Chapter 50: The Method of Healing

Qiuchi had almost turned the system's database inside out, racking her brain for ways to stabilize the soul of Bozhi. However, she found that none of them were of any use. It was fundamentally a fragment of a soul, and its physical body had dissipated thousands of years ago, leaving its soul with no home to return to for ages.

During the previous battle with the Immortal Alliance, its remaining spiritual power had been completely exhausted, pushing it to the brink of total collapse. Even the Soul-Nurturing Array could only stabilize the soul fragment temporarily; as time went on, it would cease to be effective.

After repeatedly searching the database, the useless system finally proposed two feasible plans.

First, send it into reincarnation in a timely manner. After perhaps dozens of lifetimes, its soul might gradually be nurtured back to wholeness.

However, its current soul body would likely not even last until the moment of reincarnation. She would first have to find some soul-nurturing treasures and wait until the soul fragment stabilized. But even so, it was ultimately just a fragmented soul, and after reincarnation, it would inevitably suffer from congenital deficiencies, be born simple-minded, or perhaps never awaken its divine consciousness at all.

Second, reshape a compatible body for it, much like how Jing, the social phobic, had been reshaped before. The only catch was that it would need to slumber for several centuries to slowly nourish its soul fragment back to health using the vital life force.

The crucial problem, however, was that the research base had now self-destructed, and without a gene pool, a new body could not be reshaped. Moreover, the incubation pool in the Beast City had been destroyed thousands of years ago and was completely beyond repair.

Furthermore, the bodies manufactured by the gene pool were all humanoid. Without cultivation, their lifespan limit was only around a hundred years. Even if one were successfully created, Bozhi would kick the bucket again before its soul could even be properly nourished.

Just as Qiuchi was agonizing over what to do, Jing and the other two had already returned from the Beast City.

"Senior." Jing, the social phobic, came to see her at the first opportunity, bowing respectfully. Compared to his previous迷茫 (bewilderment), his eyes were now noticeably much brighter.

"Have you figured it out?" Qiuchi asked.

"Yes," Jing replied with certainty. "Thank you, Senior, for helping me understand the matters of the beastly clan, but I still wish to be Jinghong; I do not wish to become the Azure Dragon of the beast race."

"Huh?" Qiuchi was somewhat surprised and couldn't help asking, "Do you realize what you are refusing? If you revert to the Azure Dragon, your cultivation might even surpass mine, and the entire beast race will be your subordinates." At that point, reigning supreme across the Linyuan Continent would be no exaggeration, yet he actually didn't want to change back.

"I am aware, but I am certain," Jing nodded, his gaze growing even firmer. "Especially after understanding the situation of the beast race. For so many years, the beast race has constantly pursued ways to grow stronger, yet cultivation requires a Dao-body. My current condition is precisely what the beast race has always strived for. Why should I abandon the fundamental to chase the incidental and revert to a beastly form?"

Qiuchi was slightly stunned, not expecting this to be the reason. Indeed, compared to beasts, the human race's innate Dao-body was far more advantageous for cultivation.

Beasts required hundreds or thousands of years of living just to reach adulthood and gain extraordinary abilities, but wanting to improve further after reaching adulthood was extremely difficult—virtually impossible—unless they encountered some rare treasure that allowed them to transform into a Dao-body. Humans, on the other hand, usually achieved success in cultivation within a few decades, and the upper limit of this cultivation was far higher than that of beasts.

This was the difference of an innate Dao-body: frail at the start, but with no upper limit.

"But reverting to an Azure Dragon allows you to take on human form as well," Qiuchi reminded him. The Azure Dragon was different from other beasts; as the lord of the beast race, an adult Azure Dragon possessed the power of shapeshifting. Even if he changed back, he could transform into human form after spending a few centuries.

Jing, the social phobic, still shook his head. "That is too distant. I wish to use this current body of mine and do my utmost to witness the scenery at the end of the path of cultivation."

"Very well!" Seeing that his mind was made up, Qiuchi did not try to persuade him further. "Then I will dismantle the array surrounding the little Azure Dragon." Since he didn't want to go back, there was no need to keep the dragon body either.

"Thank you for your trouble, Senior." Jing nodded, then added as if recalling something, "If possible, could I ask Senior to send my dragon body back to the Holy City?" After all, fallen leaves must return to their roots.

"No problem," she nodded. "It's just a body anyway. Sending it back to the Beast City is..."

Mid-sentence, Qiuchi suddenly thought of something.

Wait!

A body! And an empty one at that!

"Jing, my boy!" She reached out and patted his shoulder, chuckling, "You're sure you're not changing back, right? Then how about giving your body to me?" It was going to waste just sitting there anyway.

"Huh?" He froze, wondering why those words sounded so strange.

(￢_￢)

"Rest assured, I won't do anything bad."

"..."

"I'm just conducting an experiment. I'll take good care of your body."

"..." That sounded even stranger!

"Can't I?"

"I... I suppose you can..." But could you please phrase it differently?

"Then it's settled!" Her mind made up, Qiuchi turned and flew toward the direction where the little Azure Dragon was sealed.

That's right, Qiuchi intended to place Bozhi's soul fragment into the little Azure Dragon. Although the two beasts were not of the same species, the little Azure Dragon was the lord of the beast race, and Bozhi had guarded its dragon egg for thousands of years. With the useless system, fusing the two shouldn't be too difficult.

Furthermore, the little Azure Dragon's body had been nourished by the spiritual veins for so many years, and the vital life force within it was sufficient to nurture Bozhi's soul fragment. It would probably wake up again after slumbering for a few decades. Moreover, the beast race had now been exposed to the various immortal sects and was in urgent need of a leader to guide them.

After all, Bozhi was a beast soul that had lived for thousands of years; compared to Jing, it was much better suited to be this leader, and it was also most familiar with the Beast City.

No sooner said than done, Qiuchi brought back the little Azure Dragon's body that very day and informed Qihong and the others that she needed to enter seclusion to help Bozhi fuse with the body, asking him to help gather some medicinal herbs. The system, for its part, analyzed the optimal fusion plan at the earliest opportunity.

Yet, unexpectedly, the only one who objected was Bozhi itself.

It stubbornly refused to enter the little Azure Dragon's body, shouting that it would be disrespectful to the young master and maintaining its staunch opposition. Later, under the persuasive persuasion of Qiuchi's iron fists, it finally behaved itself.

To Qiuchi's surprise, the fusion process turned out to be incomparably smooth. She didn't even have to exert much effort; she simply placed Bozhi's soul into the little Azure Dragon's body, and the two automatically began to fuse.

Of course, part of the reason was that Bozhi's soul fragment was too weak; the dragon body held not an ounce of rejection toward its soul, merging with it instantly and plunging it into a state of slumber right on the spot.

After pondering for a moment, Qiuchi set up another layer of array formations to guide the surrounding spiritual Qi into a protective layer that enveloped the entire Azure Dragon, transforming it back into the appearance of an egg. However, unlike the array that the Immortal Alliance had previously used to simply restrain it, this time the eggshell could be easily broken from the inside.

Having completed all this, Qiuchi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Next, as long as she sent the egg back to the Beast City, her mission would be considered complete. Just as she was about to set off, the voice of Qihong suddenly rang out from outside the door.

"Senior Chu, Qihong requests an audience!"