Chapter 396: Soul Returns to the Dao

“Son-in-law!”

“Young Master…”

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Ding Yao and Zhuo Wanqiu were the first to recover, rushing over in shock.

The Yuan siblings, who had been treating Cao Jingsong, instantly stood up and hurriedly knelt before Yan Shuyi and Ji You.

At that moment, Ji You’s eyes were closed, his expression serene and free of any sign of pain, as if he were merely asleep.

But what sent chills through them was that, just like the young Lord of the Mirror, they could detect not a single trace of his vital energy.

“Brother-in-law?”

“What happened to Brother-in-law?”

Yuan Chen softly called out several times, receiving no response, and began to panic: “What’s going on? Why has Brother-in-law suddenly collapsed like this?”

“It’s fine, don’t panic.”

Yuan Caimei, more composed than her brother, gently lowered her palms and gathered a thread of vermilion light, channeling it into Ji You’s body.

Perhaps it was the backlash from breaking through the realm, or perhaps exhaustion from the fierce battle—neither, in her view, was a serious issue.

After all, the Dan Sect’s healing arts were famed for reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bones; as the daughter of the Dan Sect, she had every reason to be confident.

When everyone saw Yuan Caimei channeling the vermilion light into Ji You, they remembered her identity and the miraculous powers of the Dan Sect, and their anxieties eased slightly.

Indeed, half the Dan Sect’s healers were right here—how could there possibly be a problem?

Yan Shuyi carefully maintained Ji You’s position in his arms, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on Yuan Caimei, waiting for her verdict.

But no one expected the diagnosis to stretch on far longer than anticipated.

More troubling still, Yuan Caimei’s palms kept shifting positions, as if examining every inch of Ji You’s body, yet her expression never once relaxed.

After what felt like an eternity, Yuan Caimei suddenly withdrew her vermilion light, opened her eyes, and spoke in a trembling voice: “Brother, quickly—go fetch Father!”

Yuan Chen opened his mouth in shock, his already frightened eyes widening further; he immediately released Ji You’s sleeve and sprinted toward Dongshan.

Seeing this, everyone’s hearts, which had just begun to ease, tightened again—even Yan Shuyi’s gaze grew rigid.

“What’s happened?”

Yuan Caimei nervously gripped her sleeve: “The Young Master has no injuries whatsoever—his meridians are intact, his pulse is strong, he’s completely unharmed…”

Yan Shuyi’s eyelashes trembled slightly: “If his body is unharmed, then it must be his soul that’s afflicted?”

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?”

Yuan Caimei met Yan Shuyi’s gaze and clenched her lips: “It must be my incompetence—I must have misread it. Young Lord, please wait for Father’s assessment…”

Upon hearing this, Yan Shuyi froze.

Whether in alchemy or medicine, Yuan Caimei had received the full transmission of the Dan Sect’s teachings—those four words, “incompetent skill,” should never have crossed her lips.

She sensed that Yuan Caimei had discovered something, but was too afraid to speak it aloud, choosing instead to blame herself—meaning Ji You’s condition was worse than she had imagined.

Yan Shuyi gently brushed aside Ji You’s slightly disheveled hair with her slender fingers, then fell silent, staring at him.

He still had no vital energy—and that was wrong.

Under Heaven’s Dao, every living thing must possess its own inherent energy—even grass and trees have it; this should not be possible.

“Father…”

Beneath the night sky, Yuan Chen scaled mountains and rushed to a temporary stone courtyard on the western slope of Xishan.

Inside, Yuan Li sat with Dan Yangzi and Dan Xunzi.

They had known Ji You was attempting to break through, and to ensure stable spiritual energy flow, they had paused the restoration of the Ancient Sages’ Sanctum to prevent excessive leakage.

They had also witnessed the battle behind the dark clouds, and had stayed awake all night in worry.

As Yuan Chen’s voice echoed through the courtyard, all three turned sharply—Yuan Li immediately asked: “How is it on the east? Has Young Master Ji broken through?”

“Something’s happened…”

「？」

“It’s Brother-in-law—he’d already succeeded in breaking through, but suddenly fell from the sky and won’t wake up no matter how we call him. Sister is extremely panicked and sent me to fetch you.”

