What Jingyi's saying sounds more confusing the longer he rambles, and Shen Jiu - whose concept of reincarnation has never extended to fractured souls trapped in weird time pockets - is struck with an increasing urge to tell the kid to shut up.

He scowls instead. "And what do you propose to do about all of that? Do you plan to rescue them from this distortion now that they've been rescued from the storm? Would you like to try performing an exorcism for them while they're still presumably alive?"

Shen Qingqiu may be a professional master cultivator, but science fiction isn't part of his job description, okay?