Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 617: The Depth of the Soul

Xu Qing was well aware of how he differed from ordinary cultivators.

It came down to his body. Although his fleshly body was his own, it had been remolded by the god’s finger to make it easier to possess. Then, thanks to the violet crystal, that body became like a garment that he could wear. It was essentially the fleshly body of a god.

I suppose īt’s nothing incredibly special. Who knows how many clones that god from Forbidden by the Immortal had, and we’re talking about the finger of one of them. That said, īts personhood was still that of a god.

Eyes glittering, he continued to ponder the situation.

In some respects, the eyes of my fleshly body could be said to be the eyes of a god. Therefore, theoretically speaking, I should be able to use the vision of a god to look at the world around me.

Lifting his hand, he kneaded the bridge of his nose. Inside of him, he could sense his soul. And yet, the truth was that he didn’t have a very deep understanding of souls. All he knew was that the soul represented the psyche, as well as divine sense. It was an aggregation of intangible things within him. The strength or weakness of his soul was determined by however much psychic power he had.

Xu Qing wasn’t really sure about the details. After all, such things weren’t important to study, given the low level of his cultivation base. But now he was coming to a realization of how important his soul was. And as he analyzed it from different angles, he was able to come to a conclusion.

If I raise my soul to a higher level, then insert the taboo poison into it, then I should be able to have poison in my gaze. Except, what exactly is a soul?

Different people would answer that question in different ways. Some people thought that souls were made from energy. Others thought they were convergences of the psyche. Still others believed that they were made from invisible fluctuations. Regardless, in the end, all of those things were intangible.

Xu Qing closed his eyes and unleashed the will of the taboo poison within him, sending it to fill his sea of consciousness. In that manner, he searched for his soul. He could do that because, in the depths of his sea of consciousness, at the limit of his psyche, there was a conglomeration of fiery light made from divine sense.

Where there was light, there was fire. The light was the light of his soul, and the fire was the flame of his life force. Their intersection formed the nucleus of everything about him. If they changed, his consciousness would be affected. If they were extinguished, his life force would become dark. That was what Xu Qing had previously assumed to be his soul. But now he was starting to suspect he had been wrong.

That was because, when he tried to put the taboo poison into the fiery light, he could sense the light and fire swaying. Though the poison did effectively merge into it, the result wasn’t what he had been hoping for. A moment later, he went back to analyzing the situation.

It seemed like he was doing little more than putting the poison in the outer layer. It was as if... that fiery light was just a projection. It was not actually the source of his soul.

Xu Qing sat there thinking. Time went by as he devoted all his attention to the situation. Seven days passed. During that time, his physical body grew visibly gaunt. None of his contemplation brought any answers. All that happened was that his psyche withered and his energy faded.

Cultivators and mortals are different. Cultivators have nascent souls and divine sense. And given my current cultivation level, I can possess people. After possessing someone, I would still be myself. In that case, my soul... obviously isn’t in my fleshly body!

Frowning, he thought back to when the god’s finger tried to possess him. He remembered that he’d felt his soul being whittled away, and his consciousness scattering.

Might as well do some tests.

His eyes glittered. If he wanted to put poison into his soul, then he needed to have a much clearer understanding of what souls were. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to send some divine will to his shadow. But then he paused. The shadow had been in a state of terror recently. It could sense that, thanks to the Heir Apparent’s advice, Xu Qing was growing terrifyingly stronger. And his aura was also transforming.

Seeing that Xu Qing was about to give orders, it prepared to follow those orders immediately. Except the orders never came.

After some more thought, Xu Qing looked out at the main floor of the medicine shop.

“Li Youfei!”

Li Youfei, who had been in the middle of cleaning the shop, hurried into the back room. A moment later, he rushed back out and left the medicine shop. He returned that night with an unconscious middle-aged cultivator, who he put down in front of Xu Qing.

“Milord,” Li Youfei said respectfully, “this is a vicious criminal who plagues the Bitter Life Mountains. He rapes, pillages, and perpetrates just about every evil crime you can imagine. Because he’s close to Patriarch Inkrule, most people don’t dare to do anything to him.”

Xu Qing looked at the middle-aged cultivator, who was in the Gold Core level and was a nonhuman. He had a scar running down his face that made him seem unusually ferocious. He also smelled of blood and gore.

Xu Qing nodded. Li Youfei wasn’t suicidal, so it seemed unlikely that he would try to deceive Xu Qing. Therefore, he sent him away. Then, after looking briefly at the unconscious middle-aged cultivator, he put his hand on his forehead. Then he sent divine sense into him. Along with that divine sense, he sent his aura and all other fluctuations into the cultivator. He even sent projections of his nascent souls inside. He was possessing him!

Before long, Xu Qing’s senses revealed to him a sea of consciousness that couldn’t be considered very bright. He saw six heavenly palaces glittering there, all of which were trembling.

Completely devoid of emotional fluctuations, Xu Qing had his divine sense completely cover the sea of consciousness. It didn’t take long for him to find that convergence of fiery light.

In the blink of an eye, that fiery light rippled and distorted. An anguished, bloodcurdling scream echoed out from inside. At the same time, memories flooded into Xu Qing’s divine sense as he saw this cultivator’s life playing out. Image after image appeared, some blurry, some clear. Regardless of their form, Xu Qing devoured them, causing them to disappear. It was almost as if he was stealing them....

Eventually, the middle-aged cultivator’s eyes opened. Face expressionless, he stood and looked down at his true form.

