541: Chapter 541

The night was already deep.

Qin Yun stood by a broken wall, looking down at the ring on his left index finger.

The ring was very quiet.

Dark gold, ancient, the sun pattern on its surface was still blurred, yet the more he looked at it, the more familiar it felt.

This familiarity did not come from the memories of this life.

It was something from a much more distant past.

It was a shadow so blurred it was almost invisible in those newly awakened memories.

It felt like the silhouette of an old friend.

Qin Yun was in no hurry to move.

After his memories awakened, he was no longer that boy who would only stare blankly.

He knew very well that the biggest oddity before him lay within this ring.

First, its form gave him a sense of familiarity.

Second, the fact that it could be worn on his hand silently for so many years was abnormal in itself.

Third, and the most crucial point.

His cultivation had regressed rather than progressed over the past few years, with spiritual power constantly leaking; the source was most likely this object.

Qin Yun raised his hand.

Moonlight fell on the ring's surface; that sun pattern remained blurred.

He stared at it for a long time, his expression gradually turning cold.

“Let’s see what exactly you are first.”

As his voice fell, he closed his eyes.

His Divine Soul sank.

Heart Heavy Pupils, open.

Unlike the grand and sweeping killing methods in his memories, the Heart Heavy Pupils were quieter and more meticulous.

It was born from the heart.

As long as the heart was not extinguished, the pupils of the heart could be opened.

Even though his current body's cultivation was pitifully low, these pupils remained.

In an instant, everything before Qin Yun's eyes changed.

The sparks in the ruins, the broken beams, the bloodstains on the ground, and the residual spiritual power fluctuations in the wind all became clear.

He could even see the meager spiritual power within his body flowing slowly along his Meridians.

Then, he pressed all his attention toward his left index finger.

The ring.

Look inside.

However, in the next moment, Qin Yun's brow furrowed sharply.

Blocked.

Although the Heart Heavy Pupils could clearly look within oneself and see through many illusions, when his Divine Thought touched the Great Sun Ring, an invisible wall suddenly seemed to appear in front of him.

The Heart Heavy Pupils pressed forward another inch.

Buzz.

Qin Yun's vision went black, and his Divine Soul felt a sharp pain.

He immediately withdrew the Heart Heavy Pupils, his breathing becoming a bit heavier.

The ring was still the same ring.

It sat quietly on his finger as if nothing had happened.

Qin Yun looked down at it and suddenly smiled.

It was just a faint smile.

“As expected, there is a problem.”

Even the Heart Heavy Pupils, bolstered by the vision of a Heavenly Emperor, were blocked.

This thing was definitely no ordinary treasure.

Keeping it by his side would not be a good thing after all.

Qin Yun no longer hesitated and reached out to remove the ring.

The old Little Qin Yun had tried before.

But he couldn't do it.

Back then, he only thought of it as a strange ring that couldn't be taken off.

Now it was different.

He knew very well that the reason some things couldn't be removed wasn't because they were tight, but because they were already intertwined with flesh, Soul, and even fate.

But being intertwined didn't mean it couldn't be stripped away.

Qin Yun pressed his right fingers together and made a light stroke across his left wrist pulse.

Spiritual power reversed.

He wanted to forcibly sever the connection between this ring and himself.

Just then, an old and urgent voice suddenly exploded in his mind.

“Little friend, stay your hand!”

Qin Yun's movements did not stop.

Instead, they became even more ruthless.

That voice was clearly anxious.

“If you keep going, this old man will truly dissipate!”

Only then did Qin Yun stop.

He looked down at the ring, his expression showing no surprise at all.

“Finally willing to come out.”

“It seems my guess was correct.”

“There really is something inside this ring.”

The ring fell silent for a moment.

A moment later, a wisp of extremely faint golden light rose from the ring's surface, condensing into the blurred outline of an old man in mid-air.

The figure was faint.

So faint it seemed like it would dissipate at any moment.

But even so, Qin Yun immediately raised his guard.

A remnant Soul within a ring.

He was all too familiar with those four words.

