Han Yu remained standing beside the blood pool long after Meng Jueyan left, her words lingering in his mind like an echo that refused to fade.

The workshop had grown quiet again, filled only with the low hum of formations and the faint, rhythmic movement of the blood within the pool. The corpse continued to float in silence, suspended between life and death, awaiting a completion that had eluded him for years.

"Purpose…"

He repeated the word softly, as if testing its weight.

Meng Jueyan's observation had not been casual. Her Ominous Wind Raven eye did not perceive things in ordinary ways. It translated unseen imbalances into something her mind could grasp, often revealing truths that were difficult to articulate through conventional means. If she sensed a flaw, then it was not a minor imperfection.

It was fundamental.

Han Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, his thoughts deepening.

He had already explored structural integrity. The physical composition of the Jiangshi had reached a stable point. The blood infusion was balanced. The formation arrays were aligned. The curse layers were layered with care. Each component had been refined through countless iterations.

And yet…

Something remained incomplete.

Purpose.

He exhaled slowly and began pacing around the pool.

"How does one give purpose to something that has no will…" he murmured.

His mind instinctively moved toward his existing methods.

Memory Echo.

It allowed him to imprint instructions, embedding commands at a level deeper than standard formations. These instructions acted as foundational behaviors, guiding the Jiangshi's actions.

But they were still…

Instructions.

Rigid and limited.

They did not create drive.

They did not create initiative.

They did not create anything resembling intent.

Han Yu stopped, his gaze fixed on the surface of the blood pool.

"What gives purpose…" he continued, his voice quieter now.

His thoughts began to branch outward.

"To humans… what drives them?"

Desire.

Greed.

Fear.

Desperation.

Ambition.

He listed them one by one, his mind dissecting each concept as if it were a technique to be analyzed.

These were not just abstract ideas.

They were forces.

Forces that shaped decisions.

Forces that gave direction.

Forces that created purpose.

Han Yu's fingers tapped lightly against his arm as he considered it.

"All of these…"

He paused.

"They are born from emotions."

The realization settled in his mind, but it had not yet fully taken shape.

Time passed.

Minutes stretched into hours.

The workshop remained undisturbed.

Han Yu did not notice the passing of time. His thoughts circled the same idea repeatedly, refining it, testing it, pushing it further each time.

Emotion.

Eight Emotions.

He had cultivated them.

Harnessed them.

Refined them into a source of power.

Yet…

He had never considered their application in this context.

He stopped abruptly.

His eyes widened slightly.

"…of course."

The words left his lips with a quiet intensity.

"What drives all of these…"

He looked back at the Jiangshi.

"Is emotion."

The connection snapped into place, clear and complete.

Han Yu felt a sudden surge of clarity, the kind that only came after long periods of frustration.

He had missed something obvious.

Something fundamental.

His mind immediately returned to the one anomaly that had defied his expectations.

The Cursed Phantasm Jiangshi.

He closed his eyes briefly, recalling the moment.

Every detail.

Every variable.

He reconstructed the memory carefully, tracing the sequence of events leading up to its creation.

"I had just returned from a combat assessment…"

The memory sharpened.

Faces.

Movements.

Battles.

He remembered the fights clearly. Most disciples had accepted their defeat without resistance. Facing a Legacy Disciple was expected to end that way. There was no shame in losing to someone of that status.

But one individual…

Had reacted differently.

Han Yu frowned slightly as he searched for the name.

"…Tangmen."

Yes.

That was it.

Tangmen.

The grandson of High Elder Jueshi.

The memory unfolded further.

Tangmen had been different from the others. His ambition had been visible. His confidence had bordered on arrogance, but it had been backed by strength. His cultivation had reached the Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, placing him among the top tier of core disciples.

And more importantly…

He had something to prove.

Han Yu recalled the circumstances.

High Elder Jueshi held significant influence within the sect. His lineage traced back to a past Patriarch, yet his branch had never managed to produce another Patriarch. That legacy carried weight, and with it came expectation.

Tangmen had carried that burden.

For years, he had pursued the position of Legacy Disciple. He had sought recognition, pushed boundaries, and appealed repeatedly through his connections.

Eventually, the Sect Patriarch had given him a condition.

Defeat a Legacy Disciple.

Or at least force a draw.

Only then would his candidacy be considered.

Tangmen had chosen Han Yu.

From his perspective, the choice made sense. Han Yu's cultivation base appeared lower than the others. His rise had been rapid, his experience limited compared to older disciples.

Tangmen had believed he could force a stalemate.

He had been wrong.

Han Yu remembered the fight with complete clarity.

It had not lasted long.

He had used Soul Needle. A technique that Tangmen had been unable to perceive. The attacks had been silent, precise, and devastating and within five minutes, the outcome had been decided.

Tangmen had lost decisively and publicly, which made the humiliation quite intense.

For Han Yu, it had been routine.

Just another battle.

Just another victory.

But the aftermath…

That was different.

Han Yu opened his eyes slowly.

"I remember…"

The emotional backlash had been strong.

Anger.

A great deal of it.

Tangmen's anger.

His frustration.

His resentment.

The disappointment of those who had supported him.

The shock of the audience.

All of it had combined into a surge of Eight Emotions energy. And Han Yu had absorbed it for nearly a week. At the time, he had been working on the Cursed Phantasm Jiangshi.

The timing aligned.

Perfectly.

Han Yu's gaze returned to the corpse in the blood pool.

"…so that is it."