novelraw Chapter 804 - 803 - True Cultivation
Chapter 804 - 803 - True Cultivation
Lind had studied Celestials in the Repository but seeing it in real life was an eye opening experience. Unlike anything he understood, Hope advanced in leaps and bounds studying the world around her without meditation nor a technique to cultivate.
Now, she was a Sand Tier after studying a demon! He kept his reactions to himself but practice and theory were vastly different. Thanks to her efforts, he had mastered far more of his Celestial Qi than before.
His sliver actually became more profound simply grasping that aspect of that Qi!
Hope could advance her cultivation that way but he taught her the staff techniques as she showed great potential with it. Nothing else showed thus far but he did not judge.
When a demoness entered his range one day, the pair went to investigate only for Hope to hop out like it was nothing! Then she begged for the demoness' life!
Lind examined their intruder and was stunned to see a suppressed Akashic Physique! How she had done it was half the problem but also why? A demon with that physique would be a god among demons based on Kal's reactions.
He also saw she was not corrupted at all but no doubt followed that convention. It was strange compared to what he had learned from Kal about the physique.
Of course, a mortal realm could not hold a candle to the higher realms with depths of knowledge but even in the Heaven Realm, Kal had been a startling thing for all the demon powers they met.
The Heaven Realm may have at one time had more knowledge but lost it in the attrition of war.
Yet, in the fringes of the Starbreaker Empire, it seemed a more intact grasp of that legacy remained.
The demoness in front of him was a Sky Realm with a suppressed physique. She also seemed afraid of that fact coming out.
They finally came to their cavern and he stopped their group while scanning the entire area down to a minute level. It was at that moment that a rod on Gel's belt turned to slag under his power.
"An artifact that launches a Soul Flare when taken into a concealment array. Interesting." He saw the demoness pale but he had not asked which was partially his fault. She also likely thought she was a moment from death as well so it was a bit distracting.
"There is something else!" She then held up her left hand with a storage ring on it. She did nothing else so he took it as permission and shattered her imprint on it. It was only then that the ring cracked and crumbled to dust!
It was not a storage ring at all!
The vile Qi that leaked out was lethal to anyone but Lind who quickly transformed it with his harmony. It was meant to kill her!
"No prisoners are allowed to be taken but if you have avoided the detection arrays, you had to have a way to disperse Fiend Qi." She glanced at Hope and saw she misunderstood. While Hope might be able to combat Fiends, she was not able to neutralize the Qi like he could.
"Hope, try to open the way in." He suddenly surprised the 2 women but Hope's face lit up as she hopped forward and used the staff in front of her. She tilted it to be horizontal and it began to glow with all 6 True Qi.
At first, nothing happened but as Lind and Gel looked on, her body began to advance in realm in front of their eyes! The Sand Tier quickly solidified and then advanced like a storm. The air began to shimmer when a soft thud revealed Hope was now a Stone Tier!
"Enough." Hope stopped reluctantly but then smiled as she assessed herself and nodded. "Consolidate all today and wait at least a week before trying to advance again."
They had spent the last 2 years in the Soul Realm to fully grasp what could and could not affect her. Unfortunately, they had a slight Qi deviation crop up due to Hope's joy in advancing and it took most of last year to fix it.
Now that she knew the danger, she no longer sprinted ahead if Lind told her to stop. Just seeing a demon up close had given her the push to the World Realm and now interacting with his barrier put her in the Stone Tier.
It was strange seeing someone cultivate by experience or manipulating the world rather than just condensing and mastering Qi in their body. It was so close to Elementals that he suspected the 2 races were interrelated somehow.
He tapped a spot in empty air before a shimmering curtain of Qi parted and they moved inside. He took one more sweep of the area and then purged all the Qi in the air before stepping inside.
The cavern was just a simple affair with 2 cots and a pit for fire with some barrels holding some materials in the open. It was fermenting which could not happen in a storage ring at all.
