Futile Devices Scans

Only after Chen Yixin had laughed to his heart’s content did Wenren Li help him lie back down, half-reclining against the mass of Weaving Cloud.

“I examined the injuries in your dantian yesterday. Now I need to look at the damage to your soul.”

That required Chen Yixin’s cooperation. If anything went wrong, Wenren Li—as a Soul-Transformation cultivator—would remain unharmed. But Chen Yixin might very well die.

Chen Yixin did not agree immediately.

His gaze lingered on Wenren Li, thoughtful.

There was no such thing as kindness without cause in this world—whether toward oneself or toward others. So what reason did Wenren Li have for treating him so well?

A trace of helplessness appeared in Wenren Li’s expression. Raising his hand, he simply covered Chen Yixin’s eyes.

He had just told him not to overthink things, yet Chen Yixin clearly had not listened at all. This was a habit formed during his years wandering the cultivation world.

And for the moment, Wenren Li had yet to become an exception to that habit.

With his eyes covered, Chen Yixin rolled them again.

This Demon Lord was truly strange. Unable to win an argument, he had resorted to physically interfering.

“Alright, go ahead and look.”

Chen Yixin agreed, lifting his hand to pull Wenren Li’s hand away from his eyes.

Wenren Li’s gaze flickered toward the hand gripping his own before he nodded slightly. Leaning closer, he stopped about half an arm’s length away.

A faint gray light flickered between his brows before shooting straight into Chen Yixin’s forehead.

Chen Yixin’s eyelashes trembled lightly.

Then he closed his eyes.

Although he now possessed no cultivation, Chen Yixin had once stood on the verge of becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator. His body and soul still retained qualities no ordinary mortal possessed.

His body was like flawless crystal—pure and unstained.

His soul shone like a golden lamp—clear and radiant.

But now his Golden Core had shattered, his dantian destroyed, and the cultivation foundation of more than a hundred years had been completely wiped away.

Worse still, over half of his once-radiant soul had been soaked in ink-black mist.

When that mist fully consumed his soul, his life would come to an end.

Because Chen Yixin’s cultivation had once approached the Nascent Soul stage, his Sea of Consciousness had also formed. Now it lay in ruins.

Compared to the empty void found within ordinary mortals, Chen Yixin’s Sea of Consciousness was extremely dangerous.

For a soul, this place was another world entirely.

It had once been governed solely by Chen Yixin. But now his main soul was trapped by the black mist. Even Wenren Li had difficulty locating him.

After searching for some time, Wenren Li finally discovered Chen Yixin’s soul trapped upon a fragment of black-mist reef within the shattered landscape.

Chen Yixin lay upon it.

Chains forged from condensed black mist bound his limbs.

More disturbingly still, strange dark patterns crept across his skin—some faint, some deep—as they slowly eroded his soul.

Only when Wenren Li arrived did Chen Yixin open his eyes.

Tilting his head, he looked at him.

“Can you save me?”

Wenren Li did not answer.

Stepping forward, he caused the surrounding mist to shudder slightly as if afraid. It recoiled before surging again with ferocious hostility.

Wenren Li waved a pale hand.

The chains shattered instantly.

But the dark patterns covering Chen Yixin’s soul did not disappear.

Even so, the mere fact that Wenren Li could intimidate those chains filled Chen Yixin with surprise.

Since the black mist had invaded his soul, he had fought it every moment. His understanding of it rivaled that of most medical cultivators.

And precisely because he understood it, he had fallen deeper into despair.

His chances of escaping it were extremely slim.

Worse still, anyone attempting to treat him might also become entangled in the curse.

If Wenren Li were not a Soul-Transformation cultivator—and if he did not appear somewhat familiar with this matter—Chen Yixin would never have allowed him to take such a risk.

This ancient curse had one particular trait:

The higher the cultivator’s cultivation, the stronger its power.

Otherwise, even if Chen Yixin had failed to form his Nascent Soul, his cultivation would not have vanished completely in such a short time.

Part of the damage had been caused by the curse.

Another part had been something Chen Yixin did himself.

He had deliberately dispersed his own cultivation.

Only by doing so had he gained ten more years to live.

Wenren Li crouched down, intending to help Chen Yixin sit up.

But the moment his hand touched Chen Yixin’s shoulder, a hissing, corrosive sound rang out.

Just as Chen Yixin expected, the black mist could even erode the soul of a Soul-Transformation cultivator.

Yet Wenren Li showed no hesitation.

As if he felt nothing at all, he continued helping Chen Yixin up.

Then he lifted him into his arms.

Closing and opening his eyes once more, Wenren Li caused the surrounding mist to surge violently. With himself and Chen Yixin at the center, he forcibly cleared a small area of relatively calm space.

Chen Yixin obediently allowed himself to be held.

Beside his ear, the black mist continued to gnaw at Wenren Li’s soul with relentless sizzling sounds.

Within a soul, there was no distinction between hard or soft bodies. Chen Yixin’s attention remained focused on resisting the encroaching dark patterns.

