Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 201. Breakthroughs and Worries.

At one seemingly random point, Laien and Yin opened their eyes at the same time, then turned their heads and smiled wryly at each other. They hadn’t quite expected it, but playing around in their Combined Soul Realm was a very exhilarating experience. There, the mere sensation of touch was entirely different and new compared to the physical world so anything they did through their soul-avatars was… to be fair, it was almost addicting. The sensation of their soul essences mixing to such a high degree, all in a natural, unforceful manner, was… perhaps the closest description would be that it was almost like soaking in hot springs and playing around at the same time.

Naturally, it didn’t escape Laien and Yin’s attention that while they were having fun, their Spiritual Link had grown in strength so quickly they could tell the difference in real-time. Considering that up until this point, the only times when they were able to clearly sense the rate of strengthening of their bond was when it had experienced a breakthrough, it was quite an amazing discovery. Being able to passively share their insights at a fairly decent pace and having their Spiritual Link grow in strength, all the while resting, playing, and chatting, was quite a boon in itself. Yet, to top it all off, they felt incredibly refreshed in both mind and body after an hour in their Combined Soul Realm.

Interestingly enough, even though the time within the Soul Realm had flown past in the blink of an eye for them, they were also able to tell one more thing. Originally, they had always been focusing on cultivating while in their Combined Soul Realm, so their perception of time had always been quite distorted. There had also been too much happening all around them, so they never bothered to attempt any time measurements to compare. However, they had had an impression that time flowed somewhat slower for them in the Soul Realm than in reality. That impression, subsequently, grew far stronger during this night’s session, especially since they hadn’t been cultivating. As far as they could gauge it by a gut feeling, they felt as if they spent about four hours in their Combined Soul Realm while they were sure only an hour had passed in the real world. In other words, the evolution of their Spiritual Bond provided them with yet another benefit; a dimension with a distorted flow of time.

“It’s great and all,” Laien said quietly and acted on his thought as soon as it was born. In one smooth movement, he pushed himself off the bed with a hand and a leg and hugged Yin tight. “But in the end, it’s best like this,” he finished with a quiet laugh, all the while snuggling close to Yin. There were still a few things they would have to take care of in the future, but at the moment, Laien didn’t feel like bothering himself with thoughts of them in the least. For now and just like they had decided with Yin, for the next few days, they would take it easy. As for the time being, for the remaining few dozen minutes of the night, Laien was planning to enjoy snuggling with Yin and stay as he was.

“So silly,” Yin murmured. He was enjoying himself as much as Laien was so he was thoroughly up for the idea of lazing about for the next forty minutes or so, but he was feeling a bit more embarrassed about the whole thing than Laien. No matter how he looked at it, they were in a large open room with Arslan laying down just next to them and with Reian, Sirius, and Kasha staying on their own beds, either sleeping or cultivating. If one of them woke up or started paying attention to them… well, it wasn’t like he was so embarrassed just because of a hug, at least not anymore. It was just that… he couldn’t quite help it. With Laien hugging him so tightly and even sliding a leg between his legs, being well-rested and not under stress and all, how could his body not react?

Quite sure that Laien was teasing him on purpose and enjoying it, Yin sighed slightly, relaxed, and gave in. Whatever would happen later, it wouldn’t be his fault, so he would go along with Laien’s whims. Though, to be honest, it wasn’t like he was all that against the overall idea, so he felt like he had been half-sneakily led into that spot instead of being coerced or anything alike.

That being said, the two of them continue to lie down on the bed that was pleasantly neither too soft nor too sturdy. They felt warm and comfy under the thin sheets and they were very happy to be able to snuggle a little more after the nerve-wracking battle they had gone through. As the many minutes passed, however, just as the two of them were getting dangerously close to falling back asleep, they and everyone else in the room was startled awake by a surge of aura. What’s more, all of them soon felt the fluctuations in temperature within the room on their skin. Thankfully, the shifts weren’t extreme enough to put the wooden furniture on fire or to freeze those in the room, but they were uncomfortable nonetheless, especially for someone with a lower cultivation base like Arslan.

