Alm shook off his stupor and quickly regained his composure, simply ignoring everything else, and asked, ’We saw something very wrong with that woman. How is she?’
Bruno sighed softly. The whale gently moved away from Ruri, and she noticed the change in them. Seeing Alm silent, she realized they were having an internal conversation. Then, noticing the shift in the whale’s gaze with Bruno taking control, Ruri blinked, catching something hidden in his look, which made her deeply ponder.
Bruno subtly gestured approval to Ruri; it was easy to interact with intelligent people. Now, she immediately understood there was a conflict of interests between her two masters, but Bruno was on her side. Masking this silent exchange of information, Bruno redirected his attention to Quitera.
"Physically, she’s fine... but her soul and mind... are completely compromised, currently having only the bare minimum to live. She can’t think or have any will, she’s become just a puppet acting on instinct and orders," Bruno said with the whale to both of them, genuinely feeling extreme sorrow. Ruri and Alm sensed this, feeling something very wrong and cruel that was about to unfold.
He easily and quickly read her memories; her wounds made everything very fragile and accessible. After a heavy sigh, he continued, "Quitera’s life until now has been an endless torment. She’s still alive because her life force was greatly enhanced in that Yang world, of which she was ’lucky’ enough to be the only one to enter. She has a vitality equivalent to a higher realm, the first divine realm. I’d say she can still live a thousand years without problems."
Quitera’s stories dated back four thousand years; it was practically consensus among the people of this planet that she was dead. Ruri nodded thoughtfully; her master had already explained this to her previously. On average, a cultivator in the Body Destruction Realm lives about two thousand years. When someone advances to the first divine realm, the Spirit Fusion Realm, their vitality more than doubles, potentially reaching five thousand years.
Ruri turned to Quitera, who had been left unconscious next to the Fey. She should be around four thousand years old. From what Denil’s father had told her, she spent her entire life imprisoned, having her dense bloodline sucked and assimilated by demons. Despite this, her bloodline didn’t compare to the three demons’, who were direct children of the Behemoth avatar. She was at the ninth level of the Body Destruction Realm and would never advance to the divine realm alone on this planet. The surprise of seeing her still alive now was explained.
"For many, she had the divine luck to enter that Yang world, but the truth is, it was the worst of curses," Bruno reflected.
"I’ve read her memories; despite everything, Quitera isn’t someone easy to deal with. The demon suffered at her hands, even though he was very powerful. She was sealed for millennia to have her bloodline taken by the Demon Emperor... But she gained much more than a bloodline and dense vitality. Her soul was also much stronger than that of an ordinary cultivator," Bruno continued, looking seriously at the unconscious woman.
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"The demon knew this, but never believed that anyone, on their own, would develop a method to use her powerful soul. Not even he knew how to do that. She couldn’t be underestimated, and she took advantage of that. The Demon Emperor had a slightly inferior cultivation, and over the centuries, she, on her own, developed a method and slowly invaded his mental sea without anyone noticing. Exactly five hundred years ago, when her bloodline was almost entirely depleted, Quitera acted. The emperor was killed, and all the stolen bloodline was absorbed back by her."
Ruri sighed heavily, contemplating the dangerous and incredible plan that took millennia of pain to be completed. Even with the victory, it was doomed to failure. The demon would act and kill her in return, but she would manage to unload her frustrations before. This plan had no winners and was not logical, but she would die satisfied with her revenge.
Bruno continued with the grim narrative. "She knew that her son would awaken in a few hundred years. The Emperor would surely hunt him down, so this was also to help Denil. Her husband was already dead, and she would never see her son. At least Quitera wanted to die with a purpose. Because of her will, she succeeded, but it was only half. The Demon Emperor was killed, but the Divine Demon did not kill her in return. He liked her... and enslaved her... she would now be used in another way... to breed powerful offspring for him."
Ruri froze, and Alm mentally scoffed. "If killing herself wasn’t an option, the demon would stop her; so the one who did this to her soul and mind was herself. She couldn’t bear being conscious and used like that," Bruno said dryly.
"From there, her memories are very fragmented and vague due to her damage. But from what I gather... the demon didn’t care one bit. He even preferred to have a puppet that didn’t think. And... she was used the same way." He paused, and Ruri’s eyes were already moist, her fists clenched tightly. "Her bloodline was very dense, and the demon was also very powerful. This makes the fertility of cultivators greatly reduced... but... exactly a hundred years ago, she finally had another child."
Ruri was deeply shaken by all of this. She had plenty of time to reflect on herself and her life over the years. She knew perfectly well that if she hadn’t been saved in the Divinestone clan by her master, her fate would be very similar to Quitera’s. She would have been handed over to someone powerful to favor the clan. And, being the last of her people’s main lineage, she would be forced to have children and live as a slave, used until she withered away.
