The time flew by quickly and the next full moon was due. In the evening Alex went over to Wang Hao’s place and it was already bustling with activity.
During the time in the sect, purely out of habit, Alex quickly learned and mapped out the general situation in the core region. The whole valley was split in sixteen parts, each belonging to one of the grand elders with the owner of the last region being the sect master himself. The higher the standing of the grand elder, the closer they were located to the sect master.
Alex’s guess was that the core sect was created in a snake formation, but to verify that he needed to climb one of the mountain ranges, thus he postponed the endeavor for now.
To Alex’s great surprise Lou Chen turned out to be ‘number three’ grand elder and, according to the old man, it was all thanks to his combat prowess. The two guys ahead of him were ‘old monsters’, how other grand elders called them, but he never actually battled them and was not clear who was stronger.
Strangely enough Wang Hao was number four and his area bordered with Lou Chen’s. Probably because of that the two old men with time became something like friends.
One had to note though, Wang Hao was completely different from the grand elders number one, two and three, who were basically loners and rarely took disciples. He had over twenty disciples one of which, to Alex’s great surprise, turned out to be Muchen.
In order to accommodate his disciples and promote their growth, Wang Hao created training grounds for them to practice techniques and spar. Of course, even when people of this caliber only sparred, there was inevitable destruction in the surroundings, thus after a couple of decades of hard work Wang Hao devised a peculiar metallic alloy and covered with it an area in a size of approximately half a football field. Obviously it still got damaged, but it was much easier to repair. In addition, it also served as a simple arena for the few official tournaments the core disciples had.
While only a pair of disciples could spar there at a time, several hundreds could fit in neat rows if standing still or sitting – just like they did now. All the core disciples and junior elders who were not in the closed door cultivation came to listen to the sect master’s lecture even though they knew the subject and had practiced the ‘Soul merge’ technique for decades.
There was another strange thing about this lecture – the sect master ordered the new core disciples sit in the very front. It went against all the traditions of the sect, but since it was the sect master’s order, no one objected.
When Lou Chen heard about it, he was certain the sect master was targeting Alex, but the latter only welcomed the challenge. Seeing that attitude Lou Chen shook his head and told Alex to wait – he would understand Lou Chen’s worry after learning the technique.
Thus, on the ‘auspicious evening’ Alex arrived while deep in thoughts. The thing he needed the least now was to become overconfident. While he had a lot of knowledge, why would he dare to compare it with the monsters who had lived for centuries? And that was if he didn’t take the difference in their physical abilities into account.
The sparring arena was packed full, but almost no one spoke awaiting the sect master’s arrival. In fear of not getting a good spot, many disciples came already in the morning. Alex, of course, being one of the new, was guaranteed the seat in the very front. Under hundreds of curious, envious and condescending eyes he went over and sat right next to Muchen.
Alex had guessed correctly – Muchen was the youngest core disciple from this batch, not counting him, of course. But if one didn’t take into account that he was actually not a formal disciple, to these youths, who according to Alex’s understanding, looked like middle aged men and women, he seemed like an actual toddler, thus the hate and contempt was understandable.
Alex felt that Muchen had tons of questions and was itching to talk to him, but under the hundreds pairs of eyes was shying off. Thus Alex only whispered ‘let’s talk another time’ and Muchen barely visibly nodded in agreement.
The sect master arrived right after the nightfall. Alex quickly understood why the man chose this particular night to start the lectures – the small stage he was sitting on was at the east side of the arena and the moment the sect master sat down, the moon in full brightness crawled over the mountain range illuminating the valley and everything in it, in particular the man on the stage.
The sect master didn’t shy off to use trivial tricks – he emitted light amounts of Qi that under the moonlight slightly glowed, creating impression of him being a higher or a holy being, and at the same time infused the voice with Qi to manipulate the minds of the audience.
After the earlier deliberation, Alex didn’t hold back and brought up his soul brand fueling it with Qi to the fullest, and keeping it that way for the rest of the lecture. It did take some effort, but was definitely worth it considering how many times the sect master tried to poke in his mind. Of course, at the same time it increased the sect master’s interest in him, but it was not like the guy intended to let him go in the first place.
If one ignored the danger that came from the sect master, already the beginning of the lecture was more than shocking.
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After the formal nonsense that contained pure brainwash, the sect master began to talk about concept of time. This was the subject Alex was the most interested in, since the way of altering ones lifespan by living in a peculiar formation was something new to him, but then came an unexpected turn in the subject.
“… but the fundamentals of time manipulation don’t come from stone slates or the symbols displayed on them! Now listen carefully! If you ever want to make a significant progress in your cultivation or, maybe some day become a true immortal, you have to understand that the ‘time’ as you understand it DOES NOT EXIST!”
The end of the sentence the sect master shouted out so loud, his voice echoed through the dark valley and was accompanied by gasps of shock from the audience. Of course, most of the present disciples knew what he was talking about, but the way the sect master spoke made them feel as if they were here for the first time and their reaction didn’t differ from that of a newbie.
