（16）

On this night, the bright moon hung high in the sky, and Yuwen Lei sat under the ancient pine tree as usual, meditating. After several days of meditation, he was able to enter a state of selflessness quickly. "This time, I will surely find the spiritual energy!" Yuwen Lei secretly vowed to himself as he breathed in and out, slowly closed his eyes, and entered his innermost depths.
This is a pitch-black world where nothing can be seen or heard. Yuwen Lei is wandering aimlessly, and he doesn't know how long he has been walking. The darkness is like an endless fog enveloping him, and there seems to be no hope in sight.
Yuwen Lei felt a bit bewildered, even a bit discouraged, and he wanted to lie down and rest for a while before making a plan.
Suddenly a voice came, the voice was elusive, it seemed very close but also very far away: "You can't lie down, you have to keep going, the spiritual energy you're looking for is ahead." Yuwen Lei was shocked: "Who is it?" Who is inside his own heart?
"It's me, can't you tell?" The originally gentle voice became a bit impatient.
Yuwen Lei cautiously probed, "Are you Zixiao? But why does your voice sound completely different?"
"Alas!" the voice sighed lightly, saying, "The Purple Silk you speak of no longer exists within you when I entered your body. I am now speaking to you as the Elemental Spirit of the Blue Crape Myrtle, which carries all of Purple Silk's memories."
Although Yuwen Lei had already heard the truth from Zixiao, hearing it again from Yuanling, he felt sorrow once more, "It's all because of me that she's in this situation."
"Actually, you don't have to be too sad," Yuanling's voice came gently again, "As long as you do as I said, Zixiao can appear in front of you again."
Upon hearing this, Yuwen Lei went from sadness to joy and perked up to listen to what Yuan Ling had to say next: "Don't be lost, just keep moving forward and soon you will see a purple Biyou flower ahead. Yes, that's me. Inside my petals lies a gem that emits a colorful light, that's the original form of your soul bead and the source of your spiritual power. You just need to place your hand on it, feel it carefully, and resonate with my spiritual power. Otherwise, I'll have to transform into someone else instead of reappearing as Zi Xiao. Do you understand?"
Yu Wenlei shook his head and said, "I think I still don't quite understand what you mean."
"Keep walking forward and don't stop. Once you stop, it will be very difficult to come back here. I will guide you while telling you my secret. After listening, you will understand."
After Yuwen Lei listened to Yuan Ling's words, a flurry of flower petals floated in front of him. The petals fluttered like a purple butterfly and flew forward. "Follow it, it will take you where you need to go," Yuan Ling said. Excited, Yuwen Lei quickly followed.
What's the relationship between me and Zixiao? Let me think about how to explain it so that you can understand it.
I am the elemental spirit of the Biyou Vine, and I have existed in this world for a thousand years. Zixiao is not the first spirit I have manifested, strictly speaking, she is the third one.
Five hundred years ago, by chance, I created the first humanoid spiritual body and named her Ziling. Later, for some reason, Ziling disappeared from the world, and all her memories and emotions returned to me.
I originally intended to re-manifest her, but I found that it wasn't as simple as I imagined. Although I can manifest a spiritual body, I have no control over what kind of person I manifest. It is completely random.
Another thing, when I transform into a humanoid spirit body, I will fall into a deep sleep, only existing as her spiritual source until the day she is gone, and then I will wake up again.
In order to let Ziling appear again, I performed a second transformation two hundred years ago, and the facts proved that my previous reasoning was correct.
This time, a girl named A'wan appeared in the transformation.
A Wan is clever and intelligent, with extremely high comprehension. She demonstrated mastery of her spiritual power from the moment of her birth. By her tenth year, she was already unmatched on this continent. With her talent and diligent practice, she was certain to achieve a successful cultivation and ascend to the high heavens. However, she was unable to escape the fate of love, just like Zi Ling. This ultimately led to her downfall and untimely death.
Although Ah Wan's spiritual body disappeared, her memories and perceptions returned unchanged to my physical body. This is perhaps the greatest advantage of having an elemental spirit. Even though the spiritual body has passed away, the soul is still immortal. You humans, although called the spirits of all things, once you die, your form and spirit disappear together.
Okay, enough digression. As I said, Awang's cultivation level is astonishing. I have found a way to transform the target spirit body from her memory, which can also be used to revive previous spirit bodies.
Yuwen Lei was chasing after the petals brought by the wind while listening carefully to the words of the elemental spirit, afraid of missing any important information.
The elemental spirit paused for a moment and suddenly continued, "We're almost there. Let me give you the method directly. When you place your hand on the gemstone, the one that makes you feel warm is the resonance of spiritual energy. Unlike most people, who only have one type of attribute in their spirit power, you have more than one, so you must feel carefully and find the same type of spiritual power as Zixiao's to pull it out. This way, Zixiao can be saved. Clear?"
"Well, this time I completely understand. Don't worry, I will definitely bring Zixiao back to life!" Yuwen Lei clenched his fists, looking at the purple Biyuhua with a faint blue light, which was already in front of him, and vowed.