Bruno continued in a soft voice. "Well, just like Denil, this child was only partially born. That’s pretty common for the offspring of cultivators with a powerful bloodline, especially if it’s something beastly. Even though Quitera and her husband were born human, her Behemoth bloodline was passed down to their children. After birth, they have to remain in an incubation state for centuries. Their lineage naturally absorbs Qi and the world’s laws, nurturing their body and making them stronger over time. That ’brother’ of ours is in that state."
After Bruno finished, he comforted Ruri gently and couldn’t continue the story. Alm noticed something and commented mentally. ’Those strange laws that exist in the Skyward Forest. They can trap a soul inside, similar to our spatial inventory...’
Bruno nodded in agreement. Alm mentioned the Holy Light Law, something similar to the infernal laws that existed abundantly in the second seal of the behemoth, in the Three Extremes Sect. Bruno and Alm had little contact with them, but they reached some conclusions. This law was strange and linked to Yang, able to connect to any living thing, and its power had capabilities above spatial laws in certain aspects.
It was the simplest way to create a spatial rift and stay completely hidden; within it, one could even store lifeless things. Storing a mortal soul was something simple. Even their spatial inventory could do it. (Chapter 347/352)
’The demon who lives near the second seal certainly fully masters these laws. Quitera killed his descendant, for which he must have cared and stacked many resources; he would never take that lightly,’ Bruno commented with a sigh.
Alm spoke emotionlessly. ’So for him, it was an opportunity, not a loss. Quitera demonstrated terrifying talent, being able to control and use even her soul. Combined with her bloodline, soul, and heightened vitality, she could generate a body with much greater potential than the demon emperor. The demon could simply seal the soul of his descendant with the laws and slowly nurture it to become more powerful. Then, he would just place the extremely powerful emperor’s soul into the new body. In theory, he would have a descendant capable of easily surpassing him.’
Bruno agreed, but the demon’s actions were still a guess. Having potential doesn’t guarantee success; in fact, it’s most likely to fail. Not to mention, he would reincarnate that soul in a brute way, as he didn’t have Alm and Bruno’s knowledge. The demon emperor wouldn’t retain any memories at all. To the demon, it would just be a gamble, but he wouldn’t lose much if it went wrong. The suffering of others around him wasn’t relevant.
’Quitera had a child forcefully. But despite everything, the child was innocent and could be loved; but even that was taken from her. Her child’s soul must have already been removed to make way for another... Well, we did something similar with Denil... But I doubt the demon emperor will try to compensate her,’ Bruno concluded.
Alm and Bruno sighed, the fate of this woman was strange. Her two children had their bodies taken over by another. But now, they could break this cycle. They felt obligated to not be like the demon. Despite knowing that they had done much worse things in the past, Bruno wanted to make the most of this new life by acting correctly. To do that, they had to resolve all the outstanding issues.
At that moment, they felt a squeeze on their hands. They looked at Ruri, who was staring at them seriously, now calmer. Alm didn’t have the heart to reprimand her; they both knew she only let her emotions flow freely because she was with them.
From the stories he had heard from Almin, Ruri, throughout the war, had become a cold woman, completely impassive to everything. To lead, she learned to seal her emotions and remain controlled in the face of anything. It was a method to keep everyone calmer, as she knew that if a leader became emotionally unstable, everyone would be affected. However, for someone like her, it was painful to see.
Neither Alm nor Bruno cared about her current attitude. It was good to have a safe haven where she could let everything flow freely out of herself. Ruri now also had Thea and Rehvka, who quickly became very close friends; she could talk about everything with them without fear.
But Ruri was smart and seemed to know the two of them well. Their silence and reflection were seen by her, which made it clear that there was much more hidden. Ruri calmed down and spoke: "Tell me everything, even if it’s painful; I want to share everything with the master."
"Well, it is Denil’s mother, not ours, so it is not like we are suffering for her or anything. We just wanted to help as a way of paying karma." Nonetheless, Bruno laid out his ’assumptions,’ which were practically an absolute certainty. If there was one thing Alm and Bruno knew well, it was wickedness and the ability to act without caring about others. From everything they had seen so far, the three demons with divine cultivation must be people with a twisted mind and would do anything to grow in power.
This time, Ruri just listened, and her expression became serious; now her hatred and desire to kill outweighed her sadness. All of this happened within a few minutes after defeating Quitera. Everything was already set to lure the demon behind all of this; this was the best possible encouragement for her.
"Master... let’s end this bastard," she said seriously. "Then, we still have to catch the last one; he must certainly be involved in worse things."
Bruno nodded and spoke seriously: "Prepare the formation and seal Quitera’s soul and vitality completely. I’ll store her in the inventory, and that will cut the connection with the demon. He’ll come quickly when he feels that, and we’ll catch him."