Possession, parasitism, manipulation, and schemes.

He had seen this kind of drama far too many times.

The old man clearly noticed Qin Yun's wariness and gave a bitter smile.

“Little friend, there's no need to be so on guard as if facing a great enemy.”

Qin Yun looked at him coldly.

“Hiding in my ring for so many years and absorbing so much of my spiritual power, how can you expect me not to be on guard?”

The old man paused.

This youth was not easy to fool.

He had intended to say a few polite words first, but under Qin Yun's gaze, those words were meaningless.

He could only lay his cards on the table.

“Your regression in cultivation is indeed related to this old man.”

Qin Yun's expression remained unchanged.

“Continue.”

The old man sighed.

“I am merely a remnant Soul, and one so tattered that I'm on the verge of dissipating. In my current state, let alone Possession, I can't even fully manifest.”

“All these years, I could only attach myself to the ring, using the spiritual power from your body to linger on.”

“The loss of your spiritual power wasn't because you were incompetent, but because a portion was drawn away by me to sustain this remnant Soul.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the last layer of mist in Qin Yun's heart dissipated.

So that was it.

The mystery of his regressing cultivation was finally solved.

His practice all these years wasn't in vain.

He hadn't become useless.

He had been treated as a granary by this old thing.

Qin Yun stared at him, his voice cold.

“You are quite honest.”

The old man's bitter smile deepened.

“I have no choice but to be honest. Your gaze is too fierce, junior. If I didn't tell the truth, I fear you really would have stripped the ring along with this old man.”

Qin Yun didn't respond to that.

He simply closed his eyes and used the method of internal inspection to examine himself once more.

This time, he wasn't looking at the ring.

He was looking at himself.

After his Divine Thought sank into his body, he indeed discovered something unusual.

Within his Dantian, there was more than just the spiritual power cultivated in this current life.

Deeper down, several strands of extremely high-level Origin auras were entrenched.

Some were heavy.

Some were overbearing.

Some were chaotic.

Some were full of vitality.

They didn't truly merge with each other; instead, they were like a group of independent fierce beasts suppressed deep within his body.

Because these things restrained each other, his cultivation became sluggish, leading to the strange situation where he clearly had power but could never condense a true Physique.

Qin Yun opened his eyes and truly looked at the remnant Soul before him.

“What else do you know?”

Seeing that he was finally serious, the old man quickly spoke.

“It's not that your Aptitude is poor.”

“On the contrary, the Origins within your body are too many and too high-level.”

“They all belong to you, but they haven't truly become one.”

“In other words, it's not that you don't have a Physique, but that your Foundation is too complex—so complex that the people of Jianghan City simply couldn't understand it. They could only misjudge you as a Spirit Body or a Dao Body, and finally as a Waste Physique.”

Qin Yun remained silent.

These words matched what he had seen himself.

The old man pressed on.

“Little friend, if you trust me, I can help you sort out these Origins and assist you in truly condensing your Physique. At that time, let alone Jianghan City, even in the broader world, you will no longer be a nobody.”

These words carried significant weight.

If it were anyone else, they probably would have been moved.

But Qin Yun was not.

He just looked at the old man and spoke slowly.

“I don't need it.”

The old man was stunned.

Qin Yun's expression was calm.

“What you've said, I can do myself.”

“I have my own path.”

The Body Scripture was still there.

That was something more reliable than the remnant Soul before him.

He would not easily hand over his life's gate.

The old man fell silent.

He originally thought that by playing the “help you restore your talent” card, it would be enough to move a youth who had been jilted, looked down upon, and abandoned by his Family.

But he had miscalculated.

The youth before him was no ordinary person.

His calmness and vigilance were not what someone of his age should have.

After a moment, the old man let out a long breath.

He knew that ordinary conditions would not move Qin Yun.

Thus, he finally put away his probing thoughts.

He looked directly at Qin Yun.

His voice lowered a bit.

“In that case, this old man will stop beating around the bush.”

“Has little friend ever heard of—”

He paused for a moment.

Word by word, he slowly spat out three words.

“The Chaos Body?”