Chapter 728

His battle soul had already shattered before he descended to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation.

You are merely the herb he happened to seek in his descent, capable of re‑fusing his shattered battle soul.

How much nobler is his purpose in approaching you than mine?

Wanwan, at least I raised you for over twenty years; the kindness of raising you outweighs heaven!

Sacrifice yourself to me; when I achieve greatness, I will protect your entire Nine Abyss clan's spirit herbs, bind yourself to him, and you will end only in utter annihilation!

Wanwan, you must think it through!

……

Zhan Jiao'e's voice kept sounding.

At first it was distant, existing only in my memories.

But later, that voice grew ever nearer, as if right beside my ear.

I shook my head violently.

No! It's not like that!

I and Zhao Zixun have been entangled for two lifetimes; he has never demanded anything from me, let alone taking my true form to fuse his battle soul.

On the contrary, Zhao Zixun made many sacrifices to save me.

Even though in this life we are no longer human, he has never even thought of harming me!

I struggled to open my eyes, trying to shake off Zhan Jiao'e's ever‑present voice.

But then, Zhan Jiao'e's words made my Soul Body freeze solid.

She said: "Wanwan, haven't you realized by now that your Soul Body has been continually controlled by Zhao Zixun's battle soul?"

Initially, the largest fragment of Zhao Zixun's shattered battle soul wrapped my spores and fled the Nine Abyss; thereafter we each reincarnated separately.

But after reincarnation, when Zhao Zixun pulled the Coffin Nail from his brow and gave it to Dang Pu, that portion of his battle soul returned to his true form, and my Soul Body underwent a tremendous change as well.

Undeniably, my Soul Body is indeed greatly influenced by Zhao Zixun's battle soul.

Could it be… that everything Zhan Jiao'e says is true?

Could it be that all of Zhao Zixun's feelings toward me are merely feigned?

His sole purpose is to obtain my true form, that seven‑leaf lingzhi?

My consciousness began to fall into Chaos; Zhan Jiao'e's voice clung like a shadow, like a demonic sound piercing my ears, constantly tugging at my nerves.

I began to be unable to think independently.

I felt my Soul Body sinking ever deeper, as if about to plunge into an abyss of ten thousand zhang.

Meow!

A familiar cat's cry suddenly pierced my ears, accompanied by an unending chanting, completely drowning out and washing away Zhan Jiao'e's voice.

"Xuan Cat!"

I flung my eyes open, looked around, yet found I was still sitting cross‑legged in the Soul‑guiding Lamp.

The west chamber was empty and bare.

There was no Xuan Cat, no Buddhist chant.

But I know that, in the unseen, the Xuan Cat far away in Zàng Qū must have sensed my peril and thus lent me aid in this way.

Xiao Jiu had warned me that my Soul Body is now weak, and Zhan Jiao'e would surely seize this chance to disturb me.

I never expected her to come this quickly.

I stood silently before the Buddha niche for a long, long time.

I bit by bit recalled those tumultuous memories just now.

I think perhaps Zhan Jiao'e wasn't deceiving me; I truly am the herb that can help Zhao Zixun fuse his battle soul.

Zhao Zixun's descent to undergo tribulation is very likely indeed to seek the seven‑leaf lingzhi.

But if he truly wanted to act against me, he has had plenty of opportunities to do so.

Yet he has never done anything that harmed me.

No!

Whether it is love or exploitation, I can feel it with my heart.

In that blighted expanse of the Nine Abyss, it was Zhao Zixun who, with his battle soul's power, nourished my true form, allowing me to regain a foothold and take root there.

At the same time, from then on Zhao Zixun's true form never left the Nine Abyss again.

His love and protection were present in the first life, and remain in the second!

What reason do I have to doubt such a person?

I think that at the end of the first life, Zhan Jiao'e presented this matter before me, trying to make me fall into a heart‑demon, which certainly failed.

And I likewise sealed this secret deep in the innermost part of my heart.

Now she is repeating her old trick.

I ask myself, if it hadn't been the Xuan Cat just now, would I have thus succumbed to the heart‑demon?

I cannot give a definite answer.

But I know that, from this moment on, Zhan Jiao'e can no longer sway my heart with this matter.

After calming down, I even ponder whether, if ultimately it truly required using my true form to fulfill Zhao Zixun, to ferry him to re‑fuse his battle soul and return to the heavenly court, I would be willing?

My answer is: I am willing!

I stayed in the Soul‑guiding Lamp for three days.

During these three days, whenever I entered meditation, Zhan Jiao'e's voice would inevitably appear.

Her speech grew faster and faster, yet the points of logical contradiction increased more and more; I could sense that her situation might be becoming ever more difficult.

Thus I became more resolute in my belief and strove harder in my cultivation.

These three days, Xiao Jiu was arranging things while waiting.

Until the afternoon of the fourth day, Xiao Jiu picked up the Soul-guiding Lamp and prepared to return to the Feng Clan.

This time, only I and Xiao Jiu.

Li Qingying kept seeing us off to Xijiekou, his eyes full of worry.

On the Feng Clan's side, A Cheng was waiting for Xiao Jiu.

In the council hall, a spherical barrier was set up on the large table.

Inside the barrier, several bird corpses were actually floating.

A Cheng said, "Sister, I have carefully studied the poison carried in these birds' bodies these past few days; if I am not mistaken, this poison should be called the Hundred Spirit Poison."

Xiao Jiu asked, "What is the Hundred Spirit Poison? Is it a poison raised by feeding a hundred kinds of spiritual herbs?"

"It is far more cruel than you imagine." A Cheng said solemnly, "This poison is at least made by continuously feeding the heart's blood of over a hundred herbal spirits for ninety-nine eighty days, thus producing the poison."

Ninety-nine eighty days without interruption……Then, in this process, how many herbal spirits could have died from providing their heart's blood, not just a hundred?

It is already difficult for medicinal herbs to cultivate into spirits.

Thus destroying hundreds of them without cease, where did they obtain so many subjects?

Over the past hundred or so years, what exactly has happened in the Nine Abyss Deep Abyss?

Everyone fell silent, feeling uneasy in their hearts.

The Soul-guiding Lamp was placed beside the barrier; I could not only hear their conversation but also clearly see the bird corpses inside the barrier.

I don't know if it's my illusion, but when my gaze met the blood-filled eyes of those bird corpses, I seemed to see something wriggling inside them.

I was frightened and cried out.

I felt the endless despair of the clansmen having no recourse for help.

At that moment, I heard Xiao Jiu ask, "A Cheng, since you have already figured out the poison's composition, have you found a way to dispel it?"

This is the key.

The Hundred Spirit Poison is the enemy's trump card; we can act only after finding a way to dispel it.

Otherwise, we will only repeat the mistake of the first time the entire army was wiped out……