•••

Silence reigned supreme throughout the plains; every entity stunned by his unbreakable will.

But the storms within the monks was incomparable to those of the rest. All monks around the universe, no matter where they be, bowed in the direction of Mt. Evanescence, ”Amitabha, our Holy Child has arisen.”

The heaven-impacting proclamation shook the very fabrics of the monasteries, but these words were only uttered within their minds. For they knew, their Holy Child has not yet matured, if this information were to be released the future of the child would not be bright.

Plans once dormant began to see signs of motion.

Astrallis’ collapse into the celestial clouds seemingly marked the end of the trail, many other participants began to shimmer with light and teleport either to their new inheritances or back to the base of the mountain.

“It would seem the Spirit of the Mountain feels there is nothing left to achieve; everyone has reached their final destination. Time to settle down, for some reason after this episode I feel that we may be waiting longer than last time; much longer.” Patriarch Cestra informed everyone within the Monastery.

The elders from all factions around him all nodded in acquiescence, all understanding that the children who ascended where geniuses hard to come by in millions of years. Every child from the Holy Land went multiple stages further than the last batch of children, many even receiving inheritances from immortals.

“I hope mother finds a way to make use of his unique Yin; our blood-art is only usable by females. Otherwise, I would have already taught it to him. If he does, my daughters and I will have a joyful time training him,” Jasmine thought with a slight smile, her aura having vanished after watching Astrallis do so much for her, “I can’t let him down.”

•••

At the summit of the mountain, Astrallis’ naked body gently floated in the air as a carmine Qi gently floated around his body correctly inspecting it.

“What a treasure trove of a body: Astral meridians; Shakyamuni Carnate Black-hole Array and even this arcane Soul-Being. It seems he is the Holy Child of the Buddha sects. Although his heaven-warping talent will only become prevalent in the latter stages of the cultivation, as all geniuses do, his rate of improvement will be astounding,” Astrallis’ Grandmother inspected his unconscious body with the utmost care.

“Wait,” even after finding out the treasured body of Astrallis nothing made her voice break, only till now, “He has so much Yin energy, why is this?”

The seductive figure tenderly moved her hand around his perfect skin, as she was doing this her spiritual sense in unison with her Qi explored his Five Viscera and Six Bowels.

“I see, it seems He was aware that a grandson of mine would be born and placed runes within Astrallis that would allow him to absorb more Yin energy than normal. It seems I owe that old fogey a favour,” She laughed with joy.

“Although it’s not much Yin energy it’s enough to allow the blood-art to manifest into something just right for him. That is one of the unique aspects of the art; it bends to the needs of the user. The problem of the art is the requirement for excessive Yin energy. If the men had this, we wouldn’t have had to…” Her voice trailed off.

“Leave it, Astrallis is here. Our future.” She pulled his body towards her and held him in her embrace, and for the first time in hundreds of millions of years, she cried. Her tears gently fell upon Astrallis’ body.

Gradually his eyes began to languidly open, the first thing he saw was a face so beautiful the world would bow around it, but currently, that face had opaque tears upon it.

Astrallis not knowing what overcame him, just that he felt a closeness like none-other to her, moved his arms around her. He pulled her close, and then after an indefinite time fell asleep again.

“Beautiful child, with such a benevolent heart. He is the Buddha’s chosen. I’m sure even with all the training I will put him through, his heart will remain pure and benevolent. Hopefully, I can create a decisiveness to killing; such a combination will create the perfect cultivator; and a perfect grandson for me.”

•••

Astrallis lazily opened his eyes; he realised his body was wrapped in a cotton-like substance.

Soon he realised he was sleeping on a cloud, “It seems it was like cotton,” his voice echoing around him, “Why… Why is my voice is so harmonious with the environment? The essence around me is even jumping to the fluctuations of my voice.”

“You sleepyhead you're finally awake, well, the reason your voice is like that is that you have achieved the three principles of the Way of Buddha. Something only achievable by a select few sages of that path.” A mellifluous voice appeared next to his ear.

Astrallis turned slowly towards the voice, with his new achievement of the three principles it would take much more than a surprise to shake his will.

A tall seductive figure of six foot five inches stood before him; her beauty would cause angels and demons to swear subservience. Her skin was ivory in colour, the clothing she wore - well, the lack of apparel more like it - gently enclosed her exceptionally well endowed female areas. The garment itself was the same colour as her ivory skin; the clothes spiralled around her body in arcane patterns. Her blonde hair, precisely the same in nature and tone as Astrallis', perfectly blended with her picturesque skin.

