Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 40. Soul Imprint.
“He really recovered quite a lot,” a young woman’s voice rang out beside Yin, startling him quite a bit. Just like the villagers, he had been blinded by the powerful azure light; but even if he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have noticed when this crimson-clothed woman appeared by his side. “The blood of such a strong Absolute Water lineage lives up to its reputation. It’s quite a surprise it somehow ended up in a lower realm,” she added carefreely, being in a great mood after having finally regained her freedom.
Yin gulped down, too nervous to say anything or even to move too much. He could tell this woman was suppressing her aura, but the power dwelling inside her seemed to be enough to wipe him out with a mere breath. None of the experts of the Forbidden Lands could be compared to her! She wasn’t just on an entirely different level; she was realms apart from them! And it most certainly was just her very weakened state!
“Fuu,” the youth standing at Laien’s side breathed out, then sealed his energy inside his body, preventing any of it from leaking. The azure light covering him disappeared, only to have him wave his hand before Laien could take a better look at him.
Laien sucked in a cold breath when he realized he was now standing on top of the Holy Tree’s trunk, shoulder to shoulder with Yin and with the two mysterious figures in front of them. What’s more, the thick branches of the Holy Tree were all moving apart, creating a flat area in the middle for the four of them to stand at. This kind of magic… at what level would one need to be to wield it?
“Saved by two mortal children,” the youth with the appearance of a fourteen-year-old said with a rueful smile. His hair was neither short nor long; it was only a little longer than Laien’s. However, it shone like priceless blue diamonds and appeared rather otherworldly; just like the youth’s eyes, his blue eyes with a beast’s black pupils in the middle. Laien had never seen a true dragon himself, but at the moment he was quite sure of it; those were the eyes of a dragon!
“Why don’t you show them a little more appreciation?” the young woman, looking to be perhaps eighteen years old said with a beautiful, enticing… almost mesmerizing smile on her face. She hid her mouth behind her hand and chuckled quietly, seeing the two young boys looking at her with such intense gazes. She shifted her weight from one leg to another, her long and lush, crimson hair moving along with her body. Her hair seemed to be burning with the most ancient of fires, just like her ruby-colored eyes which held seemed to hold whole worlds within them. She was simply gorgeous; definitely the most beautiful, and at the same time the most powerful woman Laien and Yin had ever seen in their lives.
“Snap out of it!” the young woman reprimanded with a laugh and hit Laien and Yin on their heads with her knuckles; very lightly, just enough to wake them up from the trance. “Don’t tell me your wills are so weak you can’t resist my charm even when I’m actively suppressing it? Do I need to take a form of an old lady for you two to calm down?” she asked teasingly, then chuckled when she noticed her little brother sulk. Was he really being jealous of those two boys?
“You don’t need to,” Laien replied with a strong blush on his cheeks. “This form is much better,” he added reflexively before he could bite his own tongue.
“I’m glad to hear that,” the young woman laughed merrily and tousled the azure-haired youth’s hair, preventing him from sulking too much.
“I’m fine too,” Yin said quickly, his face just as red as Laien’s. However, unlike Laien he did manage to stop himself from making a silly comment.
The young woman laughed once again, quite amused by the innocent reactions of the two boys. “How about we sit down? Talking while standing isn’t the nicest thing,” she suggested and sat down, after what the azure-haired youth did the same. Laien and Yin naturally didn’t object and seated themselves on the top of the trunk of the Holy Tree.
“It doesn’t look like you are the demons from this village’s story,” Yin said daringly, having calmed his emotions down. The blush on his face subsided, only leaving his cheeks slightly reddened.
“They made us into demons?” the fiery-haired young woman asked with a laugh, but at the same time, the look in her eyes turned grim.
“Ironic,” the azure-haired youth said with a sigh, silent anger reverberating in his voice. “They were much more like demons than we could ever be, yet they called us demons after everything they had done.” The youth shook his head, by this point pitying those people more than hating them. After all, could you really hate a mindless beast controlled by its desires for lashing out at you? You could be angry with that beast, you could detest it and want to kill it… but you wouldn’t hate it.
“So the story we heard about you was also a lie?” Yin inquired, very much wanting to hear the real version of events from back then.
“I don’t know what that story was,” the azure-haired youth replied. “But if they call us ‘demons’, then I’m pretty sure they made us into the evil ones,” he added with a little smirk. He wouldn’t have expected anything else from those bastards from ten cycles ago.