After disciples calmed down a bit, the sect master continued, “The time, of course, exists … BUT … in a different dimension! We are used for everything to happen in three dimensions, but, in fact, everything happens in four!”
While Alex was about to agree that such concept had its merits and seemed logical, the next part made him furrow his brows.
The sect master said, “And that, my dear young friends, allows for everything happen at the same time! It is too hard for you to understand that tomorrow and yesterday, as well as today are happening at the same time, but for now you’ll have to trust me on this. And with this we have come to the most important part that is also the basis of the ‘Soul merge’ technique.”
After making a theatrical pause, he continued, “Who do you think we are? Or what we are? What are we made of? Yes, if you say – flesh, you are correct, but only partially. Where do you think our consciousness, our thoughts, emotions and knowledge lie? Some might say – in the heart, others – in the brain … BUT THEY ALL ARE WRONG!”
Alex was already getting annoyed with the sect master’s manner of shouting out partial phrases in order to make a stronger impression, but what came next forced him to ignore it, “Everything comes from the soul! Even our fleshly bodies are born because of our souls! But that is not all! Our souls are too complex for a single body to handle, thus sometimes they tend to split to be born in another body! BUT! Luckily for us it ALL happens at the same time and not the past or the future! And I will teach you how to reverse the process allowing your soul to become one once again and as a result achieve the immortality!”
Alex, of course, ignored the immortality part, but the rest of information made his mind fall into a mess. Theoretically it did make some sense, but at the same time didn’t. Currently he would’ve loved to have Adil at his side to discuss the subject, but luckily the sect master came to help, albeit unwillingly.
Probably banking on Alex becoming confused or absent minded, the sect master used a real mind technique assaulting Alex’s consciousness, but luckily the soul brand in a form of a huge Wheel of life stood like a fort. Alex immediately sobered and it even seemed that the attacker paled suffering from a backlash, but it also could’ve been an illusion created by the reflection of the moonlight.
Be as it may, from that moment on Alex didn’t loose his concentration for a split second. This charismatic lecturer was after him and, probably, after the rest of the disciples, but their fate didn’t bother Alex much. If the ‘Soul merge’ technique was what he thought, he was in real danger.
And the rest of the lecture that continued for over two days confirmed Alex’s suspicion.
The sect master slowly, many times repeating the same information over and over, allowing the disciples to digest it, explained the concept of the split souls and how they were connected, how it was possible to sense them only through the time dimension.
Basically this fourth dimension, be it either ‘time dimension’ or ‘soul dimension’ was the key for everything. Through it one could bypass distances and time flow, but even if one could do such miraculous feat as to soul merge with their other lives, one could not alter them in any way. The sect master’s explanation was that if was due to ‘universal laws’, but unfortunately he didn’t dwell on those in details.
The part of the time being the fourth dimension brought an endless confusion to the disciples, but the sect master was not expecting miracles. This was not the first generation of disciples he saw and would not be the last.
When on the third day he finally came to the technique itself, to his big surprise Alex realized there was not a single mention of the soul particles. The Soul merge could only be considered a partial cultivation technique, since it used Qi only to find their split souls and thus allowing the person to become stronger by letting their soul to merge with, what Alex would call, another ‘incarnation’ or ‘rebirth’. But the physical growth occurred only because of the reverse effect from the strengthening ones soul, not actually improving their original body’s physical capabilities.
After Alex returned to the Lou Chen’s place, he sat down next to the old man, who was fishing like he continuously did for the past days, and silently stared in the distance. They were sitting like that for several hours until Alex finally spoke.
“What are the chances of me getting away from this place and never be found?” He asked.
Lou Chen looked at him with a sad smile and said, “Do you think I would be here if it was possible? The sect master … he somehow knows how to find people. I’m not sure if it is an ability or a technique, but he easily catches those who divulge sect’s secrets on other continents and exterminates whole towns if needed.”
“F*ck!” Was the only thing Alex could say.
He knew there were clairvoyants in the world – he even one in the Hallancia kingdom and cardinal Theodor also was one, but for the sect master to be clairvoyant was a bad luck. Although, on the other hand, maybe it was better that the guy had such ability instead of another powerful combat related or one like the ability to see the soul particles. Maybe there was a chance?
After another period of silence, Lou Chen asked, “What do you think about our sect master now?”
“I think his immortality is bullsh*t.” Alex directly said, “After he absorbed his own split souls or lives, no matter how you call them, he found a way to somehow absorb the souls of other people, although I don’t understand how it should work yet. It does not make him stronger, but as long as he continues to absorb them, he continues to live. If I understood correctly, when one absorbs their split soul, their appearance slightly changes – those are probably the minute things you noticed about him, but the guy is so skillful he manages to hide them, almost manages that is. And it’s also why he only absorbs the talented disciples – relatively young people with strong souls. It probably is the thing that allows him to remain middle aged forever. Of course, there might be some kind of side effects, but that also could only be my wishful thinking. What else? After absorbing the particular soul he claims he guided the disciple to the Immortal realm and all that nonsense. Did I forget anything?”