Chapter 1245: Summoning Spirit Formation

Chapter 1245: Huan Ling Fa Zhen

The night sky was profound, with shattered stars like dust.

Ye Chen took Lin Shi Hua to a mountain gorge and, holding a handkerchief, gently wiped the dirt from her cheeks.

Lin Shi Hua did not resist, still staring blankly at Ye Chen, her hands clutching the half-eaten steamed bun tightly. From time to time, she would lift it up and take a big bite, devouring it ravenously, as if she hadn't eaten in ages.

Ye Chen felt his nose sting, his eyes glistening with tears.

He vaguely remembered that a hundred years ago, she had been a magnificent woman, but she had performed a forbidden spirit-summoning technique to save him, fading away on Qing Luan's back in his arms.

Now, where was the magnificent Lin Shi Hua of a hundred years past? Her eyes were filled with fear, her entire body marked by the cruel passage of time, leaving her battered and broken.

I'm late!

Ye Chen gently stroked her clean face, wiping away the dirt but unable to erase the traces of hardship.

Beside him, Long Yi watched quietly, his heart aching with sympathy.

Lin Shi Hua was the only disciple of Tai Xu Gu Long, and in terms of seniority, he was her martial uncle.

Ah!

With a silent sigh, Long Yi collected his thoughts and looked at Ye Chen. "Why don't you unlock her past memories?"

"It's not that I won't, it's that I can't." Ye Chen shook his head lightly.

"Can't? What do you mean?"

"Her three souls and seven spirits are incomplete; she's missing one soul and three spirits." Ye Chen explained slowly. "Based on my guess, it's related to the forbidden spirit-summoning technique she used in her previous life. She sacrificed one soul and three spirits to Ming Jie, so even after reincarnation, they remain in that elusive realm."

"Ming Jie." Long Yi furrowed his brow, as if aware of what that entailed.

"That's why, even as a cultivator, she's mentally unclear and doesn't know how to absorb spiritual energy, resorting to food for sustenance." Ye Chen continued. "For someone like her, missing souls and spirits, it's impossible to unlock past memories. Forcing it would likely cause her soul to scatter."

"This is tricky."

"You're a remnant soul of the Dragon Emperor; you must have a way."

"A way isn't out of the question." Long Yi pondered. "We could use her remaining two souls and four spirits to reverse-summon the missing one soul and three spirits. But Ming Jie isn't an ordinary place; it's not in the same plane as our world. Even a great emperor would struggle to communicate with it. We'd need a summoning array woven from souls and spirits. And if her missing soul and spirits have already been destroyed, even I couldn't help."

"We have to try."

"In that case, I'll go prepare." Long Yi immediately left the mountain gorge and found a spacious area rich in spiritual energy, where he began inscribing array patterns using Dao principles and bloodline power. It was a profound array.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen had already stood up and gently removed Lin Shi Hua's tattered clothes, leaving her bare.

Under the moonlight, her body was exquisite but covered in grime.

Ye Chen picked her up without any improper thoughts and placed her in a clear spring.

The spring water rippled softly, wetting her body and hair, gradually washing away the dirt. In the pure moonlight, every inch of her skin glistened.

After the bath, Ye Chen took out an immortal garment and draped it over her, then helped her put on embroidered shoes.

Lin Shi Hua's body still trembled occasionally, and the steamed bun in her hand had been replaced by Ye Chen with a crystal-clear spirit fruit.

Next, he brought out a mirror. She sat while he stood, holding a sandalwood comb and gently combing her hair. "You are Lin Shi Hua, a disciple of Da Chu Heng Yue Zong. Your master is Tai Xu Gu Long, your senior brother is Ye Chen, and you have a Qing Luan divine beast."

As he combed, he spoke softly, his words gentle, afraid of startling her.

Lin Shi Hua!

Tai Xu Gu Long!

Ye Chen!

Qing Luan!

Lin Shi Hua murmured foolishly, listening quietly to Ye Chen's words and staring blankly at herself in the mirror. Her expression was dazed, her beautiful eyes misty. This might be the first time she had looked at herself like this, and the first time she realized her own appearance—familiar yet strange.

The stars shone brightly, and the moonlight was pure.

This scene was incredibly warm, like a groom dressing his bride.

