When Jack opened his eyes, his body felt lighter than ever. However, when he looked down at himself, he discovered that he was covered in some black oily substance that smelled really bad. He almost threw up at the smell of it but managed to force it down. “What the hell is this stuff?”

As he thought that to himself, he quickly exited the tree crack he was hiding in and used the high ground to locate a river or a bond or a lake. He desperately needed some place to wash this all off from him. With that in mind, he quickly located a river and after picking up his things, he started descending to the ground. Going down was a lot quicker than getting up the tree. In only a few minutes, he was on the ground and after a few glances around to orient himself, he started making his way towards the small river he had seen from high above.

As he made his way through the woods, he always kept a look out around him. Although the man had said that there would not be any beasts for the first month, he didn’t know how much he could trust the man. When he arrived next to the river, he took a look around and after seeing no one nearby, he took off all of his clothes and threw them into the river with him. The black oily substance was extremely difficult to wash off from his body and it took him nearly half an hour to scrub himself clean from it.

After he was done, he looked at his clothes and sighed. He knew it was impossible to get the clothes clean. After giving the clothes one last glance, he looked at the Thousand Forms Armour. What he was pondering was on how to bind it. He unsheathed the blade a bit and after a moment of hesitation ran his index finger alongside the sharp end. With a wince of pain, he quickly dropped a drop of blood on the Armour. However, nothing happened.

Just as he was frowning, he thought of another thing. He tried to urge the strand of Qi he had into the next drop of blood. When the Qi infused drop of blood touched the Armour, it disappeared into it. A wide grin was on Jack’s face as he succeeded. He immediately felt a weird sensation in his mind. He could instinctively feel the Armour. With but a thought, he could make it change into another form. After experimenting with several different forms, he made it look like his clothes from before. A black T-shirt and black trousers.

After putting them on, they felt weightless. He could see himself wearing them but he felt as though he was wearing nothing at all. After stretching a bit and seeing that these clothes didn’t restrict his movements one bit, he turned his attention towards the blade. He looked at his still bleeding index finger and tried to do the same with the blade. After the drop of blood was absorbed by the blade, another connection appeared in his mind. He picked the blade up and unsheathed it for the first time. It was a simple single edged, completely straight blade. The blade itself was pitch black with red grooves running along the blade in a Tribal Pattern.

As he inspected the blade, he tried a few swing and he felt as though he was swinging a branch around. The blade felt weightless in his hands. After a few more swings, he sheathed the blade and felt inside his body for the first time. He had felt that his body was drastically different from last night but the urge to get the black stuff off of him was far stronger than looking at the changes. When he felt the amount of Qi roaming around his body, he was shocked.

When yesterday, he had only a single hair width thread roaming around, then today, there was nearly a dozen of them roaming around his body. He had no idea how that was possible but as he was inspecting the threads, he suddenly discovered that there was a thirteenth one that suddenly appeared. Shocked, he had his mind follow the thread back to a small figure. He felt shock. Not from the figure but being able to see inside his body. He hadn’t thought how to do it but before he knew it, he had instinctively done it.

This method of looking inside ones body was done subconsciously. Once one focused on the feeling on Qi inside his body, they would be able to look inside their own body. When the shock of seeing inside his body subsided, his face turned serious as he inspected the small white figure that was sitting at where his stomach should be. The first thought he had was to consult with the [Nether angel Art] to see if there is any mention of this small figure in there. To his dismay, however, there was no mention of it.

Though there was a mention of something similar called a Nascent Soul, he should be far, far off from it. As he kept a close eye on the small figure, observing it, he discovered that the figure was constantly taking in Qi from the surroundings, refining it and channelling it into Jacks body. With no idea how it worked, he found himself a quiet place, hidden from the surroundings and sat down cross legged.

With a deep breath, he focused all of his attention on the small figure and started observing it.

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***

As Jack was observing the unknown small figure that was refining Qi for him, inside the large hall, all of the men were deadly silent. The reason for this was the addition of a single man in similar but different robes. The man’s face was cold as he looked at the Chief and said, “That boy will get a monthly allowance of 10 Qi Gathering Pills and 5 Healing Pills. Also, keep a close eye on him. No matter if he gets in the Top 1000 or not, he will join the Wardens. Should anything that may hinder his future happen to him, you will all be locked in Tartaros for the rest of your lives.”

