Naked Sword Art

Chapter 492: Soul Crystal

’What kind of genius is this?’

.

.

.

Yu Qiuyan eventually cleared her throat and composed herself.

"Good. You both absorb Soul Qi very efficiently. That means you’re suited for the next step."

She then reached into her sleeve and produced two palm-sized crystals, each one etched with ancient, weathered texts that neither of them recognized.

"These," she continued, "contain weak-grade Soul Qi, as well as fragments of inscription comprehension."

Xiao Fang lifted the crystal, the strange characters shimmering subtly as if alive. Even without deciphering the text, he felt an instinctive pull—like the runes themselves were whispering to him.

"When you absorb the Soul Qi inside of these," Yu Qiuyan said, "your soul will temporarily synchronize with the inscriptions embedded within the crystal."

"What does that mean?" Xun Wei asked.

"It means," Yu Qiuyan said with a soft smile, "once you finish absorbing them, you should be able to perfectly write all 69 inscriptions with relative ease."

Xiao Fang’s brows rose beneath his blindfold.

Xun Wei stared at her crystal in awe.

"Such a thing exists?"

Yu Qiuyan gave a soft, amused laugh.

"It does. High-grade Soul Qi carries memories—and comprehension. Absorbing them with your soul is one of the fastest ways to learn not just inscriptions, but formations as well."

What she failed to mention was that it was incredibly difficult to get a soul crystal, and even more costly to use them for the average Heavenly Fate disciple. However, she wasn’t the average Heavenly Fate disciple.

"Xun Wei, let’s give it a try," Xiao Fang spoke calmly.

"Mn," Xun Wei nodded, she was eager to try it as well.

They steadied their breathing, circulating their Qi the same way they did when absorbing the Soul Stones earlier. The crystals began to hum faintly in their palms.

Seeing that, Yu Qiuyan folded her arms in satisfaction.

’They learn quickly.’

In truth, this was the only sure method she had to evaluate what Xiao Fang’s potential would be in learning Divination Arts.

However, her attention quickly shifted from Xiao Fang to Xun Wei the moment she noticed the air around Xun Wei dimmed and cooled, carrying a quiet, eerie beauty.

"This—" Yu Qiuyan’s eyes widened in shock.

A cold, grey radiance unfurled across Xun Wei’s skin—soft at first, like frost forming under moonlight. Then a mist spilled from her body, as faint silver sparks pulsed within the falling fog, revealing a soul force far rarer than Yu Qiuyan would’ve ever expected.

’This girl... she possesses a Soul Tempering Body just like grandfather.’

The greyish silver light circulating within and around Xun Wei’s body grew brighter as the Soul Qi within the crystal quickly got absorbed.

Xiao Fang, in comparison, wasn’t nearly as eye-catching. His aura stayed calm, steady—almost unmoving. But what he chose to do next made Yu Qiuyan’s brows subtly lift.

’Is he giving up?’ she wondered as she watched the nearly untouched Soul Crystal drift back down into his palm.

Xiao Fang exhaled slowly. If he continued absorbing the crystal the way Yu Qiuyan had taught him, it likely would take him more time he’d like to spend trying to absorb it. There was another method he could try, though he hadn’t had much experience with it yet.

Holding the crystal directly in his hands, Xiao Fang grunted as he began to draw the soul Qi out using the Soul Devouring method. As he expected, the absorption rate was like heaven and earth.

...

Soul Devouring Method:

Cultivating one’s soul can strengthen it and even alter its nature, but it does not increase its size. That was Xiao Fang’s current dilemma. Even though he had cultivated the Soul Devouring Method to the Core Realm, the capacity of his soul remained as small as it had been in the Foundation Realm.

Where the Heavenly Fate Sect used Soul Stones to steadily nourish and expand their souls, the Soul Devouring Clan followed a far darker path. They enlarged their soul capacity by consuming the souls of other cultivators, and in some cases tiered beasts too.

The technique they used to accomplish this was considered cruel by any standard, but it was effective nonetheless.

The more souls one collected, the larger and stronger their soul became—and the faster their absorption rate grew.

Xiao Fang was a perfect example of that.

After annihilating the Scavenger Sect, he had devoured more than three thousand souls, and later, the soul of a Heavenly Realm cultivator as well. Because of that, his soul was now far greater in size and density than that of any other Soul Devouring clan members in the same realm.

...

Xiao Fang and Xun Wei’s souls brushed against the escaping Soul Qi, absorbing them greedily without restraint.

Their minds flooded with patterns, motions, meanings: strokes folding into symbols, symbols merging into inscriptions, inscriptions being written in an endless repetition.

Lines they had struggled with for weeks suddenly rearranged themselves in perfect clarity.

The Ox stroke...

The Tiger stroke...

The Rabbit curve...

The winding Dragon stroke...

Each one felt as natural as breathing.

Their souls trembled—not in pain, but in awakening. The feeling was similar to when he learned the [ Subtle Suggestion ] and [ Memory Fracture ] techniques. He was starting to believe they were gifts given to him by his grandfather before he left.

All the while, Yu Qiuyan was still watching them in disbelief. In front of her sat someone with a special soul tempering body, and next to her was a boy who was absorbing soul Qi at an even faster rate than she was. It was simply too unbelievable.

Xiao Fang was the first to finish.

"Amazing," Xiao Fang thought out loud as all 69 inscriptions flashed through his mind. "I feel like I can effortlessly create any inscription I want."

Forming a small formation circle within his soul sea, he began testing this new clarity. He pressed his fingers into the first-layer hand symbol; inscriptions bloomed effortlessly within the circle. Then he shifted into the second-layer gesture—fluid, precise, instinctual.

He was attempting the intermediate six-inscription sealing formation that he found in Ru Ji’s book earlier.

After completing the final gesture—the directional seal meant to activate and aim the formation—he waited.