Chapter 75: What to Do with the Extra Divine Soul
When Long Tao regained consciousness once more, the first thing that entered his sight was a cascade of brilliant golden hair—and beneath that golden hair… a broad, astonishingly curved chest that was impossible to ignore.
His gaze shifted slightly upward, eting Luo Yusi’s six clear eyes filled with concern and delight.
Evidently, she had been keeping watch at his side the entire ti.
“Long Tao! That’s great, you finally woke up!”
Seeing Long Tao open his eyes, Luo Yusi imdiately leaned closer, all six eyes curving at once as genuine joy spilled out.
Warmth rose unbidden in Long Tao’s heart, and he could not help but sigh inwardly—having friends was truly a wonderful thing.
At the very least, when he lost consciousness, soone watched over him; when he woke, he did not have to face a cold ceiling alone.
He shifted his sowhat stiff body, his voice still hoarse from just waking up.
“This is… where?”
“We’re on a Cloud Vessel. We’re about to return to the sect,” Luo Yusi explained softly, her tone carrying a trace of exhaustion after surviving the ordeal.
“Too many things happened in the Secret Realm this ti—there’s no way to explain it all at once. In short… on our side, we still lost three people in the end, and several others were seriously injured.”
Three dead… Long Tao fell silent for a mont.
To be honest, this number was far better than the bloodbath he had imagined.
But these three had all been personally transmitted disciples or inner sect elites.
The loss of any one of them would be enough to break their masters’ hearts.
Not to ntion… that traitor Chu Yuanbai!
“Chu Yuanbai, he…” Long Tao asked hurriedly.
Since he was now lying safely aboard the returning Cloud Vessel, it was highly likely that things had been settled, and Nan Yuchen should also have exposed Chu Yuanbai’s traitorous identity.
Still, Long Tao could not help but confirm it, fearing that man might still have so sinister backup plan.
“Not long after you left, he joined forces with those two Wuyi Sect assassins and suddenly launched a sneak attack on Senior Brother Fang,” Luo Yusi said, her voice turning cold.
A flicker of lingering fear and anger flashed through her compound eyes.
“Fortunately… you reminded before leaving the team, so I made preparations in advance. After a vicious battle… we killed those two assassins. As for Chu Yuanbai… we captured him together. We barely kept him alive, to be taken back to the sect for interrogation.”
“Is that so… that’s good.” Long Tao let out a breath.
A living captive was far more valuable than a corpse.
He then thought of the situation outside.
“Then… how are the three Golden Core True Persons?”
“All three True Persons are fine, but after all, it was three against five, and the enemy included ruthless figures like Acrid Unforgiven and the Withered-Hand Elder. The True Persons all suffered injuries to varying degrees,” Luo Yusi paused.
Her six eyes focused curiously on Long Tao’s face, her tone turning incredulous.
“But don’t just ask about our side! What exactly did you and Nan Yuchen encounter inside the Secret Realm? Everyone—whether inside the Secret Realm or the True Persons facing off outside—clearly felt, at a certain mont, a kind of… indescribable, utterly terrifying Divine Soul fluctuation! It was as if so unimaginably powerful existence had awakened.”
At her words, the corner of Long Tao’s mouth twitched slightly.
As expected… the situation back then had been urgent.
That burst of “a thousand Soul Lamp Value” from the System senior had caused far too much commotion.
Everyone had noticed it.
How was he supposed to explain this? Say that there was a suspected ancient soul-transmigrating old grandfather living inside him, who had lent him a bit of power at a critical mont so he could show off and scare the enemies away?
Just saying it out loud sounded absurd.
Forget whether others would believe it—even he himself found it ridiculous.
It seed that after returning, he could only continue acting out the script of “temporarily possessed by a mysterious expert.”
“Sigh… this really can’t be explained clearly in a short ti,” Long Tao said, rubbing his still-throbbing temples as he decided to brush it off for now.
“Anyway… when all’s said and done, it was that Yaoguang Azure Phoenix that caused all this trouble.”
“Oh, you an the small green bird Nan Yuchen is holding right now?” Luo Yusi blinked her pairs of compound eyes, revealing a hint of curiosity.
“I heard it has already successfully ford a recognition bond with him. True Person Mingzhu suffered so light injuries, but because of this, her mood is actually quite good. If you look at it this way, the sect this ti… can’t really be said to have lost too much, right?”
