Embers of Sword

Chapter 446 Fetal Light
"Daojiu... is dead?"

Chu Man squatted down, hugged her knees, and watched the flickering fire quietly.

The fire was too hot and the space was distorted, so she couldn't see what was going on inside.

But she could faintly hear the crisp sound of an embryo exploding in the furnace. The Dao furnace was once her natal device. Dao Jiu stayed with her after leaving Beihai Mausoleum. The beating of the natal device was connected to her heart. Looking at the rolling flames, Chu Man could hear the sound of her own heart breaking.

No wonder I felt so empty after waking up from the [Pond of Eternal Life].

I always feel like I've lost something important.

"die……"

Lu Yuzhen smiled gently, and he also imitated Chu Man's posture and squatted in front of the fire.

The flames rolled and shone into his eyes.

Different from Chu Man.

He could see clearly the blazing heat inside the [Clarifying Furnace].

“It’s not death.”

Lu Yuzhen calmly stared at the end of the furnace where the fire was burning most vigorously. In this world, most practitioners, except for those who practice body cultivation, will refine and bind a life tool. Without a life tool, there is no way to derive the life cave. Now, the entire Pure White Mountain Secret Realm in the southern border is derived from the [Chenglu] as the life tool. This furnace with rolling flames can incinerate most things in the world.

However, the [Tao Furnace] was not burned.

“There are some things in this world that are not worthy of dying.”

When Lu Yuzhen said these words, his voice was somewhat sad: "There is no life... so how can we talk about death?"

Chu Man was stunned.

She touched her heart.

"Don't worry, Daojiu is not dead."

Lu Yuzhen patted the woman's shoulder, and in a short moment he returned to his usual lazy and careless appearance: "Good people don't live long, but evil people will last for thousands of years. You should know that everyone in Pure White Mountain hates him, how could he die so easily? It won't be long before he wakes up from the [Eternal Life Pool] just like you..."

"Is it?"

Chu Man continued to squat in front of the fire like a cat.

The Taoist master stood up and looked down at the flames rolling and splashing in the stove. Scattered sparks fell on the white cloak, burning into wisps of ashes.

The whole cave was very quiet.

The candlelight flickered, the wind roared, and there was also the sound of beating hearts.

"Boom."

"Boom."

"Boom."

This time, Chu Man heard it clearly. The heartbeat sound echoing in the cave was not coming from herself, but from the furnace. To be more precise, it came from the round and beating "things" in the fire. What was that? Was it the human heart?

The woman squatting like a cat heard for the first time a voice that so matched her inner world.

She stared into the fire, lost in thought.

There are so many hearts here, maybe there is one that belongs to you?

Chu Man subconsciously stretched out her hand, wanting to get closer to the scorching hot stove.

next moment.

With a snap, the woman's outstretched hand was caught in the air.

"Tao Master..."

Only then did Chu Man come back to her senses.

What were you doing just now?
He actually wanted to take away the items in the [Chenglu] in front of the Taoist master!
"Don't do anything stupid, you'll die."

Lu Yuzhen looked down at the woman, but there was no blame in his voice, only tenderness.

He paused for a moment, then said gently and forcefully: "To outsiders, even the slightest touch of this fire would be a catastrophic disaster. Dao Jiu was able to be reborn in the fire because he is not a human... You are different from him. You only have one life."

Chu Man didn't expect that this was the reason why she was stopped from reaching out.

She knelt down quickly, full of apology: "I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to see... what was jumping in the fire..."

"This is normal."

Lu Yuzhen said calmly: "Everyone desires to be complete. No matter who it is, when they see their lost 'life soul', their first reaction is to want to take it back... It is reasonable for you to want to take back your 'life'. You don't have to apologize to me."

Chu Man was stunned again.

Life?
What is dancing in this fire...is life?
"A person has three souls and seven spirits, and each of them is his or her 'life'."

Lu Yuzhen said softly: "Back then in Beihailing, I saved you. As a price, I took away your 'Fetal Light'."

Chu Man had studied the art of cause and effect in Qingzhou Prefecture, and she knew that "Taiguang" was one of the three souls.

only……

The Grand Scholar of the Chu family told her that the art of cause and effect was just for reading and not to be taken seriously.

These are just illusory things.

"My life is placed in here?"

Chu Man had never thought that such an illusory thing actually had substance.

Lu Yuzhen nodded and asked with a smile: "How is it? Does it look good?"

This was the first time Chu Man saw the word "fate".

It turns out that what is beating in the fire is not the heart, but the life.

She suddenly thought of the headless people on Chenglu Mountain, "Are the lives of those people on the mountain all here?"

"those people?"

