Ai leaned out the door and glanced down the hall one way, then the other before locking the door behind her. She watched as the golden ferrox pushed around the mattress, making himself a comfortable bed.
“That was dangerous,” she said. “You don’t understand how much trouble it could cause if others learned we travel with a legendary spirit beast.”
“Yeah, we’re not doing good so far,” Bao shrugged off her empty backpack. “First day here and already ambushed.”
“I’m serious. Legendary beasts are raised and trained as guards in large sects. They protect priceless treasures. You can imagine how much a sect would pay to get one.” Ai pulled her hair clips out and stuffed them in her storage pouch. Her long hair fell down and cascaded over her shoulders.
“Do you think they will try and steal me?” the golden spirit beast asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
Ai slid down the door to sit on the wood floor and stared at the beast. “Are you trying to get stolen? You’re not worried about being captured and enslaved, used for your parts in an alchemy concoction, or used by a soulforger?”
“Not really. Hypothetical question, though,” the beast jumped to the floor and began pacing the room. “If, during a chase, a thief’s spatial artifact falls into my possession, that wouldn’t cause any legal trouble for Kai, would it?”
The small fox-like creature paced around the room, talking to himself as Ai watched. “Spatial artifacts, I wonder what the mechanism of action is. Is there a capacity limit… if I get someone else’s storage artifact, I get all the possessions too…”
“Only if they are dead,” Yunfie piped up; she reclined on the bed, propping her head up with her hands. Her eyes followed the golden beast pacing. “If they are alive, the storage treasure will be bound to them.”
“Oh?” he paused, looking at her, “So only stronger cultivators willing to kill you can take your things.” He returned to pacing. “I guess I’ll have to kill them then. That’s okay, right? If someone tries to steal me, I can kill them?”
“You…” Ai sputtered. “You are trying to get stolen!”
“That’s the plan,” he kept pacing. “Course, I only want high-quality thieves likely to have spatial artifacts. Should we pay a visit to some high-end pet shops?”
Yunfie laughed, and Song signed.
“She says you’re using our weakness and putting us at risk.” Bao interpreted.
“That’s true,” the golden ferrox conceded. “So, what would be fair… I could cut you in for a percentage, but I still do all the real work.”
----------------------------------------
Kai looked at the screen and reviewed the “Young Master” persona. It wasn’t that it didn’t work. He’d proved it worked well enough. It was just missing something. Yeah, all the details that make him interesting. Kai concluded this “young master” was an insufferable generic moron.
Young Master Persona
From wealthy and dominant power
Entitled
Self-important
He shook his head. It lacked specificity. He turned to another screen, pulled up Dominion and Dynasties, and set it to scroll.
“Son of one the Iron Monarchs?” he paused but immediately restarted it. No. He watched the world’s powers and dynasties fly by. Long Yuan was vast, and this book referenced all the known players, at least at the time of its publishing four hundred years ago. In cultivator lifetimes, that was nothing.
“Oh, that’s interesting.” He paused to read over the passage, tapping on the screen.
Young Master Persona Son of High-Sage Ahja Rai from the Order of the Illuminated
Self-important
Entitled
He stood back and looked it over. Entitled was still generic. He spent a minute editing before reviewing it.
Ahja Kai: Fabricated Persona (because I’m too weak) Hidden Background: Scion of High-Sage Ahja Ra from the Order of the Illuminated
Public Knowledge: On research mission for eccentric master
Traits: Cultivation Elitist, Older Than I Seem, Repository of Esoteric Knowledge
“Much better,” Kai saved the persona and updated his ongoing threads. With that complete, he returned his awareness to Long Yuan and pulled the energy back into his brain cores, slowing his perception down.
“..she met you,” Iceheart clan patriarch Xu Xiangyu held his teacup in two hands. He looked down from his dais. With its distinct blue tint, the patriarch's hair cascaded down his back like water, shimmering under the soft glow of the antechamber’s lanterns. His eyes, sharp and piercing, scanned Kai, seeming to see through him.
Kai couldn't help but be impressed by the patriarch's aura. Xu Xiangyu's countenance, though appearing young, held the weight of wisdom and experience. His face, chiseled and regal, bore the markings of battles.
The icy energy radiating from Xu Xiangyu's body sent a shiver down Kai's spine, an instinctive response to the power surrounding the patriarch. He was a mystery to Kai. Having examined him, he could only see an aura of solid blue covering the man. He had no insight into his cultivation, but it was clearly beyond his.
“That remains to be seen,” Kai brought the teacup to his lips and took a sip. He’d already analyzed the tea molecules - a mild stimulant, nothing more. So far, the Iceheart clan had treated him respectfully, inviting him into their mammoth cave system. Cut deep into the mountain, their subterranean territory sheltered the clan from the worst white weather.
