Chapter 2859: Supreme Treasure Spirit?

Winds of Kyushu

Especially recently, when Lu Ye was confronting numerous powerful enemies, he clearly sensed a deficiency in his spiritual power.

Powerful figures like Xuan Wuzong and Zong Shenliang had each cultivated for tens of thousands of years; their spiritual power was refined and immense.

This soul-type supreme treasure had arrived just in time. If he could refine it and use its power to guard his Soul Sea, he would be able to compensate for his shortcomings and avoid being at a disadvantage in this aspect when encountering powerful enemies in the future.

Ding-a-ling...

Just as Lu Ye was filled with joy, he suddenly felt that something was amiss.

The bell kept ringing incessantly. His Soul Sea, which had initially only rippled, was now experiencing increasingly stronger ripples and was subtly becoming unstable.

Before he could figure out what was happening, his hand suddenly felt light, and the bell transformed into a streak of light, shooting directly towards his head.

Lu Ye stumbled from the impact, almost falling to the ground. He quickly steadied himself, his expression suddenly darkening.

He quickly immersed his consciousness.

Within his Soul Sea, Lu Ye's soul body materialized. Above the vast, surging sea, a tall figure stood. This figure was also clearly a soul body, but it appeared somewhat dim and lifeless, like a flower that had not received rain or dew for a very long time.

She held a bell in her hand, precisely the one Lu Ye had just picked up. The bell continued to emit sounds, unsettling and agitating his Soul Sea.

Even Lu Ye's own soul body felt an unbearable pain, as if countless needles were pricking him.

He looked up at the soul body, a slight frown on his face.

He had initially thought that the one invading his Soul Sea was the soul of the skeleton outside. But the current situation was clearly not so, because the skeleton was evidently left by a deceased man, yet the one invading his Soul Sea was a woman.

Is this... the spirit of a supreme treasure?

This thought suddenly surged in Lu Ye's mind. If so, it would explain why the soul body before him was female.

Under normal circumstances, after a cultivator's life force is completely extinguished, even if their soul can persist, it cannot be sustained for too long without an anchor, unless they have the fortune to enter a place like the ancestral land of the Soul Race and transform into a soul being.

Or like Yiyi, who transformed into a sorrowful spirit for Amber.

The skeleton outside had been dead for countless years. His soul certainly couldn't have remained; it should have long since dissipated.

Therefore, the one before him was most likely the spirit of a supreme treasure!

However, if the other party was the spirit of a supreme treasure, why would it invade his Soul Sea? It could have simply communicated with him.

But in fact, before the sudden anomaly occurred, Lu Ye had no inkling whatsoever. The other party had concealed itself very well, shaking his spiritual defense with the power of the supreme treasure, and thus invading.

As Lu Ye was thinking this, the tall, shapely woman slowly began to speak: "Young man, do not resist. I will not destroy your soul; I merely wish to borrow your physical body for a while!"

Her voice was crisp and gentle. As her words resonated, the sound of the bell also changed. The sound washed over his soul body, and Lu Ye strangely found himself feeling somewhat at peace, and his tumultuous Soul Sea also stabilized.

He pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke: "You are not the spirit of a supreme treasure?"

He had originally guessed so, but once the other party spoke, he felt it wasn't quite right.

In this world, what spirit of a supreme treasure would possess a cultivator's body?

The woman glanced at him, raising an eyebrow slightly: "Your courage is impressive. You are the only person I have met in all these years who can remain so calm under such circumstances."

She had encountered similar situations many times throughout the countless years. Those cultivators whose bodies she was about to seize either cursed vehemently, directly attacked, or pleaded desperately. Indeed, no one had been as calm and unafraid as Lu Ye.

"You haven't answered my question yet." Lu Ye gazed steadily at her.

The woman replied: "I am, and I am not!"

"What do you mean?" Lu Ye was somewhat confused.

The woman frowned, clearly not wanting to answer the question. But then she reconsidered. After so many years, it was rare to encounter a living person here, and she was also about to seize his body. It seemed there was no harm in saying more.

"The Soul-Suppressing Bell is my supreme treasure; it has no sentience," the woman slowly explained. When she obtained this treasure, she had erased its sentience, as it would otherwise have been difficult to subdue. "When I was trapped here and my physical body perished, I transformed my own soul into its sentience. Therefore, I can be considered the spirit of a supreme treasure, and also not!"

Lu Ye suddenly understood, and was secretly shocked.

This woman was indeed a strong individual of the Ten Great City Lords' level; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to do such a thing.

"So the skeleton outside is not your physical body." Lu Ye had cleared up the doubts in his mind.

"That's right, that was the previous cultivator, just like you, who was trapped here."

"You seized his body, just as you intend to do to me now."

The woman sighed: "Although I replaced the spirit of the supreme treasure with my own soul, I am ultimately like a rootless tree or a source-less stream. Only by constantly seizing others' physical bodies can I prolong my existence. As you can see, my soul body is dim. If not for the protection of the supreme treasure's power, I would have long since vanished."

Moreover, even with the protection of the supreme treasure's power, she couldn't maintain it indefinitely. If Lu Ye hadn't entered this time, in another thousand or eight hundred years, her soul might truly have dissipated.

