Painting 111: The Awakening Soul

Happiness is fleeting, and misfortune strikes without warning.

The prince of a grand interstellar empire perished while traveling through this star region. His soul had been shattered for over seven days, yet he desperately demanded Rocky to resurrect him. Proud as ever, Rocky refused. The prince’s guardian captured the Danxia Goddess to threaten him, but when she fled, she scattered the prince’s soul. Enraged, the guardian cursed the Danxia Goddess to death.

Protecting the Danxia Goddess’s soul, Rocky self-destructed to trigger the cosmic cycle of the star system, annihilating the invading army. Yet his soul refused to return to the divine tomb and instead transformed into a spirit artifact that spawned a small world, hiding the Danxia Goddess’s soul and researching ways to bring her back to life.

In the mirror dimension, time had reversed to the moment of Rocky’s self-destruction.

“Emperor of Heaven, slow down a bit more. Maintain this speed. When I call for it in my mind, stop time immediately. I will stabilize the past energy to reconnect the soul,” said one.

“I’ll do it. I have experience,” replied the other.

Though both knew the backlash from reversing the soul through time-space was a fallacy, neither wanted the other to take the risk.

Where did you get experience from? A thought flashed through Sansan’s mind, but she didn’t dare to be distracted. “Don’t interfere. I’m confident,” she said, transmitting mentally, “I have the origin of time and space. If I act, the success rate is higher. Now—stop.”

The mirror dimension froze, the scene halting at the instant the curse fell upon the Danxia Goddess, just before her soul shattered.

Sansan summoned a thread of condensed time-space energy, one end wrapping around the Danxia Goddess in the mirror dimension, the other entwined with the soul hidden inside a skull at the gestation pool.

“Past, present, future—time-space unite!”

The mirror dimension shattered with a thunderous roar. Sansan’s knees buckled, and she fell backward. The Emperor of Heaven caught her hastily, shouting anxiously, “Sansan!”

“Idiot, don’t waste it. Absorb more spiritual energy to store,” Sansan scolded inwardly.

The Emperor froze for a moment, his lips twitching. To avoid suspicion, his expression twisted as he used a devouring technique to rapidly funnel spiritual energy into Sansan’s body—actually into a spatial container hidden within.

At this moment, the Danxia Lord had no leisure to observe them. He leapt to the pool’s edge to check on the Danxia Goddess’s soul. Not only was vitality rising rapidly, but the cracks were visibly mending. His eyes moistened, emotions overwhelming him, his mind unable to think clearly.

It worked?

It worked.

It really worked!!

After tens of thousands of years of waiting, trying countless methods, and summoning numerous beings—some at the profound and primal levels, including universe-level experts, even seizing dozens of primal laws—when all hope seemed lost, he gave up and pinned his hopes on two children. And they truly reversed the soul!

They had searched for those in the five realms of time and space before, but at that time the Danxia Goddess’s condition was not so dire. The experts claimed they were powerless and left behind a residual past force before departing. The Danxia Lord did not press further.

Had he known how formidable the laws of time and space were, he would not have let that person go so easily—perhaps the Danxia Goddess would have been revived much earlier.

The Danxia Lord, or rather the former High Priest Rocky of the Temple of the Child of Life, gazed foolishly at the gestation pool until the spiritual energy in the air was exhausted and even the pool’s water level began to drop. Only then did he hastily produce energy stones to replenish the spiritual energy and finally ask about the heroes’ condition.

“How is she?”

The Emperor of Heaven glared fiercely at Rocky in silence.

Sansan groaned softly, slowly opening her eyes. Her face was pale, voice weak: “Time-space backlash.”

Rocky’s expression darkened dramatically. He asked anxiously, “Is it severe? Can the primal origin aid you?”

Sansan shook her head and steadied herself with the Emperor’s help, wobbling to stand. “I need rest. I can’t use time-space laws for a while.” Seeing Rocky’s gaze shift to the Emperor, she smirked faintly, “Fortunately, the reversal succeeded. The soul will show symptoms like after the blood curse was cast because the caster is dead. The curse will fade naturally under the cleansing force of time-space. If you’re worried, you can remove it manually again.”

Rocky nodded. “I don’t know how to treat time-space backlash, but medicines that boost vitality, expand the sea of consciousness, or strengthen the soul will help. I have no others, but I have plenty of soul-related herbs.”

Sansan forced a smile, rubbing her forehead. “Those only treat symptoms, not the root cause. Luckily, reviving the Danxia Goddess no longer requires using time-space laws. Once my spirit recovers, I can begin.”

The Emperor of Heaven scooped Sansan into a protective embrace, scolding fretfully, “Don’t talk so much! Since the soul is fine, it doesn’t have to be you. With primal origin, resurrecting someone is a snap!”

“No, I can teach anyone the resurrection technique, but I cannot use it myself. I am already dead. I am now just the intelligent core of a primal artifact—like a knife that must be wielded by a master to kill. I need someone to command me.” Rocky sighed. “One task, one master. Rest well. I’ve waited tens of thousands of years; a few more months or years don’t matter.”

The Emperor carried Sansan sluggishly into the meditation chamber for seclusion, attempting to steal kisses and nuzzle her, only to be slapped across the face. His consciousness was instantly drawn into Sansan’s sea of consciousness.

Sansan’s sea of consciousness was exquisitely beautiful. The seawater, formed by star energy and sharing her soul’s attribute, was colorless and transparent. Deep within, countless multicolored stars shone inside a time-space core, casting brilliant reflections across the surface like innumerable grains of colorful stardust.

The Emperor squatted by the sea, admiring the water: “So beautiful, so beautiful.”

Sansan grabbed his ear and twisted it. “I only pretended to have time-space backlash. My leg isn’t broken. Stop touching me.”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch...” The Emperor wailed, “I hugged you to make the act more convincing!”

Sansan snorted. “If it were convincing, it wouldn’t fool me. If the backlash had clear symptoms and they could check my soul directly, it would have been exposed long ago.”

The Emperor grimaced. “I say there’s no need to pretend. It makes us look weak.”

Sansan gripped harder. “You’re strong? If you weren’t afraid of backlash, everyone would come to you for resurrection in the future. Strangers would be fine, but it would be hard to refuse friends’ recommendations.”

The Emperor tilted his head. “I don’t want that. Who could force us?”

“Fine, you’re tough. But the Danxia Lord can force me.” Sansan released his ear. “If I hadn’t suffered backlash, he’d probably demand reversing time and space to revive his lover, to ensure she wakes up unscathed, maybe even to restore his own body. Nothing is that good.”

The Emperor rubbed his ear. “Anyway, we got what we wanted. If things get tough, we’ll just leave. I don’t believe even combined they can stop us.”

“Leave?” Sansan raised an eyebrow. “You’re willing? I’m not. I sent a message to Little Jin to notify Grandfather Anthony. The Danxia Lord has willingly become my follower and offered the entire Danxia Painting Realm as my domain of faith. I asked Grandfather Anthony to send help for the reception. Before coming, Teacher Boya said that if I solved the soul fusion problem, there would be great gains. I suppose this is it.”

The Emperor was dumbfounded. “Since when?”

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