Chapter 622: The Secret That Cannot Be Told to Linger

An incense stick of time later, the Fourth Hall Master left the apothecary.

The moment he stepped out, he looked back at the apothecary, a strange glint appearing in his eyes.

When he had entered the apothecary earlier to meet the Heir, he had maintained respect and etiquette throughout the entire conversation; although they did not speak much, he had expressed his intention to follow.

The result was good, but the extraordinariness of that apothecary had left a profound impression on him.

"That young man mopping the floor has a rich power of the human race contained within his bloodline—truly extraordinary. And the person reciting poetry at the entrance—I actually felt a certain blessing upon him!"

"And that little girl of the Ancient Xiang Linger race possesses great fortune! As for the maidservant who was burning incense, she gave me a sense of a Xiang Linger-Containing being. Her soul is incomplete; it is highly likely that she was once an ancient, powerful Xiang Linger-Containing expert who died, and due to the intervention of some high-level entity, her soul transformed into this."

All of this caused the Fourth Hall Master's heart to fluctuate, but what he found even more extraordinary was that the back room of the apothecary was filled with a strange power of authority, likely related to oblivion. If one's cultivation base was insufficient, being in the apothecary would cause one to be influenced without even realizing it.

Although this influence was only in its initial stages, it possessed the power to affect the spirit and soul. If it reached great success, it would be enough to sway all living things in a vast area, causing them to cultivate on its behalf, subsequently replacing their consciousness until it was hard to distinguish one from the other.

"The source is that back room, which is where the young man who came to receive me earlier resides."

"Looking at it this way, these people have an unusual relationship with the Heir, especially that young man who is addressed as Young Master." The Fourth Hall Master thought to himself as he walked further and further away.

Meanwhile, inside the back room, Xu Qing opened his eyes; the contact between his Ding-Ding Yisaner Nascent Soul and the God's finger inside his body also separated at this moment.

In an instant, a dazed look appeared in his eyes, and everyone in the apothecary also trembled, their expressions equally dazed, followed by the loss of their previous memories.

The memory that was lost was the contact between Xu Qing's Ding-Ding Yisaner Nascent Soul and the finger, ending at the moment of separation.

But this process was silent and extremely natural.

Xu Qing frowned and picked up the image-recording jade slip in front of him. He had set this up according to the methods he used back at the Criminal Court to check for changes in himself during this period, but after reviewing everything, he could not find any problems within it.

From beginning to end, he had been meditating right here.

"But why do I always feel like I've forgotten something?" Xu Qing thought for a moment, then waved his hand, causing the Jin Gang Sect Ancestor to fly out, while the shadow on the ground also emitted fluctuations, transmitting information.

"Everything as usual?"

The image-recording jade slip was only one measure; the shadow and the Jin Gang Sect Ancestor were Xu Qing's other preparations.

Next, he checked his surroundings and his storage bag again, looking for other clues. Until everything seemed to have no obstacles, he thought for a moment, left the back room, and went to the main hall.

Everyone in the main hall was as usual. Seeing Xu Qing, Linger revealed a sweet smile and ran over.

"Brother Xu Qing, how is your cultivation going? I feel like I'm about to break through these past few days too."

Xu Qing patted Linger's head and smiled slightly, then walked to the counter, raised his hand, and grabbed an image-recording jade slip hidden on the beam.

This was one he had placed yesterday.

Although everything felt normal in his perception these days, Xu Qing always felt inexplicably strange, so he wanted to see if anything different had appeared outside during his research process.

Now holding it in his hand, Xu Qing checked carefully and found no obstacles.

The records within the jade slip had no issues at all, which caused more hesitation to rise in his heart.

"During my research, neither I nor the outside world changed at all? Then what have I been researching these past few days?" Xu Qing's eyes showed contemplation.

Not far away, the Heir picked up his teacup and glanced at Xu Qing calmly, feeling comfortable in his heart.

Naturally, it was he who had erased and adjusted the contents of the jade slip.

"This kid finally has a day where he can't figure something out. Haha, it's just satisfying to watch."

"However, this kid's insights are indeed astonishing. If he forgets, then all things must forget. This artistic conception of oblivion is truly overbearing."

Thinking of this, the Heir decided to observe for a few more days before going to enlighten Xu Qing, so as to establish his own dignity.

Xu Qing frowned, put away the jade slip, and turned to look at the Heir.

The Heir's expression was calm, his gaze profound.

Xu Qing thought for a moment, cupped his fists, and walked into the back room. As he sat cross-legged, he carefully recalled.

But no matter how he thought about it, everything was normal, yet he still had the feeling that he had forgotten something, so he prepared to deploy his trump card.

"Have I forgotten anything these past few days? Or did I have any abnormal reactions?"

Xu Qing released his divine sense into the Ding-Ding Yisaner God's finger. The God's finger pretended to be asleep and ignored him.

But this behavior itself still made Xu Qing sense a clue.

"Tacit consent?"

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He had one more trump card, so he raised his hand and took out a small bottle from his storage bag. He shook it slightly in his hand, and immediately, sounds of collision came from within, along with whispers faintly emerging.

Feeling that the vitality inside was still fine, Xu Qing opened the bottle and used his left hand to extract something from the air. Immediately, a ball of light flew out, rapidly growing in front of him until it was half a zhang in size before being restrained by Xu Qing.

This was a brain that looked like a tree.

