Guardian of the Spirit

"You were just afflicted by a bloodline curse? Who did it?" The young man, Jiang Yuan, frowned.

The young man who had shown goodwill took the initiative to explain: "A kid who has no superpowers but thinks he's extraordinary. When we wanted to send him to live outside, he refused and insisted on staying in the spirit world to prove himself. Now he's being bullied and he's unwilling to accept it."

"what is his name?"

"Jiang Shou."

"Jiang Shou? Bloodline curse? How is that possible? I remember in the 'Complete Guide to Courting Death,' Jiang Shou was killed for cursing his clan..."

The young man, Jiang Yuan, muttered to himself, then suddenly realized something and burst into laughter, "So that's how it is, so that's how it is. The situation isn't so hopeless."

"Hey, what are you laughing at!"

The middle-aged man next to them had a very volatile temper. After firing at the old woman, he turned to face the young man, Jiang Yuan.

The young Jiang Yuan didn't respond. He glanced at the group who were suppressing the bloodline curse and said, "You guys suppress and seal it first. Leave the matter of breaking the curse to me in the future."

"The reason," the clan chief said in a deep voice.

"You can't break the bloodline curse, so don't waste your energy on meaningless things. That's all I can say. If you don't believe me, you can try to break the curse." The young man, Jiang Yuan, became the riddle teller.

"How to say."

The clan leader looked around at the nine elders and asked for their opinions.

The group exchanged glances and began to share their opinions, completely unconcerned about what the young man, Jiang Yuan, would think.

"Wait, it's you!"

Halfway through the conversation, the middle-aged man suddenly realized what was happening, his eyes widened in anger, and he pointed the gun at the young man, Jiang Yuan.

The young man held down the middle-aged man who was about to explode, saying, "Alright, alright, what's done is done. There's no point in getting angry. The most important thing now is to solve the problem."

"You change your tune when you see your own descendants? You shameless bastard!" The middle-aged man laughed angrily.

The young man pretended not to hear and said, "Jiang Shou couldn't have completed the bloodline curse against the entire Jiang family by himself. Someone must have helped him. If we want to wait until the curse is lifted in the future, it's best not to investigate, so as not to alert the enemy. We should act as if nothing happened and leave a handle for them to use against us."

Once someone started, the other elders chimed in, and together they finalized a solution.

"If the bloodline curse doesn't erupt as the other party expected, they will definitely restart it at some important time, such as when the Jiang family is attacked by external enemies. So from now on, the Jiang family should reduce contact with the outside world and try not to go out."

"All those who know the truth, both humans and elves, must have this part of their memory erased to prevent outsiders and traitors from using the bloodline curse. Only by deceiving ourselves can we deceive others."

"Hey, what if they activate the bloodline curse again before you're born and completely break off all ties?"

Young Jiang Yuan shook his head. "I can only provide the beginning and the end. You can fill in the rest yourselves. I can neither provide nor decide the details."

"Leave someone to secretly study the bloodline curse as a backup plan. If the time comes, the guardian angel, Fatty, will tell the Jiang family the truth. As for how to do it, that's a matter for later," the young man added.

The clan leader looked at Jiang Yuan, "Aren't you going to say anything about the future?"

"Everyone here has superpowers, so we should all know that just because we know something doesn't mean we can change it."

The scene shifts again to the lakeside where it all began.

Mu Ruier supported the weak young man Jiang Yuan. The crystal lamp flame was placed close to Jiang Yuan's feet, its flame dim and lifeless, like a candle about to burn out.

"This is my will. It will be automatically destroyed after you read it. Keep both wills as copies. If one is destroyed, the other will be made up. Only my future self can open them."

The young Jiang Yuan handed over two wills and a small crystal ball, saying, "I'll give the crystal ball to him when my superpowers reach the limit of ordinary humans in the future."

The chubby guardian spirit shifted its gaze upwards and extended its tentacles to collect the items.

After the young man Jiang Yuan finished explaining his last wishes, Mu Ruier gripped his arm tightly, her slender fingers turning white from the pressure.

"This is truly goodbye forever," the young man Jiang Yuan whispered in farewell.

“It’s not goodbye forever. I will wait until two hundred years later.” Mu Ruier said firmly.

"Your health isn't much better than mine, just take care of yourself."

"This is what we owe you."

“I already told you, we’re even. Alright, hurry up and refine the medicine to heal your sister. You can’t withstand the memory erosion there for long.” The young man, Jiang Yuan, sighed and tried to pull his arm away, but couldn’t.

Seeing this, Mu Ruier released her hand and stepped aside, saying nothing more.

Young Jiang Yuan slowly squatted down, leaned against the crystal chandelier, and gently closed his eyes.

