BAAF Chapter 75

Zhou Xuanlan’s Nascent Soul landed back on the ground, looked around, and walked to a pile of withered leaves.

 

He placed the figure in his arms on the leaves, sat cross-legged on the ground, then propped the small head on his shoulder. One arm held him while the other supported his chin. He didn’t close his eyes to rest and occasionally looked vigilantly toward the two people hidden in the shadows.

 

Shen Liuxiang and Zhou Xuanlan exchanged a glance, thinking the same thing—they both planned to recall their Nascent Souls.

 

They had never released their Nascent Souls before; the Nascent Souls had always stayed obediently inside their bodies, so they hadn’t noticed anything unusual. After observing for a whole day, both had many questions, so they decided to separate this pair of Nascent Souls and take them back for questioning.

 

Zhou Xuanlan made the first move, recalling his Nascent Soul.

 

His Nascent Soul had been wary of the two all along, for unknown reasons, preventing them from approaching Shen Liuxiang’s Nascent Soul. If he hadn’t recalled it first, it would have desperately tried to stop Shen Liuxiang from taking his own Nascent Soul.

 

Without the shoulder to lean on, the sleeping small Nascent Soul’s head tilted to one side, and its body fell onto the pile of leaves.

 

Shen Liuxiang walked over, reached out, and pinched the tender white cheek. The feel against his fingertips was excellent—the slightly cool skin in the night was delicate, smooth, and very elastic.

 

Shen Liuxiang woke him up: “Hey, time to get up.”

 

The Nascent Soul’s dark eyelashes trembled slightly as it drowsily opened its eyes. It looked at the shadow cast in the moonlight, recognized Shen Liuxiang, and fearlessly rolled over.

 

Its rosy little mouth opened slightly as it mumbled: “Still… still want to sleep.”

 

Shen Liuxiang’s mouth twitched slightly. He had no choice but to pick it up, place it in his palm to continue sleeping, and look up at the night sky before walking toward the room in the rich moonlight.

 

Zhou Xuanlan returned to the bedroom and released his Nascent Soul.

 

Without Master’s Nascent Soul in sight, his own Nascent Soul became much more docile. After emerging, it sat cross-legged on the tea table of its own accord, meditating and cultivating by itself.

 

Zhou Xuanlan sat beside it, staring at it for a while.

 

The Nascent Soul is formed from the primordial spirit, which is the foundation of a cultivator. The soul may change, but the primordial spirit exists eternally, unchangeable and indestructible through countless lifetimes.

 

The Nascent Soul before him, though formed from his primordial spirit, was difficult to communicate with mentally, which was truly strange.

 

Zhou Xuanlan reached out, his slender finger touching the Nascent Soul’s forehead. It remained motionless, showing no resistance, appearing not to reject him.

 

But when he tried to control it, the Nascent Soul opened its eyes, revealing a hint of defiance.

 

Zhou Xuanlan pondered for a moment and questioned: “Why did you transfer spiritual energy to Master’s Nascent Soul?”

 

The Nascent Soul frowned, looking confused: “Who is Master?”

 

Zhou Xuanlan: “The true form of the Nascent Soul you were holding earlier.”

 

The Nascent Soul frowned, pondered for a while, accepted this title, and then said: “I didn’t transfer spiritual energy.”

 

He raised his left hand, gathering the surrounding spiritual energy, circulating it within his body several times, and emitting a faint white light from his right hand. “This is primordial energy. Master’s primordial spirit has no primordial energy. I’m nurturing it, or else it will disappear.”

 

Zhou Xuanlan’s heart tightened: “Why is it so?”

 

The Nascent Soul shook its head: “I don’t know.”

 

Zhou Xuanlan frowned, and after a while said: “You referred to yourself as ‘This Lord.’ What exactly is your identity?”

 

The Nascent Soul’s expression was strange: “I don’t know.”

 

Zhou Xuanlan could sense he was telling the truth, so he changed his question: “What do you know?”

 

“Nurture the primordial soul,” the Nascent Soul paused, repeating: “I only know I need to nurture the small primordial soul.”

 

This was the consciousness of his primordial spirit.

 

On the other side, Shen Liuxiang’s Nascent Soul was awakened from its sleep, unhappily pursed its lips, and lowered its head, sullenly refusing to speak.

 

Shen Liuxiang thought for a moment, took out fresh fruits from his storage pouch, an apple in one hand and an orange in the other, waving them in front of the small face. “Quite the morning grumpiness, huh? Want one?”

 

The Nascent Soul raised its eyebrows slightly, looked up, and finally deigned to pay attention to him.