This was the brain-tree he had captured from the Grand Void Realm before leaving Fenghai County to resolve the distracting thoughts of his Heavenly Demon Body.

At that time, he had captured several of them; now he took one out and looked at it coldly.

The brain-tree trembled. It clearly had a deep memory of Xu Qing and was full of fear, shaking its head rapidly and transmitting fluctuations.

"Not hungry, won't eat, don't want to eat, I am a good brain, don't eat good brains."

Xu Qing ignored the other party's words, raised his right hand, pressed it against the brain-tree, and said calmly, "Swallow the memories of my meditation from the past two days."

The brain-tree shivered, but it dared not disobey, so it approached cautiously. The moment it touched Xu Qing, the brain flashed with streaks of electric light.

As it wandered, Xu Qing did not feel any loss of memory, but the brain-tree trembled all over, emitting a feeling of bewilderment.

At this moment, it no longer had the fearful fluctuations from before.

Xu Qing watched closely. Soon, the brain-tree changed; it backed away, its bewilderment dissipated, fear rose again, and it shook its head rapidly.

"Not hungry, won't eat, don't want to eat, I am a good brain, don't eat good brains."

Xu Qing frowned, noticing that something was wrong with this brain-tree. Its words were repetitive, and looking at its appearance, it seemed unaware of its own repetition, as if it had forgotten that it had just swallowed something.

Xu Qing thought for a moment and raised his hand again, about to continue testing, when the brain-tree suddenly trembled violently. Within a few breaths, it collapsed and turned into fly ash, scattering onto the ground.

Xu Qing's eyes flashed with brilliance. After pondering, he took out another brain-tree and continued to try. After several times, when five brain-trees had died, he took a deep breath, and some incredible realizations emerged in his heart.

"Every time they finish swallowing the memories of my research into the artistic conception of oblivion, they forget it themselves, thinking they haven't swallowed anything."

"In other words, after they eat my memories, they lose that entire segment of memory and don't remember that they ate it themselves."

"Then, unable to bear it, they collapse and die."

"That memory of mine cannot be remembered." Xu Qing rubbed his brow. He thought about how he had felt like he had forgotten something these past few days.

"Could it be that I have also been influenced by this artistic conception I realized myself?"

Just as Xu Qing was thinking about how to verify this, he suddenly felt a fluctuation coming from the highest hall of the Reverse Moon Hall—it was the Captain calling.

Only then did Xu Qing remember that he hadn't gone to deliver oil to the Captain for a long time, so he took out the mirror and stepped into the Supreme Hall.

Just as he entered, he heard the Captain's excited voice coming from the gate.

"Little Ah Qing, how is it? It's been several days. Is my kidney still salvageable? Did you get it back?"

Xu Qing was stunned.

"What kidney?"

The Captain was also stunned. A small totem appeared on the gate, looking at Xu Qing and blinking.

"Little Junior Brother, stop joking. Don't make fun of my kidney; that is more important to me than anything."

Xu Qing frowned, looked at the Captain, and pondered for a while.

"Eldest Senior Brother, I seem to have forgotten some things."

Chen Erniu's eyes widened. Seeing Xu Qing's expression and confirming that Xu Qing had truly forgotten, he gasped.

"Have you been realizing some strange things lately?"

"Senior Heir asked me to realize the artistic conception of oblivion."

Hearing this, Chen Erniu sighed.

"Little Junior Brother, why are you realizing random things again! Did you forget what you promised me? Do you really not remember promising to give me one hundred million spirit stones?"

Xu Qing looked at the Captain with an expressionless face; the Captain was more than sincere.

"Really, Little Ah Qing, you really promised me, and you also promised to help me get my kidney back. You remember the Mud Fox, right? You told me about her. You said she took a fancy to your primordial yang, right? This isn't something I made up; think about it yourself."

Xu Qing closed his eyes. He didn't believe the one hundred million spirit stones the Captain mentioned; according to the Captain's personality, that was definitely a lie.

But the matter of the Mud Fox—he remembered never having told the Captain about it, and now that the other party mentioned it like this, it really was something he had forgotten.

At this moment, he finally understood why he always felt like he had forgotten something while at the apothecary.

So he nodded and asked, "What happened to your kidney?"

The Captain sighed. He felt that this artistic conception of oblivion of Xu Qing's was a bit of a cheat and particularly unreasonable. He had spent so much effort and emotion to get him to agree at the time; if he just stated it simply now, he was worried Xu Qing would refuse to help.

Therefore, he had no choice but to pick up his sorrow and anxiety from that day again, repeating the words and expressions he had used before.

Thus and so, this and that!

After listening, just as Xu Qing was about to refuse, the Captain sighed again, thinking to himself that it was the same last time, so he brought out the excuses Xu Qing had used to refuse him before.

After saying everything, he felt very tired and looked at Xu Qing expectantly. Xu Qing hesitated, finally nodded, and turned to leave.

Seeing that Xu Qing was about to leave, the Captain was a little worried and shouted.

"Go back and help me find my kidney first. Little Junior Brother, stop realizing things for now. I really don't want to have to repeat this over and over again the next time I see you; it's so tiring."

Xu Qing returned to the apothecary. His figure appeared, and he stood there thinking for a moment before finally sighing.

"Let's go look for it."

After saying this, Xu Qing's body flickered and he disappeared from the apothecary.

This time when he left, he did not tell Linger.