Six silent hours passed at the foot of the stairs. Then, Ruri gently awakened and quickly stood up with a frightened look. All the women around jumped in surprise, and Ruri cast an intense gaze towards the top of the stairs, threatening to go up.
Everyone felt her conflicting intentions, but she didn’t hesitate much and advanced. At that moment, Langrum firmly held her by the shoulder.
"Calm down! What happened?" Langrum asked, trying to keep both Ruri and herself calm.
At that moment, Almin woke up slightly, bringing his hands to his head as if he felt a deep pain. Soon, all the women noticed Almin’s face and skin becoming drier and stiffer in front of their eyes as if he had aged a few years rapidly. After a few seconds, Almin took his hands off his head, breathed calmly, and then everyone felt relief seeing him seemingly well. Soon, Ruri’s voice sounded.
"It was master... I don’t know... I felt like I saw him fall and die..."
Everyone shivered and stood stunned hearing that. Then, Langrum turned to Almin and looked deeply at him as if asking for explanations. Almin thought for a moment, analyzing his memories, and murmured.
"Something serious happened up there... but, you can still feel the connection with him, Ruri." Almin spoke, looking at her. Clearly, she understood that he was talking about the array, which still seemed active.
Ruri’s mind returned to sanity with a sigh. Then, everyone felt a change in the atmosphere and looked towards the staircase ahead. Unexpectedly, from above, where there should be a wall, space distorted. In seconds, everyone could see the illusion fading away and the upstairs becoming clearer.
"Master!" Ruri let go of Langrum’s grip and jumped on the stairs, quickly ascending.
Almin sighed and rose from the ground calmly as if he were now someone with a slightly older and weathered body. He then walked towards the stairs, and everyone followed, ascending.
At that moment, Almin made the obvious connections with the marks left on his body; a small part of his life had been taken. The same must have happened to Ruri, and this array certainly did it. If the whale needed this kind of energy, he must have fought on the brink of death. But somehow, he won... so, without knowing the reason, a profound relief filled Almin from his soul.
Soon, a warm feeling of familiarity invaded him. But it lasted very briefly until his rationality took over again. ’This... why am I remembering him?’ Almin thought, shocked by the memory of his hated brother that he preferred to forget.
Everyone reached the top and felt the spatial laws stretching, revealing a large room of hundreds of meters. Soon, they all froze, feeling a dense and destructive residual aura... there were almost no signs of destruction, but it was clear that an inconceivable-level battle had taken place there.
Then, in the center, they saw a pulsating place of runes, and they saw the whale standing, looking in their direction. Soon, the sounds of quick footsteps echoed; it was Ruri running towards the whale and shortening the distance.
The whale had a strange look, and Ruri even forgot to use her QI to move; her mind must have been a complete mess. When she finally arrived, she jumped directly onto the whale, clinging to him as if she wanted to merge into that fat.
The whale used only one hand to gently stroke her hair, and the other was stretched towards the cluster of runes. Everyone approached slowly, and Almin kept a lost and thoughtful gaze.
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When everyone was by his side, the whale did not move or say anything. After a few minutes, the whole castle seemed to shake. In seconds, everything went dark, turning into a black abyss. It didn’t take long for them to feel the Yin spreading in all directions in the environment. Then, the voice of the whale sounded.
"The entire city is now under my control and part of this castle, too. I can’t take much of it, but a large amount of QI has accumulated in the demonic formation because of time."
Everyone heard and immediately got excited.
"Enter a meditative state; I will converge everything to this room. You will experience, for a few days, a level of QI density perhaps... around 40% similar to the divine realm," the whale completed, focusing again on the formation runes.
Everyone became extremely excited and sat down right there, closing their eyes immediately. It didn’t matter how the whale knew the divine realm’s Qi concentration, only that they could use 40% of it. It didn’t take long for the entire space and laws to tremble, and the air became so heavy, falling onto their bodies as if they were ten thousand meters below the sea. Everyone almost spat blood in the face of that pressure... was this just QI? Everyone weighed in shock, but soon, the whale’s words came to their minds. This was 40% of the density of the divine realm.
The pores and meridians of everyone dilated, and they breathed deeply, absorbing as much as they could. Then, the whale sat down calmly and made an effort to detach Ruri from his body. Seeing her teary eyes, a pain passed through their chest.
"Hey, I’m fine and healthy here, stop with the drama," Alm spoke harshly to her. "Try to absorb, too; your birthday is in a few days, right?"
Ruri then nodded, smiling, and without saying anything, clenched her fists tightly. Alm and Bruno understood immediately; she was frustrated for being weak and not having been with them.
"Did you manage to sense through the array?" They asked gently, and she nodded positively. It seems that extracting a bit of life energy slightly connects their consciousness, which is good to know.
"You are still very young and can’t help much. But your power and Almin’s saved me in the last moment, be happier." She then turned to him with surprised eyes while the whale continued to speak. "The stronger you become, the more help I will receive. So, instead of wasting time crying, get stronger."
"Master... I will get stronger for..." She murmured but was soon interrupted by a slap on her head, which made her jump back with a groan, distancing herself from the whale.
Then, their harsh voice echoed. "Get stronger for yourself! Don’t use me as a goal or charm. Your life is yours alone, and your happiness doesn’t depend on anything external. Whenever you place your happiness outside of yourself, you are destined to suffer deeply."
"I just helped you by chance, and I’m keeping you around just on a whim. Stop forming attachments; you can’t control what people think, and I can change my mind and drop you at any moment. So, live and cultivate thinking only of yourself, and focus your future on your own path," they concluded, distancing themselves from her carefully, then closing their eyes in meditation.
Ruri just stood there stunned, not knowing how to digest those words. Her world was always dark and gloomy, then thanks to them, it became bright and fun. But couldn’t she get attached to them? Her mind worked frantically, and she couldn’t find an answer. But... despite the harsh words, her master seemed genuinely concerned and wasn’t really trying to push her away.
Time passed, and unlike everyone meditating to cultivate their realms, Ruri mentally meditated deeply about herself, going inward and reflecting on her life. Then everything seemed to become clearer and clearer slowly.
What she wanted... her goals... everything passed through her young but not at all childish mind. Soon, the answers naturally formed.
’My goal? Save my people.’ She mentally nodded.
’What do I want?’ With that question, her mind seemed to become cloudy but quickly cleared, and only one round and fat image formed.
Alm and Bruno were focused on cultivation but observed the changes in fluctuations coming from Ruri, satisfied. They only spoke things they learned the hard way in the past but weren’t hypocritical enough to claim they followed them completely. They tried, and sometimes ignored... Nevertheless, having a clear and personal goal was crucial if Ruri wanted to go further in cultivation.
But... without even imagining it, they ended up planting another stubborn and infinite seed in her mind. Even if they wanted to, from that day on, they could never run away or deny it, and even if they wanted to escape... they would have to accept it, even by force.