“How come someone as strong as you two got sealed?” Laien asked pretty bluntly. He doubted the Starlight continent held powerhouses strong enough to overpower those two even in their weakened states, so what in the world had happened?
The azure-haired youth and the fiery-haired woman fell silent for a bit and exchanged a look. After that, the azure-haired youth said helplessly. “We got caught up in a fight between utter freaks. The shockwaves caused by their battle destroyed the major world we had been in and threw us into the chaotic boundary between the realms. We exhausted virtually all of our strength trying to keep ourselves alive and miraculously were thrown into this minor world just as our souls were about to shatter.”
Laien and Yin were dumbfounded just by listening to this azure-haired youth’s words. They got caught up in a fight? Just the shockwaves from the battle were enough to destroy a so-called ‘major world’, and they fell into this place, a ‘minor world’? Good Heavens! They already thought those two were powerful, but there existed people so far beyond their level? This was simply far too frightening.
“So,” Yin spoke up impatiently, like a child excited to hear a story told by an adult. “The part about them giving you shelter to recover from injuries was true at least?” he asked for the sake of asking; obviously that part must have been true, otherwise those two would have never been captured.
“There usually is a grain of truth behind every lie,” the fiery-haired woman said with a smile, unintentionally causing Laien and Yin to blush a little. “That Durash Clan and their High King had been good to us at first, but after a few days they began with their unreasonable demands,” she said and clicked her tongue, yet somehow managed to still look extremely charming despite doing something so childish.
“Don’t remind me of that,” the azure-haired youth said with a frown on his face. “Those bastards were too greedy. If they just provided us shelter and allowed us to recover, we would have rewarded them more than enough! But they wanted everything; our secret techniques, ancient knowledge, even our bloodlines! They weren’t better than animals, sending us their ‘high born’ daughters and sons and shamelessly asking us to copulate with them!” the youth trembled in renewed anger, only calming down when the fiery-haired woman put her hand on top of his.
“Enough about the past,” the azure-haired youth said and shook his head. “Are there any other things you are curious about?” he asked with a slight smile, taking a calm and almost brotherly attitude with Laien and Yin. He didn’t like owing people things, but in the end, he and his elder sister owed their lives to those two mortal youths.
“Was this seal really strong enough to keep you in it for so long?” Laien asked the first question that came to his mind.
Yin felt that it was a strange question to ask, but the azure-haired youth laughed and nodded. “Fine, one last thing about the past,” the azure-haired youth said with a smile. “I have no idea where did those people find this legacy, but they used their own bloodline to form a life-devouring seal around me and my elder sister when they realized they weren’t strong enough to capture us normally. We were able to just barely prevent the seal from completing and so we saved our lives but were locked up nonetheless. The problem was there wasn’t enough natural energy seeping into the seal to allow us to break it; we were too exhausted! Luckily for us, you two came here. We wouldn’t have been able to hold on for much longer, a cycle or two at most,” he concluded bitterly and gave Laien a grateful smile.
“So that’s why you said they nearly killed you both,” Laien brought up with a content smile, happy to have solved this little mystery. “And the reason you both are so strong now is because your souls have mostly recovered, right?” he asked, truth to be told startling the youth and the young woman a bit.
“Good deduction,” the azure-haired youth praised. “For someone from the lower realms, you are surprisingly quick to pick up on new things. I was pretty sure the concept of soul itself was rather hazy here ten cycles ago. Has that changed perhaps?” he inquired, admittedly feeling rather curious about the black-haired youth sitting in front of him. It wasn’t every day that one would meet a descendant of an Absolute bloodline, after all.
“It’s nonexistent in the south as far as I know,” Laien replied, then added without delay. “Yin and the people from the Forbidden Lands should have some knowledge of it though.”
“Forbidden Lands?” The azure-haired youth raised his eyebrows. “Ah, you mean the area in the center of this continent with that old man protecting it. Makes sense they would know about the concept of soul despite being from a minor world,” he agreed, not questioning the matter anymore. He simply assumed the black-haired youth learned from about the concept of the soul from his friend and didn’t think about it anymore.
“You said something about using their own bloodline to form the seal,” Yin brought up, to what the azure-haired youth nodded. “The bloodline of their clan declined ever after that incident from ten thousand years ago; could it be that the Divine Seal was using the strength of the members of their clan to sustain itself all this time?” Yin asked, thinking back to the story this village had been passing down their generations. So in truth, it wasn’t a curse of the ‘demons’ that had been destroying them, but the magic unleashed by their own High King from ten thousand years ago.
