CH 19

Chapter 19 – Unknown Path Forward

Passing Soul

TL Note: The second mantra of Soul Song, which was initially called Soul Limit Mantra in Chapter 3, will now be called Passing Soul Mantra. The name for the different mantras of Soul Song, the cultivation method that appeared in Xu Disheng’s mind at birth, might be subject to change throughout the story as the author explains them. I haven’t really read ahead of the translation, so this may continue to be the case for other cultivation methods/info in the future. But either way, I will always let the readers know about the changes, and go back to the previous chapters to change it accordingly.

Black Soul Force was slowly revolving in Xu Disheng’s sea of consciousness in his Baihui meridian point. His Soul Force had already become completely jet black in color, filling his entire sea of consciousness. In the past few years of cultivation, Xu Disheng’s Soul Force had already undergone a fundamental change.

The corners of Xu Disheng’s mouth curled up into a smile, happy despite this being the result from a whole 10 years of hard cultivation. Two years ago, he had finally figured out the main outline of the second part of his life companion cultivation method that was in his mind from birth, Soul Song, and it was called the Passing Soul Mantra.

Its name couldn’t be interpreted in the most obvious literal sense. This mantra was extremely malicious. Xu Disheng had hardly used the Passing Soul Mantra, but its power was astonishing to him.

Passing Soul. It didn’t refer to the passing of souls into the cycle of reincarnation, nor was it the peaceful liberation of ghosts from this world into the Pure Land1. It was taking the soul and forcefully passing it into the void, turning the entire being into an empty corpse.

Although Xu Disheng could put the Passing Soul Mantra to use, even he didn’t know where this ‘passing’ soul would end up. Up to this point, he had only used it twice. He had some imperial guards bring over a death row prisoner to his pagoda so he could use it on them. Plus, it took a lot to use the Passing Soul Mantra. Just one use of it took up half of his available Soul Force. With Xu Disheng’s current capacity, he could only use it twice before he would be completely empty.

The upper limit of the amount of Soul Force was related to the sea of consciousness. The cyan jade flute was slowly expanding Xu Disheng’s sea of consciousness by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon and converting it to Soul Force. A bigger sea of consciousness could hold more Soul Force, but if it were to be completely used up, it would only take 1 or 2 days to replenish back to full.

But if he wanted to increase the upper limit of the amount of Soul Force, he had to follow the aforementioned method and accumulate it through a long period of bitter and dull cultivation.

The young Daoist was wearing a black robe with a complex design. He had red lips and white teeth, handsome eyebrows, and his jet black hair was tied into a bun at the back of his head, secured with a jade hairpin. Overall, he was extremely good-looking.

Xu Disheng was already 15 years old. He was thinking about what Zhang Keyu said about the letters from the Xu Clan, and he was already starting to internally form plans about going back to the Ruyang Region for a visit.

The Xu Clan sent quite a few letters. They were not only written by Jin Yu and Xu Xiao, but also Xu Chaoyang and the people from the Council of Elders. For the most part, they were all inquiring about when he would come back to the Ruyang Region. The people of the Xu Clan also came in person several times, but they weren’t even allowed to enter the gate of Youyang Palace.

If an ordinary five year old child were to leave for 10 years and not return, then they would have to have an incredibly patient temperament.

As he walked within the palace complex, he traveled several li, arriving at the front gates before he even knew it.

Xu Disheng had never used a carriage when inside of the palace. From the time that he arrived here, he had never gone to see any other parts of the You Province to experience the local customs and scenery. In the last 10 years, he had barely left the vicinity of the Dao Palace, and now he was trying to go out alone, into the busy, flourishing Youyang City.

He looked over at the armored guards who were saluting at him, and nodded his head in response while laughing at himself inwardly. This place could truly be considered the place that he grew up. He came when he was 5 years old and now he was already 15 years old, yet he had spent practically all of his childhood days in his pagoda, cultivating ascetically.

Other children would spend their childhood fussing and acting spoiled in the tender embraces of their parents arms, or going outside to frolic about and play wildly. But him? These 10 years, he just sat there on the 7th layer of his pagoda in complete solitude. Alone in that hall under the bright moonlight shining down from the heavens, with nothing to accompany him but dull cultivation.

