Nana had never been a cautious person. She would suspect Huo Yuhao's identity over a simple match and show up at his door in the middle of the night.
She would also reveal to Huo Yuhao, a man she had only met a few times and who had once captured her soul, that she was a Holy Servant of the Holy Spirit Cult.
For someone as reckless as her, the fact that she had waited until today to come knocking after discovering the location of a Holy Spirit Cult branch was already a great deal of restraint.
In the underground hall, only Lin Xiao remained. His figure standing before the Holy Flag appeared somewhat lonely.
The resentful spirits within the Holy Flag had fallen into a deep slumber, and the flag no longer fluttered. Lin Xiao gazed at the densely packed faces within it, his head slightly lowered, lost in thought.
"What are you thinking about?"
Electrolux seemed to sense that something was wrong with Lin Xiao's mood and spoke up.
Facing Electrolux, Lin Xiao did not hide anything.
"When I first entered the Holy Spirit Cult, every day I was only thinking about how to survive, constantly worrying whether I would end up as a sacrifice like the other children."
"Later, I was taken in by the Nightmare Douluo and became his so-called 'disciple'. It seemed I no longer had to worry about becoming a sacrifice, yet I still had to face battle after battle."
"After finally growing this far through that kind of training, I still had to be constantly on guard because I personally killed an Elder."
"Now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief, but when I look down, there are still many people in this Holy Spirit Cult who are just like I was."
Lin Xiao's thoughts surged within him. Whether it was the Nana from just now, Tang Ya, who had been captured by the Seventh Elder and brought to the Sun Moon Empire, or the Wu Yun and Wu Yu sisters he had once brought into the Holy Spirit Cult himself, every time he saw them, he would pause for a moment. Perhaps it was because he saw too many familiar scenes reflected in them.
"Do you want to save those disciples of the Holy Spirit Cult who have no choice?" Electrolux asked softly.
"No, Teacher." Lin Xiao shook his head. "The word 'save' is too heavy. I don't want to see too many people who are like I was."
"Within the Holy Spirit Cult, many… or rather, most people have committed no small number of sins, but there are also those who had all sorts of reasons."
"Some had nowhere else to go, circumstances forced some, and some simply had no one to teach them how to use their martial souls and took the wrong path."
"Perhaps there are people like me who never wanted to become evil soul masters."
"Sigh." Electrolux let out a soft sigh. "But have you ever considered that even if they were forced at the beginning, in an environment like this, sooner or later they will all turn into something else?"
"Children who can grow up in such an environment and still retain even a trace of kindness like you are far too few."
Lin Xiao fell silent for a moment.
Of course, he knew this. If not for the memories of his previous life, he might have long since become just like the other evil soul masters.
Even so, he was completely different from the person he had been in his previous life.
He didn't know what kind of person he truly was. He was just as indifferent, just as unconcerned with the lives of others, only thinking about his own survival.
Or perhaps, as Electrolux said, he still retained the slightest bit of kindness.
The higher his cultivation became, the more people he could see. In the past, he could only see himself, but now, many more people like him had appeared in his eyes.
"Salvation" was too heavy a word. Perhaps he simply wanted to reach out and pull up the version of himself from the past.
"I'll give it a try."
"Hahaha." Electrolux suddenly laughed. "What a 'give it a try'."
"Good. As expected, I did not misjudge you. No matter what you want to try or how you want to try it, your teacher will be with you all the way."
Hearing this, Lin Xiao also smiled.
He gently raised his hand, and the higanbana flower slowly bloomed in his palm. The long, slender petals stretched out fully, and the extreme death attribute caused the soul core within his body to resonate faintly.
With a gesture of his left hand, a lively remnant soul leaped out from the flower's stigma. In the next moment, it flew upward and drilled into Lin Xiao's forehead.
The ice-cold mask offered no resistance. In the blink of an eye, it merged into Lin Xiao's body.
Instantly, a warm sensation welled up within him. His mental sea churned continuously, and his spiritual power rose sharply at this moment.
Back then, he had split off this wisp of soul to conceal the fact that he had not undergone the complete Spirit Ascension ritual.
Now, he was already an Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult. Even if he participated in the Spirit Ascension ritual, the soul lamp would return to his hands. Thus, this remnant soul that had been wandering outside for so long should return to where it belonged.
His mental sea trembled slightly. Lin Xiao's entire body shook violently. The four souls, Assassin, Spirit Devourer, Nightmare, and God-Sealing, appeared around him, their expressions becoming even more vivid.
The higanbana flower bloomed in his palm. Six black and two red, eight soul rings slowly pulsed, and a tall figure faintly emerged behind him.
At this moment, his soul was whole once more.
A long while later, Lin Xiao's figure reappeared on the street. He had changed into a new set of clothes. Looking back, the building housing the altar was hidden in the darkness, utterly unremarkable.
Without lingering further, Lin Xiao turned and headed toward the direction of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
The next morning, the door to Lin Jiayi's soul tool research lab was knocked on. When the door opened, Lin Xiao stood outside with a smile on his face, just like before.
"Why have you come? Didn't I tell you to rest properly for a few days?" Lin Jiayi's tone seemed reproachful, but he still opened the door and let Lin Xiao in.
"Teacher, I only went out to train for a while. I didn't suffer any injuries; there's no need to be so careful."
Lin Jiayi shook his head. "I know you're not just a soul mentor; you also possess abilities as a soul master. How you went underwater and why you were able to hold out for so long…"
"I won't ask about any of that, and I'll make sure the other disciples don't mention it too much in front of outsiders. But you're still not one of those sea soul beasts from the ocean, so be careful all the same."
"Alright, I understand." Lin Xiao smiled and nodded. Turning around, his gaze fell on the documents on Lin Jiayi's desk.
"Teacher, these are?"
"You mean the matter of the exchange students from Shrek Academy?" Lin Jiayi followed Lin Xiao's gaze and glanced over.
"I'm not sure if I mentioned it to you before, but the academy is preparing to send some students to Shrek Academy to study their soul master teaching methods, and Shrek Academy will also send students here to us."
"Today is the day we agreed upon with Shrek. The Hall Master has already set off to receive them."
Exchange students…
Lin Xiao looked at the name list on the desk. The very first name, heavily marked by Lin Jiayi, was "Huo Yuhao."
Although he had known about it for a long time, he truly hadn't expected it to happen right now.
"What's wrong? If you're curious about the people from Shrek Academy, how about coming with me to the square tonight? It'll also give you a chance to rest instead of burying yourself in soul tools again."
After thinking for a moment, Lin Xiao nodded. "Alright."
Sorry, I had to go out for the past two days and couldn't update on time. I'll make it up as soon as I get back.
Thank you once again for everyone's support!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 40 early chapters available on Patreon
[email protected]/facficmax10--------(@→a)