Chapter 996: What is Broken Cannot Be Mended
The Truth Inducing Fruit dissolved into threads of silvery-white light, pouring into the bodies of the two Dao Integration cultivators.
Li Fan had expected the process to be as smooth as his previous uses of the fruit, but to his surprise, the silver light came to an abrupt halt just as it was about to invade their seas of consciousness.
As if it had encountered an unbreachable barrier, the full power of the Truth Inducing Fruit was stopped dead, completely blocked from their souls.
The fruit vanished from the air, but the minds of Xuan Sushang and Lu Xichan remained unaltered.
The silver light, however, lingered, tightly enveloping their souls.
“What is this...?”
A thoughtful expression crossed Li Fan’s face. Upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't that the power of Truth had failed.
Rather, their souls possessed a special layer of protection that had resisted the cognitive distortion.
“So, the high-ranking members of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance truly have special defensive mechanisms for their souls.”
Though the initial attempt had failed, Li Fan had no intention of giving up.
Nor did he plan to ask Mo Rubin about this soul defense mechanism.
“Xuan Sushang is tied to the secrets of the Heavenly Profound Mirror’s sub-body. It seems I’ll have to use you for this experiment,” Li Fan declared, his gaze falling upon the slumbering Lu Xichan.
To be on the safe side, in addition to Mo Rubin’s shadow seal, Li Fan laid down several more formations around the two women.
He had to ensure that if something went wrong and they unexpectedly awoke, they would be unable to contact the outside world or escape for a considerable amount of time.
With his preparations complete, he sent out a wisp of his spiritual sense, letting it drift slowly, cautiously, toward Lu Xichan’s soul.
He had to admit, the strength of Lu Xichan’s soul was somewhat underwhelming for someone with the title of Chief of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance’s Array Strategy Hall.
Back in the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, Li Fan had treated Han Hai and come into close contact with his soul.
Though both were Dao Integration experts, Lu Xichan was far weaker than the former sect master of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.
Feeling no sense of threat, Li Fan observed her soul with calm, meticulous focus.
Engraved upon its surface was a pattern of dark golden lines.
It flickered in and out of existence, resembling a web of chains that not only bound the soul but also formed a protective layer, like a suit of armor.
But as Li Fan watched, he made a sharp discovery. Beyond protection, he suspected these dark golden patterns also had a self-destruct function.
“If I try to force my way through this protection, these chains, which have almost completely fused with the soul, will shatter in an instant...”
“There would be only one outcome: her soul would be utterly obliterated!”
Once he understood the mechanism of the dark golden patterns, Li Fan realized the situation was rather tricky.
Fortunately, after a moment of contemplation, he recalled a similar case from the `Heaven Mending Record`.
The story told of two cultivators who brought their son to the Heavenly Doctor for treatment.
The pair had been Dao companions since the Qi Refining stage. Supporting one another, they had advanced together, finally reaching the Soul Transformation realm.
Their joy was compounded when they were blessed with a son; their blessings had come in pairs.
But what caught the two cultivators completely off guard was that their son, even as he entered his teens, still could not speak.
He had a vacant, dazed look and responded weakly to the world around him. Only when his parents called his name would he show any reaction.
After examining the boy, the Heavenly Doctor explained the cause of his condition.
Their son’s soul was not damaged or incomplete; in fact, it was far stronger than that of an ordinary cultivator.
However, this immense soul was mismatched with his frail body. This caused his spiritual power to overflow, forming a twisted, cage-like cocoon around his true self.
Over a long period of mutation, this cocoon had ended up tightly enveloping his original soul, severing his connection to the outside world.
The solution, in theory, was quite simple.
They merely needed to prune these overgrown “branches” of the soul.
But in practice, it was nowhere near that easy.
These branches were, in essence, part of the original soul itself.
To remove them without damaging the core soul, and without provoking a violent backlash from the soul as a whole, was a delicate task.
The Heavenly Doctor offered the ideal solution.
The soul of a close relative would have to touch and wash over these soul branches.
Using their own soul as a pair of shears, they would trim away the excess.
Throughout the process, the souls of the patient and the practitioner would merge into one.
But because they were of the same blood, there would be no resistance from beginning to end.
It would be akin to sharing a life together for a very long time.
The only price was that the practitioner’s soul would suffer devastating damage.
A drop of several cultivation realms was inevitable.
As the Heavenly Doctor explained the method, the couple’s expressions shifted, their reactions clearly diverging.
Interestingly, the `Heaven Mending Record` never revealed who was willing and who was not.
It only stated that after a tremendously fierce argument, the couple ultimately chose not to treat their child.
And to spare him any further suffering, they killed the boy with their own hands.
From that day on, the once-perfect immortal couple grew distant, their relationship becoming a mere facade.
Later, while fleeing from their enemies, they went their separate ways. In the end, both met a violent death.
...
“This spiritual restriction seems remarkably similar to the overgrown soul branches in that story.”
“It’s symbiotic with the soul, almost one and the same. It’s extremely sensitive to external forces, and if destroyed, it will drag the original soul down with it.”
“But precisely because it’s so deeply intertwined with the soul, it isn’t as guarded against the soul’s own power.”
“Therefore, the method to remove this restriction should be exactly the same.”
An idea had already taken shape in Li Fan’s mind.
A moment later, a continuous, unending stream of soul power began to pour quietly into Lu Xichan’s soul.
It crashed against the protective dark golden patterns, which stood like a magnificent dam, with the force of a surging tide.
Because the restriction was designed to withstand the natural fluctuations of soul power, such impacts were routine and did not trigger a counterattack.
However, under the constant assault, the soul power Li Fan was channeling was quickly consumed.
But soon, with the *Limitless Fullness and Emptiness* technique circulating, Li Fan sent a fresh torrent of soul power flooding in.
Even the hardest reefs on the coast will eventually be worn down by the ceaseless crashing of the waves.
This dark golden restriction was no different.
Li Fan closed his eyes, focusing entirely on channeling his soul power. Before long, a section of the dark golden pattern began to fade, then vanished entirely.
The power of the Truth Inducing Fruit, which had been lingering outside Lu Xichan’s soul, mingled with Li Fan’s own soul power. Seizing the opportunity, it surged through the newly formed opening like a mighty river.
It collided with Lu Xichan’s soul!
If it had been Li Fan’s soul alone, the intrusion of a stranger would have undoubtedly provoked her defenses and a fierce counterattack.
This would be true even in her deep slumber.
But at this moment, the Truth Inducing Fruit carried a lie meticulously crafted by Li Fan.
Lu Xichan’s master had not perished all those years ago. He had faked his death, shedding his old identity like a golden cicada to escape his past, and had become Li Fan!
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