Chapter 73: Within A Mountain

Lucian did not come across the group of strangers they had stalked in the entire two months he and Tess had been meditating within the Spirit Orchid Field.

He was sure they would know it's location, so the fact that they had not appeared could only mean they were heading elsewhere. That, or they had met an undesirable end within the mist.

While Tess' Spirit Palm art required her to forge connections to the outer plains in order to channel them, Lucian had no such requirements for his cultivation. An augmenter's path was one of self-reliance and independence, unlike the assimilation of daoists with their surroundings.

Instead, he simply studied the plains and reflected on his own cultivation, improving things here and there, and working towards the next stage of his self-created techniques. Of course he did not slack in his usual cultivation either, but his priority certainly lay elsewhere given the phenomenal chance this place presented.

Today would be their final day in the fields, and so Lucian had resolved to attempt something he'd been working on once more. He'd tried this a few times, and failed every time, but he felt he could do it now.

With the bloodbond resting on his lap, shaped like a longsword of his preferred proportions, Lucian exerted his will through the now three lifeblood held within the weapon. They in turn, spread his will throughout the incredible amount of foreign blood within the bond and employed the Sanguine Control technique to manipulate its properties.

Bit by bit, the blood he had stolen and drained from at least dozens of men, women, beasts, and monsters, began to change, becoming identical to the blood within Lucian's own body. The lifeforce that had been stolen alongside it, trapped within the blood, also changed, it's invisible signature rewriting itself to match Lucian's own.

The metaphysical connections the blood and life had to their original hosts were all severed with Lucian's newfound understanding, as he felt an awareness of the blood, signifying that it all belonged to him. It was 'his' blood, and 'his' life, no matter it's origins.

Breathing out deeply, Lucian smiled in content, before continuing. There was one more step to this.

Normally, withering could steal the lifeforce of others to greatly weaken them, and strengthen Lucian in the short term. It could do little to cultivate however, as the forceful method of extraction was messy, leaving too strong a connection to the other cultivator that could prove harmful if absorbed. Not to mention the lifeforce would disappear rather quickly unless you immediately sat down to absorb it after the battle.

But the bloodbond had solved the second issue by sealing the foreign lifeforce within stolen blood of the same origin. And now, the first problem had been solved too. With the blood and lifeforce within his bond having become identical to his own, absent connections to anyone else, they were already his to cultivate.

The crimson longsword, containing enough condensed blood and life to fill a pool, exploded into a large, red ball of liquid, shifting like a spherical river.

Bit by bit, the liquid condensed and shrunk in on itself, eventually splitting into many small balls that continued to shrink. The stolen blood and lifeforce he had gathered over the years, every bit of it that was now his, shrunk into dozens of drops of highly condensed blood that then began to merge.

From 52, down to 26, down to 13 shining golden drops of liquid, bearing almost no resemblance to blood. Sunlight seemed to emanate from those 13 golden drops as they hovered in the air, met by the three that had served as a core to the bloodbond.

The now 16 golden drops all soon flowed into Lucian's open mouth, coursing all throughout his body as they took on a magical, semi-incorporeal state, collecting in his heart with the other 8, for a total of 24 drops of lifeblood.

An involuntary aura of life emanated from Lucian briefly, appearing like the gentle rays of a sun before fading to nothing.

His bloodbond was gone, but with a thought, one golden lifeblood emerged from his body along with ten drops of crimson blood, each bearing a slightly golden hue. These ten drops were normal blood, the very same that ran through every part of his body. But with a hint of his will, they exploded to a bowl-full of crimson liquid each, before gathering around the golden lifeblood and condensing into a new bond, the same longsword as always that Lucian applied a glamour too, masking the crimson colour of hilt and guard.

Standing to grasp his new, much lighter bond, he sheathed the weapon and stretched.

He had been sitting doing nothing for longer than he ever had in his life to this point, and desperately wanted some action. His whole body was filled with power as his cultivation in this realm had more than doubled, and Lucian was eager to test himself.

Alas… Lucian looked around to find only mist. The spirits and apparitions did not approach this area, and no humans had come their way either.

He would need to wait a while longer, until Tess was done for the day. Then they could go look for the Ghostly Pavilion, and if his luck would have him, run into the group they had heard before.

Within a particular mountain in the vast spiritual region covered in mist, a deep natural cave could be found.

In the depths of the once silent cave, moaning and shrieking could be heard, all in ethereal voices, as if calling from some place beyond.

A red, elastic film covered the surface of what was once a natural pool, stretching and distorting under the constant force of something within as it tried to claw its way through. Tearing and scratching could be heard as shadows became something darker than black, something that could not be found in the material realm.

