Aurelia grunted in anger. “Don’t go off always assuming the worst! I said that was just one of the possibilities, and it’s the most unlikely one out of the three of them.”
“There is already a reason for us to suspect a connection to a near-ascension cultivator, isn’t there?” Red asked. “The dagger is supposedly made out of the bones of such a cultivator.”
She snorted. “I still don’t believe that, but even if we assume that is the case, this ghost is most definitely not one such cultivator.”
Red was confused by her certainty. “How can you be so sure?”
“You and your friends say that word a lot - ‘near-ascension’ - yet none of you can possibly comprehend what that means.” Aurelia said with a derisive tone. “That is an all powerful being, a demigod capable of accomplishing almost anything they want. Even during my time, there were no more than three such beings alive, and every time they acted, the whole world shook, and they have no need for subtlety when they do something… Now tell me, do the actions of this ghost match up with that?”
He hesitated. “… It doesn’t sound like it.”
“Hence why there is no reason for you to worry about that.” Aurelia said. “If - and it’s a big if - this is somehow the ghost of a deceased near-ascension cultivator, it is probably no more than a lingering fraction of their soul, drawn here by its mortal remains as ghosts are wont to do. It would have even less than a fraction of its original power.”
“Does that mean it’s not dangerous?”
Aurelia laughed. “Not at all! Even if it has less than a small fraction of the powers it had when it was alive, their knowledge and wisdom alone would probably outstrip my own in every conceivable way.”
”… Then why aren’t you worried?” Red was confused.
“It was cautious enough to leave a warning message for me, which means it knew I could disrupt its plans.” she said. “Not to mention, it obviously couldn’t have predicted you would be able to see through its ruse. Although I’m sure it’s probably still a very dangerous being, we both have already proven to be capable enough to put it on the back foot. As long as we are careful, we can deal with it.”
He sighed. “I truly don’t understand where all your confidence comes from. We still know next to nothing about our enemy, so how can you claim we can deal with it?”
Aurelia scoffed at him. “It’s called natural confidence. A cultivator has no need of modesty, and in many cases, being humble can work against their own interests. One day you will learn this yourself.”
Red didn’t know what to say at this, so he removed his hand from the insectoid core and exited his meditative state. Still, a few seconds later, he heard Aurelia’s voice again, this time in his ears instead of his mind.
“Now that I know a bit more about what we are dealing with, the ghost won’t be able to avoid my detection again.” Aurelia said. “However, I suppose I don’t even need to tell you to be on the lookout for anything strange. If they are really dead-set on acquiring this dagger, then we can’t be sure what it might try to do to trick it out of you or your dead body.”
That was hardly comforting advice. Still, Red was already aware of the kind of being a ghost was too. If they were as smart as Aurelia, this being would probably rely on all kinds of schemes to get the dagger if forcefully taking it wasn’t an option. He would need to be on the lookout for any signs of possession on those close to him.
The youth would need to sleep with an eye open and be meticulously aware of his surroundings at every second. In other words, it would just be another normal day for him.
…
As sunset neared, Red chose a suitable spot to undergo the New Moon curse. It was a small chain of hills, located far from the road and covered in thick vegetation. He investigated the place for the presence of any monsters, and after finding no such thing, decided it would be a suitable spot. It wasn’t as isolated as he wished, and others would probably still be able to spot the green trail leaving his body from afar, but it was the best he would be able to find on such short notice.
After making his decision, the youth now had to speak to Domeron about what would happen.
“I don’t know what will happen.” Red said with honesty. “In most other situations, I would feel confident, but this time I’m not so sure.”
“Does this have to do with your nightly escapades?” Domeron asked in a curious tone.
The youth wasn’t surprised that the man noticed this. After seven years of him leaving the sect at the dead of night every two weeks or so, it would have been weird instead if no one noticed it.
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Red nodded. “More or less.”
The swordsman frowned. “Are you at risk of death?”
“Yes.” The youth didn’t deny the possibility. “But there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Domeron sighed. “Then what can I do?”
“Be on the lookout.” Red said. “What I’m about to do could create a lot of… flashing lights, so it’s likely anyone in the vicinity could notice it.”
“I can do my best, but I can’t guarantee I will be able to stop everyone that comes after you.” The man said. “Will you be able to stop and run if things get dangerous?”
“Not at all.” The youth shook his head.
Domeron gave him a helpless smile. “Then I suppose we stand our ground.”
The two discussed the specifics, of which there were not many. Red would undergo the affair at the space between the two hills, while Domeron would be on the lookout at the apex from up above. The swordsman promised he would not be snooping on what the youth was doing, and while Red believe him, he couldn’t afford to be concerned about it.
