Chapter 3 Night Tour

Chen Hai's body lay on the cold ground, just inches away from the cliff's edge.

Controlling his leech-like divine soul, he attempted Body and Soul Unification to re-enter his body and restore himself to normal.

Most people's soul power is too weak; if they lose their soul and lack external help, they have little chance of returning it to its rightful place.

Before devouring the Essence Qi of the Snake Demon, Chen Hai could achieve soul departure, but he was unable to control his own actions.

At that time, he definitely couldn't achieve Body and Soul Unification and have his divine soul return to its place.

If he were lucky, someone might find him by the cliff by tomorrow morning.

He speculated that religious con man Limp Zhang would make a hefty profit from his parents once again.

Just a few days ago, his parents had invited Limp Zhang over. Besides treating him to fine wine and meat, they had given him a big red envelope with 333 yuan when he left.

These days, farmers are poor, and their life is hard.

The year's harvest from the fields, after paying various contributions and taxes, was enough to keep them from starving but never resulted in any cash on hand.

In his free time, Chen Hai's father, Chen Zhonghua, would work laboriously as a cart-puller in town, and after a day's hard toil, he could hardly earn ten yuan.

To the nouveau riche in town, a red envelope with 333 yuan might not mean much, but to Chen Hai's family, it was a considerable sum.

Now, having entered the second realm of Tao Cultivation, Night Tour, Chen Hai's soul power was immeasurably stronger than that of an ordinary person.

He had already gained fine control over his leech-like soul body and didn't take much time to master the trick of returning the divine soul to its place.

Being near the edge of a cliff was a bit dangerous; a slight misstep could result in a fall.

Considering this, Chen Hai, who had recovered, promptly distanced himself from the place.

After spending nearly half an hour, he stopped only when he arrived back near a small hill by the schoolyard wall.

Chen Hai had always been extremely interested in the bizarre aspects of Tao Cultivation.

Having unwittingly stepped into the second realm of Night Tour, he was filled with excitement and had no desire to sleep.

He put aside the thought of returning to his dormitory for the moment and simply sat down cross-legged beside a bush near the small hill.

Then, his leech-like soul once again departed from his body, aimlessly drifting around him.

As a divine soul, he could freely transform between human and leech forms.

However, after transforming into a leech, floating in the void seemed to bring him more comfort.

In the dense night, he experienced soul departure and reintegration intermittently, finding the sensation novel and thoroughly enjoyable.

His leech-like form might seem awkward, but in reality, its speed, once unleashed, was startlingly fast.

After a rough estimate, Chen Hai felt his top speed could reach around fifty kilometers per hour.

Unfortunately, his current state prevented him from straying too far from his physical body.

When his leech-like soul reached a distance of about fifty meters from his body, his sensing of his own body became very faint.

At the same time, that feeling of lightness, as if he might be blown away at any moment, would return to overwhelm him.

"It seems my leech-like soul can't actually touch physical objects!"

"The reason I could devour the Essence Qi of the Snake Demon earlier was simply because it wasn't the Snake Demon's real body, but its soul."

"To put it plainly, the Snake Demon's soul and my leech-like soul exist on the same frequency!"

"It's just not clear whether ordinary people can see my leech-like soul with their naked eyes."

...

The nearby darkness offered no amusement to speak of.

After the initial novelty of soul body departure had passed, Chen Hai began to ponder the matter once more.

In order to fund his education, his family had already accrued a considerable amount of external debt.

His recent illness compelled the Hai family to sell off their only valuable asset, an old sow, in a haste.

Having genuinely achieved some success in Taoist skill cultivation, Chen Hai's first thought naturally turned to how he could make money to improve his family's livelihood.

Unfortunately, as he sat tilting his head in thought, he simply couldn't find a starting point.

The Snake Demon he had consumed did possess some talents for bewitching people, but him? He had the Realm yet had no idea how to use it.

Upon reuniting with his body, Chen Hai furrowed his brows and began to sift through the bizarre and chaotic knowledge in his mind.

The information that had flooded into his head after glimpsing that terrifying being was mostly incomprehensible to him.

Now, he merely wished to extract some simple and useful information from that influx of knowledge.

"So it turns out, for a Divine Soul to manifest in reality, it first needs a focal point."

"My body inherently exists in reality; the connection between my soul body and body is naturally unified."

"Using this connection, if I regard my body as the anchor, could my leech-like soul easily manifest itself in reality?"

After reaching this conclusion from the simple information he had gathered, Chen Hai's eyes brightened.

But then his gaze dimmed again.

Because he had no clue what use there could be for the leech-like form he could take if it manifested!

Was he supposed to scare newly rich tycoons with it?

Then play the part of a religious con man, volunteering himself to perform exorcism and make money?

At first listen, this avenue for earning money might seem viable, but upon closer consideration, Chen Hai dismissed the idea.

After all, few of the newly rich nowadays were people to be trifled with!

And in their eyes, Chen Hai was still just a naive youngster.

If he approached them offering exorcism services, without care, they might very well invite him out with a steel pipe!

"Forget it, I'd better focus on Cultivation; the matter of making money can wait for another day!"

With a sense of resignation, Chen Hai sighed and muttered to himself.

Sitting cross-legged, as he was about to start his visualization Cultivation, a scattering of footsteps reached his ears.

"It's already after midnight, who would still be coming up the mountain at this hour?"

Frowning slightly, he glanced at his digital wristwatch.

To ensure that he wasn't being deceived by a Snake Demon as before, and that he wasn't experiencing hallucinations, Chen Hai's soul departed from his body and drifted towards the source of the footsteps.

"Qian Bing, why have you brought me up to the mountain so late?"

"The school gates have been closed for a while now, but I've heard we can climb over the back wall. Don't ask so much, just follow me!"

"But I feel kind of scared..."

"Scared of what! As long as you're with me, you've got nothing to worry about!"

Bursts of conversation clearly reached Chen Hai's ears.

Then, two figures he was fairly familiar with came into his view.