Chapter 2344: Soul Shackles

Zu An collected his thoughts. Since there was currently no way to save Xie Daoyun, he could only put the matter aside and complete the other important tasks he needed to deal with right now. If he continued to soak in negative feelings like bitter resentment or frustration, and the women around him ended up in danger, he would only be able to watch as it all happened. That would be the most foolish choice.

He took inventory of all of the things he'd obtained from the storeroom. The most important formation texts had been lost with Xie Daoyun. However, he'd alreaady learned the Secrets of Spatial Distortion, which was already enough to make up for the formation knowledge he was lacking. To a certain degree, he could now even modify the formation to become much more amazing than what Donaire had made before. Thus, the fact that he no longer had those formation texts from the storeroom wasn’t a big issue.

They did explain the formations that kept the city running, its defensive formations, and other such things. However, destruction was easier than creation. Even though he didn’t know the fundamental principles behind those great formations, it wasn’t too hard for him to destroy them.

Of course, the areas where the important formations were located were all heavily guarded by the Monster Lord’s soldiers. There was no way for outsiders to get close at all. He had to find a way to get to them. Fortunately, he already had an idea…

Apart from the formation texts, there were also many medicine and poison manuals. Those were Ji Xiaoxi’s area of expertise.

At first, Zu An thought that because had the Baopu Sutra, learning all of those things wouldn’t take up too many Rage points. But when he saw the crazy amount of points they all cost, he was completely stunned.

Is there a mistake somewhere here?!

Are you kidding me? Not even the Myriad Transformations took that many Rage points. Why would I spend that much on medical skills?

The system didn’t react to his doubts at all. Instead, Mi Li suddenly said, “Come over here to where I am. I have something to say to you.”

Zu An was a bit surprised. His soul quickly entered the space inside the Tai’e Sword. Normally, only another sword could enter, but their souls were already bound together, making movement inside extremely convenient for him.

Mi Li was wearing a red dress, lying on a large bed. Her figure was so incredible it was as if the heavens had shown her special favor. She was so beautiful that it almost harmonized with the dao. Her head was resting on her chin; her beautiful and cold eyes seemed to be half open, and yet half closed. Her presence was shockingly alluring.

Even Zu An, with his current level of mental composure, couldn't help but become a bit absent-minded. But he quickly snapped out of his daze and thought inwardly, Mi Li always likes to appear like this. Is she not scared of scoliosis?

“Are you thinking something bad about me right now?” Mi Li opened her eyes and looked at him with an unhappy expression.

Zu An shivered. He quickly said with an apologetic smile, “No way, I was just amazed by big sis master’s beauty.”

Mi Li showed a faint smile, but quickly hid it. “Hmph, you’re always praising your master’s beauty. There’s not even a bit of respect.”

“This is what I really think, so I said it naturally. I hope big sis master doesn’t find it too strange,” Zu An said with a straight face.

Mi Li was rather fond of these words. She did her best to stop the corners of her mouth from curling up into a grin. “Why aren’t you calling me master empress anymore? Master is just master, and what big sister? There’s no respect at all.”

Zu An sighed. “With how things are right now, I’m not a complete idiot, you know? Just what incredible ability did Qin Shihuang have for him to take you as his wife? Since you aren’t a true empress, of course I can’t call you empress anymore. Otherwise, if I keep calling you master empress, it makes you sound like a married woman. I feel as if that would be disgracing big sis master.”

The many secrets Mi Li had told him definitely weren't things an empress was supposed to know. Even though she'd never said it explicitly, she had definitely held extremely high status in the past. She seemed far more mysterious than even the Necropolis Emperor.

“Married woman?” Mi Li’s face turned a bit red and she harrumphed. “What kind of nonsense is that? Moreover, don’t you like going after others’ wives sometimes? You definitely didn’t go easy on the women of the capital, and you even have Madam Wu outside of that.”

Zu An was speechless.

When she saw how awkward he was, Mi Li couldn't really continue with this topic. She harrumphed again and said, “Whatever, I’ll stop picking on you. The reason you can’t learn those medicinal arts is simple. Even though the human form is the preferred one for all souls and is capable of the most efficient cultivation, human bodies carry certain shackles. Think back to all the famous people in history. How many of them were the best in every field?”