The five faint flames on the Crystal Lamp Spirit's body instantly ignited, transforming into a raging inferno that engulfed both itself and the young man, Jiang Yuan.

The scene freezes, seemingly only a minute has passed, yet it also feels like a long time has gone by. The fire gradually diminishes, and a few sparks and ashes are scattered by the wind.

"As long as I live to see that day, I will definitely come to save you."

This is the last sentence in the memory of the guardian deity, Fatty.

Rotom ends the projection.

Seeing that Jiang Yuan's expression was blank, the crystal chandelier extended its holder and shook it twice.

"So I'm just like Mu Chen."

Jiang Yuan suddenly burst out laughing.

Having learned that Mu Chen had changed the fate of Mu Ruier and Ji Lingxi, he had said a lot of high-sounding words, but he didn't expect the boomerang to hit him so quickly.

The chubby guardian spirit pulled a small crystal ball, no bigger than a ping-pong ball, from underwater and handed it to Jiang Yuan.

The small crystal ball is waterproofed and has a slightly rough surface. The interior is divided into three areas: white at the bottom, red in the middle, and dark red at the top.

Red and white occupy more than 99% of the space, with red slightly more than white.

The dark red color is the least abundant and is clearly the most important part.

The land of amnesia, childhood memories lost, ancestral home, and the future—this little crystal ball may hold all the answers.

"He didn't explain the purpose of this thing?" Jiang Yuan asked.

“What you see is all I know,” Rotom translated.

After confirming that no important information had been missed, Jiang Yuan bid farewell to the guardian spirit, Fatty, and Gengar, who had left before the memory playback began, and returned inside.

The elves gathered around, staring at the two crystal balls on the table, one large and one small, looking them over from left to right, trying to find something interesting in these two similar objects.

"This smaller one should be a replica of the larger one based on my future self."

Jiang Yuan put away the small crystal ball.

Whatever is inside the small crystal ball, I certainly cannot detect it in my current state.

The future version of himself left a message indicating that only those with superpowers comparable to a master-level peak-stage elf could break the seal on the small crystal ball.

There is a hidden condition before this: the superpower traits and aura must be exactly the same.

The mere fact that he could rebuild his superpowers eliminated the possibility of using the small crystal ball, since his future self couldn't have foreseen that his superpowers would be lost.

Jiang Yuan used to condense his superpowers into gems similar to time crystals when he had nothing else to do, just in case.

However, Jiang Yuan did not intend to use his spare superpower to study the small crystal ball whose protection mechanism was unknown. If he tried it randomly and the superpower failed to connect and the small crystal ball self-destructed, where would he go to complain?

Jiang Yuan preferred to examine the large crystal ball rather than the small one.

Although his intuition told him not to touch the big crystal ball, reality and the future were in conflict, and his fate had already deviated from its predetermined path. Following the rules was no different from sitting and waiting to die; overturning the table was the only way.

Even if everything he does is in vain and he can't change the outcome, he'll still try his best to make things difficult for anyone who makes things hard for him.

Jiang Yuan wasn't one to dawdle. He prepared himself at the table, then carefully touched the large crystal ball, releasing his superpowers.

The crystal ball, enveloped in a soft halo, shone brightly alongside the light of the Enlightenment spell, instantly drawing away Jiang Yuan's consciousness.

Seeing Jiang Yuan's blank stare, Celebi was startled and was about to make a move when Jiang Yuan's eyes regained their clarity.

"Memory, the crystal ball's function is to store memories."

The moment Jiang Yuan's consciousness entered the crystal ball, he understood its purpose.

The colorless and transparent area is empty, while the bottom 30% or so milky white area stores memories; each fragment is a memory.

Jiang Yuan's gaze locked onto a fragment on the top layer of the milky white area. He sensed his mother's presence there and understood.

This memory must be left to him.

Jiang Yuan activated his superpowers to touch the fragment, checking its surface for any offensive mechanisms, and then probed into its consciousness.

Inside the memory was a white space, with nine interconnected doors forming a circle. Jiang Yuan's consciousness was located in the very center, and he could move his gaze.

Inside the doors are scenes of Jiang Yuan and Gu Yu spending time together, but the details inside each door are slightly different.

Clothes, actions, expressions, headdresses, jewelry, colors—you can always pick something different; each scene is similar yet unique.

Can you spot the differences?

Jiang Yuan immediately understood his mother's intention. These things were known only to the two of them, which could effectively prevent outsiders from prying into his memories.

Recalling the past is extremely easy for ordinary people to make mistakes, but it's not a problem at all for superpowered individuals with excellent memories and intuitive abilities.

Jiang Yuan manipulated his consciousness to touch the door that matched his memory and passed through it.

At the other end, there were still nine doors, but the inner door had become another memory scene, where a second round of testing was conducted.