Hearing this, the people present all gulped heavily. One man however grit his teeth and said, “This is too much. The outside forces are going to cause a ruckus because of this obvious bias.”

The cold man then said indifferently, “Then let them. If they can produce another person that is able to cultivate the [Nether Angel Art] then they will receive the same sort of bias. If they can’t, then they can shove all those complaints up their asses for all I care.”

These powerful and domineering words could only make the people smile wryly. The man then said as he turned to walk away, “The Council has put special attention on this boy and I do not need to remind you, there is a very important reason for it. Should anything happen to him….”

With these words left behind, he disappeared. When the man had disappeared from the room, all of the people in it let out a deep breath as their gazes converged on the Chief. Sensing the gazes, the man let out a deep sigh and said, “That is the Council’s order, none of us can defy it. Prepare the Qi Gathering Pills and Healing Pills. I will personally go and deliver them to him this time.”

Hearing this, one man nodded his head and left the room for a moment. When he came back, in his hand, there was a simple unadorned black ring.

He handed the Chief the ring and when the man got the ring, he said, “Realm Spirit, take me to him.” After saying so, he disappeared from where he was.

***

Inside the small cave, Jack was immersed in observing the little figure. The more he observed him, the more he felt like he understood something but at the same time, the more confused he became. As he was completely immersed, a sudden voice jolted him awake. “That little figure is your Martial Spirit.”

Hearing this, Jack looked up and saw a robust middle aged man in front of him. Seeing the man, Jack was alarmed and just as his hand reached for the blade, the man said, “Not every person who cultivates has a Martial Spirit but everyone that does is a Peerless Genius.” Hearing this, Jack stopped his hand and listened. The man sat down in front of Jack and continued, “The Martial Spirit you have is called the Ethereal Martial Spirit. It is extremely beneficial for cultivation but in combat, it had no use. There are some Martial Spirits that have no use in cultivation but are extremely helpful in combat.”

Hearing this, Jack stared at the man seriously and asked, “Is it harmful?” The man shook his head and said, “No, it is not. It is actually extremely beneficial to you. It will keep rotating Qi according to your Cultivation Art all the time. Even when you are sleeping, or travelling, it will keep cultivating.” He then rubbed his chin and said, “If you cultivate at the same time, it will be double the result in half the effort. The other major benefit it has is that it will help you see the faults in your cultivation and fix them.”

Jack sucked in a deep breath as he recalled the mysterious gut feeling from before. “So it was this Martial Spirit thing that was telling me how to cultivate the Art right….” As he mumbled that to himself, the man’s eyes turned sharp. He asked, “What do you mean?”

Jack looked at the man with a sheepish smile and said, “When I first started cultivating the Art, I had this mysterious feeling that something wasn’t right with the Art. When I followed the feeling and fixed what felt like errors, the Art itself changed.” Hearing this, the man raised a brow before he asked, “The Art itself changed?” Jack shook his shoulders and said, “The description changed, saying something that only those that are fated have gotten this far and stuff.” Hearing this, the man let out a deep sigh as he said, “So that’s the reason no one was able to cultivate it….”

Hearing this, Jack’s ears perked up. The man looked at Jack with a helpless expression and said, “Since the creator of the Art, you are the first person to be able to cultivate it. Also, due to that, special attention has been attached to you by the higher ups.” Hearing this, Jack didn’t know what to say. In all honesty, he had no idea whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. The man flicked his sleeve and a ring flew in front of Jack.

The man then said, “This is a Spacial Ring. Inside are 10 Qi Gathering Pills and 10 Healing Pills. Instructions on how to use them are inside the Ring. Also, we have included a brief overview of the History of the Eternal Wardens.” Hearing this, Jack picked up the small black ring. As he examined it closely, the man said, “You should know how to bind Artefacts, so I won’t go over it with you. Just remember, the higher ups have put special attention on you. Do not endanger yourself unnecessarily.” After saying so, the man disappeared from the cave. Jack looked at the ring and back to the blade next to him.

He grimaced, “Couldn’t they have found a less painful and barbaric way of binding things than with blood….” With a sigh, he cut his finger again and dropped a Qi Infused drop of blood on the ring. When the blood was absorbed by the ring, another connection appeared in his mind. He gave a weird chuckle and shook his head, “I will never get used to this weird feeling.”

With but a thought, his mind entered the ring and he saw two jade bottles and two jade slips inside.