3 fois vol d'âme

Chapitre 37

However, the Heavenly Dragon Master and the others didn't understand Jiang Yao's meaning, thinking she was teasing them. This was because the killing of Demon Butterfly and Feng Shui by the gods of the Divine Heaven Realm in ancient times was carried out under extremely tight secrecy. A god falling in love with the Holy Maiden of the Demon Luo Domain was a disgrace to the Divine Heaven Realm; how could they possibly publicize it? This matter was also classified as top secret within the Divine Heaven Realm, known only to a few gods who participated in the operation, the highest-ranking leaders of the Divine Heaven Realm, and one or two of Feng Shui's closest friends from ancient times. Furthermore, the Divine Heaven Realm had decreed that anyone who leaked even a trace of the killing of Demon Butterfly and Feng Shui would be considered an enemy and executed without mercy!

Therefore, apart from a few individuals at the highest levels of the Divine Heaven Realm, no one else in the other realms knew about the matter between the Demon Butterfly and Feng Shui. Later, fearing that the people of the Demon Luo Domain would leak this information, the Divine Heaven Realm used its strongest seal to banish the entire Demon Luo Domain. This ensured that the people of the Demon Luo Domain could never escape their world, and cultivators from other realms only knew that the gods had sealed all the passages to the Demon Luo Domain, but they had no idea of the true reason.

The appearance of the Holy Maiden Demon Butterfly from the Demon Realm here could not help but shock the Eight True Immortals. It was common knowledge among all cultivators that the Demon Butterfly was one of the scourges of the Three Realms, and the Eight True Immortals knew all too well the extent of her power—a power vastly different from their own.

"Demon Butterfly! Although I know I am no match for you, I will fight you even if it costs me my life!" Although Master Tianlong knew he could not defeat Demon Butterfly, he still mustered his courage and took a fighting stance.

2004-12-08 23:47:00

In truth, it wasn't that Celestial Dragon Venerable truly wanted to oppose the Demon Butterfly; rather, he was forced into it. Because, regardless of their cultivation level, if a cultivator were killed by someone from the Demon Luo Domain, they would never be reborn, forever losing the qualification to cultivate again. Furthermore, they might have their Nascent Soul immortal soul refined, turning them into a puppet suffering a fate worse than death, forever enslaved and driven in agonizing torment.

"Good children, I don't want your lives today. On the contrary, I need your help." Jiang Yao said to Tianlong Shangren with a captivating smile.

"Help?" Master Tianlong thought he had misheard and asked with wide eyes in disbelief.

“That’s right, I asked you to help me snatch that ‘Su’ back.” Jiang Yao said with a smile, pointing to Gui Eting on the ground next to Zi Yang.

"What..." Upon hearing this, Master Tianlong trembled, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, and he spoke in a slightly distorted tone.

Jiang Yao's words were tantamount to a death sentence. They had just escaped from the jaws of death, only to be pushed back. If they had the ability to snatch Gui Eting, they wouldn't have encountered Jiang Yao here. For the immortals like Tianlong Shangren, the current situation was truly a dilemma: one side was a tiger's den, the other a dragon's pool—a real predicament.

However, if Master Tianlong knew that the current Demon Butterfly was no longer the complete Demon Butterfly of the past, he would never be so afraid of Jiang Yao.

"Si! I never thought you would stoop so low as to associate with immortals!" Huang Quan said coldly.

"Joy! There are many unexpected things! I didn't expect you to pull this trick, trying to merge 'sorrow' yourself! Your heart is more vicious than mine!" Jiang Yao said coldly as well.

"We are all born of the same root, why are we so eager to harm each other..." Zi Yang seemed to understand the meaning behind Jiang Yao and Huang Quan's words, and sighed helplessly.

A woman, a woman whose love turns to hate, is the most terrifying creature in the world. When a woman is willing to do anything for love, she wouldn't hesitate to die. But when a woman's love turns to hate, she ceases to be a woman and becomes the most terrifying demon; nothing can dispel the hatred in her heart born of love.

"Hmph! Why say so much? Let's settle this once and for all!" Huang Quan said with a cold snort, his body radiating a crimson mist.

"It should have been settled long ago, I never expected it to end like this!" Jiang Yao sneered.

The conversation between the two women left the immortals, including Tianlong Shangren, completely bewildered; they couldn't understand what they were saying at all. Zi Yang, however, could only offer a helpless wry smile. He couldn't easily intervene in a battle between women. He knew both women, but couldn't recall why he knew them.