Xiangyu took a sip and said nothing. This continued for minutes before Kai noticed the shadow of servants approaching. They entered quietly and set a bier between him and the patriarch.
Crafted from exquisite spirit wood, the bier's surface was meticulously carved with intricate patterns that depicted the stark beauty of winter, a testament to the artisan's skill and devotion.
Resting atop the bier, adorned in a regal display of the sheerest white silk, was the form of a Xu Mielin. Her serene and ethereal countenance held a tranquil beauty that transcended mortality. Her skin, smooth as porcelain, seemed to emit a subtle radiance as if reflecting inner purity.
Kai set his teacup on the carved wood table provided to him. “I require the use of a spirit needle to examine her.”
Xiangyu nodded, his jaw clenched. He set his teacup to the side and leaned forward slightly. That was the only indication the man gave he was anxious.
With a swift command, Kai activated the microns in his vambrace, shaping them into a slender needle. Stepping toward the towering bier, he bared his forearm, revealing the hidden compartment from which he retrieved the gleaming instrument.
He pierced her shoulder near the clavicle. It was a ruse, of course. Kai didn’t need to use the needle to examine her body, but he preferred not to expose too much of his technique. He closed his eyes and held the needle between his thumb and forefinger, sending a gentle energy pulse through it.
Kai slowed time and examined her spiritual energy. Her heart core was still partially filled with the clan’s signature energy. It lethargically moved throughout her meridians without purpose. He frowned and noted Xiangyu’s reaction. The patriarch showed little, but Kai picked up a slight shift in his posture.
Kai scanned her meridians, looking for any indication of other potential cores. There were several large clusters where meridians ran together; he analyzed them and identified a possible throat and pelvic core.
He pulled the needle and stepped to her foot before burying the needle's tip near her ankle. Kai shifted his sight to show motion and focused on at cellular level. His brow furrowed as he spun up hundreds of threads to analyze degradation and necrosis. This took the longest, as he needed to methodically work through all her major organs and blood.
He breathed out and opened his eyes. Removing the needle, he wiped it on the silks, a single drop of colorless blood. Lastly, he zoomed in, examining her genetic material.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
With deliberate steps, he returned and knelt, storing his needle as he did so. Kai shifted his awareness to his soul space, stepping down before the lantern. Meilin stood at his appearance.
“Compared to other cultivators, you were sickly, tired, or weak?” he inquired.
“Excuse me?” She looked offended. “My cultivation was always the strongest amongst my peers!”
“Not your cultivation; I’m talking about your body. You fell ill more often and recovered slower?”
“Oh,” the irritation faded slightly, “my father called my disposition delicate. I always hated that.”
“It’s not a problem with your body,” Kai shook his head. “Or at least not strictly. Do you know your mother?”
Meilin looked down, her face somber. She said nothing.
“I’m going to try to bring you back to life,” Kai confessed. “But it will be easier knowing what I’m dealing with. Your blood has some unusual traits. Do you know why that could be?”
“You can do that? Resurrect me?” Meilin shivered at the thought.
“I don’t know. I’ve only resurrected myself before.”
Meilin regarded him for a moment, then shook her head.
“My father seldom talks about my mother; he came home from one of his travels with me.”
She slid down against the glass of the lantern. “Once, he said she was an immortal fairy. But father says that about half his concubines.”
“Can spirit beasts take on human form?”
There was a pause while Meilin examined him curiously. “How could you not know that?” she replied.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Kai shook his head. Way to show your ignorance. “I’ll talk with your father and see if he knows more.” He shifted his awareness back to Long Yuan.
“Your daughter’s condition is recoverable, but there are complications.” Kai picked up his tea and took a long sip. “Her body was weak for her cultivation? Sick as a child, needed more sleep?”
“Hmmph, and you can tell that by examining her body?” He asked skeptically.
“No, but the examination confirmed my suspicions,” Kai explained. “When we fought before, her soul had a weak bodily bond. If that was all I had to go on, I would have a long list of possible causes to investigate, but she also has a white soul aura. In most cultivators, the soul aura coincides with the color of the energy they cultivate, blue in your clan’s case. So when I examined her body, I looked for what could cause that condition.”
The tension in Xiangyu’s face relaxed, and he sat back. He waited, but when Kai said no more, he became impatient. “Go on, what did you learn.”
Kai unbound his soul light and looked at Xiangyu. The patriarch shivered but remained stoic. His aura was blue.
“She has bloodline traits. Since your soul is blue, it can only mean her mother was more than human.” Kai bound his soul light again. Sipping his tea as he watched her father.