Indeed.
Long Tao agreed inwardly.
They had been sched against by an enemy sect and even lost disciples, yet in the end they obtained the most precious treasure of the Secret Realm—a Quasi–Holy Beast hatchling with limitless potential.
From a strategic standpoint, Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect was undoubtedly the winner of this conflict.
Based on this, Long Tao deduced that the sect’s upper echelon would most likely lodge a strong protest against the Wuyi Sect, perhaps even declare war.
After all, appearances had to be maintained, and an explanation given to the sect as a whole.
But neither side likely wanted a full-scale war.
Since Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect had gained real benefits, it would not truly want to fight; and the Wuyi Sect, having colluded with notorious evil cultivators like the Withered-Hand Elder and Acrid Unforgiven—and having been witnessed by many independent cultivators—was clearly in the wrong, with little internal appetite for war.
The final outco would likely be that both sides stationed troops in opposition along so border region, staging a period of thunderous rhetoric but light rain—a “sit-in war.” After expending so resources and easing tensions, each side would find an excuse to stand down, and the matter would be considered closed.
At that mont, the familiar, emotionless chanical voice rang out once more in Long Tao’s mind, and the cold System Interface Panel appeared:
【Ergency Task: Contest for the Secret Realm Spirit Pet completed】
【Because the Child of Destiny Nan Yuchen was present at the task location upon completion, Destiny Luck Reward obtained: Soul Lamp Value 5】
【Side Quest completed: Establish friendly relations with the native inhabitants of the Secret Realm: Soul Lamp Value 2】
【Side Quest completed: Discover Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect traitor Chu Yuanbai: Soul Lamp Value 2】
【Side Quest completed: Disrupt the plan of Wuyi Sect Golden Core cultivator “True Person Wangshuo”: Soul Lamp Value 3】
【Because the Host forcibly severed the Divine Soul midway through the task: Soul Lamp Value −5】
【Current Soul Lamp Value: 31】
Long Tao was instantly stunned by this sudden settlent!
Not only had he completed the main task, he had unknowingly completed three side quests as well! Aside from the first Tree Spirit quest, which the System had ntioned at the ti, he had not even realized the latter two counted as tasks!
By this calculation, even after deducting the 5 points consud by severing his Divine Soul during the forced breakthrough, he had still netted a full 7 Soul Lamp Value from this trip! According to that “senior,” with 31 Soul Lamp Value, his Divine Soul strength already rivaled that of a Mid-to-Late Foundation Establishnt cultivator!
However, after the initial ecstasy, a very real problem imdiately surfaced: if he managed to survive every mission and gain Soul Lamp Value each ti, how was he supposed to explain this Divine Soul strength that vastly exceeded his current cultivation realm to the sect? A Qi-Refining disciple possessing Divine Soul strength surpassing Mid-to-Late Foundation Establishnt was simply too shocking—it would quickly invite suspicion and investigation.
Wait!
A flash of inspiration struck Long Tao’s mind as he suddenly recalled the “Blood-Refining Sea-Casting thod” he had used before! Wasn’t the core of that secret art precisely about trading the severing of part of one’s Divine Soul for a short-term explosion of power? Such techniques were a self-destructive heretical path for ordinary cultivators—but for soone like him, whose “massive Divine Soul source was of unknown origin,” wasn’t this the perfect channel for “laundering” it?
That’s right! Once he returned to the sect and things settled down, he would specifically seek out those fringe cultivation thods, secret arts, or even forbidden techniques that required consuming or severing the Divine Soul in exchange for great power!
This way, he could rapidly enhance his imdiate combat strength while reasonably expending that excess, scorching-hot “Soul Lamp Value,” keeping his Divine Soul strength only slightly above normal levels—enough to make him look like an ordinary Qi-Refining disciple.
It was just that… recalling the bone-deep, soul-rending agony of severing his Divine Soul, Long Tao shuddered involuntarily.
That kind of pain—he truly did not want to experience it a second ti.
“Sigh, I’ll take it one step at a ti…” he sighed inwardly.
“At least there’s one more path now.
In the end, that’s still a good thing.”
At the very least, the capital he had to survive… had grown a bit richer.
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