The second, the third, the fourth, until the ninety-ninth correct answer was selected, the nine doors dispersed, and the surrounding white transformed into a familiar hall.

"Dad, Mom, have you ever heard of our ancestral homeland?"

A familiar yet unfamiliar childish, strange voice reached my ears.

Jiang Yuan's gaze involuntarily shifted from the man in the chair opposite him to a little boy of about seven years old standing by the door.

Oh, that's my voice from when I was a child. No wonder it sounded familiar yet strange.

"Ancestral land? Never heard of it." After answering, the man turned his head and looked around, silently asking something.

His gaze moved up and down, seemingly nodding. Seeing this, Jiang's father got up and left the house.

"Why are you suddenly asking about this? Weren't you going to the library to put your will away?" The voice vibrated; it was a woman's voice.

Jiang Yuan understood that he had entered Gu Yu's memories.

"I was in the library... Huh? What did I do there? I think I saw something, asked someone something, but that's strange, I can't remember." Xiao Jiangyuan's expression changed.

"Sigh, is it still impossible to escape the superpowers of the cultivation world?" Gu Yu murmured as she raised her hand. Her right hand, which was clearly empty, magically produced a crystal ball as she lifted it up.

"What is this?" Xiao Jiangyuan tilted his head.

Gu Yu beckoned, and Xiao Jiangyuan dragged a stool over from the side, jumped over and sat down, ready to listen to the story.

“This is a family heirloom left to me by your maternal grandfather. It contains the memories of our ancestors, records the history of our clan, our insights and secrets about superpowers. It is also a guide that can lead future generations to find the ancestral land left by our ancestors,” Gu Yu explained.

"So this is what the ancestral land refers to?"

Xiao Jiangyuan patted his head, somewhat confused. "Huh, my memory just became very blurry, I was even about to forget the words 'ancestral land,' how come it's clear now?"

"The ancestral land is protected by special magic. No matter how you learn of its existence, your memory will disappear in a very short time. Only by carrying this guide can you avoid memory correction." Gu Yu handed the crystal ball to Xiao Jiangyuan.

"Huh? Knowing about the ancestral land will erase your memories? Is that something superpowers can do? What kind of sci-fi movie am I watching?"

Xiao Jiangyuan looked completely bewildered, holding the crystal ball and examining it closely. Then he turned to Gu Yu and asked, "Will I be unable to write or read these two characters in the future?"

"Of course not. This kind of memory correction has nothing to do with listening, speaking, reading and writing; it only has to do with the meaning it is trying to express."

"Oh, so you mean using these two words normally is fine, but if you use them to refer to the ancestral land of your ancestors, even if you use other languages, your memory will be erased?"

"That's roughly the idea. For example, before you asked, you didn't know the meaning of ancestral land. Your memory is normal. After you asked, I understood your meaning and gave it meaning. Your memory was then corrected, and you started to forget things related to ancestral land."

"It feels like a Cthulhu novel, it's ridiculous," Xiao Jiangyuan muttered.

"It's truly absurd that you could learn about the ancestral land from the library. The Jiang family has no connection to the ancestral land. Why would those two words appear in the library and be known to you? It just so happens that I understand the inner meaning. This matter is definitely not a coincidence. Moreover, the crystal ball is with me, which conveys how the people or things of the ancestral land retain their memories."

"It seems to be more than just two words, there are many words. No, I'll go to the library again. This time I'll bring the crystal ball so I won't forget."

"Wait, listen to this first before deciding whether or not to try to find out."

Gu Yu called out to Xiao Jiangyuan, "It is said that there is a treasure left by our ancestors in the ancestral land. It contains countless riches, superpower manuals, medicines that can bring the dead back to life, powerful elves, anything that can make you rise to the top in one step, and the secrets of this world."

"secret?"

“The gifts from our ancestors are not given for nothing. Taking over the treasure is equivalent to inheriting their will and carrying out what they did not finish.” Gu Yu’s tone was meaningful.

"Forget it, you're just asking for trouble." Xiao Jiangyuan waved his hand dismissively.

"You can't take it over even if you want to."

Gu Yu extended her index finger and gently tapped Xiao Jiangyuan's forehead. "Only the Enlightenment Technique can activate the crystal ball to find the ancestral land hidden in the deepest part of the alternate dimension."

"The crystal ball is here, has no one gone to look for it? Or is it that no one can complete what the ancestors wanted to do?"

"do not know."

"You haven't seen the memories of the other people inside the crystal ball?"

“I’m not interested in any of these things.”

"What if someone got wiped out on the way and threw the crystal ball into another dimension?"

"Uh, maybe."

"How did the crystal ball get back?"

"Who knows? You're always thinking about all sorts of strange things in your little head."