Feng Miaojun cleared her throat lightly: “Besides, how could you entrust your wife and child to others? Wouldn’t it be better if you looked after them yourself?”
What did she mean by this? Miao Fengxian had gone to great lengths to entrust his family to her care precisely because the laws of reincarnation were strict, and he couldn’t care for them himself.
Could it be? His eyes immediately brightened as he asked cautiously: “Do you mean…”
Did she have a way for him to escape the power of reincarnation and remain in the mortal world?
How could this be possible? Even the Yan King, silently acknowledged as the foremost cultivator of the age, admitted that he could not break the bonds of reincarnation!
Miao Fengxian vaguely felt something wasn’t right, but he truly hoped from the bottom of his heart that Feng Miaojun had a way for him to remain in the world!
Feng Miaojun placed a finger to her lips and softly shushed: “I didn’t say anything, but I’ve heard that the Golden City still lacks an artifact spirit?”
Artifact spirit?
When these two words were spoken, Miao Fengxian’s previously solid soul body flickered twice, showing his extreme astonishment.
Princess Hanyue didn’t understand the implications, but with his knowledge and cultivation, how could he not? With Feng Miaojun’s casual hint, he immediately understood:
Under normal circumstances, a departed soul must return to the underworld to undergo judgment, have its past karma analyzed, and then enter reincarnation cleanly to be reborn.
But this had a prerequisite: as powerful as the force of reincarnation was, it only worked on departed souls. What if he escaped the category of “departed soul”?
Could the power of reincarnation still drag him back?
Back to the artifact spirit.
The Golden City was a powerful and practical magical artifact. Setting aside its various wonderful uses, just considering its function of housing vast numbers of lives, it was a treasure that would be envied by all even in ancient times.
But it wasn’t yet a divine artifact—it lacked the essential characteristic of a divine artifact: an artifact spirit.
No matter how handy a magical artifact was, it remained an inanimate object. But adding an artifact spirit was like equipping it with AI; the obedience, cooperation, and assistance it could provide to its master would be incomparable.
Feng Miaojun was right—the Golden City indeed had no artifact spirit.
In this world, there were countless magical artifacts, and the vast majority lacked artifact spirits. The origins of artifact spirits could be roughly divided into two categories. One category formed naturally on the day the artifact was completed, but the probability was only about one in a million—so rare it could almost be ignored.
The other category involved taking the soul of a powerful demon or human and forcing it to become an artifact spirit—this was an artificial method. However, once a soul became an artifact spirit, it no longer possessed the complete structure of the three hun and seven po souls, could no longer be called a “soul,” and lost the chance for rebirth, forever bound to the magical artifact. If the artifact was destroyed, the soul would be destroyed with it.
Therefore, any soul with even a bit of consciousness was unwilling to become one.
Miao Fengxian said hoarsely: “I’ve only heard that souls can be added as artifact spirits during the forging process.” And the success rate was infuriatingly low—, if one out of a hundred attempts succeeded, that was considered good. This meant that to forge an artifact with a spirit, one needed to collect at least a hundred powerful souls. Moreover, this method damaged one’s virtue and greatly hindered the forger’s cultivation. Most crucially, powerful demons and human souls were difficult to obtain even in ancient times, let alone now, which was why few divine weapons appeared in the current era.
The Golden City was already forged—did it need to be reforged? Not to mention whether anyone today could reforge a quasi-divine artifact, it was uncertain whether the treasure would retain its original properties after being reforged.
Feng Miaojun shook her head: “You’re mistaken. The birth of an artifact spirit is unrelated to the forging process; it depends on the soul infusion process.” This was a misconception held by most cultivators.
Miao Fengxian asked curiously: “Soul infusion?” He had never heard this term.
“It means infusing a living soul into a magical artifact,” she explained. This was terminology used by Celestial Demons, no longer known to people today. “Listen carefully—only a living soul will work.”
A “living soul” refers to the soul of a person whose physical body has not yet died. “In ancient times, immortals would capture powerful beasts and, while they were still alive, sacrifice their flesh and blood into magical artifacts to create a spirit. This was the process of seizing a living soul, called soul infusion.” She explained further, “The reason living souls were used was because, at that time, the soul and physical body were closely connected. By refining the flesh and blood and offering it to the artifact, the relationship between the artifact and its spirit could be maintained as intimately as that between soul and body. Therefore, the key to soul infusion lies in successfully transferring this connection, making it the bond that attaches the artifact spirit to the magical artifact.”
Miao Fengxian detected something amiss: “But I died six days ago.”
“Logically, with your soul having left your body, your physical form would have lost its vitality and couldn’t be used for artifact refinement.” After an intelligent being dies, the bond between soul and body is severed. “However, there are always exceptions. The Golden City itself has the special property that it cannot be used by those who are not descendants of the Miao clan—this is a significant advantage. Besides, your connection with it hasn’t been completely severed.”
Connection. Miao Fengxian murmured these two words, seemingly enlightened, and instinctively turned to look at the son in Princess Hanyue’s arms. Princess Hanyue didn’t understand what they were discussing, but feeling a chill rising from the depths of her heart, she unconsciously stepped back: “No one can harm a single hair on my son’s head!”
Feng Miaojun coughed lightly: “I’m afraid we do need to involve him.”
As Princess Hanyue’s eyebrows rose in anger, Feng Miaojun had already turned to Miao Fengxian: “He is the only connection you’ve left in this world with the Golden City. Using the child’s fresh blood as a medium offers the only hope.”
The couple breathed a sigh of relief: “So we only need to draw blood?”
Feng Miaojun nodded: “I must warn you: the soul infusion process is extremely painful. If it fails, you will be scattered to dust and ashes, without even a chance to enter reincarnation. Even if successful, from then on, the artifact spirit can only guard the Golden City—existing together, perishing together—with no hope of being reborn as a human.” She took a light breath. “Mortal lifespan is limited. Think carefully—is it worth it?”
Princess Hanyue finally understood and, though reluctance flashed across her face, she said: “It’s not worth it! Let’s forget about this soul infusion. I want Fengxian to enter reincarnation!” She turned to look at Miao Fengxian. “Even if you stay to accompany me, I can only live for a few more decades; if our son cannot cultivate, he will live at most a hundred years. When we have all passed away, what will become of you?”
If her husband chose to remain as the artifact spirit of the Golden City, then after all his loved ones had passed on, only eternal loneliness would await him.
She couldn’t bear it. It would be better to give up their marital bond in this life and let him enter reincarnation normally, so they could have lifetimes together in the future.
Miao Fengxian gently caressed her face, even without feeling her touch: “It’s all right.” Then he asked Feng Miaojun, “What are the chances of success?”
“Forty percent,” Feng Miaojun replied truthfully. “This process involves tearing the soul, no longer maintaining the original three hun and seven po. I see that your soul body is resilient and should be able to withstand the pain of being torn apart, unlike ordinary cultivators who would dissipate completely—otherwise, there wouldn’t even be a ten percent chance.”