Two days after that night, they finally spotted an immense land formation. It resembled a colossal brown pillar rising a hundred meters high, piercing the skies with its grandeur. It looked like a mountain, but definitely was not. The simplistic description given by the fools of the Divinestone clan did not do justice to its magnitude.
Alm and Bruno immediately sensed the presence of the mountain through the earth. There was no doubt, a dense and powerful concentration of earth laws resided there. It was early in the morning, and they mentally scanned the surroundings from a great distance, finding no sign of the "shadows" lurking. So, they approached slowly.
At noon, they stopped. ’The behemoth bloodline is resonating. This mountain is pulsating with the same power as our lineage.’ Bruno said softly.
They crouched down and touched the earth, closing their eyes. Liumi watched them with doubts, but minutes later, she felt something unusual. She looked at the whale, but couldn’t feel him at all. His presence... everything seemed to merge with the earth. Then, she turned her gaze back to the mountain and realized that they emanated exactly the same presence.
The whale opened his eyes and stood up. ’Excellent, we replicated almost perfectly the laws and energies of the mountain. There is a high-level beast guarding it, so this method will allow us to approach without being detected.’ Said Alm, thanking the behemoth mentally for enhancing his inner rune. The level of laws used was much higher than theirs, but their rune had become something sacred, close to the true behemoth, making this possible.
Then, they turned to Liumi and spoke calmly, "We detected nothing in close proximity. Hardly anyone will approach the mountain closely. Stay hidden nearby. Use your bloodline subtly to camouflage yourself; it will be impossible to find you."
Liumi nodded with a somewhat strange look. Every day, she felt more uncomfortable with something she couldn’t explain. She ran to a safe place and followed the instructions without hesitation or questioning. The whale then waved, and the earth beneath him opened, ensuring they approached the mountain from below, merging even more with the earth.
They moved slowly and cautiously. It took twelve hours until they sensed an extremely dense presence above. Surely, it was a demonic beast with cultivation capable of rivaling the most powerful cultivator on the ascending planet.
To their relief, the beast seemed to meditate, relying only on its instincts for defense. They passed by it without haste until they reached the "mountain" beneath the earth.
The whale touched a large block of condensed elemental runes. ’Everything here is imbued with Qi and bloodline... Surely, they want this to remain here...,’ Bruno analyzed.
Alm pondered: ’We can penetrate and even absorb all of this easily. But if we do, whoever created this will know, and we don’t know if he left other methods. There’s no reason to risk it. However, we can take a look inside. It seems like some kind of prison. There’s a chance we can steal something valuable from inside without being detected.’
The risk of entering also existed, but Bruno agreed to go up. With the inner rune they possessed, they could easily create an illusion, making it seem like nothing had happened.
They started removing the runes from the earth slowly, replacing them with their own runes and bloodline. They were perfectly identical but under their control. They ascended inch by inch.
Another day passed, and then they stopped. They were in the center of that place and noticed something strange. As they moved forward, they created a circular area.
Soon, something appeared there. It was a humanoid creature of average stature, with white and lively skin. It was completely unconscious, and one could feel the life energy in its presence, but there was a certain melancholy in the air around it.
Bruno felt its presence and immediately knew who it was, even though he had only sensed its energy once. ’This... is the divine cultivator who arrived after we stole the bloody rune.’
’He was sealed by the laws of the earth and bloodline... an interesting method,’ said Alm, analyzing his condition. ’It seems that whoever did this couldn’t kill him. But, at a high cost, they managed to seal him.’
Suddenly, a dark smile appeared on the whale’s face. They observed the figure calmly, sensing his Qi and the sealed cultivation.
Despite being unconscious, there was a silent dignity in his posture, as if he were in constant communion with the earth, even in his inert state. It exuded a sad beauty; his face was androgynous and showed no signs of human gender characteristics. It bore similarities to a race that Alm and Bruno knew, but at the same time, it radiated something very different and strange.
