Countless years before

Mortal State, Ascending state, state of Detachment from Earthly Things, Heavenly state, King state, and lastly, the Emperor state.

What concept lay behind this classification?

Each of these states require training beyond normal standards. Throughout the universe, few people knew how to properly strengthen their Soul. Sometimes, a lifetime would have not been enough for someone to leap up to the Ascending state.

Just the leap to the Ascending state could have required a whole lifetime.

As far as the higher states were concerned, the achievement of the state of the King or the Emperor state was not even a matter of training, but of pure talent.

How many people would believe Qinguang, if he said that some monster could awaken the Emperor state in someone just by hitting the right Meridians with his very hands? Qinguang himself could not believe what happened before his eyes.

The icy wind swept over the ground and made the clothes of the Immortals flutter. It felt like a bad omen of an incoming catastrophe.

The body of Siche looked now drastically different. Before these changes, Siche was already so beautiful that if she had defined herself the second most charming woman in the world, no one would have claimed the title of first.

Siche explored every centimeter of naked skin, which now seemed elastic and pure as never before. It felt as smooth as a jade statue. Her weak grieving gaze had been replaced by two kind unfathomable eyes. Siche didn’t not seem to be the naïve girl who had stepped into Immortality only thanks to Iblis’ guidance.

The Devil stared at his little Siche. She was holding her face with two hands trying to probe all the changes her body underwent.

Kirin’s eyes gleamed with disgust: “Iblis! Talent brings nothing good if reached this way! It’s against the rules of Mana! No power achieved through the resources of someone else can ever belong to your body. Such procedure could lead to an inner explosion!”

Actually, Kirin couldn’t care less about what rules this was against. He was just furious because Iblis could instil such a terrifying power in some only by touching the right ago puncture points. That was a miracle. If Iblis did the same with all of his pupils, then how long would it take Destruction to be able to wipe out every single member of Life?

The words Kirin just said were but one last attempt to slow down the Dao of Siche, on whose soul he hoped to cast the shadow of doubt. He wanted to inflict her a trauma which was painful enough to restrain her progress.

His words though did not sort on Siche the effect Kirin was hoping for. They rolled off her back. Now that she was in the Emperor state, Siche’s Soul was so pure no random words could possibly pose a threat to her Dao of Mana. Even if these random words came from the mouth of an Ancestral Creature as a Qilin.

On the contrary, Siche seemed to have evolved. This superior creature cast Kirin a glance without any hint of hate. On her face shone the kindest smile.

Frequently enough, words were stronger than weapons. They would often times heavily affect the outcome of one’s Mana cultivation down their Dao. Doubts, uncertainties and fears were strictly interrelated to one’s Soul. They really posed a problem to a warrior’s personal growth. By taking to heart every doubt that came to their mind, one could never set out in search for truth down their Dao of Mana. On the contrary, the only destiny awaiting would be that of losing themselves in mist.

As an Ancestral Creature, Kirin wisely picked the best moment to cast a shadow over Siche’s heart; that was indeed the moment when her conscience still needed to come to terms with the foundations her new state lay on. However, Siche had just reached the Emperor state. The level of her Soul was now so high that these words could not even touch her unreachable conscience.

Siche decided to stay quiet. Every answer would be a useless one. After all, Kirin had just put up some last-minute tactic to prevent another unmatchable warrior like Iblis from rising. That was a war. As any war, no rule applied. The Clan of Life found themselves seized by panic. They began to regret they had not killed Iblis before he could turn this strong and help someone grow as strong as him.

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But as it is well known, for every forgiver there is one who bears a grudge.

For every good heart there is an evil one.

That is to say, if Siche did not take to heart Kirin’s words, the same couldn’t be said about someone else…

Siche’s Aura was growing ever more intensely, when suddenly another Aura blocked hers. It was a terrifying Aura imbued with death and desolation.

“We are the Clan of Life,” Iblis spelled in a revolted sneering voice, “we are good, we are just, we only want the best for this universe.”

Fwooosh!

Iblis suddenly appeared a few centimetres from Kirin, a hand raised: “I am the most just dog of the Clan of Life, I have promised to protect you Humans, I have promised I would be the hero who will fend for them.”

