Chapter 200: Stelle: Ah! You Pulled Her Soul Out?
Leon said no more, simply tapping a single fingertip lightly against Bailu's small head.
"Ow! What are you doing?" Bailu yelped, rubbing the spot.
In the next instant, a hazy, ethereal phantom slowly separated from Bailu's body. It rose like the first rays of dawn piercing through morning mist, quietly coming to a stop as it floated in mid-air.
Every gaze in the room froze.
"Whoa—! You pulled out Bailu's soul?! Ah!" Stelle's eyes flew wide as she pointed a trembling finger at the phantom, her voice a sharp cry of shock.
The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming. A soul-like silhouette was literally emerging from Bailu's body right before their eyes. What other explanation could there possibly be?
"But this shadow… why does it look different from Bailu?" Caelus tilted his head, his gaze flicking between the spectral form and the little healer, his face a mask of confusion.
Though the phantom's silhouette was similar in size to Bailu's, the details were completely different. A fluffy, soft Foxian tail swayed gently behind the apparition, while perched atop Bailu's head was a pair of translucent, draconic horns.
It was obvious this soul did not belong to the same species as Bailu.
Blade's pupils constricted into pinpricks. His breath hitched in his chest, and his voice, raw and hoarse, squeezed out two words that trembled with a lifetime of pain.
"...Bai Heng?"
Jingliu shuddered violently. Beneath the black silk covering her eyes, a look of utter disbelief seemed to pierce through the fabric, and the suffocating sword qi that perpetually clung to her went utterly still.
Though Jing Yuan was just as shocked deep down, a strange part of him felt… as if this scene was only natural.
The evidence is obvious now, he thought with a sense of weary resignation. He's not even trying to hide it anymore.
"Bai Heng was one of the High-Cloud Quintet," Leon chuckled, his tone light and conversational. "The High-Cloud Quintet has five people. This is very logical, right?"
He gestured to the assembled legends. "Then why do you think… only four are standing here today?"
The logic was simple—far easier to grasp than the classic paradox of there being five of the Four Heavenly Kings.
March 7th, Stelle, and Caelus were all stunned into silence.
"Oh! I get it—" Stelle suddenly clapped her hands together, a spark of realization in her eyes. "Big brother, you want to… resurrect the deceased Bai Heng?"
"No… it's impossible…" Blade cut her off, his voice low and raspy, like gravel grinding against stone.
Back then, it was he and Imbibitor Lunae who had attempted to call back Bai Heng using the Transmutation Arcanum. That single act of desperation had led directly to the Calamity of the Abominable Sound. The ritual had appeared to be a success, but what returned was not Bai Heng. It was a draconic abomination, a creature that had lost its sanity and was left with only primal instinct, without a single shred of their old friend's memories or personality.
In that moment, Blade had truly understood what an irreversible and grave mistake they had made.
"That is indeed the case," Luocha spoke up, his voice warm but laced with a deep sense of pity. "Resurrection is not a power that mortals can control."
He glanced at the haunted faces of the Quintet. "Even if a heavy price is paid, the result… often goes against the original intention."
Jingliu, Blade, and Jing Yuan did not refute him. The Calamity of the Abominable Sound was the bloodiest proof imaginable.
"The dead are gone." Jingliu's voice was soft, yet it carried a resolute, glacial coldness. "Forcibly calling back a soul that has already dissipated is a desecration of the natural Order of life and death… and a disrespect to the deceased themselves."
She and Bai Heng had been best friends. Because of this, she hated the power of Abundance more than anyone else in the universe.
"Rest assured, everyone. I know what I'm doing," Leon said with a faint, reassuring smile.
Resurrecting Bai Heng was, indeed, one of his plans. After all, this perfectly good body from the Ambrosial Arbor couldn't just go to waste, could it?
