ccnovels #372 - Number Six
#372 - Number Six
Wang Ji Xuan had long understood and practiced a very simple principle.
Coincidentally.
His fellow disciple had taught him various methods for venturing out on training expeditions, such as scouring market towns. If you spot something rare, don't let your eyes light up immediately. Probe indirectly, using a rare item that looks expensive to negotiate, and preferably 'coincidentally' add the truly rare item as a bonus.
Wang Ji Xuan later tried this method himself, attempting it during his limited training expeditions.
And he was almost swindled out of his Daoist robe by rogue cultivators in the market towns!
The principles are interconnected.
If he directly questioned Ye Zi about the source of this information, she would inevitably become wary.
His 'Soul of Kindness' plan couldn't withstand scrutiny; close examination would reveal many flaws.
Now, he had to embody the role.
He was a lonely soul exiled by demonic thoughts;
A wanderer in a foreign land.
Playing the role of a righteous cultivator was also his forte… Bah! He was originally a righteous cultivator! His thoughts were definitely not problematic!
Daoist Wang quickly entered the state.
While Ye Zi went to change clothes, his remnant soul began trying to break free from the barrier she had left behind.
Just as he struggled a few times, Ye Zi, having changed into a light blue dress, skipped back. Her face was as radiant as a peach blossom.
If someone were to see her for the first time, they would probably give her labels like 'full of vitality,' 'cheerful and optimistic,' and 'bright and dazzling.'
"Big brother," Ye Zi called out sweetly, kneeling by the bed, gently blinking her eyes, "Don't struggle randomly, okay? This wisp of your remnant soul is very fragile. I won't hurt you, absolutely not."
Wang Ji Xuan frowned as he looked at Ye Zi.
Ye Zi reached out to pull Wang Ji Xuan's arm.
This remnant soul of Wang Ji Xuan abruptly shook off her hand, scolding in a low voice: "Stay away from me! Demoness!"
"Ye Zi isn't a demoness. Ye Zi is a cute Ye Zi."
Ye Zi giggled as she leaned closer.
She advanced, he retreated, but the bedside was enveloped by Ye Zi's barrier. Wang Ji Xuan's 'Soul of Kindness' had no way to escape and was quickly cornered.
Ye Zi's entire body was now enveloped in mana, allowing her to touch spiritual bodies.
Wang Ji Xuan was now beginning to worry that his reputation for purity might be lost here today…
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore."
Ye Zi said with a smile:
"Big brother, come with me. I'll take you to find a body."
"This Daoist will never commit the act of killing to seize someone else's body!"
"But didn't you already do it once before? That young man named Mu Liang."
Daoist Wang angrily retorted: "This Daoist woke up already inside his dead body!"
"Isn't that the same?" Ye Zi blinked her eyes. "The body you enter is definitely one that has just died. Big brother, why do you care why he died?"
Wang Ji Xuan: …
Ye Zi smiled obediently: "And big brother, you seem to be having problems now. Your body has rejected you. Don't you want to take back that body? Think about Sister Ling Tong. Do you want to see her bullied by your demonic thoughts? They don't know about inner demons, but I do."
"Who exactly are you!"
"I am Ye Zi!"
Her lips are sealed tight.
Wang Ji Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly: "You are definitely not an ordinary human."
"You've discovered it," Ye Zi nimbly turned around, stepping off the bedside.
She shuffled in a pair of crystal slippers, her fair hand gently grasping, and the outer barrier immediately contracted, directly enveloping Wang Ji Xuan.
Then, Ye Zi led Wang Ji Xuan towards the hall door.
A figure flickered at the doorway.
Cali, disguised in human skin, appeared at the hall door with several Preachers.
Cali's eyes behind the sunglasses were very hollow, but at this moment, they were tightly furrowed.
When Ye Zi arrived, dragging Wang Ji Xuan's remnant soul like a kite, Cali raised a hand to block Ye Zi.
"Who is he?"
