought, Yu Ci dismissed the divine starlight stored within the Bronze Mirror. He wasn’t planning to implant it into the woman.

It had been over three months since he first used his Yin Spirit to control the mirror from atop Heavenly Wings Pavilion and activated its strange power. Though he still hadn’t restored the Divine Map, his understanding of the mirror had deepened. He discovered that the divine starlight could penetrate the Niwan Palaces of anyone below the Core Refinement level, to manifest and probe their thoughts. However, once implanted, it would only last six hours before dispersing—further surveillance would require a fresh placement.

Naturally, Yu Ci couldn’t shadow the pair endlessly, but his curiosity persisted…

“Let’s use that method,” he murmured.

Yu Ci sat up and retrieved the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror from his sleeve. As his Yin Spirit still controlled it, the mirror glowed faintly with blue light and radiated heat. He let it float mid-air and formed a hand seal.

This seal came from fragments of the mirror’s refining incantation. During months of study, Yu Ci had discovered some intriguing features. With this seal, he focused his spirit and deepened his link to the departing divine starlight.

In Lakes and Seas Wanderer’s Niwan Palace, the starlight suddenly flared before dimming again. Neither he nor Chu Yan noticed a thing. But in that instant, the nature of the starlight had shifted.

Deep within the mountain, Yu Ci smiled.

After months of experimentation, he had begun to understand the principle behind the starlight’s operation inside the Niwan Palace. The Niwan Palace housed the spirit and was the core of the body. The starlight essentially copied a portion of the sensory information processed by the spirit and relayed it back for Yu Ci’s observation. During this, the starlight moved around the target’s soul without actually making contact—like the Dragon Fish circling Yu Ci and drawing innate Qi from him.

The starlight never made close contact with the soul—just circled the edges until it burned out.

Yu Ci had just used increasingly refined control to shift the starlight’s behavior—making it “stick” to the target’s spirit, even digging in deeper. Now, it acted like a flea feeding off the soul, gathering clearer, richer information for a longer time.

As for duration, Yu Ci had tested this with his own Dragon Fish. The little guy’s still-fragile soul had hosted a “parasite” like this for a month now, and it still hadn’t faded!

That was how he planned to monitor Lakes and Seas Wanderer. Of course, there were limits. Based on tests, within a fifty-mile radius—the mirror’s maximum range—he could still receive visual feedback. Beyond that, only faint sensing remained, weakening with distance.

Also, this method directly affected the target’s soul and could no longer pass unnoticed. Yu Ci had tested it on several people in the harbor. Strong cultivators like Elder Chu and Zhou Hu sensed it and instinctively resisted, causing the starlight to fail mid-implantation. But weaker ones like Zhao Xiqiao only felt a slight discomfort—if the process was fast enough, it just felt like a passing illusion.

Lakes and Seas Wanderer was on par with Yu Ci, but with his full attention on a beauty, it was the perfect opening—and Yu Ci had succeeded with ease. As for Chu Yan, whose motives were inscrutable and cultivation even higher—Yu Ci wouldn’t risk alerting her.

With the task complete, Yu Ci couldn’t help but chuckle. Just as he was preparing to probe further into Lakes and Seas Wanderer’s secrets, someone knocked on the door. Zhao Xiqiao’s voice called out:

“Brother Yu, you’ve got a visitor!”

“A visitor?”

Yu Ci put away the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror, got up from the couch, and smiled as he replied, “What visitor?”

“It’s Master Bichao from the Mysterious Moon Sect!”