When he exited Youyang Palace, he was met with the familiar scene from 10 years past; the bustling din on the main street of Youyang City, alive with human activity.

Xu Disheng walked into the masses of people, and for a short period of time, he seemed to blend into the crowd.

At this time, he happened across a market. There were merchants calling out from both sides of the street, loudly hawking their wares to the passersby. Xu Disheng walked up to a merchant’s stall and stopped in front of it.

This stall had a bunch of simple wooden tiles, with the various animals from the Chinese zodiac carved onto them. Whether it was the small, adorable mouse, or the simple and honest ox, the animals carved onto the palm-sized wooden tiles seemed to have eyes full of expression and vitality, as if they were alive.

He picked up an engraved tile with a small dog on it and began to examine it closely in the palm of his hand. The small dog had a very cute design, as it sat on its haunches with its tail coiled around its leg and its mouth closed. It was obediently gazing towards the forefront, looking very lovable.

“Young Daoist, these zodiac carvings were personally carved by my mother in her free time. Each and every one of them is a high quality work of art, so the price they’re being sold at is slightly higher.”

The owner of the stall was a pretty young girl wearing plain cotton clothing, somewhere around 14 or 15 years old. When she saw Xu Disheng stop and pick up the wooden tile, she called out to him in a pleasant, clear voice.

Xu Disheng was still looking down at the wooden tile, but when he heard what she said, his long eyelashes twitched and he shifted his gaze upwards with a light smile upon his lips. “How much does this cost?”

The plainly clothed young girl didn’t immediately respond, and just stared at him in a momentary daze. Earlier, Xu Disheng was looking downwards with his jet black hair hanging down from both sides of his face, so she didn’t notice his appearance at first.

But now, when he finally looked up, the entirety of his fair, handsome face was exposed to the young girl’s gaze. His eyes seemed to be as bright as stars, but at the same time, there was also a faint black vortex spinning in the pupils of his eyes, which made him give off a sense of coldness.

When he suddenly smiled, that cold feeling about him suddenly became more lively, as if his smiling expression had become the center of the world. His smile was like the clouds in the sky, or the blossoming of flowers, firmly capturing the plain clothed young girl’s eye.

“Ah…about that… it’s 1 tael of silver,” the young girl finally got a hold of herself and managed to stutter out a reply.

Xu Disheng nodded and reached into his sleeve, pulling out a piece of gold, which he lightly placed on the stall. With the wooden tile in hand, he turned around and left.

“Ah… young Daoist, you left too much!” the young girl called out after him in a hurry. She looked up and saw the view of his back as it got farther and farther away. All she could see was his long, jet black hair fastened by a jade hairpin into a bun which hung slightly down his back. But he didn’t ever turn around, and before she knew it, he disappeared into the tide of people.

“So how much are you selling these wooden tiles for?”

“3 taels of silver,” the plain clothed young girl dealt with the customers before her, but in her heart, she was still thinking about that young man’s beautiful smile. It was firmly imprinted into her mind, and she couldn’t seem to get it out of her head.

Back when Xu Disheng was born in Zhenhai City, in the Xu Clan’s Ruyang Region, he vaguely remembered being told that his own zodiac sign was the dog. Thus, when he saw the delicate and refined wooden tile, he took a liking to it right away.

Youyang City was the capital and the true heart of the You Province, so there were countless stables for horses and carriages. In order to get to the Ruyang Region, he had to cross over two Regions, which were the Wu’an Region and the Lin’an Region.

With a top-notch horse and the highest quality chariot, it would take about 1 day. If one forced the horse as much as possible and traveled lightly, just a bit over half a day would be sufficient.

Xu Disheng looked for a horse stable that was on the larger side and then walked in. He was immediately welcomed by a clever-looking shop assistant, “Young Daoist, are you looking to transport goods, or are you looking to ride in a horse-drawn carriage?”

“I’d like to go to the Ruyang Region, departing as soon as possible.”

“The Ruyang Region? You came at just the right time, young Daoist. There’s a merchant caravan from the Ruyang Region here, and they should’ve already unloaded their goods. They just changed their horses and were just about to head back to the Ruyang Region. I’ll go ahead and ask them whether or not there are any spots left on their carriage.”