Duality of Shadows

Maelik noticed that woman approaching the house. Shortly after, he was shocked as the laws sealed the entire area around the house. Confused, he stayed patient, waiting... until three days later, they finally came out.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

Kakarotto left the house. He was with that woman, a bit taller than him, extremely attractive, who naturally held his arm between her elevated breasts. They turned to Maelik, who was stunned but quickly approached.

"This is Ruri. I’ve already restored her memories," he spoke bluntly, sensing the atmosphere around. "Did they make any moves?"

Maelik let out a deep sigh of relief after hearing that first part. Seeing his master with another woman sent a chill down his spine. If he had to hide this from Ruri, his life would be miserable, constantly trying to avoid her. Noticing his look, Ruri laughed lightly.

"From what I’ve sensed, the onlookers around us have already started to move. They’re monitoring all our movements," Maelik said, now calmer, but then he lowered his voice to murmur. "Another woman named Minnan came looking for you, Master. She spent a day here, but someone forced her to leave. She seemed furious and tried to fight back without success..."

Alm and Bruno sighed upon hearing this, while Ruri released their arms and turned to him with a serious face: "She introduced herself to master before..."

"I had to put on a bit of an act, but I made it clear to her and everyone else that I never agreed to anything. She knows she’s just an ally. She’s also someone who came along with us for this mission. Anyway, keep your stance and stay in control." They responded quickly, turning back to Maelik and changing the subject.

"I still don’t feel many eyes on us. They must be discussing their actions, trying to reach an agreement. Let’s go explore that place. When we come back, everything will be ready."

He nodded, and the group quickly moved towards the center of the region. That was where the rivers crossed, and a thick fog hid its core. It was the place known as the Tree of Wisdom and the Underworld Lake.

Most avoided approaching, as it was considered suicide to venture more than a few meters into the fog. Few in history had seen what truly existed at the center of it all.

Maelik had died there once, but it wasn’t a quick death. He took advantage of his knowledge and learned everything he could before falling. He used his cheat to the fullest, exploring forbidden places without fear. Thanks to him, Alm and Bruno knew exactly where they needed to go, and the whole picture became clearer.

The group entered the fog under the curious eyes that watched them. The scene changed, and you couldn’t see a meter ahead because of how thick the fog was. For most, walking a little farther would make the fog affect their minds, causing them to walk in circles, and finding the way back was impossible.

But the group simply walked straight ahead. Alm and Bruno didn’t need to use their divine souls because Maelik guided them slightly, showing that he had learned to manipulate his own divine soul. He was now at the same level as Alm and Bruno when they had arrived at the Queen’s universe, but upon returning, he could learn much more with Kaiyka.

"He’s changed a lot..." Ruri murmured, recalling her own experiences. "Unfortunately, I died tragically in all five of my lives here. I never got very far, always being coveted by someone or drawing too much attention. In the end, I wasn’t much help to master."

"That’s not entirely true," Maelik replied with a light smile. "In other empires, I heard many stories of an Immortal Lotus who achieved great feats. She would die in the end, but she always left behind a legacy. That legacy endures to this day, and the ones who benefited the most were the simplest of her race. They changed completely, becoming honorable people who didn’t cause harm, focusing on living freely or cultivating peacefully."

Ruri was stunned, reflecting on everything she had done before dying several times. She wrote books, created techniques, and, most importantly, taught young ones to live honorably.

Maelik smiled. "You may not have contributed to the grand scheme, but you did a lot for the people of this place. I’m sure master values that. You weren’t the only one; I’ve seen many other great legacies across other races, through the three empires. Surely, all our allies changed the fate and karma of many here."

Alm and Bruno nodded in agreement. They had seen it before in Minnan, a genuine kindness and true honor. Although the main goal of the mission was important, they had certainly taught and created a new army of allies. It was a nice bonus — if they could complete the mission and escape to enjoy it.

Ruri was clearly moved, satisfied to know that her lives had been valuable. Even without memories, she had always maintained a positive outlook and worked to leave behind and build something good.

After six hours of walking in the thick fog, a distortion in the laws pushed everything away. Ruri’s eyes widened as she sensed the powerful laws of space and time.

