Chapter 0056

By a strange twist of fate, the two knocked out protester woken up by this time. They knew they couldn’t get Aria Se Jivock to change her mind, so they tried to head towards Amber to persuade her.

Aria Se Jivock caught them before they can take a step. “Where do you two think you are going?”

“With Amber.”

“Amber needs someone she trusts to watch her back especially when she goes into a strange new land.”

“If you two goes with her, she will end up dying when her karma comes into effect. You two protecting her are enabling her dependency on you two. When she must confront her fate alone, she won’t be able to survive the encounter.”

Senna tried to protest, however it was cut off by Aria Se Jivock. “You two haven’t even worked off your karma debt to me yet. You are coming with me to the Brilliant Yin Sect.”

“What?!” the duo said in unison.

Karma is a mysterious force that connect two souls together. What they do in one life will affect them in another life. Karma lines are classified into five major categories: debt, vengeance, revenge, penance, and friendship. There are three other categories, but no one in the Ethereal Depths mentions those types. It is almost a taboo to soul practitioners.

Vengeance karma is when a cultivator affects someone who has karma with the cultivator. For example, party A kills party B. If party B has a spouse/children/family/friends etc. then they become party C. A vengeance karma will form between party A and party C because of interaction between party A and party B.

Vengeance karma is one of the easiest karma to untie since party A and party C had no direct linkage together.

Revenge karma occurs between two people. From the previous examples, party A and party B have a revenge karma tying them together.

Friendship karma occurs when two cultivators were having a friendship bond with another. Friendship karma can not occur among blood related families. Adoptive families are included in the friendship karma. Friendship karma is the hardest karma to understand or to untie. Amber and Jean are an example of friendship karma going into effect.

While they were friends in their previous life, it doesn’t mean they will be friends in this life. They both acknowledge their friendship in their previous life and its effect in their current life, but it doesn’t mean they have to be friends in the current life. Amber accepts Jean as her friend. Jean accepts Amber as a close acquaintance.

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Debt and penance karma go hand in hand. The best example here would be Aria Se Jivock and Xing Zhi Hui. Aria Se Jivock sacrifices her life for Xing Zhi Hui’s happiness. Aria Se Jivock has a debt karma with Xing Zhi Hui. Xing Zhi Hui owes a penance karma to Aria Se Jivock.

And here Aria Se Jivock is collecting another debt karma from two unsuspecting victims. “I repeat, you two are going to the Brilliant Yin Sect with me.”

Amber was watching the whole thing from the sideline. She decided to step in now. Amber gently embraced her two friends while trying to persuade the duo, “You two go with her. Thank you for taking care of me all these years, but I need to grow and I can’t do it under your protection. The Brilliant Yin Sect is where you two are meant to be. I knew we were going to part someday, and I guess today is the day. Walk your path knowing we’ll see each other again someday.”

“Amber.”

“No Senna. Amber is right. We can’t always protect her. It is better she faces hardship now rather during a life and death situation like the time she froze up during the fight with the Alpha Iron Clawed Wolf.” Bailey touched Amber face like two lovers parting, “I don’t know what happen during the fight, I know you weren’t strong enough. I know this. You need to get stronger, so it won’t happen again and that won’t happen if we’re there with you. So go. Go and become strong. But always remember, we are friends and will always be friends.”

“How touching.” Aria Se Jivock's sarcastic remark broke the touching scene.

The three broke apart, eyes filled with unshed tears and anger towards the catalyst breaking them apart.

“Thank you for taking care of us until now.” Amber said. Almost everything that has happened until now was the karma she built up from her last life. If Aria Se Jivock wasn't here to help, she would end up repeating the same mistakes over and over.

Aria Se Jivock already told Emery what she wanted from her and Amber. Amber wasn’t sure if she was up to the task, but she knew she had to change on a fundamental level or else she’d made the same mistake she’d make six times already.

Fate has been cruel as well as kind, giving her a horrible soulmate but compensating her with true friends. Amber knew she can’t continue to follow the path fate seems to set up for her. This is the last time. Who knows what will happen when the bond between her and Verack De Nunick breaks, because it will break if nothing changes.

“This is simply the debt of karma you owe me.” Aria Se Jivock said seriously one moment then turn around and jovially said, “The Twilight Assassins Guild.”

Everyone took a step back as they felt the power Aria Se Jivock was building up inside of her. Even Xing Zhi Hui, who has been with her the longest, never felt her display a power on such magnitude. The pressure brought everyone to their knees. Even Base Avon-Ying, who has the cultivation equivalent to a Core Formation stage cultivator struggled to stay on his feet.

This was the pressure a Nascent Soul stage cultivator produces when they attack with the strongest trump card in their arsenal.

Everyone who was not knocked out flat on their face kept an eye on Aria Se Jivock. It wasn’t often they see a high level cultivator fight.

Except Tempest.

Even though spirits exist in another plane and their powers are limited by the laws of the realms, they are still very old and very powerful entities. Protecting their cultivator from the pressure of a high-level cultivator is easy as snapping their fingers. If they wanted to.

Cultivating affinities as their immortal path can be as easy as living the life of luxury in a palace and having everything catered to their whims without putting the effort to cultivate or it can be as hard as risking their lives every day under jaws and paws of high-level magical beasts for resources that barely increase their cultivation level. It all depends on the affection of the spirits towards their cultivators.

Tempest’s spirits love her. Hence, they protect her against the powers of high-level cultivators. Low-level cultivators or cultivators with similar power output are used to train Tempest.

Tempest didn’t want to show any of her trump cards yet so she pretends to fall on her butt as she watches Aria Se Jivock manifest the karma line attached to all the mercenaries, then entwined them into one big rope and immediately disintegrate it.

Then the pressure stopped.

Tempest looked around with a puzzled expression. “What just happened?”