The group approaching from the horizon was the Tang Sect crowd escorted by Elder Xuan. They looked exhausted, covered in dust, their weary faces hiding deep sorrow.
Zhu Ziyang, leading Cai Mei'er, Yan Shaozhe, and others, hurried to meet them. "Elder Xuan, what happened?" he asked.
"Alas!" Elder Xuan sighed, his old face filled with helplessness and defeat. Just as he was about to answer Zhu Ziyang, Huo Yuhao rushed forward from behind.
"Senior Brother, please save Xiao Xiao!" Huo Yuhao threw himself before Zhu Ziyang, dropping to his knees with a thud, his hoarse voice pleading.
Everyone froze, Zhu Ziyang included. But he quickly pulled Huo Yuhao up, frowning as he scolded, "A man's knees are worth gold, how can you kneel so easily!"
Zhu Ziyang noticed Xiao Xiao draped over Huo Yuhao's back. Her expression was serene, her face ashen, her breath absent. If not for sensing her life force rapidly draining, he might have thought she was merely asleep.
His face darkened. "What happened to Xiao Xiao?"
"…" Huo Yuhao, overwhelmed with grief, choked and couldn't speak.
Zhu Ziyang turned to Elder Xuan and Tang Ya. Elder Xuan said, "Ziyang, it's too complicated to explain now. Let's return to Tianyuan Pavilion first and see if Xiao Xiao can be saved."
"Fine!" Zhu Ziyang glanced at the Tang Sect group. All bore expressions of sorrow and daze, clearly having endured a major ordeal.
Inside a wooden cabin in Tianyuan Pavilion.
Elder Zhuang conducted a thorough examination of Xiao Xiao. His conclusion: her life force was draining rapidly. Within a month, she would die completely. All he could do was infuse her with life force to slow the loss and buy her some time.
But Elder Zhuang sighed in the end. "It's like pouring water into a leaking pool; the outflow far exceeds the inflow, so the water can't accumulate. To save her, we must find the leak. I've checked multiple times but can't find why her life force is draining… so… alas!"
"Why? Why?" Huo Yuhao couldn't accept this. His eyes were vacant, his whole being deflated with helplessness and despair.
"I understand, Elder Zhuang," Zhu Ziyang said gravely. "Thank you for your efforts."
"Alas, it's nothing," Elder Zhuang said, waving a hand. "Such a pity for this girl. Ziyang, I'll go treat Xuanzi's wounds. She's in your hands now."
"Mm." Zhu Ziyang nodded. Watching Huo Yuhao kneeling by Xiao Xiao's bed, sobbing over her, an inexplicable irritation rose in him. Just as he prepared to leave and question Tang Ya and the others, Electrolux's voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
"Ziyang, this girl's soul is gone!"
"What?" Zhu Ziyang's body jolted. He instantly understood why Xiao Xiao was in this half-dead state. "So that's it!"
Normally, a person's soul only leaves the body upon death, returning to the heavens and earth. A living person's soul cannot detach from the body. Once it does, the person becomes a living corpse.
A living corpse's body remains active, but life force slowly drains. If the soul doesn't return before the body's life force is exhausted and the flesh dies, the living corpse becomes truly dead, just like Xiao Xiao's current state.
Elder Zhuang's earlier analogy was apt: the body is a pool storing life force, and the soul is the valve. When the soul leaves, the valve is gone, and life force flows uncontrollably. Among ordinary people, this is called "soul loss syndrome."
Why only among ordinary people? Because soul masters don't suffer soul loss. A soul master's soul is linked to their martial soul, which is tightly bound to the body. Normally, soul masters cannot contract soul loss.
If a soul master does, there's only one possibility: their martial soul is shattered, removing the safeguard between soul and body, allowing soul loss.
Xiao Xiao's condition mirrored soul loss perfectly. Yet strangely, both her martial souls were intact, and her soul power level hadn't dropped, meaning her martial souls were fine. If the martial souls were fine, the soul couldn't leave the body.
This was why Elder Zhuang couldn't detect the missing soul. He never considered it, nor could he, because it was too abnormal.
Without Electrolux's reminder, Zhu Ziyang wouldn't have thought of it either. As a soul entity, Electrolux's soul perception was simply too powerful.
Now that the cause was known, the next step was to determine why her soul had vanished.
The answer was clear. Though soul masters cultivate spiritual power, the soul's nature is profound. Even Limit Douluo only grasps the basics, capable of brief astral projection. To effortlessly abduct a Soul Emperor-level soul master's soul requires divine power.
Connecting this to the divine trace in the Sun Moon Mountains and Niu Tian's attempt to kill him and Ma Xiaotao, who was the culpri,t needed no explanation?
Zhu Ziyang's face twisted with indescribable anger. Taking a deep breath, he suppressed it, already preparing in his heart for a future divine war.
Huo Yuhao continued sobbing, blaming himself. Though Zhu Ziyang didn't know the details, how could he not see that his poor junior brother had been schemed against by the Sea God? The Child of Destiny's growth wasn't always easy. But he didn't understand why the Sea God detained Xiao Xiao's soul, was it to later coerce Huo Yuhao into serving him?
"Yuhao, if you don't want Xiao Xiao to truly die, stop crying!" Zhu Ziyang said coldly.
"What?" Huo Yuhao's sobs ceased. He sprang up, looking at Zhu Ziyang with hope and fear. "Senior Brother, can you save Xiao Xiao?"
"Mm," Zhu Ziyang nodded. "The priority is preserving her body. If her flesh dies, even if you revive Xiao Xiao later, she may not be the Xiao Xiao you love."
"Oh, oh!" Huo Yuhao wiped his tears hastily. "I understand, Senior Brother. How do I protect her body?"
"You're truly panicked," Zhu Ziyang said speechlessly. "Isn't your second martial soul Ultimate Ice? What better seal is there than Ultimate Ice?"
"Oh, oh!" Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up with a smile. "I got it, I got it!"
He turned, releasing his second martial soul to condense Ultimate Ice. But just as he extended his hand, he looked back. "Senior Brother, this won't hurt Xiao Xiao, right? She won't feel cold?"
"No," Zhu Ziyang said. "I can assure you Xiao Xiao's soul is no longer in her body, so she feels nothing."
"Senior Brother, is this why Xiao Xiao is dying?" Huo Yuhao keenly caught the key, his face sorrowful.
"Yes," Zhu Ziyang confirmed. "Go ahead. I'll step out to learn the full story from Tang Ya and the others, then tell you about Xiao Xiao's soul."
"I understand," Huo Yuhao said gratefully. "Senior Brother, thank you!"
Zhu Ziyang waved a hand and left the cabin.
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Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"The novel is already finished on Patreon."
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