Xiangyu’s nostrils flared once, but that was the only reaction. He picked up his teacup and just held it.
“Can you resurrect her?” His eyes were a steel blue and penetrating.
Kai felt no spiritual pressure from him and saw no spiritual technique. Yet, he felt her father could tell if he was lying.
“I can. And since you are responsible for this mess, that’s all I should do. But that won’t solve her problem.”
“I’m responsible? You killed her.” He growled.
“You killed her by pitting her cultivation against her soul,” Kai said. “It’s your excellent fortune that she met me today. How long would she have lived otherwise?”
“She didn’t live,” he said, subdued.
Kai waived away the point, “She can again and be stronger for it.”
“You can fix her issue?”
Kai heard no incredulity in his voice. Finally.
“If I do nothing, she may not even respond to resuscitation. Her soul-body bond was that weak. I see two possible solutions. I can forge her soul with a spirit beast compatible with her cultivated energy. That should prevent her soul from rejecting her body.”
“You can forge the souls of others?”
Kai looked at the patriarch and didn’t answer. After a moment and another sip, he continued.
“That will bring your daughter back to life, but she will never unlock her birth bloodline traits, and there may be conflicts between her bloodline and the soul fusion. And,” Kai paused, “she may not be the person you remember. Soul fusion can change people.”
“What was the other solution?” he swallowed, his face pale.
“The real solution to your daughter’s problem, the only solution that allows her to step back on the path to immortality, is to redo her cultivation from the start, using energy compatible with her soul.”
There was a long pause. Kai waited and watched the expressions on the patriarch’s face. He could feel the rising and falling of tensions in the man. He stood and stepped down to his daughter’s body. After a long while of just staring at her, he spoke again.
“Is it possible? Know you the kind of energy she should cultivate?”
“It is possible. I can provide her a place to cultivate in my soul and give her primordial energy to refine. It will be up to her to refine it into something she can use.” Kai was pretty sure that could work, in theory.
The patriarch shook his head, struggling with something.
“We can try that first, and if she fails, we can try the other?”
Kai nodded, “Then we have only one more matter to discuss.”
The patriarch returned to his dais and sat down.
“What is it that you want?”
----------------------------------------
Kia looked out the circular wooden window to the serene rock garden. The clan had provided him a suite to rest. Tomorrow they would begin the “ritual.” Kai smiled at that. Theatrics.
“So I’m not the only one making risky decisions,” Relay huffed. Kai contacted him once he had a private moment. The Eternal paid him a virtual visit and explained his scheme. Kai thought it was too risky, but Relay was his own person.
“I knew he would pay it,” Kai replied. “Once I could examine her body and asses her cultivation, I knew she was favored. Her cultivation was much better than her siblings. He’s clearly grooming her for leadership.”
“And you didn’t ask for any material wealth?” the golden beast jumped up to sit on the sill of the ornately carved window.
“Knowledge is the only thing they can’t steal back. Besides, I’d spend the wealth on manuals and techniques anyway.”
“Well, unlike you, some of us need to eat and have expensive dietary requirements.” he yawned.
“While you are at the bestiary tomorrow, catalog everything they have. There’s still too much we don’t know about soulforging.”
“Earlier, Ai asked me if I feared being used by a soulforger. That got me thinking. We should be able to genetically combine rare spirit beasts for you to harvest souls from.”
“Interesting.” Kai walked to the overly large and luxurious bed. “Creating a new form of life only to kill it. Sounds like an efficient combination of infanticide and genocide.”
“Yes, well. It could work. Food for thought.” The beast looked out the window before turning back. “You don’t think I have anything to worry about? About a soulforger harvesting me?” Kai looked at the golden spirit beast.
“Your soul isn’t present in your avatar, so they can do nothing to you.” Relay was piloting his avatar using a clever virtual interface and long-range telemetry through Kai’s soul tether. He was safer than Kai when it came to soul attacks.
Kai began unhooking his robe, preparing to sleep. Sleep was something he thoroughly enjoyed. He paused. “That does bring up a subject I think we should discuss.”
“You may never have a better chance to descend to a physical realm. Have you considered creating a body and soul space of your own?”
Relay’s ears rotated forward, “I could do that?”
Kai shrugged. At the heart of the question, Kai heard his friend wonder if he was alive, not just some artificially programmed thing.
“We’re sorta flying by the seat of our pants in uncharted territory. All we can do is engage the drive and see if we make it.” Kai smiled. “Look, you’re as real as anyone I’ve ever known. So think about it.”
“Thanks, Kai,” the spirit beast returned to gazing out the window.