It took seven months.

Seven whole months.

For Jin to finally get up.

To say that this experience shook him…It broke him. It broke him again. Yet, once again, he came back from such a state.

He moved one foot after the other as he crossed the few meters that separated him from the door’s entrance.

The doors cracked as he pushed them aside.

The ray of the sun shone on him, blinding him more out of instincts than reality. His eyes closed for a mere instant before reopening.

He could see much better than before. And he could already see incredibly well before.

His gaze moved back onto himself.

He looked at his hands.

They did not quite look like his own. They weren’t his own. Or, well, they were. They had been. At some point. Years ago.

He touched his face.

It felt foreign yet as it should be. It was his face.

He heard a sound on his right. It was one of the maids hired on the estate. She had dropped a basket of clothes and was staring with mouth wide-open at him.

He was wearing clothes though?

He waved at her with a slight smile and saw her run back to the mansion at top speed.

A few moments later, Ame exited. She had reached the 30th stage quite some time ago and had returned to her best physical state, looking as beautiful as she could be. And heavens was she beautiful.

She ran to Jin with a bright smile on her face, her long red hair flowing in the wind carelessly. She jumped into his arm and he caught her.

She kissed him.

For a moment, there was nothing left on his mind but her.

Then, the kiss ended and she remained in a tight hug with him. He caressed her hair lovingly.

Right… The pale man was right… What he was forcefully shown…Since it was so horrible, then, he only had one thing to do: make sure it never happened.

He would protect her.

And to that end, he needed to grow even further.

After a while, bunch of people came out and gave him congratulations. Orphans, workers, colleagues… They all showed up in that day and the next.

The King even sent a decree and ordered a banquet to be held to celebrate such a joyous occasion.

Jin had something else occupying his thoughts though.

The very night he broke through, he met Sarina and Cheng. After the usual pleasantries and congratulations, they moved onto the important topic.

Cheng stated: “Tomorrow night, you will soul search my memories of tonight. Everything you need to do and know will be in those”

Jin asked: “How?”

Cheng answered teasingly: “Can’t say. See for yourself tomorrow”

And tonight, was the night.

The night he would soul search Cheng.

Arriving into Cheng’s room, he was welcomed by the young man himself. He was grinning as he stated: “You’re here”

Jin nodded and entered.

The door closed behind him.

There were two seats in the middle of the room, they each took one.

Cheng closed his eyes and told Jin to begin, which he did.

The ‘soul’ character appeared on Jin’s palm and soon enough, he grabbed at Cheng’s soul. Then, through a few motions of his other hand who sprouted another ‘soul’ character, he felt his vision distort.

The familiar world of distorted memories appeared in front of him. A kind of realm within the soul where memories were stored.

With a new incantation and a few hand seals, Jin found the memory that he was supposed to look for.

Yesterday, after Cheng came back to his room,

Jin opened the memory and saw through the eyes of Cheng.

…

Cheng was looking at himself in the mirror.

His reflected image was grinning jovially. He spoke alone in the room, facing the mirror: “Congratulations, you found the right memory”

“I will now be telling you about the single treasure cave you need to get to in this place. It is located within Artullom’rad in the kingdom’s north”

“Over there you will need to find a certain man whose family name is Gronndel. They used to run a smithy but that was eons ago so it probably became something else. I don’t have much more information on that so hopefully you will find it. Do your best since our futures might depend on it”

“Anyways, once you find that guy, you need to give him a secret password”

“The Ocean will one day dry up”

“That was the password, don’t ever forget it until you’ve used it”

“The guy should then give you a key and lead you to a secret entrance somewhere in the city. I have no idea where it’s at”

“Get the guy to come along with you. That’s very important. You need him to come along”

“There are a few things in there that you absolutely have to get your hands on. One is an artifact of the 6th rank, a blue crown made of many magnificent gems. Find it and bring it back”

“Other than that, there should be a lot of treasures of all kinds. Though they are secondary, if you can take them, take them”

“Beyond all of this though, there is something else supposedly there. A soul. The madman whose secret hideout we’re sending you to ransack actually managed to subjugate a powerful cultivator of the 69th stage and imprison its soul…If you find that soul…Well, bring it back if you think that it’s still sane though the chances are slim to none. Otherwise, free it”

“I know that it’s not like me to say that but, after what I went through as a soul remnant, well, let’s just say that on that very specific case, I can empathize”

“Of course, if the soul is still sane, bring it back at all costs”

“Even if it does not want to”

“You will need a few things to succeed, we already prepared everything with Nangua, it’s at his place in a pumpkin bag of his design. We could not stop him from making that…Anyways, that’s it”

Cheng raised his right hand and a gourd ejected from his spatial ring appeared in it. Then he exclaimed “Cheers!” and began to drink himself to unconsciousness.