Chapter 2166: Stripping Away Soul Fragments

In his current state, Xia Duo had two choices ahead of him.

One was to indulge those emotions as they ran wild; after all, he was not performing a Longevity Ritual that required stripping away the soul. He was merely temporarily solidifying his soul, and the link between soul and body would not be severed, so there was no need to worry about the hidden dangers of subsequent rituals.

The other was to use reason to resolve those strange emotions and impulses one by one. The most extreme case would be to let reason completely dominate his emotions, becoming something similar to the state Sandro was in back then.

Xia Duo undoubtedly chose the latter.

Even if there were no hidden dangers, he would not choose to indulge, even temporarily. The "caution in solitude" once mentioned by the sages of his homeland was something he had already achieved long ago.

However, he would not learn from Sandro and let reason occupy the absolute upper hand. The existence of certain emotions was the foundation of being human, such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness within a normal range.

In any case, he was not performing a Longevity Ritual where missing certain emotions might become a flaw that could be exploited by others over the countless years of longevity to come.

In fact, if someone could truly find a flaw in his emotions or reason and exploit it—for instance, if someone did good deeds every day to win his favor—he would be perfectly willing to grant such favor.

Or if someone did bad deeds every day to provoke him, he would likewise grant them malice.

If one loses emotions, one loses a large part of their judgment regarding the outside world, so even if doing this might carry certain hidden dangers, he would not refrain from doing it.

……

Xia Duo was no stranger to the process of resolving emotions; in fact, it was his daily Meditation Training. It was just that this time, because he was solidifying his soul, many emotions appeared out of thin air that would never appear under normal circumstances.

Those were the areas he needed to pay special attention to, such as a certain furious impulse to destroy the world. Under normal circumstances, he would indeed occasionally think of such a possibility, but when it couldn't even reach the standard of an emotion, he would nip it in the bud.

Now, because of the emotional abnormalities during soul solidification, these impulses to destroy the world, or other emotions that shouldn't exist, had become extremely frequent and very difficult to deal with.

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It was fortunate that he had done Meditation Training almost every day before encountering the attack by the Yimaska illusionist Zhamu, totaling more than ten years if the time in the Projection Plane was included; otherwise, he would not have easily made it through this hurdle alone.

"Sure enough, fate favors those who work hard!"

Xia Duo sighed inwardly, but the process of soul solidification did not stop. As the soul solidification exceeded a certain limit, the dark red threads originally coiled around his soul began to "bared their fangs and brandish their claws" wildly.

It was as if it were the final flash of light before death. As for its manifestation at the level of consciousness, since he was still maintaining the Spell, Xia Duo could not see it, but he could imagine that, barring any accidents, it should also be the final moment of madness.

And for himself, when the soul solidification exceeded a certain limit, Xia Duo clearly felt his consciousness becoming increasingly clear and sensitive, and even his memories of the past became clear and vivid.

This was different from the active ability of Trace Memory that required actively invoking one's bloodline; it was a constant, clear perception of the past, essentially a passive ability of photographic memory.

Experiencing such an ability for the first time, Xia Duo felt both curious and a trace of worry. If everything from the past felt like yesterday, it might not be a burden.

Perhaps only those with a solidified Personality could easily control such a state, or those whose minds possessed near-infinite breadth could master it. For a mortal like him, being able to let the past fade might be for the best.

Of course, Xia Duo's situation was somewhat different from that of an ordinary mortal. He could use Trace Memory, possessing both the benefit of being able to forget and the effect of near-photographic memory, without having to bear unnecessary burdens for it.

……

As the soul solidification continued, when he reached another boundary, Xia Duo felt his Perception also break through a certain limit, and he suddenly felt the whole world become incomparably noisy.

But under the processing of this incomparably powerful consciousness, every external sound was treated with near-perfect attention, and when he distinguished the true content of those sounds, he was moved.

Those sounds were nothing else but conversations mentioning his name. He had briefly experienced this feeling once when he became an Advanced Arcanist, but at that time, because he hadn't spread much of a reputation, the content he heard was actually very little.

But now, because of the Floating City, his name had been spread across almost the entire Main Plane, and even in the Puppet Kingdom of Yimaska, where he planned to go, there were many people discussing him.

And because the soul solidification was still continuing, this special state of Perception could be maintained throughout.

"This is simply—"

Although he had briefly experienced it once before, the previous time was more like a feedback of Scrying targeted at his own name, but this time the feeling was truly too different.

This reminded him of the "All-Knowing Immortal" from the legends of his homeland. If he were in a world of cultivation, he might be able to claim that he had already achieved the true fruit of an Earth Immortal.

It was truly absurd. The most exaggerated part was that so many dense sound messages were not in the slightest bit chaotic under the processing of his powerful consciousness. The so-called "noise" was merely Xia Duo describing the sheer volume of sounds from the perspective of the past.

"Are those who have attained longevity through soul-solidification-type Longevity Rituals all like this?"

The answer was clearly yes. Xia Duo was currently in a state of photographic memory. A long time ago, he had received a warning from the Princess through Niya, telling him not to mention the name of Archmage Sandro casually.

Later, he even confirmed that Sandro could perceive the sounds and even scenes where his name was mentioned. The Wide Grand Arcanist Weide, who had had grievances with Xia Duo before, also possessed similar abilities, though it was said that he achieved it using a Detection Array, not his own ability.

Going further, those who possessed this ability were the gods. Sandro's perception could not exceed the current Plane, while the gods could perceive all information within their own Domain from the distant Outer Planes.

Even outside the Domain, as long as the gods' names were mentioned, they could be perceived by them. Only extremely strong Avoidance of Detection protection could possibly block such perception.

The Magic Restriction Treaty of the Northland Alliance used Divine Magic as the standard for judgment. The vast majority of large-scale Magic activities could not escape the perception of the gods. Even if they could be blocked, as long as the cost was greater than the Supermagic Fine, it would have little use.

And what caused all this was very likely just the most inconspicuous passive ability of the Elf gods. Thinking about it, it was truly terrifying.

When Xia Duo first transmigrated, he often held the mentality of "I can replace them" regarding the gods of the Magic world, but as he delved deeper into the field of Magic, his awe for the gods became more and more obvious.

Of course, the current him was no longer "I can replace them," but "A great man should be like this." He believed that sooner or later he could stand in a position equal to the gods.

And because of the path he chose, by then it would likely be a whole group of people standing together~