Chapter 20: Secret Art of the Soul and Spirit

In his previous life, to ensure a smoother entry into university, Chen Ye chose an extremely obscure major—archaeology.

The score requirements for archaeology at non-prestigious universities were lower; after all, upon graduation he would return to his hometown to take the civil service exam, so the choice of major made little difference.

Who would have thought Chen Ye actually took to it? He read ancient texts that others found incomprehensible with great relish; what began as a plan to merely pass the time ended with him ranking first in his major, prompting his advisor to want to recommend him for graduate school.

Yet these skills proved completely useless in his later work; instead, he had to rely on reading people's expressions and flattering others to survive.

But life is unpredictable; who could have imagined that these useless things would become the foundation of his standing after crossing over.

Those once-regarded useless knowledge allowed him to grasp cultivation methods with extraordinary speed; to others, he appeared to be a natural-born cultivator. This was likely what was called "losing in the east, gaining in the west."

That said, although the two worlds shared some similarities, they were ultimately vastly different.

Take the Eight Trigrams, known to all cultivators: this world possessed no transmitted *Zhou Yi*, only scattered phrases from the *Zhou Yi* circulating externally, mixed with numerous later interpretations and modifications, with various versions having their own strengths and weaknesses.

As for Buddhist scriptures, they were even rarer. In this world, Buddhist practitioners did not even know the Buddha's name, let alone Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Occasionally circulating sutras were ambiguous and far removed from the Buddhist classics of his previous life.

But at this moment, the few lines of shimmering golden text before his eyes matched the original text of the *Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva*, and the name of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva even appeared.

This was no ordinary matter.

Who had left behind the text of the *Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva*? And who had once read this scripture?

A surge of excitement rose in Chen Ye's heart; he hurriedly and impatiently began flipping through its contents.

He saw the golden characters floating, constantly shifting and combining to form new content. Yet after reading a few pages, Chen Ye could not help but frown.

Apart from these opening sentences, the subsequent content was no longer the original text of the *Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva*, but rather a profound and unfathomable magical technique.

Upon careful contemplation, it seemed the author had read the *Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva*, extracted this opening passage as a preface, and the remainder represented the author's own insights.

Chen Ye felt inevitable disappointment. If this scripture fully presented the *Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva*, he could confirm a special connection between the scriptures he read in his previous life and this world.

If he could find the author of this book, he might even uncover why he had crossed over.

But now, with only a few opening sentences, it was as if the *Zhou Yi* had been dismantled and recompiled; those who wrote the books probably did not even know the origin of the original work.

However, Chen Ye's disappointment flashed briefly and was quickly replaced by deep absorption in the subsequent content.

The book recorded an extremely profound magical technique, subdivided into four volumes: Restraint, Lock, Question, and Punishment, all acting upon the soul and spirit.

Previously, to preserve Hearing Mo Ci's soul, Chen Ye had delved deeply into the path of the soul and spirit. Now, reviewing the records in this book and cross-referencing them, he gained much.

Yet, the deeper he researched, the more unfathomable he found this cultivation method. Pity that these secret techniques were all for harming the spirit and breaking the soul; if there were a profound secret technique for nurturing and protecting the soul, perhaps his master could be saved.

"Sigh, where in the world is there such a good thing? One must still figure it out oneself."

Just as he was pondering, Chen Ye felt someone pat his shoulder forcefully.

Turning his head, he saw Hearing Mo Ci's human face appear on the white banner, speaking anxiously about something.

Just now, to save himself, he had shattered his eardrums, and now he could not hear a single word clearly.

Helplessly, Chen Ye could only hand Hearing Mo Ci a tree branch.

Hearing Mo Ci angrily coiled the branch and quickly wrote on the ground: "Before that Qinghe Sword Sect member returns, quickly hide this Evil Curse Spirit Child."

Chen Ye asked in confusion, "Master, the bloodline sealed within is not mine; what use is there in hiding it?"

