Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 440: Answers.

"Huh?" Ozul muttered in confusion before he slowly realized what they were discussing.

Apparently, they felt lacking while trying to cultivate. Even Raven felt her comprehension of the Scarlet Eyes decline.

Such a thing couldn’t have been tested with those people as he only focused on their emotions and physical changes.

To test whether it was really because of him removing the Scent from their body, he motioned toward Blaze, who came closer without any questions.

Ozul focused and released multiple traces of the Scent and slowly directed them all into his body.

"Try cultivating now," he told Blaze and he complied.

Raven and Zier, having realized what Ozul was doing, also waited with bated breath as Blaze sat down in a lotus position and started circulating the Spiritual Essence in his body.

A few moments later, Blaze opened his eyes and smiled brightly, "It’s back. It doesn’t feel suffocating anymore!" With a little pause, he told Ozul, "Leave it inside of me. Isn’t it better this way?"

"But the Scent will control your unconscious emotions toward me," Ozul warned.

However, Blaze was adamant, "It reinforces my loyalty to you; what else can I ask for?"

Trying not to lose against Blaze, Raven too appeared before Ozul and asked him to inject her with the Scent.

"But-"

"See, If you don’t do it, I won’t be able to keep up to your expectations. Don’t you want numerous naps while I take care of all the tedious work?" Raven argued and hit all the weak spots of Ozul.

She understood more than anyone how to convince him. After all, she had heard him mutter to himself countless times how much he wanted people to do all the work while he rested in the dark.

’Since it’s helping them, I guess it shouldn’t be a problem...’ Ozul thought to himself before he guided a few traces of the Scent to enter her body as well.

Zier too didn’t think for a second before he stepped up to receive the Scent again.

"Can we call it something other than Scent? It doesn’t sound right when I think that you injected me with your Scent..." he cringed before voicing out his thoughts, but Ozul shook his head.

"No."

He wouldn’t waste any more of his brain cells in thinking up another creative name for it.

After he gave them the Scent back, Ozul resumed his nap, but random thoughts kept assaulting his mind,

’Did the Scent improve their talents, allowing them to cultivate better?’

’Or was it the other way around? Maybe the Scent only seeped away at their talent and when he took it back, their talent weakened?’

He didn’t mind filling them up with even more traces of the Scent if it was the former. But there was also the possibility of the latter being true. And if that was the case, it meant the longer they had the Scent, the more it would eat away at their potential!

’I can’t allow that...’

Groaning to himself, he woke up again as he knew he had to test the possibilities. Leaving the Scent in their bodies could have worsened their talent after all.

The only other person he could trust was Ember, so he directly went to her.

When he found her in her office, the doors remained closed for a few moments and when they opened, Rai dragged a dead body outside with him. The trail of blood on the ground smelled disgusting, but the Beastkin quickly began to clean it up.

"My little mouse catcher~ You’ve been busy with the spies lately," Ember smiled upon seeing Ozul behind the doors. It saved her a lot of manpower because

Ozul entered the room and closed the doors behind him.

"I am done with my experiments, but I need to test one final thing and need someone trustworthy," he said. He didn’t feel the need to hide anything from her, "I think I can help make it easier for people to cultivate, but I am not sure."

"Can’t you test it on that little group of yours?" Ember questioned, curious if there might be repercussions.

But Ozul shook his head, "I think it already works on them, so I can’t test it. If you’re worried it could be harmful, don’t worry."

Ember shrugged her shoulders and accepted it without any doubts, "Alright, test it on me then."

However, Ozul again shook his head sideways, "It won’t work on you. You’re already a Sage." He didn’t tell her that there were already a few traces of the Scent in her body as he used to unconsciously do that before.

And this way, she would also think that there are limitations to this ability to improve people’s cultivation talent.

Ember thought for a few moments before nodding to herself, and added "Alright, you will owe me for this."

Ozul sighed as he could guess the future him cursing his decisions, but there was no other way. No one else could help him, and he couldn’t ask random strangers on the street to tell him if they could cultivate better after he injected them with the Scent as it might alert the Alliance.

As he stood there wondering about the things Ember might ask him to do, she told one of the guards standing outside to bring a certain someone from the estate.