"As you can see, the Black Storm," Ye Zi said with a smile. "Perhaps you can't understand the principle behind it, but the stone sculptures I made and the constant prayers have worked. I have captured him."
Cali asked: "This is the wisp of soul from the Black Storm?"
"The human world is going crazy looking for it."
Ye Zi patiently explained:
"Cultivators are very special. They are powerful, possessing power from a higher civilization, which they call cultivation methods."
"This is a completely different path from spirit practitioners."
"The current Black Storm is in a stage of self-division. His desire incarnation has expelled his reason. This is his reason… Believe me, if there is any way to restrain the Black Storm, this is it."
"Hmph!"
Wang Ji Xuan coldly snorted:
"This Daoist is merely a tiger fallen into the plains today. Even if this Daoist dies and the Dao disappears, even if my soul scatters, I will never let you succeed!"
Cali slowly nodded, making way to the side.
"What do you need?" it asked.
"Freedom."
Ye Zi's gaze was momentarily sharp. As she passed Cali, her voice directly entered Cali's nervous system.
"Don't disturb me, or I'll turn you back into a bug."
Cali remained silent, watching Ye Zi leave with Wang Ji Xuan's remnant soul.
Wang Ji Xuan warily looked around.
He was already familiar with the layout here, but now, he had to play the expression of someone newly arrived in a new environment.
Next to the palace were already a hundred corpses of pseudo-spirit slaves, all young males.
"Big brother, come and choose one!"
Ye Zi said with a smile:
"This is just for temporary transition. I will definitely help you take back your body, but before that, I also need to leave my mark on your soul."
She turned her head to look at Wang Ji Xuan's soul.
Wang Ji Xuan stiffened his neck, coldly staring at Ye Zi.
The two stared at each other for half a minute. Ye Zi pouted her lips, somewhat helplessly saying:
"Alright, I've really lost to you.
"This wisp of your soul needs the nourishment of a body. Otherwise, even if you are a cultivation expert, this wisp of soul will dissipate, right?
"If I'm not mistaken, you released this remnant soul of yours before you became demonized. This is your origin, right? If this wisp of your soul disappears, then you will really die."
Wang Ji Xuan tightly frowned.
His heart slightly stirred. He slowly said: "Even if I die, I am unwilling to accept the charity of a demoness like you. You don't need to put in extra effort. Don't think about getting anything from me."
"Get?"
Ye Zi tightly pursed her lips, softly murmuring a few times:
"Do you know what love is? Big brother?
"Love is a kind of self-感动, it's me secreting exclusive hormones for you, it's also a sacrifice and dedication, I am willing to do anything for you, this is the proof of love."
"I am so infatuated with you, this does not need you to respond, so…"
Ye Zi's fingers gently slid, and Wang Ji Xuan's lonely soul was bound by mana, dragged towards the corpse of a nearby pseudo-spirit slave.
She softly murmured: "Don't you want to know why we met?"
Wang Ji Xuan saw a brief darkness before his eyes.
This was the soul merging with the body.
Ye Zi used some kind of technique, and these techniques, when she used them, were mixed with many ways of using spiritual energy circuits.
A technique that could almost be called a completely new way of using mana.
From the ease with which Ye Zi cast the spell, it could be judged that her own talent was not low.
This completely ruled out that she switched to the path of external alchemy because her own talent was not good.
That only left one possibility;
She only obtained the path of external alchemy.
Just as Wang Ji Xuan was thinking, his consciousness began to merge with the body. He had just sensed the body when footsteps already appeared beside him.
Two female pseudo-spirit slaves walked over and directly carried him away.
On the way back, Ye Zi kept muttering in a low voice:
"When big brother's soul and a strange body are combined, is that still big brother?
"I want to leave the best of myself to big brother's soul and body.
"But big brother originally didn't have a body, only a soul… Hmm, I have to find the body he will mainly use in the future, help him take back the body, and then merge with him.