Their vision became clearer, and they stopped, fixing their gaze on the horizon, where dark, imposing waters surrounded a small island at the center, home to the Tree of Wisdom.

The surface of the lake was a perfect mirror, reflecting the tree in a supernatural way. But beneath, the dark waters were ominous, pulsing with a cold that pierced through to the soul. The laws of time rippled around like invisible serpents.

A Yin immortal presence emanated from the lake, seemingly consuming all life around it. And above the waters, time seemed frozen. Any disorderly approach would cause time to distort, aging a person to death in a matter of seconds.

"Maelik, absorb the Yin here and create as many runes and laws as you can. With your divine soul, that should be simple," Bruno said calmly, moving to stand beside Ruri.

Maelik approached the lake’s edge and sat down, closing his eyes. Soon, the Yin began to slowly be drawn toward him. The couple, meanwhile, entered the shallow waters of the lake, which barely reached their knees, and moved. With their tattoos active, those laws of time seemed to ignore them completely.

"These are immortal time laws, and near the tree are immortal space laws. You’ll rarely have another opportunity this good to study them," Bruno said calmly.

Ruri’s eyes lit up with excitement. "I feel like the internal spatial rune left in my body is at the same level. It’ll be much easier to grasp space laws near the tree, and now I can study time laws too."

Alm and Bruno nodded, satisfied. They could only master seven out of the nine laws in this place. That had the potential to be a huge problem when it came to saving the tree, but if Ruri could master the remaining two, everything would be solved.

As they moved toward the center of the lake, they taught her the changes they’d made and what they had learned from Maelik in this Anima cultivation.

They had 120 internal runes, but all of them were based on Yin and Yang laws. Now, Ruri needed to create a few dozen time-space runes. However, they were confident she wouldn’t disappoint.

A few minutes later, they stood before the Tree of Wisdom. It was a Bodhi Tree, known for uniting the Yin and Yang worlds. At first glance, the Bodhi Tree appeared modest, only a few meters tall, resembling an ordinary tree. However, its presence was anything but ordinary. The entire figure radiated the purest white of Yang.

Curiously, its reflection in the lake showed its opposite counterpart: a perfect representation of the deepest and most intense Yin. Around the Bodhi, space subtly distorted. Looking directly at the tree made reality seem to flow and fold upon itself.

This distortion made the tree and its reflection both one and entirely separate, like two sides of the same coin—connected, but unreachable.

The Bodhi reflected in the water was like a being reflected in self-awareness. From afar, without careful analysis, the tree, like people and the physical world, seemed complete and consistent. However, without self-reflection and learning, it was impossible to balance opposites and achieve consistency.

Ruri sat between the tree’s island and the lake’s shores, where Time and Space intersected. Alm and Bruno, on the other hand, moved toward the tree.

’Master the Anima Cultivation and free the Nine-Star Tree. They seem like two goals, but they’re clearly connected. There’s no way a Divine Inquisitor can emerge without first coming to this place and learning directly from this tree. There must be similar things elsewhere, a bit different,’ Alm reflected.

Bruno nodded, approached the tree, and reached out to touch its trunk, trying to sense its interior. Suddenly, a voice echoed in their minds.

’Master! This thing is shaking.’ Liumi’s voice sounded, and they turned toward the inventory.

There, they saw the sacred seed created in Oami’s side quest. The seed was trembling, reacting to something. They thought of a possibility and took it out.

As soon as the seed was out, it shot forward like it was being pulled by a magnet. The seed touched the Tree of Wisdom, and then a pulse of power ignited. The seed looked like a small, shining star. It lasted for two seconds, and then everything went dark.

Alm and Bruno caught the seed as it fell, then felt its interior. ’Something inside changed completely. This... feels like a soul fragment... no, it’s a strange rune...’ Bruno thought, stunned, as he had never seen anything like it.

’This might be important for saving the Nine-Star Tree later,’ Alm said, not too concerned. ’Let’s focus on mastering this cultivation for now.’

They sat at the base of the tree and focused. Activating their tattoos, they quickly entered meditation, advancing in their Anima cultivation.