46: Chapter 46 Soul-Returning Powder

Shen Xi wrote for a long time.

It wasn't that his writing was slow—it was that every time he reached a name, an event, or a location, his hand would suddenly stop. It would freeze in mid-air. Not out of hesitation, but because he couldn't remember. Then, he would look down at a string of words he had just written on his knee—all of them were "Shen Xi"—and only after reading them would his hand descend to continue writing.

"The name is an anchor," Shen Xi said. His voice was still rusty, but it was smoother than before. The resonance had worked. "Writing my own name... lets me remember who I am. Remembering who I am... lets me remember what others are called. Remembering what others are called... those events can then be pulled back along with them."

Qin Wu stood at the entrance of The Cave, leaning against the stone wall. His blade was thrust into the dirt by his feet. "And if you stop writing?"

"If I stop writing—the names will vanish. Then who it is. Then who else it is. In the end—" Shen Xi looked at the glowing gravel on The Cave walls. "The lamp goes out. It's still bright inside—but the lamp itself no longer shines."

The Cave was very quiet. There was only the occasional faint sound from the gravel—not the sound of stone cracking, but the fluctuations of light produced as Spiritual Qi flowed within the stones.

Lu Chen sat on a rock opposite Shen Xi, the perception robe spread flat across his knees. The Inverted Tower stone inside the robe absorbed the temperature of the miasma—giving off a very faint layer of warmth.

"You said the Hehuan Sect Master was replaced—did you see it with your own eyes?"

"Big Sister saw it." Shen Xi continued writing. The characters on the parchment were getting smaller and smaller—he could burn the characters very densely using Spiritual Qi. "Three years ago, the Sect Master's daughter's soul was dissipating. The Sect Master took the three of us into the bottom layer of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires—Big Sister, Third Brother, and me. There is a well at the bottom. Not a water well—a spiritual well. At the bottom of the well, there was something. It had been sealed for seven hundred years."

"What was it?"

"A shell." Shen Xi paused. "Not a physical shell—a consciousness shell. An extremely thin, transparent shell. It was wrapped around a spiritual entity at the bottom of the well. The Sect Master said it was a Restriction shell refined by the third-generation Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect—it can Seal any soul. It hasn't shattered even after seven hundred years."

The gravel on The Cave walls dimmed for a moment—then brightened again. The frequency was getting faster. It was not a good omen.

"The Sect Master's daughter's soul was dissipating. He wanted to use the shell to Seal her soul—to keep it from scattering. But during the three days the well was open—what exactly happened—no one knows except for Big Sister, Third Brother, and me who went in. Big Sister and Third Brother stood guard outside. I was responsible for recording. But halfway through... the voice coming from the well wasn't the Sect Master's. It was—"

"It was what?"

"It was the voices of two people. Two identical voices, having a conversation at the bottom of the well."

Qin Wu's blade moved slightly—not being drawn, but the scabbard bumping against the stone wall.

"One person said—'I can live in his place.'"

The other person said—'For how long?'"

The first person said—'Until the shell of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires is undone.'"

Shen Xi's fingers tightened around the pen—not out of nervousness, but to forcefully grasp the memories that hadn't yet scattered. "Then the Sect Master came out. Big Sister sensed that his Spiritual Root was wrong—the Spiritual Root was still the same Spiritual Root. But the Qi on the Spiritual Root was different. The Qi on everyone's Spiritual Root is unique—like the lines on one's palm. The person who came out—the lines had changed."

"So the current Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect—is the person who was swapped in by the shell?"

"It's more than just being swapped in." Shen Xi's eyelids lifted an inch. "The things trapped inside the shell—there's more than one. Before Big Sister escaped, she told me—that well at the bottom of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires doesn't Seal just one spiritual entity. It Seals many. Many very old spiritual entities. So many people have died in the Hehuan Sect over seven hundred years—some people's souls didn't dissipate. They were sealed into the shell. The spiritual entities in the shell can think. They can swap. They can... replace living people."

Lu Chen's finger pressed against the sixth finger bone. The finger bone was heating up—not from resonance, but as a warning. Senior Bai Jie's finger bone reacted to his Junior Brother's fear.

"What does the Fake Sect Leader want to do?"

"He wants to undo the Seal at the bottom of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires. To open the shell completely. To release all the spiritual entities inside—and then replace the entire Hehuan Sect."

A single spiritual entity could replace a Sect Master. Sealed for seven hundred years—how many people, how many spiritual entities were in that shell? If they were all released—the Hehuan Sect would be transformed. And then what? The next would be—the Xuantian Sect. The Ten Thousand Sword Sect. The Loose Cultivators Alliance.

"He wants the keys," Lu Chen said. "The three finger bones—"

"Yes. He has the resources plundered by the Hehuan Sect—but he can't open the Seal. The Seal was designed by your master—set together with the third-generation Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect. It requires the resonance of three Grey Spirit Root finger bones to be opened."

"Why did Li Xuanyi want to Seal those spiritual entities?"

Shen Xi shook his head. "Master never said—he only said that the Seal of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires was something the Hehuan Sect owed him. He closed a door for them."

No. It wasn't just closing a door. It was locking away the things behind the door.

Lu Chen looked at the research notes in his hand. He unrolled the parchment. On the first page—there was only a single line of text at the beginning.

