He Yuan's eyes widened and he took a quick look around the small space for a way to dodge the incoming spear but before he could make a move, a silvery bright light suddenly shone around him and took the brunt of the force.
CLANG!
The spear fell to the ground and dissipated afterwards.
He Yuan, Toby and Kylie all stared at the silvery light around him in surprise.
On the other hand, He Xin narrowed his eyes. That person did not have a Soul body so he was definitely not a System. Also, his soul did not appear very dense so he was probably an Intermediate Tasker at most. How was it that his Belief Halo was this bright?
How was it that such a horrible person could become a Tasker or even have any Belief at all?!
Angrily, He Xin materialized 5 more spears and shot them all at He Yuan.
This time, He Yuan did not take it sitting down. He'd heard from Toby that the person they were here to see was an Advanced Tasker and although he looked like a teenager, he was nothing but.
He Yuan hadn't cultivated his Mental Fortitude so materializing his own weapon was out of the question. Beside that, he wasn't very sure his weapon would have much effect against a Tasker who was clearly stronger.
WHOOSH!
He Yuan timed the spears and leaped to the opposite side of Toby and Kylie with a little roll, effectively dodging all five spears and causing them to fly out of the stall.
He didn't stop there but quickly changed his direction when the attacker wasn't expecting it and sprinted forward to grab an arm.
Toby saw this and acted fast, reaching forward to grab He Xin's other arm.
He Xin's eyes widened and his skin crawled where He Yuan held him. Rage filled his entire being and he screamed, "LET GO!"
BOOM!
A wave of energy tore through He Xin with enough force to cause He Yuan and Toby to directly blast through the sides of the stall but, fortunately, the walls were quite strong so they slammed against it instead.
The Halo shone once more and protected He Yuan just before he hit the wall so he was fine but that didn't mean he was happy about being attacked for no reason! His eyes blazed in fury. What was this guy's problem anyways?!
The owner was getting ready to send another wave of his spears when He Yuan angrily tore off a part of the metal cabinet stuck to the wall and threw it like a javelin right at the annoying fuck's head.
BANG!
He Xin swiftly dodged but before he straighten himself, He Yuan easily ripped off another piece and was ready to send it sailing through.
"STOP!"
Kylie screamed and came to stand between the both of them. "What's going on?!" She turned to He Xin. "What did he even do to you?!"
He Xin's chest heaved as he stared at He Yuan. Horrifying images that he'd suppressed for so, so, long began to resurface one after the other and his body trembled from a mixture of fear and hurt.
Pure hatred coursed through his veins and there was nothing he wished more than to dig a hand into He Yuan's still heart, crush it and watch as the heartless bastard obliterated into nothingness!
He Yuan did not share the same sentiment. He scrutinized the guy before him carefully and he was very sure he had no idea who this person was. He had coming here hoping for a solution to his Mental Fortitude problem but had gotten attacked instead.
After taking a deep breath to calm his fury, He Yuan simply adjusted his appearance, swung the piece of metal in his hand a few times and threw it straight, watching as it pierced the opposite wall and trembled from the force before walking out of the stall.
Inside, He Xin watched He Yuan go with slightly trembling hands. He absolutely could not believe this person had somehow made it to the Soul realm as a Tasker. How was that fair?!
Toby stared at He Xin curiously before grabbing his host and leaving after He Yuan. Kylie looked back like she wanted to say something but decided against it when her System held her a little closer.
In the middle of the street, He Yuan stared up at the sky with a frown. The stall looked as bleak as when he first came and the damage done on the inside did not reflect on the outside so it was possible that the owner had done something to the stall.
This was probably the reason him and Toby hadn't been able to break through the walls and also the reason no Hunter had shown up to fuck all of them over for breaking the rules of the Soul realm by fighting.
"He Yuan."
He Yuan turned around the see Toby coming with Kylie. Before the golden eyed man could ask, he shook his head. "I don't know him."
Toby froze and then nodded slowly before looking back at the stall with a curious expression. That much hatred for someone you didn't know was alarming. What was going on?
Another thing that surprised him was the Halo he'd seen around He Yuan earlier. Forgetting the hype about Soul energy, the hardest thing for a Tasker to get was Belief. A reasonable amount of worshippers wasn't easy to accumulate.
Even after counterattacking for so long, Kylie had just one Halo and her Belief amounted to just 1,550 -Not even close to the lower threshold of 5,000- and yet that was considered good enough for an Intermediate Tasker.
That Halo that had shone earlier was on a whole other level. It was definitely above the threshold.
