Daoyi's eyelashes trembled as she felt pain constantly eroding away at her consciousness. She could hear the anguished howls of the departed, the frightful screams of those tortured in death, the unwillingness of those who perished, and much much more. Just listening to them was taxiing on her spirit, much less interacting with them.
The sound of death wasn't coming from the lingering ghost in the Huang Realm but directly from the Nether Realm. Normally, such an act wasn't possible, but it was possible due to the divine shard in Daoyi's hand.
The Nether Realm was a special realm of the Three Thousand Immortal Realm System. No life was born in it, be it animal or plant. Instead, all its inhabitants were the souls of the dead. Calling them inhabitants was actually a stretch. It was more of a temporary location they stayed at before reincarnating back in the Three Thousand Immortal Realm System, something akin to purgatory. If they committed too many sins in their life, the Yama Kings would directly extinguish their soul. But if they had many karmic merits, they would be reincarnated in a blessed family. All souls had to drink the soup of forgetfulness brewed by Granny Meng before they crossed Nai He Bridge, no exceptions.
By interacting with the dead, Daoyi was tempering her soul and increasing her understand toward the Dao of Death. Right now, even without undergoing the first Core Formation Minor Tribulations, the wind tribulation, Daoyi's Spiritual Core was being continuously polished. When she did undergo the wind tribulation, it could practically pose no threat to her at all.
However, not every soul cultivator was suited to this method, much less regular cultivators. If they attempted to do such a thing with the divine shard, their soul would be ground into dust by the howls of the dead before they could even polish their spiritual core. Daoyi was only able to accomplish this act due to her unique soul.
In the Three Thousand Immortal Realm System, there existed numerous exceptional physiques that were not in any way inferior to Heavenly or even Mutated Heavenly Spiritual Veins. Not all physiques were inborn, some could even be cultivated, such as the Dragon and Phoenix Physique. Special bodies were called physiques; souls could also have physiques, just that they were rarer and less understood.
Daoyi's soul hadn't reached the point that it would be classified as a physique, but it was impressive nonetheless. Typically, there was a balance between the soul and body. Both had equal influence over the growth of a cultivator. But Daoyi's soul was too sturdy, too corporeal. It resulted in her soul heavily influencing her body, even if it wasn't apparent. Although no one could tell if she remained a mortal and didn't cultivate, but once she reached the Nascent Soul Realm, her nascent soul would be a level above the rest.
Xi Mengfei hypothesized that Daoyi's unique soul originated from her mother, who had been exposed to the energy released by the divine jewel when it fragmented. Or perhaps it went even further. Maybe the leakage of energy from the Spectral Rising Jewel had been influencing the whole clan since the founding, and Daoyi was just one of many who had such a soul. Whatever the reason, the latent potential of Daoyi in soul cultivation was immense.
The divine shard fell from Daoyi's grasp and fell onto the floor with a clatter. Daoyi hunched over with ragged breaths, and her whole body was soaked with sweat. Although the results were fruitful, it was too taxing. She could only cultivate the shard once a month, or her soul would be unable to bear it.
After recuperating for short while, Daoyi went to look for her master. It was too dangerous to carry a divine shard on herself. It was much better to leave the shard at her master's and retrieve only when she needed it.
Daoyi didn't bat an eye when she entered her master's room to see that she was seemingly sleeping on the couch. Her master had been in such a state for several months now. She placed the divine shard near her master and quietly left. Outside in the mansion's main hall, Daoyi saw her senior brother lying haphazardly on the wooden chairs, his legs spaced so that it took up several chairs' worth of space.
Standing off to the side was the ever silent and expressionless Elder Meng. Su Bojing was worse off, his face displaying his exasperation at Tianyi's immaturity. Su Bojing's image, the one the majority of the sect disciples also had, of the son of Grand Elder Xi was thoroughly destroyed by Tianyi in the last few months. The more Su Bojing interacted, the more he discovered how much Tianyi liked to pretend.
In the beginning, no before Mengfei had started her secluded cultivation, Tianyi could still hold himself together due to Mengfei accompanying him. But after Mengfei started her secluded cultivation, Tianyi had managed to remain calm and quietly cultivated with gusto for a month before his vice struck again. Boredom, Tianyi's ultimate vice.
Or as some would call it, laziness.
The spectacle between the four great clans had entertained Tianyi for the first year, but by the time Mengfei went into seclusion, he had already grown tired of it.
If Tianyi was bored, he couldn't calm down his heart and earnestly cultivate. Not that it honestly matter much to Tianyi. Just by existing, his cultivation advanced without him doing much, much to Su Bojing's jealousy. Tianyi didn't keep his cultivation method a secret, so when Su Bojing asked, Tianyi told him the general gist of his cultivation. Upon hearing that Tianyi cultivated nine spiritual cores and five nascent souls, Su Bojing felt his worldview crumble and even suspected if Tianyi was even human.
"Hm?" Tianyi looked up when he felt a shadow cast over his face to see Daoyi. "You done cultivating, Junior Sister?"