Jiang Yao unfurled her butterfly wings, and wisps of flowing purple light enveloped her entire body, with pale purple shimmering at the tips of her wings. The battle between the two women was about to begin, but regardless of who won, they would ultimately be the losers. Because, in essence, they were one…

Huang Quan swiftly spread his arms, his enormous sleeves rippling with crimson light, and like a ghost, he lunged towards Jiang Yao. Jiang Yao also made her move at the same time, her fingers brushing against the "Enchanting Zither," preparing to play the destructive sound that could annihilate the soul.

A fierce battle was about to erupt when suddenly a white light appeared between Jiang Yao and Huang Quan, revealing a teleportation array. The figure in the center of the array was all too familiar to both Jiang Yao and Huang Quan. It was because of this person that the two women had fought to this point.

However, the two had already made their move, leaving no room for retraction, and neither of them had expected Feng Shui to suddenly appear there. Thus, both incredibly powerful forces struck Feng Shui.

With a deafening roar, a dazzling light illuminated the entire underworld.

"Feng shui..." the two women exclaimed simultaneously.

As the light faded, a huge meteorite crater with a radius of fifty meters appeared where Feng Shui had been. Feng Shui was unconscious in the middle of the crater, his clothes completely torn, but he did not appear to be seriously injured, only suffering some scratches.

Jiang Yao and Huang Quan threw themselves at Feng Shui, their eyes filled with tears of heartache, crying out Feng Shui's name.

"Sigh... Love... It turns out it's all about hurting each other... Heh." Zi Yang looked at the three people below the meteorite crater and said with a helpless smile.

"Holy crap, this is way too outrageous. Demon Butterfly, Yellow Springs, all for a man..." Master Tianlong stared in shock at what was happening, unable to believe it was all real, and even swore.

2004-12-09 10:32:00

Part Two: Cultivation Array

Chapter Seventeen: The Master of the Underworld

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Those who can adapt to changing circumstances often emerge victorious, and immortals are a prime example. While the Heavenly Dragon Immortal was moved by the situation, the other seven True Immortals were not fools. Through communication between their spiritual senses, the immortals reached a consensus: "The wind is blowing hard—time to retreat."

The elaborate and luxurious teleportation array they used to arrive was just for show; there was no need for such pomp and circumstance now. Several streaks of silvery-white light flashed, and all the immortals present vanished into the Netherworld.

Zi Yang smiled helplessly, for he knew the ways of these immortals well. For some reason, ever since arriving in this Netherworld, he found his memories becoming increasingly clear. Familiar fragments kept flooding his mind. At first, Zi Yang thought these fragments were just dreams, but he realized the scenes in them were indeed here—the Netherworld. Being in this realm felt like returning home; so peaceful, so tranquil, and so comfortable.

He remembered seeing these people around him before, and they seemed familiar, but he didn't know why.

The appearance of Feng Shui caused a strange tremor in Zi Yang's heart. She clearly saw the mysterious "demon" character pattern behind Feng Shui. Although she didn't understand what the pattern was, she knew it clearly represented the character "demon." In the cultivation world, only one type of person possessed this pattern: a true demon cultivator with a "demon body."

Zi Yang gently picked up the unconscious Gui Eting, turned around and floated towards the bottom of the meteorite crater. Jiang Yao and Huang Quan were still there, sobbing uncontrollably on Feng Shui's body, their eyes red like peaches from crying.

"Stop crying, he's not dead, why are you crying like this?" Zi Yang said helplessly.

Jiang Yao and Huang Quan both looked at Zi Yang, glared at him fiercely, and then continued their unfinished "career" of crying.

"He'll wake up soon, you two shouldn't get so excited. Aren't you worried?" Zi Yang asked, placing Gui Eting in front of her with an unreadable smile.

These words truly awakened Jiang Yao and Huang Quan. They both stopped crying, exchanged a glance, and saw only confusion in each other's eyes. Then, they both looked at Gui Eting in Zi Yang's hands, their confusion turning into bewilderment.

"Forget it, 'Joy'! Whether it can become a complete Demon Butterfly is no longer important to me. If you want to merge with 'Sorrow', then go ahead and do it." Jiang Yao glanced at Huang Quan with a desolate look and said with a sense of relief.

“‘Thoughts’, do you really think I want to merge with ‘Worries’?” Huang Quan said with equal desolation.

"Then why did you destroy 'You's' body in the first place?" Jiang Yao asked blankly.

“Because ‘You’ no longer needs to exist, haven’t you noticed? ‘You’ has now transformed into an infant soul,” Huang Quan said with a sigh.

"An infant soul..." Jiang Yao looked at Gui Eting in shock.

The Infant Soul Body is a method of cultivation in the form of a ghost. Because cultivators who cannot transcend tribulations can retain their nascent soul after losing their physical body and thus cultivate to become "loose immortals". However, once a cultivator cannot even retain their nascent soul, they will truly enter the Netherworld and become "plain".