“What a surprise,” Laien said with a smile as he sat up a bit unwillingly. At the same time, he released some of his own spiritual energy merged with his insights into the Principle of Energy, first and foremost calming down the temperature near the two of them and Arslan. Then, he sent his spiritual energy throughout the room and nullified the bits of spiritual energy Sirius failed to suppress. In the end, he covered the rough area of Sirius’s bed, or rather what was left of it after being burned and frozen at random for the past few seconds, with a dome of his own spiritual energy. “To think he would advance to the sixth Realm of Heroes when he’s already so old,” he mentioned merrily, glad that Sirius managed to benefit from their many battles. The difference between a spiritual master of the fifth and sixth rank wasn’t to be underestimated as this level was a watershed for many experts.

After all, be it in the elite Arkarian armies, the likes which belonged to Mustafa or used to belong to Yimar Maar, martial masters of the fifth rank were rare, but not unprecedented. However, martial masters of the sixth rank and even more so, spiritual masters of the sixth rank, were incredibly rare. Without a high degree of talent and without access to at least a very high-quality high-level martial art or master-class spells and knowledge, it was commonly impossible to nourish such an expert.

“We all gained a lot,” Yin mentioned with a calm smile. “I bet Kasha will shot up the ranks with ease, too. Reian is practically guaranteed to grow more powerful, though it won’t be as fast since he cultivates two elements at the same time. Maybe if he had balanced insights into both of them, it would have been easier for him,” he mused aloud without care, seeing as Kasha and Reian had only spared a look and a slight smile for Sirius and had quickly gone back to cultivating. Only Arslan was watching Sirius’s breakthrough with great attention, so he spoke some half-random things just to stave off the silence. Be it as it may, he wouldn’t really chit-chat about those things with Laien since they were obvious to the two of them, but Arslan likely wasn’t as clear on the subject.

“We worked hard for it,” Laien added with a chuckle. “I’m pretty close to advancing to the late eighth mortal realm myself. I’d say it’s going to be a few days at most and after that, peak and the early ninth mortal realm won’t be far either,” he said merrily, though with a well-hidden hint of weariness. Of course, he was happy with his improvements, but even if he took the fact that he was dual-cultivating body and spirit into consideration, he was too slow. He hadn’t really been thinking about it on the daily basis since he knew that feeling sorry for himself would have changed nothing, but as his own cultivation breakthrough was finally approaching, he couldn’t help but feel a little dejected.

It had taken him good three months of constant training, many battles and a few life-or-death encounters to finally advance his cultivation base from early eighth mortal realm to just-about late eighth mortal realm. Being generous, it could be said that it had taken him those three months to advance from the eighth to the ninth mortal realm in his martial and spiritual cultivation. If he were a dual-cultivator with average talent, it might have been a great result, but it was far too lacking compared to the number of insights he had comprehended and the combat power he was able to display. He similarly couldn’t forget that the encounter in the Forbidden Lands had not only improved his body and martial talent but had a side-effect of hastening his progress in martial cultivation.

As far as dual-practitioners went, he was a unique case where his Qi and spiritual energy were connected and would constantly exchange energies with each other, keeping in balance. Thus, improvement in one aspect of his cultivation would entail the same improvement in the other, though naturally at the cost of requiring double, if not more than double, energy to achieve. Without the benefit the constant battles provided and without any lucky chances, just how long would it take him to get to the peak of the ninth mortal realm? He worried that at best it would take him a year and at worst, two years, and that was only if he cultivated like mad the entire time.

“Eh.” Laien sighed half-secretly, without trying to conceal his thoughts from Yin. “If I was living a boring life, then cultivating at this rate wouldn’t really be a problem since I’d be more than capable of prolonging my life indefinitely. But I’ve got the business in the Sarkcente Kingdom to take care of in four years and it’ll be troublesome if I’m only at the first or second Realm of Heroes when the time comes. Not to speak that I won’t be able to keep up with you at this rate,” he mused in his mind and glanced at Yin from behind Arslan’s back, briefly revealing a bitter smile. He knew that self-pitying wouldn’t resolve this issue, so just as Yin was musing in response to his thoughts, they could only count on another fortunate encounter while keeping their eyes peeled for such opportunities.

