Slaying Three Souls, Defying Fate for a Second Life

【Your gaze swept across the crowd, and you suddenly shouted.】

【“Know-It-All!”】

【Know-It-All was so frightened that goosebumps erupted across his green skin. He came rushing over using every bit of skill he possessed, rolling and crawling until he was covered in dust.】

【“This one is here!”】

【You nodded lightly, putting on the imposing air Chen Five had displayed during the later stages of the simulation.】

【“Let’s go.”】

【“Right away!”】

【Know-It-All had previously been forced to serve as your guide, but now he looked positively eager to do so.】

【He even raised his chin, as though boasting to the surrounding cultivators.】

【Look! A big shot specifically called for me to be his lackey! Jealous?】

【Before the two Heaven-reaching Realm experts could recover, you took Know-It-All and left the area.】

【Once you were far enough away, you immediately activated the Seven Divine Steps of the Starry Sky and departed at top speed.】

【“Keep up!”】

【“Senior, why are we running so fast?”】

【“Didn’t I tell you? I have important business to attend to!”】

【“Right, right…”】

【“I’m looking for a sect led by humans. Which human sect has the greatest influence on Flameglow Star?”】

【At this, Know-It-All burst out laughing.】

【“What influence could humans possibly have? Human sects are all weak. They’re merely vassals of the major sects, doing the hard labor for them and managing the small places the major sects can’t be bothered with. They…”】

【Only halfway through his sentence did he realize that you were human yourself. He hurriedly stopped his instinctive disparagement of humanity.】

【“If we’re talking about numbers and overall strength, the Firewood Sect should be the largest of the so-called ‘forces.’”】

【“Firewood Sect? What kind of lousy name is that? Is it even a proper sect?”】

【“Human sects are all like that. All the good names have been taken by sects belonging to the higher races. Humans have no right to…”】

【He quickly corrected himself.】

【“I mean, the Firewood Sect is actually pretty good. Very down-to-earth…”】

【You asked him for directions.】

【Then, after finding a nearby town, you sent Know-It-All to purchase two flying mounts.】

【Once you mounted them, the two of you set off for the Firewood Sect.】

【Along the way, you questioned Know-It-All about all sorts of information, including the location of Treasure Granny’s lair.】

【The old demoness had witnessed your “terror” this time. Would she flee?】

【With that thought in mind, you released Chen Two while Know-It-All wasn’t paying attention and sent him to keep watch over Treasure Granny.】

【Thanks to the “local-area-network communication” between your clones, Chen Two could report the situation to you at any time, even from Treasure Granny’s location.】

【Afterward, you also found some time to study the jade slip.】

【“Severing the Three Souls…”】

【It was a spell with a rather unusual name.】

【Even stranger, you were unable to cultivate it. This was the first time your “Proficiency” had encountered an obstacle.】

【However, “Proficiency” told you the reason.】

【“Please master the prerequisite Qi-refining art, ‘Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Maiden,’ first.”】

【It wasn’t difficult to infer that the ‘Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Maiden’ was the true inheritance of the Heavenfire Mystic Maiden. The ‘Severing the Three Souls’ was merely a spell that could only be performed with the foundation of the ‘Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Maiden.’】

【But what exactly was the purpose of ‘Severing the Three Souls’? Why had it been found in the Female Heavenly Emperor’s burial tomb?】

【Although you couldn’t cultivate it, that didn’t stop you from reading through it several times to understand its effects.】

【The jade slip was made of a special material. It would neither decay nor corrode, and it was extraordinarily durable. Even after an immeasurable passage of time, the writing on it remained clear.】

【The era in which it had been created was simply too ancient, and the written characters had changed somewhat over the ages. Fortunately, they could still be made out. After all, they were pictographs; if you truly didn’t recognize one, you could always guess.】

【“Use the Seven Po to sever the Three Hun and be reborn!”】

【You realized that this might be an astonishing spell!】

【This technique allowed the caster to disperse their own Three Hun, with each soul reincarnating in a different time and space.】

【Once the three reincarnations reunited and all mastered the ‘Reuniting the Three Souls’ technique corresponding to ‘Severing the Three Souls,’ they could merge once more, reviving the original body!】

【This was true rebirth—a second life while retaining one’s original memories, consciousness, and cultivation!】

【To the original body, it would be as simple as casting the spell, closing her eyes, and opening them again!】

【“That’s incredible… This spell can ignore one’s lifespan. If your lifespan runs out, you can use this method to live another life!”】

【There was only one problem—and it was the biggest one.】

【When the Three Hun were severed, their reincarnations were completely random.】

【The universe was vast and boundless.】

【After reincarnating in different places and becoming different people, the three souls wouldn’t remember their previous life at all. How could they ever reunite?】

【The odds were simply far too low.】

【“The Heavenfire Mystic Maiden must have realized that she had no hope of becoming an immortal, so she created this method of defying death and living another life. She wanted to revive herself in the distant future and make another attempt at the immortal path!”】

【Judging by the result…】

【She clearly hadn’t succeeded yet.】

【The Three Hun she had severed still had not reunited to this day.】

【“It seems feasible in theory, but absurdly difficult in practice…”】

【Year Thirty-Nine, age sixty-three.】

【Currently drawing a trait…】

【Draw successful!】

【「Are You Really Sane, Big Dipper?」(Common, White): You have an argumentative personality. No matter what anyone says, you question it, and you’re always convinced that everyone else is less clear-headed than you. However, your marksmanship is excellent, making you a sharpshooter.】

【Would you like to adjust the trait?】

【Yes/No】

【You chose yes.】

【You replaced 「Treasure-snatching Strange Nose」 with 「Play the Pig to Eat the Tiger」.】

【You arrived at the Firewood Sect.】

【Sitting atop the flying beast, you looked down and saw a stretch of farmland, several villages, and a rather crowded little town.】

【“Where’s the sect?”】

【Know-It-All pointed toward the town.】

【“Over there. See it? There’s a large compound. That’s it.”】

【“Huh??”】

【You had seen plenty of dilapidated and desolate sects before. There were countless such sects in the human realm.】

【But on a second-grade star, the largest human force was actually crowded into a backward little town alongside a bunch of impoverished commoners. Its so-called mountain gate was nothing more than a shabby, run-down compound.】

【“It really does live up to the name Firewood Sect. It’s almost too down-to-earth…”】

【Know-It-All told you that the Firewood Sect was responsible for managing this town—which was also called Firewood—as well as the seven or eight villages surrounding it.】

【The Firewood Sect was a vassal of the Ironblood Sect. The Ironblood Sect was a sect led by the Bullheaded race. It was not particularly influential across Flameglow Star, but in this area, it was fairly respectable.】

【“The Bullheaded race? You mean the ones whose people are all blockheads, looking dull and simple-minded…”】

【“Exactly! Bullheaded people are hilarious!】

【“Once, I met a Bullheaded couple. The female was giving birth, while the male waited outside the house.】

【“After a while, the midwife came out carrying the newborn little Bullheaded child and said to the male, ‘Congratulations! Your wife has given birth!’】

【“Guess what that Bullheaded male said?”】