Chapter 1577: Transmission of Skill

Seeing she was about to repeat her trick, Jiang Fan decisively took out the cleansing spiritual liquid he had acquired from the Black Dragon Grand Venerable's crystal mine.

This liquid could wash away the aura of all things. It should also be able to cleanse the female remnant soul's essence blood or any embedded imprints.

As expected, upon pouring it on, impurities flowed out of the Jade Paper Heavenly Tome, rendering it an ownerless spiritual artifact. Immediately after, Jiang Fan infused his own essence blood into it. When the female remnant soul charged in, she was abruptly bounced back.

She was somewhat dumbfounded: "You... you can actually wash away my soul imprint? How is that possible? That was a Sage-level imprint I cast during my lifetime! What kind of liquid is this? It defies heaven!"

She was truly shocked by Jiang Fan's array of magical treasures. The Void Fishing Rod had already greatly surprised her, and the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron had left her astonished. She never imagined Jiang Fan possessed an even more abnormal heaven-defying divine liquid!

Jiang Fan, however, wasn't overly surprised. The origin of that crystal mine was incredibly mysterious. A section of newly sprouted divine wood stored within it could make even those in the Five Heavenly Declines cry out in despair. Eating the shoes that grew from it also had a heaven-defying effect. Therefore, for this cleansing spiritual liquid to remove a faint imprint from a Sage who had fallen a thousand years ago wasn't too outrageous.

He glanced sidelong at the female remnant soul, too lazy to bother with her, and simply left.

The female remnant soul panicked: "Hey, give me back my Jade Paper Heavenly Tome!"

Jiang Fan replied without looking back: "Yours? That's mine, Jiang Fan's!"

The female remnant soul was both angry and anxious. Her magical treasure had been snatched, yet she was powerless to stop him, only able to watch him leave.

"Wait!" she cried. "I wasn't trying to seize her body; I was imparting my cultivation to her! If you don't want her inheritance to be interrupted, then take her away."

The female remnant soul, feeling helpless, finally told the truth.

Jiang Fan stopped, skeptically asking: "Imparting cultivation?"

The female remnant soul glared at Jiang Fan, huffing: "I am, after all, a Sage who sacrificed myself to the Giant Emperor for the sake of Taicang Great State. Would I do something like seize the body of an innocent person?"

Jiang Fan looked at her with disdain: "You even flirted with me. Is that something a Sage would do?"

The female remnant soul cleared her throat: "I was just teasing you. Do you really think a dignified Sage like me would fancy you? You're just a bit young, perhaps a bit smarter, and have more magical treasures, and stronger aptitude, and a bit more courage, and..."

As she spoke, the female remnant soul trailed off. She couldn't help but re-examine Jiang Fan. This young man really seemed quite exceptional. Even in their era, among peers, he would undoubtedly be a rare prodigy, a king among geniuses.

"Ahem... In short, I'm imparting my cultivation to this girl," she said. "Before it's complete, it's best not to let her leave my side."

Jiang Fan observed the condition of Venerable Zhenyan. She seemed to be in a deep state of meditation, indeed not appearing to be controlled. Considering that the red-faced elder had presided over the Fire Worship Cult for sixty years without disturbing the female remnant soul, it was evident she wasn't a person with malicious intentions. Perhaps she truly was imparting cultivation.

"How long will it take?" Jiang Fan asked.

The female remnant soul replied: "A day or two."

"That long?" Jiang Fan frowned deeply. The great battle outside could resume at any moment. He couldn't stay at the bottom of the well indefinitely, ignoring the outside world. But if he left, what if the remnant soul did something to Venerable Zhenyan while he wasn't there?

After a brief thought, he still chose to set Venerable Zhenyan down. Then he took out a set of black robes and covered her body. He then said to the female remnant soul: "I'll leave her here. I hope you are sincerely imparting your cultivation to her. In two days, I will come to retrieve the essence blood from the Jade Paper Heavenly Tome, returning it to its original owner. If I don't come, the essence blood will automatically dissipate."

