The remnant soul standing at the front was the one that had visited Chu Lingwei earlier today.
He looked up, his eyes fixed on Chu Lingwei with curiosity. "I don't remember."
Chu Lingwei looked at the others, seeing a haze of confusion in all their eyes.
"I think I remember fire," said a remnant soul, likely a spiritual beast. "Sky-high flames."
"I see blood, blood everywhere."
"It hurt."
"There was nothing."
…
Chu Lingwei listened to their fragmented accounts, but not a single useful piece of information emerged.
"From their words, it can be deduced that a war likely occurred here, and they all died," Ru Feng had asked the same question when he first encountered these remnant souls.
No one here remembered what happened in their past lives, only fleeting fragments.
Even she herself was the same.
"So, you knew beforehand that I definitely wouldn't be able to ask anything?" Chu Lingwei's initial hope was tinged with disappointment. She had thought she might glean some useful information from these remnant souls, but there was nothing.
Elder Yu had told her that many spiritual beasts lived in Linglong Stream. Upon entering here, she hadn't encountered a single one, which led Chu Lingwei to suspect something had happened, causing all the spiritual beasts to disappear.
Now it seemed they hadn't disappeared, but died.
They had been slaughtered, all turning into remnant souls, waiting at the bottom of the Zisheng Lake for their three days of freedom every eight hundred years.
"Some things, you only believe when you see them with your own eyes," Ru Feng replied to her in a manner similar to Chu Lingwei's own way of speaking. Unless she verified it herself, she wouldn't believe his words.
Chu Lingwei, "..." Why did the tone of this sentence differ slightly from Ru Feng's usual manner of speaking?
"Do you really not remember anything?" Chu Lingwei asked again, unwilling to give up.
"I can't recall anything. It's all ice here, nothing else." The remnant souls, like Ru Feng, were clueless.
"Thank you."
Chu Lingwei nodded helplessly and thanked them. The eyes of these remnant souls were exceptionally innocent and ignorant. Chu Lingwei didn't want to ask further.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" A remnant soul, standing closest to Chu Lingwei, gazed at her face, his eyes filled with confusion. "Are you a god?"
"I am not."
Hearing the word "god," Chu Lingwei smiled. If only she were a god, she wouldn't be trapped here.
"Then are you... a demon?" the remnant soul continued to ask.
"I am a cultivator." Chu Lingwei, seeing the remnant soul's intense curiosity, decided to sit down and chat with them. Perhaps one day, a spark might ignite, and they would remember something.
"Cultivator." The remnant soul murmured, "What is a cultivator?"
It meant a spirit cultivator, one who absorbed spiritual energy, improved their cultivation, and continuously broke through. Upon reaching a certain realm, perhaps they could become gods.
Chu Lingwei recalled hearing the word "god" from many people. Did gods truly exist in this world?
Upon hearing Chu Lingwei's words, the remnant soul burst into laughter. "No one can become a god through cultivation. Gods are gods; they cannot be attained through cultivation."
Chu Lingwei's eyes widened, and she quickly turned to look at Ru Feng. Seeing him lost in thought, gazing at Zisheng Lake without a word, she turned back again.
"What exactly is a god?"
"A god is a god, it is nothing." The remnant soul couldn't answer Chu Lingwei's question either, lowering its head. "I don't know what it is either. It must be very powerful."
Having spent half a day at Zisheng Lake, Chu Lingwei discovered that all the remnant souls could speak. However, the remnant souls of spiritual beasts who had transformed into humans had no idea what they were saying. They merely mimicked others and could not provide Chu Lingwei with any useful information.
"Can they only stay for three days?" Chu Lingwei and Ru Feng left Zisheng Lake. The remnant souls, like birds released from their cages, began to move about.
Since Chu Lingwei had seen them, they no longer felt self-conscious in her presence, wandering and observing, like children exploring new sights, savoring every corner.
"Yes, after three days, they will automatically enter slumber and cannot be awakened by any means."
"Ru Feng, do you think gods really exist in this world?" Chu Lingwei remembered hearing the word "god" from Ru Feng before. "I don't know."
Chu Lingwei, "..." He hadn't said that last time.
Never mind, he was someone who remembered nothing. Chu Lingwei decided not to dwell on it. To insist would only be to burden herself.
"Chu Lingwei."
The remnant soul who had seen Chu Lingwei for the first time approached her again and sat opposite her, so he could clearly see her face.
"Is there something?" Chu Lingwei was no longer surprised. This remnant soul had followed her for two days, accompanying her no matter what she did.
"Tonight, I will fall into slumber." The remnant soul looked disappointed, propping his chin in his hands. "Will I see you again in eight hundred years?"
"I don't know."
Eight hundred years, such a long time. Chu Lingwei didn't even know if she could live that long.
"If you are still alive, will you come here in eight hundred years?" The remnant soul's eyes held a glimmer of hope. For some reason, he felt an inexplicable familiarity with Chu Lingwei.
"I cannot be certain."
Chu Lingwei dared not make promises about eight hundred years from now. "If I am still alive in eight hundred years and still on the Xuantian Continent, I will come to see you."
A brilliant light sparkled in the remnant soul's eyes upon hearing Chu Lingwei's words. "Okay, it's a deal. I hope to see you when I next awaken."
"Then you must bless me so that I don't die too soon." In the world of spirit cultivation, those who lived for such extended periods were powerhouses who had faced countless life-or-death situations.
Chu Lingwei hoped she would become such a powerhouse.
"I have a premonition that you will definitely live to see that time," the remnant soul smiled. Chu Lingwei could, he knew it.
"Alright, if I am alive then, I will come to see you," Chu Lingwei considered. "If I cannot come myself, I will send my descendants or disciples to see you in my stead, how about that?"
"It's a promise."
The remnant soul lay down on the ice. He spoke of his state before falling asleep. "I always knew there was something important I hadn't done, but I couldn't recall what it was."
If a battle had occurred here, and the spiritual beasts and cultivators had met a tragic end, they would undoubtedly have regrets.
"Sometimes, remembering might not be good." Having died for a thousand years, remembering would only bring more sorrow. It was better to forget, to at least live a happier life.