Hearing Mo Ci hurriedly wrote again: "Even without bloodline kinship, the Evil Curse Spirit Child is an excellent physical vessel, far better than randomly finding someone to possess! I taught you the method to break the curse; quickly break the original seal, connect this Evil Curse Spirit Child to your soul and spirit, and thus gain an extra life!"

Chen Ye smiled, "Your disciple's cultivation is too weak; whether I can break the soul-spirit connection of this Evil Curse Spirit Child is uncertain. Even if I can, it cannot be resolved in three or five days. With that Miss Su's ability, she would have already slain that demon lord by now. Possessing the Evil Curse Spirit Child takes only a moment; how could there be time?"

Hearing Mo Ci wrote again: "If you do not try, how can you know it is too late? The Evil Curse Spirit Child is rare and hard to come by!"

Chen Ye, however, firmly shook his head.

"Master, your disciple will ascend to immortality in three years; why prepare for possession?"

Hearing Mo Ci glared at Chen Ye, but finally only sighed and ceased persuading.

What three-year ascension? It was merely an excuse this wicked disciple found for his feminine benevolence. Yet Hearing Mo Ci also knew that once Chen Ye made a decision, he would not waver, so he could only remind him: "In that case, you should quickly destroy this Evil Curse Spirit Child. Once that demon lord possesses you, you will likely be refined with a single grab."

Chen Ye nodded; preparing early was indeed correct.

However, Chen Ye did not intend to simply destroy the Evil Curse Spirit Child.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Ye said to Hearing Mo Ci, "Master, we who cultivate the demonic path cannot always suffer losses. I will not touch this Evil Curse Spirit Child, but the demon lord's soul and spirit could be ambushed."

Hearing Mo Ci did not agree.

"That demon lord's cultivation is at least at the Profound Mystery realm; even if only his primordial spirit remains, killing you would still be as easy as turning over one's hand."

Chen Ye naturally knew the opponent's power; even that Evil Buddha had nearly taken his life.

But there was still one sword talisman remaining; with forethought against unpreparedness, there should be a chance to deal with a soul and spirit at the Profound Mystery realm.

Moreover, Chen Ye had just obtained this secret manual, specifically targeting the soul and spirit.

Although this was very risky, if he could obtain a soul and spirit at the Profound Mystery realm, the benefits would be extraordinary. After calculating repeatedly, Chen Ye felt the risk was worth taking, but he needed to act quickly and ensure absolutely complete preparations.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Ye said to Hearing Mo Ci, "Master, you have rich experience in possession; if you set up arrays outside this Evil Curse Spirit Child to block the demon lord's soul and spirit from possessing, how long could you hold them off?"

Hearing Mo Ci heard these words and felt something was wrong; what did "rich experience in possession" mean? This young man was secretly plotting to destroy his master and ancestors again!

However, now was not the time to quarrel with him. Hearing Mo Ci pondered and wrote: "With your cultivation, even with array assistance, it is difficult to block spells casually cast by someone at the Profound Mystery realm. But if you can block one strike, there is still some chance. After all, once the soul and spirit leaves the body, it is like a tree without roots; the more spells cast, the faster it dissipates. Even one at the Profound Mystery realm cannot sustain it many times.

"The premise is that you can isolate the connection between this Evil Curse Spirit Child and its master, then find a way to trap that demon lord's soul and spirit, and then drag out the time; the longer you drag it, the higher the chance of success."

Chen Ye looked at these words, nodded, and said, "This matches my speculation. However, setting up arrays also takes time; if that demon lord possesses early... never mind, cultivation involves no risks without risk."

Having spoken, Chen Ye picked up that black long banner; this was the True Demon Sect's Ten Thousand Souls Banner, a hundred times better than the cheap goods Chen Ye had forged himself. Success or failure hinged on this magical treasure.

Both Chen Ye and Hearing Mo Ci were only thinking about how to deal with that possessing demon lord; they seemed to have already accepted that Su Chunyi would definitely slay him, not even considering the possibility of failure.

After all, the Qinghe Sword Sect was number one under heaven.