Counting on obtaining another miraculous medicine above the level of their world’s ‘Divine Medicine’ would probably be too much, so they could only resort to seeking abilities that would allow a spiritual practitioner to cultivate faster without any negative consequences. Alas, things like that, even if they existed, were bound to be tightly-guarded secrets. Be it Laien or Yin, they agreed that while Azuresky and Emeric would gladly lend them a hand otherwise, they wouldn’t easily share secrets that would have the strength to undermine the overall power level of their countries.

On the other hand, as they pondered this matter while watching Sirius complete the latter parts of his breakthrough, the same shouldn’t necessarily be true for Mustafa. There would also be people willing to do almost anything to help Laien in the Sarkcente Kingdom, but the south lacked the necessary expertise in spiritual practice to be of much help. Makarash, however, was home to both powerful martial and spiritual masters and had a centuries-long, abundant legacy. Maybe they did have access to some hard-to-cultivate secret arts for spiritual practitioners. It was worth asking since if need be, Arslan would surely put in a few good words with his father for their sake.

“Seems about done,” Laien said with a smile. He dispersed his spiritual energy and jumped over to the front of the bed, then he tousled Arslan’s hair for a second or two before getting up. “The six hours’ time is mostly used up, but I don’t think they’ll hold it against us if we go for a quick bath and then a meal, right?” he asked with a grin while peeking over his shoulder at Arslan and Yin. The next second, he laughed out loud as instead of words, a loud grumble of Arslan’s stomach came as a reply.

“Rowdy as ever,” Sirius commented in a tone that sounded very much happy despite its grumbling attire, one that likely came to him habitually. “But you’re right, we deserve this little bit of comfort,” he added, all the while gazing at the three smiling boys with a warm look in his eyes. Those three had gone through so much and had accomplished what most adults wouldn’t have been able to, but they still could laugh and make jokes, they could still appear amused and embarrassed. Having seen too many young talents broken by the atrocities of war, he was glad that those three were able to find mental support in the form of one another’s presence. And, if at all possible, he wished he could do more to support all three of them, too. Of course, most of his interest at the moment laid in Laien, but he had to admit that his liking towards Arslan had increased greatly over the weeks, too.

“You two, get up,” Sirius said in a higher volume, his eyes landing upon Reian and Kasha. Sensing the old man’s gaze upon them, the two flinched and unwillingly opened their eyes. “Dear Heavens,” Sirius complained in his resignation. “I don’t know if you were just not in the mood or if you wanted to guard those three or protect me during my breakthrough, but stop moping about and at least go wash up. Kasha might have cleared you up a little with her magic, but a bath is still what you need, just like food. Now, get going and stop thinking about useless things!” he reprimanded, his voice for once sounding somewhat forceful and teacher-like. This, in turn, rendered both Reian and Kasha speechless. Kasha was Sirius’s disciple, to begin with, while Reian was still young despite his talent and strength. When ordered in such a strict manner by their senior, they instinctively obeyed.

“By the way,” Laien spoke up with a chuckle, seeing as Reian and Kasha were awkwardly getting up. “Congratulations on your breakthrough,” he said while walking up to Sirius with Yin and Arslan following at his sides. The two boys similarly offered their honest congratulations and much to Laien’s satisfaction, they managed to rattle Sirius a little and make the old man appear troubled.

“Old man, huh?” Laien thought to himself. It wasn’t immediately obvious, but Sirius’s eyes already appeared to contain much more vigour than before and his wrinkled skin was becoming more healthy-looking and smooth by the moment. If he had to guess, he would say that in a few hours’ time, Sirius would revert from looking like an eighty-year-old man to a healthy-looking fifty-year-old man. After all, for cultivators it was only when more than eighty percent of their lifespan was used up would they would start showing signs of ageing and their appearance would go past that of a middle-aged person. Although Sirius probably wouldn’t revert back to a thirty-year-old appearance, given the two or three centuries of lifespan which he had gained, he would definitely end up looking younger.

