203: "Qu Hongqing" and the Soul Gathering Pearl

Lu Ze held the soul gathering pearl, observed it carefully for a moment, and slowly said, “Kill all people under heaven, gather all Souls under heaven? Heh, you are trapped by this soul gathering pearl, so you cannot directly leave this soul gathering pearl to Possess someone else. And since you can control the soul gathering pearl, you thought of a way to slowly erode Qu Hongqing’s Soul using the power of the soul gathering pearl, in order to occupy her Physical Body.”

“But do you really think you can completely escape the soul gathering pearl?”

Lu Ze looked at the soul gathering pearl in his hand, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips.

In his eyes, the soul gathering pearl emitted a clear blue aura, but after being covered by the power of Myriad Things Grow, the entire pearl glowed with an eerie black!

Beneath the black, countless Souls were struggling to surge out of the soul gathering pearl, but blood-red threads were pulling at these Souls, tying them firmly so they could not escape.

Lu Ze turned his gaze to “Qu Hongqing,” a very clear blood-red thread pulling at her.

Visibly, on that blood-red thread, wisps of something like blood were constantly surging, flowing from “Qu Hongqing” towards the soul gathering pearl.

A sense of being in control of the situation appeared in Lu Ze’s eyes, his expression as if he saw right through “Qu Hongqing.”

“What do you mean?!”

“Qu Hongqing” inexplicably felt a pang of fear.

Did this boy discover something?

Lu Ze reached out and gently touched the blood-red thread, which only he could see. With the help of Myriad Things Grow’s power, Lu Ze managed to touch the thread.

With a “buzz,” the “blood” being transmitted through the blood-red thread paused for a moment, then began to transmit at an even faster speed!

“Qu Hongqing” instantly felt her Soul tremble, as if something was dissipating. This sense of dissipation was too obvious, and the conjecture that had been suppressed deep in her heart before kept rising!

Beside her, Lu Ze’s voice came faintly.

“Your Soul has been devoured by the soul gathering pearl. Do you truly believe that its actions towards you will not be restricted? Everything you do is under its control.”

“It seems as if you are using the power of the soul gathering pearl to free your own Soul, but in reality, the soul gathering pearl is taking advantage of your desire to escape, making you use its power while accelerating its plunder of your Soul Power. In other words, you are merely the soul gathering pearl’s tool-slave.”

“Impossible!”

“Qu Hongqing” immediately interrupted Lu Ze, “The soul gathering pearl is just an inanimate object, how could it have such intentions? It is an artifact, its power and function are fixed! This old woman can use it because this old woman has the means!”

Looking at “Qu Hongqing’s” ferocious denial, Lu Ze did not get angry, but instead smiled.

“Whether I am right or not, you actually know it in your heart. Compare the Soul Power you had before you moved to occupy ‘Qu Hongqing’s’ Physical Body with what you have now. Has it increased or decreased? Isn’t that enough?”

“Qu Hongqing” fell silent. She did not need to investigate; she already knew the result.

When she first encountered “Qu Hongqing,” her Soul Power was quite formidable. But after deciding to use the soul gathering pearl, she forcibly drew a wisp of Soul Power from it and slowly began to erode Qu Hongqing, causing her Soul Power to decrease significantly at that time.

But now, many years have passed, and Qu Hongqing has grown to be in her twenties, yet her Soul Power has not recovered to its previous level.

In fact, in recent years, it has remained in a stable state!

However, Qu Hongqing’s own Soul Power was decreasing!

She had known about this state for a long time.

Soul Power does not disappear out of thin air; it only circulates. Since this power did not enter her body and did not strengthen her, it must have flowed elsewhere!

Yes, it was the soul gathering pearl.

Ultimately, the soul gathering pearl was using her as a medium to extract Soul Power.

Seeing “Qu Hongqing” remain silent and downcast, Lu Ze continued, “To occupy Qu Hongqing’s Physical Body and return to the human world is merely a dream for you.”

“Even if you hadn’t met me today, and no one had ever stopped you from extracting Qu Hongqing’s Soul Power, many years later, when Qu Hongqing’s Soul is depleted, you would only temporarily occupy her Physical Body. Before long, you would be unable to occupy a body again due to the soul gathering pearl eroding your Soul, returning to a Soul state without a Physical Body. What would you do then?”

“Continue this cycle of finding suitable infants, clinging to them like a parasite, draining their power, then briefly occupying their bodies, only to return to a Soul state shortly after, repeating endlessly, without an end in sight, forever?”

“Qu Hongqing’s” body trembled uncontrollably. Sweat began to appear on her temples, and her Soul Power began to fluctuate violently!

She knew very well in her heart, but she still held a glimmer of hope.

If she didn't deceive herself, would she just watch herself continuously sink into the soul gathering pearl until she was completely devoured by this cursed thing?

She was unwilling!

In her lifetime, she was also a person of renown throughout the world!

But after death, she had fallen to such a state. If her Divine Soul had been shattered, that would have been one thing, but the wretched heavens had cruelly made her lose her Physical Body while her Soul remained conscious!

How could she remain indifferent?!

She had to find a way to contend with fate!

She wanted to return to the world!

But the truth was, it was all just a dream... a self-deceiving dream.

“Qu Hongqing’s” straightened back unconsciously bent down.

After a long while, she finally spoke, her hoarse voice carrying endless vicissitudes of life, “Heh, boy, if you hadn’t exposed these things, this old woman, I, could have continued to deceive myself and live for another thousand years.”

“This old woman is already like this now. Even if I surrender to you, I will still live in this soul gathering pearl, and after a thousand years, I will be completely devoured by it. This kind of life, where the end is in sight, this old woman doesn’t want to live anymore. You should just kill this old woman.”

“Qu Hongqing’s” entire Soul Power became still, and a faint smile hung on her face, her desire for death clearly evident. “This old woman knows that you can use your strange power to kill this old woman. Consider it this old woman begging you, give me a quick end. This way, you will also have fulfilled your promise to Qu Hongxi.”

With that, “Qu Hongqing” closed her eyes.

Lu Ze raised his hand.

The powerful force that “Qu Hongqing” had imagined did not descend; instead, the power that had bound her receded like a tide.

Slowly opening her eyes, Lu Ze’s confident voice followed.

“What if I said I could help you truly leave the soul gathering pearl and reshape your Physical Body?”

“What?!”

“Qu Hongqing” suddenly opened her eyes wide. After a brief shock, she calmed down and smiled coldly, “Why bother playing tricks on this old woman? This old woman was quite a figure in her lifetime and has seen many Secret Manuals and ancient texts, but never knew of any way to escape the soul gathering pearl. How would you know?”