Duality of Shadows

The couple had been missing for a week. Mistie was extremely worried, but the group around the whale just advised her to wait; the disappearance of those two together was already a common occurrence.

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The whale would recover his soul quickly this way. Kaiyka, who had soul cultivation, could recover quickly on her own thanks to her regeneration. Coltia, on the other hand, was in the bestial world, where there were many Yang treasures he could use to aid his recovery.

That day, Alm and Bruno finally felt their souls were completely recovered. They took advantage of Ruri’s deep sleep, after she had burned all her energy, and focused on studying the inheritances they had received.

The Celestial Jaguar’s inheritance, which allowed control of the Void Dream Law, had already been given to Coltia. She was trapped in Ruri’s bestial world, recovering. Even if she wanted to leave, Ruri had completely sealed the area, preventing anyone from observing the wild events outside. Alm and Bruno, of course, did the same with the inventory.

The Immortal Crane’s inheritance was the method used to turn back time and reconstruct souls. Although reconstructing a soul without a body wasn’t a complete rebirth, Ruri, upon learning this, would gain an interesting ability: if someone died, she could revive their soul. Future strategies might benefit from this ability.

Zaori’s inheritance allowed for the collection of the Origin Law from destroyed souls. Although extremely inefficient—since one million destroyed souls would yield only half of what Alm and Bruno could extract from one of their allies through the array—this inheritance became useful when combined with the Kun Peng’s inheritance, which represented the array creator’s version in the form of a Divine Dao. Alm and Bruno felt they could learn from this and improve the array’s efficiency.

’No, we’re not going to destroy the enemies’ souls to use this and harvest the Law,’ Bruno interrupted Alm’s thoughts before he could speak.

Alm huffed but ignored the reprimand and started analyzing the new array. The Dao of the Eternal Crown was infinitely superior to the old array. There were three divisions of people in it, called generals, squad leaders, and soldiers.

’Only the generals are directly affected by the King’s influence without us controlling it. All those in the current array will be our generals,’ Alm calmly explained.

Alm and Bruno could now truly create an army and place everyone in the array. Their cultivation would only be affected by the generals, but they could communicate and have control over everyone in the array.

The generals commanded the squad leaders, who in turn received laws and Qi only from their generals. The soldiers, who were below the leaders, could share laws and Qi among themselves.

It was an efficient system, and best of all, Alm and Bruno could place an infinite number of trusted people and harvest the Origin Law from everyone.

So far, after collecting the Origin Law from those in the array, no one showed signs of weakening or side effects. Possibly, by extracting small amounts, the celestial laws automatically replenished that law; the same happened with the souls from whom the kings extracted the law, making this theory even more solid. They could use this strategy, but as they knew little, it would only be as a last resort, to avoid problems.

Ruri woke up, and even though she looked pitiful, reluctant to leave, they returned to the world.

They calmly walked back through the forest, and Ruri seemed reborn, almost emanating light. Then she heard something and spoke:

"Amary finally managed to regain control of his body, master. He said his core is 98% restored. In two or three more years, he should be able to recreate his servants."

"Hm... take him out," the whale calmly said, then nodded, opening the inventory.

Quickly, a mountain of karmic fruits appeared in front of them. They came from the Tree of Chaos. When they were in the Desolate Battlefield, how many Empyreans died there? They didn’t even want to count. The tree had so many fruits that Alm and Bruno only took half and handed them over.

They were just fruits from a True Empyrean. The fruits of the Conqueror Empyreans on the tree had been carefully preserved.

Ruri nodded, and then a rune of the bestial world appeared on her forehead. Next, a five-meter tree with leaves so deeply green they seemed sacred emerged. The tree pulsed and activated its metamorphosis.

An androgynous humanoid figure, slightly taller than Ruri, appeared. It had green hair and soft features; by human standards, it was a beautiful figure with an air of nobility. If someone unfamiliar saw it, they’d be strangely confused trying to identify its gender.

Amary was completely stunned, focused on the fruits. "This... I feel an overwhelming karmic blessing in each one of these fruits... how is that possible?"

"Can you use them to create the Life-Recovering Trees and Blood Seeker Trees?" the whale asked, snapping him out of his stupor.

Amary turned to the whale, his eyes trembling. "Y-yes, sir. Actually, each of these fruits contains a karmic blessing more powerful than my entire core. This is extremely precious."

"So, you created the two races using just a bit?" the whale asked, and Amary nodded in confirmation. "Is it possible to create a single life with each fruit?"

Amary’s eyes widened. "It is... My God, each one would have terrifying potential. In the history of my race, there was a time when the Essence-Root Tree split half of its core to create just two beings as a test. Their potential was so great that it rivaled the power of the king. In the end, he had to kill them."

"He had to kill his own children?" Ruri asked, stunned, and then coldly questioned, "Do you really care for them, or do you just see them as tools?"

"Indeed, I was born inside the corpse of the former king, who was my father. I acted on instinct when creating the races, and I always saw them as survival tools," Amary responded, lowering his head and sighing. He had lived through many years of suffering and had plenty of time to reflect on all of this.

"I saw them all suffer and be refined over the millennia... but sometimes, some tried to save me at all costs. All I ever wanted was to go back in time and kill myself to let that happen."

The whale nodded; pain is the best teacher. Then he asked, "No one from your race ever tried to create a powerful being again?"

"As far as I know, no. We’ve always created with the bare minimum... maybe out of fear of them being too strong. I thought about testing it once, but it wasn’t worth it. The core only becomes whole after thousands of years. We can create ten thousand soldiers with a complete core; if they’re well-trained, it’s more advantageous than a few stronger ones," Amary replied thoughtfully.

"Great. Don’t worry about the fruits. And as for their power, if you create them with dignity and teach them to value kindness, no one will rival you. The bond between parents and humanoids is powerful, and I’m sure it’s no different for your race. Of course, strange things can happen sometimes, but you must always act for their good. They’ll all feel that and respect you; in the end, they’ll be the ones who take care of you. Without your race, they couldn’t exist."

The whale said calmly, and Ruri smiled thoughtfully. He then ordered Amary to stay in the forest and explained that he would be part of this sect and planet. The whale would protect him and his children. Amary accepted eagerly; he no longer had any desire to be a king or carry the responsibility of a planet on his shoulders again. Amary nodded and took all the fruits with him.

When his offspring grew up, they would become a new and formidable force in the Yinblood Sect. At that time, the Shadow God Sect would find out who had taken them. But they wouldn’t be able to do anything... in fact, Alm and Bruno would love for them to try.

Ruri and the whale then headed to the formation building and reached the central area of the sect. The group met up with them, and suddenly, Ruri’s eyes widened as she heard a message:

"MASTER! He’s finally going to be born!"