’Is this a Fey?’ Bruno thought in astonishment, recalling the furious actions of this cultivator in the past.
The Fey are a humanoid race that developed by deeply connecting with nature. The Grassrunners connected through the bestial and wild side, the elves went for the softer side of their laws, while the Fey were radical, resulting in an extreme and total fusion. They lost almost all resemblance to humans or other variant races; they are like forest fairies, lacking gender, and their bodies are completely oriented towards life and Yang.
Bruno, being a pure Yang soul, felt shocked by the appearance of this Fey-like being. But its Qi and aura were very different. It seemed to be corrupted, and he remembered the furious and bloodthirsty presence of this being at that time... a Fey would never act like that.
Then, he made a move and took out the Diagram of Natural Bloodlines. Inside was the inheritance of the Fey, along with their most powerful bloodline that ever existed on this planet. The whale then lightly touched the forehead of that figure... and soon Bruno was shocked.
’It’s definitely a Fey... how is this possible,’ he spoke mentally, amazed.
’It doesn’t matter. Things in this universe are different. There must be some condition for this or even a variation in the bloodline,’ Alm replied, snorting. ’The most important thing is that he’s in the Divine Origin Realm. It’s quite a gift for us!’
The Divine Origin Realm was the eighth cultivation realm, just after Spirit Fusion, being the second realm of the divine path. At this stage, cultivators can absorb all celestial laws and runes into their bodies, gaining the power to manipulate the heavens like a true god. The amount of absorbed runes depends on the strength of the cultivator’s soul and physique. And all the runes of this figure were inert in the middle of his meridians.
’Well, whatever. We can extract everything from his meridians and his core with the tattoos. It will be an overwhelming amount of Qi. And the runes will be an exceptional weapon,’ Bruno said, getting excited.
They slowly began the process by activating the tattoos. That being was completely sealed, his energies stagnant and inert. Even after removing everything, the one who sealed him would never know; they were like a mosquito that sucked all the blood from something and then sneakily escaped.
Alm and Bruno sucked and sucked... suddenly, the entire spatial inventory was clogged. And they weren’t even halfway through.
’Vrix and Fides, swallow everything you can without sparing anything,’ Bruno ordered the two weapons in the inventory, which became extremely excited.
They absorbed 70% of what was in the inventory until they completely passed out, numb. Soon, Alm and Bruno continued extracting... but the inventory filled up again. So, they put everything in spatial rings... and those quickly filled up too.
’Oh, what joy, our time has finally come!’ Bruno said in ecstasy.
Alm spoke softly, ’There’s only 10% left. Put everything into our core, physical cultivation, and meridians. It will only be for storage and not to increase cultivation; we’ll bloat, but it should work.’
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
’A little fatter, a little less fat. It doesn’t make a difference,’ Bruno said and turned to the unconscious figure, mentally expressing gratitude.
Then, when everything was almost done, they felt something was wrong. They looked at the figure in front of them, but nothing changed.
Reflexively, they turned their gazes to the spatial inventory. That’s when they noticed something subtle moving and squinted their eyes.
It was a black object, about a meter long, wriggling like a snake. It didn’t have a complete physical form; it was a remnant of a soul.
’How the hell did this get in without us noticing?’ Alm thought seriously.
Then, that object made a sudden movement and disappeared. Alm and Bruno jumped and searched the inventory, but there was nothing there anymore.
Soon, they turned shocked to the whale’s body... and felt only a subtle trace, becoming bewildered. They quickly activated their divine souls to the maximum, searching around... but were astonished to realize that it was inside them, more precisely in their mental sea!
They focused there with astonishment. They found themselves in the conventional dark world and saw that strange thing floating and wriggling before them.
Now, up close, they were sure: it was a subtle and tiny fragment of a divine soul. However, it couldn’t speak or do much, so Alm and Bruno quickly blocked it with their souls.