However, while becoming "pure," one may reach the other side of the Yellow Springs in a special way without forgetting the memories of past cultivation, and may thus cultivate into an "infant soul body" that exists as a spirit. This "infant soul body" is what is known as the Ghost History in the Netherworld, which are the protective forces of the Netherworld under the command of the Yellow Springs.

The formation of this "infant soul body" ghost history requires the Yellow Springs (the underworld) to personally guide and refine it. When this "infant soul body" ghost history undergoes dedicated cultivation, it will gradually become a higher-level "pure soul body," also known as a ghost immortal, whose realm is completely equivalent to the "ascension to immortality" realm achieved by cultivators in the human world.

Reaching this level allows one to transition to the highest level of "Soul Body," ultimately refining into a "Divine Soul Body," also known as a "Ghost God," whose strength is comparable to that of ordinary deities. However, the cultivation process to become a "Divine Soul Body" Ghost God is endlessly long and arduous. This is because the "Infant Soul Body," which cultivates in its "pure" form, lacks the fundamental physical body for cultivation and therefore cannot possess a "Nascent Soul." Thus, it must rely on the "soul" of its original form as the foundation for cultivation.

However, Gui Eting is different from ordinary "Su".

Gui Eting, who had originally become "pure," now appeared more solidified, no longer the ethereal spirit she had been when she first arrived in the Netherworld. Furthermore, Jiang Yao, using her spiritual sense to contact Gui Eting's consciousness, discovered an unusual energy fluctuation within her body. This energy fluctuation was completely unlike the nascent soul cultivated by Daoist practitioners, but rather resembled the soul cultivated by demonic cultivators. This soul within Gui Eting's body was a dark blue, ethereal form about one-tenth the size of Gui Eting's physical body, and this ethereal soul seemed to possess its own consciousness, even making contact with Jiang Yao's spiritual sense.

“‘Worry’…” Jiang Yao asked tentatively.

“‘Si’, you’re finally back.” Gui Eting, in her soul form, said with a smile.

"You...you really are..." Jiang Yao exclaimed in surprise.

2004-12-09 10:34:00

"Yes, I am the primordial spirit of the 'Worry' Butterfly. After Gui Eting's nascent soul was destroyed by Fairy Yao Ji, I fully awakened from it. I never expected that we, the Seven Emotions Butterflies, would reunite under such circumstances," the primordial spirit of Worry said with emotion.

"Then you are not..." Jiang Yao asked, even more shocked.

“That’s right, I am now in the state where you and ‘joy’ are most compatible.” The primordial spirit of sorrow exclaimed.

Jiang Yao fell silent, for she understood the meaning of the 'Sorrow' primordial spirit. It was in this state that Jiang Yao had merged with the other three 'emotions' back then. However, at that time, the three 'emotions' had not fully recovered their memories of their past lives; in other words, they were still in a state of confusion. That's why Jiang Yao was able to merge them during her reincarnation.

However, now that 'You' has regained her consciousness and has become an "infant soul," it is necessary to plunge her back into a state of chaos in order to merge with 'You'.

Huang Quan's fusion of the emotion of 'anger' is entirely due to the inherent nature of the seven emotions possessed by the Demon Butterfly. This is because Huang Quan's emotions of 'joy' and 'anger' are inherently inseparable, much like the Gemini constellation, possessing two distinct personalities. Most of the time, the 'joy' personality manifests, which is why Feng Shui favors 'joy'. The emotion of 'anger' only appears during battle, and it is the key emotion for the Demon Butterfly to unleash its full power. This is why Huang Quan was able to become the new overlord of the Netherworld.

"'You've finally awakened?" Huang Quan's spiritual consciousness joined in, asking the primordial soul of 'You' within Gui Eting's body.

“‘Joy,’ how are you? It has been tens of thousands of years since we, the seven emotions, were separated. Now we are finally able to meet again.” The primordial spirit of sorrow said with emotion.

"Only when the complete feng shui appears will the complete demon butterflies reunite," Huang Quan sighed.

“However, the current feng shui is incomplete. He only possesses his past memories, but cannot regain the strength he had when he was a god. This is why we Seven Emotions Butterflies are still divided into three entities,” You said with a sigh.

"There's no need for us Seven Emotions Butterflies to merge into one again..." Huang Quan said sadly.

"Because when the complete Seven Emotions Butterfly reappears, it will be the moment when we face destruction by the gods once again," he said with a melancholy air.

"God-like person, I hate God-like people!" Jiang Yao said resentfully from the side.

