Chapter 414: Severing Life and Fate, the Wandering Soul, Seven Delays to Pass the Torch, Nineteen Days of Return (I)

Dan Yuanzi’s words were abruptly cut off, but rather than getting angry, he was simply taken aback.

What is this guy talking about?

"Who is waiting for me?" he demanded.

"Fellow Daoist Li Jinhuang, of course," Luo Chen replied with a faint smile.

Dan Yuanzi’s expression changed instantly, disbelief etched across his face. "Impossible! We investigated thoroughly. His vital energy was severed, his soul scattered. It’s been seven days. He is dead beyond all doubt!"

Even as he spoke, Dan Yuanzi’s gaze drifted toward the distant coffin, now little more than a silhouette in the mist.

Luo Chen simply smiled and drew a weathered jade scroll from his robes. It floated from his palm to hover before his chest, glowing faintly with ancient runes.

One hand held his oil-paper umbrella steady while the other wove intricate spirit incantations. He formed seals with one hand!

In the span of a single breath, the seal was completed and light erupted. The yellowed jade scroll burst with ghostly radiance, as if something terrifying was about to break free from within.

Dan Yuanzi’s face twisted in disbelief. As realization dawned, he surged forward like a storm, spirit energy bursting from him in waves, instantly pushed to its absolute peak. With a burst of power, he lunged straight at Luo Chen.

But Luo Chen stood unmoving beneath his umbrella as Dan Yuanzi’s strike closed in. His mind drifted back to that moment deep beneath the Qinhua River in the Water Manor, when Li Jinhuang had stopped him.

***

"I know a third-tier secret spell that allows one to extract a wisp of a cultivator's life essence and seal it away for a short time. It can’t last long in this world; nineteen days at the most. But from the first day, this life essence will continue to grow. The longer it remains sealed, the stronger it becomes. If it lasts until the nineteenth day, it will rival the cultivator's peak state. But once it's unsealed, the essence will rapidly dissipate."

He looked Luo Chen straight in the eye. "Do you want to learn it?"

Luo Chen's eyes sparkled at the offer. "What’s the cost?"

Li Jinhuang looked weathered and tired as he sat cross-legged on a meditation mat. "The cost is that the cultivator will permanently lose one-tenth of their peak vitality and lifespan."

For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, that meant losing over twenty years of life, and for a Golden Core cultivator, it could mean a loss of fifty years or more. Meanwhile, the extracted essence could last no more than nineteen days. The spell defied the order of nature, but it came with tremendous flaws, and it was for this reason that it was classified as third-tier.

Luo Chen naturally understood the implications, but he couldn’t help being skeptical. "You have barely any lifespan left. Will this spell still work?"

"Of course it will," Li Jinhuang replied, stroking his beard with a soft chuckle. "I could have lived for another half a year. But once I use this technique, I may die as early as tomorrow."

Luo Chen frowned deeply. "Is that really necessary?"

"It is," the old man said with quiet certainty. "This is the last of my strength. Rather than wait for danger to come, I’d rather spark it myself, on my own terms. At least then, I can strike one final blow with everything I have."

He stared at Luo Chen with burning intensity. "Fellow Daoist, you’ll help me, won’t you?"

Would Luo Chen help? Of course he would!

He was deeply intrigued by the secret spell known as the Life-Severing Finger. Indeed, it appeared that it could extract a cultivator’s life force and preserve it in this world for nineteen days. That essence could be used both by the one extracting it and by the one it was extracted from. In a desperate moment, this was no mere trick, but a trump card that could defy heaven itself.

***

"Sever life and fate, let the soul wander deep. Seven delays pass the torch, rebirth returns for nineteen."

As Luo Chen murmured the chant, the yellowed jade scroll hovering before his chest flared with light and unfurled in midair. From within, a streak of ghostly light surged forth, quickly forming a wandering soul. As it emerged, the blazing sunlight almost poured down on it, yet the oil-paper umbrella in Luo Chen’s hand shielded it .

Dan Yuanzi stood a few zhang away, his expression twisted in shock and fury.

"Bastard!" he bellowed and struck out with a thunderous palm.

In response, the wandering soul struck back with equal force."Dan Yuanzi!"

Boom!

The air howled as spirit energy erupted. Dan Yuanzi was blasted back dozens of zhang, his face flushed an abnormal red as he glared hatefully at the wandering soul. "Li Jinhuang!"

The instant Li Jinhuang’s soul emerged, the two banks of the Qinhua River boiled with commotion.

"Heavens! He’s not dead after all!"

"What kind of spell is this?"

"Did he hide his soul inside that jade scroll?"

Gasps and exclamations rippled through the crowd as countless cultivators fixed their eyes on him, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Everyone knew he had died. Not long ago, countless rogue cultivators had watched him pass in solemn silence. During the seven-day mourning, numerous Foundation Establishment Initiates had secretly examined his corpse. There hadn’t been the slightest trace of spirit or life force remaining. That corpse had been completely devoid of vital signs and blood essence. No one had imagined he could still be alive... or whatever this was called.

The instant he appeared, the three Hu brothers retreated together, each afraid of being his first target.

Li Jinhuang didn’t look at the Hu brothers or Dan Yuanzi. Instead, he gazed at Luo Chen, who was holding the umbrella for him.

"Well, it is what it is," he said, voice hollow but calm. "I was only nourished for seven days. My strength is far from what it once was."

Luo Chen gave a soft chuckle. "Seven days was already pushing the limit. Any longer, and your family would have been wiped out."

Li Jinhuang turned his head. The funeral procession had long since stopped. The mourners stood frozen, their ritual broken and solemnity shattered. Over the past seven days, the Li family had endured relentless probing attacks. Mortals were slain, cultivators abducted, and hostile forces slipped deeper into their territory. In just a short time, the Li family had lost one-third of its low-tier Qi Refinement cultivators.

Just as Luo Chen had said, they truly couldn’t afford to drag this out any longer, but that didn’t matter! As long as they could eliminate the main threat once and for all, everything would be worth it.

"Seven days... Well, no matter. The way I am now, it’s more than enough to kill Dan Yuanzi."

Li Jinhuang drew a deep breath and raised his hand.

The next moment, the coffin carried by Yuan Dongsheng and the Li family members suddenly had its lid flung open. A pale, rigid corpse shot out, flying straight toward Li Jinhuang.

At that moment, Luo Chen closed the oil-paper umbrella and lowered it to his side. There was no need for it anymore.

The wandering soul and corpse fused in an instant.

Whoosh!

Li Jinhuang’s eyes snapped open, locking onto Dan Yuanzi in an instant. The frailty in his energy vanished like mist under the morning sun. Power surged through him, rising higher and higher in a wild torrent. No one knew what he had done with the corpse, but now, as his divine soul fully merged with the vessel, a tidal wave of spirit power erupted from it.

"You shouldn't have come, Dan Yuanzi!" he said, his voice sharp as a sword edge.

Dan Yuanzi gritted his teeth. "Who are you to tell me what I should or shouldn't do? You're dead. This treasure land belongs to the fated!"

Li Jinhuang shook his head. "Words are meaningless. Let our hands do the talking!"

With that, he shot into the sky, his voice echoing across the river. "Sword, come!"