Chapter 386: Ch 386 : It’s already full here
"No, I didn’t have an accident or anything. I came here on purpose..."
Su Yuan explained to Xiangling, then told her everything that had happened recently.
Xiangling finally came to understand the truth...
"So Adeptus Cloud Retainer... she had already been corrupted and controlled by Eerie. I was turned into a mechanical construct, and that’s how I died..."
Xiangling murmured thoughtfully:
"It’s just that... because I still held on to feelings of longing and regret, I remained here, wandering at the boundary between life and death, unwilling to move on..."
"That’s right—I haven’t achieved my goal yet. I wanted to be able to make delicious dishes from any ingredient... how could I just accept death so willingly?"
"But I also know very well... right now I’m only a soul lingering in this place, and I can’t leave on my own..."
"Xiangling, you don’t have to worry about that. That’s exactly why I came here."
Su Yuan gently patted his body, and in that moment, the souls of Youngtere, Tartaglia, and Hu Tao emerged from within him and appeared before Xiangling.
"Huh? What’s this...?"
Xiangling stared seriously at the scene before her, not quite sure what to say...
"My body is... a bit special. If you attach your soul to me, I can bring you out of the boundary between life and death."
Su Yuan continued speaking:
"You’ll also be able to occasionally borrow my body—keep exploring the world of cuisine, and fulfill the dreams you left behind..."
"Honestly, Xiangling, I bear some responsibility for your death... I failed to warn you. Even though I already suspected something was wrong with Cloud Retainer, I didn’t inform the Ministry of Civil Affairs or the Millelith to seal off Mt. Aocang..."
"I’ve already told you everything that’s happened—The Traveler still hasn’t been found, and Madame Ping’s situation remains unresolved. We can’t afford to stay here any longer..."
"Come on, Xiangling. You’re a chef! The kitchen is your battlefield—how could you just stop here?"
As Tartaglia spoke, he merged back into Su Yuan’s body.
Youngtere and Hu Tao, without another word, also quietly returned to Su Yuan.
Seeing this, Xiangling made up her mind.
She nodded and said:
"Alright... Thank you, Su Yuan."
Then, her form began to dissolve into a swirl of ethereal mist, slowly drifting toward Su Yuan, ready to merge with his body...
But in the very next moment—something unexpected happened...
No matter how hard Xiangling tried to merge, she simply couldn’t enter Su Yuan’s body...
Su Yuan also began to feel a vague sensation—as if his body was instinctively rejecting Xiangling’s soul.
He couldn’t understand it.
Wasn’t his body supposed to be highly compatible and accepting?
Why was Xiangling unable to attach to him?
If this didn’t work... if he couldn’t take Xiangling out of here, then what was the point of coming in the first place?
"Xiangling, maybe something unexpected happened just now. Could you try again?" Su Yuan said.
"Okay." Xiangling nodded and gave it another try, but the result was still the same—failure.
"Huh? This is really strange..."
Even Tartaglia found it unbelievable.
He detached himself from Su Yuan’s body, glanced back and forth between Su Yuan and Xiangling, and spoke with a puzzled expression:
"Su Yuan’s compatibility has already been proven... Even my Foul Legacy armor can be used by him. So why can’t this work?"
"Xiangling, try again," Tartaglia said to her.
"There’s an old saying in Liyue: ’The onlooker sees clearly, while those in the game are lost.’"
"Let me observe this from a third-party perspective and see exactly what’s going wrong."
"Alright. Thank you, Mr. Tartaglia."
Xiangling nodded, thanked Tartaglia, and began her next attempt...
Surprisingly, this time—she succeeded instantly.
"Huh? Looks like there’s no problem after all!" Tartaglia said, preparing to return to Su Yuan’s body as well...
But this time, it was Tartaglia who failed.
"Huh? What’s going on now? Why can’t I attach to Su Yuan’s body anymore?"
Seeing this, Su Yuan suddenly had a moment of clarity and exclaimed, "Ah! I think I’m starting to understand everything!"
Afterward, the group conducted a few simple tests based on Su Yuan’s theory—and the results confirmed it.
"Looks like my body can only host up to three souls at once..."
"Makes sense. Even though my body has high compatibility, there’s still a limit to how many souls it can contain..."
"Otherwise, I could’ve brought out every soul wandering here at the boundary between life and death..."
"But now, here’s the problem—we have four people, and I can only take three. One of us has to stay behind..."
Su Yuan pondered for a moment.
The young boy, Youngtere, definitely had to come along—he still held many secrets, and he could move freely even under the pressure of the eerie force...
And Tartaglia had to be brought out as well.
With his Foul Legacy armor, he could still unleash considerable power in direct combat...
That left only Hu Tao and Xiangling to choose between...
If he chose Xiangling and left Hu Tao behind, how would he enter the boundary between life and death again in the future?
But if he chose Hu Tao, it would go against the very reason he came here in the first place—Master Mao was still waiting for Xiangling to come home, even if it was only her soul...
Just as Su Yuan was caught in this dilemma, someone spoke up:
"Su Yuan, let me be the one to stay behind."
Su Yuan turned toward the voice—and saw that it was Hu Tao.
"Since we came here for Xiangling, of course she’s the one we should bring back..."
Hu Tao spoke gently:
"Besides, whenever I’m in your body, I’m just sound asleep anyway—not really helping much. So let me stay here for now..."
Though Su Yuan felt her reasoning made sense, he still asked:
"But without your guidance and help, how will we be able to enter and leave the boundary between life and death next time?"
"It’s fine. As long as you call my name from outside Wuwang Hill, I should be able to hear you—and then I’ll open the passage for you," Hu Tao replied.
"But... what if you fall asleep again, Director Hu?" Tartaglia brought up.
"No problem! Just have Su Yuan tell me that the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor went bankrupt because of Zhongli’s outrageous bills—I’ll wake up instantly!" Hu Tao said with a grin.
"Uh... alright then..."
Su Yuan nodded and said:
"Hu Tao, take care of yourself. I’ll take them and head out for now..."
Hu Tao laughed and replied, "Hey, I’m already technically dead—what’s there to be careful or worried about?"
"What, am I going to die again and somehow loop back to life from a double negative?"
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