"I have now transformed into an infant soul in a different cultivation form. Although I have a physical body, it is merely a temporary form created by my regeneration and reshaping boundary array. If you do not merge with me now, I will continue to cultivate in this form. When I have fully cultivated into a divine soul body, you will no longer be able to merge with me. And at that time, the complete demonic butterfly will no longer appear." You's words were unclear whether she wanted to remind Jiang Yao and Huang Quan, or whether she truly wanted to abandon the value of her existence in a conscious form.

"Forget it, we've existed in this form for tens of thousands of years already. There's no point in us becoming a whole again," Jiang Yao said with a sigh.

“‘Si’, don’t you want to receive all of Feng Shui’s love?” You reminded him.

"I don't want to be someone else's shadow!" Jiang Yao said with immense pain.

“‘Thinking…’ Huang Quan looked at Jiang Yao with emotion and cried out.

“‘happy’, I’ve known all along that Feng Shui, ever since his time as a deity, has only ever loved you, the one with the emotion of ‘Xi’. But because he never met you again in the cycle of reincarnation, he coincidentally foresaw my reincarnation, and I pretended to be the one with the emotion of ‘Xi’, which is why I ended up with Feng Shui. I’ve been deceiving myself and Feng Shui all along. This kind of deceptive love is truly painful…” Jiang Yao shed sorrowful tears of pain and helplessness.

“‘Joy…’ Huang Quan stepped forward and hugged Jiang Yao, crying heartbrokenly.”

"Heroes of the world emerge from our generation; once we embark on the path of cultivation, time flies by. A thousand years and ten thousand months are discussed in laughter; nothing surpasses a life of drunken revelry." At this moment, the voice of Feng Shui appeared in the ears of the three Seven Emotions Butterflies.

"Sword in hand, steed in unison, tail waving in the rain, white bones piled high, birds startled into flight. The world is like a tide, people like water, alas, how many return to the world?" The three Seven Emotions Butterflies looked at the awakened Feng Shui in shock, and exclaimed excitedly in unison.

“You three are too foolish… Actually, I love all your emotions, not just one of them. Because if you can’t accept all of someone, then it’s not true love. I have always loved you, Demon Butterfly, and all your emotions…” Feng Shui stood up, stepped forward and hugged Huang Quan, Jiang Yao and the infant soul Gui Eting, and said with deep emotion.

"Feng Shui..." The three butterflies with seven emotions called out Feng Shui's name at the same time, moved to tears.

"Love... it turns out to be a carefully designed lie, with everyone arranged to be the one who gets hurt... Heh, Feng Shui and the Demon Butterfly..." Zi Yang, standing to the side, looked at this happy ending to the love story and said with a sigh and a smile.

※ ※ ※

The other shore, the unreachable Yellow Springs Palace.

At this moment, there are six people sitting here, or more accurately, one lying on the ground, and five sitting properly.

The one lying on the ground was none other than Venerable Han Zheng, who had been abandoned by his immortal senior sister, Lian Linlan. He was still unconscious, indicating that the fright he had suffered during his trip to the Netherworld was quite severe.

Sitting there chatting were Feng Shui, Jiang Yao, Huang Quan, Gui Eting, and that mysterious man, Zi Yang.

However, the atmosphere inside the Yellow Springs Palace was not as terrifying and gloomy as before, because Yellow Springs was no longer alone here; her sisters, lovers, and friends were also there.

The popularity has increased significantly...

2004-12-09 10:46:00

"What are you going to do next?" Zi Yang asked, looking at the four people, including Feng Shui, sitting opposite her. She spoke in a cliché but direct way.

"Could you please add some depth to the dialogue? The way you're talking makes it sound like we're homeless," Feng Shui quipped helplessly.

"Ayao and I have already made up our minds. We will stand together with Feng Shui." Huang Quan glanced tenderly at Jiang Yao beside him, then at Feng Shui, and said happily.

"And what about you?" Zi Yang asked curiously, looking at Gui Eting, who was sitting on the far side.

“I am now an infant soul, and can only exist in the Netherworld. What other plans do I have?” Gui Eting said helplessly.

"Hehe, so are you planning to stay in the Netherworld? Or go somewhere else?" Zi Yang asked with a smile.

"I don't like the atmosphere of the Netherworld. I think the human world is better. Besides, my friends are still there, so I'm going back," Feng Shui said with a sigh.

"Don't you want to cultivate in the Netherworld? The cultivation atmosphere and environment here are a hundred times better than in the human world," Zi Yang said in a tempting tone.

"Hehe, I've already found my love again, so the path of cultivation is meaningless to me now. I already became a god in ancient times, so what difference does it make?" Feng Shui sighed.