The sun slowly rose until stopping just above the horizon. As always, the world was stuck in a permanent state of sunset. Elias, Kale, and Mirelda had no way of knowing that Halsten and Ley had disappeared from the world, never able to return.
As for Lute, he was busily cultivating, until suddenly he felt the Origin Soul Needle stirring within him.
From the very first Vicious Beast he’d killed until now, having killed other cultivators, there weren’t many changes with the Origin Soul Needle. It just quietly floated in orbit around his soul. He had no way of making contact with it or controlling its powers.
This was still the case, and he had much respect for it as it was slowly increasing the strength of his soul as the days went by. It cleared his meridians of blockages allowing him to cultivate, and it gave him ice cold clarity of thought when he needed it the most.
But he never would forget its absolute power over the soul and its ability to extinguish his own soul if it felt inclined to. As he cultivated, he kept reassuring himself and forcing him to remember that he didn’t control the needle, it did what it wanted.
As for why he thought this, after Lute killed Halsten, surprisingly the souls weren’t immediately extinguished and absorbed of their strength by the Origin Soul Needle. When Lute had returned to the campsite, Ley and Halsten’s Souls were feeling utter terror, Isla was suppressing them and making them feel the very meaning of the word fear because she felt like it and for no other reason. Since the Origin Soul Needle didn’t restrain her from doing this, she kept playing around with Ley and Halsten’s Souls as if they were toys.
Lute had only known their souls were there, he couldn’t enter the space of the Origin Soul Needle at will. But as he began to cultivate, his consciousness was dragged into this space.
When he was dragged into the Origin Soul Needle, the first thing Lute saw was Isla playing with….torturing, Ley and Halsten’s Souls. This didn’t bother Lute, he killed them anyways, so why would he care what happened to their souls.
Instead, this scene reminded him that aside from him, Isla didn’t care about any mortals; she didn’t regard them as being anything more than playthings that could be easily disposed of.
As Lute watched the scenes play out in front of him. He had begun to wonder why the Origin Soul Needle wanted him within its space; he hadn’t been here since the first time it merged with him.
This question was answered very…very quickly. A rumbling sound like thunder soon overtook the space. Isla quickly stopped tormenting the souls and floated over to Lutes side. She had told him, “The needle wants you to witness its power.”
The moment Isla had said this, countless black chains with black and purple flames upon them manifested. They wrapped around the trembling souls of Ley and Halsten. Immediately they began to cry out in pain and terror. A sizzling sound pervaded the atmosphere, the souls were being burned.
As Lute watched, the souls became increasingly more transparent and began to dissipate. As time went by, the cries of pain became increasingly weak and eventually they stopped all together. The chains slowly unwrapped, within the space in front of Lute, there was a white energy the same color as his own soul.
This energy split itself in half. Then under the power of the Origin Soul Needle, each half went towards Lute and Isla. The energy was absorbed by Lute. The same occurred for Isla.
“Does this occur every time I kill something?” Lute asked in awe.
“Yes, you never felt it before since your consciousness wasn’t within the depths of the needle. The Origin Soul Needle absorbs most of the soul’s strength, and then it leaves a portion for you and some for me. However, for you it’s a noticeable increase, for me it is barely a drop in the ocean for recovering my soul’s strength, it’s quicker just to let the Origin Soul Needle Passively restore my soul’s strength.” Isla replied.
Lute memorized the feeling of this energy nourishing his soul. It was a slightly intoxicating sensation that brought him increased clarity of thought. The image of the chains ignited with black and purple flames were seared into his mind.
What he had just witnessed reminded Lute of the power the Origin Soul Needle held, he had no control over the needle, and perhaps never would in the future either.
As if on cue, Lute’s consciousness was forcefully expelled from the depths of the Origin Soul Needle. He had returned to the material plane.
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Lute was awestruck by the power of the Origin Soul Needle; there was no doubt that it would play an extremely important role in his cultivation for the foreseeable future.
Lute touched his chest with the palm of his right hand as he thought back to his soul and the strength that it would contain years from now, ‘What would happen if I had ways to apply my soul strength? Is this what the needle wanted me to know?’
Lute had the feeling that the Origin Soul Needle was silently watching his growth, waiting for the day he could fully its power. He had the suspicion that the needle was trying to tell him not to forget about his greatest advantage, which was his soul.
Lute pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind as he noticed his group begin to stir. Mirelda, Kale and Elias all began to wake up. Lute carefully watched all three of them in silence. He was actually surprised that they had slept so carefree. What this told Lute was that they didn’t put neither him nor Elias in their eyes, perhaps they didn’t even feel apprehensive about the Vicious Beasts that lived in the Jade Skies Valley.
