The Quest for Immortality

”In reality, a person has only one soul and seven spirits within, adding up to exactly ’eight’.”

”On top of the Life Soul, the seven spirits are parasitic...”

Mo Hua glanced again at the forbidden box.

On the pattern of the forbidden box, eight prisons are depicted; the largest is in the center while the other seven are distributed around it, centered on the middle.

This aligns with the principle of ”seven spirits parasitic on the Life Soul.”

The seven outer prisons each have a lock, with chains connecting them, converging upon the gate of the central prison.

The prisoners in the seven prisons suffer different penalties, but upon closer inspection, it’s discovered they are all parts of the penalty suffered by the prisoner in the central large prison...

Mo Hua’s train of thought suddenly became clear.

The Daoist Prison Map on the forbidden box, one prison with seven cells, corresponds to a cultivator’s one soul and seven spirits, resembling a ”symbolic image” of the Divine Soul.

What is displayed in the diagram is the heart image of a cultivator.

Cultivators meditate on this image for years, imprinting the likeness of the punished prisoners firmly in their hearts to form a ”heart image,” which is then carved into the Divine Soul.

This way, the Divine Soul inherently carries the majesty and evil Qi of the prison.

The prison’s role is to kill and punish.

A Divine Soul containing the ”prison” likeness can damage others’ Divine Sense upon soul emergence, causing fear, terror, and even death from shattered organs.

Therefore, the Water Prison Sect’s ”nurturing of evil” at its core is actually ”nurturing the soul.”

Through upholding Taoist law, and slaying sinful people, one cultivates righteousness and evil Qi, incorporating it into the Divine Soul, making villains fear it.

But Water Yama is different; he doesn’t know how to nurture a soul, only how to nurture evil, even going so far as to adopt the Evil Spirit Transformation Skill of the Demon Path to commit immense killings.

If he merely nurtured these evils, that would be one thing.

If one day, he reaches the point where evil Qi merges into his soul, the ”deadly evilness” he nurtures by wantonly killing innocents may immediately rebel, counterattacking his Divine Soul, driving him insane, living a life worse than death.

Mo Hua’s thoughts flashed.

Involuntarily, he came up with a way to ”trap” Water Yama to death without lifting a finger...

Mo Hua’s eyes slightly brightened.

However, he hasn’t found Water Yama yet, so he can’t act for now.

For now, it’s better to learn the Pupil Skill first.

Mo Hua began practicing according to the theory he summarized.

He calmed his mind and focused, meditating on the Daoist Prison Map on the forbidden box, firmly memorizing these images as ”heart images.”

Initially, nothing happened.

The images remained images, without any phenomena.

Mo Hua’s state of mind didn’t change in the slightest.

But he was not discouraged.

Any spell, when first learned, is difficult, requiring step-by-step exploration, constant trials, and incremental research.

Just like learning those complex and profound formations, it requires perseverance, never achieved overnight.

Mo Hua, having studied formations daily, was very familiar with this process.

He concentrated his attention to the utmost, fully immersing himself in the Daoist Prison Map.

After an unknown length of time, Mo Hua’s heart trembled, his Divine Thought finally reacted.

Something mystical seemed to change in the Divine Sense dwelling in his Sea of Consciousness, as if something was ”self-awakening.”

Mo Hua’s spirit lifted, and he began to concentrate, tracing back to the origin.

He sensed from the external Divine Sense, gradually feeling inward, sensing the source from which the Divine Sense derived.

Again, after some indeterminate time, after a vague, indescribable exploration, Mo Hua’s mind shook, finally tracing back to a certain presence in his inner heart, belonging to him, but something he hadn’t previously realized—

”Divine Soul.”

This feeling was extremely subtle.

Mo Hua ”sensed” his own Divine Soul.

It seemed as if he saw himself from an observer’s perspective, glimpsing at those deepest lurking ”selves” within him.

His ”Divine Soul” was remarkably complex.

In it were various indescribable, indistinguishable clear and turbid auras, interweaving and ebbing, a chaotic mix.

