However, just as Ye Luqing was wallowing in dejection, she suddenly felt an itch at the center of her brow.
“This is…”
She sat up on the bed and looked inward with her inner vision at the Spirit Palace deep within her brow.
Inside the Spirit Palace, a cyan-blue essence form was radiating a dazzling light, seemingly absorbing something from her spiritual world.
“The Water-Wood Infant?”
Ye Luqing frowned slightly. She carefully scanned this Form Infant—one she had already refined but hadn’t yet merged with—using her soul power.
Merging one’s consciousness with the Form Infant was an exceedingly complex step, requiring a secluded environment free from disturbance.
Many Peak Golden Core Stage cultivators refined their Form Infant early but weren’t in a rush to merge and break through. Instead, they kept it by their side, nurturing it day and night.
The closer the bond between the Form Infant and the cultivator, the easier and quicker the merging step would be.
Moreover, after merging with the Form Infant, the next step required projecting outward to gather the “Qi of Heaven and Earth,” sensing the Power of Heaven and Earth to prepare for the Spirit Transformation Stage’s communication with heaven and earth.
Most cultivators preparing to break through to Nascent Soul would enter closed-door cultivation in places rich with spiritual energy, a process taking anywhere from a few days to several weeks.
This was also why she hadn’t chosen to spend this precious time breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage. A newly formed Nascent Soul after breaking through was relatively fragile and offered limited combat power improvement; it was better to focus on things that genuinely increased her fighting strength.
But now, looking at this brilliantly glowing Water-Wood Infant, Ye Luqing sensed something unusual.
“The link between me and the Form Infant… seems to have strengthened considerably?”
If merging consciousness before required at least a full day and night, now she was confident she could complete the fusion of Form Infant and consciousness within two hours.
Even without gathering the Qi of Heaven and Earth, she could become a cultivator at the Half-Step Nascent Soul stage.
Ye Luqing closed her eyes, focused her mind, and sensed the changes within her Spirit Palace, wanting to know exactly what was happening.
A long while later, she opened her eyes in surprise.
“This Water-Wood Infant… is actually absorbing memories related to the Original Host!”
Her eyes widened, her mouth slightly agape. She hurriedly summoned the Water-Wood Infant into her hand.
But even in the physical world, specks of cyan-blue particles from her brow continued to drift towards the Water-Wood Infant in her palm, as if the entire process was irreversible.
Ye Luqing’s throat moved. This was indeed a good thing for her.
With the Water-Wood Infant absorbing the dreams constructed by the Dream-Building Lotus, the influence of the original host’s past memories and personality on her was growing weaker and weaker.
She suddenly recalled the origin of the Water-Wood Infant. It was something the System had given her as compensation. What she had asked for back then was a “method to deal with Xiao Qingxuan”!
That very night was when Xiao Qingxuan had proposed “using the Dream-Building Lotus to reconstruct her memories.” In other words, this Form Infant hadn’t been meant to help her break through from the start. From beginning to end, the “Water-Wood Infant” was meant to counter Xiao Qingxuan’s memory reconstruction!
She looked at the unremarkable blue System window in her mind with some surprise, never expecting the System to consider things so far ahead…
“Damn System… sometimes you’re actually quite useful…” she murmured.
After her moment of awe, Ye Luqing thought of another question.
Why could this “Water-Wood Infant” absorb memories belonging to the Original Host?
She had never heard of a Nascent Soul having the function of absorbing memories.
Unless…
Ye Luqing furrowed her brows. A shocking thought slowly surfaced in her mind.
“System, what exactly is the origin of this Water-Wood Infant you gave me?”
[Querying relevant information for Host]
[Water-Wood Infant: Earth Grade Inferior. Price: 1500 Points. Buyback Price: 750 Points (Not for sale; unique item given as compensatory reward)]
[For Peak Golden Core Stage cultivators who use Water-Wood True Qi techniques, it can be used as the ‘Form Infant’ to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage.]
“No other information?” Ye Luqing asked, a hint of urgency in her voice.