“You are half right and half wrong,” the azure-haired youth said with a laugh. “The seal was indeed using their life force, but not to sustain itself; it was trying to close up completely! The first time after forming the seal when they performed their strange magic they nearly managed to accomplish that, but ever since then they were only patching the seal up. Still, it would have been enough to kill us sooner or later,” he explained resignedly. He didn’t want to talk about the past, but everything was connected to it, and those boys deserved to at least know the truth.
“What about the villagers who are above us…?” Yin asked, hesitating towards the end of his question. This azure-haired youth could have had already killed them too given his speed and he wouldn’t know a think about it!
“The azure-haired youth glanced at the fiery-haired woman, then turned his gaze back at Yin. “We don’t really care about them anymore. I killed their warriors; what’s the point in slaughtering their children? That in itself would only make us the demons they always claimed us to be,” he said very calmly, surprising Laien and Yin. Had it been them they would have absolutely desired revenge! It would be hard to say whether they would be able to restrain themselves and let the old grudges go.
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It wasn’t strange for the two youths to have such doubts. They were only twelve! The azure-haired youth and the fiery-haired woman were both a lot older and their hearts were much more stable. Them looking down on most mortals and seeing them as nothing but animals wasn’t unjustified; they themselves acted on principle, not on emotion.
“You said that Laien was from an Absolute Water lineage, right?” Yin recalled the fiery-haired woman saying something like this in the beginning. “What does that mean?” he asked, wanting to learn something more not only about Laien but also about the path of cultivation itself.
“It’s very simple actually,” the fiery-haired woman said with a smile and gave her little brother a look. “Would you mind? As someone who is also of the Absolute Water bloodline you should do the honors,” she said with a smile, by the looks of it not too fond of explaining anything on her own.
The azure-haired youth sighed heavily, but a smile didn’t disappear from his face. “You would probably like to both learn something about yourselves, so would you mind if I probe you with my divine sense?” he asked politely, partially because he was well disposed towards the two boys and partially because he knew his elder sister wouldn’t like him to be so shameless.
“Go ahead.”
“I don’t mind.”
Laien and Yin responded one after another. The next second the azure-haired youth did what he requested permission to do without Laien or Yin noticing anything at all. They wouldn’t have known the azure-haired did anything had it not been for the flabbergasted look which appeared on his face.
“They… no, what?! What kind of freaks are those two?” the azure-haired youth thought in disbelief. The black-haired kid had three full foundations of the Aspects of Humanity within his soul, while the green-haired one had three full foundations and one underlying foundation! That alone was ridiculous enough even by the standards of supreme worlds, but he could also sense a powerful presence of the Principle of Energy within their souls! There were even traces of the Profound Mysteries of Elemental Laws in the boys’ internal energies…! This was simply inconvincible!
The fiery-haired young woman sensed her little brother’s shock and also quickly probed Laien and Yin with her Divine Sense. She first discovered the most apparent points that the azure-haired youth had also noticed, but then just like he was doing discovered more and more shocking things.
“Absolute Spiritual Domain and Absolute Martial Realm?!” the fiery-haired woman stared at Laien with her eyes wide open. Having an Absolute bloodline didn’t guarantee that one would have an Absolute Domain or Realm! It only increased that chances of it from almost non-existent to incredibly slim! Yet this boy had two Absolute cultivation bases! And… and…! “Has the Qi in his body began fusing with his spiritual energy?! At mortal realm?!” Having discovered that the fiery-haired woman felt as if she was about to faint. It was her great goal to one day fuse her Qi and spiritual energy, whereas she was yet to take a single step towards accomplishing this goal! But this child…!
“What an extremely powerful lightning… it’s definitely of the highest tier amongst the Heavenly Lightings in the existence!” the azure-haired youth had by now finished probing the black-haired kid and now paid more attention to the green-haired one. “What a pity, his martial realm is only a high-ranked one. If he had a corresponding Heavenly Martial Realm his potential would be limitless,” he thought quietly, unable to prevent himself from sighing a little. What a pity! It was such a pity that he briefly considered one idea, but he quickly discarded it. The price he would need to pay to do that would be way too great.
Unaware of the azure-haired youth’s and the fiery-haired woman’s thoughts, Laien and Yin exchanged a confused glance. Was there something wrong with their bodies? Or if not, then why did those two appear to be so speechless? It couldn’t be that they were that amazing, could it? Surely not; Altair was much scarier than either of them. They thought themselves to be talented, but they weren’t arrogant enough to believe they could shock someone from a higher world.
