The soul was a curious thing. In a way, it seemed almost superfluous; a mortal could lose their soul in its entirety and suffer no ill effects. There would be no deterioration of either body or mind, and they could continue on with their life, perhaps even with no knowledge of their condition.
The only difference being that once they died, they would not return to the Wheel. But one could argue that even this was not so bad; very rarely did any memories survive reincarnation, so most people had only token concerns about the state of their souls.
But there was a minority of people who did have very firm concerns, and the majority of that minority of people were cultivators. Because as one ascends the realms of cultivation, the relationship one’s soul has with their body reverses itself.
In the core realms and beyond, the health of one’s soul begins to eclipse the health of one’s body in importance. A strong soul of high realm can even survive the death of its body, mirroring the situation of the soulless mortal. And even as low as the inner realms, the soul and body are more firmly tied together; an inner disciple can survive wounds even greater than their increased durability and vitality would suggest. The soul takes some of the burden – but also becomes a weak point, because its increased ties to body and mind mean that a damaged soul passes that damage along.
And the easiest way to damage a soul is with something that each cultivator is already intimately familiar with; the spiritual sense.
----------------------------------------
Lu put down A Practical Guide to the Soul, and rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t had a repeat of the strange vision since Elder Persimmon had gifted him a personal anti-divination array, but he would be lying if he said his sleep wasn’t troubled.
So just cultivate and reach first realm already. You could probably do it in ten minutes; you have spirit stones, what are you waiting for?
Another troubling development: his Heart Demon had recovered enough that it could influence his thoughts again. You know exactly why I’m waiting. He wasn’t sure if the demon wanted him to cultivate because doing so was in line with its nature, or if it was hoping for what Lu was fearful of; that increasing his realm would strengthen his soul even more, giving the demon greater power over his mind and body. We don’t know that it will definitively, but I’d rather not gamble.
The gains of increasing one’s realm weren’t perfectly even, and neither were the gains of any particular attribute when compared against each other. But if one were to simplify things down to be as general as possible, it could be said that ascending a realm doubled a person’s strength. Bones would be twice as durable, muscles could impart twice the force. Injuries healed twice as fast, and resisted infection with twice the vivacity. The mental advantages were more difficult to measure empirically, but again, in the most general way possible, it could be said that one’s thoughts formed twice as fast, that their memories became twice as clear.
And then there was the soul. Lu estimated that his soul was hovering around third or fourth realm strength. If he formed a new dantian and jumped up to first realm, would it jump with him, up to fifth realm? Or were qi-enhancement and ki-enhancement incompatible, meaning he would be doubling his ability to resist the demon without empowering it at all?
Again, better to not gamble. I’ve been making steady progress through the literature, I should be able to deal with this without doing anything too drastic. He was actually on a good pace; A Practical Guide to the Soul was very foundational and philosophical, with Medical Evaluations of the Heart Demon being more specifically helpful with the titled topic. With knowledge from the volumes – which incidentally unlocked a few tidbits of the Grandmaster’s impartment, though it had nothing to say about Heart Demons – he had a fairly solid plan. He would resist the demon, further widening the crack in his soul; then, for a brief time, he would do the exact opposite, acting in accordance with it.
This would hopefully reconcile the most him-like bits while still leaving a sharp divide between them, allowing him to cleanly slice the malignancy out of his soul while sacrificing as little of himself as possible. So I suppose you’ll get your wish; I will be cultivating in the near future. Right before I kill you.
The demon snarled, sending prickles down his back. You won’t. You don’t have the spine. I’ll get my body back, and then you’ll be the one that gets cut out.
Lu shook his head. The thing was delusional; Medical Evaluations made it explicitly clear that what the demon wanted wasn’t possible. It could kill him, certainly, but subverting him and becoming the dominant personality would take years of concerted effort on both their parts. He’d have to basically force it; even sitting back and letting the demon do as it would, would just kill him from soul damage. I don’t know why I bother replying to you, you never have anything constructive to say anymore. Hush up, we’ve got reading to do.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
He sniffed, then reached out for the second volume of Medical Evaluations. He had read through both volumes already, but that had been mostly skimming. Now he was drilling down to the exact progression a demon went through, so he knew how long he would have before he needed to enter phase two, and the mechanics of how to remove it when the time came.
If I was the realm I should be to manifest a Heart Demon, I would be able to do the job with my spiritual sense. But it seems that my sense hasn’t been bolstered by ki in the same way other parts of my soul have, so that won’t work.