“So, this is possession?” Xu Qing murmured in the voice of the middle-aged cultivator. The sensation was unusual and even uncomfortable, as if he were wearing a set of clothing that was a size too small.

That said, the ‘clothing’ was also eerily familiar to him. He knew exactly how that scar on his face had formed. In fact, when Xu Qing closed his eyes, he knew everything about this body’s past. However, without much effort, he erased such things, leaving himself feeling a lot more comfortable. As he realized what was happening, a tremor passed through him and he opened his eyes.

Memories? I think I get it now. If the soul is a synthesis of one’s life force, aura, and psyche, then it really is intangible. It’s like a collection of innumerable unreal things that are then turned into something true and real!

The moment you’re born and can sense yourself and the world, your memories begin! If you liken the soul to a blank bamboo slip, then the memories are the writing on that slip... and they’re all part of the same thing!

In the moment of possession, the limitations of my cultivation base ensured that I didn’t sense myself devouring his soul. But I was clearly devouring his memories.... When mortals die, their memories disappear, almost like they’re severed. That’s why the souls that enter the underworld are so muddleheaded. Their memories are severed. Broken down.

Xu Qing struggled to breathe steadily as he sat there cross-legged, his eyes closed. Finally, he brought his divine sense back into his true form. When he opened his eyes as his true form, they gleamed with enlightenment.

What are souls? Maybe my understanding isn’t completely correct. As my cultivation continues, I’ll need to spend more time contemplating the subject and confirming my understanding.

But... I can say with certainty that memories determine the depth, the scale, the medium, and the aura of the soul!

In other words, if I want my soul to contain poison, and by extension my gaze, then I need to make sure the taboo poison is deeply within my memories!

I need to change my memories so that, from the moment of birth, I have a deep understanding of taboo poison. I need to fill my memories from then until now!

Unbeknownst to Xu Qing, on the other side of the door curtain, the main floor of the medicine shop was like another dimension thanks to the Heir Apparent.

And in that other dimension, his thoughts were being spoken out loud by the parrot.

“... from then until now!”

The parrot was obviously connected to Xu Qing’s emotions, as he was speaking with deep excitement.

Ling’er seemed deeply apprehensive as she looked in the direction of the back room. To her, it seemed like her Big Bro Xu Qing had gone a bit crazy lately.

Wu Jianwu was thinking something similar to Ling’er. Xu Qing really seemed to have gone mad. After all, ordinary people didn’t go around pondering things like souls all the time. And when he heard the parrot repeating what Xu Qing was thinking, he got even more confused.

I understand all the words, yet I don’t understand what they mean when they’re put together. What’s he talking about...?

Eventually, Wu Jianwu decided that it wasn’t his problem. Then he looked around and realized that Li Youfei seemed to be reacting in a similar way. The only difference was that Li Youfei didn’t just seem confused, he also seemed scared. Clearly, he was worried about Xu Qing performing similar experiments on him one day in the future.

Ning Yan was overwhelmed with shock. He had heard his father talking about such things before.... Never could he ever have imagined that Xu Qing, who was only in the Nascent Soul level, would also ponder such matters. Clearly, the enlightenment was coming from Xu Qing’s personal analysis.

The Captain had a thoughtful look and a dazzling smile on his face. Little Ah Qing, the reason I brought you to the Moonrite Region wasn’t just to devour Crimson Mother.... This is where both of us are going to fly to new heights!

Nethersprite looked in the direction of the back room, mixed emotions on her face. Could it be that this Xu Qing is like me? Is he the embodiment of a soul fragment of some unknown entity?

Everyone was thinking different things, but all were dealing with varying levels of astonishment. Meanwhile, the Heir Apparent smiled. He wasn’t surprised at all by Xu Qing’s enlightenment; everything was within the range of what he had predicted. He had assumed from the beginning that, given Xu Qing’s powers of understanding, he would gain enlightenment of this step.

That’s just the difference between me and the little punk’s Master. His Master’s understanding is limited, so he has a hard time giving advice on things like this. I guess you can’t blame him for that. If any random person could hone an unpolished gem, then it wouldn’t be unpolished.

Smiling, the Heir Apparent got to his feet. He knew that the next step would involve Xu Qing remembering that the Heir Apparent had perception-altering powers. Therefore, he was planning to give Xu Qing some options.

Having someone else alter memories isn’t the perfect way. It’s not possible to truly enter the consciousness. It’s only possible to stay on the outside. Besides, then he would have my mark on his soul. The upside would be that he would have poison in his eyes. Given the little punk’s temperament, he probably won’t agree to that. In that case... he’s much likelier to accept the second option.

Just as he was about to walk into the back room, the parrot started repeating what Xu Qing was thinking in the other room.

“There’s only one way to do this. I need to imprint my body with innumerable poison marks. Every bit of my flesh, every drop of my blood, and every inch of my bones need to contain poison!

“I can’t change my own memories, but memories aren’t just made up of experiences and observations. They also contain the body’s instincts!

“If I imprint every part of myself with poison, making it part of my instincts, then I can affect my memories in the opposite direction! I don’t need to do anything to my eyes. I’ll use feedback from my fleshly body to imprint information eternally in my memories!

“I already have poison!”

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with bright light.

On the main floor of the medicine shop, everyone was flabbergasted. Ling’er looked worried, Ning Yan gasped, the Captain was visibly moved, and the Heir Apparent stopped in place and then sat back down.

I don’t need to alter his perceptions... this kid... he knows how to alter them himself?