Her question fell, yet Luo Xiran did not answer immediately. In the silence of the black mist, not a sound could be heard.
Seeing her silence, a stern glint flashed through Lou Ji's eyes.
"Senior Luo..."
"It isn't just an aberrant ghost."
Luo Xiran spoke up suddenly, her voice thick with complex emotion. "If it were merely an aberrant ghost, with the Chancellor's Manor's stock of medicinal herbs and our shared understanding of pharmacology, we would have a chance to refine a dose of Fate-Reversing Liquid before his body reached a completely irreversible state. But this time, on top of the aberrant ghost, a yin ghost is mixed inside him as well."
*A yin ghost?*
Lou Ji suddenly recalled the brutal, frenzied aura she had sensed aboard the black eagle pavilion. Parting her red lips slightly, she asked in a swift, hushed voice, "Are you talking about that wooden blade?"
Luo Xiran nodded slightly, a hint of reminiscence in her eyes. "Yes. Only when that willow ghost blade slashed into him did I discover an almost fully intact Saint Tier yin ghost resided inside."
"There was a Saint Tier yin ghost in that blade?"
"Yes. And likely because Xu Yuan's cultivation method absorbed its essence, that thing has probably merged completely with him by now. On top of that, there's the Saint Tier demon crystal I used to repair his body..."
Reaching this point, Luo Xiran fell silent. There was no need to say any more.
Whether it was a yin ghost or an aberrant ghost, reversing someone corrupted by either was harder than ascending to the heavens—to say nothing of the two being mixed together.
Lou Ji finally understood what state Xu Yuan was in now. Her restrained qi dynamic uncontrollably surged outward, crushing down on her surroundings, and a fury she had no outlet for left her barely able to breathe.
Why did the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion dare to come assassinate Changtian?
Why did that brat Changtian dare to absorb the yin origin of a Saint Tier yin ghost?
Why did he hide so many things from her?
Suppressing her trembling breath, Lou Ji forced herself back to reason, pondering possible remedies.
Soon, a thought flashed across her mind, and she quickly spoke up: "Senior Luo, back in the Northern Border, Changtian was only able to withstand the infusion of power from the demon crystal because of the transformation by the primordial aberrant ghost, relying on the undying body of an aberrant ghost. In this aberration, that prerequisite shouldn't be present, right?"
Hearing Lou Ji's question, Luo Xiran was momentarily startled.
After going through so much, and witnessing scene after scene unfold before her eyes just now, she had in truth also come to see the brat as the Great Calamity of the realm for this ten-thousand-year cycle.
And as a former Holy Venerable of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion—especially one who had personally experienced that Aberrant Ghost Calamity ten thousand years ago—the notion that a calamity could not be judged by ordinary logic was practically etched into her bones.
Because the brat was the calamity, whatever happened to him was taken for granted.
Yet Lou Ji's question made her think of something else.
The reason an aberrant ghost could withstand an infusion from a demon crystal was its near-limitless self-healing capability.
For humanity, however, notions of grand masters directly infusing their divine arts into a successor existed only in common storybooks.
After all, if supreme experts could simply pass their cultivation on to others, the world would have descended into chaos long ago.
The reason it couldn't be done was simple: neither the meridians nor the dantian of a low-tier cultivator could withstand Source Qi exceeding their own cultivation level.
Forcing it inside would yield only one result: exploding and dying.
Yet this didn't necessarily mean the physical body would literally blow apart. Rather, everything inside the human body would be wrecked and dismantled by that uncontrollable Source Qi.
And before she had lost control over the fungal carpet entering Xu Yuan's body, the condition she had perceived inside him... matched this perfectly!
Everything within him—be it meridians, dantian, internal organs, or brain—had been destroyed by the immense energy surging from the demon crystal and the willow ghost blade.
Her breathing turning slightly rushed, Luo Xiran's eyes held a trace of uncertainty. "It really doesn't seem to have that prerequisite. After that brat Xu Yuan underwent the mutation, his physical body's toughness still appears to remain at the Soul Condensation Realm."
Lou Ji had not expected such an answer. Pondering for a moment, she asked in a low voice, "Senior Luo, Changtian just directly tore apart the bodies of two Transcendent Realm experts with his bare hands."
Though Lou Ji hadn't witnessed the exact scene, when Luo Bingli's spell cleared the fog from half the city, she had seen the two corpses.
"Indeed."
Compared to Lou Ji, Luo Xiran had seen with her own eyes how those two Transcendent experts were torn apart by Xu Yuan. "However, that was likely with the help of external objects."
"You mean this fungal carpet?" Lou Ji glanced at Luo Xiran's current form. "Even at its utmost, your fungal carpet can only condense physical toughness around the Origin Realm."
Luo Xiran gave a faint smile and murmured, "Chief Lou, concern breeds confusion. Even condensing all the fungal carpet truly cannot strengthen Xu Yuan's body to the point of tearing Transcendents apart with bare hands, but think about how martial dao cultivators who specialize in physical combat fight."
