519: Chapter 29 Spirit General Golden Bell

"Jin Ling pays her respects to Master."

Looking at the Yin Spirit in red, who appeared as a beautiful young woman and was bowing respectfully to him, Meng Li was momentarily stunned.

Especially after seeing her face clearly, a trace of surprise appeared in his heart.

Because this was yet another face he found familiar.

The impression Meng Li had most deeply of this face was Mei San Niang, the painted-skin female ghost from a version of strange tales from a chinese studio he had watched in his first life.

However, the focus was still on the name of the Yin Spirit in red.

Jin Ling?

With this name added to the current location, Meng Li instantly associated it with the original owner of the hehuan bell — Madam Jin Ling!

But according to what he knew, Madam Jin Ling had mysteriously disappeared over eight hundred years ago, and combined with the corpse he had seen in the Dripping Blood Cave, she should have died.

How did she suddenly appear... wait, Yin Spirit!

This really matched up!

However, the Yin Spirits of this world were not the souls of the deceased, but rather spirits born from the unyielding obsessions of the dead that sank into the ground and were nourished by Yin Qi. Therefore, the Yin Spirit in red who called herself "Jin Ling" was not necessarily Madam Jin Ling from over eight hundred years ago.

Thinking this, Meng Li asked, "What did you say your name was?"

The Yin Spirit in red replied respectfully, "Reporting to Master, this servant is called 'Jin Ling.' If Master dislikes it, you may bestow a new name upon this servant."

Meng Li ignored the latter part and asked further, "Madam Jin Ling of the Hehuan Sect?"

Jin Ling replied, "This servant is not Madam Jin Ling, but I do indeed have a connection to her."

"What connection?" Meng Li asked.

Jin Ling said truthfully, "This servant is a Yin Spirit born from the combination of her residual soul and obsession from back then with the Yin Qi of this Dead Spirit Abyss."

Not just obsession and Yin Qi, but also a residual soul? That meant there might be some memories.

"What exactly happened back then?" Meng Li asked curiously.

Jin Ling recalled as she said, "My memories from too long ago have not yet recovered. I only remember that back then, Black-Hearted Old Man fought a great battle with the Righteous Path's Master Ku Xin, and ended up severely injured. Black-Hearted Old Man was unwilling to accept defeat, so he wanted to use a volume of the Heavenly Book he had found to resurrect the ancient evil god, the Beast God, in the Dripping Blood Cave."

"Madam Jin Ling knew the Beast God was powerful and that once resurrected, it would be beyond human control, so she tried her best to dissuade him."

"But Black-Hearted Old Man was obsessed and refused to listen, so she had no choice but to leave."

"Later, Black-Hearted Old Man used the Heavenly Book to resurrect the Beast God, but the situation was exactly as Madam Jin Ling had foreseen. The Beast God was not under Black-Hearted Old Man's control; instead, it wanted to treat him as a sacrifice and devour him to recover its own strength. Black-Hearted Old Man fought the Beast God but was far from being a match."

"Madam Jin Ling, who hadn't gone far, sensed the commotion and returned. She sacrificed her life to use the Infatuation Curse, gaining Heaven-Defying power, and only then was she able to eliminate the Beast God."

"After casting the Infatuation Curse, Madam Jin Ling's soul suffered Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, with only a wisp of her residual soul remaining, protected by the hehuan bell due to her obsession."

"Black-Hearted Old Man discovered this, but was unable to turn things around, so he had no choice but to use magic to send this residual soul and obsession to the Dead Spirit Abyss."

"This residual soul and obsession were nourished by the Yin Qi of the Dead Spirit Abyss for many years, and after merging with it, this servant was born."

Meng Li suddenly understood, then asked again, "What was Madam Jin Ling's obsession?"

Jin Ling replied, "Love."

"However, she sacrificed herself for love and died for a worthy cause, so her obsession was not very deep. It was more about the regret of not being able to stay with the person she loved. After the erosion of long years, the obsession almost dissipated. Influenced by this, this servant has also been growing weaker day by day."