Soon enough, he was left alone amidst the trees by himself as Domeron walked away. Aurelia told him with her recovered reserves, she would be able to keep his spiritual emissions disguised from farther away, so that meant Red was afforded a bit more privacy. Only when the youth felt the man stop walking and settle himself on top of a hill a hundred or so meters away did he turn his attention to the matter of hand.
After sitting on the ground, he took out the insectoid core and put it on top of his lap. A few seconds later, Aurelia’s image materialized out of thin air in front of him.
She looked down at the youth with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. “What are you doing?”
“I’m absorbing the energy from the core.” Red said without looking up.
“… How much do you need?”
He frowned. “Does it matter?”
“I worked really hard to recover the energy to this point.” Aurelia said. “I wouldn’t want it to be all gone just like that.”
“You have been watching me for the last seven years. You know very well I need just a fraction of this energy to fill my acupoints.”
She grunted. “I do, but you didn’t have that thing on your forehead before.”
“I don’t intend on messing with that before opening my Spiritual Sea.” Red shook his head. “The curse may be getting stronger, but right now it should still be manageable with just my acupoints.”
“So you say, but what if something goes wrong? You don’t even know that thing works!”
“I thought that it was your responsibility to figure that out.”
Aurelia snorted. “Just remember that if the core gets drained, it’s not just me that is going to die!”
She disappeared with those words. Red knew she was telling the truth.
The insectoid core was like his personal storage of Moonstone Energy, capable of storing far more of it than his acupoints were. In the future, as the curse got stronger and required more of the energy, Red would likely need to rely on the core to fight it off, so he didn’t plan to put it in any kind of dangerous situation.
He was also hesitant to absorb this energy after opening his new third-eye “acupoint”, but he didn’t have a choice on the matter, considering the Moon Gaze would draw upon his life force otherwise. That being said, he would try to be as cautious as possible during the process.
The youth put both of his hands on top of the bright green crystal core and felt his skin tingle with the familiar sensation of dense Spiritual Energy. In most situations, Red used his vein opening technique to absorb any kind of energy inside his body, but all his acupoints were already open and he didn’t intend on taking in enormous amounts of energy as the Rain Dance technique usually provided.
This needed to be a more slow and controlled intake, and for that, he intended to use the limited control he acquired over Spiritual Energy after opening all his twelve veins.
The youth focused and started to exert influence over the acupoints in the palm of his hand, which were in contact with the core. There was almost an immediate response as the Moonstone Energy started to be drawn into his Lower Arm Vein.
It was an arduous and difficult process, and throughout it all, Red felt as if he was trying to guide these small strands of energy through a quagmire. However, for the first time since he started cultivating, the youth felt as if he was in control of the Spiritual Energy in his vein, rather than just doing his best to direct it.
Control. It was slow, it was clunky, it felt unnatural, but it was there. He ordered the strands of energy to move, and they moved. He ordered them to stop, and they stopped. It was a wonderful feeling that Red would have been happy to relish upon, but he knew he needed to hurry before night arrived.
One by one, he started to direct these strands of energy towards his special acupoints. It took no more than a few strands to fill each one of them, which were mere fractions of the energy inside the core. It took no more than ten minutes to fill every acupoint in his limbs and torso. When it came to the acupoints in his head, though, he hesitated.
‘I need to focus.’
He took special care when filling these last few special acupoints, going even slower than his control allowed. There were three of them in his head, two in his Brain Vein and one in his Five Senses Vein. The first two were filled with no issues, but when it came to the last one, the youth hesitated.
This special acupoint was located between his eyes, slightly above his nose, and it was extremely close to the “tumor” on his forehead. Red held his breath and started to direct a strand towards this acupoint, determined to see this through with no accidents. However, as soon as the strand got close to this acupoint, it was suddenly pulled off course by an invisible force.
Then, in a flash, it was gone. Red was bewildered, as he didn’t even feel the strand move before it suddenly disappeared. It was as if the whole thing had happened in an instant, or at least fast enough for him to be unable to capture it with his senses.
His immediate suspicion went to the thing in his glabella. However, before he could even do anything else, he felt another sudden pull. This time, it was coming from his hands - or more specifically, from the core they were in contact with.
‘Oh no.’
Red removed his hands from the core in a hurry, but by then it was too late. An enormous flood of Moonstone Energy entered his body and was absorbed by the strange sac of energy in his glabella before it could even strain his veins. The youth fell back, trying to distance himself from it.
“NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Aurelia’s enraged voice reached his ears.
He looked at the crystal in surprise. The core, which was teeming with energy just a few hours ago, was now back to the weakened state it had been in after the woman used it to slay the ghouls.