"But… why did Bai Heng's 'soul' come out of me?" Bailu herself looked completely bewildered. She touched her own dragon horns, then looked at the phantom's Foxian tail. "I'm a Vidyadhara, and Bai Heng was clearly a Foxian… this doesn't make any sense."
Since the passing of Long, the Aeon of Permanence, the Vidyadhara had lost the ability to reproduce naturally and could only sustain their race through the cycle of reincarnation. A Vidyadhara's past life could only be another Vidyadhara; this was an ironclad rule of their biology.
"Because you, Bailu, are the reincarnation of Bai Heng," Jing Yuan explained softly, his voice heavy with the weight of history.
"How… how is that possible?" Bailu's confusion only deepened.
"This brings us to… the Calamity of the Abominable Sound." Jing Yuan's gaze swept over Dan Heng and Blade, a flicker of shared trauma passing between them.
"What exactly is this 'Calamity of the Abominable Sound' you all keep talking about?" March 7th couldn't help but ask, her curiosity piqued.
"The Calamity of the Abominable Sound is a forbidden part of the Xianzhou's history… I'm afraid I cannot go into detail." Jing Yuan shook his head, a heavy shadow crossing his features. He, too, was unwilling to unearth that painful past.
"So I'm Bai Heng's reincarnation… and now you're waking up her soul," Bailu's voice trailed off, an imperceptible gloom clouding her bright eyes. "Then what about me…?"
"Don't overthink it, Bailu." Leon's left hand gently ruffled her hair, his tone softening. "You are you, and Bai Heng is Bai Heng. You are two independent individuals."
He knew Bailu's situation among the Vidyadhara was already delicate. If this sensitive revelation caused her more trouble, it would be truly heart-wrenching.
His right hand remained suspended in mid-air, his fingertips swirling with a warm, gentle light.
"Reincarnation sheds not only the old physical shell but also the memories and personality of the past life. The Vidyadhara cycle is supposed to be this way," Leon continued, his voice as calm as if he were recounting a common fact. "But in the upheaval of the Calamity of the Abominable Sound, Bai Heng's soul did not completely dissipate."
"A sliver of her remaining spirit, along with the life-force foundation reshaped by the Transmutation Arcanum, merged into a new Vidyadhara egg."
"Bailu, that is how you were born."
"So… that's how it was?" A warmth spread through Bailu's small chest; she could feel the genuine kindness in Leon's explanation. "So, Bai Heng has been sleeping deep within my soul this whole time?"
"Correct." Leon nodded. "All I did was gently guide out that sleeping spirit."
"It is a part of your origin, a buried past. Think of it like a tree whose seed may have come from an ancient forest, but the tree itself grows its own unique rings and branches."
"Bailu, you have your own consciousness, your own joys and sorrows, and your own life path. Bai Heng's spirit is just a silent melody in the background; it never has, and never will, dominate your will."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the others, each lost in their own complex emotions. "This wisp of spirit carries Bai Heng's last, undissipated concerns and obsessions. It doesn't possess a complete consciousness of its own, but it would invisibly influence your moods and personality."
"Allowing it to continue sleeping inside you is unfair to you… you would unconsciously carry a weight of emotion that doesn't belong to you."
"And for Bai Heng… this is also not true peace or liberation."
Leon chuckled softly. "So, I took action!"
With a light pull of his finger, the Foxian-tailed phantom floated down. It did not return to Bailu's body but instead hovered quietly among the group, emitting a warm and tranquil aura, like a sliver of moonlight patiently waiting for its home.
Stelle and March 7th only half-understood the deep history unfolding, but feeling the intertwined emotions of sorrow and hope flowing through the air, they held their breath, their eyes fixed on the scene.
Leon smiled slightly. The light on his finger flared brilliantly as countless specks of flowing energy merged into the phantom like a swarm of fireflies.
The spectral form gradually solidified, its silhouette becoming clearer. The image of a Foxian woman with a charming smile faintly emerged. Her eyes were closed, and her expression was utterly serene.
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