Ink painting did not blink, speaking with utmost seriousness.

Upon hearing this, Cang Hai nodded, “So that’s how it is…”

He had been thinking about the problem, only measuring it with common sense. He had fundamentally not considered that something so precious, something he didn’t even dare to dream of, like the Water Prison Forbidden Box, was now in Ink painting’s hands.

He also fundamentally had not considered that Ink painting, a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, could actually “steal” this supreme inheritance of the Water Prison Gate from the cunning, deceitful, and vicious Water Yanluo.

Ink painting was afraid the Elder Upon would overthink, so he quickly asked him another question:

“Since Water Yanluo has pupil techniques, does that mean although he doesn’t cultivate the Upright Evil method, he more or less knows the method to observe the Dao Prison map on the thought jade box?”

Cang Hai’s expression solidified, his attention indeed drawn by this question.

He pondered for a moment and nodded, “Very possible. Since he can use pupil techniques, it suggests he has more or less stumbled upon a certain method.”

“Then if his pupil technique becomes greatly accomplished, won’t it be very powerful?” Ink painting asked.

“He cannot become greatly accomplished,” Cang Hai shook his head.

“Why?” Ink painting was puzzled.

Cang Hai’s expression was solemn as he sighed, “Pupil techniques may not be that simple. The inheritance of pupil techniques in the cultivation world is originally very rare. Except for some pupil techniques that require a certain powerful bloodline to cultivate, all other transmissible pupil techniques are without exception related to the divine soul.”

“The way of the divine soul is strange and unfathomable, difficult to grasp.”

“Since it is related to the divine soul, then it’s not something that can be understood by just looking at a picture.”

“That pupil technique of Water Yanluo’s, its power may not be bad, but it only has form. Fundamentally, it’s still a minor path, greatly different from the true pupil technique inheritance of the Water Prison Gate.”

Ink painting asked, “Is it related to the divine soul, or related to divine sense?”

“Divine soul.”

“What’s the difference?”

“This…” The Elder Upon was stuck again, his expression troubled. “The doctrines of my Water Prison Gate have already declined. The difference between the divine soul and divine sense, I only know that there is one, but I cannot clearly explain it…”

Ink painting stared at the Elder Upon, seeing his bitter gaze, clearly not lying, and so he did not delve further.

After pondering for a moment, Ink painting asked another question:

“On the Water Prison Forbidden Box, there is a secondary Dao Prison map, and the map contains the cultivation method for the forbidden technique… What about inside the forbidden box?”

“Since it’s called a ‘forbidden box’, it’s a box, it should be openable, right?”

“What’s inside the box?”

Cang Hai still smiled bitterly, “The Palm Gate’s forbidden box cannot be opened by anyone who is not the Palm Gate. I also don’t know what’s inside the forbidden box, but I guess it should be some superior Dao law inheritance that only the Palm Gate of the Water Prison Gate can learn.”

“For example, the Water Prison Technique you mentioned?” Ink painting asked.

“Possibly,” Cang Hai nodded.

“Besides that?” Ink painting asked again.

Cang Hai shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.

Ink painting then said, “Then how to open this box…”

The entire box was like a single piece of jade stone, with no lock, no key, not even a gap…

This sentence was just about to come out of his mouth, but Ink painting swallowed it back.

The Water Prison Forbidden Box was not in his hand on the surface. If he said that, it would likely cause the Elder Upon’s suspicion again.

Cang Hai pondered, “The condition for opening the box is very strict. One must learn the pupil technique and also feed it with the Palm Gate’s essence blood. But the specific method, I, an elder, am just not too clear.”

Ink painting glanced at Cang Hai, sighing in his heart.

This Elder Upon, everything he said was not to the point, all superficial. The core problems, he knew none of them.

If the doctrines of the Water Prison Gate were broken, it was truly not surprising at all.

He also didn’t know if he truly didn’t know, or was pretending not to know.

Ink painting shook his head.

Asking further wouldn’t get him anything, so Ink painting stood up to bid farewell. Before leaving, he remembered something and asked Cang Hai again:

“Right, what is the name of the Water Prison Gate’s pupil technique?”

Cang Hai hesitated for another half while before slowly opening his mouth, “According to the sect records, this pupil technique is named… Seven Souls Blood Prison Pupil.”

“Seven Souls Blood Prison Pupil?”

Ink painting nodded, remembering the name. He turned to leave, but was called back again by Cang Hai.

“Little brother…”

Cang Hai’s expression was worried, containing a trace of hope, as he asked, “Can this forbidden box still be recovered?”

“Rest assured,” Ink painting comforted him, “I will have Uncle Gu quickly pursue and capture Water Yanluo. As long as he is caught, it can be recovered.”

