Nearly two months had passed. In this timeframe, Lute was now fourteen years old, only one year away from being considered an adult in society. At the age of fifteen, all youths were considered adults and held accountable for their actions in society. However this held no meaning to Lute, there was no reason for him to obey the rules of society because he didn’t know them to begin with! Should he enter a city, he would simply avoid as much contact as possible with other cultivators and non-cultivators alike.

During the entirety of the two months that he’d been within this valley, Isla still hadn’t woken up. However, Lute didn’t worry at all. Day by day, he felt her existence within him getting stronger. At first he didn’t know how she was regaining used soul strength when she didn’t possess a physical body. But what kind of existence was the Origin Soul Needle?

Isla had clearly stated it’d passively temper and increase the strength of his soul over time. However that was just one of its myriad effects. The only problem was he had no control over the needle yet. Despite numerous attempts, the separate dimensional space of the Origin Soul Needle couldn’t be accessed. But, once he gained control over its abilities, he’d be able to store the souls of the dead if he chose to. And he could also absorb a portion of a soul’s strength if he was stronger than it. However, the most dangerous effect was that he held the option of utterly annihilating a soul, erasing its existence.

Erasing a soul’s existence was something that nobody would want to wish upon another cultivator. The thought of your own soul being erased would make anyone tremble. Well…anyone normal. In this regard, there was the enigma that was Lute.

He’d already firmly come to terms with such a power. If a soul needed to be erased from existence, then he would do so without hesitation. There was nothing more dangerous or idiotic than letting a threat survive, only to come back and kill you. There was no point to such actions, if he wanted to make it in this world of slaughter; living by such a rule was paramount. Perhaps this resolve was what originally convinced the Origin Soul Needle to submit. It might’ve sensed Lute’s resolve before even he had known of it.

In the end, Lute simply waited each day with the hope his Master would awaken soon. Until she did so, there was no point in doing anything other than cultivating since he only had two ambitions, to find out if his remaining family was alive, and to step upon the Divine Path. He couldn’t complete the former without successfully forging ahead towards the latter, so the best option was to cultivate until he held a degree of power in the Mortal Realm at least.

This was a perfect example of the saying that this was easier said than done, especially in Lute’s case.

Seated in his shelter with a small fire lit, Lute had cultivated nonstop for the past two months. In this timeframe, even with the added obstacle of needing many times more Qi than other cultivators, he’d successfully advanced multiple levels. The current aura exuded from Lute was that of a fifth level Foundational Qi Realm practitioner. He had successfully stepped into the Intermediate Foundational Qi Realm. Perhaps in another two months, he’d become a late stage practitioner.

Compared to other cultivators in the Mortal Realm, Lute was correct in his assumptions. They’d be able to advance much easier, but the increase of strength per level for them couldn’t even be compared to Lute. It was a Heaven and Earth difference. Just one small realm breakthrough for him was a dramatic increase in strength each time, but most importantly his foundation was one of the best, even in the Divine Realm.

Comparatively, cultivators in the Mortal Realm only had meager increase in strength with each breakthrough –Although they didn’t think it was meager- and their foundations were like a brittle collapsing bridge compared to Lute’s who was as firm as a mountain. They would have virtually no chance of stepping upon the Divine Path, no matter how talented they were. The only advantage they’d have upon Lute, they’d been cultivating for more time compared to him, and had much more combat experience.

Although he would advance much slower, the long term benefits of cultivating the true correct path, albeit with an inverse Qi flow, Lute would be incomparably stronger than those at the same cultivation in the Mortal Realm. This benefit would naturally be null if he was in the Divine Realm where countless cultivators could obtain power through inheritances like him.

As he was finishing a final revolution of Qi through his body, Lute felt a jolt in his consciousness. Isla’s "Existence" within his body suddenly became much more vibrant and strong. He could easily feel her emotions. Once again, the peculiar feeling of two separate of entities sharing one body pervaded Lutes senses. Over the past two months, he felt as if he was back to normal before the soul contract ever occurred. But he didn’t dislike this feeling either, Lute surprisingly adapted pretty quick to thinking that the way it felt to share a body was normal.

Isla manifested before Lute in her spiritual form. Compared to the time before in the cave, she was much more transparent. But, even so the features of her arrogantly looking down upon everything were easily discernable. Through the connection, and how she was looking at him as if deciding whether to be pleased or disgusted, it became apparent that she was measuring the changes that occurred in Lute.

Lute sat in agony, not knowing whether he was living up to her expectations or if he failed again. He’d painstakingly focused upon training for three months and nothing else, aside from hunting an occasional Vicious Beast for sustenance.

Then Lute didn’t know whether to be happy or sad with Isla’s ruling.

