Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 200. A Glimpse of Past and Future.

Some time after the sun had set, Mustafa and his White Guard and Arakar with his silver-golden-robed elites were still waiting at the field of battle. By this point, the killing intent of the two camps had dwindled to almost nothing, each of their groups having accepted that they wouldn’t continue to fight one another no matter the result. Once that ultimate expert from the Guild of Shadows that was keeping watch over them left, they would disperse in their own directions as there would simply be no tangible benefit to them even if they were to be stubborn and continue the battle.

That being said, it was Mustafa’s camp that was far more anxious as they waited for the expert to leave. Whereas Arakar had pretty much achieved what he had come to Eulene for, Mustafa wouldn’t be able to rest in peace if his son died because of his weakness. Had he not been so overconfident to let Arslan go off alone, had he not been critically wounded due to Arakar’s Domain, had he been stronger and been able to fight off all of his enemies… nothing like that would have happened. Normally, he suppressed thoughts as pointless as those, but having nothing to do as he waited for hours was causing his mind to lead him to many undesirable and unpleasant conclusions.

“Hm?” Fortunately, Mustafa was spared from staying in his gloomy mood for too long as just a few minutes after the sunset, he noticed a new character appear out of nowhere. The man wore a black cloak and a black mask, just like the supreme expert who had come to stall them, yet the new man’s arrival had been entirely silent both in terms of sound and presence. Had it not been for Mustafa’s excellent eyesight, he would have likely not even noticed that man’s sudden arrival. “They seem to be talking? I can’t sense this man’s presence at all, can he be the master this supreme expert was talking about? Is he the Guildmaster of the Guild of Shadows?” he wondered quietly. He really wanted to shout and ask them about the conclusion of the battle up north, but the strength and unpredictability of those two experts prevented him from acting on impulse.

Meanwhile, while Mustafa was stopping himself from yelling out and while the rest of the experts present were only starting to notice the arrival of a new person, Maian and the old Guildmaster immediately engaged in a casual conversation, unperturbed by the apparent gravity of events.

“So, how did it go?” Maian asked once his old teacher arrived. He knew that the old man was being playful, or rather annoying, in his own way by hiding whether he was happy or disappointed. He also knew that he would be teased if he asked the question he had voiced, but he had no other choice. If he didn’t ask, then given this old man’s wicked character he would be forced into doing some other bothersome task instead. Out of the two evils, he much preferred the former one since it was quick and relatively painless in comparison to playing the role of his teacher’s errand boy for even longer.

“They passed,” the old man answered straightforwardly, much to Maian’s surprise. “They performed beyond my expectations in terms of their personal development and actions and even won their war on the grand scale. I didn’t think I’d have someone pass the Trials so perfectly so soon after Altair did the same two odd decades ago,” the old man praised Laien and Yin without beating around the bush, but instead of making Maian feel relieved, it only made him more suspicious. He knew this crazy old man’s character like the back of his palm and it wasn’t like him to miss an opportunity to make fun of him or annoy him just for the sake of observing his reactions.

In Maian’s opinion, even though the old man had complained that he liked Altair’s character over the characters of those two boys, he thought that the old man and Laien were eerily similar in terms of temperament. However, if he considered the fact that two people being similar didn’t have to mean they would like each other, then he could make some sense out of his old teacher’s words.

“So.” Feeling that the old man was expecting him to ask, Maian gave in and did just that. “What exactly happened during the last day that made you so happy, teacher?” he inquired presumptuously. Although the old man showed no positive or negative emotions in his voice, body language or even in his aura, he knew the old crook too well. He was most likely keeping the best information for the last and was trying to take him off-guard by pretending nothing was going on.

“Well,” the old man said, allowing his tone to reveal his bemusement. “If you must know…” he continued teasingly, a wry smile appearing below his black mask. Just to tick his old disciple off a little bit more, he waited another ten seconds before answering, at one point pretending that he had gotten intrigued by a passing cloud in the dark, night sky. Finally, when he sensed that Maian’s patience was reaching its limits, he laughed and spoke. “Nothing big, actually. They only learned how to use Phantasmal Essence, created their Phantasmal Worlds, then used the effects of their Blood Pact to share and transform their Phantasmal Worlds, giving both of them dual-element Phantasmal Worlds with the full ability to evolve in the future.”

