With his heart pounding, Long Chen sent a thread of his soul force into the crystal.
Quickly, the soul crystal began to glow. The radiance was much greater than Du Ze's, who until now seemed to be the strongest.
A collective gasp of admiration swept through the small group. This was already what they had expected, but it was still impressive.
Inside the soul crystal, five bronze stars shone with a steady light. That was Long Chen's cultivation level. But he wasn't interested in that.
'What's my soul form? Why can't I see it?' he thought.
He then looked more closely, trying to peer harder, but saw nothing. It was like looking into murky water. Only a blurry scene appeared, with no apparent form.
However, Nie Li kept watching. His brows furrowed.
"Weird," murmured Lu Piao. "Why can't we see the form?"
But Nie Li wasn't paying attention to them. His eyes were locked on the crystal, his usually calm expression replaced by one of intense, disbelieving concentration. He leaned in closer.
"What is it, Nie Li?" Du Ze asked, noticing the change.
Nie Li didn't answer. He only watched. A dozen points of light like stars in the universe appeared inside the crystal. At the center of that universe, a small tomoe made of pure darkness slowly spun, like a solitary comma of abyss. It emitted no cold, no fire, no element. It was simply… absence. Something hollow.
'This makes no sense,' Nie Li thought. 'A soul form without any attribute? And with that shape…?'
Before he could keep unraveling the mystery, the soul crystal pulsed with a new light. Next to the dark tomoe, a twin was born. It was of a blinding white, pure, yet equally devoid of any elemental essence. Yin and Yang. But they didn't merge like the traditional symbol. Instead, they were separated, spinning around each other.
"What!!"
Nie Li took a step back, the shock hitting him like a physical wave.
The air in the library seemed to vanish. Everyone held their breath.
The silence was so sudden and absolute it became a sound in itself. All eyes, which had been on the crystal, now turned to Nie Li. His face was pale, his eyes wide as if he had seen a ghost from a distant past.
Long Chen observed Nie Li's reaction with sharp interest. He didn't understand why he reacted that way. Was his soul really so strange that even Nie Li, with all his knowledge, couldn't figure it out? That shouldn't be possible!
Finally, Nie Li released the breath he had been holding, a sigh that seemed to carry the weight of a lifetime of battles. His voice, when he spoke, was low and haunted.
"I... I never thought I'd see this. Not here." He looked at Long Chen, not like a thirteen-year-old boy, but with the eyes of an ancient warrior. "In all my travels, in all the books I've read… I've only seen mention of this once. In a text so old that most consider it a myth."
"Hahaha! Nie Li, stop messing around. What travels are you talking about if you're not even at Bronze Rank yet," Lu Piao teased, drawing a laugh from the others.
But Nie Li ignored him.
He paused, his gaze piercing through Long Chen. "How do I even explain this…? In short, you don't have a single soul form. You have two. Yin-Yang Twin Souls."
"Two souls? That… that's not possible, right?" Lu Piao choked out.
"Is it good or bad?" Du Ze asked, always practical.
"It's both," Nie Li replied, his tone grave. "It's a blessing and a curse. The power this can generate… is unimaginable. But the cost…" He shook his head. "The cost is time. To take a single step forward, you'll need a quantity of spiritual energy that even a genius would take years to gather. To cross a single realm, you might need decades. Or centuries."
'Decades, centuries?'
Long Chen lowered his head, hiding the smile that threatened to bloom on his lips. So, it only depended on time and more resources, huh? What a joke. For me, that's just the entry fee.
Nie Li paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "I know a technique like this. The only one I've ever seen that can cultivate Yin-Yang souls separately. The question is," he said, looking directly at Long Chen, "are you willing to cultivate it? It will be a hard path…"
"This technique can cultivate both souls. It's a path to certain failure or to a true sovereign. There's no middle ground. If you reach Legendary Rank, this flaw will become your greatest strength. As far as I know, you'll be able to create a clone of yourself, doubling your cultivation speed and making your clone virtually immortal, as long as you have enough energy to rebuild it."
"It is, without a doubt, the technique I know the least about. It's also very mysterious. You'll have to discover its effects for yourself."
Nie Li stared at him. "But the path to get there… will be truly difficult and agonizingly slow. Most would give up halfway. Most could even go mad," he said, before falling silent, letting Long Chen think.
Lu Piao and the others widened their eyes, not just because of the technique's effects, but because of the absurd demands.
"Don't do it, Long Chen!" Lu Piao stepped forward. "You're not really considering it, are you? We'll all be Gold Rank, and you'll still be polishing your Bronze stars!"
"Long Chen, think about it! If it's already hard to reach Silver Rank with one soul, imagine reaching Legendary with two!"
