Ignoring the man, Uncle Grey glanced over his shoulder at Nolan, who was floating a few dozen metres away. "Come here. Let's get you back in your body."

  Nolan rushed over without a second thought, oddly accustomed to moving around in spirit form thanks to his spiritual sensitivity. Before anything, he spat on the ancient cultivator that his teacher had just subdued, his ghostly saliva disappearing like a tiny tuft of smoke in the wind. The man was in the midst of having some sort of seizure as he struggled in vain to reject the effects of the masterfully crafted arrayment that was exerting an unknown effect on him.

  "Jesus, that was scary. Thank you so much Uncle Grey! You know what, thank you Master Grey. That was the most clutch rescue ever. That was…oh man, how crazy was that?"

  "Huhu, but of course, dear disciple. It's a master's job to look after their students."

  As his teacher began to prepare another arrayment, presumably to place Nolan's soul back in his body once all traces of the ancient cultivator's spirit were fully removed, Nolan couldn't help but hesitate.

  "Um, what was it that he was saying about my body just now? It sounded like this isn't a safe method?"

  "Amateur things. Don't worry, it's impossible for me to make a—"

  The arrayment diagram that he had been tracing out suddenly vanished with an iridescent burst, the spiritual energy dissipating into the surroundings as the old ghost cleared his throat with an awkward expression.

  "Ah, life has all sorts of freak occurrences. Ahem, shall we proceed?" When Nolan went to speak up, the old man shook his head. "Quiet, I need to focus. Unless you want to remain a spirit forever?"

  With no other choice, Nolan gave his head a rigid nod. He was skeptical, sure, but the alternative was living a ghostly lifestyle in the glade with Uncle Grey for the rest of his days.

  "You don't need the talisman he was sealed in, do you?"

  "Talisman? So that was it."

  The ancient spirit suddenly flew away with an unexpected flash of golden light, covering his escape by activating a mysterious arrayment. Not only did Uncle Grey and Nolan's spirits get thrown a few dozen metres backward, but Nolan's body disappeared from where it had sat slumped against the aged shrine.

  "Tch," Uncle Grey snarled. "Stay here."

  Watching his teacher fly off, he wanted to ask why he hadn’t used the same arrayment that he'd been relying on all throughout the fight, but Nolan was alone within seconds. It was only a few moments later that a large explosion of wind and splintered wood drew his attention to the northeast, where at least twenty trees had been destroyed in an odd, pressurized explosion. Floating higher to get a better look at what was happening, another group of trees suddenly burst apart, and then another, and another after that. By the time the destructive sounds came to a standstill, there were several large swathes of levelled land in the immediate area, the monochrome forests appearing as if they were bald spots on an old, grey-haired head.

  Several minutes passed as the desolate world returned to its eternal quiet, which left Nolan floating there with a growing sense of apprehension. Was his teacher okay? The last thing he wanted was to wait around in angst just for that unknown cultivator to show up in his body, signifying Uncle Grey’s death. If that happened, then the others were also as good as dead, and the Millennial Ring would sever its connection to his spirit.

  That's right! I'm probably still connected to the ring. Focusing as deeply as he could, Nolan was disappointed when he couldn't detect the slightest traces of his timeless treasure. What the hell? Even if my blood's what bound it to me, my soul's what triggers its effects.

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  It was then that he noticed that the surrounding specks of spiritual energy had been gradually drifting in his direction, and were slowly integrating with his soul. It was to the extent that his spirit had strengthened by about one percent since it had been removed from his body. Considering that hardly any time had passed since that had happened, the realization was remarkable.

  If Uncle Grey's always pulling in energy like this, then why does he disappear for so long whenever he takes over my body? Just as he was chalking it up to the energy consumption of maintaining contact via the Millennial Ring as a medium, a ruffle in the bushes told him that Nyla and Ian had returned, though only Nyla was capable of venturing past the tree line.

  "Nolan! What happened to you?"

  She ran over with worry as he willed himself to descend to her level, her eyes a concerned pair of black diamonds, her pretty face pulled down with fear and confusion.

  Nolan didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked down at his ghostly hands and was abruptly overwhelmed by a wave of unsuspecting regrets. It had been several minutes since silence had settled in the area, though his teacher was nowhere in sight. Neither was his body.

  "I'm sorry Nyla."

  "What happened?"

  Ian sent him a complicated look. "You…you weren't killed somehow, were you?"

  Nyla's pupils contracted for a moment. "Nolan…" She tried to grab onto one of his arms, but her hand passed through it as if it weren't there. "You're really a lingering spirit."

  "I'm not sure about the lingering part, but I am a spirit now."

  He quickly filled them in on what had happened after he'd left the main glade to train in solitude. Before they could respond, however, Uncle Grey appeared in their midst, blinking into existence as if he'd been invisible up until then. Suspended next to him was the wriggling figure of the ancient cultivator, whose spectral hands were missing, his mouth sealed yet again. He was tied up in a golden wire of such dense energy that it was indistinguishable from the real thing.

  "I told you to go back," said Uncle Grey, a bit disappointed. "Is the title of Grandmaster of your little sect just for show?"

  "Uncle Grey," said Nyla, substantive wariness in her soft voice. "Who in the heavens is that?"

  “So he’s the one that you mentioned?” yelled Ian from the forest, his face a bit pale. "I'm gonna go tell the others!"

  As Ian ran off to do as he'd said, Uncle Grey motioned toward an arrayment diagram that he'd just drawn out. "Alright, then. Are you ready, Nolan?"

  "Why not?" he sighed. He floated over to his body and stared down at it with disturbed eyes. "This life I live, I swear…"

  His vision went black without warning as an odd tingling sensation ran throughout his spiritual body. By the time he regained consciousness, he was lying on the ground, flesh and blood once more. The first thing he noticed was that his forehead felt as if it were on fire, worse than any fever he could imagine.

  "What the…" he mumbled, stumbling as he attempted to stand. Nyla was there to support him in a heartbeat, and he gladly leaned against her shoulders. "Oh man—my head is killing me." Glancing at his side, he saw that the ancient cultivator was wriggling around in pain, his ghostly eyes blank as if they'd rolled into the back of his head. Was it a result of Nolan's spirit reconnecting with his body?

  Seeing his contemplative gaze, Uncle Grey adopted the informed expression that he usually wore whenever he decided to pass on some knowledge. "It looks like your core cultivation method saved you this time around. Thanks to the uniqueness of your physiology, it made it difficult for him to attach his soul to it, not to mention taking control of your dantian."

  Examining his body, he saw that his dantian was hardly depleted. "So all that just now, he relied on his own energy? How'd he use the martial skill, then?"

  "He converted spiritual energy into inner essence with a complex arrayment. Anyway, if you've got as bad of a headache as you appear to, then some of the memories that he'd been fusing with your brain must have remained behind when I forced him back into his spirit form. If I did things correctly, then it should only be limited to one or two things."

  Nolan's headache didn't dissipate for over an hour, which was about the time it took for the agonized Nian spirit to begin to regain his consciousness. During this time, Nolan had begun to recall something that he hadn't known prior to the possession of his body. Uncle Grey had once mentioned the Laws of Existence, which dictated how all forms of matter acted in certain environments, and how they interacted with other objects. All this time, Nolan had been trying to comprehend how to use the first step of his movement skill by means of Origin Energy, inner essence, or spiritual energy. While all of these energies played their own part, the main reason why he couldn't do more than activate the technique's basic function was that he was completely ignorant of the laws involved in the use of the Tranquil Void Step's various stages. Only then could he properly apply these energies.