Having said so in one breath, the old man chortled at the flabbergasted look on his old disciple’s face, one which he could see clearly as if no black mask covered Maian’s face. “Did I mention that they managed to evolve their Spiritual Bond into a Spiritual Link, too? I can’t wait to see if they manage to overcome the curse of the Shenlei Clan once that green-haired one nears Immortal Ascension,” he added, then almost exploded laughing when Maian choked on the air he was trying to breathe. The matter of mortals creating their own Phantasmal Worlds was big enough to shake a high-level Immortal World, but those privy to the ancient legends of the universe would know that the matter of a Spiritual Link appearing between a member of a Shenlei Clan and their partner was an event of even greater importance! Considering that the partner, in this case, wasn’t someone with low potential by any describable means, this news was all the more frightening!

“I guess there’s one more thing, too,” the old man said with a content smile. Yet, he laughed again and explained quickly when Maian’s face started trembling. “No, it’s nothing as grand as the two previous pieces of news. Those two both already touched upon the essence of their weapon arts, so while it will still take some time, they will both go far beyond what’s considered a Grandmaster level. They should reach the Immortal level in their weapon arts soon enough. Ah, right, the other thing is that the black-haired one lucked out and triggered a breakthrough that should have only happened when he was advancing to the Realm of Heroes. He broke past the limits of a human’s physical body, so he’s going to be far more powerful in the future and his martial talent should increase, too.”

Once the old man was done speaking, Maian honestly couldn’t stop his eye from twitching in anger. How were those two things minor in any way?! Didn’t this damned old man tell him himself that even amongst Gods, not to mention Immortals and Demigods, they weren’t that many Immortal-level weapon-wielders?! The matter of Laien’s bodily breakthrough had great implications, too! Not only would it allow the kid to potentially achieve a perfect Divine Body in the future, but it would further boost the symbiotic connection he had with the kid from the Shenlei Clan, with Yin!

Dear Gods above the Heavens, was his old teacher truly sane? He hadn’t been worried before since despite Laien and Yin possessing great levels of talent, they were ultimately of no threat in the long-term. However, those Shadow Trials… no matter how he looked at it, they had antagonized those two kids towards them by no small degree. If his teacher truly intended to let them grow and freely Ascend to an Immortal World, then wouldn’t they one day come back for revenge? No matter if his teacher’s goal was to gather Destiny or Legacy or whatever he called it, he would have no use for it if he were to be killed all because of his own overblown machinations! To make the matters worse, those two would probably not stop at killing the old man, but they would make sure to uproot the Guild of Shadows to the last man, too! Personally, he really didn’t feel like dying anytime soon!

“Well, don’t overthink it too much,” the old man said with a laugh, finding his old student’s reaction to be rather amusing. “Oh, and don’t contact those two yet either. I intend to go and talk with them once they leave the Holy Union, they deserve some time to rest. Ah, I guess I should at least give them some hint that they passed the Trials so that they won’t have to worry the entire time? I’ll figure something out,” he mentioned, his words turning into musings somewhere along the way.

This, as far as Maian could tell, showed that the old man wasn’t concerned about the current situation in the least and on the contrary, he appeared rather ecstatic. “It’s really bad. The only other time he was so happy and yet so quiet was after Altair passed his Shadow Trials. This means that there will be not one, but three people that we have to take care not to touch in any way. There’s also the issue of those two’s future revenge on us, eh,” Maian thought resignedly. Regrettably, he had no control over the development of those events when his teacher was directly involved, so the second best thing he could try to do was to minimize the potential damage.

“… Just one thing, teacher,” Maian said helplessly, relaxing his tensed body and girt teeth. “When you decide to meet those two, bring me with you. Please,” he said with a sigh. There was no way he could change his teacher’s mind, but perhaps he would be able to do something about the desire for revenge of those two boys. The worst-case scenario he would know to make preparations and disappear in time if the thing seemed helpless. He wasn’t a talentless slouch himself, but even he trembled in fear thinking what kind of levels of strength those two boys would one day reach if they managed to not perish whilst they were still on their journey to the highest levels of cultivation.

