Chapter 644: Crawled In

"Soul leaving the body?"

Princess Fei'er, Luo Qiqi, and the others were all stunned.

Soul leaving the body, also called loss of soul, is the most taboo thing for martial artists. Once it cannot return, the body becomes an empty shell, leading directly to death.

However, for the soul to leave the body, the soul itself must be strong enough, at least at the peak of the Harmonious Spirit Realm, or even the Bridge Heaven Realm. How could someone at the Turbid Clarity Realm exhibit such symptoms?

"Soul leaving the body can be caused by many reasons: mistakes during soul cultivation, being drawn by special formations, inability to suppress inner demons... It might be that Teacher Zhang's cultivation was insufficient, and he forcibly used some secret technique to cultivate his soul, leading to this situation... If we don't get his soul back in time, I'm afraid he will truly die soon!"

Ye Wentian's expression was grave.

Soul leaving the body is not something only soul shamans can achieve. Some powerful formations and illusionary techniques trap people mainly by luring their souls.

"Is there a way to save him..." Luo Qiqi asked with some urgency.

This person was her alchemy teacher who had shown her kindness; it would be terrible if he died from soul departure.

"There is a way, but it's very troublesome, and time may not permit..."

Turning to look at the continuously draining Purification Pool, Ye Wentian's brow furrowed into a knot.

The process to awaken someone whose soul has left the body is extremely complex and troublesome, requiring several hours or even a dozen hours to complete. Now that the pool water was draining away, the volcano might erupt at any moment; time was clearly insufficient.

"Then what do we do?"

"Let's get to shore first!"

Knowing this was not the place to talk, Ye Wentian waved his hand, picked up Zhang Xuan, and jumped ashore first.

"Hey, hey..."

In the pool, Zhang Xuan's massive soul body watched his physical body being carried away, wanting to cry but having no tears.

Are you trying to save me or kill me?

If you leave the body here, even if it's hard for the soul to re-enter, it might succeed over time. But carrying it away like this, even if I manage to get close, Ye Wentian will probably disperse me as a malevolent spirit before I reach it...

"No, I must wait for a chance to reclaim the body..."

After hesitating, the soul body ultimately did not pursue.

Although the soul formed by the Heavenly Dao technique lacked yin energy and was hard to detect, if it ran right up to them, it would still be easily seen through.

Especially this Ye Wentian, whose cultivation had reached the peak of the Transformation Realm, Eighth Layer, his whole being like a blazing sun. If he rashly approached, before he could even identify himself, he might be struck dead on the spot.

Moreover, even if he did identify himself, the other party would have to believe him.

A person at the Turbid Clarity Realm with a soul body nearly ten meters tall, automatically leaving the body to cultivate... How could he explain that?

So, for now, he still couldn't let others discover this massive soul body.

As long as he found a suitable opportunity to slip into his physical body, everything would be resolved perfectly without needing to explain much. At most, he could say he cultivated too quickly, was too eager for success, and made a mistake.

...

Zhang Xuan's soul body hid in the pool water, waiting for an opportunity, while his physical body had been brought by Ye Wentian to the previous courtyard.

"What's wrong with Teacher Zhang?"

Master Hong, Luo Xuan, and the others, seeing him stiff and motionless, all rushed over anxiously.

"It should be soul leaving the body!"

Ye Wentian lowered his voice.

"Soul leaving the body?" Master Hong's face turned pale, and his body swayed: "How could this happen?"

This was Teacher Zhang, whose teacher was suspected to be an eight-star super existence. If his teacher found out about this, not only the Featherfall Empire, but the entire Hongyuan Empire might be finished!

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be that while he was cultivating just now, the Purification Pool suddenly surged, scattering his soul and leaving his body an empty shell!"

Ye Wentian said.

Now this was the only explanation.

Otherwise, why would everyone else be fine while he ended up like this?

He must have been affected by the sudden change in the pool water, which agitated his soul!

In this situation, if the soul was intact, it might still be found; but once scattered, saving him would be very difficult.

"This..." His face pale, Master Hong was about to ask how to treat him when he felt the ground shake, and a scorching heat surged upward from the center of the pool.

"Damn, it's about to erupt!"

His expression changing, Ye Wentian no longer had time for Zhang Xuan. He placed his 'corpse' on a stone table and hurriedly looked over.

The sudden change in the Purification Pool also caught the attention of others; everyone focused their gaze there.

Now the pool water was boiling again, constantly emitting heat. Hot air flowed everywhere, the ground shook incessantly, as if a huge wild beast was sealed beneath the entire courtyard, ready to leap out at any moment and slaughter them all.

"What's happening?"

Seeing the ground shake more and more violently, everyone frowned.

"It should be about to give way..."

Clenching his fists, Ye Wentian's face grew paler.

He had thought that even if the formation was damaged, the Purification Pool's accumulated power could still suppress things for a few hours. He never expected it to be so fast!