"If not for Master using a miraculous technique to recreate this servant, I would have completely perished before long."

Meng Li felt a sudden realization.

Just a moment ago, he was still puzzled. As the founder of the Hehuan Sect, Madam Jin Ling's cultivation back then was not much worse than Black-Hearted Old Man's. The Yin Spirit produced by her residual soul and obsession, even if not extremely powerful, should not be weaker than other Yin Spirits.

It turned out the problem was with the obsession.

An obsession mostly consisting of regret, being able to persist for over eight hundred years without dissipating, was already quite remarkable.

After all, there is a natural gap in the persistence of the two emotions of regret and hatred.

Unless resolved, hatred usually lasts for a long time.

Regret, on the other hand, is only felt when one occasionally thinks of it; very few people remain immersed in it for a long time.

Next, Meng Li thought of another question: "You just said your memories from too long ago haven't recovered. Could it be that they can be recovered later?"

Jin Ling nodded, "That is correct. Madam Jin Ling's original wisp of residual soul was a part of her human soul."

Meng Li understood.

The "human soul" Jin Ling spoke of was one of the "Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits," also known as the "Youjing" or "Life Soul." It was the light of consciousness, and its main function was to carry the memories of a living being and govern preferences and emotions.

The other two souls were the "Heaven Soul" and "Earth Soul."

The Heaven Soul, also known as "Taiguang," was the light of life, governing longevity, and returned to heaven after life ended.

The Earth Soul, also known as "Shuangling," was the light of wisdom, governing intelligence, and represented reason.

However, this world had no Underworld Reincarnation, and the saying of Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits was closer to a legend.

Besides, this statement did not apply to existences like Meng Li, who had combined his essence, Qi, and spirit to forge the Dao foundation for Immortal Ascension.

There was also the special case like Jin Ling: the components of her birth included Madam Jin Ling's incomplete human soul, but none of the other two souls. Even if the incomplete human soul self-repaired as her strength increased, thereby recovering all of Madam Jin Ling's memories, she would not become the original Madam Jin Ling.

Unless Meng Li used the Shuangquan Hand to complete her other two souls and further construct the Seven Corporeal Spirits to shape a Physical Body, it would be impossible to bring the original Madam Jin Ling back to life.

But Madam Jin Ling had no relation to him, so he certainly wouldn't spend great effort to resurrect her.

After a while, Meng Li asked, "Do you want to leave with me, or continue to improve your strength here?"

Jin Ling lowered her head and replied, "Everything is decided by Master."

Meng Li immediately said, "Then continue to Cultivate here. When you have enough cultivation, or when I have a need, I will take you out."

"Yes." Jin Ling agreed respectfully.

Seeing this, Meng Li thought for a moment and used the Shuangquan Hand to copy the cultivation method of the Internal Alchemy Dao of the Quanzhen Sect from the under one person world from his own memories.

"Come here."

Jin Ling walked over as instructed.

Meng Li pointed the memory light cluster into her brow and introduced it simply, "This cultivation method can help you temper your own spirit body. Once you achieve success, you can transform from Yin to Yang. Once you reach the stage of manifesting the Yang Spirit, you will be able to travel during the day without any hindrance."

Jin Ling immediately said gratefully, "Thank you, Master, for bestowing the method!"

Meng Li waved his hand, "Go and contemplate and Cultivate."

"Yes."

After Jin Ling left, Meng Li took out the Materials he had collected earlier and began to refine the Soul Refining banner.

With the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements combined with the corresponding refining method, supplemented by the Dan fire derived from the Dao pill, it took him a long time to finish refining it.

It wasn't that the refining was difficult, but rather that he had carried out modifications and upgrades.

The most obvious change was that the appearance had changed from a banner to a flag, which could freely change size.

Meng Li played with it for a while before summoning Jin Ling over.