Hope needed all aspects of existence to advance. The farther her realm, the more profound things she would grasp and advance again but she went to one of the cots and assumed a lotus position before meditating.
"Now, we are isolated from the world here. I have questions for you." Lind kept his tone cold and unbending. The demoness flinched but nodded.
She then started to strip!
"STOP!" His voice snapped Hope out of her barely started meditation as her eyes widened in surprise to see her master have both his hands up in panic as Gel had partially opened her armor clasps.
Lind pinched his nose and took a sigh as he counted to 10. He suddenly flashed back to his kids not liking having to wear clothes and could not help but smile in reminiscence.
"You can discard your armor, and only your armor, if you need to be comfortable but that is all." Gel seemed confused but then blushed as she let his words sink in.
"Will the clothes not get in the way of the torture?" The question was asked so innocently that Lind felt a disconnect at that moment as Hope looked just as lost.
"Who said anything about torture?!" She had seemed quite level headed before but now he was wondering if she was right in the head!
"Master, it is their way." Hope suddenly spoke up and he saw in her eyes enlightenment. She was expanding her mind! Her once unstable foundation was swiftly settling and he stayed silent as she once again entered a much more powerful meditation session.
He then quickly engraved an isolation ward to not let him interrupt her again. He suspected he would be thrown off shortly once more but both looked on at the oddity.
The Qi was not gathering around her like most cultivators but instead it was like the Qi from her was snaking out in complex and profound ways to explore before returning and increasing incrementally her Stone Tier realm.
"How can she cultivate like that?" Gel's question made Lind ponder if he should answer but Hope insisted she not be killed so he decided for a part of the truth.
"Hope is not a Broken but a Celestial. The way they cultivate is by manipulating and understanding the world around them. It has the same pitfalls if done too quickly as us, but she hardly faces any bottlenecks because of it." Lind had been floored by how quickly Hope could advance.
He also was astounded that she knew how far she could go. She seemed saddened by that but Lind taught her that nothing is guaranteed. All she knew was potential and had to work hard to get there.
Many geniuses died before reaching even the World Realm because of politics, luck, or poor choices, so knowing a limit simply told her a goal, not a certainty. Besides, he refused to believe Celestials were as locked in as their nature dictated.
Elementals solidified overtime, discarding their old Soul Core to create a new one or integrate one from a former senior.
They pooled the experiences of their race from one generation to the next but many died or were lost so they did not become all powerful either. Heaven was fair in all things.
He simply needed to see if he could understand if the restrictions on Celestials was more than a feeling or a hard fact for some reason.
"They only started appearing a little over 2000 years ago. No one knew why but they could not absorb souls without dying horribly. People kept trying because their potential felt so strong but nothing worked." Gel spoke out loud but Lind felt his heart still.
It had to be a coincidence, right? It had to be, but there was a possibility he had to confirm.
"Do you have a more accurate time frame?" Gel seemed surprised at his question but thought for a bit before shaking her head.
"I do not know when the first one ever might have been but I know a little over 2100 years ago 3 were born that could not be hidden since one was a commoner and it was paraded about as an abomination." Lind paled.
He was closing in on almost 3000 years of life and then some but time was a tricky thing here. The Laws were so broken that it could literally flow slower or faster up here than where he lived but the timing was damned close.
He had once held unbridled Immortal power but had no ability to truly control it. He had also crossed realms from one mortal realm to the other.
In both instances, his harmony had run wild among Fiend lives and structures.
If he was correct about how they were all thralls to the 'Great One,' then it was not impossible his harmony had infected them. It was also possible he had touched on something fundamental in his battle back then without realizing it.
Timat had experimented in a Fiend that did not feed but cultivated normally so his son did not suffer the same kind of damage but now he saw the difference in the 2 instances. One was an accidental chance and the other was born naturally.
Lind looked at Hope and wondered if her parents were wiser than they let on. Did they know that their daughter might one day signal the return of their race?
He did not know but he had to explore this more deeply. If he could affect Fiends on such a fundamental level, killing them may not be the only thing he could do!