It was just one claw at first, piercing through the bloody film that separated realms. Then it was two claws, and then three. When finally two spindly red hands, each as long as a forearm, got their clawed fingers through the breach, they pulled outwards in a struggle, forcing the breach in the film to widen, as a horrible dragon-like visage, slithered it's way out from the void beyond.

It's translucent red skin, absent of scales, painted a gruesome image of the flesh and dark auras beneath. It's maw opened only slightly as a hundred voices echoed at once.

"Finallyyyy"

"Freeedoommmmm"

"Hoooome"

"Lesseerrrsss"

"Liiife!"

"Jessicaaaa"

"Muuummm"

"Dieee"

"Hungryyyy"

"I smell themmm"

"Runnnn"

"Fleee!"

"Chase!"

"Huuuunt"

"It hurts…"

"Heeelp meee"

"I'm finally back."

"Is it over?"

"Whyyy…"

"Charles, how could you?"

None of the many voices made sense together, and most were drowned out by the thousands of wailing, crying, and mournful shouts that echoed from within the beast's maw.

But with a snap of it's jaws, all voices fell silent. It's black eyes roamed the room with slow and easy motions as it's impossible long body slithered free from the bloody film it had broken through, two white pupils adjacent each other in each eye seemed to see through the cave walls, through the fog beyond, as a malicious smile spread across it's long, serpentine face.

Leo Messer was glad he had come on this assignment. He had a tendency to lose himself in training, and rarely left the sect. But ever since they started this journey, travelling deeper through the Valley of Mist, he had been forced to face increasingly difficult apparitions and spirits.

It was something so far removed from his usual training that it forced him to adapt, to look at his abilities and techniques under a new light. But this place was also incredibly dangerous.

As an early Core Establishment cultivator, he was considered among the best of those his age, his meta attributes granting him greater talent for cultivation than most. Yet even despite that, there were a few times when neither he and his senior brother Steffen, nor the even more senior Chris and Gunther, were able to deal with an emerging threat.

At times like those, it was their party leader, Elder Hermann who dealt with it. From what Leo knew, Elder Hermann had reached the Soul Reformation stage, the 4th realm in daoist cultivation. Even most sect leaders were unable to surpass the 5th realm, and they had the direct aid of the Guardian's.

Leo had heard a rumor that the Emperor was a 6th stage cultivator, capable of wielding the laws of heaven and earth at his will, but he didn't put a lot of stock in the idea. Every country claimed that their leaders had reached the 6th realm, but he'd never heard any reliable tales of the monarchs acting directly.

"Halt." Elder Hermann's voice called from the back of their group.

Leo looked back to see the man staring upward at an angle, as if looking at one of the nearby mountains. Leo still did not understand exactly how well or not Hermann could see through the fog, it seemed somewhat unreliable.

"I found a direction. It's not in the valleys, but within a mountain. This way."

With that, Elder Hermann took the lead and the rest of them followed.

'Finally. The Ghostly Pavilion, I can't wait.'

When Lucian saw Tess open her eyes with a clear gaze, he knew she was done. Lending a hand, he pulled her up from the ground before collecting the few things that littered the ground.

"Are you ready?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm done with this place for now." His words did sound wholly convincing, and indeed he would have loved to stay here for another few months, no perhaps a year? But he needed to get a move on eventually and he really did want some proper action.

"You'll have better luck finding it than me, so you get started and I'll pluck what we need from here." He said.

"Alright, I'll be done in a moment."

Closing her eyes, Tess felt for the window once more, and after looking through, she tried to find another place like this, where the border was thin, and the plains could manifest. As a daoist, Tess had opened her mind to spiritual senses during the 2nd stage of her cultivation, the Spiritual Awakening realm, and so was better suited to sensing the plains.

As she searched, she found a few places nearby where the barrier thinned, and was trying to determine which among them may be the Ghostly Pavilion, when suddenly she stumbled upon something completely different. Not a thinning of the barrier, but a hole! It was closing quickly, but she was sure that's what it was. A whole in the barrier between realms.

Was that the pavilion? It's said that the ghosts of cultivators could possess you from the other side once you entered the pavilion, was it because there was a hole in the barrier? She'd always thought it was just that the film was thin enough for cultivators with strong wills to reach past it.

'Stepping back' from the window, Tess' senses returned to reality as Lucian picked the final Spirit Orchid they would take and stored it in his Knight's Badge. He did not take too much, wanting to preserve the existence of the window.

"Found it?"

"I think so." She replied slowly with a confused expression.

"I'll fill you in on the way, come on. It's within a mountain of all things."

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