“Sure, why not,” the old man agreed without bargaining for anything in return. This once again made Maian tremble inwardly as it further confirmed his suspicions. The old man must have been feeling as if he was on the cloud nine for him not to have used this opportunity to make him miserable. Maian wanted to utter a few words of complaint, but he didn’t dare, knowing that nothing good would come to him from spoiling his teacher’s mood. As a result, the old man disappeared soon afterwards, having assumed that their conversation was over but not bothering to ask about it, as always.

“Eh,” Maian let out a heavy sigh. “Screw it all,” he said bitterly. He was in quite a bad mood, but just as he was about to straight-up leave without providing any explanation to those present, he heard a shout of Mustafa’s, one asking about who won the battle. To be fair, he was too depressed to want to talk to anyone at the moment, but when he thought that Mustafa was likely to be in a similar state of mind to him, he felt some sympathy towards and decided to spare a moment for his sake.

“I don’t know the details, but from what my teacher told me, those two kids, Laien and Yin, won the battle on the grand scale. I can’t be sure, but it should mean that your son is alive and well. As for Yimar Maar and Abdain’s forces, given the circumstances I wager they were all but wiped out,” he said and shrugged his shoulders, having sent his voice throughout the entire area. Then, without waiting for any more annoying questions to be asked, he dissipated into a black shadow, then disappeared entirely in the blink of an eye. Out of the many present experts, even Mustafa and Arakar weren’t able to follow his movements as he left, but neither of the two cared about that.

“We’re going back!” Arakar declared to his elites without a second thought. He spared one last glance in Mustafa’s direction, harrumphed, then led his people towards the closest Port City in the Guode Yimarate. He doubted that Mustafa would do something as stupid as destroying their fleet and making it harder for them to return to Arkaria since he should want them gone, too, but there was no harm in going there straight away and sparing themselves the unnecessary gamble.

“We’re going north!” Mustafa shouted eagerly, his voice containing unrestrained joy. Although that black-masked expert didn’t give him a definite answer, he was at least ninety-nine percent sure that Arslan and those two boys were fine. So, the sooner he got to them and checked for himself, the better would it be. He’d have to get to the Holy Union for the negotiations of the future alliance either way, so going there early was convenient in more than one way. Naturally, something like the kind of a reception he was going to receive in those Ikarian-hostile lands and if it wouldn’t be a better idea to hold the alliance talks on the neutral grounds wasn’t important to him at this point in time.

“Hoh!” The four present Lieutenants, Kasim, Alysia, Bahir, and Hamid all responded in a way no less eager than Mustafa. The over five hundred White Guards who were left from the original one thousand voiced their support and relief in the same military-esque way, all of them wishing to confirm Arslan’s safety, some just as much as Mustafa and the four Lieutenants. After all, to them Arslan wasn’t just the young master or a Prince of Makarash, or one and only son, but rather the one who would unify and lead their city-state once Mustafa passed on from his damaged Qi Origin. Arslan’s existence was of paramount importance since apart from him, a direct son of Mustafa’s, no one would be able to keep Makarash unified, not even one of the White Guard’s Lieutenants.

Perhaps someone like the Captain Commander Kundar would have had a chance to accomplish that, realistically speaking, but he was too old and was bound to die within a few years at worst and a few dozen years at best. Importantly, Captain Commander Kundar had no children of his own, so the matter of inheritance would have been a problem anyway even if he were to give his best to keep Makarash together until the day of his death. In other words, without Arslan, the City of Makarash was bound to shatter into factions and because of that, it would inevitably crumble sooner or later.

“Hurry and get the horses ready!”

“Move, move!”