Lu Yuzhen's eyes flashed with indifference, and he shook his head: "The lives of those people are too humble, not worthy of entering the [Chenglu]... They can only become the nutrients of the Pure White Mountain and add fuel to the fire. The 'life' you see now is far more noble than these people. Do you remember the Taoist Qianyuan who you and Daojiu killed together not long ago?"

He sneaked into the Hehuan Sect and became a disciple of Taoist Qianyuan.

Use leather as bait.

He lured Taoist Qianyuan out and eventually killed him in the formation and cut off his head.

This was the most difficult mission Chu Man had ever carried out, and it was a hundred times more dangerous than the mission to the imperial city... After the failure of the Tailing negotiations, the three major sects were very wary of the Paper Man Sect, especially the Hehuan Sect. Every furnace and cauldron used by Taoist Qianyuan for his practice had been carefully selected. Chu Man had spent countless efforts to get Taoist Qianyuan to notice her.

"Master Qianyuan was not interested in me..."

Chu Man thought back to the mission and suddenly realized something was wrong.

Taoist Qianyuan has nearly a hundred concubines in his harem.

After lurking in the Hehuan Sect for nearly a hundred days, Chu Man thought that the mission was about to fail, but she didn't expect Qian Yuan to suddenly take the bait. The subsequent seduction, deception, desperate fight, and killing... were all done in one go.

think carefully.

How could such a coincidence happen?

"The night you guys started the fight, I took his 'Que Yin' away from him."

Lu Yuzhen spoke in a gentle voice and waved his sleeves at the same time. A red round pill as big as a baby's fist flew out of the fire.

Queyin, one of the seven souls, is responsible for sexual desire.

"No wonder……"

Chu Man smiled bitterly, feeling a little disappointed. She had thought that this mission depended entirely on herself and Dao Jiu, but she had not expected that the Taoist Master would provide the most important support behind the scenes.

"The souls and spirits displayed here are all extraordinary."

Lu Yuzhen smiled and said, "Master Qianyuan holds an extraordinary position in the Hehuan Sect. He has practiced for many years, suppressed his desires, and practiced the 'Soul Pulling Technique'. His Que Yin Life Soul is extremely powerful... This is why I took away his life soul."

Chu Man understood. The "life" beating in this [Chenglu] is the most precious collection in the world, and also the treasure that the Taoist Master values most.

"Unfortunately."

Lu Yuzhen was playing with Taoist Qianyuan's cock. Although he said something regretful, his eyes and tone did not show any regret: "When a person dies, it is like a lamp going out, and the soul is scattered by the wind. Taoist Qianyuan's 'cock' will not last long..."

This red round pill quickly decayed after leaving the [Chenglu].

Lu Yuzhen crushed it with an indifferent look on his face.

The red powder fluttered in the air but did not dissipate. Instead, it floated towards the sky above the cave along with the paper scraps and condensed into a candle flame.

Chu Man raised her head.

It turns out that the candlelight in this cave is all transformed from the soul and spirit of life?
She asked curiously, "What about my 'life soul'?"

"Your 'fetal light' is naturally very different from that of normal people."

"The fetus of a long-lived person is as white as snow."

"Those who die young have a dark glow in their fetuses."

Lu Yuzhen smiled and raised his sleeves. A golden round pill emerged and fell into his palm.

He didn't care and returned the fetal light to Chu Man.

Chu Man stretched out her hands and held it carefully. This time she heard the resonance of her inner world very clearly. Her "fetal light" and soul vibrated together. She had a premonition that if she swallowed this golden pill, her soul would be truly complete.

Lu Yuzhen put his hands behind his back, took a step back slightly to keep enough distance, and then admired with interest the woman who was kneeling on the ground, her body trembling constantly.

Chu Man was going through a fierce ideological struggle.

Faced with the temptation of the perfect unity of one's own soul and spirit...a normal person cannot resist it even for a moment!

However, she persisted for a very long time, and finally suppressed this desire.

Seeing this scene, a hint of appreciation appeared in Lu Yuzhen's eyes.

"Your 'fetal light' is neither black nor white, but golden."

“This is the color of ‘living towards death’.”

Lu Yuzhen reached out his hand and rubbed the top of the woman's head, as if looking at a perfect animal, and said lovingly: "How many people in this world can cultivate such a 'fetal light'? Over the years, I have used the Immortal Spring to sprinkle many lucky people, and no one is like you. Perhaps only the reincarnations of the Taoist sect and the Brahma Sound Temple can have the golden 'fetal light' soul."

Chu Man vaguely knew why she had a special status in the Paper Doll world...