"Is this the reward for my obsession? Praise you, Immortal King."
Waves of weakness washed over him.
Wang Ji Xuan simply pretended to be unconscious.
He returned his mind to his main body and immediately called people over to analyze it together; however, they analyzed it for a long time without any results. Everyone was reminding Wang Ji Xuan to be more careful.
This Ye Zi was definitely not a kind person.
… …
Two days later.
Wang Ji Xuan looked at this third body that he had obtained in a muddled manner.
His main body was in the training base for the Heavenly Devil Soldiers;
The second battle puppet was 'repairing' in the Blade Beast nest;
And this 'Soul of Kindness' that he had separated was forcibly imprisoned in this body by Ye Zi, with several spiritual energy circuits engraved on his body, as if his soul was suppressed.
In fact…
Wang Ji Xuan thought that these spiritual energy circuits had no effect at all if he wanted to leave.
Ye Zi went out for a trip.
After the news of Wang Ji Xuan's awakening was passed to her by the female slaves here, Ye Zi hurriedly returned.
She specially dressed up, wearing makeup that was neither too light nor too heavy. After taking off her trench coat, she was wearing a tube top and a short skirt. Her fair skin reflected the lights here. Her long hair was simply combed up and hung in front of her left shoulder.
"Still won't eat anything? Big brother, you are very weak now."
Ye Zi walked forward with her hands behind her back, looking at the very weak Wang Ji Xuan, smiling and sighing softly:
"Next, we can be alone for a while.
"Do you know what your inner demon is doing? He is training all kinds of demonic soldiers, and the human society has been turned into a chaotic mess by him.
"Of course, none of this is important.
“The masses have no special qualities, while we are the singularities standing above them. We should be the ones influencing and dominating the direction of the species.”
Wang Ji Xuan lowered his head and coughed twice, saying weakly, “No one can control another's destiny…”
“You've killed people too, big brother.”
“I only killed bad people!”
“But who decides what is good and evil?” Yezi asked with a smile, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Who gave you the authority to judge them? Even a bad person, at the moment you kill them, is a victim.”
Wang Ji Xuan frowned, looking at Yezi.
Yezi said gently, “So, we are essentially the same. Our focus should not be on individuals or parts, but on the whole… You know my identity, right?”
Wang Ji Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly: “Bosuo Amy?”
“I have a lot of code names, the only thing that repeats is the two syllables 'Bosuo'.”
Yezi sighed softly:
“But my real name is Yezi.
“Those two syllables, in the Lingxiu civilization, mean rootless duckweed, drifting with the wind. Fallen leaves would be more appropriate, but fallen leaves are too sad.”
Wang Ji Xuan said in a deep voice, “You don't need to tell me this, I have no interest in you.”
Arousal technique.
Yezi didn't respond to this statement at all. She just stared at Wang Ji Xuan, deeply affectionate and extremely serious.
She whispered, “I know it's hard for you to accept my ideas right away, but it doesn't matter. We will have a very, very long time together in the future. I will watch over you, accompany you, and see you enter the world of advanced civilizations.”
Wang Ji Xuan: …
“I admit, from the perspective of human civilization, I have done many bad things.”
Yezi sighed softly:
“I am the Lingxiu cultivator that you marked as Number Six.
“Actually, I established a powerful underground organization more than sixty years ago. The Scavenger Camp sends tens of thousands of people to the Blade Beasts every year. I did all this.
“But you definitely don't know why I did these things.”
Wang Ji Xuan closed his eyes and said nothing.
He knew that Yezi's desire to win had been aroused. She needed to confide and needed recognition.
Sure enough, Yezi said quickly:
“I did it for civilization.
“Well… you might think that what I'm saying is annoying, but I still want to explain it to you, because I believe you will eventually understand me.
“The Lingxiu civilization actually faced a crisis a long time ago. Before I got the core circuit that belonged to me, it was already terminally ill, and most individuals in the Lingxiu civilization were unaware of it.