They were overconfident and careless, that would be their downfall. This much Lute was sure of as a malicious glint flashed through his eyes while watching them.
Finally, they began to set off again, Jade Skies Valley was extremely close, and there would be enough time in the day to begin exploring it and hunting Vicious Beasts.
After a few hours of travelling Lute, Mirelda, Kale, and Elias approached the entrance to Jade Skies Valley. The pathway descended downwards. The further they trekked the more the environment shifted. The sky was blotted out by misty jade clouds.
The entire valley was filled with thick foliage. Wherever Lute looked, it was jade colored; apparently this place wasn’t just full of jade colored skies. What was most noticeable though was the mist, the further he descended into the Valley, the mistier it became, and until eventually it was difficult to discern Elias and the others who were in front of him.
Suddenly, noises came from every direction. The Vicious Beasts that lived here clearly knew that they had arrived. These howls seemed to come from all types of Vicious Beasts of every kind.
Alerted to their presence, Mirelda who was up front stopped moving and began to observe. But, as expected, she didn’t seem apprehensive at all, instead her aura began to surge as she felt the thirst for battle.
Mirelda turned towards Lute and Elias. “You two, split up from me and Kale. Let’s meet up at the entrance to the valley every few days until it’s time to harvest the Scarlet Demon Orchid. Until then, hunt for core of Vicious Beasts.”
Without giving Lute or Elias a chance to respond, Mirelda and Kale raced off into the mist, disappearing entirely from the surroundings and leaving Lute alone with Elias.
Elias smiled grimly, clearly he wasn’t as confident in his plan for revenge now that he’d actually come to Jade Skies Valley. He felt vulnerable and isolated as he was surrounded by the unknown.
Elias turned to Lute and asked with a slightly nervous tone, “Are you still confident? We will be fighting two against four and there are also numerous Vicious Beasts. I am not one to back out when we’ve already committed, but the more I look around, the worse it is for us, we could be backstabbed at any moment.”
Lute shifted his attention from the green and misty environment around him to Elias who was slightly trembling in the damp atmosphere. Whether it was from fear or if he was cold, Lute didn’t know, but he gave a slight reassuring grin nonetheless.
“I already took care of Ley and Halsten last night, they were going to ambush us in the middle of the night but I was alert enough to notice them. I also have a decent amount of experience with fighting Vicious Beasts in the wilds, as long as you’re with me, we should survive, albeit with some injuries. Besides, unlike me, you have extremely valuable life-preserving items upon you, so staying alive shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
Lutes reply boosted Elias’s confidence. Yes, he did have items that he could use to guarantee his safety, why should he be so concerned? As for revenge, apparently he already had accomplished some of it while he slept through the night, if this was true, then they wouldn’t have to remain on constant alert for the unknown.
“What did you learn? Who is the one that allowed them to run so rampant through the sect?” Elias asked.
Lute thought back to what Halsten said, confirming the information in his mind before he replied, “His name is Elder Temporal, as for what he wants to accomplish, I can only assume that it is to uproot all the nobles who hold influence within the city. Perhaps he is acting in such a way to accumulate power.”
“Elder Temporal…. Elder Temporal….. Ah! Him! He is unknown within the Fallen Tide Hall; I’d almost forgotten that he was even in the sect because he is so low key. He doesn’t teach anything and is hardly ever seen. To think it was him…”
Lute looked at Elias quizzically, unlike Elias, he had somewhat guessed that the Elder behind it everything would choose to hide themselves from others. Sometimes the more they hid themselves from others, the more dangerous they were. If this person was so reclusive that almost no one knew of him, then than quite possibly meant that they head a reason to be so secluded form others.
As Elias was lost in thought and probably thinking up a plan of action, Lute heard a howl in the distance, but this one was closer than the others.
Turning to Elias he whispered, “Pay attention! You can’t lose focus here! Focus on what you can do now and leave everything else for later. You can’t fight against an Elder yet, so bide your time. Now focus, I don’t feel like dragging your body back to your family.”
Not caring whether Elias answered him, Lute sped off into the distance towards the howling Vicious Beast. He wanted to use this trip to test his strength and hopefully breakthrough in cultivation.
As for Elias, after Lute sped off, he finally came to his senses and began to run after him; however this time he was actively looking for danger since Lute was right, he should worry about what was happening here and now, not what would happen in the far off future.