“Forgive us,” the fiery-haired woman was the first to come back to her senses. “We were just marveling over how talented the two of you are,” she said honestly, but instantly decided against telling the boys how shocked she truly was. Learning that their achievements were extraordinary could do them only bad at this point; they would grow lax and their hearts would grow weak; such knowledge would only serve to harm and damper their future prospects.
“Really?” Laien and Yin asked at the same time, both of them with disbelieving smiles on their faces. Were they really so talented or was this woman making fun of them?
“You truly are rare geniuses,” the azure-haired youth said with a laugh. “But that’s only on the scale of a single world. How many worlds do you think there is? Millions upon millions of them! You both are very talented but if you want to ever achieve stand at the top, you need to devote yourselves to training diligently,” he advised seriously and smiled contentedly when he saw that the boys were taking his words seriously.
“We will be leaving this world soon,” the fiery-haired woman said out of the blue, admittedly having forgotten that Yin had asked them a question and was still waiting for an answer. “That being said, I think it’s the highest time for us to discuss how to reward you for saving our lives?” she suggested with a smile, not mincing her words and not downplaying the role the boys played in their rescue.
“You want to reward both of them?” the azure-haired youth asked in surprise. “The one who broke the seal was the black-haired one; I won’t disagree to also give something to his friend, but their merits are incomparable,” he stated clearly and straightforwardly. He valued his life greatly and treasured his elder sister’s life above his own! The rewards he was ready to provide were great, but he wouldn’t just give them away to anyone!
“Without Yin, I wouldn’t have come here and even if I did, I never would have made my breakthrough and wouldn’t have released you two,” Laien spoke up angrily, starling the azure-haired youth. This kid should be perfectly aware of the kind of difference in strength between them and yet he didn’t take any time to think before snapping at him! Should he call him courageous or stupid?
“No matter who came here, he would have needed to have a strong bloodline related to water or fire element to set us free,” the azure-haired youth replied plainly. “Without your parents, you wouldn’t have been born, without your friends, you wouldn’t be the person you are. Do you want me to reward everyone affiliated with you equally? I won’t be stingy and will reward your friend too, but not to the extent of my and my sister’s life savior!” he stated decisively, not about to argue about the rights and wrongs of his choices with a child who was only twelve years old.
Laien didn’t appear convinced in the slightest, but Yin approached the problem with a lot more cool on his part. “It’s fine,” Yin said calmly and placed his hand on top of Laien’s tightly clenched fist. The two of them exchanged a look, their feelings intersecting through their spiritual bond. Slowly, Laien’s grumpy expression smoothed out; he sighed helplessly, accepting that the idea of arguing with the azure-haired youth wasn’t a good one.
The azure-haired youth frowned a little. He was the reasonable one here, so why was he feeling guilty like a bad person would?
“You two are really good friends, huh?” the fiery-haired woman said with a warm smile, herself appreciating things like friendship and loyalty above anything else. “You should try to understand my little brother a little though. He isn’t like me, someone who focuses on the battle prowess. He is a very accomplished Essence Master; his creations are absolutely capable of shaking the heavens! If he was in a state to use even the weakest of them ten cycles ago, he could have easily slaughtered that High King and all of his subordinates. His best creations are so powerful the likes of me would be killed instantly! Powerful Seals, Golems, Inscriptions, Runes, Formations, even Alchemy! I don’t think you quite realize what it means when someone like him says he is willing to greatly reward someone,” she explained amiably, causing the azure-haired youth to snort a little, but also to feel better about his decision. He wasn’t the bad guy here!
Laien and Yin, on the other hand, were thoroughly awestruck. To those at their cultivation level even a casual gift from this azure-haired youth would certainly mean the world! Especially Laien was beginning to feel incredibly ashamed of himself; one could imagine what kind of terrifying items or precious knowledge the azure-haired youth was ready to offer him and yet, he had actually been discontent with it and self-righteously demanded more! He really had been as blind as a frog in a well!
“As long as you understand,” the azure-haired youth said somewhat discontentedly and shrugged his shoulders. By the looks of it he wanted to let the bygones be bygones and wouldn’t make a big problem out of this awkward matter; much to Laien’s and Yin’s relief.
