Chapter 410: Spirit Summoning

"Young people really know how to have fun."

In front of the palace, the blind man, basking in the sun, said to the deaf man, "Look at those two youngsters, freely indulging in their youth, full of enthusiasm and youthful energy. They're so diligent in their dual cultivation. Deafie, have you ever thought about finding a partner too?"

The deaf man didn't answer, instead pointing to his ear, indicating he couldn't hear what was being said.

"Feigning deafness!" The blind man sneered, stood up with his cane, and hopped over to Emperor Yanfeng. He said, "My son-in-law, your daughter is cultivating with my Mu'er... Huh, why are you spitting blood? You're even swearing! An emperor swearing, is there no law? And you dare to hit me? As if I'm afraid of you..."

Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu tried again and again. Once they had their fill of playing, they finally remembered that if they continued like this, they might never perfect the cultivation method for the Six Directions Primordial Spirit in this lifetime.

Only then did they settle down and begin to ponder the cultivation method of the Six Directions Primordial Spirit.

"I think we should start with soul resonance and primordial spirit harmonization!" Ling Yuxiu said earnestly, "If two people cultivating together achieve primordial spirit harmonization and soul resonance, they can use each other's power to make their primordial spirits leave their bodies."

Qin Mu nodded, pondering, "But you're talking about a situation where the primordial spirit has already been cultivated. What if it hasn't? Before primordial spirit harmonization, the most important step is the fusion of the spirit embryo and the soul."

Ling Yuxiu exclaimed excitedly, "Then let's start with soul resonance! Through soul resonance, we can use our souls to guide the spirit embryos. The spirit embryo and soul will combine to form the primordial spirit!"

Qin Mu's eyes lit up. He said, "Then the cultivation technique will require two people to practice together! I'll use my soul to guide your spirit embryo, and you'll use your soul to guide mine. At the moment our souls merge, we'll both exit our bodies simultaneously. Our souls will exchange, and our primordial spirits will form naturally!"

They looked at each other, both feeling immensely excited.

The concept of this technique they had articulated involved Qin Mu's soul guiding Ling Yuxiu's spirit embryo, and Ling Yuxiu's soul guiding Qin Mu's spirit embryo. The crucial next step was for both their souls and spirit embryos to fly out of their bodies. Using spirit and soul resonance, they would seize the opportunity to swap each other's souls, and then each soul would merge with its respective spirit embryo.

Simultaneously, primordial spirit harmonization would ensure that the primordial spirit would not separate back into a spirit embryo and soul.

This way, the primordial spirit could be cultivated in the Six Directions realm!

Ling Yuxiu suddenly looked troubled. "In that case," she said, "the only challenge is how to transform this concept into a cultivation technique that can guide each other's souls and spirit embryos."

Qin Mu pondered, pacing back and forth twice. He said, "This technique requires simultaneously mobilizing the primordial spirit, the soul, and the spirit embryo. Most critically, neither person can have any reservations. It must be someone extremely close, intimately connected to the point where there are no hidden motives, only then can one wholeheartedly entrust their spirit and soul to the other."

Ling Yuxiu nodded, a sweet feeling blossoming in her heart.

Didn't Qin Mu's words imply that he considered her his closest confidante, someone he trusted without reservation?

"Let's not worry about who can cultivate it for now; let's first create the technique!"

Qin Mu invigorated himself, then refined several sticks of Soul-Guiding Incense for later use. Both of them used their souls to guide each other's spirit embryos, observing the flow of their vital qi, and then recorded their findings.

After several attempts, they both felt tired and had to stop to rest. They had played too much earlier, which had drained their energy.

Over six days, Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu outlined the general principles of the technique. With the overall framework established, the rest simply required detailed refinement based on this foundation.

The Butcher had not yet returned from pursuing Xing An, which caused Qin Mu, Granny Si, and the others some concern. After all, Xing An was incredibly strong, and if he resolved his restorative medicine issue and his body returned to normal, the Butcher might not be his match. Xing An's medical skills were also impressive; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to arbitrarily replace body organs. Solving the restorative medicine problem shouldn't be particularly difficult for him.

Si Yunxiang, Yan Jingjing, and Hu Ling'er arrived by fast boat from Shuzhou City, bringing the medicinal ingredients, large pots, and steamers Qin Mu needed.

Qin Mu set aside the matter of the Butcher pursuing Xing An and immediately got to work. He prepared the medicinal ingredients, set up large pots, brewed medicinal soups, and then steamed or boiled the injured one by one, working tirelessly.

Granny Si quickly interjected, "Mu'er, those with lower cultivation can't be steamed or boiled; they'll cook!"

"I understand."

Qin Mu made the necessary arrangements, instructing the deer demons to monitor the heat. He then went to the True Dragon's Lair, retrieved five legs, and asked the Cripple, "Cripple Grandpa, which two of these legs are yours?"

The Cripple examined them, picked out two legs, and said, "These two. Mu'er, why do you have so many legs here?"

Qin Mu chuckled, "For backup. If Cripple Grandpa loses his legs again, the remaining three can still be reattached."

"Bah! Children's words don't count, good luck and great fortune!"

The Cripple spat twice. Qin Mu immediately set about his task, heating a pot of medicinal soup and preparing the Worry-Free Sword, ointment, and dragon's saliva to reattach the Cripple's legs.

After all, he was familiar with the process, having previously reattached body parts for both the Cripple and the Butcher. Reattaching these two legs was not difficult at all; in fact, it was quite easy.

"Mu'er's skills are getting better and better with practice!" the Cripple praised.

The deaf man nearby raised an eyebrow and said, "That's only because you've been chopped up too many times, giving him ample opportunity to practice."