“Bah.” Noticing that Laien and the other two, influenced by the daredevil, were making fun of him, Sirius snorted and turned around to leave. “Come on and stop wasting time,” he said to the boys and waved his hand at them to hurry up and follow along. This inevitably enacted a wave of chuckling from the youths, at what he could only sigh resignedly. He was too old to be dealing with a bunch of kids this playful, but if he thought of it as helping their mental state, he could at least feel a bit better about himself. Yes, it definitely wasn’t because he was embarrassed by something as silly as those three precious brats genuinely congratulating him on his cultivation base advancement. Surely not!

“You guys need anything?” Julius inquired politely as the three boys walked out from the house right behind Sirius. Interestingly enough, there was a slight blush on his and on Alicia’s face, what didn’t escape Laien’s attention, nor did the fact that a big armchair stood just beside the house’s entrance. Were those two sitting in it together and spending time quietly until Reian and Kasha suddenly dashed out of the house in a hurry, thus startling them? If so, then those two were more innocent or more worried about being seen as not performing their duty well enough than Laien had thought. Anyhow, he would probably lean towards the former option since the two seemed more ashamed to have been ‘caught’ together than nervous about the whole thing.

“Yeah,” Yin replied before Laien could. Then, after exchanging a glance with Laien, he laughed quietly and continued. “We ended up falling asleep before we could eat anything six hours ago even though I requested some food. I apologize, but could some be prepared for all of us right now? We’d like to take a bath and then eat something before moving out,” he explained with a smile, his attitude once again stunning Julius and causing Alicia to feel impressed. As an incredibly talented young practitioner, it wouldn’t be strange for Yin to be haughty and arrogant, at least a little bit. However, Yin showed none of those typical traits and was even mindful of his words, going as far as to apologize to them for a minor inconvenience! Being ones of those who had had a lot of experience in keeping their mouths shut when faced with lack of reason back in their younger days, when they still hadn’t climbed so far in their careers, Julius and Alicia appreciated Yin’s behaviour greatly.

“It won’t be a problem at all,” Julius said with a smile. “Would you like to eat outside or inside? If you give us an approximate time, we will make sure that the meal is served as soon as you leave the bath,” he offered, knowing that freshly-prepared food was far superior in taste and quality to that stuff preserved in interspatial rings that could only count as decently tasty military rations.

“Outside should be fine. Fifteen minutes, then?” Yin brought up and exchanged a glance with Laien, then with Arslan. Seeing the two nodding in agreement, he looked back at Julius and bowed his head slightly in request. He didn’t bother saying anything else, though, as it should be obvious in of itself. He enjoyed being himself and acting as he liked best, but he wasn’t polite for the sake of it, just to get others to like him. In a way, he was similar to Laien in this aspect. If disputes were to be excluded, then if someone couldn’t handle or didn’t like their behaviour, then it was his or her problem, not theirs. On the other hand, if someone appreciated their way of being, they would be more than happy to become acquainted with such a person and see if they wouldn’t become friends later on.

“Sure thing,” Julius confirmed, his eyes seemingly on the verge of sparkling with happiness. Their First Prince truly had done a great job by helping those boys! On top of being monster-class talents, this green-haired one had such a great attitude he wished his own future children could be similar. Unsurprisingly, Alicia was thinking along the same lines, all the while wishing that she could get pregnant sooner rather than later. As far as she was concerned, the only fault that came with having a high level of cultivation was the abysmally low fertility rate when both parties involved were powerful. She was still lucky since the chances of pregnancy under such circumstances were higher if the two partners truly loved each other, but the fact that almost thirty years had passed and there was still no child in sight was one of her worries. Perhaps she should ask Julius for the two of them to together take a three-month leave from their duties after the subjugation war against the northern tribes would be over, just so that they could wholeheartedly focus on making a child?

If Julius knew what his wife was pondering at the moment, he would have probably had a cough attack from an overload of sheer shock and joy. However, for the time being, Alicia had no intentions of sharing her plans as she wanted to do so under more suitable circumstances. That being said, Julius was bound not to care too much about the situation at hand once he heard her suggestion in the future and he wouldn’t have minded if Alicia made it anywhere and at any time.