Next, they tried to destroy it by pressing it. However, the fragment shrank, trembling, and Alm felt a strange connection with it. He realized that it didn’t seem to have malicious intentions.
’It doesn’t have the ability to harm us. Let it merge with us; that seems to be what it wants. I don’t know how it did this, but everything seems so connected to us that there must be some reason,’ Alm said assertively.
Bruno couldn’t feel anything; it seemed to be connected to the Yin. So, without caring much, he allowed the fragment to invade his mind. Soon, some fragmented images appeared.
They were just loose and disjointed images with no apparent meaning. They saw a planet, followed by images of a golden figure with wings, and then saw dragon scales scattered like stars.
Finally, they felt a tightness in their chests, followed by a sense of longing and darkness. Then, they quickly saw a shining spatial rune... that was very familiar...
Alm and Bruno woke up in silence. They tried to make connections with the images and quickly reached an apparent conclusion.
’That soul fragment came from the primordial chaos dragon... that spatial rune was definitely the same one we used. The queen let slip that he created the devouring technique we used; there’s no doubt,’ Bruno said seriously.
Alm concluded, ’He’s akin to the behemoth and was sealed on a planet. His planet is one in the divine world, and in the image of the planet, we saw countless Feys. And it’s from where this sealed Fey came.’
They both nodded in reflection. This dragon had a strong inclination toward Yin, from what they felt, it was a feminine figure. The planet he was sealed on suffered his influence and became a Yin world of death. So the Feys were forced by the heroes to live on this planet, just like the four families of the Pristine planet. And the Feys, using their power of life, balanced the ecosystem and kept the dragon and his seal intact, avoiding any chance of him escaping.
Unlike the behemoth, the dragon managed to influence the planet to such an extent that fragments of his soul spread throughout all high-level Feys. All of this in search of help, in search of the only thing that could set him free: a missionary of heaven’s will. And the devouring technique he created, and they used awakened him, allowing him to leave the inventory and move as he pleased. He was the creator, and his soul was something divine that possessed part of his consciousness.
’Fate has connected us again. Heaven’s Will is really working,’ Alm said sarcastically.
’Well, we have nothing to do with it now, and releasing this Fey is out of the question. I don’t think anyone will mess with it. Let’s just get stronger and come back in the future. He is our connection to the dragon and can be useful,’ Bruno concluded.
Alm nodded, they had taken everything they needed. Then they moved down again to leave.
Everything seemed calm and peaceful, as if the heavens were gifting them... which made both Alm and Bruno feel that something was very wrong.
’The world is...’
’SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!’ Alm cut Bruno off before he could utter a curse.
In a few hours, they were already underground, heading back to where they came from. They thought everything over carefully, trying to find something they had overlooked. Liumi, as a Grassrunner, could merge with the forest, and no one would ever find her. Only a peak cultivator of this planet could hunt her in the forest, and he wouldn’t be crazy enough to approach with that demonic beast nearby.
In half a day, they were very close to the location; the return was quick and smooth.
Then, when they finally arrived, they silently surfaced and felt nothing wrong. They quickly looked at a tree and found a furry, purple figure standing, looking at them.
It was completely transformed for some reason. So Alm and Bruno, looking into its lion-like yellow eyes, sensed something wrong; there was only coldness in them...
Suddenly, a sudden flow of runes awakened outside their senses. They looked around... they were coming... from the ground, around them.
’This... was fused with the forest....’ Bruno muttered, stunned.
They then turned to the Grassrunner, and the space around them distorted under the effect of the runes.
Soon...
They were engulfed by a formation... they were taken to a place several kilometers away...
And when the space stabilized, they found themselves surrounded... it was a sea of elders with cultivations much higher than theirs...
The whale turned around, seeing disdainful looks directed at him. Then he spotted a figure among them. She came along...
’Liumi...’ Bruno murmured.
’We’ve been betrayed! DAMN IT!’ Alm roared mentally in wild fury.