"Conditions for the continuous growth of Grey Spirit Roots in the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires."

The second page—names. Names of people. Over a dozen names were listed. All were Grey Spirit Roots. Each name was marked with a time—not of birth, but of death. A dozen or so Grey Spirit Root Cultivators had all died at the bottom of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires. All had dissipated after being replaced by spiritual entities from the shell.

"These people—"

"Experiments," Shen Xi said, his fingers trembling again. "Experiments that began with the seventh-generation Sect Head of the Hehuan Sect. Raising Grey Spirit Root Cultivators—using their Spiritual Roots to sense the shell at the bottom of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires. Those who couldn't sense it—were discarded. Those who could—were replaced. The Hehuan Sect is developing a technology—using Grey Spirit Root Cultivators as shells. Swapping the old spiritual entities from the shell into them—to create something immortal."

Seven-hundred-year-old Hehuan Sect technology. Using the Love-Refining Furnace to extract emotions—that was Li Xuanyi's technique. But using Grey Spirit Roots as shells—swapping consciousness—belonged to the Hehuan Sect. When the two technologies met—they created something sealed at the bottom of a well.

"What is that thing?"

"I don't know." Shen Xi's fingers gripped tight. "It's not that I don't know—it's that I've forgotten. I still remembered when I escaped three years ago. I fled for three months—every day I was forgetting. In the end, I only remembered one thing—that thing cannot be allowed to live. It cannot be allowed to live."

Night.

The miasma would thicken in the evening. The grey-green gas swirled outside The Cave—but did not enter. Shen Xi had placed a Restriction at The Cave entrance—not to prevent the miasma from entering, but to prevent fluctuations of Spiritual Qi from leaking out. The Hehuan Sect people were still looking for him.

Qin Wu added a few sticks of dry wood to the fire. The porridge cooking in the pot began to boil—the aroma of rice mixed with the scent of medicine. On Shen Xi's stove sat a dozen jars of Soul Returning Powder—some already ground, others still drying.

"Are you eating?" Qin Wu asked.

"Yes," Shen Xi said. "But I can't taste anything. I've forgotten what taste is like."

Qin Wu served three bowls. Lu Chen took one and had a sip—the rice was cooked thin and was a bit bitter. It wasn't the rice's fault—it was the water in this cave, which was infused with miasma.

"Tomorrow we head south." Lu Chen set down his bowl. "The code—'Is the well in the back courtyard of the Sect Master's residence still there?'"

"Yes. Ask someone trustworthy in the Hehuan Sect—only the old Disciples. Not a single one of the Elder generation can be trusted. They've all been replaced."

"Who can be trusted?"

Shen Xi thought for a while. Not because he had forgotten—but because he was confirming that those names had not yet vanished from his mind. "A female Disciple surnamed He. Qi Refining Level 5. She manages the herb garden on the back mountain. She entered the sect three years ago—the day she joined was exactly the third day after the Sect Master returned. She saw what the Sect Master looked like when he entered the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires. There are still a few old Disciples left—hiding on the back mountain. Find the one named He—she will take you to see them."

"How much of your memory is left?"

"The resonance you passed to me... can last for another half a month." Shen Xi closed his eyes. "Half a month is enough for me to finish writing. Once I finish writing—if I forget, then let it be."

Lu Chen looked at Shen Xi. He was looking at a man who would soon not remember who he was—knowing that in half a month, all these memories would shatter, knowing he would become a living empty shell.

And so he wrote his own name. Over and over again. Using that name as an anchor.

Qin Wu stood up and walked to The Cave entrance. Outside was the nighttime miasma. Grey-green—it looked like a layer of thin gauze under the moonlight.

"He's afraid of forgetting," Qin Wu said.

"Fear is the only feeling he still remembers." Lu Chen set down his bowl. "Li Xuanyi said Grey Spirit Roots are naturally lacking in emotion—but it's not that they are emotionless. It's that emotions don't easily grow on their own. But once they do grow—the roots strike very deep. Shen Xi's root is 'not wanting to forget'."

Deep into the night, Shen Xi fell asleep. As he slept, he held a piece of charcoal in his hand—unfinished characters slanted on the stone slab. The last stroke hadn't been completed—it was the word "Shen".

Lu Chen sat by the Restriction at The Cave entrance, the perception robe spread over his legs. Dark-gold Spiritual Qi traveled up along the grey-line Meridians—his perception magnified tenfold.

South of Thousand Miasma Valley, in the direction of the Hehuan Sect.

There were fluctuations of Spiritual Qi. Not just one—but several. They scattered and then gathered—not traveling, but sweeping. Like a comb combing through the mountains outside Thousand Miasma Valley.

The Hehuan Sect people were searching the valley.

They weren't looking for Shen Xi—they were looking for something else. Those several streaks of Spiritual Qi swept very quickly. They weren't thorough, as if they were searching a vast area. From north to south, from east to west, sweeping in a grid pattern.

Then, one of them—suddenly paused.

It stopped at the southern entrance of Thousand Miasma Valley.

It didn't move anymore.

Lu Chen opened his eyes, his hand pressing on the sixth finger bone.

They would head south tomorrow—but the Hehuan Sect people were already very close to the valley entrance. They weren't searching for Shen Xi—they were waiting. Waiting for him.