Although the interior of the [Chenglu] is now densely packed with countless souls and spirits displayed inside, it can be seen from the lurking of the Hehuan Sect that it is not easy for the Taoist master to obtain someone's soul, otherwise Taoist Qianyuan would not have waited until daytime to succeed.

As for the reincarnated beings of the Taoist sect and the Fanyin Temple... they are at least mountain-top monks at the Yangshen realm!

How can we obtain the "fetal light" of such a character?

Even if the Taoist master has extraordinary means, it would be difficult to do it!
Resisting the urge to swallow it, Chu Man took a deep breath, lowered her head, raised her hands high, and offered her soul again.

"Don't you want to eat it?"

Lu Yuzhen didn't reach out to take it, but asked in a low voice.

"think……"

Chu Man's voice trembled, and she forced a smile with difficulty: "It's just that I would rather serve the Taoist master."

"..."

Lu Yuzhen looked at the woman under him with an expressionless face, not knowing what he was thinking.

The cave fell into a brief silence.

This kind of silence is the most fatal thing.

The roaring and crackling sound of the fire was like the sound of ocean waves.

Scalding, scorching, icy cold, dead silent.

After a moment, Lu Yuzhen slowly stretched out his hand. He first took back the golden "fetal light", and then his hand fell again, this time landing on the top of the woman's head.

He ruffled the woman's hair.

Daoist Master Lu squatted down again, looking Chu Man in the eye, and said gently: "Don't be nervous. Since I saved you from Beihai Mausoleum, I won't kill you easily... I have finally cultivated a soul of 'living towards death' with my own hands, how can I bear to let you die like this? It doesn't matter even if you just swallowed the 'fetal light', I won't blame you."

Chu Man looked at the eyes in front of her.

Although there was a clear and gentle light flashing in Lu Yuzhen's pupils.

But she vaguely felt in her heart... that this was not the case.

If she had just swallowed the "fetal light", everything would have been different. In that moment of dead silence, Chu Man felt the oppression of the coming tsunami, and she was very glad that she made the right choice.

"Want to see the interior of the [Chenglu]?"

The storm did not come, and the cave was still warm as spring. The Taoist's voice was like a spring breeze that swept into the heart. He was taking care of Chu Man's emotions. Not long ago, this silly girl tried to reach out and take her "life" out of the stove.

"Is that okay?"

Chu Man was a little nervous.

"of course."

The Taoist smiled and embraced the woman, and they both held [Fetal Light] together. Countless scraps of paper emerged from their arms and ignited in the fire. However, the fire did not spread along the scraps of paper. Countless flying scraps of paper that appeared out of thin air turned into ashes, forming a natural barrier zone.

Chu Man focused his mind on his fingertips.

This time, she saw the [Tao Furnace], and Daojiu's soul was curled up and sleeping inside the [Tao Furnace].

[Daolu] seemed to have been cut open by something.

A straight crack cut the furnace in half.

This cut mark looks familiar.

If it were placed somewhere else, this treasure might have been broken and could not be repaired at all, but this is the Paper Man Dao, and all miracles can happen in the Pure White Mountain. According to what the Taoist master said... after some time, Dao Jiu will be thrown into the [Eternal Life Pond], where he will welcome a new life again.

"what?"

Moving his gaze away from the [Dao Furnace], Chu Man noticed that the "life" in the [Cheng Furnace] seemed to be ranked in levels.

The souls and spirits here are of different sizes and at different distances from the fire.

The flame of [Chenglu] can warm the soul and temper it at the same time.

However, a soul that is too weak cannot withstand the burning, and if it gets too close, it will be annihilated directly...

There is an empty space at the outermost edge. If I am not mistaken, this should be the place where Taoist Qianyuan's "Queyin" is placed.

And your own "fetal light" is placed in a relatively inner position.

Further inside, there are several souls that have not taken shape, floating and solidifying like smoke...

But these were not the reasons why Chu Man exclaimed. She took a glimpse and unexpectedly saw a ray of extremely golden and pure soul. If you don't look carefully, you may even confuse the soul with the fire... The soul was placed in the deepest part of the furnace core, which was more vigorous and brighter than the fire.

"See?"

Lu Yuzhen's eyes met Chu Man's. He smiled and asked, "What do you think?"

"..."

Chu Man was so shocked that she was speechless for a long time.

That golden soul is also fetal light, and it is the fetal light that is "born towards death" -

Compared with it, my own aura is so dim and pale that it is not worth mentioning.

“It looks good, doesn’t it…”

Lu Yuzhen admired the hot and beating fetal light, and then slowly restrained her smile.

He said word by word: "This is my most precious collection, no other."

(End of this chapter)