Bang!

Iblis’ Aura pressed everyone down. No one could lift a finger. A slap hit Kirin in the face without anyone being able to stop the Devil, whose towering rage could not be longer refrained. Unfortunately for Kirin, the slap had been hit by Iblis. Therefore, the Qilin was pushed back for several kilometers.

Amaterasu and Qinguang exchanged a look. A split second was enough for them to understand they had better not step in. Qinguang knew that if Iblis had wanted to, he could have killed Kirin only by brushing his fingertip against him. The slap had only come as a warning. If they cared about their Clan, then Amaterasu and Qinguang had better not get on that creature’s nerves.

If they had sent for more warriors and made up a formation to fight Iblis, then they would have begun another. As things stood, this would only lead to a defeat. Also, Iblis had just showed them another ace he got up his sleeve. If he could really help his pupil grow stronger as he did with Siche, they couldn’t afford challenging him before they found just as powerful a weapon.

“Amaterasu,” Qinguang let his voice reach his daughter through telepathy, “as soon as we get home, you’ll walk into the White Chamber.”

These words left Amaterasu puzzled, but she immediately grasped what her father meant. The White Chamber was a forbidden area in their Clan. It was there that her grandfather died during his search for Epiphanies down his Dao of Mana.

Despite the fact that it was called chamber, it actually was a minor dimension whose time-space laws changed continuously. The violent rush of Mana in that place was likely to suppress an Immortal. Even Qinguang never ventured as far as to the inner area. He was afraid he would die.

Judging by her father’s words, Amaterasu seemed to have little choice. She would have to search for the deepest secrets behind Life Mana her grandfather never managed to grasp.

Amaterasu was by far the most talented warrior in the history of the Clan of Life. However, she was nowhere near as experienced in fighting as Iblis nor did she experience as many struggles between life and death. For his part, Iblis had ceaselessly been chased after by her Clan. He lived on the brink of death every single day of his life. This gave him the chance to step forward on his Dao and level up extremely quickly.

If Amaterasu wanted to face up to him, the White Chamber would make her only chance to fully develop her potential. However, the golden-headed woman whose gaze would let a flower blossom out of a sandy desert knew what would happen after she stepped outside that terrifying place. If she survived, she would never be the same Amaterasu as before.

In order to reach the highest peaks in the universe, one should be ready to sacrifice everything. Amaterasu did know this. But what was her everything?

Instinctively, her gaze lay on Iblis as he beat the Qilin covered in blood. Something heavy weighted down on her heart leaving her gasping for air.

Iblis felt the eyes of Amaterasu lain on him. He didn’t stop.

“We are the Forces of Life, we fight in the name of good, we will always protect you from Destruction,” Iblis was still teasing Kirin as disdainfully as he could. Another blow sent Kirin’s face to the ground.

BANG! BANG! Bang!

Kirin was relentlessly crashed from one side of the planet against the other. Iblis was staring at him just like at a criminal.

As yet another blow was delivered, Kirin’s patience reached the breaking point. He couldn’t bear the outrage any longer.

ROAAAAR!

The terrifying roar of Kirin swept Iblis over. For a split second, Iblis stood still. Kirin finally took his original shape – the shape of a majestic creature covered in white scales whose tail was several kilometers long.

“Do you really dare show your filthy shape before this king’s eyes?” Iblis cursed as he looked the Qilin up down. A stern icy glare was hung on his face.

SLAP!

Iblis’ hand hit Kirin’s side. Once again, Kirin could nothing to defend himself. His body was instantly rushed to the ground at the very center of the widest continent on that planet, leaving a huge crater due to the impact.

At that point, Kirin began to slowly turn back into his human shape. He was unable to move.

Iblis had hit him strongly enough to almost destroy his Dao of Mana and leave him a cripple for life. He refrained a second before. It would now take Kirin years to recover. Luckily enough, years meant nothing in the life of an Immortal.

Iblis rubbed his hands clean and once again appeared in front of Qinguang and Amaterasu. His icy glare looked now more frightening than before.