Chapter 29: Soul Flame

“Cough!”

Tang Jinbiao sighed before finally speaking again, after a good while had passed. “Huang Biaozi, no matter what, let’s stick to last night’s deal. Ten thousand years. We’ll talk again after ten thousand years!”

For some reason, Tang Jinbiao, while no longer as repulsed by the Way of Deception Huang Biaozi advocated as he was initially, felt an insistent intuition warn him that he couldn’t agree now. Otherwise, something unexpected, something utterly unforeseeable, was sure to happen. Though a promise of ten thousand years felt impossibly distant, he vaguely sensed that those ten thousand years might pass in the blink of an eye.

“Cough, alright then,” Huang Biaozi sighed too upon seeing Tang Jinbiao wasn’t inclined to agree. “Since that’s what you say, I’ll just have to wait. But starting today, whenever you want to practice Body Refining, I’ll instruct you wholeheartedly. And when you face life-threatening danger, I’ll possess you once more. However, under normal circumstances, I won’t help you out anymore. My Soul Flame… it seems to be dwindling lately. If I help you again, I might just fall into another deep sleep!”

“Huh? Soul Flame? What’s that?” Tang Jinbiao was momentarily stunned and immediately questioned.

“Mmm, the Soul Flame,” Huang Biaozi pondered, “it’s a kind of mystical power. I can’t quite put it into words clearly, but let me give you a simple analogy. The Soul Flame… you could roughly say it’s the sense of existence of a person’s soul. Think about all the people around us; each has a different character. Some are cheerful and outgoing, others are quiet and reserved. We say that’s their personality, but actually, that’s the manifestation of the Soul Flame. If the Soul Flame burns brightly, the personality is more extroverted, and vitality seems more vigorous. If the Soul Flame burns dimly, the personality tends to be more low-key, and the expression of life force is less pronounced. Of course, this isn’t absolute. Some people appear gloomy on the outside, yet their inner fire is intense, so their Soul Flame might be strong. But however you look at it, the Soul Flame is a wondrous power. Only through its existence do you exist. If it vanishes, then you vanish! And when I say vanish, I mean vanish in the truest sense! A person’s death doesn’t mean their Soul Flame extinguishes. As long as one person in this world still remembers them, their Soul Flame persists. As long as any hint of their existence remains anywhere, and that hint hasn’t faded, their Soul Flame lingers. In other words, very few people in this world ever truly die. Their death is merely formal, just the demise of their flesh. So, with this premise, countless powerful cultivators will sometimes strive desperately to bring someone back to life. Yet, even with that hope, how easy is it to resurrect anyone? People are all pretty much made up the same way. Honestly, every brain is just a lump of flesh. But out of that lump of flesh, billions of souls emerge, creating person after person with distinct characters…”

Huang Biaozi trailed off midway, paused, sighed, and then continued. “Cough, well, putting it bluntly, nothing lasts forever. So, you must find a goal to strive for your whole life. Even if you can’t find that one overarching life goal, you must find those little stepping stones, those smaller targets that keep you pushing forward! Such a goal can be simple. Like, if you eat a steamed bun today, decide you’ll work hard tomorrow to eat a meat bun. Then the day after, aim for two. Next week, maybe set your sights on roast chicken. It could even be simpler than that. As long as you have that target. Or, it could be incredibly difficult, like deciding to become a god! Ha-ha, alright, just joking… But I hope you understand, whatever path you choose, I’ll support you. And don’t you worry about my Soul Flame. I’m eternal. Even if it burns out entirely, I’ll just fall into a deep sleep. After some time, it’ll recover on its own!”

After Huang Biaozi finished, Tang Jinbiao stood there in a daze. It had been quite a long-winded explanation. He had just wanted to know what the Soul Flame was, yet Huang Biaozi had launched into this unexpected lecture. And for some reason, lately, Huang Biaozi had been talking an awful lot, sounding rather cryptic and unfathomable. Tang Jinbiao couldn’t help wondering internally: Huang Biaozi seems oddly off lately. Could something be wrong?

…

“Fight! Kill!”

“No mercy!”

“Haha, look at those two goofballs!”

While Tang Jinbiao was slowly digesting Huang Biaozi’s words, up on the Platform Stage, the fighting remained furious. And the people below the stage seemed tireless in their raucous jeering.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The combatants on the Platform Stage had now moved from the Qi Condensation Fourth Layer to the Qi Condensation Sixth Layer. Their strength far surpassed the earlier minor scuffles between people like Tang Ao and Tang Yun. They were starting to display the spell-slinging battles cultivators are known for. Fireballs whizzed chaotically across the Platform Stage, erupting with powerful explosions. Flying Swords, Flying Tridents, hammers, shields, and large bells of increasingly bizarre shapes began to proliferate. The incessant clashing metal – clang clang clang! – signaled battles locked in fierce stalemate.

