Chapter 700: Vessel
"So that's how it is."
Bai Mo only understood at the very last moment why the Solar Star Spirits weren't affected by Daoization: their lifespans were pitifully short to begin with.
There was simply no need to restrict a group of mayflies born in the morning and dead by dusk.
...
The atmosphere was contagious. Apart from Qin Zixin, who consistently felt the power beyond the door brimmed with malice and desperately held herself back from absorbing it, and the old servant who deeply loathed all demonic entities, everyone else quickly began to consume the power from behind the door.
The mysterious voice didn't appear again, as if the "Reincarnation Game" it had spoken of earlier was merely a jest.
Break through!
Break through again!
How immense was the power of an Immortal-level Star Spirit? Even if they only absorbed the core of its core, it was enough to make these people grow stronger at the speed of a rocket.
Her robe snatched away, Qin Zixin, now clad only in a tight-fitting suit, was drenched in sweat, desperately suppressing her urge to circulate her cultivation art and absorb the power from behind the door.
Her still-clear mind finally realized that the cultivation art obtained from outside was also a trap. Once cultivated, after spirit energy circulated through the body and established a 'body memory', encountering this special power would automatically ignite a fervent craving.
"Little girl, you're quite impressive." The old servant, who also remained clear-headed, quickly turned his attention to her.
"Little—girl—?" Qin Zixin almost didn't react; after all, she had been married for ten years.
"You must have noticed that this power has a problem."
The old servant's condition was clearly far better than Qin Zixin's. He hadn't touched anything in this secret realm on his journey, so naturally, there was no 'falling into the trap' for him.
"Indeed, there's a malevolent presence, but why..." She was puzzled. The old man was clearly the silver-robed maiden's protector, yet he hadn't stopped her from absorbing it.
"The path is hers to choose; I already warned her." Perhaps because his first half of life was spent in an extremely cruel combat environment, the old man clearly adopted a philosophy of complete laissez-faire, survival of the fittest, when it came to protection.
...
The baptismal feast of mysterious power lasted for over eight full hours. The most difficult ordeal, naturally, was for Qin Zixin; she had to constantly fight against her body's desires, as the cultivation art she had comprehended outside relentlessly teased her.
But with her unyielding will, she persevered to the very end, never once uttering, "Oh, it's so good!"
"Things not gained by one's own means will always demand a price." Qin Zixin kept muttering this phrase, which almost became her sole motivation for enduring.
The power surging from behind the door, which had begun like a mighty river, eventually dwindled to a trickling stream. Everyone gazed at the door with lingering desire, as if admiring a peerless beauty beforehand, rather than afterwards.
As for the "Reincarnation Game," they had long forgotten it completely. Now, their only thought was how to get more time.
"An Bo, my Phoenix Fire Art has broken through to the seventh layer!" The silver-robed maiden, her flushed face receding, reported to the old servant with inexplicable excitement.
"Not bad." Though he responded, there was little joy on the old man's face.
"The door is finally closing." Qin Zixin finally let out a sigh of relief as she watched the runic door slowly begin to turn illusory.
Unlike the others, who were reveling in the expansion of their own power, she had been fighting temptation for half a day and was now slumped on the ground, exhausted and utterly ungraceful.
"Oh no!" Watching the runic door about to vanish, the silver-robed youth and maiden of the Divine Court finally recalled their mission: to mark the world beyond the door.
They had been too high on absorbing power earlier, completely forgetting this matter.
"Too late." Old An intercepted the silver-robed maiden, preventing her from approaching the great door further.
When a spatial gate vanished, it was highly likely to trigger terrifying spatial tremors; for low-level cultivators to approach at such a time was simply courting death.
"It's all over." Just as Qin Zixin thought the matter had finally come to an end, a barely perceptible streak of light pierced through the nearly completely closed door crack, striking directly into her mind!
"Boom!" She felt only a cataclysmic roar in her mind, and then she lost consciousness.
...
"W-what happened to me?" Qin Zixin woke from her stupor, her eyes fluttering open to first see a pair of fox ears.
Immediately afterward, she felt her body bounce erratically, and her chest felt a little constricted.
"Awake?" The fox-eared girl, currently carrying Qin Zixin on her back, turned her head and asked coldly.
"Then walk yourself; you're heavy as dead."
She originally didn't want to carry this woman, who had once pursued her for hundreds of miles, out of there. But that stubborn old man insisted on forcing her to carry her.
Qin Zixin shook her still-dizzy head, not yet understanding the situation.
"Can you hear me?" A voice echoed in her mind.
Instinctively looking at the fox-eared girl standing beside her, Qin Zixin immediately dismissed the thought that it was her.
"Stop looking, I'm inside your body!" It was still that same voice.
"..."
"I am a soul that came from the world behind the door, and I've now possessed your body."
It was precisely the little Star Spirit that had previously possessed far higher intelligence than its kind on the Sun, even knowing how to feign foolishness.
"This is how it happened: a powerful monster and I both came to this dark new world..." The little Star Spirit rambled on to Qin Zixin about a whole lot of nonsense.
For a Star Spirit that had lived in the solar environment year-round, a place like the Manghuang Realm, suitable for human survival, was simply a world of extreme cold and darkness.
If it hadn't already lost its original body and transformed into a soul state, merging with Qin Zixin, it wouldn't have taken long for it to freeze to death directly in the Manghuang Realm.
"You mean, anyone who absorbed that power just now could potentially be possessed by an evil entity?"
"Yes, that traitor! It betrayed all of us Star Spirits, defecting to the Great Dark Heaven in exchange for a chance at rebirth through possession!" The little Star Spirit cursed malevolently.
"It could be reborn inside anyone who absorbed that power!"
"So if we want to stop its rebirth, we have to kill everyone involved?"
"Exactly!" The little Star Spirit, having crossed over with a thirst for vengeance, most hoped for this method of resolution.
As long as all the reincarnation vessels died, the Solar Star Spirit would die along with them. This was what the Great Dark Heaven had secretly told it.
"That's highly unrealistic." Qin Zixin couldn't fully believe the little Star Spirit's words at this moment, but she knew very well that, given her situation, it was utterly impossible to kill all hundred or so adventurers.
Having received the baptismal gifts from the Star Spirit, more than half of them now had cultivation levels surpassing Qin Zixin's. To try and eliminate a hundred individuals with various backgrounds and connections, most of whom were stronger than herself, was undoubtedly a fool's dream.
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