Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

“Humph! At worst, I’ll just go back down there.
I’m sure they can’t get in.” The ghost looked at the warring puppets with its snake-like eyes and didn’t seem bothered by Gu Suihan’s threat.

“What’s your job here then?” said Gu Suihan all of a sudden.
He chuckled and added, “I suppose that fellow didn’t expect you to misbehave like this.”

“Why, you…” The ghost shuddered when it heard Gu Suihan’s words.
“He’s dead…he’s been dead for many, many years…”

Its muttering was filled with fear and terror, as well as a deep hatred.

“Back then, he just wanted me to collect the secret keys, throw anybody who got here into this old well, then place the keys in the slots around the well.
Then I could go back to sleep after that.”

“Old well?” Gu Suihan’s eyes widened slightly.
He turned to see a hole as dark as a bottomless pit, as well as the nine slots around it that had several complicated carvings on their border.

“He wants to refine souls in order to be reincarnated?” Gu Suihan’s long history of experience allowed him to immediately arrive at this possibility.

“The dead things outside the door, the warring puppets with warring spirits inside the hall, and a Huangquan Evil Ghost filled with soul energy.
All for the sake of accomplishing this?” Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow and his gaze flickered.

“But one could argue that this is a pointless method.
You need to use spiritual blood to drench the body in order to keep it fresh.
After that, you need to keep absorbing souls in order to make sure the consciousness doesn’t fall apart by waiting patiently for greedy cultivators thinking they’re here to obtain a legacy.
They’d end up killing one another or getting killed, leaving the strongest ones to enter this formation.”

“Only then can you refine your blood, raise your body up, gather your soul and revive your spirit.
You can put yourself together all over again, which means that not only will you recover from your wounds, but you could even form the legendary perfect Dao body by making up for the flaws during your previous cultivation journey.
You could reach perfection.”

“Hoho! What a scheming fellow,” said Gu Suihan with a snort as he turned to look at the Huangquan Evil Ghost.

Now he knew why the ghost said that it could just go back inside the rock platform and the warring puppets wouldn’t dare to enter.

The physical body of the designer of this place was lying inside this well.
He was at Divine Soul, so even if he were physically dead and lost what he had cultivated, his remains would still be able to emanate a powerful aura.

These warring puppets were made by this fellow and they knew what this fellow was made of.
They were filled with a warring spirit and were sentient to a certain extent, but they still fell short of ordinary humans.
Having a spirit just made them a little more nimble.

“Excellent! Since this junior of mine is so kind, then I don’t have to be so polite anymore.” Gu Suihan’s eyes were blazing excitedly as they stared at the old well.
Inside was the soul and consciousness of a powerful Divine Soul cultivator that was now in deep sleep, as well as a body that was about to transform into a Dao body.

“If my guess is right, that fellow used some evil technique to trap you here, right? Otherwise, I’m pretty sure that one Divine Soul cultivator would only be at par with you at your peak,” Gu Suihan said to the ghost via telepathy with a faint smile.
His eyes twinkled a little as he squatted on the floor and looked at the ghost.

“Back then, that old fellow had considered the possibility that you might not have any powers left, so he planted these warring puppets here so that once you were awake, you could have something to eat, replenish your energy and carry out his plan.”

“But sometimes things don’t go according to plan.
Nobody would have expected the cultivators to ultimately stumble their way here to be a bunch of Foundation Establishment cultivators, with just two at Origin Core.
Of which, one of them had not stabilized his current stage while the other one has only part of his soul in his body.
That means we’re not enough to make up a sacrifice to that fellow.
So…now, there is what could possibly be your best chance at getting out of here.”

The eyes of the Huangquan Evil Ghost lit up as it stared unblinkingly at Gu Suihan.
It seemed to realize what Gu Suihan was thinking about as it stared at that meaningful smile on the young man’s face.
“You want me to help you kill him? That’s not possible! He’s at Divine Soul, after all.
Even if you’re born with the best aptitude for cultivation, you’re still only at Foundation Establishment.
It’s impossible to do that.”

“If I were merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, how was I able to hold up against that storm you created with your soul?” Gu Suihan returned the question with a faint smile.

“Well, that’s because…” The ghost was stumped for a moment before it glanced up at Gu Suihan and seemed to have suddenly thought of something.
It flailed frantically and retreated rapidly as it asked in a trembling voice, “You…you’re also a Divine Soul cultivator?”

Old Suihan is referring to the soul of the original Suihan, the one which had crossed over from a different world. ↩️