I’ll have to find an alternative. Worst case scenario, I can ask Bull or Elder Persimmon to do it, though they won’t know exactly where to strike. Better if I have a tool of some sort. He had a few options; specifically enchanted weaponry, soul-bolstering pills with deleterious aftereffects… Even unorthodox arts, though those were obviously off the table; between losing a little more of his soul, and being branded a pariah, the former was infinitely preferable.
Actually, maybe my spiritual stomach could help. Ki damages my sense, which is an extension of my soul, so… His eyes widened. Actually, there’s one other thing I’ve encountered that can cut ephemeral things. Would that work on souls?
Only one way to find out. Lu packed the thick books back into a compartment on his vanity, and locked it shut.
----------------------------------------
The excursion zone, also called the research area, also called the closed space, formerly called the training grounds, sat behind a sturdy door. A door guarded by a core disciple. “Greetings, elder brother. I have some business on the other side of that door. Who do I need to speak with, to be granted passage?”
The disciple eyed him, then drew out a scroll from his robes. He quickly scanned it, and shook his head minutely. “You are not on the list, sir.”
Lu smiled, turning up the charm. “Of course, but I’m asking how I can get on the list. I was recently on a mission that involved the research area, and realised that there’s a treasure I didn’t quite document properly.”
The man shook his head more resolutely. “I can’t help you, junior brother. I just guard the door; I can’t even open it alone.” Seeing Lu’s crestfallen look, he added, “I would suggest speaking with whoever assigned you the mission.”
That’s not any help, elder brother. This person I need to speak with is- Actually, would they be inside the closed space most of the time? Surely, most of the work is done by underlings at this point? The Elders would have set things up to start, yes, but now that the infrastructure is in place, the day-to-day running can be handled by lower realm disciples. Probably. “Thank you for the advice, elder brother.” He bowed. “I’ll go follow it, excuse me.”
The medical wing was only a minute away, and hopefully the head researcher had better things to do with her time than oversee experiments personally.
----------------------------------------
Getting in had been easy; he had dropped the name Aiya Yu to the receptionist, and before he knew it he was seated across from the woman herself.
“Disciple Lu.” Like many experienced physicians, Aiya Yu had a very no-nonsense aura about her person. Combined with her cold eyes and facial scarring, she was an extremely intimidating figure, even if she had yet to ascend to the rank of Elder.
“Head Researcher. I apologise for interrupting your day.”
“Hmm.” Her gaze remained stern. “I assume you have a reason to do so?”
“Yes, of course. During my recounting of events, I left out a minor detail which seemed unimportant at the time. But I’ve since realised it had some significance.” Seeing her interest, he continued. “Once, when I was journeying down into the Pit, I cast a spell at a sharpie – one of the juvenile natives, I’m sure you recall – and it was able to destabilise the spell by biting it. It even seemed to gain some form of sustenance from it.”
Aiya Yu’s expression became thoughtful. “That is certainly a useful detail. Did the adults show any such abilities?”
“No, head researcher. It likely has something to do with the unnatural sharpness of a juvenile’s teeth… Which brings me to why I was thinking of that moment recently.” Hopefully they didn’t just burn my equipment or destroy it in some experiment. “I’ve been musing on how to treat my Heart Demon, and it occurs to me that the knife I had, made from a sharpie’s tooth, might be able to sever my soul in the necessary way. It certainly cut through my ki network cleanly, when I used it during surgery.”
The researcher winced. “Please do not label what you did to yourself surgery, it’s a miracle you survived.”
Lu cleared his throat. “Of course, of course. But, the knife? Do you still have it?”
“As of now, anything that has come back from the Sixth Reality is being held inside the excursion zone. To prevent contamination.” She raised a brow. “Yourself excepted, of course.”
He gulped. “Yes, I’m quite grateful.” If I had to expunge all the ki from my body before I was allowed to leave… Well, obviously I’d do it, but…
…Hang on, could that be why my soul is remaining elevated? Could I just discard my consumption to fix everything? No, no, surely it wouldn’t be that easy.
Aiya Yu Watched his expressions change for a silent moment. “To answer the question you’re going to ask, I have no objections at the moment. It may even provide useful data.” Head Researcher, please don’t speak to me like I’m expendable. I know I am, but saying it aloud is too much! ”However, you may not take anything out of the chamber, so you would need to perform the severing inside.”
Lu snapped to attention. “That’s more than reasonable, Head Researcher. I should be ready within the month.”
“Hmm. I’ll have your name added to the clearance list, but do inform us a few days before you’re ready. I want people observing.”