"If Nie Li said the resource demand is absurd, then maybe it's better to choose a more stable technique," another said. "Maybe Nie Li has another more reliable one."
Du Ze nodded.
"If this is true, the resource consumption is really… inconceivable," he frowned in concern. "Wouldn't you need the entire treasure of a noble family for each tiny advancement? Where would you get that?"
Long Chen shook his head.
'Yeah, where from?' He smiled inwardly, a thrilling emotion running through him. "Maybe from a whole world you don't even know exists."
That's what he thought.
But on the outside, he clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles white. He lifted his head, his face a mask of conflict and torment. He bit his lower lip, as if the decision was tearing him apart.
It was a beautiful performance, no doubt. He looked at his worried friends, then at Nie Li's analytical gaze.
"Even if I fall behind," he said, his voice rough with fabricated emotion, but with a true core of steel. "At least… I won't regret not trying." He met Nie Li's eyes. "I accept. I'll cultivate that technique."
A slow, enigmatic smile spread across Nie Li's face. He nodded, satisfied with the determination—real or not. "Then so be it."
With his help, he was sure he could support Long Chen so he wouldn't fall too far behind the others. At most, he'd just give him more resources.
He then transmitted the chants of the Sutra to Long Chen, who immediately sat down to test it. The feeling was like trying to push cold tar through a needle. Slow. Frustrating. Agonizing.
A complete difference from how his cultivation had grown in recent days. But he knew this was a powerful technique. Internally, he decided he owed Nie Li a favor for it.
He then resumed familiarizing himself with the new technique, successfully replacing his old one.
Time passed slowly...
Later, after the group decided to roam through all of Glory City to buy Purple Haze Grass for the next step of Nie Li's plan, Long Chen took a chance to slip away with a clear goal in mind: the training field of the Holy Orchid Institute.
It was time to act.
He would look for Xiao Ning'er. He needed to get her attention, and if possible, begin the process of curing her illness. In his possession, he had brought treasures from the Ancestral Spiritual World.
High-level beast cores, Spiritual Honey that could accelerate recovery and cultivation, and beast meat filled with pure energy.
As for the cultivation technique for her, he had a few options. He could bargain with Nie Li in the future, or simply search for a suitable one in his own world.
Either way, he was confident. With his help, Xiao Ning'er could advance by leaps and bounds, even without a top-tier technique. But for now, the first step was finding her.
With his increased speed, he arrived at the training grounds in seconds.
The place was noisy and crowded, a swarm of activity and shouts from young people testing their strength. Most of them were hunting for Horned Sheep, which now seemed extinct.
Nie Li's group had definitely cleared the area.
He was certain she wouldn't be there, but he was just as sure she wouldn't be far. With her proud and reclusive nature, Xiao Ning'er would likely seek solitude.
"Let's take a deeper look."
Long Chen circled the main area, his quiet steps leading him into the dense forest surrounding the institute. The air instantly became colder and damper, the muffled sound of leaves and earth replacing the students' clamor. His senses, far sharper than anyone else's in that place, expanded, avoiding any demon beasts in his path.
"Found her!" he smiled.
She was in a small hidden clearing, a place of calm and tranquility that few would have the patience to find. The sunset light filtered through the tall trees, painting the ground with orange patches.
And there she was.
Xiao Ning'er was sitting on a patch of dark green moss, her back straight and her posture flawless like a dedicated cultivator. Her eyes were closed, her expression a mix of intense focus and a hint of pain she tried to suppress.
She wore a simple set of blue training clothes, but the plainness of the fabric couldn't hide the figure it held.
For her age, her body was extraordinarily developed. The garments stretched over her full chest and clung to her slim waist before widening around her curvy hips. Even sitting, her long and well-shaped legs were evident. She was a seductive figure, a promise of womanhood blooming with early, powerful beauty.
Her hair, a unique orange-brown like autumn leaves touched by sunset, was loosely tied back, with a few stubborn strands framing her exquisite face. And, as Long Chen had suspected, she was barefoot. Her delicate feet, with high arches, rested directly on the moss—which he knew was to reduce the pain she felt. Xiao Ning'er was a vision of vulnerability and intimacy that made Long Chen's pulse quicken just from looking at her.
But beyond that, he could feel the turbulence in her soul realm, the cold energy of the arctic disease causing her constant pain that she endured with iron willpower.
If he couldn't cure her today, he would have to search for a cure, or ask Nie Li for help again. At most, he'd owe him another favor.
Long Chen kept looking at her for a moment before shaking his head.
"So stubborn," he thought, an enigmatic smile forming on his lips. "Forcing her cultivation through the pain. Just like Nie Li said, she's going to destroy herself before she even reaches Bronze Rank."