Chapter 99: The Longevity Song of Eight Desolations

“This technique is only of demi-god level, so it has its limitations. First, the success rate of parasitism is low. The weaker and less resistant the host, the higher the success rate. Second, the more of one’s own soul and will that remain, the higher the success rate of parasitism and the faster the recovery. Finally, rebuilding the soul requires a large amount of soul energy. If it’s like Zhong Chun’s will, even if he drains a host entirely, he wouldn’t be able to gather even a thousandth of his original soul. But if the host has a high cultivation level, the success rate of parasitism isn’t high.”

The reason Zhong Chun’s will wanted to go to the True Martial Continent in the first place was because he was in a hurry to recover.

But the pills in the Palace of All Things had long turned to waste, including those that could replenish the soul.

Even the soul-nourishing spiritual herbs and fruits had become dust.

Zhong Chun’s demi-god pocket dimension had rich earth-attribute laws but lacked soul-related laws, so naturally, it didn’t produce soul-nourishing plants.

Of course, he could have caused havoc in the pocket dimension, plundering the souls of its inhabitants to quickly recover.

But this approach wasn’t suitable for Zhong Chun’s will.

Martial artists, regardless of their path, wouldn’t directly devour souls unless they practiced advanced soul techniques.

That was poison. Lethal stuff!

Devouring too many souls without being able to purify them to maintain the purity of one’s own soul could lead to serious consequences.

At best, you’d suffer a split personality, turning into a lunatic.

Most probably, a second, autonomous consciousness could form, causing immediate soul fragmentation, and leading to potentially disastrous outcomes.

At worst, conflicting wills would cause the soul to shatter, resulting in death.

Therefore, martial artists without the means to solve this problem typically avoid directly devouring souls. Usually, they would consume soul-nourishing pills or spiritual herbs and fruits to meet their needs.

If pills and spiritual items were insufficient, they would refine souls into pure soul liquid using flames like blood flames.

However, this refining method was very slow. It was far less efficient than soul techniques.

If Zhong Chun’s will had chosen to harvest the souls of the pocket dimension’s inhabitants and refine them into soul liquid to sustain himself, it would have required almost all of them to be sacrificed for his recovery.

With so many souls, even if he had selectively refined just a portion to recover a bit of his soul, the time it would have taken would have meant that the body Zhong Chun’s will occupied—Li Donglai’s—would have died of old age.

Given this situation, the best option for Zhong Chun’s will was to kill the True Martial Continent’s Law Manifestation experts to restore himself.

Sure, it would still require slowly refining their souls to erase their personal imprints while preserving the soul energy. But erasing the imprints of a dozen souls is way easier than doing so for a huge number, even if those dozen were of higher quality.

If it weren’t for Lin Fanyun showing up and messing things up, Zhong Chun’s will would have succeeded.

Using the souls of a dozen Law Manifestation experts to craft a supreme pill would have allowed Zhong Chun to restore one or two layers of his soul. It would have also elevated the cultivation of the body he occupied—Li Donglai’s—to the True Core stage, possibly even to the peak of True Core.

At that point, not only would his cultivation improve, but restoring one or two layers of his soul would also mean that his will would no longer be rootless. He could then unleash the power of a demi-god and better utilize the power of the Palace of All Things.

That would have been a game-changer.

“The Parasitic Rebirth Technique, this technique is rare even among soul techniques,” Lin Fanyun thought.

The Parasitic Rebirth Technique was undoubtedly a soul technique. Even if it couldn’t quickly erase the imprints and distractions of other souls, its excellence couldn’t be denied.

“Especially since this soul technique thoroughly explains the relationship between will, thoughts, and the soul. It’s even a powerful technique for healing soul injuries.”

If it could restore even a sliver of will or consciousness, other soul injuries would naturally be manageable.

Of course, it still required ample soul energy.

Otherwise, like Zhong Chun’s will, it would be like trying to cook without ingredients.

After copying the technique, Lin Fanyun returned the original to the shelf. He then casually grabbed the primary technique practiced by Zhong Chun, the demi-god.

The Longevity Song of Eight Desolations!

Flipping through it quickly and skimming the general outline, Lin Fanyun’s heart raced with excitement.

“As expected, this is a True God-level technique.”

This was a pleasant surprise. He had only hoped to get a demi-god technique but ended up with a True God-level technique.

What a windfall!

As for why Zhong Chun, despite practicing a True God technique, remained a demi-god…

People really can’t be compared to each other. Some folks, no matter how good the resources you give them, will always be the same. 

Besides, becoming a demi-god was already impressive. If it were someone else, they probably wouldn’t even make it past the True-Core stage.

“But I’m different. This technique in my hands will definitely shine,” Lin Fanyun said, grinning with satisfaction. 

Even though it would be his true self practicing it in the end, it didn’t matter. They were essentially the same person, so he could brag without feeling guilty.

“Just right, the Longevity Song of Eight Desolations is an Earth and Life dual-attribute technique, not too different from the Mountain of a Thousand Layers Earth attribute my true self is cultivating. Switching won’t be difficult. However, it’s better to wait until my true self reaches the Law-Manifestation stage before practicing the Longevity Song of Eight Desolations.”

Lin Fanyun’s eyes deepened in thought.

The Law Manifestation stage was a very special level in cultivation. The foundation of divinity began to be laid at this stage.

Setting aside the divine-level technique for now, Lin Fanyun looked at the vast library.

“I used to worry that relying only on the legacy from the Mountain of a Thousand Layers, which only goes up to the peak of Law-Manifestation, and my gains over the years wouldn’t be enough to lay a divine foundation for martial arts. But with this massive library, there’s no need to worry about the future of martial arts. And for the path of the body, I’ll see what surprise the system has for me when I reach the fourth layer of Law Manifestation.”

There was a deep anticipation in Lin Fanyun’s eyes.

After browsing through the other books in the library, he found numerous books on planting spiritual plants and refining pills, each containing various unique methods.

“I forgot, Zhong Chun was a renowned spiritual planter, skilled in cultivation.”

And now, all of this belonged to Lin Fanyun.

He also checked out the mineral room and its spirit iron and minerals, feeling extremely satisfied.

“Even though I exhausted all my artifacts and treasures earlier, and the divine lamp was severely damaged, With these spirit iron and minerals, repairing the divine lamp will be easy. It won’t be difficult to spend some time crafting fine artifacts and treasures either. Except my refining skills need improvement.”

Over the years, his true self was too focused on pursuing strength, making almost no progress in refining arts. He could barely manage to refine his life-bound artifact.

But life-bound artifacts were notoriously easy to refine. Almost any Law Manifestation cultivator could do it. What usually stumps them is obtaining satisfactory materials.

“Well, now is the critical time to enhance my strength. I’ll save refining for when I’m stronger and safer, then I can take my time practicing it. No rush, there’s no rush,” Lin Fanyun comforted himself. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but his current strength was still too weak. In the Great Wilderness, he felt too insecure, so improving his strength was the priority.

“Next, let’s check out the coordinate room.”

Lin Fanyun’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.