Mo Hua thus realized he seemed to not entirely understand ”himself.”

After perceiving the Divine Soul, the subsequent process seemed somewhat simpler to Mo Hua.

He merged the ”heart image” into the Divine Soul.

Mo Hua began to integrate the ”heart image” of punishing prisoners depicted in the Daoist Prison Map into his Divine Soul.

This act felt akin to ”remodeling” his conscious perception of the Divine Soul.

The integration process went smoothly.

Mo Hua simply felt his Divine Soul tremor, an overwhelming desire for ”hatred of evil” surged from his heart, as if all wrongdoers in the world deserved to die!

All sinners should be thrown into the prison, subjected to severe torture, tormented to death by cruel means, only then would their sins be eradicated...

This realization seemed etched into his Divine Soul with the Daoist Prison’s heart image.

Mo Hua’s expression turned slightly fierce, his eyes filled with an intensifying evil Qi, his whole demeanor enveloped in the ruthless aura of a ”severe official.”

”No!”

Mo Hua immediately became alert.

He forcibly gathered his thoughts, calming his emotions to prevent these prison heart images from further engraving into his Divine Soul.

By isolating his Divine Soul’s perception and cutting off the heart image integration, Mo Hua finally relaxed, his gaze returned to clarity, with all trace of evil Qi dissipated.

Mo Hua involuntarily sighed in relief.

”Almost learned in the wrong direction...”

Embedding the Water Prison Sect’s prison heart image in his Divine Soul, once successful, would mean this heart image was deeply engraved within his Divine Soul.

Though he would then be able to use the Water Prison Sect’s pupil skill, Mo Hua pondered and felt this wasn’t what he wanted.

He had no desire to nurture the Water Prison Sect’s ”righteous evil.”

Even though he constantly reminded himself that he was a Righteous Cultivator, who should seek the Great Dao with integrity, he also understood that some ”righteousness and evil” in this world aren’t so easily distinguished.

Where there’s righteousness, there must be evil.

Strictly separating them, pursuing extreme ”righteousness,” could very well lead one onto a ”evil” path.

Primarily, it didn’t align with his own disposition.

Mo Hua felt that he had a good rapport with people.

Even if he wasn’t ”loved by everyone, praised by all,” he believed he was fairly amiable.

Even Uncle Gu, though not overtly affectionate, was quite caring when it counted.

In times of danger, he would protect Mo Hua behind him.

His master often reminded him that being a righteous cultivator meant seeking the Great Dao with integrity and uprightness, and he also understood that harboring too much alarming severity was not the right path.

Thus, he decided that he must not let the prison’s heart image infuse into his soul.

He must carve no portion of it into his Divine Soul to avoid becoming cold and detached like Uncle Gu, with a demeanor that is only stern and fear-inducing.

Moreover, Mo Hua aspired to focus on the Great Dao of formations in the future.

If the Water Prison Sect’s heart image were to be carved into his Divine Soul, it would mean he could only concentrate on the strictness of the penal system, destined to follow the path of the Court Official.

Thus, nurturing the Water Prison Sect’s righteous evil cannot be pursued, nor can the fusion of the prison’s heart image.

I can’t merge the prison method, so perhaps... merge with Swordsmanship?

Merging Divine Thought into sword?!

How exactly to merge it?

Mo Hua’s mind was suddenly illuminated by the thought of a sword technique’s name:

Soul-Shocking Sword!

Some images and sounds began to emerge in Mo Hua’s mind.

These were things he had conjured, from a variegated and enigmatic delve into his own consciousness.

”Xuan Er...”

”I originally shouldn’t teach you this swordsmanship...”

”Your foundation is already solid, so today I will teach you...”

”The Soul-Shocking Style!”

...

Mo Hua drew out the broken sword from his Storage Ring that he found in the blood-colored fishing village, his mind flooding with images and sounds.

This was his first time drawing the broken sword within the Tai Xu Mountain Gate.