For her, Lu Ye's arrival was an opportunity to continue existing, so she couldn't let it go, no matter what.

"How should I address you, fellow Daoist?" Lu Ye asked.

The woman was silent for a moment, then said: "Jinyao."

Lu Ye thought for a moment; he hadn't heard the name. But the era in which she lived must have been exceedingly ancient. He had no idea which generation's Ten Great City Lord she was, so it was completely normal for him not to have heard of her.

"Have you heard of Jiuying?" Lu Ye asked.

"Jiuying?" The woman frowned and shook her head: "I have not."

My goodness, this person was very likely an even older powerhouse than Jiuying. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been unaware of Jiuying's existence, as even Zong Shenliang knew of Jiuying.

"Rest assured, although I intend to seize your body, I will not extinguish your sentience. From now on, you and I can coexist within one body," Jinyao further reassured him.

Lu Ye couldn't help but rub his nose: "You're quite benevolent..."

Jinyao sighed: "This place has no beginning or end, boundless and limitless. Keeping your sentience would at least provide companionship, which is better than being utterly alone."

Before Lu Ye, she had seized many physical bodies, always coexisting with the other party's soul each time. Otherwise, after all these countless years, being utterly alone would have been truly too lonely.

But others didn't have the same protection from the supreme treasure's power as she did, so after the seized bodies died, she was gradually left alone again.

"If you have no objections, shall I begin?" Jinyao looked at Lu Ye, slightly raising the Soul-Suppressing Bell in her hand.

"I disagree!" Lu Ye looked up at her.

Jinyao sighed: "Whether you agree or not is irrelevant..."

Before she could finish speaking, her expression suddenly froze.

It was because an inexplicable, immense sense of crisis had suddenly arisen in her heart. The crisis was omnipresent, as if it had already surrounded her, yet when she turned to look around, she found nothing.

"What have you done?" Jinyao looked at Lu Ye.

That sense of crisis couldn't have appeared for no reason, but she didn't know what had actually happened.

Lu Ye calmly looked at her. Although the one before him was a pitiful person and had spoken gently ever since appearing, since she intended to seize his body, he naturally wouldn't be polite.

Moreover, the Soul-Suppressing Bell was, after all, a soul-type supreme treasure, and he certainly wouldn't miss out on it.

Jinyao could not see that, at this very moment, fine, dense roots of the Talent Tree had moved as he willed, encasing Jinyao's soul body within them. The twisting, wriggling roots seemed like living creatures, waiting only for Lu Ye's command to fiercely pounce and bite.

"Whatever you intend to do, it would be best not to. I was once the strongest in the inner realm. If I had not been unwilling, I would have already taken that step. In this Soul Sea, you are no match for me!" Jinyao warned calmly.

Lu Ye's heart stirred upon hearing this.

The strongest in the inner realm?

Wasn't that equivalent to that generation's Baqiu?

Baqiu also did not take that step, because Baqiu saw some truths and thus severed his own foundation.

What about the person before him?

As he was pondering, Jinyao had already activated the power of the Soul-Suppressing Bell. The bell's sound instantly resonated throughout the Soul Sea, and the surface of the sea seemed to freeze.

Lu Ye's soul body felt as if it were bearing a great mountain, frozen in place.

He marveled inwardly; Jinyao seemed to have not lied. Even after her soul body had withered for so many years, to be able to wield such power with the aid of a supreme treasure was truly remarkable.

If an ordinary cultivator at the 'Harmonious Dao' level faced such a situation, they would surely be helpless, with no option but to be possessed.

With a slight shift in Lu Ye's thoughts, the undetectable roots of the Talent Tree immediately surged out like a nest of snakes, frantically plunging into the Soul-Suppressing Bell in Jinyao's hand.

"Hm?" Jinyao immediately sensed something amiss. She looked down at the Soul-Suppressing Bell, but found it difficult to pinpoint the problem.

This made her feel somewhat uneasy. What frustrated her even more was that Lu Ye was actually able to maintain his soul body's existence under the might of the Soul-Suppressing Bell.

To seize Lu Ye's physical body, she first had to occupy his Soul Sea. With Lu Ye's soul body still present, how could she occupy it? Therefore, she first had to expel Lu Ye's soul body.

Cultivators she had encountered in the past were simply unable to withstand the might of the Soul-Suppressing Bell. Yet today, she had met one who could.

"Are you also one of the Ten Great City Lords?" Jinyao suddenly realized.

Only strong individuals of the Ten Great City Lords' level possessed such profound foundations. But that was all it was. She had not pushed the Soul-Suppressing Bell's power to its limit. Given Lu Ye's current state, she was confident that with a little more effort, he would certainly be unable to hold on.

Thinking this, she no longer hesitated.

She wasn't trying to kill Lu Ye; she merely wanted to seize a physical body.

However, the next moment, her expression changed.

Because she discovered that the Soul-Suppressing Bell, which had accompanied her for many years, had changed. For some unknown reason, the power of this supreme treasure was weakening in a way she couldn't comprehend.

It was as if something was being drawn out from within the Soul-Suppressing Bell.

Therefore, even if she more fiercely activated the supreme treasure's power, she couldn't achieve her objective. This intensified the unease in her heart. Frowning, she stared at Lu Ye and softly exclaimed: "What exactly have you done!"