PD -Chapter 174 The Burden on My Shoulders

The moment I pulled Tang Shanshan into my arms, the ceiling light in the room flickered twice and suddenly went out.

At the instant our bodies touched, golden light began to shimmer between us.

I stared blankly at the glow connecting us. Tang Shanshan looked even more astonished, her jaw practically dropping.

We slowly separated and raised our hands, carefully bringing our palms together. As soon as they touched, a faint golden radiance once again appeared between them.

“W-What is going on?” Tang Shanshan asked, her eyes wide.

The light felt warm and comforting rather than frightening, so despite her surprise and curiosity, she wasn’t particularly scared.

After a moment of stunned silence, I told her to lie still. Then I carefully guided a thread of spiritual power through my body and examined both of us.

When observing my soul through inner vision, I could clearly see that its shape had changed slightly. It was as if a perfectly smooth sheet of paper had been crumpled into a ball and then unfolded again—wrinkled all over, with parts of its edges missing.

As for Tang Shanshan, an ordinary person with no spiritual power, her soul should have been pure white.

Yet surrounding that white soul were strands of golden spiritual energy drifting gently through the air.

The moment I saw that golden energy, I recognized it immediately.

It was my spiritual power.

A realization suddenly struck me.

Back in the consciousness realm, in order to save her, I had burned my own spiritual essence to break the chains imprisoning her.

Apparently, the power I had sacrificed hadn’t completely vanished. Instead, it had transformed into spiritual energy and remained inside Tang Shanshan’s body.

Our intimate contact just now had caused that lingering energy to resonate with me. Since it originated from the same source as my own spiritual power, this strange phenomenon had occurred.

Of course, another reason was that Tang Shanshan had no idea how to control that fragment of spiritual energy.

As I thought about it, a bold idea suddenly emerged in my mind.

If Tang Shanshan learned how to control spiritual power, and if she could strengthen it by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth…

Then she might be able to become someone like me.

She might even be able to study the Records of Heaven’s Profound Mysteries.

But I quickly dismissed the thought.

I didn’t want her to become entangled in this world anymore.

“Is that your spiritual power?” Tang Shanshan suddenly asked.

At that moment, our hands were still resting on top of each other. I opened my eyes and looked at her in surprise.

She must have seen the golden spiritual energy surrounding her soul, which was why she had asked.

But seeing one’s own soul required the ability to perform inner vision.

An ordinary person would need years—sometimes even longer—of cultivation before they could barely grasp the basics. Yet Tang Shanshan had managed it effortlessly.

I stared at her in astonishment.

She seemed to see right through my thoughts. Pulling her hand back, she looked somewhat at a loss.

I let out a sigh and finally decided to tell her the truth.

“I saw a lot of things while I was trapped by her,” Tang Shanshan interrupted before I could speak.

Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and rolled down her pale, exhausted face.

“A lot of… terrifying things.”

I sighed again and pulled her into my arms, no longer paying attention to the golden light surrounding us.

“I won’t let you get hurt again,” I said in a low voice.

But Tang Shanshan held back her tears and stubbornly shook her head.

“I’m not afraid.”

Although her voice trembled with emotion, she continued, “Even though I know none of it was actually done by me… do you know what it feels like to watch her use my body to do all those things? Sometimes I can’t help feeling as if those actions were somehow my responsibility too.”

“No. That’s not true.”

I took hold of her hands and looked into her sorrowful eyes.

“Everything the Ghost Emperor did has absolutely nothing to do with you. It was all carried out under her control. You’re the greatest victim in all of this.”

“But I keep dreaming about the things that were released through my hands, hurting innocent people everywhere.”

She buried her face against my chest.

“That feeling… I can’t find peace because of it.”

I wrapped my arms around her more tightly, my heart aching for her.

Yet all I could do was pat her back and reassure her that none of it was her fault.

Then Tang Shanshan suddenly seemed to remember something.

Slowly lifting her head from my chest, she looked up at me.

After hesitating for a moment, she asked,

“You said some of your spiritual power is still inside me. Does that mean I can cultivate Daoist arts like you and become stronger?”

I froze.

Of course I understood what she was thinking.

She wanted to cultivate, become a spiritual practitioner, and help save innocent people.

I hesitated.

Under the circumstances, it wasn’t impossible for Tang Shanshan to learn Daoist arts and even develop spiritual power.

But once she stepped onto that path, it would mean spending the rest of her life dealing with evil spirits, ghosts, and supernatural horrors.

Only those who had walked that road understood how dangerous it truly was.

When I remained silent for a long time, Tang Shanshan seemed to understand exactly what I was thinking.

She frowned and slipped out of my embrace.

“I’m not the little girl who knew nothing anymore,” she said. “If… you won’t help me, then I’ll just have to find my own way.”

I sighed.

This woman really had me completely figured out now.

After saying something like that, how could I possibly ignore her and let her charge into danger alone?

The old saying was right.

Once you fall in love, neither your heart nor your freedom truly belongs to you anymore.

To be honest, I had never been someone with especially lofty moral standards.

Of course, I understood ideals like protecting the nation, maintaining peace, and fighting for the greater good.

And with the Records of Heaven’s Profound Mysteries in my possession, my ancestors had often spoken of family teachings such as the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

But I had always treated those words as background noise.

Before all of this happened, my study of the Records of Heaven’s Profound Mysteries and the cultivation of its spells and secret arts had been driven by nothing more than curiosity.

I had never once dreamed of slaying demons and protecting the world.

Even after becoming involved in supernatural incidents and helping others deal with paranormal crises, my primary goal had simply been to earn some money and make a living.

Yet Tang Shanshan—a young woman far younger than me—had just spoken so passionately about protecting innocent people that it left me feeling ashamed.

And the truth was, this entire chain of events was connected to me.

There was no way I could stand by and let Tang Shanshan face those dangers alone.

Perhaps it was finally time.

Time to become a real man.

Time to shoulder the burden resting upon me.

And time to use my abilities to do something for this world, which now stood on the brink of countless dangers and crises.