“The crisis I'm talking about is not just that the available spiritual energy on various planets is decreasing and resources are depleting.
“The bigger crisis stems from the fact that the Lingxiu civilization has lost its ability to self-innovate. They only pursue three things: pleasure, extreme pleasure, and lasting pleasure.
“And individual pleasure is built on the oppression and exploitation of other individuals.
“I think they are wrong to do this. They are wasting their long lives.
“I left the few planets that I was supposed to shepherd, wandering in interstellar space, trying to find the truth of the universe, explore the true meaning of life, and find a way to save civilization.
“Gradually, I had a group of like-minded partners. We constantly discussed, debated, and even argued, seeking the collision of ideas, trying to give birth to truth in this collision of ideas.
“Then we came to a recognized fact.
“The Lingxiu civilization has been completely corrupted. We need a revolution to overthrow the decadent Lingxiu civilization, create a new order, a new civilization, and allow civilization to continue to pursue the true truth.
“We have no intention of lengthening the duration of life;
“We are determined to raise the height of life.
“But wanting to challenge the order maintained by the Guangming Council and the War God Council, such large Lingxiu organizations, is an extremely difficult task. Therefore, we racked our brains and found…”
“The Bliss Canopy?” Wang Ji Xuan asked with a frown.
Yezi nodded vigorously: “You are indeed very敏锐.”
“Did you and the organization behind you facilitate the birth of the Blade Beasts?”
“You could say that, but in fact, our plan had deviations.”
Yezi said in a low voice:
“We originally wanted to launch a deceptive revolution, letting them enter the Bliss Canopy to survive, and then close the Bliss Canopy.
“But later, the War God Council used their best logic to consider the problem, creating this kind of killing weapon, a killing weapon born for the perpetual existence of the Bliss Canopy, the Blade Beast.
“You know the rest.”
Wang Ji Xuan nodded: “I just want to ask you one question.”
“Ask away, if I can tell you now, I will definitely tell you.”
“You, me, and Xiao Huating,” Wang Ji Xuan stared into Yezi's eyes, “Is it a coincidence that the three of us appeared in the same fortress at the same time?”
“No, it's not.”
Yezi's eyes were incredibly gentle:
“It's just that I was very weak at the time, and my soul could only sleep.
“My mother, Kong Lianmei, do you remember her? She is not actually my mother, she is just one of my nannies. In order to create a perfect body, I used cloning technology to replicate the cells of my original body, creating about six thousand Yezi.
“However, the one you see now is the only me.
“I have already recovered the other bodies. Yezi is now a perfect life form, possessing big brother's cultivation system, the technology of the Lingxiu cultivators, and… insights into the true meaning of life.”
Yezi bit her lip gently.
Wang Ji Xuan suddenly asked, “Are you a narcissist?”
Yezi blinked: “No, Yezi likes big brother more than she likes herself.”
Wang Ji Xuan suddenly smiled, looking at Yezi's small face, and said calmly:
“You are a narcissist, aren't you? You think your civilization is not worthy of you, you think you are the most special one… I think, the only reason you are obsessed with me is that I am the only cultivator in this world, with uniqueness.”
Yezi's smile gradually disappeared.
The mark on Wang Ji Xuan's body flickered slightly. He tried to stand up, but was suppressed by the power.
He simply sat down.
Wang Ji Xuan pressed on: “You have been avoiding telling me some real secrets, but you still let it slip. You and your friends should have had contact with ancient civilizations a long time ago regarding the Bliss Canopy technology.”
Yezi sighed, “So you really just came to gather information?”
“Not really, I was driven out by my inner demon. Although it's embarrassing to say, I cut off my soul when I saw that things were not right.”
Wang Ji Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly:
“I don't want to cultivate again. I will definitely take back that body… But you, Yezi, alas, I want to hear you say something honest.”
“Okay, just ask,” Yezi looked at the ground in disappointment.
“Are you and Gao Huating's previous life really in a cooperative relationship?”