Be it as it may, Yin and the rest of their little group were mostly unaware of what was going through the minds of the two Captains of the Royal Guards of their Kings. Just as they intended, they first headed towards the medium-sized building that played the role of a bathhouse, then roughly fifteen minutes later they came out and headed towards the few bonfires they spotted and the large table full of food that had been set up near them. Luckily, the taste of what they got to eat, while different from the cuisine of the Ruishi Federation, was superb and proved to especially be up to Laien’s liking.

Because of how great the food was and how hungry the three boys and the three White Guards proved to be, the feast continued for a much longer time than expected. So, when Warrior-King Azuresky and King Emeric emerged from their buildings a few moments later, expecting their guests to already be getting ready to set out, they saw the six of them furiously devouring food as more and more dishes were being prepared over the bonfires and brought over to them. Moreover, the longer they looked at the group, the more they got the impression that only two out of the six weren’t slowing down their consumption almost as if their stomachs were bottomless pits. As for who those two ones depleting the entire supply of their highest-quality food, were, they naturally were the two monster-class talents, Laien and Yin.

“…”

“…”

“Heh…” Finally, after an almost half-a-minute-long silence between them, Azuresky let out a helpless laugh and shook his head. How could they have not seen that the food those two brats, in particular, were being given time and time again was from the highest-quality rations their two units had? Those things were supposed to be eaten as tasty deserts once a day when they were in the field with their Royal guards, but they were being prepared as huge meals and what was even worse, they were disappearing at a very alarming rate! “Just how much did those two take courting favour with those kids to heart?” Azuresky asked, his lips trembling ever so slightly in his silent desperation. It wasn’t that he was worried about the cost of those meals, but there would be no time to restock on the food of this quality in a similar amount before they went back to wage the war in the north! Really, what were Julius and Alicia thinking, going all-out like that for the sake of those kids?!

“…” On the other hand, Emeric remained silent as he felt a bunch of complicated emotions within himself. Logically speaking, he felt that he should be happy with what was going on as he always claimed that things like overly delicious food were a superfluous luxury. However, as he looked at his desserts and rare tasty meals being devoured by two teenagers who barely had any hair, he felt something that he couldn’t or didn’t want to describe, awakening in himself. Of course, he never would admit that he was feeling frustrated over losing his high-quality food, even before himself. However, he couldn’t stop his left eye from twitching every so often as he looked upon the disaster.

Much to Azuresky’s and Emeric’s dismay, by the time the six finished eating, or to be more precise, by the time Laien and Yin finished eating as the last two enjoying the meal, the majority of their highest-quality food was gone in their stomachs. Feeling a weird clenching sensation in their throats, Azuresky and Emeric approached the table, the former attempting to put on a smile on his face and failing miserably while the latter not even bothering as he gave his best to empty out his mind.

With the two Kings acting in this way, how could Laien and Yin not have noticed that the two men wanted to say something but didn’t want to say it at the same time? The two of them gave their best to resist smiling as they recalled how they had lost themselves in eating and didn’t stop to consider whose best supplies they were devouring. Meanwhile, Julius and Alicia scooted off to help with removing the equipment from over and near the bonfires, all the while pretending that they had no idea what was going on and refusing to look anywhere in the direction of their two rulers.

Azuresky, with his lips beginning to twitch even more rapidly due to the mixture of blatant helplessness and sheer amazement he was going through, was about to open his mouth when he and Emeric turned their eyes towards the opening leading into the old Marble Mine from the south-west. The next second Yin heard the sound of the hundreds of horses incoming at great speed, then Laien was able to recognize it and right after him, Reian and Sirius heart the stomping hooves, too.

“Hisan Horses!” Sirius said with a bright smile. “They are ours, I can tell,” he added while giving Azuresky and Emeric a look. He wouldn’t mistake the hooves of the Hisan Horses that Makarash reared firstly due to their quality and secondly, due to the uniform formations their White Guard would travel in while moving on horseback. Elated, he looked at Arslan and said with excitement.

“Your father, Lord Mustafa is coming!”