"Average, your talent is average for cultivating. And yes I am factoring in that you need close to three times the Qi required to advance one small realm of the Mortal Nine Realms. Whether you are talented at fighting, that is a different story." Isla said mercilessly.

However, not everything was unacceptable; the first thing Isla noticed when she awoke from her slumber was the abnormality in Lute’s body. The purity of his Qi had increased to an unprecedented level for this planet. It was hard to believe that he’d obtained this from the polluted "Qi" that really wasn’t worthy to be called as such. But even more noticeable was his inverted Qi flow, so there was no doubt his freak existence pulled through in cultivating the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way.

"Well… Explain, what benefits did you obtain from the Divine Chronicle; clearly something must’ve occurred to make you so confident in fighting above your cultivation level without even learning any combat Arts. Just from my limited senses, I can tell the weakest of the beasts in this valley are at the fourth level." Spoke Isla impatiently.

Lute shifted uncomfortably, how he was going to explain this; he didn’t really have a clue because it was such a broken concept that he had learnt. Swallowing reflexively, Lute decided to explain it in its entirety without hiding anything, if he couldn’t trust his Master then who could he trust?

Following the beginning of his explanation about all of the passive effects granted by the Art, Isla began to become increasingly numb, she couldn’t even express shock. The simple fact that he’d gather Qi autonomously without having to consciously cultivate was already a disgusting concept. Only taboo arts that had fearful prices for their use could achieve a similar effect. And originally she thought his explanation would stop there.

She couldn’t have been more wrong. Isla was beginning to regret giving this to Lute, it made her feel as if all the trials and obstacles she went through to gain power were all for naught. This damn disciple of hers could breakthrough while sleeping if he so wanted. Not only that, the meridian expansion, bodily strength gain, body tempering, the ability to replenish Qi and heal in combat, the purity of Qi and finally the increased speed of Qi intake when earnestly focusing on cultivation.

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This would cause even those old monsters that ruled the Divine Realm to turn in their graves if they knew about such an Art. Anyone that heard this would feel compelled to cough up blood. But… to top it all off! As if it wasn’t enough, all those benefits would exponentially increase because this Art wasn’t completely tied to one’s cultivation. It had multiple levels, with a dramatic increase in performance at each level.

Of all the Arts that focused upon one’s body that Isla knew of, this one was the absolute pinnacle. There was nothing above it; she could say that with absolute certainty after learning about its effect. Lute basically didn’t have to worry about anything now… his foundation was set. This Art would focus on Qi purity and the body as a vessel for that Qi and then the Origin Soul Needle would aid in soul strength. All he needed to focus on was comprehension and breaking through to the next level, one day at a time.

"You’re a little devil that is going against the Heavens, do you know that?" Isla said dryly.

"Then what does that make you who made me this devil?" Spoke Lute with sarcasm upon seeing his master depressed.

"I am definitely not an idiot for creating such a monster! It should be expected that my disciple is at least this much, now you know why I never took a disciple ever except for you, who may not have talent in cultivation speed, but you certainly are talented at learning Arts apparently."

Lute decided to disregard his Master’s remark. He could easily tell from her puffed out cheeks and pouting expression that she was lying. But, in the end, even if she hadn’t expected such circumstances it was her who gave him all of this.

Of course, Lute didn’t think any more into the Art. But that was different for Isla. For she knew what Lute didn’t, and that was with these Arts that tempered the body in a unique way, there should typically be Techniques for combat which only someone with a body from the corresponding Art could use.

This is only a reaffirmation that compared to the Immortals, we are pitifully weak. Just what would happen if he learned the combat Techniques of the Primordial God? The passive effects are already so strong; it’s terrifying to think of the Techniques that require such a powerful body granted by this Art. At least for now, it seems that the Primordial God didn’t leave behind his combat Techniques. If Lute learned those, forget everything else he has, if he had peak cultivation, he’d be a top figure in the Divine Realm.

"By the way, Master, whenever I revolve my Qi and have the will to fight, I release a pressure unconsciously, is there any way for me to control it, such as focusing and converging it all upon one opponent instead of the whole surrounding area" Asked Lute, what he had called Battle Intent had become of great interest."

Finally, something that wasn’t outside of her expectations, this was a concept that Isla was well versed in. "That pressure is known as Slaughter Aura. I am surprised you entered into the realm of it so quickly. You would first have to manifest killing intent, but instead you directly bypassed it. The greater your emotions of anger, the greater your will to fight and kill, the stronger you are. These are all ways to manifest a strong Slaughter Aura." Isla said while seeming to reminisce, perhaps upon the day she first manifested her own Slaughter Aura.

There were levels to bloodlust, the first realm was Killing Intent, and it allowed a cultivator to pressure whoever it was directed at. This pressure could slightly sway the tide of battle. If someone couldn’t cope with the pressure, they would be bound to make mistakes that could lead to their death. But the realm after this, that was Slaughter Aura, it was far more impactful, there were numerous ways for it to affect someone other than impair their decision making.