While the dozens of White Guards were sent to retrieve their horses and bring them to the field of battle, Mustafa was overcome by a mixture of joy and anxiety. Had that ‘teacher’ or ‘master’ of the expert’s been more detailed in his explanation, he would have had one less thing to worry about. However, as strong as he wanted to believe that Arslan was okay, he wouldn’t be able to calm down until he saw his son with his own eyes. “Please be fine and well,” he prayed in his heart. In his long life, he had only one child and this child was none other than Arslan. It was fine if he gambled with his own life as he spread the influence of Makarash, but he felt terrible having endangered Arslan to such a degree by his own carelessness. Of course, the ones he detested the most was the Guild of Shadows, as many of the events wouldn’t have happened without their involvement, but he wasn’t a person so weak-minded as to obsessively blame everyone and everything around him for what he had failed to predict and avoid himself. Some things… were simply fated to happen.

“Going by the timing,” Mustafa mused in silence. “We should be roughly four and a half thousand kilometers away from where the battle with Yimar Maar and Abdain happened. If they decide to move out to the Holy Union immediately, it will be more of a pain in the ass to meet them, but I should be able to get some certain information once I arrive at the border and inquire about it. If they chose to rest first, then we’ll need… nine hours at standard speed and maybe six hours if we push the horses to their limits?” he counted quickly, a slight smile appearing on his face. Obviously, he was going to make everyone push their horses to the limits, that wasn’t even a question. The sooner he could see or at least learn of what happened with Arslan, the better.

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Meanwhile, some hours later, as the fairly short summertime night slowly neared its end, Laien moved slightly on top of the bed he was lying on. He felt that his whole body was unnaturally hot, as if he was once again feeling sick after playing in the rain for too long as a little child. However, unlike back then, this time this feeling wasn’t accompanied by a headache or a feeling of weakness. To the contrary, he felt better than ever and in fact, he could tell that he was brimming with vitality.

“What happened?” he wondered without opening his eyes or moving much more. “I remember my spear shattering and getting slashed by Abdain and rescued by Yin, but after that, nothing. I feel as if my body has grown stronger though… and weirdly, as if it was only the first step, as if my body was telling me to hurry up and increase my strength even more. It’s almost as if…”

“You broke through the limits of a human, yes.”

As startling as it was to hear Yin’s ‘voice’ in his mind without their Soul Realm being active, Laien’s surprise lasted only for a split-second. No matter how cloud-minded he was after waking up, he had been able to tell that Yin was lying down right next to him from the very beginning, having sensed his presence very clearly. The only mistake, if it could be called so, on his part, was forgetting that if he thought so ‘loudly’, then Yin would hear all of his pondering given the strength of their Spiritual Link. This was especially true if both of them were in a half-asleep state while right next to each other as it was under those circumstances that it was easiest for them to hear each other’s surface thoughts.

“Could you explain a little more?” Laien inquired, in response to what he felt Yin drawing their souls closer. He didn’t resist the attempt as he was feeling perfectly fine, so a quick session of Soul Realm training wouldn’t be a bad idea. That being said, even if they didn’t choose to train, they would be able to exchange many more words in their Combined Soul Realm in much shorter of a period of time.

“Ooh,” Laien exclaimed quietly as his and Yin’s souls, both protected their Phantasmal Worlds, merged once again. He could sense a steady stream of lightning-element insights entering his mind and strengthening his own dual-element Phantasmal World by the second and he could tell that the same was happening to Yin with the water-element insights he was receiving from him. Apart from that, the two of them seemed to be passively sharing insights into the Principle of Energy even without focusing on the process. Just by being in their Combined Soul Realm, they were able to gain each other’s insights effortlessly and at a decent speed! The evolution of their Spiritual Bond into a Spiritual Link had truly been a great blessing that kept giving them pleasant surprises at every step.

“Remember the mountains?” Yin inquired with a smile once both of them finished marveling over their strengthened version of Combined Soul Realm. “We thought our bodies were enhanced alongside our Qi Origins, and this much is true. However, we didn’t notice that the majority of the medicine that was used for this process was absorbed by our Qi Origins for later use. I bet even the one who gave us this medicine didn’t notice, else he wouldn’t have so readily given us so much of it. If I focus really hard as I am now, I can just barely notice the hidden presence of what looks like twenty-three crystal-clear drops of what should be Liquid Life, if I recall right from my grandfather’s books,” he explained, ‘speaking’ the many words in but an instant. The convenient thing about their Combined Soul Realm was that it amplified the effects of their Spiritual Link even more, so just thinking about an idea was enough for them to share detailed information. If they wanted they could still speak and communicate normally, but if not, then they could exchange information very fast.

