Chapter 509 – Small-Town Daily Life, Fourth Rank Human Soul, A New Power - Part 1

In a quiet valley near the Ghost Prison, the four Tree’ers were still huddled around Li Yuan, fussing over him.

“Papa, want to learn the Heaven Soul Grand Formation?” one of them chirped.

“The old geezer said this formation only existed in myths. It was used just once ever by a set of triplets, who all ascended to the Heaven Soul Realm at the same time!”

“He also said this formation exists solely for me, that no one else can use it. It’s waited countless years for its rightful master, and that master is me.”

“Can you believe that? What a load of nonsense! Hahaha!”

Li Yuan didn’t even need to respond. The Tree’ers were already laughing so hard they nearly choked on their own words.

Truth be told, what the old man said was tempting, very tempting...but she didn’t believe a word of it. Life was good. Why bother chasing power when you were already happy?

Li Yuan glanced at his bundles of joy and couldn’t help but chuckle. Then he gave it a moment of thought and said, “Alright, let’s string him along. Pretend you’re not interested.”

“You got it!” Sheng’er was clearly delighted with this game.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Not long after, she added, “He’s still trying to talk me into it. Says this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Said I’ll regret it if I don’t go for it.”

“I replied with a single word.”

“Guess what it was, Papa?”

“Oh...?”

The Tree’ers burst out laughing again, a series of crisp and mischievous giggles echoing around the valley.

“Ah, was I a bad influence on you?” Li Yuan chuckled as well.

The laughter of the Tree’ers faded, their expressions turning serious.

“No way, Papa! You’re my best friend on this journey. You taught me so much, how to think, how to deal with bad people.”

“If that old man really meant well, I wouldn’t treat him like this. But every word out of his mouth reeks of manipulation and deceit. Why should I trust him?”

“Always keep a kind heart, but never put down your sharpest blade.” Li Yuan nodded approvingly. “Kindness is humanity’s most beautiful trait. But without your weapon, kindness becomes naivety.”

The Tree’ers nodded thoughtfully, jotting this down in their invisible notebooks.

Originally, Li Yuan had come here to check on the daughter of the King of Chu. But now that he saw it was nothing more than the usual royal power struggle, he quickly lost interest. So he stood up to leave.

A nearby branch gently brushed the dust from his robes.

“You leaving, Papa?”

“Mhm.”

“I actually kinda like Sixth Mama,” one of the Tree’ers said. “When she came alone, she would quietly pray for you.”

“She’d whisper,

Divine Crow, please bless my husband. Let him hold a blade again. Let him find his path once more.”

As the Tree’ers recalled this, they couldn’t help but erupt into another round of laughter, as if someone had tickled them all at once

Even the Tree’er that had turned back to crow form and perched on Li Yuan’s shoulder joined in.

“You just love teasing your Sixth Mother. She doesn’t even know about us, and I don’t plan to tell her.” Li Yuan laughed too.

“Why not?”

“Because she’s...different from the others,” Li Yuan replied.

“Huh?”

“Other than your First and Second Mothers, my ties with the rest, including your Aunt Yao, were born out of mutual benefit. That’s why I can be honest with them, and they can handle it. But your Sixth Mother...she—”

He suddenly trailed off, at a loss for words. His smile faded. Suddenly, he realized it wasn’t funny at all. What Xie Yu liked about Li Yuan wasn’t his wealth or power. She simply liked him...for him. This was genuine love, wasn’t it?

Ah hell...

Li Yuan thought to himself. The more time he spent with Xie Yu, the more certain he became of this. So when the realization finally hit him, he didn’t know what to do with it.

Sheng'er didn’t press. She just said, “Got it, Papa. I won’t tell Sixth Mother.”

Li Yuan nodded, stood up, and added, “When the time comes, and that old man insists on teaching you the Heaven Soul Grand Formation...go ahead and learn it. Just learn it first, we’ll figure it out later.”

With that, he turned and left. As he walked away, his thoughts turned inward, toward his own power.

There was no doubt now. The new source blood was housed within his human body. Every drop of blood felt heavier than before, like a miniature heart, each capable of pulsing violently at any moment. All these forces tangled together, forming what could only be described as a domain.

“Domain force...” Li Yuan lifted his hands slightly. The drifting sand and falling snow around him froze in midair, suspended by his will. Then, with a casual wave, they scattered into the distance.

He fell into contemplation.

