998 Thickness of Soul
Xu Qing was very clear about the difference between him and ordinary cultivators.

That was his body.

Although this body belonged to him, it was created by the god’s finger back then. Originally, it was to better adapt to Its integration. In the end, because of the purple crystal, it benefited Xu Qing.

This was the body of a god.

‘Although It is a little ordinary and just a finger of one of the countless clones of the Immortal Forbidden god.’ Xu Qing muttered to himself.

However, Its status was still that of a god.

Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed as he pondered.

“Therefore, to a certain extent, the eyes of this body of mine can also be considered the eyes of a god.”

“In that case, in theory, I can use the god’s sight to see this world.”

Xu Qing lifted his hand and touched his glabella, focusing on sensing his soul. However, his understanding of the soul was a little lacking.

He only knew that the soul represented his mind, his divine consciousness, a gathering of his own nothingness.

The amount of mental energy determined the strength of the soul.

As for the specifics, Xu Qing didn’t really understand. It wasn’t something he needed to research at his cultivation level.

However, now, Xu Qing had realized the importance of the soul many times. He had also summarized the answer through a series of analysis previously.

“Let the soul sublimate, thereby integrating the poison within it. In this way, I should be able to spread Poison Restriction wherever my gaze falls!”

“Then, what exactly is a soul?”

Everyone’s answer to this question was different.

Some believed it was formed by the aura of the body, others thought it was the manifestation of the mind, and there were those who considered it an invisible ripple.

In any case, everything was related to the elusive things.

Xu Qing closed his eyes and the Poison Restriction in his body spread out, permeating his sea of consciousness and searching for his soul.

He could find it because deep within his sea of consciousness, at the end of his mind, there existed a cluster of light and fire composed of divine consciousness.

There was light as well as fire.

They blended together as if they were the core of everything. If altered, perception was affected; if extinguished, life turned into darkness.

This was the soul Xu Qing had thought of previously.

However, Xu Qing hesitated now.

He attempted to integrate his Poison Restriction into this light and fire, and he could clearly perceive the swaying of the light and fire. He could also distinctly feel that, after his Poison Restriction merged into them, they became one.

However, it didn’t achieve the effect he wanted. At the next instant, it separated on its own.

It was as though all the integration was actually just the surface. It was like… this lump of light and fire was actually just a projection.

Or, it might not be the source of the soul.

Xu Qing remained silent.

Time passed bit by bit. As Xu Qing pondered, seven days passed.

In these seven days, the visible thinning of Xu Qing’s body, continuous contemplation, and uninterrupted exploration did not bring him answers. Instead, they brought spiritual lethargy and the consumption of vitality.

“Cultivators are different from mortals. Cultivators have nascent souls and divine consciousness. In fact, at my current realm, I can even possess…”

“After possessing someone, I’ll still be me. In that case, my soul… can’t be in my body!”

Xu Qing frowned and recalled how the god’s finger had possessed him before. At that time, he remembered that he could sense his soul being worn down and his consciousness dissipating.
“I have to experiment.”

Xu Qing lifted his head and determination appeared in his eyes. He had to figure out what a soul was. Only then could he complete the next step of integrating the poison.

Xu Qing took a deep breath and was about to transmit his divine sense to the shadow when he paused.

During these days, the shadow had been in constant fear. It sensed that Xu Qing, following the guidance of the heir, had become more and more terrifying, and his aura had changed accordingly.

Hence, seeing that Xu Qing seemed to be about to give it an order, it hurriedly listened. However, after waiting for a long time, Xu Qing still didn’t give the order.

“Li Youfei!” Xu Qing thought about it and transmitted his voice to Li Youfei.

Li Youfei, who was doing odd jobs in the main hall, bowed toward the back room where Xu Qing was in when he heard this. He then turned and headed outside.

That night, Li Youfei returned with a middle-aged cultivator and placed him in front of Xu Qing.

“Master, this person is a vicious criminal. He has raped, plundered, and committed all kinds of crimes. Because he is attached to Ancestor Mogui, no one has punished him.”

Li Youfei respectfully spoke.

Xu Qing lowered his head and took a look. This was a middle-aged man with a Golden Core cultivation base. He wasn’t a human.

There was a scar on his face and he looked very sinister. The smell of blood on his body was very strong.

Xu Qing nodded. He knew that unless Li Youfei was tired of living, he wouldn’t dare to lie to him. Hence, he waved his hand and let him leave. After that, he looked at the unconscious middle-aged cultivator in front of him and pressed his forehead.

At the next instant, his divine consciousness surged in and all his aura and energy entered the cultivator’s body with his divine consciousness. Even his nascent souls manifested and entered one by one.

He began to possess the man!

At the next instant, Xu Qing sensed that he had arrived at a sea of consciousness that wasn’t very bright. There were six Heavenly Palaces shining with ordinary light here. As Xu Qing appeared, these six Heavenly Palaces trembled.

Xu Qing didn’t have any emotions. His divine consciousness spread out and covered the entire sea of consciousness, searching for the other party’s soul lump of light and fire. He quickly found it and pounced over.

In the blink of an eye, the flames of this lump distorted and mournful cries rang out. Countless memories surged into Xu Qing’s divine sense and he saw the life of this cultivator.

Scenes appeared one after another. From the moment he was born until now, some were blurry and some were clear.

However, no matter what, they were all disappearing under Xu Qing’s devouring. It was as though Xu Qing had snatched them away…

A while later, the middle-aged cultivator lying there suddenly opened his eyes and stood up expressionlessly. He looked at his main body, who was sitting cross-legged and pondered.