Cang Hai felt slightly comforted and cupped his hands, “I have troubled little brother.”

Leaving Cang Hai, Ink painting pondered in his heart:

Should he return this forbidden box to the Elder Upon?

Since it was the supreme inheritance of the Water Prison Gate, it should naturally be returned to its original owner. It wouldn’t be good for him to secretly embezzle it.

But there was no hurry now. He would play with it first and then see.

Moreover, the Elder Upon was now in this state, dependent on others, not secure from morning to evening. Returning it to him might instead bring him disaster.

He would wait until he was a bit more stable, then secretly give it to him.

This was also for his own good!

Ink painting righteously found an excuse for his own little thoughts.

Currently, this forbidden box was safest in his own hands!

After that, Ink painting went to see Aunt Wan, had a meal, and then returned to Tai Xu Gate, continuing to research the Water Prison Forbidden Box in his disciple residence.

“There must be something inside the box…” Ink painting thought.

But he couldn’t open it now, and even if he could, what was inside was necessarily all superior Dao laws that he couldn’t learn.

Even if he learned them, with his current spiritual power, which was insufficient compared to others and more than enough compared to himself, he fundamentally couldn’t use them.

So, there was no rush to open the box. Learning the pupil technique was good.

Ink painting vaguely felt that this pupil technique was perhaps more suitable for him than those precious superior water element Dao laws of the Water Prison Gate that were not passed down to non-Palm Gate members.

It didn’t require spiritual power, was concealed, and could trick people.

Moreover, generally speaking, with his divine sense strength, he shouldn’t be afraid of any backlash.

But the problem was how to learn it?

Ink painting carefully pondered his conversation with the Elder Upon, roughly summarizing several points:

The cultivation method for the pupil technique was hidden in the Dao Prison map.

Learning this pupil technique required cultivating “Upright Evil”.

The mystery of this pupil technique was also related to the “divine soul”.

This pupil technique was named Seven Souls Blood Prison Pupil.

Seven souls…

Ink painting looked at the jade box in his hand again. “But the prisons, sinners, and punishments on the map are all eight?”

What did Seven Souls mean?

Furthermore, Seven Souls might be related to the divine soul, so what was the connection between the divine soul and divine sense?

Ink painting sighed.

“A bit troublesome…”

Every casual word was a difficulty.

These cultivation methods that opened up new paths were truly profound and obscure, making them difficult to fathom.

“According to the Elder Upon, the pupil technique is related to the divine soul. Perhaps the phrase ‘divine soul’ is the key to penetrating this ‘Seven Souls Blood Prison Map’ and also the key to cultivating the Seven Souls Blood Prison Pupil…”

“Divine soul, exactly how should it be understood? And what knowledge does it contain?”

A clever woman cannot cook without rice.

With too few clues, Ink painting couldn’t guess anything based on just a name.

Although he was walking the path of using divine sense to prove the Dao, he had just started cultivating, and his master was gone. The road ahead, he could only explore himself.

“Divine soul…”

Ink painting began to count in his heart, going through everyone he knew, to see who would be better to ask.

First, Old Master Xun definitely knew.

But the old master seemed to be worried about something recently, busy, not too convenient to disturb him.

Huang Shan Jun should also know. After all, he was a mountain god. Although different from the past, he still had experience.

But he was a bit far away.

After thinking back and forth, Ink painting decided to go ask Elder Xun Zi Xian.

Elder Xun Zi Xian was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, a Three-Grade Array Master, with very deep attainment in arrays, and was also very interested in the way of divine sense.

Most importantly, he got along very well with Elder Xun Zi Xian.

Elder Xun Zi Xian was also very kind, without any airs. As long as he could say it, he would probably tell him everything.

Ink painting then took the time to make a trip to the elder’s residence and visit Elder Xun Zi Xian.

It was his first time coming to Elder Xun Zi Xian’s residence. What met his eyes were arrays, rows of jade slips and classics. Other than that, there was nothing else. Just one look and he knew that Elder Xun Zi Xian’s learning was profound.

After entering the door, a child servant greeted him.

These child servants were also from large families, sent to the clan elders at a young age to serve tea and water for the elders and enhance relationships.

At the same time, being with high-cultivation elders day and night, they subtly received the edification of the Dao and could also lay a foundation for future cultivation.

Don’t look down on them just being child servants, but many people fought tooth and nail for this position.

Those who could be child servants all had extraordinary origins.

Ink painting reported his intention, and the child servant went to report to Elder Zi Xian.

Xun Zi Xian was just drawing an array. Upon hearing that Ink painting had come, he just thought for a moment, then stopped his pen, invited Ink painting in, and ordered the child servant to serve tea.

The child servant who served tea respectfully said “Yes,” but was a bit surprised in her heart.

