Gateway of Immortality-Chapter 938: Terms

"...As my condition, once I help you shake off your pursuers and we are safe, I want you to remove the soul imprint within this refined corpse so that this body completely returns to me," Bai said in a low voice.

At that, Qin Sang arched a brow, a trace of mockery touching his lips. This fellow had lived for who knew how many years, yet his cultivation had not recovered. Even undoing the soul imprint inside the flying yaksha would take no small effort.

"This is your so-called bargain? You help me lose the pursuit, and you would dare expose yourself to that man? This already benefits us both. Why dress it up with fine words? You lose nothing. You escape your cage, fulfill your oath, and gain a powerful body, then roam free as a dragon in the sea. I, on the contrary, would break the barrier for you, deliver the spirits, and still lose a flying yaksha I spent untold effort to forge..." Qin Sang scoffed at Bai’s terms and said darkly, "I respect that you have endured for an oath amid solitude, but I cannot agree to that condition." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Bai frowned. "Though I have not fully refined the primordial spirit remaining in this refined corpse, for fear my own soul would dissipate, I have performed day-and-night refinement for decades. My soul and this body are now hard to separate. If we force a split, I will be gravely wounded in vital energy, perhaps never to recover, let alone seek my true self. Besides, even if I return it to you, it is only an early-stage Core Formation refined corpse. With your current cultivation, it is negligible. Why fixate on such a small gain and loss?"

Qin Sang only shook his head. He respected Bai, but he would not play the fool. He knew perfectly well that Bai spoke so politely because he feared Qin Sang’s strength.

Without the refined corpse and the Two-Headed Hou, and without the Lightning Control Technique that could threaten Bai’s life, would Bai still negotiate so nicely?

Most likely he would have seized Qin Sang first and forced him to accept every term, perhaps leaving him a single thread of life out of a sliver of righteousness.

The initiative lay with Qin Sang because he had fought for it with power. If not for the powerful enemy outside, Bai would already have been his defeated prisoner, with no room to name conditions.

"Bring some sincerity to the table," Qin Sang said coolly.

Under Qin Sang’s steady gaze, Bai’s face grew overcast. With a Spiritual Infant enemy guarding outside, this man still negotiates without turning a hair. Thinking about it, a Core Formation cultivator with such abilities, who has subdued me by force and compelled my surrender, can hardly be easy to handle.

Bai wished to refute him, yet he knew this might be the only chance of his life. No second person who could command the devilish flames would likely enter here.

Even if he regained a body, his lifespan would be limited. He surely could not endure until the restriction decayed on its own.

There was also one point he had left unsaid. He had tried countless times yet could not break the tie between the refined corpse’s primordial spirit and the soul imprint Qin Sang had left behind.

Without removing both the primordial spirit and the soul imprint, his soul could not perfectly fuse with the body. His cultivation would stagnate, unable to advance to the Spiritual Infant Realm.

Though he was an ancient cultivator's remnant soul, with rotted flesh, a withered primordial spirit, and decayed memories, what he obtained was still a refined corpse body. He could only walk the corpse path.

Cultivation could not be restored by wish alone. He still needed to train step by step, no different from other cultivators. In effect, his lifeline lay in Qin Sang’s hand. Qin Sang’s uncompromising stance made Bai waver even more, suspecting Qin Sang might have sensed this.

With his lifeline pinched, Bai felt deflated and sighed. "I can promise you one more condition. If you help me refine away the primordial spirit within this refined corpse, I will follow you and act as your enforcer until I fully recover. That should compensate for your loss of a refined corpse, yes? But when I have recovered, you must not hinder me from leaving. If you agree, let us swear by heart devils. As a ghost cultivator forced onto the corpse path, you should know how binding a heart-devil oath is for our kind. I would not dare violate it."

Qin Sang’s heart stirred. He had not expected Bai to offer this.

After leaving the ghostly land, Bai would be unable to command the ghostly mist and would be much weakened, yet he would still not be beneath a peak Core Formation expert.

If Bai followed him, Qin Sang’s battle power would soar. To look down upon all Core Formation peers would not be empty boasting.

Unfortunately, Bai would never agree to remain bound forever. Barring surprises, his cultivation might advance faster than Qin Sang’s. Reaching the Spiritual Infant Realm, even the Divine Transformation Realm, would not be out of reach.

Bai’s origin was extraordinary and his future potential immeasurable. Such a figure was one Qin Sang ought to befriend, yet he still shook his head and refused.

That finally enraged Bai. In truth, following Qin Sang was not unacceptable. The world changes. Trapped in the ghostly land, Bai knew nothing of the outside world.

Following Qin Sang while refining his body and learning about the world, then parting when the time was ripe to seek his lost memories, would have been prudent. He had not expected another refusal.

Swallowing his anger, displeasure on his face, he sneered. "Even my personal service is not enough. You truly are insatiable. What do you want?"

Qin Sang fell thoughtful. His eyes flashed and he said in a firm voice, "There are not merely tens of millions of spirits in the ghostly land, yet only you alone kept your soul from fading. Do you not find that strange? You have been trapped for what must be measured in millennia. No matter how high your former cultivation or how supreme your arts, you could not have kept a lone soul intact to this day. Do not tell me your will was so firm it withstood the erosion of ages."

He suddenly barked out, eyes locking onto Bai.

Bai’s face stiffened as his expression shifted. At last he gave a bitter smile. "You have already guessed, have you not? What treasure under heaven can keep a soul from dispersing and preserve its spiritual essence?"

"Soul-Nourishing Wood!" Qin Sang’s pupils shook violently, and he blurted. "You really have Soul-Nourishing Wood!"

Soul-Nourishing Wood, one of the Ten Divine Woods, possessed wondrous power to warm the soul and strengthen the primordial spirit. Only such a treasure could have sustained Bai until now.

Even so, Bai had been reduced to a single remnant soul, barely hanging on, a sign of how long he had been trapped.

From the moment Qin Sang saw Bai’s remnant soul, he had faintly suspected as much, but he had endured in silence, watching Bai act until the moment the truth could be forced into the open. Bai was destined to be no ordinary figure.

Since there was no mortal enmity, Qin Sang’s nature would not dwell on petty gains and losses. He might even have taken the initiative to befriend Bai and forge a good tie. Only Soul-Nourishing Wood could shake him so deeply that he would cast aside all else!

His cultivation had stalled. Until now, only shards of the Infinite Blood Mulberry Wood in Endless Valley of the Small Cold Domain could have helped him. He had not expected to encounter Soul-Nourishing Wood.