604: Chapter 604 Returning to Old Habits

Qing Yan suddenly lifted his head, and his glass-colored pupils, which were about to dissipate, burst with a final glimmer of light as he stared fixedly at the xuantian ring on Su Ming's hand.

"I can sense it... the existence within you is cultivating the orthodox True Explanation of Nurturing Spirit of my Spirit Race Royal Court! This is the core Legacy that only the Royal Court possesses!"

Qing Yan's voice became hurried and frantic, like a drowning man clutching at his last straw. "I don't know how you obtained it, but... this Cultivation Technique is incomplete! I can give you all the memory fragments in my mind regarding the subsequent parts of the True Explanation of Nurturing Spirit, and even my lifelong insights as a Soul Cultivator!"

This was undoubtedly a temptation that no Soul Cultivator could refuse!

The subsequent parts of the True Explanation of Nurturing Spirit! This was exactly what Lin Yu needed most urgently right now!

"State your conditions." Su Ming's gaze was like a torch, staring intently at Qing Yan. "There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. What do you want?"

Qing Yan looked at Su Ming, a desolate smile appearing on his illusory face.

"My condition... is simple."

"Help me... stop the Dark Faction! Although their plan failed back then, the coordinates for the World Gate were left behind. One day, they will return to wreak havoc and unleash the calamity of the Abandoned Lands!"

"I only want one promise from you... if that day comes, for me, and for Emperor Yan Wuji who died for the Human Race... stop them!"

Just as Qing Yan's voice fell, his remnant soul, which was about to completely dissipate, suddenly erupted with a dazzling, pale cyan light!

He did not wait for Su Ming to answer.

Because he knew that he had no time left.

"Catch this! This is the last spark of the Qiming Sect!"

Qing Yan let out a shrill, piercing shriek, and his entire soul body burned away in an instant, transforming into a pure, intensely concentrated stream of pale cyan light. Like a meteor cutting through the Void Realm, it shot straight toward the xuantian ring at an incredible speed!

"Not good!"

Su Ming was shocked and instinctively tried to raise his natal formation plate to block it.

However, at the very moment that the pale cyan stream of light was about to touch the xuantian ring.

"Die for me!"

A violent shout suddenly exploded from the xuantian ring on Su Ming's left hand!

This voice was Lin Yu's!

"Hum!"

A terrifying suction force suddenly erupted from the surface of the xuantian ring. This suction force was like a black hole, locking onto the pale cyan stream of light with pinpoint precision.

The stream of light paused abruptly in mid-air, and then, as if swallowed by a primordial behemoth, it instantly changed its trajectory and was forcibly dragged into the inner space of the xuantian ring!

Su Ming's expression sank, but there was not a trace of panic in his eyes.

Almost in the same breath that the stream of light entered the ring, he flicked his sleeve, and three Formation Flags flew out of his hand like meteors.

"Thud, thud, thud!"

With three muffled thuds, the Formation Flags were driven firmly into the bluestone floor in a triangular formation. An ice-blue light shield instantly spread out against the surface of the xuantian ring, forming an absolute defensive barrier.

"Chirp—"

Ying's feathers stood on end on his shoulder, making it look like a jet-black hedgehog. It emitted an extremely sharp screech, and the golden rings in its pupils spun frantically, clearly having sensed some kind of terrifying Soul Power fluctuation that made its Bloodline tremble.

Su Ming clenched his fingers, and his Qi quietly gathered in his palm.

Inside the Void Realm of the ring, the situation instantly became tense.

Qing Yan's remnant soul, originally illusory and filled with compassion, had now completely shed its disguise. His pale cyan Array Patterns twisted and stretched in the Void Realm, transforming into hundreds of fine, hair-like Soul hooks that, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, stabbed straight into the depths of Lin Yu's soul body.

"The Royal Court's Cultivation Technique has been gathering dust for too long on someone as insignificant as you." Qing Yan's voice was hoarse and cold, echoing in this void space. "Give up your Soul position, and I will walk this path for you!"

The previous desolation and entrustment instantly revealed their greedy fangs at this moment.

Lin Yu did not retreat in the Void Realm; a stinging cyan light flared on the surface of his soul body where it was touched by the Soul hooks.

But he did not panic in the slightest; his soul body, which had previously emitted a soft, dim light, instead gradually became solid.

He sneered inwardly: "This old ghost from the Cultivation World insists on taking someone else's body whenever he gives a fortune. This rotten act of 'borrowing a corpse to resurrect the Soul' has been played for a thousand years, and he's not tired of it yet. Does he really think I'm some novice who can't move when he sees a benefit?"

Lin Yu quickly separated a wisp of his Divine Sense and, facing the incoming Soul hooks, forcibly intercepted and analyzed the memory fragments that Qing Yan had previously thrown out.

After just a few breaths of confrontation, Lin Yu had sorted out the sequence of events.

Emperor Yan Wuji's madness, the Dark Faction's conspiracy, the coordinates of the World Gate... most of these were true, and even that tragic heroism of saving the world was true.

But the part about "offering the Legacy" was a complete and utter bait!

Qing Yan's true goal was to use the fact that both of them cultivated the True Explanation of Nurturing Spirit—the same source of aura—to allow the Soul hooks to ignore the defensive mechanisms of the xuantian ring, pierce directly into Lin Yu's Soul root, and then take over, seizing control of this top-tier Soul-nurturing Magical Artifact!

"Using a shared Cultivation Technique as a stepping stone? A nice calculation." Lin Yu snorted coldly.

Qing Yan thought that as long as a being was born in this world, their Soul would inevitably be bound by the Heavenly Dao rules of this realm and possess a so-called "Soul root." As long as the Soul hooks pierced into the Soul root, even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could not escape the fate of Possession.

But he did not know that Lin Yu's Soul did not belong to this world at all! In this world, he was a ghost without a "root"!

"A mere ant dares to resist!"

Seeing that Lin Yu not only did not flee but instead actively met him, Qing Yan immediately exerted his remaining pressure as a Spirit Race Soul Cultivator Elder to suppress him fiercely.

"Crack—"

With the eruption of this pressure, a tiny crack actually appeared on the inner wall of the xuantian ring in the outside world!

Outside, Su Ming's "Micro-Observation" vision locked onto that crack.

He took a sudden step forward, his hands forming seals at high speed, and the liquid Water Spiritual Energy within his body was drawn out like silk, transforming into thousands of extremely flexible blue spiritual threads.

"Go!" Su Ming shouted in a low voice. The spiritual threads accurately wrapped around the surface of the xuantian ring, following the crack, forcibly stitching up the outer Array Patterns inch by inch.

A powerful rebounding force surged back along the spiritual threads; Su Ming's chest felt tight, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

But his feet remained rooted to the spot, unmoving, only his fingertips continuously changing the incantations. Ying hopped anxiously on his shoulder, "chirping" and wanting to share the pressure, but was forcibly held down by Su Ming using his Divine Sense.

"Master, I will stabilize the outer formation for you," Su Ming whispered in his heart, his voice devoid of any fluctuation but filled with absolute determination.

Inside the ring, Lin Yu responded briefly: "Hmm."

Subsequently, the luster of Lin Yu's soul body suddenly surged!

He suddenly remembered the dangerous experience back then, when he was inside that old, dilapidated vengeful woman's lamp, and how he had devoured those ferocious evil ghosts alive while in an unconscious state.

That was his first life-and-death battle after coming to this world.

Today, it was merely time to resume old business!