"Mhm," Daoyi nodded affirmatively. "What are you doing right now, Senior Brother?"
"Obviously contemplating the profundities of the Dao. This pose here is a special form expressly used for this purpose." Su Bojing felt his face twitch at Tianyi's bald-faced lie. He was obviously just staring at the ceiling in a daze. As for why he wasn't counting each individual grain, it was because he had already had.
Daoyi giggled. But Tianyi was still half in a daze. She began to test Tianyi's reaction by asking him several questions, some boring and normal, and other questions that were bizarre. Although it seemed strange, her actions had reasoning to them. She was relaxing. After using the divine shard to cultivate, it was very easy for her to sink onto a negative spiral of emotions.
But Tianyi wasn't coordinating with Daoyi. After answer the first few questions, his replies degraded into yes's, no's, and even grunts. Daoyi sulked. Couldn't her senior brother play along? Has he transcended boredom to the point that everything was boring?
A memory of a recent event that occurred in the Xi Dynasty floated in Daoyi's mind. Releasing a mischievous smile, she whispered into Tianyi's ears. "Am I beautiful, Senior Brother?"
Mindlessly, Tianyi replied, "Yes."
There was a sudden silence as Daoyi allowed Tianyi to process what he had just said. However, no matter how long she waited, Tianyi never became flustered and, instead, continued to stare at the ceiling in a daze. Did he not hear me or not, Daoyi thought. So she asked again.
"Yes, Junior Sister, you are very beautiful," Tianyi said in his most monotonous voice.
Daoyi reeled back as if physically shocked. What was this? Where was her cute and flustered senior brother from years ago? Truthfully, Tianyi wasn't as calm as he acted. His heart was beating fast. When he complimented girls that he found physically attractive, his heart always started to beat faster. He was just putting on a strong front so as to not embarrass himself in front of Daoyi again.
After attempting to rile up Tianyi a few more times, Daoyi gave up. Instead, she brought her guqin out. Soon, a beautiful but soul haunting melody began to fill the hall. Immersing in infusing her music with the emotions she experienced from the cries of the dead, Daoyi lost her sense of time. This wasn't the first time it happened. By venting her negative emotions through music, her heart would be calmed, and even her spiritual sense strengthened because of it.
When Daoyi regained clarity, she discovered that Tianyi was literally as far as physically possible from her while still in the room and lying on his back. His eyes were locking onto her shoulder. Curious, Daoyi looked towards her shoulder to see Shuijing napping on it, almost like a bird or hamster.
Daoyi giggled. It still amused her to this day that her senior brother was deathly afraid of spiders. When asked why he replied, "Years ago, when I wasn't paying attention, I walked into a spiderweb while talking. I got a mouthful of the web, but that wasn't the worst part. The spider had entered my mouth with the web." Tianyi didn't say anymore and shivered.
Yeah, that'd give anyone trauma, Daoyi thought. But she had to wonder how Tianyi was able to encounter such a thing in Buzhou Immortal Sect. Ordinary insects were unable to enter Jade Peak at all. Perhaps, he met a special one that caused the trauma to be even worse, Daoyi concluded.
Days later, after Daoyi felt that she had rested sufficiently, she set out to search for ghosts. The Earthsea Land was filled with many battles due to scarce resources. The battles only intensified in recent years. Perhaps, Earthsea Land would become the second Fleeting Mist Region in the future.
"Junior Sister, how about I follow you?" Tianyi appeared when Daoyi stepped out of the mansion.
"Don't you have to monitor the Lei Clan?" Daoyi asked.
"I don't need to personally monitor it with Bojing here. Plus, if I go, Elder Meng will follow. If anything should happen, she can remedy it the quickest." Tianyi convinced.
For the past two years, it was Su Bojing who had been contacting three of the four great clans. Tianyi had expected Lei Jingye to be forced to return after receiving news of the Lei Clan's dire situation, but who knew there was no news of him even after two years. The million mid-tier spirit stones had already been used up over six months ago, so Tianyi allotted a million more spirit stones to Su Bojing.
The current Lei Clan were barely able to fend off the other great clans; balancing on a knife's edge would be an understatement. Using the money funded to them, the great clans bought many pills and treasures to nurture their disciples and even eclipsed the prosperity the Lei Clan had been hiding. The days of the Lei Clan became a nightmare as they were suppressed in nearly every aspect. If they knew the cause of this was a certain wastrel using millions of spirit stones, they might just die from puking too much blood.
On a side note, the elder of the spoiled grandson who first leaked the news had long died in the line of duty. His grandson, the cause of all this in the eyes of the Lei Clan, lived a life worse than death. Unable to take it anymore, he took his own life. Tianyi didn't know whether he should feel empathy or pity for him. His death could be traced back to Tianyi, after all. If he hadn't given the spirit stones, the grandson might be alive even if his situation wasn't as good as before.
But Tianyi didn't dwell on it as he followed Daoyi into the desert. Ultimately, the grandson was just a random stranger that Tianyi would never meet or spare another thought for.