At this rate, in less than ten minutes, the earth veins and volcano below would no longer be suppressed, and the violent, raging power would burst forth!

"Ye Qian, quickly take the Sixth Princess and the others away!"

Turning, he hastily ordered.

As the emperor, he naturally couldn't leave, but the Sixth Princess and the others must not be harmed!

"Yes!"

Ye Qian also knew the gravity of the situation and quickly went to Princess Fei'er: "Sixth Princess, Senior Xingyuan, the Purification Pool won't last much longer before it explodes. This place is very dangerous. Let me take you away..."

"Alright!"

Xingyuan nodded and was about to urge Princess Fei'er to leave when she frowned and looked over: "That guy's soul left his body. Is his soul already lost in the Purification Pool?"

"This..." Ye Qian was taken aback: "Probably so!"

"Then what do we do? If we don't find his soul quickly and return it to his body, he'll really die..." Princess Fei'er said.

"Don't worry, we'll send someone to look for it. You should leave quickly..." Ye Qian hurriedly said.

"Hmm," Princess Fei'er responded, then turned to her friend: "Let's go first!"

She wanted to save Zhang Xuan because she didn't want to be his maidservant forever. Now that his soul had left his body, there was nothing she could do. Even if she stayed, it would be useless; she might as well leave.

"You go first. Teacher Zhang has been kind to me. If I leave now while he's between life and death, I would be betraying his teaching grace!"

Luo Qiqi shook her head.

This Teacher Zhang had guided her in alchemy, greatly improving her skills... and she had even bowed to him as her teacher!

Now that he was unconscious, seemingly dead, she couldn't bear to leave him alone!

"If you're not leaving, then I'm not leaving either. I also want to see what's going on with this Purification Pool..."

Seeing her friend refuse to leave, Princess Fei'er also nodded.

"Ah?"

Hearing their decision not to leave, Ye Qian nearly went mad. Just as he was wondering how to dissuade them, a gust of wind sounded in the air, and a huge flying beast landed nearby.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Then several figures jumped down from the air.

"It's Master Wei and President Wu of the Array Masters Guild!"

Seeing their figures, Ye Qian's eyes lit up.

He also knew some of the secrets of the Purification Pool. The current situation clearly showed an imbalance in the pool water, causing the formation to collapse. President Wu, as the head of the Array Masters Guild and a peak five-star array master, might have a way to stop it, to prop up the collapsing building and stem the tide.

"How did it come to this?"

Landing on the ground and seeing the pool water spilling everywhere, the ground shaking incessantly, about to collapse at any moment, President Wu frowned.

The Featherfall Empire's royal family invited him every year to reinforce the formation, so he knew it in detail. According to reason, just cultivating in the pool's eye shouldn't cause this... How did it directly collapse?

"I'm not entirely sure of the specific reason, but now is not the time to discuss that. President Wu, please see if there's any way to repair the formation and prevent the volcano below from erupting!"

Ye Wentian said hastily.

Talking more now was useless.

They had to see if there was any way to salvage the situation; otherwise, everyone here would die.

"Hmm."

Knowing the gravity of the situation, President Wu nodded and looked toward the pool before him.

"Elder Lu, go guard the Kan position. Elder Han, go to the Gen position..."

After a moment, he turned and instructed.

The several old men who had descended from the beast with him nodded in acknowledgment, took their positions, and pressed their palms down, planting array flags into the ground.

Rumble!

With the appearance of the array flags, the surging pool water seemed to be blocked and came to a halt.

However, it was like holding down a rampaging dragon; the ground shook more and more violently, as if it might break free from its shackles and burst forth again at any moment.

"Something's not right..." President Wu raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" Emperor Ye Wentian approached.

"The Purification Pool is located at the convergence of Mount Qingji, Dragon Scale River, and the earth veins, rich in spiritual energy. The formation previously set up was driven by the abundant spiritual energy here to suppress the violent forces generated by the convergence of the three... But now, there's no spiritual energy at all?"

President Wu was full of surprise.

"No spiritual energy?"

Ye Wentian stiffened, and after carefully sensing, he indeed noticed something amiss.

The spiritual energy here was so powerful that even a Transformation Realm Eighth Layer cultivator entering could be easily killed. How could it simply disappear?

"Yes..."

President Wu nodded and was about to continue when he heard someone scream behind him.

Hearing the sound, Ye Wentian forgot to ask further and quickly turned around.

Then he saw Luo Qiqi and the Sixth Princess looking with confusion at the master teacher named Luo Xuan.

"Where is Teacher Zhang?"

Right in front of them, the 'corpse' of Teacher Zhang that had been placed on the stone table had somehow vanished without a trace.

"He, he..."

At the question, Luo Xuan's mouth trembled incessantly, his eyes wide as saucers, his face on the verge of tears. He pointed at the pool not far away: "He was lying there, and before I noticed, he... crawled in by himself..."