Zu An was stunned. He gradually came to realize what was going on. For example, Zhuge Liang had been almost unmatched in strategy, but his fighting strength was almost negligible. Lu Bu had almost been the strongest in the world, but he hadn't been very bright. Han Xin had been like a deity when he wielded arms, but he was as naive as a child in politics…

Even in the Cultivation World, the late libationer had been outstanding in many fields, and his talent hadn’t been inferior to Zhao Han’s. However, it was because he'd studied too many fields that he couldn't compare to Zhao Han in terms of cultivation and strength.

There were too many of such examples.

Mi Li chuckled when she saw his expression. “It seems you already understand. The mental energy of humans is limited. Once you reach the highest level in one area, that will make it harder for you to reach the same outstanding level in another field. The only ones who could do such a thing are the legendary deities.”

Zu An was a bit hesitant. “But cultivators are full of mental energy, and their souls are really strong. They should have enough mental strength to study all sorts of different things, right?”

The humans in his previous world had all just been ordinary people, and yet they were all full of mental energy. The cultivators of the modern world didn’t even need to sleep much, and their bodies made them almost different species from normal humans.

Mi Li explained, “The things cultivators learn require a tremendous amount of mental energy, far greater than what the knowledge of ordinary people can compare to. Actually, the principles are similar. Ever since the creation of the world, whether it's humans or other creatures, their souls have had certain invisible and intangible shackles. People are fated to not be able to reach a higher level in too many domains.

“As for someone like you, who has already reached this level of achievement in several areas, that already makes you a genius among geniuses. But no matter how great of a genius you are, there is still an upper limit. Thus, if you want to learn medicine and poison, you will discover that the cost is extremely great, to the point that it’s almost impossible.”

Zu An became momentarily silent. He was now walking down the cultivation path and the formation path, and also had some appearance-transforming skills, reaching a very high level in all of those fields. That wasn't even factoring in weapon and pill refinement, food, or other fields yet. If not for the fact that he had the system to help him, it would have been pretty much impossible to reach this level in so many fields. However, the system still couldn't help him without limit. He had finally reached the ceiling for these additional subjects.

“Is there a way to remove these limitations or shackles?” Zu An asked.

“Since ancient times, there have only been very few who have succeeded.” Mi Li shook her head. “Even among the legendary deities, there are only a few who have been able to do so.”

Zu An was shocked. “Even the deities have to endure these restrictions?”

“Of course. This is an ironclad principle across the various realms. It can even be considered one of the most fundamental laws of the universe,” Mi Li replied.

Zu An remained silent for a bit before suddenly asking, “Could it be that humans, or even the creatures of the entire universe, were made by a certain being? Otherwise, why would all creatures have these shackles?”

Mi Li shook her head. “This is something that the most powerful beings in the cosmos have asked, but they have never been able to obtain an answer. The most popular belief right now is that there is a deity across the realms that controls the balance of dao, the balance of yin and yang, five phases, life and death… thus preventing any individual from becoming so powerful that they can transcend beyond those limits. The shackles I mentioned earlier could thus be seen as a measure used to maintain balance. Otherwise, if every creature could reach the highest level in every field, there simply wouldn't be enough resources across the worlds. The balance would also be broken, and even the entire universe could collapse…”

"A deity who controls the balance of dao…” Zu An was surprised. He had never thought too much about it before. There were too many examples of such balance in his normal life. For example, wherever venomous snakes roamed, there would usually be detoxifying herbs nearby. Some poisons and spiritual medicines often accompanied each other…

Wait, isn’t this the same as those shitty game-balancing metrics?

“I would recommend not thinking too much about this. I've already told you too many things I shouldn’t have.” Mi Li had a grave expression. “But I was worried that you would end up having your dao heart shaken, so that was why I explained these principles to you. If you search any deeper, you might be seen by a certain being and bring destruction upon yourself.”

Zu An quickly stopped trying to learn more about those individuals. “Thank you for the reminder, master. But judging from what you were saying, it seems there are ways to undo these soul shackles, right?”

Mi Li voiced her agreement. “There are some people who managed to undo the seals, but I don’t know how. You don’t need to deliberately search for them either. All those who managed to achieve such a thing were incredibly blessed by natural luck. It’s not something you can force.”

Zu An nodded. He didn’t continue to dwell on the issue, and instead asked about Xie Daoyun.

“I already know about the matter of that young woman. Don’t worry, you'll reunite soon,” Mi Li said.

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