Chapter 11: Different Paths, Different Plans Section 12: The Power of the Primordial Soul Race (Part II)

Bu Jingxian had heard from Lady Li that the power of the Primordial Soul Clan could never be awakened after the age of twenty. He was already nineteen, and the unique strength of the Primordial Soul Clan was indispensable to his ideals. Furthermore, deeply aware of the grave flaws in his Soul Arts, he felt even more strongly that awakening this ancestral power would be a monumental breakthrough. If he could soar through the skies as Lady Li did, he would have no need for light-body techniques, and the fatal weaknesses of the Soul Arts would cease to exist.

"That is exactly my intention."

"Very well."

Initially, Lady Li carried Bu Jingxian a hundred zhang into the air and let go. As he plummeted, Bu Jingxian could not help but be gripped by terror; he failed entirely to clear his mind of distractions as she had instructed. On the second attempt, although he managed to clear his thoughts, he still could not awaken the power before hitting the ground. Fortunately, Lady Li caught him just in time to prevent his death.

The third time, she took him even higher.

Attempt after attempt followed, yet the ancestral power remained dormant.

Lady Li was already panting with exhaustion. Bu Jingxian had long since realized that she did not possess profound martial cultivation, and he felt a pang of guilt. However, this matter was too vital for him to abandon.

When Lady Li carried him several hundred zhang into the air once more, Bu Jingxian said, "This time, please do not save me."

"That is the logic of a gambler. I find it hard to approve."

"It is not a gamble. You said that when you leaped from the cliff, you cast aside all thoughts of life and death, truly believing you would die. At that moment, you had no attachment to life; instead, you felt a sense of relief—a joy in seeking freedom through death. I believe that as long as I know you will save me, I can never attain that state of mind."

Though Bu Jingxian answered earnestly, Lady Li remained unconvinced.

"The circumstances were different. I was being forced into marriage, and since childhood, I had loathed a life of being controlled, a life without self. That leap was a release, a way to break free from every shackle."

"I believe I can understand. To me, the Soul Philosophy is both a duty and a heavy burden. Having tried so many times, I can already tell myself that if I were to fall to my death, I would no longer have to bear this weight, no longer have to face life with such exhaustion of body and soul. All that is missing is the reality of death itself. So, I implore you to help me."

Bu Jingxian was not lying. Through these repeated attempts, he gradually forced himself to forget the noble goals behind his responsibilities and focused only on the crushing weight they had placed upon him since childhood. Under this mindset, those burdens and pains magnified until they birthed a desperate loathing for existence and a craving for the liberation of death.

As the saying goes, life and death hang on a single thought. One thought toward life leads to the desire to live; one thought toward death leads to the desire to end it.

"To experience such trials at such a young age, to carry such burdens, to have no right to one's own ideals or pursuits... At an age when others yearn for romance and beauty, you have become a Northern Lord who enjoys every luxury yet finds no joy. The worship of thousands brings you no sense of achievement; the presence of countless beauties cannot hold your gaze. There is only the self-restraint and discipline demanded by your heavy burdens. You have a beautiful wife by your side, yet you lack the freedom to lose yourself in her tenderness. They say the Soul Philosophy seeks freedom, yet in order to realize it, you have no freedom at all."

As Lady Li spoke, she was clearly continuing to shatter his attachment to life.

"What a pitiful child... Zheng Linran is a woman of such rare beauty. In the past, how you longed to show your true self and capture her heart; how many times you fantasized about a life spent hand-in-hand with her. When you were bullied at North Spirit Mountain, how many schemes did you devise to deal with those hateful disciples? Yet you could not act; you chose to suppress yourself, playing the coward to be trampled upon. Everything, everything was for the sake of the duty of the Soul Philosophy. To live like this is truly wretched. I was not even this pathetic when I was young... Honestly, I think if one lives like this, it is better to die and be done with it. Even out of pity, I think it would be better for you to fall."

Lady Li suddenly released him.

Bu Jingxian plummeted from a thousand-zhang height.

In this moment, his heart was filled only with the exhaustion of the heavy burdens of life, stirred by Lady Li’s words and the memories he had long suppressed. His ears heard only the whistling wind; his eyes saw only the sky receding further and further away. How he longed for the freedom of the Soul Philosophy—that freedom of soaring through the heavens and earth, with no conflict, only peace.

Watching the rapidly shrinking figure falling, Lady Li closed her eyes gently.

'In the unseen, there is providence. Whether the Soul Will should be realized, whether this child should find release—I no longer wish to know the result.'

When Lady Li opened her eyes again, she spread her wings and flew toward the mountain peak. She grabbed the luggage she had prepared in advance and, without looking back, flew into the distant sky. She had used a mind-altering illusion on Bu Jingxian, which had also affected her own spirit. Only in this way could she perform this act—unwilling to watch the flame of hope for the Soul Will extinguish, yet equally unwilling to watch this child continue to walk his path alone under such a heavy load.

The sky grew further; the earth drew nearer.

Bu Jingxian saw Lady Li depart, and he watched the danger of the approaching earth unfold. Yet, he felt no sign that a miracle would occur; this time, there would be no savior. He felt weary, unwilling to think of anything more. As he slowly closed his eyes, his final thought was: 'If the Soul Will has not chosen me, then... let it be...'

A perfectly round, blue bead rolled across the tabletop, emitting a tranquil glow.

Bai Ling rested her chin on one hand, staring vacantly at the rolling orb. When it stopped, she flicked it with her finger, and the bead began to spin at high speed once more.

When she returned to the capital of Chu, Chu Gaoge had arrived upon hearing the news, leading a group of experts to welcome her.

At the welcoming banquet, he promised vast sums of wealth to help rebuild the White Palace and pledged to hold the funeral rites for her mother, Bai Ling, with the honors of a high official.

Construction on the White Palace estate was already underway. Chu Gaoge had led many dignitaries to join the White Palace and become her disciples. Now, she was one of the martial masters fully supported by the Crown Prince of Chu; her reputation had spread throughout the kingdom, and her status had become noble. She had over three hundred disciples, and every day, many more came seeking her tutelage.

She knew that Chu Gaoge did this for two reasons: first, he knew her power was extraordinary, and second, he feared that her mother’s death might breed resentment in her heart, so he treated her with doubled kindness. To put it bluntly, this was bought with the price of her mother’s life.

This blue orb was worth a fortune to an expert of internal energy, a treasure one could only hope for but never seek. It, too, was a gift from Chu Gaoge.

But none of this could bring Bai Ling joy. She would have preferred her mother to be alive. She disliked Chu Gaoge. Yet she could not ignore her mother’s dying wish; she knew that if her mother had known her death could exchange for all of this, she would have deemed it a death well-earned. The reconstruction of the White Palace was more important than anything else. Bai Ling rarely smiled, because she rarely felt happy.

She liked the idea of home, but she had never known what a home felt like. Since she was a child, Bai Ling had taken her traveling everywhere, all to find the noble patrons who could help them rebuild the White Palace. She enjoyed practicing martial arts, but she had no interest in titles like "the greatest expert in the world," nor did she enjoy using her skills to bully others.

When footsteps sounded outside the door, Bai Ling grasped the rolling bead in her hand.