The Cripple grew furious. Qin Mu picked him up and placed him in the medicinal soup, but the Cripple was still spitting at the deaf man. "Bah! Old men's words don't count, good luck and great fortune!"

While the two bickered, Qin Mu found the blind man, carrying a jade dragon bowl. He asked, "Blind Grandpa, which of these divine eyes are yours?"

In the bowl were over a dozen eyeballs, all divine eyes collected by Xing An. Without activation, it was impossible to tell which two contained the Nine Heavens, as they all looked identical from the outside.

The blind man reached into the bowl and felt around, picking out two eyes. He frowned and asked, "It's been a very long time since my eyes were gouged out, and the wounds have completely healed. Is there still hope of reattaching them?"

Qin Mu tossed the other eyes along with the jade dragon bowl back into the True Dragon's Lair. He then meticulously examined the blind man's eye sockets, observing with great care.

The blind man's expression was calm, and he smiled slightly. "It's alright if they can't be reattached," he said. "I've grown used to how I am now."

"They can be reattached, but some of the ocular nerves have atrophied," Qin Mu replied. "I'll need to help Blind Grandpa recuperate for a few days first. Perhaps we can use medicine to stimulate the activity of these nerves..."

Qin Mu looked up and chuckled, "Don't worry, Blind Grandpa. While my medical skills aren't as good as Apothecary Grandpa's, I'm at least second in the world."

He thought for a moment, then immediately prepared medicinal ingredients to concoct medicine for the blind man. The intricate nerve structure of the eyes was more complex than even the heart, and as delicate as the brain. Qin Mu had to proceed with extreme caution, ensuring that every medicine was completely pure, free of side effects, and formulated to be both gentle in its potency and capable of stimulating nerve activity.

This was also a tremendous challenge for him.

Qin Mu prepared various methods to enhance ocular nerve activity. Besides oral and external applications, he also created a small device to cover the eyes, containing medicinal soup that could automatically heat up, turning the soup into steam to moisturize the blind man's eye sockets.

Furthermore, he injected repeatedly refined medicinal liquid into the semi-lifeless muscles around the blind man's eyes using hollow silver needles, employing a truly multi-pronged approach.

After several days of treatment, the blind man felt his eye sockets burning, as if numerous fine tentacles were about to sprout from within them. Only then did Qin Mu begin. He reconnected the nerves to his eyes, then wrapped some crushed spiritual pills in silk ribbons and tied them around his head, covering his eyes.

"Blind Grandpa, please don't remove the ribbons until the eye muscles and nerves have fully healed."

Qin Mu gave his instructions, then summoned a tree demon and told it to change the blind man's medicine on time. The tree demon nodded repeatedly, rooted itself in front of the blind man, and waited for the time to change the medicine.

Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief and inspected the Dragon's Lair. He thought to himself, "If I were to piece together all these body parts of Xing An, I could assemble a god's body. It's a pity I don't know what strange cultivation technique Xing An practices. He must still retain parts of his original body or primordial spirit, otherwise he couldn't survive. Strange, what exactly is the part that remains from his original body?"

During his battles with Xing An, this formidable being had replaced his head, and naturally his brain too. His divine blood, heart, and limbs had all been swapped out.

Even more terrifying, he possessed different primordial spirits; it seemed even his primordial spirit could be replaced!

When he fought Yu Zhaoqing, he used his own primordial spirit, attacking Yu Zhaoqing with different primordial spirits and severely injuring her!

There must be some part of his original body that still exists and hasn't been replaced. His life must be tied to this particular part; other body parts can be discarded, but this one cannot.

That is his vital point!

Only by destroying his vital point could he be killed!

"He has replaced every part of his body, but it's absolutely impossible for him to replace his soul."

Qin Mu's eyes lit up. He sought out Granny Si, and the two discussed it. Granny Si, whose research on souls was more profound than Qin Mu's, explained, "The soul is divided into 'hun' (魂) and 'po' (魄). The 'hun' consists of the Celestial Soul at the brow, the Earthly Soul at the tailbone, and the Life Soul at the navel. The seven 'po' are the Corpse Dog of the Celestial Spirit, the Fu Shi at the brow chakra, the Que Yin at the Adam's apple, the Swallowing Thief in the heart, the Fei Du at the navel, the Chu Hui at the perineum, and the Foul Lung in the lung chamber. Logically, if these parts were replaced, his soul wouldn't be complete. Yet, his soul clearly is complete."

Qin Mu pondered deeply. According to Granny Si's deduction, Xing An's head, dantian, spine, neck, internal organs, heart, and intestines must all be preserved; otherwise, he would have to parasitize his soul onto the bodies he usurped.

However, the blind man and others had jointly destroyed Xing An's heart, flattened his head, and even caused his backbone to detach from his body. Yet, Xing An's soul wasn't severely damaged by these attacks and could still repair his body.

"This means that Xing An's original head, dantian, spine, neck, internal organs, heart, and intestines are all still intact. His soul remains within his true body and only parasitizes the usurped bodies when needed! So, his true body parts must be hidden in..."

He and Granny Si exchanged glances, both blinking. Xing An's box!

The true body parts where Xing An's soul resides must all be hidden inside that box.

The Butcher had split that box open. It was unknown whether he had also killed Xing An's true body.

"He still has a weakness."

Qin Mu steadied himself and thought, "Even if Butcher Grandpa can't kill him, if he appears with a box next time, it will confirm my suspicions!"

Granny Si nodded. "If he appears carrying that box next time, it means his true body is hidden within it. Then he isn't invincible! Killing him will be much easier!"