“Interesting,” Laien admitted with a smile and a nod. He spent a moment trying to search for something similar in his own Qi Origin, but he found nothing out of place. His soul was comparatively stronger than Yin’s, so he didn’t think he would be unable to spot the drops if he was actively looking for them. Thus, the only explanation that came to his mind was that however many he had been given, he had used for the two breakthroughs, one back in the mountains and one last night.

“You’re probably right about that,” Yin supported in a happy voice. “You know, your body only grew one level stronger, but it’s not bound by the limits of a human anymore, I can tell for sure. Physically speaking you’re now much closer to me than to any human and as the time goes on, as you train, cultivate, and maybe as we obtain medicine at the level of Liquid Life, you will be able to improve your body further. Hehe, it looks like I’ll be having a harder time beating you in our spars from now on,” he said playfully, feeling genuinely happy for Laien’s good fortune. The two of them didn’t harbor ill feelings towards each other’s growth and lucky chances even much earlier in their relationship, so it was only natural that they wouldn’t become envious of each other out of the blue.

“Do we train a bit of what?” Laien asked with a smile. He didn’t offer a comment on the previous matter as there was simply no need with the two of them sensing each other’s emotions so clearly. “Personally speaking, even though I feel well, I’d like to give my mind at least a day to rest. I have a feeling that we need a break, maybe even longer than a one-day-long one,” he added thoughtfully. They had been training hard almost every day for the past two months, if not longer. They had also gone thought many life-threatening battles and even after them, they hadn’t stopped for a break. However, now that it looked like they wouldn’t have to deal with anything dangerous in the near future, Laien thought that they deserved at least some time to recuperate and enjoy some training-free time. Of course only for a bit, not too long as that would be a waste of time, but still.

“Sure,” Yin said with a laugh. “You don’t have to work so hard to convince me, you know. I want to really rest for a few days, too,” he said and grinned at Laien. They could sense even the shallowest of each other’s thoughts in here unless the other party actively hid them, so he had more or less heard the entire voice of heart behind Laien’s suggestion to rest. Needless to be said, he was up for it.

“I’ve got a suggestion though,” Yin added lightheartedly. “We could spend roughly half an hour to an hour of real-time in here every day. Not training, but just resting like this. You should be able to tell that just maintaining this connection is very beneficial not just to our insights, but also souls and bodily vitality? It’s as if we’re now able to enhance each other’s strengths and make up for our weaknesses just by maintaining this connection, and the gain is permanent,” he mentioned in one casual thought. He was sure that Laien would have realized all of that too, if not already then immediately when he mentioned the matter, but he went ahead with the explanation anyway.

Even though sometimes, talking or even communicating using thoughts seemed pointless while they maintained such a close connection between their souls, the two of them still enjoyed the process nonetheless. To them, it was comparable to a chit-chat of normal two humans, and they enjoyed each other’s company immensely. Thus, unless the situation at hand required it, they wouldn’t give up on those small pleasantries, if they could be called such.

“Sure, I’m up for it,” Laien responded with a laugh and took another look at Yin’s avatar form. Now that he thought about it, they hadn’t really tried to rest or do nothing in their Combined Soul realm ever before, did they? The time here used to be too precious to waste and it would probably continue being so in the future, so if they wanted to experiment, it was the only time for that.

Sensing Laien’s intentions, Yin chuckled in helpless amusement. Only Laien could want to try playing around, wrestling, and cuddling in something like a Soul Realm, but to be fair, he too really wanted to find out how the sensations of doing these things with their avatars would compare to doing the same in reality. As such, within the next second, the originally calm conversation that the two of them led while sitting cross-legged devolved into a bunch of childish games. That being said, be it Yin or Laien, they proceeded to thoroughly enjoy the rare occasion to have some unrestrained fun.