Volume 1, Chapter 364 – The Soul Enters the World

That night, Shi Lan did not cultivate. She slept deeply.

The next morning, when Wu Lingkong woke and opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Shi Lan’s face, close at hand.

Even in sleep, Shi Lan’s brows still carried a faint chill, as if sealed beneath a thin layer of ice, giving her an air of distance.

In Wu Lingkong’s impression, Shi Lan had always been like this. It did not show on the surface, but she could feel that inside Shi Lan’s heart was a block of ice that could never melt, shutting away her inner self.

Buried beneath that ice was a treasure no one could touch, a pure land filled with burning warmth, gentle and soft.

The light sound of breathing lingered by her ear. The room was utterly silent, making her feel as though she could hear Shi Lan’s strong heartbeat.

Wu Lingkong propped herself up and looked down at and looked down at Shi Lan. After a long while, she could not resist reaching out and poking Shi Lan in the cheek.

“Mmm…”

Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused and vacant, and only after a few breaths did light gradually return to it.

“I slept a little too deeply.”

Shi Lan rubbed her brow and sat up. True qi circulated through her body, sweeping away the murky heaviness from a night’s sleep. Even the wrinkles in her dress were smoothed out in an instant, making it look fresh as new.

“I’m going into seclusion for a while. Is there a suitable place nearby?”

“Seclusion?”

Wu Lingkong reached out and smoothed Shi Lan’s slightly messy hair into place. Then she got out of bed, straightened her clothes, and said,

“There’s a secret chamber right here.”

Naturally, the City Lord’s Manor was not lacking in secret chambers for cultivation. They were all built from high-grade Dragon-Severing Stone, with walls three zhang thick and spirit-gathering array patterns carved into them. There would absolutely be no disturbance from outside.

Moreover, this was still the center of Shenfeng City, so its safety was undoubtedly much higher than anywhere else.

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“Then… I’ll have to impose for a while longer.”

“What are you being polite with me for?”

Wu Lingkong waved a hand, stepped out the door, and returned a short while later.

The secret chamber had already been arranged.

Shi Lan walked into the courtyard, fished Tianbai out of a wine jar, and followed Wu Lingkong into the secret chamber.

Leaving Tianbai outside for two months was not something she could do with ease. More importantly, she needed Tianbai to stand guard for her and watch over her body.

The Heavenly Dao of a minor world was far too fragile to bear her physical shell. She could only enter the world with her soul.

Boom…

The Dragon-Severing Stone slammed down heavily, cutting off all disturbances from the outside world.

“Are you ready?” Samsara’s voice sounded in Shi Lan’s mind.

“Begin.”

Shi Lan shut down the Empress-raising System’s self-protection program and nodded.

A vortex appeared within Shi Lan’s sea of consciousness, light flickering within it like countless stars.

“Samsara, have you made contact with headquarters?”

Remembering some of the earlier changes to the All-Heavens Samsara System, Shi Lan asked in confusion.

The previous system had clearly not possessed this kind of ability.

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“No. I tried before, but there was never any response. When the Illusory Star Domain descended and the barrier between heaven and earth shattered, the system seemed to establish brief contact with headquarters, but I was asleep at the time and do not know the exact details.”

“In truth, if not for the appearance of the Illusory Star Domain, I would have had difficulty opening this passage.”

Samsara was somewhat helpless about the matter as well. The messages it sent out were like stones sinking into the sea, with no reply at all.

At present, all the system had stored were some world coordinates it had brought with it. Many of those worlds it had never even visited, and the information was incomplete.

Shi Lan asked no further questions. Her soul stepped straight into the passage. A soft, marshmallow-like pressure came from all sides and instantly wrapped around her.

“Your soul is no longer what it once was. It is much stronger now. I will suppress part of your soul power so you do not alarm the Heavenly Dao.”

Shi Lan did not resist and fell into sleep.

…

…

Wooooo—

A shrill ship’s horn woke Shi Lan.

The surrounding air was damp, and a strange smell filled her nose. She shook her somewhat muddled head. The hunger in her stomach had thrown her heartbeat slightly out of rhythm, and her breathing came short.

An empty body, feeble strength, the cramping in her stomach. The enormous contrast left Shi Lan feeling involuntarily uneasy.

Samsara…

“I’m here.”

The voice coming from the depths of her mind steadied her somewhat.

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“Is there any basic background information on this world?”

“Very little. It is a pre-nuclear civilization, in the era of firearms. The only thing I can confirm is that the greatest power in this world will not exceed mortal limits. It is far weaker than the Qinghong World.”

“With the power of your true body as it is now, you could shatter this world with a casual raise of your hand.”

Shi Lan: “…”

“If you want to enter the mortal world and temper your heart, you need to make some preparations. I also need to give you a few reminders.”

“Go on. I’ll remember them.”

Coming back to herself, Shi Lan slowly sat down on the damp floor to conserve her strength and nodded.

“You need to let your past cultivation memories fade, and cast aside the very idea of tempering your state of mind. Forget it completely. Otherwise this will all be for nothing.”

“You need to understand what tempering truly is. Only when you go through hardship you would rather not face, run into troubles you cannot easily solve, and confront pain head-on, can it be called tempering.”

“There are a thousand methods and ten thousand paths for tempering the heart in the mortal world, but the one that suits you can only be grasped by yourself.”

“The mortal world holds countless flavors. What each person understands is different. Let the vast mass of worldly thoughts scour your Martial Dao. What remains after that cleansing will be your pure Dao-heart.”

“From here on, I will lessen my contact with you. If you cannot endure it and want to give up…”

“I understand.”

Shi Lan cut Samsara off and asked,

“What kind of identity or background does this body have?”

“No identity or background. An orphan. At present, a stowaway. Undocumented.”

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After saying that, Samsara fell silent once more.

Shi Lan slowly stood up. The damp stickiness clinging to her body made her uncomfortable.

This starting point was not very favorable.

The light around her was dim. After feeling around for some time, Shi Lan finally found a small door only half a person’s height.

Bang, bang…

Shi Lan tried pushing it, but the little door had already been bolted from the outside. It could not be opened from within at all.

After trying for quite a while, Shi Lan, dizzy with hunger, gave up on the little door and turned to search for another way out.

The hunger in her belly and the cracks in her dry lips were making the warning perfectly clear. If she did not get something to eat soon, this body was going to kill her.

After groping around in the darkness for a long time, Shi Lan finally found a square ventilation opening in the corner, barely large enough for her to squeeze through.

Struggling out of that dark space, Shi Lan slowly got to her feet. What greeted her was the salty dampness of the sea wind.

She was standing on a cargo ship. Behind her was a shipping container, and the hold was packed with a huge number of them.

Luckily, the container she had just been in was on the topmost level. If it had been down below, she never would have made it up.

Carefully stepping across the gaps between containers, Shi Lan opened several of them one after another, hoping to get lucky and find something to eat, when Samsara’s voice suddenly rang out, a little urgent.

“Shi Lan, wait!”

“There is someone on this ship who is bound to a system!”