Chapter 169: Blooming Spirit Flower

Ning Feiliu just kept letting Dugu Yan cry out loud; he knew that sometimes, letting someone who has suppressed their emotions for a long time cry it all out is a good thing.

Dugu Yan sobbed loudly for a full half-minute, releasing the emotions she had suppressed for this period of time, which made her cry in a way that was contrary to her usual self, but her personality was, after all, not that of a weak little woman who was overly sensitive and would fall apart at a pinch.

Crying for half a minute had already allowed her to vent her emotions well, and then she wiped her tears in Ning Feiliu's arms.

"Feiliu... I just want you to know that you are really, really important in my heart right now." Dugu Yan said softly at this moment, "If I lost you, I wouldn't even know how to go on living..."

Hearing this, a bitter smile appeared on Ning Feiliu's handsome face.

To be honest, he had never felt that the progress of his relationship with Dugu Yan could reach this level, this level of "I can't live without you."

He and Dugu Yan had only known each other for about a year, and in his past life, a one-year relationship would be considered fast even to become lovers.

Let alone fast-forwarding directly to the kind of desperate, "life and death, together we vow" love.

Is this perhaps... the influence of the "love-brained" nature of everyone on Douluo Continent?

Ning Feiliu shook his head, and he said sternly, "Sister Yan... I know what you are talking about, but I don't wish... I don't wish for you to say such things."

Dugu Yan raised her slender, swan-like neck, her beautiful eyes fixed tightly on him.

"No one lives for the sake of others; one must live for oneself. Besides, there are many people in this world who care about you, and they all hope you will continue to live on." Ning Feiliu said in a low voice, "Without me, you still have Teacher, and you still have... friends and classmates like Ye Lingling..."

Just then, he was momentarily at a loss for words.

It seemed... after spending so much time with Dugu Yan, the only ones who truly cared whether Dugu Yan lived or died were him and Dugu Bo; Ye Lingling only counted as half...

At this moment, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and looked at the two tombstones belonging to Dugu Yan's parents nearby, "And... your mom and dad."

"In the great beyond... they are still watching over you, and they absolutely hope that you can live on safely and happily."

Dugu Yan hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Feiliu, is there really a soul in this world? Can one keep their soul intact even after death, silently watching over their family from when they were alive?"

Hearing this question, Ning Feiliu did not know how to answer.

As for the Douluo Continent series of novels, he could be said to have knowledge of the plots of the first and second parts, and he had only heard of the subsequent three parts.

And among the five novels, plus the two side stories, it seemed that there was not much mention of settings like the "Underworld," "Underworld God," or "Spirit Soul."

During the Peerless Tang Sect era, after the protagonist Huo Yuhao's mother, Huo Yun'er, was killed by the Duchess, it was only when San Ge later forced Huo Yuhao to acknowledge his ancestors with Dai Mubai and brought out the resurrected Huo Yun'er to make Huo Yuhao compromise, that he mentioned he had found her soul in the great beyond shortly after Huo Yun'er died and resurrected her.

This might prove that on Douluo Continent, perhaps shortly after a person dies, their soul is drawn to some place of extreme yin, and this place is called the "great beyond."

Or perhaps this so-called "great beyond" is just the wandering of the souls of the dead across the Douluo Continent, drifting aimlessly without a clear place to gather, and it can also be called that.

But souls will eventually dissipate, unless they reach the level of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast or a Title Douluo.

And there should be a difference between the souls of the strong and the weak; undoubtedly, the stronger the Spirit Master, the harder it is for their soul to dissipate.

Dugu Yan's parents were Soul Saint-level Spirit Masters when they were alive, but he just didn't know if, after so many years...

Their souls would still exist.

Moreover, there was a saying in his past life that if a soul still had an obsession, it would linger in the human world for a long time without leaving.

In the mythology of the Underworld from his past life, there were even existences like underworld envoys who captured the souls of the dead, who could drag down souls that were unwilling to enter the Underworld.

But the Douluo World doesn't even have a definitive Underworld God; it is conceivable that unless it is an alien soul strong enough to alarm the upper realms, like Lie Yan, the Queen of the Earth's Core in "Wine God," the gods in the God Realm would absolutely not come down to solve such matters.

So... the souls of Dugu Yan's late parents might still be in this world, perhaps even by Dugu Yan's side.

"They will be... I believe Uncle and Aunt are watching you right now, watching Teacher." Ning Feiliu said softly and firmly.

"Mom and Dad... are they really watching us? I want to... I want to see them one more time." Dugu Yan's delicate body trembled slightly, and she said with a glimmer of hope in her beautiful eyes.

Ning Feiliu was a bit silent at this moment. In the Douluo World, unless the soul was powerful enough—like the Necromancy Saint Mage Yi Lai Ke Si, who could interfere with the present world even after death—otherwise, only gods could make a soul manifest its own spirit body, even without resurrection.

