Chapter 491: Unknown World

"Before you leave, could you tell me the name of your race?" Jasmine asked, looking straight at her. In her heart, however, she already had a rough answer.

The remnant soul was silent for a moment, then sighed softly. "It doesn't matter if I tell you. Perhaps you've heard this name before, or perhaps it has long been forgotten. The race I belong to is called the 'Sword Spirit God Clan'."

"Just as I thought!" Jasmine's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"However, my young master is not of my race," the remnant soul said.

"Oh?" Surprise flashed in Jasmine's eyes. "If she isn't from the Sword Spirit Clan, why do you call her 'young master'? And she can clearly transform into a sword! According to records, the only ancient race capable of transforming into a sword is the 'Sword Spirit God Clan'."

"Back then, this was a secret within my Sword Spirit God Clan. Only four people in the entire clan knew this secret, including myself. Other clan members believed her to be the king's daughter. In reality, the young master was found by my king by chance, and he declared her to be his daughter to the outside world. As for why my king did this, and where the young master truly came from, no one knows now that my king has fallen. However, the young master's ability to transform into a sword is similar to ours, except that the sword she transforms into is fundamentally very different from our clan's swords. Furthermore, the swords our clan transforms into are always light and agile, whereas the sword the young master transforms into is an extremely difficult-to-wield heavy sword."

"My king never spoke of the young master's origin to anyone, but he always doted on her and valued her immensely. Back then, both my king and the young master were afflicted by devil poison. My king chose to perish himself rather than allow harm to come to the young master, using the Eternal Core to protect her. There was naturally a reason for my king's extreme devotion to the young master. For all these years, I have guarded the young master's side, searching everywhere for the Sky Poison Pearl... until today, when I finally saw the result. I can no longer witness or protect the young master's future destiny, but please, treat her kindly, no matter what."

"Besides the Sword Spirit God Clan, what other race can transform their body into a sword..." Jasmine mused silently.

"Although our Sword Spirit Clan are heavenly spirits, possessing the power of heaven and earth from birth, we also need to cultivate. The stronger our profound energy, the stronger the sword we transform into. However, the young master doesn't need to cultivate; she consumes swords as food. Each sword she eats allows her to absorb its sword power and sword spirit, and her strength increases. The stronger the sword she eats, the greater the increase in her power. In the past, my king searched throughout the world for famous swords as food for the young master, which allowed her to grow significantly. But under the devil poison, her sword power was almost completely eroded. If you want her to continue growing, find her various powerful swords. The stronger the sword, the more the young master will enjoy eating it."

"...Someone actually increases their power by eating swords!" Jasmine cast a deep look at Hong'er. Even after sifting through all the memories she had integrated, she had never encountered such a record or rumor.

"I have answered your question. Now, could you tell me which Star God your power originates from?" the remnant soul asked Jasmine.

"Heaven Punishing Star!" Jasmine replied expressionlessly.

"Among the Twelve Star Gods, Tiankui is the King, Sirius is the strongest, and Heaven Punishing is the most malevolent, feared by all beings. You bear her power, yet your nature doesn't seem to have been overly influenced, which is good," the remnant soul said slowly.

"Is that so?" Jasmine scoffed faintly. "Hmph, you think too highly of yourself. Although I've inherited the Heaven Punishing Star God's power for less than a decade, the people I've killed are hundreds of times more than those you've killed in your entire life!"

"The number of people killed has nothing to do with whether one is evil," the remnant soul said softly. "You are a soul body, and I am also a soul body. Whether one is good or evil, I have my own judgment... I have one more question. You value this human so highly, even willing to use the Soul-Life Star Shift, which can only be activated once in a lifetime, for him. Why, then, when he was trapped in this Primordial Profound Ark, were you unwilling to help him leave? He was trapped in a spatial storm for eighteen months, with almost no chance of survival. Even if he ultimately lived, he suffered more pain than what others might accumulate over a hundred lifetimes. Why did you still turn a deaf ear?"

"It seems you're not very smart either." Jasmine's lips curled slightly into a cold smile. "In the first two years after I met him, I used my power to save him from certain death on several occasions. At that time, the devil poison on my body was incredibly severe, and the power I could use was far weaker than now. Moreover, every time I rashly used power, the devil poison, which I had managed to suppress with great difficulty, would reawaken."

"I didn't want him to rely on my power, and he didn't want to either. But as long as I and my power existed, this reliance, even if he himself rejected it, was destined not to disappear. When facing desperate situations, his subconscious would always hold the thought, 'With Jasmine here, I absolutely cannot die,' preventing him from exerting his full will in dire straits. Therefore, three years ago, I created the illusion of sealing my power, so he could no longer rely on me. Just like in this Primordial Profound Ark, if I hadn't done this, he would have relied on my power to kill Ye Xinghan who was pursuing him... When the spatial storm hit, he would have thought of relying on my power to leave the Primordial Profound Ark. When the spatial storm struck, his first thought would also have been to use my power to resist... Even if he intended to use his own power, he wouldn't have pushed himself with all his strength and will to endure as he did before, breaking through his limits again and again in the process."

"In the years I maintained the illusion of sealed power, without relying on my strength, his growth became extremely rapid. He weathered one life-threatening danger after another with his own will and power, and I never secretly intervened to help him. On the contrary, I deliberately intensified the spatial storms within the Primordial Profound Ark. The final outcome was far better than I had imagined. Half of the devil poison on my body has also been purged during these peaceful years, and the remaining half has been stably suppressed."

