Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 468 - 309: Symbiotic Bacteria A

Chapter 468: Chapter 309: Symbiotic Bacteria A

"Spiritual Essence Specter, huh..."

Hearing the answer that emerged in the depths of his heart, Xu Yuan’s eyes lowered as he murmured to himself.

Just a moment ago, when he saw in the jade slip that she had stopped Tang and Su from experimenting on living people, he had thought that this Luo Xiran was the same type of person as Xu Xinyao.

Compassionate researchers, only to find out that the other party was so ruthless.

Ruthless to enemies, even more ruthless to herself.

She refined her own will-spirit into a Spiritual Essence Specter and infused it into the Blood Divine Stone, inducing the other three Saints to fight each other like dogs over the body of the alien ghost. Then she swooped in at the last moment like a sly sparrow to control the ultimate winner among the three, taking the fruits of the Underground Palace to the surface to reinforce Jiatiange, which was under siege.

However, it was unfortunate that she was not the only ruthless one.

Tang Wan’er and Su Luochen, even that primeval alien ghost, were all ruthless characters. In the midst of the chaos, everyone showed their true colors, and the result was that they all perished together.

Tang Wan’er and Su Luochen vanished into oblivion, the primeval alien ghost lost its original self and was trapped for ten thousand years, and the Blood Divine Stone into which Luo Xiran had transferred her spirit was split into two ineffective parts.

The disaster of the Blood Nest mentioned by Xiao Bai must have been this farce without winners stirred up by four Saints...

Hearing his murmur, Luo Xiran thought he didn’t understand the path and took it upon herself to explain:

"A Spiritual Essence Specter can either be born naturally between heaven and earth, or it can be artificially refined. People use evil methods to refine a person’s will-spirit into a vessel. It’s only right that you don’t know about it..."

"I know," Xu Yuan came back to his senses.

"....."

Her gentle and warm voice fell silent for a moment before she hesitantly said, "This soul refining technique was once the secret knowledge of the Demonic Instrument Sect..."

Xu Yuan let out a soft chuckle:

"What secret knowledge? The technique for refining Spiritual Essence Specters is already commonplace in the outside world."

Luo Xiran fell silent for a moment, her voice taking on a slight gravity:

"Does that mean the outside world is now rampant with demonic teachings?"

Xu Yuan sighed:

"Sister, ten thousand years have passed out there."

Luo Xiran’s gentle and soft voice carried a touch of astonishment:

"...Ten thousand years?"

Xu Yuan responded with a barely perceptible smile, "You have no concept of time inside this Blood Divine Stone?"

"I... I’ve been sleeping the whole time, so naturally, I wouldn’t know."

Luo Xiran was silent for a short while, her voice tinged with a hint of melancholy, "After ten thousand years, the outside world must have completely changed..."

"Indeed, completely changed," Xu Yuan said with a trace of wistfulness. "The evil techniques of your time that everyone sought to eliminate are now life-extending practices sanctioned by the Imperial Court. Many wealthy merchants and magnates eagerly pursue it."

"Life-extending practices?"

Luo Xiran expressed her confusion, "This evil technique would cause the practitioner’s will-spirit to shatter, and with the slightest carelessness, result in both death and soul annihilation. Are there actually people willing to become vessel spirits?"

"I told you, it’s been ten thousand years already. The process and technology have improved significantly, completely painless from start to finish," Xu Yuan explained offhandedly as he rolled his eyes. "Of course, the longevity probably isn’t as enduring as it was in your time. Nowadays, if the refined Spiritual Essence Specter is not maintained, it might dissipate in just ten years."

This Luo Xiran, isolated for ten thousand years, was indeed an antique.

Up to now, while the technology of soul-refining into vessels is still complex, it’s not considered very difficult and is quite common in the Dayan Territory.

Every year, many dying cultivators, or some wealthy old men from the countryside, and well-known local dignitaries eagerly seek out this path.

As long as they meet the high moral standards of ritual propriety, and the local government reports to the Imperial Court, the imperial envoy will review it. Finally, after the Jiatiange has cross-checked, they can refine the dying person into a Spiritual Essence Specter to continue life in another way.

The Mountain Gods in the mountain temples, the City Gods in the City God Temples, and the stone Buddhas in the temples are all created this way.

It’s one of the measures the Dayan Dynasty uses to maintain local governance because the most powerful of these Spiritual Essence Specters can even be comparable to Integration Body experts.

To reduce the burden on the Jiatiange, these Spiritual Essence Specters, protect peace in their locales.

Of course, a policy with such noble intentions couldn’t withstand the temptations of reality.

Xu Yuan had read in the Prime Minister’s Mansion’s internal reports that not a single step of the entire process orchestrated by the Jiatiange to refine Spiritual Essence Specters was clean.

Maybe one or two real local sages might make it each year, but the vast majority of the slots are directly sold off by officials below.

There’s too much profit to be made in the process.

People of the world are all mundane; the older they get and the closer they feel to death, the more they fear it.

Even the wealthiest of the past life frantically researched ways to extend life; people in this life are naturally no exception.

In such despair, the Dayan Dynasty’s system for refining Spiritual Essence Specters becomes the only lifeline for these people.

In order to continue living, they’re willing to pay a substantial amount of money.

As a result, this decree that was once only accessible to reputable locals and elders has now essentially turned into an annual auction extravaganza held by the local governments.

And the item up for auction is the quota for being turned into a Spiritual Essence Specter.

This fact is clearer in the mind of the Emperor and his father than anyone else’s, but neither of them has any intention of rectifying the situation.

The reason being, they’ve given up too much already.

Refining Spiritual Essence Specters annually is a massive public financial expenditure. Given the current dire fiscal circumstances of Dayan, it simply cannot afford to shoulder the cost.

Nothing under the sun is new. How much each level of official can skim off and how much they need to offer up is almost set in stone by unspoken red lines.

If crossed and discovered, it results in family extermination.

The Dayan Dynasty only needs to provide the technology and can use the money of local magnates to cast bodies, and the souls of the magnates to protect peace in their domains.

And what about the magnates who were refined into Spiritual Essence Specters afterward?