Even in the native Chinese Underworld mythology of his past life, to let the souls of the dead, who usually cannot manifest their bodies, meet with the living, one had to be a master of the Dao or use some magic.

Suddenly, he remembered the Spirit Blossom Festival from the background story of the League in his past life. On the Rune Continent, in Ionia, whenever the Blooming Spirit Flower bloomed, the gate connecting the soul and reality would open.

People would wait for the souls of their loved ones to return to reality, and at the same time, encounter their truest selves.

And those few days were called the Spirit Blossom Festival by the people.

People could easily see the souls of their deceased relatives through the Blooming Spirit Flower, which was simply incredible.

However, this special festival, the Spirit Blossom Festival, only existed in the Ionia region, and this was because Ionia was different from other places on the Rune Continent.

In the setting of the Rune Continent, on the flip side of the reality plane, there was also a plane, a place where an ancient creature, the "Spirit," lived.

This place was called the "Spirit World."

The souls of the departed would eventually be drawn to this world by the "Spirits" to find eternal rest.

And although the Spirit World was close to the reality of the Rune Continent, the two worlds rarely overlapped, with Ionia being the only exception.

Ionia could be said to be the intersection of the Spirit World and the reality world, thus a special world appeared—the Spirit Realm; the Spirit Realm and the reality world often intersected almost indistinguishably, so they easily influenced each other.

For this reason, a special force called the "Balance Order" was born in Ionia. Their balance was not actually about balancing the major forces of the reality world, but about balancing the Spirit Realm and the reality world.

And because of this, the people of Ionia could see the souls of the departed through a special flower called the Blooming Spirit Flower.

Just as Ning Feiliu was suddenly lost in thought, thinking about the Spirit Blossom Festival, small characters that only he could see suddenly appeared before his eyes—

【Analyze the brains and Spirit Seas of six different Spirit-type Soul Beasts to obtain the cultivation method for the Blooming Spirit Flower.】

Blooming Spirit... Flower?!

Ning Feiliu hadn't expected this; just by thinking about it, the mission for the cultivation method of the Blooming Spirit Flower had appeared.

It was just that he didn't know if the Blooming Spirit Flower could be used in this world...

However, if the souls of the Douluo Continent did not gather in a so-called place, but instead began to wander aimlessly after forming, or remained in place due to obsession.

Then the Blooming Spirit Flower might still have the possibility of allowing the living to see the souls of the dead.

Ning Feiliu took a deep breath, and he immediately said to Dugu Yan, "Sister Yan, you will have a chance to see Uncle and Aunt again!"

Dugu Yan was stunned for a moment, then her beautiful eyes were filled with disbelief as she looked at him, "Feiliu... really?!"

"I won't lie to you, Sister Yan... but give me some time, and I will let you see Uncle and Aunt again." Ning Feiliu said firmly.

Perhaps the Blooming Spirit Flower didn't necessarily have that magical effect on Douluo Continent, but he believed that this ability of his, under his intense prayer, would be real!

Dugu Yan immediately looked at Ning Feiliu intently, then nodded gently, her eyes filled with unwavering trust, and said, "Feiliu, I will always believe in you."

After his conversation with Dugu Yan ended, Ning Feiliu went directly into the Sunset Forest after bidding her farewell.

With his current strength, he directly found six different types of low-level spirit-type Soul Beasts: Wind Baboons, Silver Spirit Beasts, Silver Moon Wolves, Thousand-Face Spiders, Phantom Wing Birds, and Nightmare Beasts, all of which were Soul Beasts under a hundred years old.

In any case, he was just using them for experiments; there was no need to find high-level ones to squander.

As for the lives of these Soul Beasts... one could only say that this is how experiments go; there must be sacrifices. In his past life, any clinical trial for a drug required killing hundreds or thousands of experimental subjects.

Without sacrifice, there is no powerful modern medicine, or the sacrifice would be thousands upon thousands of human beings instead.

Since there must be sacrifice anyway, whether to sacrifice humans or other animals—this multiple-choice question is quite simple, isn't it?

During this period, Ning Feiliu also inadvertently unlocked tasks related to Camille and Viktor's surgical procedures, which made him feel like a fish in water during the process of dissecting the Soul Beasts.

However... Camille was easier to explain; his life mentor Camille actually used leg blades originally, and the granted task reward was also Camille's combat experience. It was quite reasonable that this could trigger the corresponding reward task.

It was just that the life mentor's combat experience was more than sufficient for grasping force and the precision of the blade, comparable to surgical-level accuracy and strength, which allowed Ning Feiliu's blade precision and force to be just right.

After all, Camille had a saying: "Precision is the difference between butchery and surgery."