Jasmine spoke very calmly, and if Yun Che had heard these words, he would undoubtedly have been dumbfounded.

Indeed, in the years Jasmine maintained the illusion of sealing her power, Yun Che's growth was significantly faster than before. It was precisely because he no longer had that subconscious reliance on Jasmine's power that he was able to burn his bridges beneath the Sword Discourse Stage, undergo multiple transformations after confronting the Burning Heaven Clan and Phoenix Divine Sect, and achieve one life-or-death breakthrough after another in the Primordial Profound Ark...

It's no exaggeration to say that if Jasmine hadn't "sealed her power," Yun Che would be far from his current height. As Jasmine said, as long as her power existed, that sense of reliance would persist eternally. What exists in the subconscious is absolutely not something that can be overcome by will alone.

"I hope he can become strong soon, because only when he is powerful enough can I truly be reborn. But on the path of a powerful practitioner, I can only serve as his guide; every step of the way must be taken by himself! He needs to crush the stumbling blocks on his path and cross the precipices he encounters. Otherwise, he will never become a true powerhouse." Jasmine closed her eyes, speaking slowly. Her appearance was still that of a thirteen-year-old girl, but her words and demeanor were distinctly those of a mentor.

"However, in that instant when he faces an absolute dead end and is truly about to die, I will naturally still intervene," Jasmine added lightly.

"So that's how it is," the remnant soul nodded gently, its soft voice carrying a hint of a sigh and admiration. "With a guide like you, his future is destined to be extraordinary. I can also rest much easier knowing the young master has you by her side..."

"Although the young master is not of my race, she carries the last miracle and hope of my king and my clan. I dare not ask for anything more; I only hope you can treat her kindly. Perhaps, if she doesn't grow stronger and simply lives carefree everyday in this low-level plane, that would also be a good outcome... Although the result is vastly different from what I had hoped for, you did, after all, save the young master. As a wisp of a remnant soul, I cannot do much for you, so this Profound Ark... shall be my repayment to you... It's just a pity... its power is also just about to run out..."

The remnant soul's form and voice slowly dissipated within the Sky Poison Pearl, never to appear again.

After swaying for a long time in the spatial vortex, Yun Che finally saw an exit. With a flash of white light before his eyes, he was violently flung out of the spatial vortex... What he hadn't expected was that the exit of the spatial vortex was extraordinarily close to the ground. Before he could even react, he plunged headfirst into the dirt.

With a muffled thud, Yun Che's entire upper body was embedded in the relatively soft earth.

Yun Che quickly flipped over and leaped to his feet, simultaneously spitting out the dirt in his mouth and shaking off the grime from his body and hair. He cautiously surveyed his surroundings, and only after confirming that no one had seen him did he finally relax, though his face was still faintly green... He, the esteemed Overlord of Cangfeng, the Imperial Son-in-Law, a figure who had shaken the Azure Cloud Continent, had arrived in a new world by plunging headfirst into the dirt...

How utterly mortifying!

Yun Che calmed down and began observing his surroundings. This was a region of half-plains, half-jungle, overgrown with weeds and dotted with low shrubs. As far as his sight and perception could reach, there was no sign of life. The climate was very mild and comfortable, and the air smelled almost exactly like that of the Azure Cloud Continent.

"Jasmine, are the elemental laws here any different from those on the Azure Cloud Continent?" Yun Che asked cautiously.

Jasmine's reply came swiftly: "Unless there's a difference in planes, elemental laws are basically the same. This is definitely not the Azure Cloud Continent, but its plane level should be similar to it. Explore it slowly yourself. What you need to do now isn't to think about how to return to the Azure Cloud Continent, but how to gain a foothold in this world and grow rapidly! The only way to return to the Azure Cloud Continent is to become strong enough!"

Yun Che asked no further questions. After observing his surroundings with a furrowed brow, he cautiously walked forward. He didn't know what kind of world he was in now, what kind of creatures existed there... or if there were any humans among these creatures...

After walking a few miles, Yun Che suddenly detected the presence of living beings. His brow furrowed, and he slowed his pace. As he drew closer, he silently pushed aside a clump of tall grass.

Through the grass, in a not-too-large dark swamp, he saw two mottled pythons, each as thick as a bowl and over six meters long.

These were no ordinary pythons; both emitted power auras of the Earth Profound Realm. The two mottled pythons floated in the swamp, eyes locked, and a profound enmity permeated the slightly putrid air.

Two Earth Profound beasts naturally didn't pique Yun Che's great interest. He was just about to leave when suddenly... he saw these two Earth Profound pythons open their mouths and speak... in human language, no less!

"What are you looking at!"

"What if I am!"

"Try looking again, I dare you!"

"Oh, I'll try!"

And then, the two pythons started fighting...

Yun Che stared in astonishment... High-level profound beasts indeed possessed sufficient sentience to speak human words. However, that ability typically belonged to advanced profound beasts, at least at the late-stage Sky Profound Realm, and they had to have lived for a very long time. Yun Che's own Snow Phoenix, despite being a Sky Profound beast, was absolutely incapable of speaking human language.

Yet these two pythons, possessing only early-stage Earth Profound Realm power, were able to speak human words, and incredibly fluently at that!! If Yun Che hadn't seen it with his own eyes, merely hearing their voices would have led him to believe it was two people conversing.