He was the same meek guy who used to manage the estate when Ember’s cultivation was sealed. She valued him highly even though he was only a peak Nascent Soul because he never once questioned her orders.

Ozul also confirmed his loyalty to her as he could read his emotions.

Ember taught the man all that he needed to know before nodding toward Ozul.

Taking the sign, he released a few traces of the Scent and injected it into the man.

"Now circulate your cultivation technique," he told the Beastkin who obeyed without question.

Even Ember didn’t feel anything different about the man, so she was curious to see the results as well.

The man took his sweet time as he opened his eyes after a couple of minutes and there were almost stars twinkling in his eyes,

"This-...It’s like before I was only trying to breathe underwater!" he exclaimed with a pleasant surprise written all over his face. "I think I might even be able to achieve a breakthrough to the Origin Realm now!" The wall between him and the Origin Realm felt a lot weaker now.

This revelation surprised not only Ember but also Ozul.

Ember used her Scarlet Eyes on the man in failing hopes to spot the difference but could find nothing. She was even more surprised that whatever Ozul did could even evade her Scarlet Eyes.

Meanwhile, Ozul’s mind wandered as many of his previous questions were answered.

Previously, it never made sense that the only three people who followed him with such devotion were all talented beyond measure.

Raven was only a random village girl, but she could still compete toe to toe with Blaze, who had a mysterious special constitution. Even Zier didn’t seem as talented before, but now he’s ahead of both of them in terms of cultivation.

After Ember sent away the meek man who was more than happy to go back and cultivate, she sent a glaring look toward Ozul.

"Is that the reason your little group of Dragon Hatchlings is so special even compared to the other Dragon Hatchlings?"

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

"I guess you wouldn’t know..." she muttered to herself before taking a deep breath. She was now becoming used to long explanations to these ’kids.’

"Dragon Hatchlings isn’t a revered title because of their cultivation speed. It’s because later on the cultivation journey, the laws restricting our cultivation don’t affect them as much as it does the natives of this Realm.

This simple fact of course gives them an edge over others, but only if they manage to reach that stage before giving up due to exhaustion or simply dying of some unfortunate circumstances!"

Seeing as Ozul still didn’t understand the difference between his group and other Dragon Hatchlings, she continued,

"Let me give you an example. Do you remember those people brought together with you?"

Ozul nodded his head even though the only face he still remembered was of the Sovereign who used to be the strongest being in their previous Realm.

"Among the people who accepted the Immortal Sect’s invitation, the most talented one only recently entered the Nascent Soul Realm. And he is being exalted as a genius..."

As the weight of this reality started settling in, Ember continued, "As for the only two people who didn’t accept their invitation other than you, the human succumbed to death while that fox was sheltered by Beastkin on the verge of death. My kind knows how to hide things, so I don’t know her cultivation, but I am sure it isn’t as exaggerated as your group."

Ozul realized she was talking about the Sovereign and that man from the Empire who had a rare defense artifact.

"In contrast, your little group of Dragon Hatchlings has already started scratching at the walls of the Origin Realm. What is that if not monstrous talent? But now it seems that it was all because of you..." she eyed him strangely as if trying her best to peer through all of his secrets.

Ozul kept a check on her emotions. If he found even a small trace of malice, he wouldn’t think twice before leaving. Ember, however, only had boundless curiosity and excitement bubbling inside her heart right now.

"I don’t know what to tell you... It’s my first time finding out this power as well," Ozul replied softly.

If word got out that he could quite literally boost people’s talent in cultivation, people all over the Realm would be fighting for him.

Holding her head, Ember fell into deep thought, "If the Immortal Sect receives the wind of this, they will invade Phoenix City even at the expense of stepping on the Phoenix’s tail."

"And I trust you won’t let that happen," Ozul spoke without any hint of fear.

"You have too much faith in me, boy," Ember replied.

"Is it misplaced?"

A grin stretched over her face as she replied, "Over my dead body will the Immortal Sect or anyone else get their hands on you!"

As a gesture of goodwill, he guided a few more traces of the Scent to enter her body without her knowledge. He didn’t know if it even had any effect on her, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Before he could leave the room, however, Ember called out from behind, "Be ready in a few days. I need you to kill some more people~ You and Rai will work together."