“I told you I’m a warrior,” the fiery-haired woman said with a smile, intending to let the conversation flow smoothly as to avoid the period of unpleasant silence. “I could give you some of the wealth or items I’ve accumulated, but they wouldn’t be of much use to you anytime soon. I can offer you something else if you agree; a soul imprint for each of you,” she suggested, and as she did the azure-haired youth didn’t bother to conceal his surprise. She was going to give those boys soul imprints?
Laien and Yin didn’t need to look at each other; they instantly sensed that they were in agreement on this matter. They would definitely go with those so-called soul imprints!
“Are they going to be the same?” Laien asked, causing the fiery-haired woman to chuckle in amusement. Of course, he would inquire about that, wouldn’t he?
“Yes, they will be identical, but It will depend on each of you how much you will be able to gain from them,” the fiery-haired woman said, then proceeded to explain. “The Soul Imprint isn’t something just anyone can bestow upon the others and it’s pretty much impossible to learn how to do it on your own. I’ve been born with this divine ability and I’m quite skilled at the techniques related to the soul; that’s why I can safely create an imprint on a soul of someone like you, someone who is still so weak.” She laughed a little after having said so. She knew what the boys wanted to hear about the most, so having had her share of teasing them she stopped holding them in anticipation.
“What I’m going to do is take my prime insights into the Law of Fire and transplant them upon your souls. As for why only them; the Aspects of Humanity aren’t suited to be transferred between people and I have fairly low insights into the Principles of the World. My greatest achievements lay in the Law of Fire! I have fused multiple Profound Mysteries of Fire and created the Profound Mystery of Inferno. With your talent, I believe both of you will be able to make considerable progress with my insights as a reference.”
Laien and Yin were extremely overjoyed after hearing what kind of gift they were about to receive. They understood there were similarities between many insights derived from different aspects and elements, so they weren’t worried whether they would find the Profound Mystery of Inferno useful or not. They only wondered how much of it would they be able to make use of!
“Elder sister, are you sure?” the azure-haired youth asked with a hint of worry in his voice. “It’s one thing for you to create one Soul Imprint of your supreme insights, but creating two of them in a short period of time will harm your foundation! You will need a very long period of time to recover, along with many valuable materials,” he voiced his worries, not wanting his elder sister to harm herself just to deliver equal rewards to these boys. Wouldn’t it be fine if she gave a weaker Soul Imprint to the other one? This way at least she wouldn’t need to worry about harming herself in the process!
“It’s my choice,” the fiery-haired woman shook her head and responded straightforwardly. “It will be a bit of a pain to fix myself up, but you can help me to find the necessary medicines, no?” she asked slyly, pretty much forcing the azure-haired youth to nod his head.
“Good! Since that’s settled, come over here for a second. You first,” the fiery-haired woman said with a smile and pointed at Yin with her finger.
Wondering how the process was going to look like, Yin scooted over obediently. What he didn’t expect however was that the fiery-haired woman would grab his head gently with her hands and lean forward, then place a delicate and warm kiss on his forehead. He couldn’t not blush wildly when she did so, at the same time feeling how a surge of pleasantly warm energy etched itself onto the outer layer of his soul, then completely integrated itself with it.
Yin couldn’t explain how, but he knew that he could summon a portion of those insights with his will and either use them or meditate upon them. They had integrated themselves with his soul so they would always be there, but they weren’t truly his own; he had access only to a very limited portion of those insights, what would slowly change with time.
“You can go back already,” the fiery-haired woman said with a laugh, seeing how Yin still stayed there in half-sitting position and in a strong daze. “Now your turn,” she said to Laien, pretending not to notice that her little brother was so obviously behind jealous over what she was doing. Really, he was too cute!
Red like a ripe tomato, Laien moved over and just like Yin received a kiss on the forehead and had a Soul Imprint merged with his soul. The fiery-haired woman, however, having finished the second Soul Imprint, paled very visibly; her aura also grew considerably weaker. She had overexerted herself to create two perfect Soul Imprints and the kind of weakened state she was in didn’t help much either. Seeing her like that, Laien and Yin both delivered their honest thanks and bowed their heads. They could tell just how precious of a gift they had received!
“So, let us get it over with,” the azure-haired youth said frowningly, the reason for his displeasure becoming so apparent it became obvious even to Laien and Yin. “Tell me what you want from me. You can ask for anything you want, you try to stay reasonable,” he stated, first looking at Laien and then glancing at Yin. What was that they wanted? Defensive treasures? Offensive treasures? Miracle medicine? Knowledge of secret and forbidden arts or techniques? His own crating methods as an Essence Master? As long as it was within his power, he would grant it!