 

With a raise of its hand, it naturally chose the orange.

 

Shen Liuxiang smiled, put away the apple, and took out a fresh orange from his storage pouch. Just as he opened his mouth to take a bite, he saw the Nascent Soul make the same gesture.

 

The orange was a bit too big for the small Nascent Soul.

 

Its tender white hands barely managed to hold the orange. It lowered its head, without peeling the skin, stuck out its little tongue, tentatively licked the bright yellow orange peel, and then opened its mouth to bite.

 

Shen Liuxiang’s expression was strange: “Let me peel it for you.”

 

The Nascent Soul shook its head, bit into the orange peel, leaving tiny shallow tooth marks, tasted a bit, and with a bright smile said: “I’ll eat it like this.”

 

Shen Liuxiang’s expression was thoughtful as he opened his mouth to take a bite of the orange.

 

He never peeled oranges when eating them. Did the original body’s Nascent Soul also have this habit?

 

After thinking for a moment, he asked: “Do you know the Nascent Soul from earlier?”

 

The small Nascent Soul was trying hard to bite through the orange peel. Hearing this, it paused, blinked, and said: “I only recognize him.”

 

Shen Liuxiang narrowed his eyes slightly: “Then tell me, who is he?”

 

“I don’t know,” the Nascent Soul said. “I only know he’s extremely good.”

 

It struggled to put down the orange, gesturing with both hands in the air. “I was like this at first, bit by bit, then he kneaded me together, and I slowly became like this.”

 

Shen Liuxiang watched for a while, barely understanding the meaning.

 

His primordial spirit had once shattered to pieces, probably picked up by Zhou Xuanlan, reassembled, and nurtured with his own primordial spirit for a long time, allowing him to barely recover to this form.

 

Shen Liuxiang frowned in thought. At this moment, the Nascent Soul tugged at his sleeve: “I also have a question for you.”

 

Shen Liuxiang nodded, then saw the small Nascent Soul tilt its head, with its small hands on either side, pinching its chubby cheeks, and asked indignantly: “Why am I round?”

 

Shen Liuxiang: “…Maybe because you’re fat.”

 

The Nascent Soul was struck as if by a heavy blow, frozen in place for a long moment. It lowered its head, dejected, and began pinching its cheeks sullenly.

 

Seeing this, Shen Liuxiang laughed. Soon after, remembering the matter at hand, he channeled spiritual energy in his palm, intending to touch the Nascent Soul. But he saw the Nascent Soul suddenly retreat, its little face turning deathly pale, trembling all over in fear.

 

“Pain… it will hurt!”

 

Shen Liuxiang frowned, stopping his hand just in time.

 

At the same moment, the jade slip in his storage pouch stirred. Shen Liuxiang infused it with spiritual energy, and a voice immediately came through: “Master, don’t probe the Nascent Soul with spiritual energy. Your primordial spirit is damaged and cannot withstand any spiritual impact.”

 

Shen Liuxiang helplessly rubbed his brow: “Fine.”

 

Now everything was gone.

 

He couldn’t locate the child Gu, and he’d discovered his primordial spirit had been damaged.

 

He looked at the dispirited Nascent Soul, made a hand sign to recall it back into his body. A Nascent Soul shouldn’t stay outside for long; the dantian was its most comfortable place.

 

Shen Liuxiang asked the jade slip: “What about your Nascent Soul? Did you learn anything?”

 

Zhou Xuanlan: “Only that Master’s primordial spirit was injured.”

 

Shen Liuxiang held his forehead. The matter of primordial spirits was already profound, and it possibly involved the Zhou Xuanlan from the original story. His thoughts were momentarily chaotic, without any clues.

 

After a while, he sighed.

 

Never mind. The pressing matter was to resolve the Love Flower Gu.

 

As Shen Liuxiang was thinking, he heard Zhou Xuanlan say softly: “At midnight tonight, I will release Wenren Qin. However, his cultivation has been greatly diminished. With the backlash from the formation, with good luck he might live for ten-plus years; with bad luck, he won’t survive more than a few years.”

 

Shen Liuxiang lowered his eyelashes slightly and responded with a sound of acknowledgment.

 

Zhou Xuanlan was silent for a moment, seemingly hesitating, before finally saying: “He wants to see Master one last time, to say something to you.”

 

Shen Liuxiang was taken aback, touching the back of his neck.

 

But before he could make a decision, he heard a low laugh from the jade slip. Zhou Xuanlan’s tone carried a strange meaning.

 

“But I told him—not allowed.”

 

---