By now, the Jade Paper Heavenly Tome was Jiang Fan's magical artifact. As a mere remnant soul, the woman was no longer able to refine it or enter it, and could only wait for Jiang Fan to retrieve the essence blood.

However, upon hearing the last sentence, the female remnant soul frowned: "The essence blood will automatically dissipate? Are you perhaps in danger of falling on your journey?" Only when a person dies will their essence blood automatically be expelled from a magical artifact.

Jiang Fan looked up, saying: "Grand Wine Sacrificer and the Giant Emperor could start their great battle at any moment. If the Giant Emperor doesn't die, then it will be the day of Taicang Great State's demise, and I too will find it hard to escape unscathed." Speaking thus, he looked at Venerable Zhenyan, who was in deep meditation with closed eyes, and smiled faintly. "It's also good to leave her here. If a great calamity truly strikes, perhaps she can avoid it."

The female remnant soul became serious: "The Giant Emperor? Have the ancient giants descended again?"

Jiang Fan nodded: "It's a matter of life and death now."

The female remnant soul murmured: "Trapped in this well, I didn't know a thousand years had passed in the world. Another millennium catastrophe. How are the battles in the other states?" She quickly pressed for more information.

Jiang Fan's expression was grim: "Hunyuan State is precarious, Many Monsters Great State is in a fierce struggle, Tian State is unreachable, and the remaining four states have stabilized their situations thanks to the Grand Wine Sacrificer's intervention."

The female remnant soul's brow slightly relaxed: "That lad, he really honored his promise from back then, shouldering the entire Central Land's burden alone."

"Alone?" Jiang Fan was surprised. Who was she talking about? The Grand Wine Sacrificer? But aren't there nine Grand Wine Sacrificers?

"And your Taicang Great State? What's the situation there?" the female remnant soul asked again.

Jiang Fan truthfully replied: "We achieved a great victory against the Black Sun Royal Court. Aside from the Black Sun King, who vanished, nearly all of their invading army was annihilated."

The female remnant soul exclaimed in surprise: "The other states, even with the Grand Wine Sacrificer's help, didn't win, yet your Taicang Great State achieved a great victory? It is one of the three great states after all, with profound foundations. You must have quite a few cultivators in the Five Heavenly Declines, right?"

Jiang Fan gave a wry smile and gestured with his chin towards Venerable Zhenyan: "She is the strongest Incarnation Stage cultivator in our Taicang Great State."

The female remnant soul was greatly astonished: "Someone in the Two Heavenly Declines is your strongest? Is Taicang Great State so dilapidated after a thousand years? If that's the case, then how did you win?"

Seeing that there was still plenty of time before the agreed hour, Jiang Fan sat cross-legged beside Venerable Zhenyan and briefly recounted Taicang Great State's experiences.

The female remnant soul's expression shifted from curiosity to seriousness, then to sorrow, and finally, she remained silent for a long time. She recalled Jiang Wuya, who pinned himself to the light barrier, trapping and killing three hundred thousand troops. She remembered the Nascent Soul cultivators of various sects, with nine and eight orifices, who rushed into battle like moths to a flame. She thought of how half of the Nascent Soul cultivators died, and half of the sects were annihilated. And the Bodhisattva who used their third grand vow to protect the common people and annihilated the Giant King with their own flesh and blood.

These heroic and tragic stories reminded her of the great war a thousand years ago. In that war, they too had fought with such tragic heroism.

After a long while, she sighed deeply: "It was our generation's incompetence. We exhausted two thousand years of accumulated power yet failed to annihilate the ancient giants, leaving a catastrophe for your descendants. We... are guilty."

Jiang Fan cupped his hands and said: "Senior, you're speaking too harshly. Without your continuous sacrifices and martyrdom, how could we, your descendants, exist?"

The female remnant soul, however, waved her hand, saying shamefully: "You don't understand. Our generation truly is guilty."