After Zhao Shuning recognized Wang Cheng.
When she was later sorting out the fragments, she paid even more attention to Wang Cheng's figure.
Many years ago, she already knew that the Misty Rain Tower was under the jurisdiction of the Wang family.
At that time.
Zhao Shuning only thought that Wang Cheng had taken a fancy to Kong Ye's alchemist talent.
Now it seemed.
Things were not that simple.
At that time, the Wang family was one of the four great families.
For a small Misty Rain Tower, he didn't need to show up in the tower in person and secretly meet with Kong Ye.
Sure enough.
When she later sorted out the fragments.
Zhao Shuning's previous caution paid off.
When the Misty Rain Tower began to achieve success.
That Wang Cheng came to the Misty Rain Tower again.
Moreover.
It seemed that he had extracted something from Kong Ye's body.
Wait?
Could it be?
A soul?
The soul was an extremely rare thing for alchemists.
As is well - known, all alchemists had spiritual roots. Only the spiritual roots of most high - level alchemists could give birth to souls. Some souls could be naturally conceived, but the vast majority of souls could only be derived when the alchemist's spiritual power had condensed to a certain extent.
Kong Ye?
He actually had a soul?
Back then.
Did he rely on the soul trade to get the Wang family to support the Misty Rain Tower?
What did Wang Cheng use this soul for?
Souls were already rare.
Even Zhao Shuning only slowly developed a soul after breaking through to the seventh rank.
Right!
A terrifying thought grew wildly in Zhao Shuning's mind.
It had a use.
For people in the world, souls could be said to be useless.
However, it had a miraculous effect.
That was when a certain number of souls were gathered, they could be used to resurrect someone who had been dead for thousands of years.
However, this was almost an impossible task.
Because at least tens of thousands of souls were needed.
Although the existence of souls was not extremely important to alchemists, they were very rare. Looking across the entire Nine Provinces Continent, there were only a few hundred people who could develop souls.
Even if you added those who could naturally conceive souls, the number would not exceed five hundred.
Calculated like this.
To gather tens of thousands of souls.
It was an impossible task.
In this world, no one would persevere in doing such a thing all the time, and not everyone had the ability to gather such a large number of souls.
Resurrecting the physical body and reinjecting the spiritual consciousness.
This was an ancient forbidden technique.
In her lifetime, Zhao Shuning had never heard of such a thing.
She had only caught a glimpse of the matter of souls when she was young as Ye Ling in Yan Ruyu's ancient books.
However.
According to Bu Ran, that ancient book had been lost at some point.
Could Kong Ye's soul matter be related to this?
No.
It was impossible.
In this world, except for Bu Ran, no one had the ability to persevere in doing such an impossible task.
Zhao Shuning calmed her mind.
After finding the root cause.
She finally understood why Kong Ye was mentally disordered.
Because he had lost his spiritual root and his soul. It would be strange if his memory was not in chaos.
The matter of Wang Cheng seizing the soul could be put aside for now. She would figure it out in detail when she had the opportunity in the future.
The top priority was to restore Kong Ye to normal and find out who had taken his spiritual root.
Zhao Shuning quietly drew out the soul in her body.
Then she split off a tiny part of it and injected it into the place where Kong Ye's spiritual consciousness was.
Under the influence of this shadow - split soul.
The fragments in Kong Ye's body began to arrange themselves in an orderly manner.
As time passed.
The memories in Kong Ye's mind became clearer and clearer.
Zhao Shuning looked further.
In the early years, Kong Ye had been traveling abroad all year round. He told the teachers of the Misty Rain Tower that he was traveling and cultivating, but in fact, he was traveling between different countries, dealing with different people.
He was selecting different students for the Misty Rain Tower.
And sending them invitation letters.
Originally.
There was nothing wrong with this.
Everything was going smoothly.
Until Zhao Shuning wiped out the Wang family. The Misty Rain Tower lost the protection of the Wang family. Although at that time, with the efforts of Du She and others, the Misty Rain Tower did not collapse, but without the Wang family, the Misty Rain Tower was no longer as attractive to children with spiritual cultivation from other countries as before.
Fortunately.
Later, with the growth of Shui Yunsheng.
The status of the Misty Rain Tower in the Eastern Swamp Wilderness rose again.
When Kong Ye traveled between countries.
He was much more confident.
Until.
When he reached the area around the Ghost Domain, he offended a certain mysterious person.
Zhao Shuning didn't see what the mysterious person looked like. I'm afraid even Kong Ye, the person involved, didn't know.
Anyway.
It was also from that time.
Kong Ye disappeared inexplicably.
Then.
He appeared in the border city of the Sea Spirit Country as a prisoner, doing physical work.
Now it seemed.
I'm afraid the mysterious person he met near the Ghost Domain was the one who attacked him.
Sure enough.
Just as Zhao Shuning had expected.
Those chaotic fragments of Kong Ye.
Were from the time when he was attacked by the mysterious person.
Fortunately, Kong Ye was good at light - body skills, and his spiritual power cultivation was the most refined in the art of escape. So even after having his spiritual root taken and in such a dangerous situation.
He was still able to escape with his last bit of consciousness.
It was true.
Kong Ye's spiritual root could naturally conceive a soul, so it would naturally reserve the last bit of spiritual power for the master to escape.
However.
Now Kong Ye.
Having lost his spiritual root and soul, his mind was in chaos. It was understandable that he had become stupid.
Zhao Shuning looked at the complicated scenes in front of her.
These were the things that had happened in the past few years.
The timeline was too chaotic to sort out.
So it took more time than she had expected.
During this period, no one could come to disturb her. Otherwise, not only would Kong Ye be in danger of losing his life, but even Zhao Shuning's soul might disappear completely.
Fortunately.
In this Chaozhou area, there were still A Shui and A Yue.
With them around, there should be no problem.
Zhao Shuning held her breath and concentrated.
She was fully focused on finding the differences in the timeline.
Little did she know.
The words she had said to A Shui and A Yue before had actually come true just as she started to split her soul.
Before that.
There had always been someone eyeing the city of Chaozhou.
Now.
The suddenly surging spiritual power of Zhao Shuning had already attracted a mysterious force.
In the room.
Everything was normal.
But on the roof of the Inviting Moon Tower.
At this moment, there were several dark shadows looming in front of A Shui and A Yue.
"Since you've come, why be so sneaky?"
"Could it be that you're afraid of us two old fellows?"
"You failed in your sneak attack a few years ago. Are you still going to act furtively now?"