Back on the world Naath had first been reborn on, the decade passed the same as it had for Naath. Baal, master Gui, and Brutus were passing their days cultivating and practicing their various arts. Master Gui’s hellish training had concluded only five years ago, Baal and Brutus are now immune to virtually every poision in existence. Even if they don't have immunity their bodies will react instantly to a new form of poison and at most it will make them sick for a while. Brutus with an inherent affinity to wind energy had made the most progress on the whirlwind arts making it to the fourth stage. Baal was now on the peak of the third stage.
Either of them drawing in energy and cultivating would create small wind storms now, of course each level of the whirlwind arts makes it grow in power exponentially. When Brutus draws in energy it will seem like a small tornado is staying still and pulling in the world's energy. When Baal draws in energy it is like a small dust devil, smaller in comparison, but not to be underestimated by any means. Baal was just finishing a cultivation session and trying to progress to the fourth stage of the whirlwind arts. He let out an annoyed breath as he opened his eyes and saw the lake in front of him that had been repaired since elder Gui’s battle with that otherworldly master.
There were still some patches where plant life had not yet returned due to the battle. Baal’s focus however was elsewhere entirely, he was frustrated at being unable to advance to the fourth stage of the whirlwind arts despite being on the precipice of it for months. He had advanced to the seventh stage of muscle strengthening and was making good, steady progress to the next step. In this world his progress could be considered as genius level. But he didn't feel any joy in it at all, ever since seeing the heavens kill his martial brother Naath he only really focused on the whirlwind arts.
Baal was hailed as one of the geniuses of the sect and Brutus was a candidate to eventually become a guardian beast in the future. Still, neither of them cared about this, they simply cultivated the whirlwind arts with all the diligence they could. Their growing cultivations were only a side effect of the whirlwind arts being practiced. Brutus now could use the wind to hover and glide slightly just a bit off from flight. Baal was at the point where he could develop wind blades sharper than any steel and use them to fight. Baal looked down at his hand using the whirlwind arts to form a small tornado in his palm.
He silently crushed the tornado and looked up at the sky wondering aloud “Brother Naath, I wonder if somehow you managed to reincarnate?” Baal began to sulk again and Brutus came over and layed down next to him, in this time the two had become like family. Elder Gui had become quite attached to both of them as well, he was not slacking in his training either, he was taking instruction from the rune constantly and learning. His soul cultivation had increased by leaps and bounds in these short ten years. The wounds to his lifespan had been completely undone from increases in his cultivation. It seemed to elder Gui as if this rune knew all the secrets in creation!
Elder Gui was on the ninth stage of soul cultivation and was forging a soul body in only a short ten years! This progress was enough to be recorded in the annals of time as unparalleled. However the rune only said it was “satisfactory”, when elder Gui first heard this he wanted to cry wondering what a genius was to this rune? He was currently listening to more instruction from the rune forming the skeletal structure of his soul body. Suddenly the rune froze its speech and went deathly still, it’s glow faded slightly and elder Gui could feel the runes' surprise.
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The rune then started to shake and even it’s ‘voice’ quivered as it whispered so softly it was almost inaudible. “H-he is still alive?”
Elder Gui thought for a moment wondering who the rune meant then he stiffened as well. Involuntary tears welled up in the corners of elder Gui’s eyes, they quickly flowed out unceasingly, elder Gui felt an indescribable sense of relief and joy. The rune couldn’t mean anyone except for their former student Naath who they both thought was annihilated. Elder Gui jumped up with the tears streaming down his face, not caring even a little. He appeared before Brutus and Baal in under a second and hugged both of them tightly, tears still streaming down his face. Baal and Brutus were alarmed instantly this was completely out of character for their master.
Elder Gui yelled out loud, so loud the entire sect heard it, even his soul energy was involuntarily used as he shouted in utter joy and relief. “HE’S ALIVE!!!!!”
The entire sect as well as the surrounding cities were alarmed by this shout. All of the non-cultivators in the cities felt these words ring in their brains before passing out. The sect master who was in seclusion trying to break through to the next level was alarmed and woke up from his meditation. A dark cloud that had been lingering over the entire sect since Naath’s death seemed to have been swept away by this shout. Suddenly a wind storm appeared. It was a cyclone like a hurricane! Baal and Brutus both broke through in their whirlwind arts at once! Naath’s death was a stone in both of their hearts hindering their cultivation. In an instant winds of several hundred miles an hour enveloped the entire sect.
Brutus’s breakthrough was to the fifth level of the whirlwind arts, at this stage he could begin to control the winds on a thought. He could fly freely through the sky and pull in energy like a whirlpool sucking up water. Baal directly broke through to the fifth stage as well with brutus, the death of Naath had weighed on him particularly heavily. Suddenly ripping tearing sounds rang out as well, both Brutus and Baal had begun to break through in cultivation as well. In a matter of minutes Baal and brutus both entered into the nerve enhancement stage of cultivation!
The shockwaves swept over the sect and this day would be marked as a glorious achievement for the sect. All of the sect elders and leaders were greatly alarmed by all of this and rushed to elder Gui’s location. Most we're halfway there when the whirlwinds pushed them back violently, most of them suffering serious cuts and gashes from wind blades. Being at high levels of cultivation all of them waves these injuries off and healed quickly. Once the whirlwind died down they all landed in front of elder Gui seeing a stunning scene. Elder Gui’s soul body avatar was projecting with a near complete skeleton. Baal and Brutus had auras around them of nerve enhancement, they both also had small wind cyclones circling around them!
The rune without hesitation flew out from elder Gui’s soul sea as the sect master arrived and shouted out “HE’S ALIVE, NAATH IS STILL ALIVE!!!”
This was a shock to everyone present and they all felt a wave of surging motivation! Even the sect master was no exception, a loud popping and crackling sound came from him and he grabbed his head in pain. He broke through immediately into a higher stage, he staggered and whispered “mind sharpening?!”
He had broken through another major level, the sect was clearly about to rise drastically like a shooting star. When everything finally calmed down the rune took control of itself again and explained what it had felt and why it knew Naath was in fact still alive!
“I put a seal around some of my memories and gifted them to Naath, leaving this seal in his soul sea. I thought I was going to be annihilated by the heavens so I gifted him everything. Just now, I felt part of this seal open and release some if it’s memories. The only person in this universe who could possibly open any part of the seal is Naath. If anyone tried to do so by force all of the memories would immediately destroy themselves, even the heavens cannot open this seal! Naath is alive, he is on a very, very distant world, one we cannot reach no matter how we might strive for it, but he is alive. And knowing him, he will come back to us one day. We may not be able to travel this distance but I have confidence in that brat!”