Long Yi arrived and couldn't help but sigh.

However, when he glanced at the mirror, his eyes narrowed slightly, for it only reflected Lin Shi Hua and not Ye Chen.

Thinking he might have seen wrong, Long Yi rubbed his eyes and looked again, confirming that he hadn't been mistaken—the mirror indeed showed only Lin Shi Hua, not the Ye Chen combing her hair.

Long Yi frowned and looked at Ye Chen. "What's going on with you? Why aren't you reflected in the mirror?"

"Maybe because I'm too handsome!" Ye Chen shrugged.

"I'm not joking with you." Long Yi's eyes narrowed into slits, sharp light gathering as he stared intently at Ye Chen, as if trying to detect something unusual.

But he found nothing amiss, only deepening his frown.

Ye Chen smiled but said nothing, continuing to comb Lin Shi Hua's hair until it flowed like waves. Then, he gently inserted a pearl hairpin into her neatly arranged hair, finally finishing.

Lin Shi Hua looked at herself in the mirror and smiled foolishly, even taking a bite of the spirit fruit as she smiled.

Ye Chen pulled out a wine flask, took a swig, and then looked at Long Yi. "Is the Huan Ling Fa Zhen ready?"

Long Yi nodded lightly, still gazing at Ye Chen with deep meaning.

Ye Chen downed the entire flask in one go, then took Lin Shi Hua's hand and hurried out of the mountain gorge.

Outside the gorge, in the open space, a massive array thirty zhang in diameter had already been set up, inscribed with ancient divine patterns and interwoven with a power that Ye Chen couldn't quite identify, as if it didn't belong to this world.

Sit down!

Ye Chen smiled warmly at Lin Shi Hua.

She timidly stepped back, but seeing his smile, she approached and sat in the center of the array, her body starting to tremble again as she looked around in fear.

Long Yi took a deep breath and began rapidly forming hand seals, the seals so complex that even Ye Chen was impressed.

Huan Ling, activate!

With Long Yi's light shout, his hand seals froze in place.

As they did, the Huan Ling Fa Zhen activated, its divine patterns beginning to flow, one after another, radiating brilliant divine light as mysterious forces started to emerge.

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, subtly activating his immortal eye to observe the array.

For some reason, the power emanating from the Huan Ling Fa Zhen was strikingly similar to a divine ability once used by someone.

Buzz!

The array hummed, its divine light converging on Lin Shi Hua.

Ah!

Lin Shi Hua clutched her head, groaning in pain.

Soon, a dazzling immortal light shot from her body straight into the vast sky, piercing through heaven and earth.

Ye Chen instinctively looked up, gazing into the distance.

There, a vortex was appearing, spinning and growing larger. On the other side of the vortex was a pitch-black world, dark and desolate, like a spatial black hole with no end in sight.

Faintly audible were the wails of fierce ghosts and the rampage of yin underworld forces in that dark, desolate world.

Is that Ming Jie?

Ye Chen murmured to himself. Even just looking at it, he felt as though his mind was being swallowed.

Don't look! Retract your gaze!

Long Yi, controlling the array, suddenly shouted sternly.

Ye Chen didn't need the reminder; he had already averted his eyes, a trickle of black blood seeping from the corner of his left eye. Ming Jie's mystery and power were unknown entities that made even his soul tremble.

Ah!

Lin Shi Hua in the array continued to groan in pain, her soul seeming on the verge of escaping at any moment.

Ye Chen frowned and looked at Long Yi.

Long Yi's face was pale, but he maintained the array. "Ming Jie is too vast, with too many spirits of the dead. Even with a soul as a guide, it's hard to find the right one. This takes time, and it's beyond our control."

"Shi Hua can't hold on much longer." Ye Chen said urgently.

"Of course I know that." Long Yi glanced at her, then at the sky. "I underestimated Ming Jie."

"What about all the realms like the myriad domains? When people die and can't reincarnate, do they all end up in Ming Jie?"

"Not necessarily." Long Yi replied slowly. "In his later years, the Supreme One used a world-defying divine ability to connect with Ming Jie and glimpsed a corner of it. Ming Jie has its own beings, which Tai Xu Long Emperor called spirits of death. There are entities there on par with emperors. As for people after death, some might end up in Ming Jie, but such cases are rare."