[Querying]
The room fell deathly silent. Even the chirping of insects outside the courtyard and the sound of the wind by Emerald Water Lake disappeared.
Moments later, the System’s voice sounded in Ye Luqing’s mind again.
[Insufficient Permissions]
[Available for viewing only after raising the Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value to 200%]
“Tsk…”
Ye Luqing clicked her tongue impatiently. Hearing that, she instantly felt the System’s dog-like nature re-emerging.
“Just tell me this: is this Water-Wood Infant connected to the Original Host ‘Ye Luqing’?”
This was her bold guess, but even a guess had its basis.
Firstly, in the original story, from Ye Luqing being attacked and killed by Devil Cultivators, her body being transported back to the sect, all the way to Xiao Qingxuan achieving Immortal Ascension and resurrecting her—there was never a single mention of Ye Luqing’s cultivation dropping.
The original Ye Luqing was a Late Nascent Soul stage cultivator. But after she transmigrated into the Original Host’s body, her cultivation had fallen to the Golden Core Peak Stage.
Where had her Nascent Soul gone?
When she first transmigrated, she hadn’t noticed anything amiss, merely accepting the System’s excuse that her “Primal Spirit was injured, causing her realm to fall.”
But now, thinking carefully, this matter had a huge problem.
Furthermore, a Nascent Soul indeed couldn’t absorb another’s memories, but it could carry a portion of its owner’s memories.
Taken together, her speculation wasn’t just a wild flight of fancy.
However, faced with Ye Luqing’s pressing questions, the System’s answer remained:
[Insufficient Permissions]
[Available for viewing only after Host raises the Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value to 200%]
Hearing this, Ye Luqing narrowed her eyes slightly. Her amber pupils flickered with an uncertain light.
Even from this explicit refusal, from this evasive attitude, one could infer something.
Sometimes, not answering was also an answer.
“Hmph, won’t say, huh… Then it’s most likely a yes.”
With a thought, she directly closed the System popup in her mind.
Rules, rules… in the end, it was just finding excuses to keep things from her.
If it were truly a mutually beneficial partnership, as the Host, her questions should be answered with the highest priority.
Unless, knowing about this might hinder her from carrying out the mission of stimulating Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value.
But even knowing that the Water-Wood Infant was the Original Host’s Nascent Soul wouldn’t affect her doing the System’s missions.
Could it be… that the permissions locked behind 200% Blackening Value contained even more confidential information?
Thinking of this, Ye Luqing shook her head.
Whatever it was, she could only find out after the Blackening Value reached 200%.
Half an hour later, the Water-Wood Infant finally stopped absorbing memories.
With a thought from Ye Luqing, the Water-Wood Infant returned to her Spirit Palace.
After absorbing the memories, the Water-Wood Infant had become even more plump and full. She felt she could merge it with her consciousness at any moment, breaking through to the Half-Step Nascent Soul realm.
However, she had no plans to break through for now. After all, she didn’t know if the merged Water-Wood Infant could continue absorbing memories. If not, the loss would outweigh the gain.
Beyond that, the memories of the Original Host that Xiao Qingxuan had constructed in her mind via the Dream-Building Lotus hadn’t disappeared. But their influence on her had lessened significantly.
Now, she viewed these memories merely from the perspective of an “observer,” no longer experiencing that immersive feeling of being there in person or sensing the inexplicable emotions within them.
She let out a long breath, her mood instantly lifting considerably.
In any case, the danger of being brainwashed by Xiao Qingxuan using the Original Host’s memories had been greatly reduced.
But even so, she would still try her best to drag Xiao Qingxuan into the dream as well, allowing the System to gain control of the Dream-Building Lotus.
That was the fundamental method to prevent it, and the way for her to counter-suppress Xiao Qingxuan.
A short while later, Ye Luqing stepped out of her small courtyard and gazed into the distance.
A streak of white dawn rose on the horizon, reflecting off Emerald Water Lake in shimmering ripples of light.
The first day of the Sect Grand Tournament Main Event had arrived.