“This is possession?”

The middle-aged cultivator mumbled and sensed his entire body. An uncomfortable feeling enveloped his mind, as though he was wearing a smaller set of clothes.

Yet, in his subconscious, he was familiar with these clothes, and the reasons behind the scar on his face were extremely clear. When Xu Qing closed his eyes, all the past experiences of this body slowly surfaced in his mind

However, it was insignificant and could be erased by him at any time. In fact, Xu Qing felt that he would feel even more comfortable after erasing it.

When this realization surfaced, Xu Qing’s body suddenly trembled and his eyes abruptly opened.

“Memory?”

“I seem to have some understanding now. If the soul is a combination of life, aura, and spirit, then it is indeed elusive, or it can be said to be a real entity composed of countless unreal components!”

“The moment a lifeform is born, the instant of perceiving oneself and the outside world forms memory!”

“If the soul is compared to a blank bamboo slip, then memory is the words on it… They are one!”

“Therefore, during the possession, although I couldn’t sense the consuming of the other party’s soul due to my cultivation, I clearly sensed that I had devoured the other party’s memories…”

“For ordinary people, memories dissipate after death, as if severed. Therefore, even if the spirit enters the underworld, it is in a confused state. This is the manifestation of wandering spirits; their memories are shattered and broken.”

Xu Qing’s breathing was hurried. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. At the next instant, all the divine consciousness in his body left and returned to his main body.

The main body opened its eyes and revealed a look of enlightenment.

“What is a soul? My answer might not be correct. This requires me to continue exploring and verifying it as I cultivate in the future.”

“But… I can now confirm one thing: memory is the thickness, scale, carrier, and vital energy of the soul!”

“That means, to have my spirit infused with the Poison Restriction so that the Poison Restriction can move with my gaze, what I need to do is to engrave the Poison Restriction deeply into my memories!”

“I need to change my memory so that the concept of the Poison Restriction will exist in my memory from the moment I was born until now!”

Xu Qing mumbled.

And at this moment, Xu Qing was unaware that the main hall, separated by a curtain, had been cut into another space by the heir.

In this space, his murmurs were being repeated by the parrot.

“…until now!”

The parrot was clearly immersed in Xu Qing’s emotions as it shouted excitedly.

Ling’er’s small face was filled with worry as she looked at the back room. She felt that Brother Xu Qing was somewhat inhabited during this period of time.

Wu Jianwu also gasped. A similar thought as Ling’er rose in his mind. He felt that Xu Qing had gone crazy. Normal people wouldn’t think about questions like souls and memories.

Especially on this matter, even if he listened to the parrot’s recap, he still remained perplexed.

“I know every word Xu Qing said but why can’t I understand it after connecting them? What is he saying…”

Wu Jianwu was at a loss. He felt that this shouldn’t be just his problem. Hence, he looked at the others and realized that Li Youfei was the same as him, looking stunned.

What was different was that amidst Li Youfei’s confusion, there was a hint of fear. Clearly, he was worried that Xu Qing would perform such an experiment on him one day.

As for Ning Yan, he was shocked and waves of emotions surged in his mind.

This was because he had heard his father say similar words before… However, he had never expected Xu Qing to be able to say such words at the Nascent Soul realm.

He could sense that Xu Qing had really analyzed and comprehended these himself.

The captain’s gaze was deep and his smile was bright as he muttered inwardly.

‘Little Qing, Eldest Senior Brother didn’t bring you to the Moon Worship Region just to devour the Crimson Goddess… This place will be a place for you and me to soar!’

Nether Fairy was silent. She looked at the back room where Xu Qing was with a complicated expression as a thought rose in her mind.

‘Could this Xu Qing be like me, transformed from a spirit fragment of an existence in the past?’

Everyone had different thoughts but just as they were feeling different waves in their minds, the heir smiled. He wasn’t surprised by Xu Qing’s comprehension this time around. Everything was within his expectations.

He had predicted before that with Xu Qing’s comprehension ability, he would definitely be able to understand it to this step.

“This is the difference between me and this kid’s master. His master has limited cognition, so it’s hard to guide him. It’s not his fault. If everyone can carve on such a piece of jade, it won’t be jade anymore.”

The heir stood up with a smile. He knew that the next step would make the other party think of his power to change perception, and he was about to give Xu Qing a choice.

“I can use my cognition power to change memories; this method is not perfect as it can’t penetrate into the subconscious, staying only on the surface, and there will be my mark on his soul. However, the advantage is that he will have poison in his gaze.”

“With this kid’s temperament, he probably won’t agree. In that case… the probability of him agreeing to my second is higher.”

The heir took a step forward and was about to walk over when the parrot suddenly spoke, repeating Xu Qing’s words in the back room.

“There’s only one way to do this!”

“That is to leave behind the imprint of countless poisons on my body, allowing every piece of my flesh, every drop of blood, and every inch of my bones to contain poison!”

“I can’t change memories directly, but memories are not only formed by experiences and cognition, but also by the body’s instincts!”

“Imprint the poison as an instinct in my body, use the instinct to overwrite my memories!”

“And my eyes, I need to refine them again, relying on all the reactions of the flesh, ultimately providing an eternal message to memories.”

“I am poison!”

Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed and he was in high spirits.

In the main hall, everyone was dumbfounded. Ling’er was even more worried. Ning Yan gasped and the captain’s expression changed. The heir stopped in his tracks and silently sat down again.

“He doesn’t need me to change his cognition… this kid… he’s changing his own cognition?”