"..."
Hearing this, understanding instantly flashed through Lou Ji's eyes.
Martial dao cultivators were different from qi dao cultivators. While their physical toughness was indeed substantially greater than qi dao cultivators of the same rank, what truly allowed them to match qi dao cultivators was their utilization of Source Qi.
Qi dao cultivators primarily condensed Source Qi into spells for offensive strikes.
Martial dao cultivators, on the other hand, poured Source Qi into themselves, either to enhance their bodies or execute martial arts.
After a brief silence, Lou Ji suddenly whispered, "In other words, is Changtian currently controlled by the power belonging to the aberrant ghost and the yin ghost?"
"That is very likely," Luo Xiran agreed with a nod. "After all, because of the cultivation method the brat practices, his body is now of the same origin as both powers."
Now that the unknown veil obscuring this mutation had been swept away and a deduction formed, with a clear objective established, the next step was to find a solution.
Pondering for a moment, Lou Ji's eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked, "Senior Luo, the yin origin and life origin within Changtian right now should both be inanimate, correct?"
The source of all energy in the world was the Source Qi between heaven and earth. Whether it was the life origin of aberrant ghosts or the yin origin of yin ghosts, they were both special forms of energy converted through their innate racial gifts.
Living aberrant ghosts and yin ghosts could absorb heaven-and-earth Source Qi to replenish themselves, whereas the things inside Xu Yuan were merely two inanimate remnants.
In other words, the two bizarre energies currently controlling Xu Yuan were duckweed without roots; as long as they were exhausted—
"It's useless."
Luo Xiran saw through Lou Ji's thoughts and gently shook her head. "That brat has taken control of my black death fungal carpet. He can use it to draw in Source Qi and convert it into life origin."
Lou Ji didn't hesitate for a moment. "Then destroy every bit of that fungal carpet."
"That carpet has already merged completely into his body. Destroying it is tantamount to destroying the brat himself. Moreover, that isn't his only means of acquiring energy right now. You saw it earlier—he can devour Source Qi from others."
Lou Ji showed no concern over that, smiling softly. "Wouldn't restraining him be enough?"
Luo Xiran gave the Semi-Saint before her a deep look and said softly, "Indeed. The premise of everything we are discussing is that we can restrain that brat. But even if we restrain him, traces of life origin and yin origin will remain inside his body."
Lou Ji thought for a moment and murmured, "In that case, can we forcibly purge those two powers?"
"Purge them?" Luo Xiran frowned slightly.
Lou Ji explained in a gentle tone, "Restrain Changtian, and use a Saint's saint origin to slowly dispel those two powers from his body bit by bit."
Luo Xiran raised an eyebrow.
As a former Saint, she understood the power of saint origin better than anyone.
The purest thing in the world.
If a Saint truly were willing to expend their vitality and effort to do so, while Xu Yuan had not yet fully merged with them, completely purging the life origin and yin origin from his body was not out of the question.
Luo Xiran pondered briefly, then said, "Even though the life origin and yin origin inside Xu Yuan are mindless, completely purging them would likely cause irreversible consequences for the caster."
Hearing this, Lou Ji glanced toward Di'an City, a faint smile gracing the corner of her lips. "Don't worry. Even if it costs him his life, his father will choose to save him."
Luo Xiran felt no relief at all, immediately pouring cold water over the idea. "Yet if you purge the yin origin and life origin from Xu Yuan's body, given his current physical state, he will most likely drop dead on the spot. Right now, he is barely clinging to his humanity; everything inside him has essentially rotted away."
"..."
Lou Ji, who had just found a glimmer of hope, fell silent at once.
Luo Xiran was right.
Xu Yuan was currently surviving on that yin origin and life origin. If they weren't purged, his mutation would continue to deepen; but if they were purged, it meant his absolute death.
A dead end.
After a long silence, Lou Ji pressed her lips together firmly, lowering her gaze as she whispered, "There... there will be a way. Everything we've said is still just conjecture. Once I adjust my breathing to peak condition and bring Changtian under control, we can take our time studying a way to save him."
Luo Xiran nodded and murmured, "Then you had best hurry, Chief Lou."
Lou Ji glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
Luo Xiran raised her eyes toward the mist gathering around them once more, remarking wistfully, "Xu Yuan is currently using this mist to absorb the corpses of the mortals and low-tier cultivators throughout the city. If he truly manages to absorb all these remains, he will likely be far more difficult to deal with than he is now."
Hearing this, the corners of Lou Ji's lips curved faintly. "In that case, I ought to thank that Transcendent from your Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. If not for him, those three Transcendent corpses would likely have been absorbed by Changtian as well."
Luo Xiran frowned slightly, her expression deadly serious. "I am not joking with you. The physical body of a human is to an aberrant ghost what a demon core from a demonic beast is to humanity."
Lou Ji gently shook her head and slowly closed her eyes, her voice soft and tranquil.
"Rest assured. It will be fine."
Chapter 437