Owami felt that Li was being a drama queen. She knew full well what that seed was, and to her, there was no way it could ‘bring him the heavens’. Nevertheless, Owami smiled. She had long been used to Li’s theatrics, and knew that he was not for saying needless things. She had little patience for most, but for this old man she was willing to spend all of the time in the world.

“So, what is our next step?”

“Our next step is to wait; unfortunately we cannot use this until he has reached a certain cultivation realm. What realm that is depends on his fortune.”

“Then how are we supposed to know when the time is right?”

"Don’t worry my dear, leave that to me. You just have to keep him safe until the time arrives.”

…

Early on in the morning, Bastian was meditating in the library. Li’s words had bothered him quite a bit. He had decided to do a deep internal reflection and organize his thoughts, to make sure that he was treading on the right path.

Bastian had noticed that cultivation was always a soothing process for him, and whilst cultivating, his mind was always at its calmest state. It would be as serene as the surface of a lake. Bastian had developed a fancy to cultivation thanks to that. Despite his incredible ability to adapt, the last few months had been quite stressful for him.

He showed a confident and playful face to others, and for the most part, Bastian had many worries that he didn’t express to others. Worries such as what had happened to V and General Moto, or what state his kingdom was currently in, or if he would survive the upcoming years.

From what Bastian could tell, Li definitely was on his side, though Bastian had no intention of asking about V’s current state. Owami had said in mandarin that she would return him to the western deserts. So Bastian did not dwell much on such thoughts. It was only a matter of a few months until time was up, Bastian was waited patiently, in fact, one could even say he was counting on Owami to act when the time came.

If LI’s words were true, then Bastian’s fate was to face an uphill battle for the remainder of his life. Bastian knew full well that the odds of him surviving the Mark Bearer trials was next to nil, for there were many powerful and talented cultivators who were taking part. He was just a drop of water within a vast ocean, being swayed by the tide, unsure of where he was or where he would be.

However Bastian had no choice but to fight. He would rather die than submit to someone else, and in that ruthless world, odds are, if one submitted to someone else they might be lead one to their death. Thinking back to the numerous gladiators who die on a daily basis only served to further reinforce that thought.

He wasn’t without a fighting chance though. He knew full well how much potential he had. Although he didn’t quite know what the limits of his bloodline were, he knew that it was a top class bloodline. He also knew that e-vision was not a simple tool for looking at energy either. It had many uses, depending on how strong he became. Not to mention the f-vision he had gained from Kenshin.

Sebastian Tirius came from a family of mages, so he had a rough idea of what cultivators were supposed to do. Master Mages were called Scholars for a reason. To a Mage, knowledge was power. No one understood the depth and the potential cultivation had greater than mages. Warriors on the other hand, were more intuitive in their cultivation.

Bastian knew that those two abilities were not normal, not to mention the greatest mystery to him, yuan. He also knew what yuan was, but that was all he knew about it. Before his awakening, he had never heard of that word, yet at that moment, as he cultivated that energy, it was coursing through his body. A miraculous combination of qi and mana, it was not only superior to both energies, but it also allowed Bastian to gain a certain insight, and insight that he planned to use to the fullest.

Most of Bastian’s insights were into the sword, and were gained from Kenshin, so they could not be said to be his. Whereas the insights he gained from yuan were from his own blood. There were a part of him since birth, waiting to be unlocked.

What Bastian had understood was that qi and mana were not completely different, one energy had a little bit of the other. Mana was mental energy. A none living energy that one could use to perform non-living phenomenon. qi on the other hand, was life force, a living energy. From what Bastian could tell, qi was a very intriguing energy because it seemed slightly sentient. Mana needed to be guided through runes and magic circles etc. in a very specific manner, whereas qi only needed to be guided slightly.

Qi’s ability to control ones environment however was limited in turn. It mostly brought out what was already in one’s body and projected it out into the world. From Bastian’s conjecture, specialists like Kenshin were beings that were able to mix mana and qi in some manner to produce certain phenomenon. Whether or not they created yuan was completely unknown to Bastian.

As Bastian cultivated, he continued to ponder on everything he could, from cultivation, to the upcoming war, to his future path. Although there were many worries, he had hope as well, and he would cling to it with all the strength he could muster.

“Phew.’

Once his session was done, Bastian opened his eyes, and if one looked closely enough, one would notice that even though his mouth had not moved, his eyes seemed as if they were smiling.