Uncle Zi Xian had very high attainment in arrays and was highly valued by the sect, but his temperament was eccentric, and he was never so polite to people.

Normally, if someone disturbed him drawing an array, he might even be very angry. How was his attitude so good today?

The child servant muttered in her heart, and after serving the tea, she couldn’t help but secretly size up Ink painting.

Ink painting then chatted with Elder Xun Zi Xian while drinking tea.

“Divine soul?”

“Yes,” Ink painting said, “I recently encountered an elder from another sect and heard him mention the matter of ‘divine soul’. I was a bit confused for a while and couldn’t figure it out myself, so I came to consult with you, Elder…”

Xun Zi Xian took a sip of tea, his gaze profound as he looked at Ink painting, “Some things, you cannot randomly learn.”

Ink painting smiled awkwardly, “I’m just curious.”

Xun Zi Xian said indifferently, “You tell me the cause and origin, and then I will decide whether or not to tell you.

Ink painting sighed in his heart.

Elder Xun Zi Xian, indeed, was profoundly learned and sharp-minded.

He was not unworthy of being an array expert like himself.

But the matter of the Water Prison Forbidden Box was not too good to talk about.

Seeing Ink painting hesitate, Xun Zi Xian said, “Just say it simply, no need to be too specific. I will have a rough idea in my heart. Otherwise, I won’t be able to explain it to the old ancestor there.”

Ink painting pondered for a moment and nodded, “Okay!”

He sorted out his words slightly in his heart and then said, “I helped the Dao Court Division with a small matter, investigating a case, and encountered an evil cultivator. This evil cultivator has a strange pupil technique…”

Xun Zi Xian raised his eyebrows, “Pupil technique?”

“Yes,” Ink painting said, “This pupil technique can seize hearts and minds, very troublesome. It is said that by observing a picture, one can cultivate it.”

“I asked a knowledgeable elder, and he said that this method of observation is related to the divine soul, but he is not proficient in the way of divine sense, and the specific methods within, he also couldn’t explain clearly. Therefore, I came to ask you…”

“Pupil technique, divine soul, observation…”

Xun Zi Xian silently pondered in his heart for a moment and nodded, “I know.”

“Then…”

“I can tell you about the matter of the divine soul.”

Ink painting was greatly pleased, “Thank you, Elder Xun!”

“But, let me say this first,” Xun Zi Xian’s expression was slightly solemn as he said to Ink painting, “Spiritual power and flesh have form, while divine thought is formless. Therefore, the knowledge of the way of divine sense, including the divine soul, is mostly deduced by cultivators based on experience and is not necessarily very accurate.”

“What I tell you is also just the cultivation knowledge I have heard, learned, or researched myself over hundreds of years.”

“I feel this knowledge has no major errors, but if there are indeed mistakes, it is not impossible. Therefore, when you listen, pay attention yourself. You cannot not believe it, but you cannot fully believe it either. The balance within, only you yourself can grasp.”

Xun Zi Xian spoke very rigorously.

Ink painting nodded seriously.

Xun Zi Xian saw Ink painting’s serious gaze and knew he understood his meaning, so he nodded slightly, “First, there is a difference between divine soul and divine sense.”

“Low-level cultivators only know divine sense and barely come into contact with things at the level of ‘divine soul’. Even if they occasionally say words like soul and so on, they are mostly unclear.”

“In fact, not only low-level cultivators, most cultivators, up to Golden Core, even Featherization, may still be completely ignorant of the way of the divine soul.”

“Because the existing cultivation system only targets spiritual power and flesh, divine sense has always been just an auxiliary. Except for a very few cultivators who take unusual paths, almost no one cultivates divine sense as their main focus…”

Xun Zi Xian looked meaningfully at Ink painting, then stretched out his slender finger and pointed at his own forehead.

“In a person’s sea of consciousness, reside the three souls and seven souls.”

“The three souls are the Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Life Soul.”

“The seven souls are Corpse Dog, Fu Jian, Sparrow Yin, Yan Thief, Non-Poison, Remove Filth, and Smelly Lung.”

“Among the three souls, the Heaven Soul and Earth Soul roam outside the cultivator’s body, residing in heaven and earth, unfathomable and difficult to name. Only the Life Soul stays in one’s own body and is closely related to life.”

“The Life Soul is the foundation, and on top of the Life Soul, the seven souls parasitize. Souls are not born without life, and life is not prosperous without souls.”

“These three souls and seven souls are collectively called the divine soul.”

“The divine soul is the root of a cultivator’s divine thought. The thought power derived from it is called ‘divine sense’.”

“Where there is soul, there is thought, and there is sense.”

Ink painting’s gaze shook, and he suddenly realized.