Camille was one thing, but Viktor... Ning Feiliu was a bit confused at first.

But as he obtained more and more of Viktor's "Body Modification" research data, he began to understand.

Viktor was the Herald of the Machines who upheld "The flesh is weak, the machine ascends." He even used himself for mechanical modification experiments. His decomposition of his own flesh and subsequent installation of mechanical prosthetics was such that even a slight mistake would likely cause someone else to bleed to death.

With more and more research data granted by Viktor, Ning Feiliu also precisely grasped how to study the blood vessels and artery paths of the Soul Beasts themselves, and then accurately avoided these vital points of the Soul Beasts so that they would not be killed.

Added to the experience from Singed and Renata, the various anesthetics and Alchemy Potions researched meant these Soul Beasts truly could not die easily...

But living like this was worse than death.

During this time, Ning Feiliu also took the opportunity to use his spirit power to enter the spirit worlds of these Soul Beasts and study their Spirit Sea.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Inside Heaven Dou City.

This was a small building five stories high; even in Heaven Dou City, this could be considered a very tall structure.

The first impression this building gave people was one of elegance.

The overall architectural style was slightly archaic, and there were only two simple characters on the plaque: Moon Pavilion.

There were not many pedestrians coming and going, but one could tell that those entering and exiting were either dressed in luxury or possessed excellent temperament, both men and women.

On the first floor of this Moon Pavilion, a faint, refreshing fragrance greeted one's face.

The screen wall was carved from fine boxwood, emitting a faint woody scent. In front of the screen wall, two exotic orchids three meters tall emitted a faint, secluded fragrance.

Although it was just one step into the Moon Pavilion, it seemed to be able to isolate the hustle and bustle of the outside world.

Bypassing the screen wall was a spacious hall.

The floor was paved with gray square tiles one meter long, and the surroundings were all furnishings made of various expensive woods. Behind a wide desk in the front, several young women dressed in simple but quite delicate clothing were standing there.

At this moment, among the delicate young women, a noble lady wearing a silver palace gown was lazily leaning against a sofa chair.

The silver palace gown looked so fitting on her; her manners and every movement were elegant and natural to the extreme.

Sitting in front of her was a silver-haired young girl, who was drinking tea in a refined manner.

"... Aunt Yue, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. Yafei said... his self-created spirit skill comes from the favor of two venerable gods, allowing him to borrow their powerful strength," Shuang Lan said helplessly.

"Impossible...!" Sure enough, Tang Yuehua exclaimed.

That Exploding Ring ultimate skill—besides her peerless and talented second brother, how could anyone else in this world possibly use it?

And to have mastered it without a teacher, at that.

Tang Yuehua absolutely did not believe it; she had actually asked Shuang Lan to go and inquire just to confirm the answer in her heart.

In reality... she already had her own answer in her heart.

"But... that is what he said," Shuang Lan said helplessly.

"He... perhaps he did not make it clear to you," Tang Yuehua suddenly thought of a possibility, then her beautiful eyes lit up, and she said with a smile, "That's it... Second Brother—he cannot easily reveal his existence now; he must have specifically instructed Yafei not to reveal his identity. That's right, that is why Yafei did not admit it."

Shuang Lan was a bit dazed. What did Tang Yuehua mean by this? Second what? And who was that man, about forty or fifty years old, that Tang Yuehua had entrusted her to ask "Yafei" about?

Was he Aunt Yue's old flame?

"Alright... I know now. But it seems I must find a time to meet that Yafei in person; perhaps then he will admit to this matter himself," Tang Yuehua suddenly came back to her senses and said, looking at Shuang Lan.

Shuang Lan hesitated for a moment, but still nodded and said, "Then Aunt Yue, he will appear tomorrow. Do you want to go over tomorrow and ask him yourself?"

The next day.

Ning Feiliu's research was only in the initial stage, and he had just unlocked two more related series of tasks. However, after a year of familiarizing himself with the use of his cheat, he knew very well that these additionally triggered tasks would actually allow him to complete the tasks he wanted to finish even faster.

It was just that he had an appointment with Shuang Lan to meet Yu Tianheng and the others who were going to form a Team Battle Spirit Fight group today.

He could not be in a hurry now. Although Ning Feiliu also really wanted to complete this 【Blooming Spirit Flower】 task to help Dugu Yan fulfill her wish as soon as possible.

But he also knew that none of his tasks could be completed all at once; they all required time and the accumulation of effort before they could finally be finished.

So it was better to complete several tasks together slowly.

"It is time to go see Yu Tianheng and the others." Ning Feiliu bandaged the wounds of the remaining experimental Soul Beasts that he hadn't tortured to death, fed them some healing medicine, and injected them with an anesthetic to make them fall asleep before he changed into his "Yafei" disguise and turned to head out.

(End of this chapter)