"There are two sure ways of increasing it rapidly though. First, slaughter countless numbers of lives. Second, slaughter very powerful individuals. If you do this, your Slaughter Aura will increase by leaps and bounds."

So all cultivators could have it, and then it must be a pretty typical part of cultivation. At least, this was how Lute thought of it. But what was the point of Slaughter Aura? Based on strength of the aura, you could be able to tell whether it was a good choice to fight someone, but that seemed to be it. Other than that, didn’t it simply act as a deterrent?

"So, it’s a deterrent and that is it? I don’t see how that is beneficial, if someone wanted me dead, with my strength; I wouldn’t be able to deter them." Lute said in a disappointed manner, he thought that something with the name Slaughter Aura would have more of a use.

Hearing his remark, Isla chuckled and startled him. Slaughter Aura was much more complex than he thought it was, and she would clear away this doubt because Isla was of the strong belief that a strong Slaughter Aura could determine the outcome of a fight between truly powerful cultivators.

"You are too narrow-minded. Yes, it can act as a deterrent and give you a rough gauge of how strong someone is. But it is far more in depth. Slaughter Aura, the stronger it is, can even impede someone’s cultivation progress. Just imagine someone had a problem with you even if you did nothing. They anger you, so what do you do? Release your Slaughter Aura, and if they are weak hearted enough, it could leave a shadow in their hearts and breed doubt of their own strength. This could prevent them from breaking through in cultivation. But this is not all that there is to it."

"What other use could there be, it’s not as if it can save your life." Asked Lute

"Again, you fail, stop being an imbecile. If your Slaughter Aura is extremely baleful and built up in strength, it will eclipse your opponents Slaughter Aura. You won’t even feel the pressure as you like to call it from them at all. But the opposite isn’t true, if yours is so much stronger than your opponents where you don’t even feel their pressure. Imagine how it must feel to them, who had to withstand your Slaughter Aura. They will not be able to bring out one hundred percent of their strength, they will make mistakes, Qi flow might become sluggish, fear of death, there are many factors that it will affect, and this can all sway the tide of battle. Sometimes what decides a death match is who has the stronger Slaughter Aura. This is the most basic explanation of what would occur in the Mortal Realm at least. When you truly step onto the Divine Path you will learn the true uses of Slaughter Aura."

So that’s it, no wonder the Vicious Beasts didn’t attack me outright at first. Perhaps my Slaughter Aura was strong enough where they slightly felt it. Even so, I shall kill when needed, but I shouldn’t needlessly go out of my way to increase it as I am sure it will build up over time.

"Master, I am not going out of my way to build up my Slaughter Aura, I will kill when needed, but I am too weak to make enemies right now." Lute said resolutely.

"Wow, I think that is the first smart thing you have said. Why would you want to build it up when you are still weak? It’s best to let it build up over many years because it’s safer, especially when your body has so many secrets. We wouldn’t want someone trying to investigate you because you had a strong and baleful Slaughter Aura. It’s better to remain low key and inconspicuous at the moment. Until the day you are the number one under heaven on this shitty planet, you shouldn’t exhibit your true strength. Don’t fight anyone unless you need to." Isla replied sternly, she didn’t want Lute going around picking fights simply because he thought his inheritances would keep him safe.

Right now, he was simply too inexperienced, and that would get even someone from the Divine Realm killed. Inexperience and arrogance –Isla was certainly arrogant, but even she knew to tone it back when needed-, it was the number one killer of all geniuses. Although she said Lute was average, she didn’t really know yet, it was too early to tell if Lute was talented at cultivation and fighting, because right now he simply had a perfect foundation, but that shouldn’t be mistaken for talent. The only thing Isla would admit at the moment was Lute had a degree of luck, and a talent at comprehension because he managed to cultivate an Art that virtually no one should be able to. The chances should be less than one percent, and yet he managed it.

But to think he even managed to directly jump into the realm that was Slaughter Aura, it was certainly a boon. Isla had no doubt this was probably because her soul was merged with his, Slaughter Aura was one of the things she had the most skill and experience in, perhaps with the merged souls Lute had unknowingly acquired some of her insights into Slaughter Aura and its uses, otherwise there was no feasible explanation how he could bypass the first realm of bloodlust that was Killing Intent.

With all this taken into consideration, they couldn’t hide here in a valley forever, which would only slow Lutes growth. It was time to move on.

"Lute, get ready, it’s time to leave this valley, during your travels I shall teach you the proper way to fight. For now, we have no predestined location. We’ll simply travel the world and gain experience." Isla said in one of her rare moments of no arrogance.