Tang Jinbiao, however, had absolutely no desire to watch any of this. His primary worry right now was Huang Biaozi.

Nine months together—neither terribly long nor very short—is plenty of time to forge a friendship.

All these months, Huang Biaozi had continually egged Tang Jinbiao on to learn the Way of Deception, cursing now and then. Tang Jinbiao hadn’t agreed, yet their relationship had gradually warmed day by day. They both understood about seventy or eighty percent of each other’s personalities.

BANG!

“Ah!”

A massive explosion boomed out. Immediately after, one of the Qi Condensation Sixth Layer cultivators, a young man around twenty years old, was sent crashing off the Platform Stage by another cultivator. He landed heavily on the ground.

“Qi Condensation Sixth Layer, Fifth Match: Tang Xingmo wins! Sixth Match begins!”

This time, it wasn’t the Great Elder announcing the result, but an old man Tang Jinbiao didn’t recognize. Likely the Second Elder.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Instantly, two more Qi Condensation Sixth Layer cultivators stormed onto the Platform Stage. They exchanged a perfunctory nod of acknowledgment and immediately launched into their combat.

Time ticked on, minute by minute. Unnoticed, the entire day slipped by.

After a day of matches, out of the original two hundred-plus participants, more than half had been eliminated. Barely a hundred contestants remained, waiting for the trials of the following day.

At this moment, Tang Jinbiao was walking alongside the handful of Body Refiners like him, similarly regarded as cast-offs. They were preparing to head home.

“Brother Biao, do we really have to come back tomorrow?” One youngster looked up at Tang Jinbiao, his eyes betraying unease and a desire to give in. “Why don’t we just skip it? You saw the ones left today; half of them are from the main family branches. Not only do they learn higher-level techniques, their families are surely going to give them protective treasures and hidden cards tomorrow. Showing up would just invite humiliation!”

Tang Jinbiao, being slightly older, stood almost half a head taller than this group of teenagers. His “Cultivation Level” also ‘looked’ the highest, so naturally, he’d become the de facto head of their little group. After a day spent together, they weren’t as reserved as before.

The boy who had spoken was named Tang Hu. Another unfortunate soul seemingly abandoned by fate. He was born without any Spiritual Roots, and his parents weren’t Tang Family main branch descendants either. Consequently, he’d lived a shadowed existence for the past dozen or so years. His personality, however, wasn’t gloomy—just timid, fearful, and quick to back down from challenges.

“Mhm, Brother Biao, Brother Hu is right. Forget about tomorrow?”

“Brother Biao, we were never a match for those main branch disciples anyway. No one would bat an eye if we forfeit. Besides, we’re used to the mockery. It hardly matters anymore.”

“Brother Biao!”

The remaining three teenagers voiced their agreement, one after another, rallying behind Tang Hu’s proposal. Their morale plummeted once more.

Human nature often works this way. When someone has faced too many setbacks, they tend to shy away from difficulties, doubting themselves profoundly. Even if the difficulty seems minor, their self-doubt ensures they perform poorly.

In contrast, some people inexplicably succeed time and again. They might not even know why. It’s as if favored children of heaven exist. Their repeated successes build such momentum that when failure finally strikes—even once—they’ll point fingers at others, even at the world itself.

“No!” Tang Jinbiao retorted fiercely, his nameless fury ignited anew by the boys’ words. “Tomorrow, not one of you misses out! How can you retreat before you’ve even started? We Body Refiners live by unwavering perseverance! Did you forget the agony of your early training? Did you forget the countless trials you endured, pushing past your limits over and over? How dare you simply give up? Is it because you’ve glimpsed some preordained ‘outcome’? Who told you those main branch disciples are guaranteed to win? Who told you your fates are held in others’ hands? Are you willing to live forever in the shadow cast by others? To be lifelong slaves? Tang Hu! Just how weak do you believe you are? Are you telling me you don’t even dare face some mere Qi Condensation Fourth Layer cultivator?”

He despised words like this. He’d heard them far too often in his previous world, so much that numbness had set in. Yet, he found it jarring to hear the same defeatist talk resounding here, in this world. Perhaps it just showed how little he still understood about it.