Yuan Li exchanged glances with the two elders: “Has your sister examined Young Master Ji?”

Yuan Chen nodded: “Yes—she sent me only after examining him.”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Li and Dan Xunzi’s expressions grew even more grave than when they’d first heard of Ji You’s fall.

They knew full well Yuan Caimei’s extraordinary talent in alchemy; when they’d seen Yuan Chen’s laziness, Yuan Li had often considered naming his daughter his direct heir.

In the Qingyun realm, where lineage and bloodline defined a sect’s future, for a father to even consider such a thing spoke volumes about Yuan Caimei’s ability.

But if his own daughter, after examining Ji You, insisted on sending for him, then the problem was far beyond ordinary.

The three rose and followed Yuan Chen, swiftly ascending toward Dongshan.

In fact, as soon as Yuan Chen left, the disciples of the immortal sects gathered in the valley couldn’t contain their curiosity and began to gather closer.

But they were halted before they could approach, frozen by Yan Shuyi’s icy, frost-laced gaze—until Yuan Li’s appearance finally eased the tension slightly.

“Father…”

Upon seeing her father, Yuan Caimei rose immediately, her face filled with fear and unease.

Yuan Li saw her expression at once and knew his earlier suspicion was correct.

Without a word, the three drew back their robes and sat cross-legged beside Ji You, their vermilion lights surging downward, converging on his dantian.

They did not know Ji You’s body had been reborn through transcendence—so their first thought, like everyone else’s, was whether he’d suffered backlash or internal injury from battle.

But after thorough examination, they found his entire body perfectly intact—not a single scratch or wound.

Night slowly faded, the deep black gradually shifting to deep blue.

The vermilion light now flowed gently along his meridians, sweeping through every part of Ji You’s body.

Like Yuan Caimei before them, they had begun a full-body scan, searching from the feet upward, unable to find any obvious injury.

Soon, all three pairs of hands holding the vermilion light trembled violently, their eyes locking in shared horror.

How could this be?!

In an instant of terror, Yuan Li reached out and sent another surge of vermilion light directly into Ji You’s spiritual platform—only for it to vanish without a trace, swallowed like a cow sinking into mud.

Seeing this, Yuan Caimei’s face turned even paler.

She understood why her father had done it—and knew he had seen exactly what she had seen; tears spilled from her eyes.

Seeing Yuan Caimei’s breakdown, Yan Shuyi’s arms holding Ji You trembled slightly.

“It’s not illness, not injury—but the problem is that there’s nothing at all,” Yuan Li said after a long silence, his voice trembling as he raised his head.

Nothing at all—what exactly was missing?

Yan Shuyi looked up at him, waiting for his answer.

“Young Lord of the Mirror… his soul has returned to Heaven’s Dao.”

Boom—

At those words, every cultivator on the mountain erupted in disbelief.

Ding Yao and Zhuo Wanqiu stared in utter shock, their lips turning instantly pale.

In Qingyun, when a cultivator dies, they are said to have “returned their soul to Heaven’s Dao”—though no one truly knows where the soul goes after death.

The phrase is merely a poetic euphemism, born from the fact that the soul is always the first thing to vanish at the moment of death.

“Impossible—he was perfectly fine just moments ago!” Yan Shuyi’s face turned icy, utterly rejecting Yuan Li’s words.

Yuan Li closed his eyes gently: “I just stimulated his spiritual platform with vermilion light—there was no response. His soul is gone.”

“He lost his vital energy right after completing his breakthrough—could it be related to his cultivation method? Has any past body-refiner ever experienced this?”

“No body-refiner in Qingyun’s history ever reached Young Master Ji’s level—that’s precisely why body-refining arts were abandoned. There’s no precedent. But if what the young Lord suggests is true, it’s possible. Still, finding the cause no longer matters.”

As he spoke, Yan Shuyi’s eyes narrowed sharply, turning glacial.

Yuan Li felt a razor-sharp, unstable sword aura radiating from her—he knew her murderous intent had been ignited by his words.

Gone is gone. Whether due to his cultivation method or something else, the fact remains—he is gone.

This isn’t an illness or injury, where identifying the cause and lesion allows for treatment.