Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 464: Three Revivals.

The Three-Tailed Monkey fell to the ground in pieces.

The shock on his face was a testament to how unbelievable this situation was to him until the very end.

Without wasting any time, Ozul covered his corpse with Purity and started absorbing his Essence.

In an instant, a dense stream of Essence entered his body and spread evenly before becoming indistinguishable.

Unlike before, the corpse took a few moments before it could be completely absorbed.

Ozul retracted Purity back into his body, again only leaving a dried husk of what once used to be a Transcendent Three-Tailed Monkey.

’This is better...’ Ozul thought, stretching his arms as if he had worked out.

The energy he absorbed from the monkey was many times more than what he had obtained from the Origin Realm beasts.

’This is enough to make a difference at least.’ He was also content with the use of this ability during the battle.

Beings at the Transcendent Realm could rapidly heal their wounds, their regeneration could even be visible if observed carefully. However, Purity did not allow the monkey to heal his wounds, which was a surprise even to him.

With this ability in his hands, he was a little more confident in surviving the upcoming war.

As he had imagined, only devouring beings at the Transcendent Realm would make any difference to his strength.

’If I continue, it won’t be long before I may be able to match a Sage...’ He concluded, feeling the new strength coursing through his body.

The trio caught up to him quickly after they noticed that the fight had concluded.

Zier was more than impressed that Ozul wasn’t even scathed in the fight against a Transcendent being.

"We can go now, right?"

"Yes," Ozul replied.

Something was unnerving about this forest that he did not want to investigate, even though he wished he could absorb a few more Transcendent animals. If they ventured deeper, they may run against something beyond his strength.

It had gotten dark again, but they weren’t going to rest.

Under Ozul’s lead, they traced their steps from where they had come.

"Can I do that?" Raven got closer to him as she asked.

"I don’t know," he instantly knew she was talking about his new-found ability to absorb the Essence of living things.

"You will have to discover that yourself."

Raven wasn’t disappointed. Although she had initially chosen the Darkness Element because of him, she had come to develop a personal liking for it as well.

One would argue that she hadn’t tried other elements, so she wouldn’t know which are better. But there was, with Darkness, a fundamental ease and familiarity that she wouldn’t abandon for anything else.

On her side, Zier was in contemplation as well.

The only part of Ozul’s ability that he could replicate was the decay of those living things.

’But that was too fast,’ Zier thought, remembering how quickly the bodies of those beasts dried up when they came into contact with Purity.

The poisons he had thought of or read worked on such principles that made it impossible to match that speed.

’All poisons go for the ’corruption’ rather than absorption...’ Zier was determined to create a poison that he could use for quick and decisive battles.

Meanwhile, behind them all, Blaze was just happy that he could blow off some steam.

...

It barely took them an hour to reach the borders of the forest.

Ozul had to cut through the wall of roots and poisonous veils again to make a way.

As they got out, they were immediately harassed by the burning starlight.

"Maybe we should have stayed there a little longer..." he couldn’t help but murmur in annoyance.

Worried that they might actually go back just because of the light, Zier hurriedly spoke, "It won’t take long before we reach the estate. It will be very comfortable sleeping in the room."

"Hmm..." Ozul hummed in agreement. Taking a nap on the bed was really attractive compared to the cold stones or broken tree barks in the forest.

Meanwhile, Raven narrowed her eyes at Zier. It felt like he had just manipulated Ozul and she didn’t like it one bit.

After some time, they reached the estate.

Ozul quickly noticed the absence of Ember and the strong presence of Rai in her office.

While the trio went to their room, he walked to her office instead.

Opening the door, he saw Rai surrounded by small piles of papers, books, and files.

"Huh? You came directly here?" Rai was informed the moment they had returned to the estate but wasn’t expecting that he would immediately come to him.

"Where is she?" Ozul asked since he couldn’t sense her Spiritual Essence anywhere in Phoenix City.

"She-" Rai was about to answer, but just at that moment, he was interrupted as a Spiritual Wave phased through him, pushing a few papers off the desk.