So, the core of the Human Soul cultivation system isn’t actually source blood. It’s the ancestral seal. In simple terms, it’s not power that matters most, it’s willpower. If your belief is strong enough, and you live by it, then with the right balance of Yin and Yang, you can reshape yourself and step into a stronger realm.

But on this continent, everyone cultivates the paths of others. They chase after foreign philosophies, follow someone else’s truths, and in doing so, they lose their own way. The way of belief...on the surface, people may seem to hold similar thoughts. But in reality, even the tiniest difference in conviction can lead you down a completely different path. No two beliefs are truly the same.

That’s why most people fall deeper and deeper into borrowed systems, until they can no longer change. But me...I’ve done the opposite. I created the system. I harvest the beliefs of others. And through practice and commitment, I unify those beliefs within myself. And then, those beliefs begin to reshape my body, guiding the source blood inside me to flow according to new rules.

Source blood can be stripped away. But belief? That’s eternal. That...is the true path of the Human Soul. Belief is the most precious thing a Human Soul cultivator can possess. Self-reliance. Man triumphing over destiny... These sayings, so common back on Earth, turn out to be the very essence of cultivation here.

Realizing all this, Li Yuan couldn’t help but feel a deep wave of emotion.

The Immortal Form of his Heaven Soul was formidable. The Ghost Body of his Earth Soul had manifested as powerful spectral hands. And now...it seemed the Human Soul had reforged his very flesh and blood too.

But it still wasn’t enough. He needed to regain control of his power. He needed to rein in the boundless, raging power within him.

Li Yuan checked his status window.

「Name Li Yuan

Stat Points: 91,593

Realm: Rank 4 (Ancestral Realm) (4,000/4,000)」

When Li Yuan had broken through to fourth rank, he’d immediately maxed out his mastery.

His domain control now spanned roughly a kilometer. And yet he still hadn’t mastered the withered flame unleashed by his Heaven Soul form.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The next day.

“Hey, why aren’t you out training today?”

“Hey, why are you washing rice now?”

“Huh? You’re cutting vegetables too?”

BANG!

A loud crack rang out.

The cutting board exploded into splinters.

But the shattered pieces had barely flown a few feet before they were dragged back by some invisible force, then reassembled into the same broken board.

The man’s face remained blank as he held a kitchen knife, methodically slicing through the freshly bought pork. But with just one cut, the pork exploded.

He stared at his hand, let out a helpless sigh, and muttered, “Yu’er, how about minced meat today?”

Xie Yu’s eyes curved like new moons as she leaned her chin in her hand, smiling at him. “Sure, sounds great.”

When Li Yuan looked over at her, she met his gaze.

In her eyes, her man was growing more handsome by the day.

Once, his snowy-white robes had seemed flawless. Now they just felt childish. His current grey robes, plain as they were, looked spotless, neat, and refined. Just right.

His once-youthful face had shed its babyish charm. In its place was a kind of quiet strength, the kind carved by time into his brows and eyes. No longer flashy, but effortlessly poised. Being around him felt like basking in a warm spring breeze.

She could look at him a hundred times, a thousand times, forever, and never get tired of it.

But what she was looking at wasn’t actually Li Yuan. It was

Ximen Gucheng

, a disguise Li Yuan had crafted using Mortal World Transformation.

His looks were fake, but his presence wasn’t. That couldn’t be faked. It came from the real Li Yuan, from the changes he had gone through deep down, now reflected in the man called Ximen Gucheng.

“Oh, I’ll go wash the veggies,” Xie Yu said, standing up. But then she turned back and asked, “What should we pair with the minced pork? How about tofu?”

“I’m great at slicing tofu.” Li Yuan smiled. He remembered standing in the kitchen back in Cloudpeak Province, slicing tofu so thin it was almost translucent.

“I’ll get it for you,” she said, skipping off.

She returned shortly after, holding a piece of aged tofu. It was firm and dense, the kind that even a light cut could divide cleanly.

She’d picked it on purpose. Something easy. She didn’t want her husband getting discouraged.

Li Yuan glanced at the tofu. The knife spun in his hand with a crisp flourish before he gripped it tight. His eyes sharpened with focus as he began to slice.

Xie Yu loved watching him like this, completely absorbed, taking things seriously.

But just as the knife touched the tofu, it began to tremble violently. An inch deeper, it shook even more, like it was alive. Another inch, and it looked like there was a volcano hiding inside, ready to erupt. Wisps of steam started rising from the surface.

Li Yuan paused, exhaling heavily, staring at the tofu like it was some kind of monster. Then he gritted his teeth, steadied the blade, and tried again.