Normally, he felt very little of anything.

But in that moment—

He felt warmth.

A warmth that seemed strangely familiar.

Wenren Li looked down at him.

Chen Yixin’s expression wavered slightly. He turned his gaze away.

His lips moved faintly.

“Sorry.”

Wenren Li was Wenren Li.

Yet Chen Yixin had searched for another person’s shadow within him. That was somewhat unfair.

“Between you and me, there is no need for apologies.”

As Wenren Li spoke, the gray-black sky above suddenly split apart.

Warm sunlight poured down.

For the first time in months, the unbearable pain tormenting Chen Yixin’s soul eased slightly.

Chen Yixin looked around.

The once-cramped space had completely changed.

The waves of black mist were sealed outside, revealing dark brown soil beneath their feet.

Under Chen Yixin’s gaze, tiny green blades of grass suddenly broke through the ground, lively and bright.

Wenren Li carried Chen Yixin over and sat down upon the newly grown grass.

Then he scattered several seeds into the soil.

This time, what grew were not grass blades but a common mortal vine.

Chen Yixin glanced at the twisting vines, then at Wenren Li’s expressionless face. He said nothing, merely watching to see what he intended to do.

Wenren Li proved far more skillful than expected.

Using the mature vines, he quickly wove them into a vine bed.

Chen Yixin touched it with curiosity, clearly delighted.

“You’ll have to make do for now,” Wenren Li said. “Removing this curse will take some time.”

“I’m not making do,” Chen Yixin replied with a light smile, running his hand across the woven surface again.

“It’s quite nice.”

Wenren Li placed him gently upon the vine bed.

After looking at him once more, his figure gradually faded.

As an outsider, he could not remain inside Chen Yixin’s Sea of Consciousness for too long. Otherwise, he would cause the same kind of irreversible damage as the curse itself.

A gray shadow flew from Chen Yixin’s forehead and returned to Wenren Li’s brow.

His soul had returned.

Raising his hand, Wenren Li condensed a mass of black mist in his palm—the curse energy that had taken the opportunity to invade him during the treatment.

As Wenren Li extracted the mist, Chen Yixin opened his eyes.

He looked slightly more spirited than before.

Watching Wenren Li, he pressed his lips together.

Why did he keep unconsciously associating Wenren Li with someone else?

Wenren Li was not that person.

And neither was Jing Zhihua of Yuding Sect.

Although Wenren Li was concentrating on refining the black mist, his divine sense still monitored Chen Yixin’s emotions.

The fleeting sadness in Chen Yixin’s eyes did not escape him.

However, Wenren Li’s interpretation differed greatly from the truth.

“This is an ancient curse,” he said.

“It is not unsolvable. I can cure you.”

Wenren Li did not know how to comfort the sudden sorrow he sensed in Chen Yixin.

So he chose the words he believed most appropriate.

Chen Yixin’s emotions vanished instantly.

He smiled faintly.

“Alright. I believe you.”

Even if he believed wrongly, it did not matter.

Ten years was enough time to accomplish many things.

Hearing this, Wenren Li frowned slightly.

In this world, the only person he could not understand was Chen Yixin.

Even now, he could not decipher his thoughts.

“I will not deceive you,” Wenren Li said firmly.

Chen Yixin smiled again.

Shifting slightly, he reached out and grasped Wenren Li’s sleeve.

Closing his eyes slowly, he murmured softly.

“Mm.”

Wenren Li frowned.

He knew Chen Yixin did not truly believe him.

The two people Chen Yixin had trusted most in the past had both betrayed him. After being wounded until he had nothing left, how could he easily trust a demonic cultivator he had known for only two days?

“Wenren Li… I believe you.”

Chen Yixin spoke again, eyes still closed.

This time it was not mere perfunctory reassurance.

He believed him.

Without reason.

He simply believed.

Wenren Li’s gaze suddenly grew warmer.

Whether Chen Yixin could see it or not, he nodded solemnly.

“Mm.”

Chen Yixin’s eyes closed completely.

A faint smile curved at the corners of his lips.

At first he had thought his trust in Wenren Li came merely from having no other choice.

But now he realized that was not entirely true.

If Wenren Li had been any other cultivator, this conversation would never have happened.

Wenren Li…

At last, Chen Yixin seriously began wondering why that name sounded so familiar.

Wenren Li watched him for a long time before continuing to refine the black mist.

Two quarters of an hour later, he waved his hand and the mist vanished.

Meanwhile, Chen Yixin had fallen completely asleep, still clutching his sleeve.

Wenren Li tried to pull his sleeve free.

But Chen Yixin showed no sign of loosening his grip.

A simple spell could easily resolve the situation.

Yet the man before him seemed to hold an inexplicable power over him.

His fingers moved lightly as he transmitted various instructions from the chamber.

But he himself remained beside Chen Yixin the entire time.

From clutching his sleeve…

To holding his hand…

And finally to embracing half of his arm in sleep.

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