The wave spread from the center of Phoenix City to all directions, reaching the ends of the Realm of Abezan.

Now that he was here, Ozul could pinpoint the origin of the Spiritual Wave that belonged to Ember; it spread from the obelisk of the Celestial Phoenix placed in the City Lord’s Hall.

"She is with the Phoenix as you can see," Rai replied, unbothered by the Spiritual Wave.

"And what was that?" Ozul asked about the waves of Spiritual Essence.

"Curious, I see," Rai smiled and leaned back on his chair, "It’s something particular to the Wild Beastkin."

Ozul recalled that Wild Beastkin were basically Beasts who chose to transform into Beastkin, thus restarting their cultivation in exchange for more potential.

"Remember that Wild Beastkin could regain their original form? It happens in the Empyrean Realm. It’s recorded that the Beastkin goes through Three Revivals, each announced with dominance, hence the Spiritual Waves."

"This was the 2nd Revival?" he asked, still unsure what revival meant in this context.

"Yes, and since you seem confused, I will explain." Rai was more than happy to put aside the extra paperwork and talk with like-minded people.

"In the wake of the revival, the Kin shed their skin, grow it anew. The soul is then revived; the soul of a beast. As the skin and the soul kiss, the Beast awakens."

Ozul was a little confused as to why Rai was talking weirdly.

"... *Ahem!* Or so the scriptures say."

Only then did Ozul understand that he was quoting a book.

"So there will be one last Spiritual Wave?" Ozul muttered to himself. After that, it seemed like Ember would finally emerge as an Empyrean and also regain her true form.

"Isn’t she a dragon?" he looked up from the ground and eyed Rai, wondering what kind of beast he was.

Rai flashed his toothy grind, "Indeed. There are no Dragons here anymore, only Dragon Beastkin. Lord Ember will be the only real Dragon in the entire Realm of Abezan."

Ozul wondered what a real Dragon would look like.

Even in his previous Realm, a Dragon was a creature of fairy tales and bedtime stories. The only creatures coming close were small Wyverns or Drakes who couldn’t fly.

More than that, however, he wondered just how strong an Empyrean would be.

"How many Empyreans are there?" He asked Rai directly. It would give him an estimate of Ember’s new strength and how far he was behind.

Rai smiled like he was waiting for this question. He replied, "Only two."

"There is the sect leader of the Immortal Sect and the leader of the Wilderness. Both of them are old coots, their bones must be rotting by now."

Ozul ignored his last remark and focused on the fact that the leader of the Wilderness was also an Empyrean.

He recalled that Ember had a soured relationship with the Wilderness as well as the Immortal Sect.

He did not feel well knowing that they were enemies with the two of the strongest organizations of this Realm headed by the only two Empyreans alive.

But he quickly forgot about the situation, confident that Ember would be able to deal with it alone.

After all, he couldn’t even participate in the quarrel of Sages, much less Empyreans.

"I will be sleeping until she comes back," he told Rai before exiting the office and going to his room.

. . .

In the City Lord’s Hall, Ryujin was sitting in his office, seething in rage.

The person he hated the most right now was becoming an Empyrean in his courtyard and he couldn’t even touch her hair.

His son entered his office, "I have instructed everyone, father."

"Good," Ryujin replied with a gruff.

"Is it really okay, father?" His son spoke up after hesitating for a while.

"You do not understand the might of an Empyrean, son." Ryujin turned to face him, his reddened eyes spoke volumes of his seriousness.

"Let me give you an example. If a Sage can destroy a mountain, an Empyrean can order it to move and the mountain will have no other choice."

He had instructed all his men to drop all missions related to Ember instantly. Though he was angry, the anger hadn’t blinded him.

Since there was no stopping Ember from becoming an Empyrean, he could only cut his losses and retreat for now. It was foolish to give her any more reasons to attack them.

"She might still come for revenge. What then?" His son asked, knowing full well that his father also had a hand in robbing Ember of her cultivation back then.

"There is nothing we can do," Ryujin muttered with his chin held under his fist, leaning on one side as he gazed vacantly on the floor.