Her blood-red eyes stared dotingly towards Astrallis.

Astrallis gazed at her in awe; he sensed a feeling of unparalleled familiarity between her.

He deeply bowed towards the devilish female, “Astrallis Ether, son of Cestra Ether and Jasmine Ether of the Ethereal Grotto Sect, greets honourable senior.”

A mellifluous laugh reverberated around them before Astrallis could even respond he found himself flying through the air hitting a cloud behind him.

“Call me senior one more time, and you will experience more of that my dear grandson.”

Astrallis body shook, and incredulously gazed towards the female, he had no reason to refute her as he felt a blazing blood-relation between them. His mind and soul were trembling before he could even realise tears began appearing in his eyes and he shot forward into her arms.

His body shuddered as he cried into her arms, her eyes staring lovingly at her Grandson.

No matter what, Astrallis still only had the maturity of a five-year-old child, he may have broken through to a new realm in regards to his will, but many more hardships are needed for his intention to become like an unbreakable buddha. His agonising ascendance of the mountain placed an extreme pressure upon his being, emotionally and physically, and to find out that what awaited him was something so much superior to an inheritance tore the last remaining barrier Astrallis had.

His joyful cries echoed around him. Astrallis thought about all the times he saw his friends play with their grandparents and the feeling of loneliness that would overcome him during those times. The current Astrallis was unaware of the situation of his grandparents, as his parents had disclosed the information from him.

But, Astrallis always had a feeling they were talking about the paternal bloodline, it was almost as if talking about the maternal bloodline was taboo.

He now found his Grandmother from his maternal bloodline, how could he not be joyful?

“Everything is fine now my darling. I never expected you to try so hard, but you were in an intense state of enlightenment, I didn’t want to disturb you. I’m sure once you see the results you’ll be pleased beyond anything.” His Grandmother gently patted his head.

“Come with me Astra’er, let’s have a walk around our little realm.”

Only now did Astrallis begin to observe the paradise around him, his little cloud was just a bed for him to use, the room it was placed in was eastern-looking in nature - it spread out towards a stylish balcony. They walked hand-in-hand to the gallery, a breathtaking sight appeared before them.

A crystal clear teal lake with a plethora of fauna and flora surrounded the pagoda in which they stood, at the centre of the lake Astrallis saw something that finally made his will shake.

A tree stood at the centre of the picturesque lake, the tree’s grey trunk languidly moved in the breeze while the red leaves proliferated the grey limbs of the tree. At the centre of the chest, a carmine tattoo of a sabre glowed with low light.

“That tree you see there is my Sanguinary Felicity Tree of my Felicity Blood-Art.”

Astrallis looked back towards the tree, and then again at his grandmother, while at the same time he thought back to the incident before the trial began.

He naturally inferred something from these sights.

“Grandmother, you’re so strong.”

Apparently pleased with her grandson’s flattering she continued to explain, “That display was just a fraction of my strength, my full strength is something that this newly formed Astral Realm cannot handle.”

“Although the laws are extremely prevalent and the natural treasures abundant, to make it into the Astral God’s secluded realm is beyond difficult. Your mother and I only managed to make it in through luck.”

“Do not look at me with a face like that; your mother is indeed not a native of the Astral Realm. We come from the Blade Sovereign Realm. One of the strongest realms of the universe, but that’s enough of that. This information is not helpful to the current you.” She stopped for a second and gazed towards the Sanguinary Felicity Tree.

“Asta’er, I want you to go towards that tree and touch the sabre tattoo.” She casually commanded him.

Astrallis, not thinking anything of it, moved towards the tree. Her body shuddered more and more with every step he took. Before this day, there had been no male who was even able to get remotely close to a Sanguinary Felicity Tree. As she was thinking this, he had already touched the sabre tattoo upon the tree.

A disembodied voice soon resounded throughout his mind, “Astrallis Ether, grandson of Anemone Felicity. Do you wish to embark on a voyage of felicity, experience the euphoria of ichor?”

Before Astrallis could respond to the voice, he found himself next to his grandmother.

She looked at him with excitement. “Not now, there are some things we need to talk about first. Also, I want you to start practising with a bladed weapon. Let’s see if you have some affinity with it; your mother and I are both geniuses of the sabre - I have high hopes for you to wield one weapon.”

•••