Elder Xun’s words let him know more secrets of the way of divine sense, but the more he knew, the more confusion he had in his heart.

“Divine sense is actually not the foundation of the sea of consciousness, but just derived thought power?”

Xun Zi Xian nodded and explained:

“You are an array master, you should have profound experience…”

“Divine sense will recover every time it is consumed.”

“If divine sense itself is the foundation, once used up, wouldn’t divine sense have broken its root? How could it still recover?”

“Precisely because divine sense is a derivative of the divine soul, as long as the divine soul is still there, after divine sense is consumed, it will naturally be derived from the divine soul again.”

Xun Zi Xian gave an example: “The divine soul is like a tree trunk, and divine sense is just the branches and leaves on the tree trunk. Branches break, leaves fall, but as long as the tree’s root is still there, branches and leaves can still grow out again.”

Ink painting nodded continuously, “I understand, just like chives. As long as the root is still there, cut one crop, and there will still be another crop!”

Xun Zi Xian was silent for a moment.

He felt Ink painting’s saying was a bit strange, but upon careful thought, it was quite fitting.

“Consider it so…”

“Then what is the relationship between this divine soul and pupil technique? Must pupil technique rely on the divine soul to cast?” Ink painting asked.

Xun Zi Xian nodded, “Correct. You need to understand one point, divine sense itself is passive, it has no killing power.”

Ink painting was startled.

Elder Xun’s words were a bit counterintuitive.

Because in his sea of consciousness, he always relied on divine sense to kill all sides.

But upon careful thought, it seemed right.

His great killing of all sides relied on the divine thought incarnation, as well as the divine thought power catalyzed by the divine thought incarnation, not divine sense itself.

Pure divine sense was those evil spirits that drilled into his sea of consciousness, coveting every inch, wanting to swallow the pure thought power.

Xun Zi Xian saw Ink painting understand and nodded slightly, continuing:

“Externalization of divine sense, you should be familiar with. But externalization of divine sense is not essentially externalization, but a kind of ‘sensing’.”

“Just like when you look at things, it’s not that you are ‘looking’, but that all kinds of light and shadows in the world gather into your eyes, making you have the feeling of ‘looking’.”

“Looking is essentially passive. Externalization of divine sense is similarly so, it is a kind of passive sensing.”

“Externalization of divine sense does not possess power.”

“Regardless of Qi Refining realm, Foundation Establishment realm, or even Golden Core realm, they all externalize divine sense. But between each other, divine sense does not harm each other, at most they sense each other – assuming you can sense it, of course.”

“And if you want to condense divine sense and make it possess power such as killing, bewitching, and deterring, then you must condense the divine soul within the divine sense.”

“With the divine soul, divine sense then has killing power!”

“The divine soul then has killing power…” Ink painting’s expression was dazed, and he silently recited.

He recalled all his experiences with divine thought confrontation, thinking carefully, and gradually had some realization.

According to Elder Xun Zi Xian’s saying, so far, all the thought bodies he had seen indeed contained two levels:

Soul and thought.

Ghosts have ghost souls, corpse evils have corpse souls, and demon evils have demon souls.

This word “soul” is complex to say, but simply understood, it is equivalent to the “self-will” of the evils.

With this self-will, the evils can kill people and eat people.

And once it is erased, the evils are only left with pure thought power.

That is to say, evils can harm people because they themselves have a greedy and evil “evil soul”.

Once this soul is erased, the evils no longer exist. What is left behind is just pure “thought power”.

This thought power has no killing power and can be “eaten” by oneself.

Ink painting’s thinking gradually smoothed out, and he slowly said:

“Why does a cultivator’s externalized divine sense have no killing power? Because… the externalized divine sense is just pure ‘thought power’. It does not contain the divine soul, that is, it does not contain a certain special ‘will’, so it cannot harm people.”

“Conversely, if you want to kill with divine sense itself, you must condense part of the ‘divine soul’ in the externalized divine sense and inject a certain ‘will’?”

“Correct,” Xun Zi Xian said with pleasure.

“But can the divine soul be externalized?” Ink painting asked again.

Xun Zi Xian shook his head, “It’s not called externalization. In the way of divine sense, there is a special saying for this, called…”

Xun Zi Xian’s gaze was slightly solemn, and he lowered his voice, “Divine soul leaving the body!”

Divine soul leaving the body?!

Ink painting’s heart suddenly jumped.

So, that Dao Prison map on the Water Prison Forbidden Box was essentially just a method to cultivate “divine soul leaving the body”?

Divine soul leaving the body…

In Ink painting’s mind, various thoughts floated and sank, still somewhat chaotic for a while, but he vaguely felt that a powerful gate of the divine way was gradually opening to him.

His divine thought incarnated sword also seemed about to “come out of its sheath”…