He Yuan might not have enough Mental Fortitude but at least he had something to protect himself with in the Soul realm. At the point, the only thing that could bring him down in the Soul realm -aside from Taskers or Reapers stronger than he was- was his own mind.
Toby was about to open his mouth when he suddenly felt a ripple coming from Kylie's System Space. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned to his host with a small smile. "It's time."
Kylie pouted at him before turning to He Yuan. "I'm so sorry we couldn't help out more, He Yuan. It's time for my next task and we have to go."
He Yuan nodded at them and Toby gave a nod in return as Kylie took out a high grade transportation talisman and transported the both of them directly to her System Space.
He Yuan looked back at the stall before walking forward. "888, where are you?"
....
[Hold on. I'll meet you at the dorm.]
He Yuan sighed and then pursed his lips. It was still a good distance to the Tasker's dorm and although he could get a talisman from the System Marketplace, he wasn't really in a hurry to return.
His mind trailed to the owner of the stall as he walked. What really was that about? He groaned. It was as if the more he searched for answers, the more questions seemed to appear. And the silvery light that had protected him...
That was as a result of his Belief stat? 888 had explained to him the importance of Mental Fortitude and Belief in the Soul realm and even after knowing this, that silvery light had come as a pleasant surprise.
A pleasant surprise that saved his soul from serious damage.
.
.
.
When He Yuan finally reached the Tasker's dorm, he called out in his mind again. "Are you there yet?"
There was a hum. [Not yet. Give me a little while more.]
He Yuan nodded and stood outside the dorm. For some reason, he desperately wanted to see his System. After almost getting his ass beat by that stall owner, he was feeling a little panicky.
He had expected the only threat to his existence in the Soul realm to be the Hunters and maybe the Upper echelons over in the Realm of Realms but knowing that some souls had a way of going around the rules in the Soul realm made him quite uneasy.
Nowhere was safe and he didn't want to be caught offguard ever again.
With nothing else to do as he waited, He Yuan looked for a shaded corner to sit and entertain himself by watching different souls walk around. In another minute, he got bored and clicked on his stats panel.
[Name: He Yuan]
[Age: 28]
[Level: Intermediate]
[Experience Points: 220,000 (+200,000)]
[Soul Energy: 1390 (+1500)]
[Intelligence: 475(+280)]
[Strength: 415(+450)]
[Luck: 110 (+55)]
[Charisma: 360 (+250)]
[Mental Fortitude: 505 (+250)]
[Merit Points: 800 (200)]
[Belief: 2,500 (3500)]
[Acquired Skills: Entry Level Medical Practitioner, Amateur At The [Strongest Martial Arts].]
[Halos: Halo Of The Undead, Halo Of The Sword Ancestor, Halo Of The Benevolent Benefactor.]
[You Have Received 50 Attribute Points.]
He Yuan blinked in surprise at the latest Halo to his collection. It hadn't been there the last time so the only explanation was that it came from his last task realm.
All he'd done was counterattack for Xu Lifen, take down the special one and care for the twins so how the heck did he get worship?
He wasn't complaining though. In fact, his lips arched a little. At least something was going right.
He looked to his other stats and when he reached his strength stat, his eyes lingered for a few seconds. Next, he looked down at his acquired skills and to his Mental Fortitude and then a bold idea crossed his mind.
The cheapest Mental Fortitude manual cost 5,000 points. He'd asked around and that was quite hard to get as an Intermediate Tasker.
Although Kylie and Kaede both had Mental Fortitude manuals, Kylie had gotten hers through trading some of her Soul energy and a lot of Exp points whilst Kaede had directly killed off a Tasker who had crossed her path in a task realm and had Akari seep her energy into the Tasker's panel and steal the manual.
At this point, it was safe to assume that not a lot of Taskers got their manuals from the System Marketplace so what if... They weren't even meant to get it from there in the first place?
A second later, He Yuan took out his [[Strongest Martial Arts]] manual from his storage panel and stared at it. Ever since he merged the manual in the Cultivation task realm and unlocked the fourth page, he'd been stuck there.
Even after he'd cultivated every single night in his last task realm and made a lot of progress in his strength, the pages after the fourth page were still blank.
Why was that?
What was the foundation of cultivation? Balance between the body and the mind.
At that thought, He Yuan's eyes widened. He'd been so focused on strengthening his physical capabilities in the task realms that he ignored an equally important part in his cultivation!
This might be the reason his strength stat did not improve much even after so much effort.
On the fourth page of the [[Strongest Martial Arts]] manual, was a set of moves that appeared to be directing the flow of qi through his physical body but what if it was more than that?
Now that he looked closer, it was possible that he'd been doing it wrong from the onset!
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