Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 255: Progressive Vision

Scratch that. The Ancient Mythical Guardian gawked. There was more to this child’s soul than he thought there was. Who exactly was Zhao Anji?

Even in his eternal life, he had never heard of someone achieving this level of omnisentience. Ok. Maybe he was exaggerating a little. It was still in the infant stage of development. However, Anji’s progressive vision was a sign of something greater. If anything, there was only one story that came to mind about someone who mastered the sensory awareness of all things. A forgotten legend who existed only once, a few thousand years ago.

Said to have been breathed life into by the Goddess of Mercy, a forgotten legend who is bound to a cycle of infinite reincarnation as the vessel of the Bodhisattva, they possess the ability of all-seeing and will take on all the suffering of the world. However, the last time this legendary figure appeared, their soul was torn to shreds and never heard of again. Yet, the golden dragon could not stop seeing similarities in Anji to that tragic hero whose name was lost in history.

Could it be that he was mistaken?

Even if it were a coincidence, Anji’s newly achieved Progressive Vision was a huge deal. Assuming she was able to reach this level with the thousand years of borrowed experience with the Mystical Qilin Sect’s futuristic technology, the golden dragon could only wonder how talented Anji would grow to become if she were given more time to change her stars.

Rewriting fate was something not even the four heavenly beasts could do. They could alter fate, buy time, reduce severity, but not defy it. To rewrite fate, one had to become a god. Achieving sagehood was merely the prerequisite for godhood. Even so, many sages only ever achieve deityship of a smaller region or lesser world. Even after attaining enlightenment, the grind for karma was even harder than farming knowledge. Becoming all-knowing was often a curse more than a blessing. You can bring a horse to a river, but not force it to drink.

For the longest time, Grandpa Jin struggled to find a worthy inheritor of his will. He barely gave his blessings because nobody he ever chose shook the world enough to grant him his wish. But Anji, the accidental find, might be his lucky star.

For now, the ancient creature observed stealthily, confirming his suspicions. Yet, Anji remained oblivious and confused over her new ability. The girl finally realised where her physical form had been teleported to. To call it a cave would be an understatement. It was a labyrinth, but also a crypt that she never knew the Mystical Qilin Sect had.

For the longest time, Anji thought they cremated people in the sect. Either that, or their bodies were sent back home to the clans outside. That may be the case. Anji could not ask her teacher about it now. However, the crypt seemed older than the sect itself, and the first thing Anji noticed was the huge number of wandering souls loitering in her other vision.

It was spooky at first until Anji realised most of the loitering souls had already forgotten their human identities. Anji could not sense any corpses, even if the souls were here. They must have already fully decomposed and returned to the mountain over time. Although it was quite the morbid discovery, Anji was not afraid. She had lived multiple lives and experienced worse. The wandering souls appeared cute in comparison to the level of carnage she witnessed. If anything, the discovery was exciting.

Although it was the golden dragon’s first time visiting the secret crypt of the Mystical Qilin Sect, he immediately recognised what this was after a while. Fortunately, his ward was in no real danger. This place was a tomb for one of his kin. To think there would be such a place in the Mystical Qilin Sect that nobody knew... no wonder the ancient sect was so secretive and existed for such a long time. The barrier array spell must have been something created after learning from his unfortunate kin.

With her progressive vision, Anji finally found a way to anchor her spell in the physical world enough that it worked in the spiritual realm as well. The barrier between the two worlds remained thin and permeable in this strange labyrinth, so Anji proceeded with caution as she avoided strong energy vortexes while observing loitering soul fragments.

Many soul fragments in this cave had already lost their identity and purpose. They lingered in this place like fireflies, unable to leave. Anji observed them and noticed an interesting correlation between the physical and spiritual world. Many of these lingering souls circled areas of strong undercurrents of energy in the spiritual world. However, they were unable to access it due to the barrier between worlds. Without access, they simply wander to the next place for a while before going back to the same vortex like a moth to flame.

Feeling pity for these lost souls, Anji wondered if there was anything she could do for them. As the seer between two worlds, Anji figured she might have a better chance at bridging the two realities if she could understand what was causing them to be separated in the first place. Hence, that was what she decided to do instead of exploring the labyrinth.

Setting up her provision and camp area, Anji quickly secured a cosy spot by what looked like a wall with faded carvings. This had to be a temple or underground structure of some kind. Anji reasoned that natural rocks do not come in such block-like shapes. They might have crumbled with time, but the grooves of faded carvings told Anji it had once been a civilisation of sorts, just like how these souls used to be humans once, now trapped in the labyrinth for an eternity.

Perhaps they were people who served the temple, sworn to serve for an eternity even after death. Anji did not know if loyalty would prevail even after death. However, she felt pity for the souls who might have once sworn loyalty only to forget why they were still here. If so, it might be time for them to let go of their duty and finally embrace peace.

After all, what was loyalty without a purpose? The lack of options did not count as a choice. Anji did not think that could be considered true loyalty. If they were truly loyal, they would choose to remain even after Anji showed them the path to salvation.

Thinking so, the young successor meditated. Grandpa Jin observed thoughtfully from the shadows and could not help but feel as if Anji’s soul would soon transcend the vessel it was trapped in if she were to master the art of entering and leaving both worlds freely.