“Hmm, hey Wu Long, you made a breakthrough, right?”

Wu Mengqi asked as she looked at him with a slightly different expression from the rest, like she was pondering something and could not figure it out.

“Hm? Yes I did”

Wu Long nodded with a slightly confused expression as it was quite obvious.

“Then… why are you not filthy?”

“Excuse me?”

As Wu Long almost spat out the tea he started sipping the others looked at her weirdly as well.

“Why are you not covered in impurities, or rather, did you clean the room, where is the discharge of impurities that gives off that pungent smell?”

But when she explained, their gazes turned to him with lightning-fast speed as their eyes widened.

“Oh, that? Heh, since I reached Qi Manifestation Realm I started to use a technique called ‘Cyclic Burning Cauldron’ which uses the impurities as fuel to burn up, generating energy that supplements cultivation. Haha, even though the technique is quite tedious I felt it a waste to discharge them when I have a way to use them toward something benefici-… what’s wrong?”

He lightly explained with a smile and a half-laughing tone since their expressions being so serious over such a small matter was somehow funny but he gradually saw the light in their eyes change as some of them even had a hint of anger on their faces.

“YOU HAD SUCH A HEAVENLY TECHNIQUE AND DIDN’T TELL US?!?!?”

Wu Mengqi, Ye Ling and Wei Lan shouted in unison while even Luo Mingyu and Hua Ziyan nodded firmly several times with puffed cheeks and their hands raised up to their chins in cute fists. Shen Min who was still in her light state meekly supported the others as well. The only one who was absent, Cao Xiang since she was with her daughter, would have no doubt a similar reaction to them.

“Eh? Umm… I mean, the efficiency is not so great as to call it heavenly…”

“That’s not the point!!!”

Wu Long looked at them and then his mind that was too concentrated on the techniques since he was still partially thinking about the lightning rune finally caught up and he raised his arms in surrender.

“My bad, I should have taught you earlier”

The girls first looked at him some more, and then burst into excited cheers over the new possibilities of finally being free of that disgusting feeling after cultivating.

“Wait!!!”

Wei Lan exclaimed and everyone looked at her.

“Um… Wu Long… does that mean that we can treat um…”

Her cheeks turned slightly rosy as she paused, trying to find the right words.

“… the waste in our digestive system as impurities and burn it as well?”

When she asked their eyes concentrated on him again in unison.

“Well, yes, in fact I have been doing that the whole…”

He nodded and then shut his mouth in the middle of explaining as he saw a dangerous glint in their eyes.

“… haha, guilty”

He then said as a bead of sweat went down the side of his forehead while raising his arms again. He then decided to temporarily lay down the idea of the lightning rune until he was done talking with his ladies as his absent-mindedness already almost created two catastrophic scenes.

There was still slight rebuke in their eyes as they looked at him but then they returned to celebrating with even more vigor. Wei Lan was especially happy since while others may not need food if they reached Mortal Transcendence Realm, she could not imagine completely giving up food even if she did not need it for sustenance anymore, and being the only one who would then need to deal with consequences of eating food was too embarrassing.

Wu Long taught Luo Mingyu the technique first, since unlike its simple explanation the way it worked was extremely complex, enough to give even her a slight headache. However, once she comprehended it and got the command of how to use it, she then looked at the others with a happy smile as they eagerly looked back at her, ready to learn.

Wu Long almost chuckled but wisely held it in as he looked at their serious expressions that were concentrated as if their lives depended on it.

‘Hmm, well, the lightning rune is not so urgent, though quite tempting, but Nie Changsheng on the other hand…’

As they concentrated on learning the technique, Wu Long had some time to ponder the strange phenomenon he witnessed before.

However, no matter how much he combed through his memory he could not find knowledge that could help him explain it. The area of souls was always very mysterious as even Soul Cultivators, the experts in the field had many limitations in both knowledge about them and their ability to influence it.

One thing that was certain is that the soul resided in the Niwan Palace where the Soul Root was located, and it was attached to the body with the Soul Root as cornerstone.

Once, very long ago there were Soul Cultivators of depraved nature who experimented on taking over the body of another, thus achieving immortality of another kind or gaining rare physiques, or catching the soul to utilize it in various ways such as torturing it for information or perhaps harnessing its power, but the efforts turned futile as when the soul was disconnected from the Soul Root, it was like it lost the anchor that held it in this world and it dissipated.

The process happened regardless of what formations or treasures were used to attempt to trap it so those who dreamed of catching the souls of the dead to interrogate or making someone eternally suffer in just the soul form were not able to succeed.

Taking over another’s body also did not work since one had to detach their soul from their body’s Soul Root first, and only then attempt a reattachment to the Soul Root of another body but no matter how powerful a Soul Cultivator tried, or what technique they invented they could not maintain consciousness and effectively killed themselves by performing the first step never getting to the second.

Eventually after millions of confirmed casualties and countless times more unknown ones, it was concluded as impossible, though he heard that there were still people who died in attempts when Wu Long last was in the Seven Boundless Worlds. There was even a cult dedicated to this research, that experimented using ‘test subjects’, though it was only rumored.

‘Hmm, in the end, I would have to research on the Dao Runes more’

He thought while shaking his head since that was the only clue to understanding what exactly was going on.

The topic was purely conceptual so he did not pay much attention when researching it in the past. Perhaps if he did properly research it now, he would find a clue not only about the strange phenomenon with Nie Changsheng but about the lightning rune as well.𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝐥.