Alm and Bruno’s consciousness abruptly awoke. Everything around them was darkness, and they both felt an unsettling coldness, like they were submerged in eternal ice.
They tried to move… Nothing. Not even a finger. The only sensation was this strange stillness, like they were frozen or sealed.
’Wait, where’s our body?’ Bruno muttered mentally. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t feel even the tip of a finger, let alone the rest of his body. The weird thing was that they didn’t seem to be just souls. ’What exactly are we now?’
Both of them focused on their divine souls, which, to their relief, remained intact, as did their inventory. That brought some small comfort. However, the strangeness only grew as they tried to sense their surroundings.
Then, from deep within their inventory, a familiar voice echoed. ’Master! Vorion says he’s feeling a connection to your bloodline!’ Liumi exclaimed, just as confused as they were.
Alm and Bruno mentally exchanged glances, equally surprised. They focused again, and finally realized where they were: inside a... rune? A tiny, perfectly drawn rune.
’Did we turn into a Heavenly Elemental Spirit?’ Alm thought, inspecting the rune to figure out its element. His expression quickly turned to pure confusion. ’What the hell is this? I can’t even identify the element.’
Bruno also tried to sense it, but the situation was bizarre. The energy seemed to be made up of nearly 90% Yin and barely any Yang. That left them dumbfounded. They were experts in Yin and Yang, and Heavenly Elemental Spirits always arose from the five natural elements, which were a mix of Yin and Yang. And now... how could they not know what they were?
’Okay, and what about the others that came with us? Where is everyone?’ Bruno asked, taking a deep breath. ’Well, let’s check the mission and the summary. Maybe there’s a clue.’
With that thought, the familiar green screen appeared before them.
[Master the Anima Cultivation and free the Nine-Star Tree.]
[Reward 01: +300 Upgrade Points]
[Reward 02: +100 Heavenly Points]
[Reward 03: Unlock cultivation in the Heavenly Saint Realm]
’Hmm… lately, the missions have been rewarding us pretty well,’ Bruno scoffed. ’But the dangers are getting more and more disturbing… Anima Cultivation? Summary!’
[This is the micro-universe called: World of Nine Divine Stars. There is no Qi here, only an unprecedented amount of the nine known basic laws and a massive amount of Chaos Law.]
[All inhabitants are from the nine most primitive mortal races, and they cultivate in a new system with the goal of becoming Divine Inquisitors. This cultivation system is called: Anima Cultivation: The True Self.]
[The World of Nine Divine Stars is a domain controlled by the Queen, where everyone lives and reincarnates in an endless cycle. Through multiple reincarnations, they learn to handle the primordial bloodline and refine their Anima Cultivation. It’s only a matter of time before they reach the pinnacle, becoming Divine Inquisitors and immortal.]
[In common universes, everyone cultivates by absorbing Qi and heavenly laws. This causes cultivators to be restricted by the heavenly rules, making it difficult to transcend and become immortal. This restriction doesn’t apply to the new cultivation method. In exchange, it’s incredibly slower and harder, since the races have a ridiculously short lifespan until they reach the pinnacle.]
[The existence that maintains this universe is none other than the immortal Nine-Star Tree. Master this cultivation method and free it!]
’Holy shit, we got thrown right into the lion’s den,’ Bruno murmured dryly. ’This place is important and directly controlled by the Queen... If anything suspicious happens, we’re screwed.’
Alm took a deep breath, rereading everything carefully. It was a world without Qi, and the basic cultivation was something entirely different and unknown.
The two thought in sync, temporarily forming Yin and Yang tattoos on their souls. According to the summary, although there was no Qi, the nine basic laws and a huge amount of Chaos Law were present.
Bruno got excited: ’With the tattoos, we can master everything and turn it into Qi. We’ll be invincible! Let’s finish this shit fast and...’
’You bastard, why are you cursing us?!’ Alm roared.
Bruno scoffed, and together, they tried again to feel their surroundings, this time using the tattoos.
But... nothing changed. They didn’t feel a thing. Alm couldn’t even identify the element of the Heavenly Elemental Spirit body they were in.
’Vorion, are you sure we’re the same as you?’ Bruno asked, turning toward the inventory.
The Heavenly Elemental Spirit inside the saber replied calmly. ’Y-Yes… master.’
Alm and Bruno were stunned. They seriously reflected; after a few minutes, analyzing the information they received, something obvious became clear.
Bruno murmured: ’...the thing that maintains this place is the immortal Nine-Star Tree. It’s known for mastering exactly the nine elements. So... if it’s immortal… could it have reached the immortal level in all its laws?’
Alm could feel the predominance of 90% Yin in that unknown body. He could only perceive that, with no chance of manipulation. The laws of the body and everything around them were incredibly complex, and the remaining 10% of Yang in the body made control even more impossible.
Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Fire were the basic elements, a mix of Yin and Yang. Besides pure Yin and Yang, there were the laws of Time and Space. Since water was the basic element closest to Yin, it wasn’t hard to assume that his body was related to the laws of water.
’Shit, this is gonna be anything but fast,’ Alm spat. ’Without Qi, we can’t move. Those damn tree laws are top-level stuff, and we can’t use them with the tattoos.’
They had recently burned through all the Qi resources in the inventory to cultivate new soldiers on that planet. As for their weapons, they could only use rune seals with Qi, and they didn’t even have a body to manipulate them.
Using the new toy Alm created in this place would immediately alert the Queen and the heroes. They couldn’t be too flashy. Everything happened so suddenly, and they weren’t prepared for this mission.
’We need to deeply study the immortal knowledge of Yin and Yang we received. Even so, we’ll only have access to seven of the nine laws...’ Bruno commented, before visibly growing worried. ’And we still don’t know where everyone we brought with us is. We need to be quick.’
With no choices or options, Alm and Bruno took a deep breath and entered a deep meditation, focusing on their studies. They still had the immortal knowledge of the laws of chaos that also existed there, but just assimilating everything about Yin and Yang would already be a complex enough process.
Meanwhile, Liumi stayed alert to what was happening around her. But time went by... and kept going...
Until she realized it would take a long time, so she decided to study and train in everything she could. She also went back to training with the soul cultivation, with the thousands of souls in the inventory.
The inventory was massive, almost like a planet in size. However, Liumi didn’t feel alone, as she had thousands of souls with her.
***
At some point, Alm and Bruno returned to reality. They opened their eyes and, without hesitation, activated the tattoos on their souls. Suddenly, Alm’s eyes lit up.
’Yes! We’re composed of the Law of Water, manifested in its ice form. Everything around us is the same,’ he said, focusing on sensing the environment. ’We’re at the bottom of a frozen ocean. We can finally get out of here.’
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Bruno sighed in relief. Now they could confidently say they had reached the pinnacle of the laws of Yin and Yang, mastering any variation of those laws, even at the immortal levels. The mission would be simpler now... until he remembered Liumi and turned to the inventory.
There, he saw Liumi, who, a bit late, realized they had woken up.
’Master! It’s been so long, I can finally show the results of my training,’ a voice was heard. But surprisingly, it wasn’t Liumi who spoke. They turned to the side and saw who the voice belonged to: it was Fides; the soul of the heavy sword, who was still very young and didn’t know how to communicate properly.
Alm and Bruno took a deep breath and turned back to Liumi. ’How long... have we been meditating?’
Liumi hesitated, thinking... and thinking... It was hard to say after a certain point, something Alm and Bruno had experienced before. Until she murmured.
’I’m not sure. When it passed five thousand years, I stopped counting,’ she said, leaving Alm and Bruno petrified. ’I think it was double that, or maybe a bit more... or less.’