108 Will of the World

“Relax, If I wanted to kill you, I would have had done so twenty nine years ago when you were lying unconscious.”

The cabbie driver ignored the Qi Projections pointed towards his head and got out of the cab.

Clay watched in alert with conflicting feelings. Experience is telling him to better kill the man but he just could not feel any threat from him. Many things are running through his mind and when the cabbie driver already stepped out of the car, he realized he missed the perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.

Clay is confused as to why this man had not activated his combat suit. He does not know if he is being played or not but he decided to step out of the car as well to give himself a better chance of escaping.

When he opened the door, his face was greeted with a gentle sea breeze. It is the middle of the night and it was deadly silent he could hear the waves crashing on the rocky shoreline.

“Why don’t we have a taste of that wine you bought?” The driver raised his hand as if expecting to be handed something.

Clay did not utter a word and took out the bottle of wine and use his Qi projection to hand the bottle over. He did not dare come close and maintained a two meter distance and watch the driver sat on the cemented crash barrier at the edge of the roadside. Moments later, the driver removed the cork and drank straight from the bottle.

Mrghhh

“What a poor taste in wine.”

Clay silently observed the man.

“You seem awfully silent. Speak your mind, young man.”

The driver tossed the bottle to Clay giving him sign it is his turn to drink.

Clay took out the glass he stole from the bar earlier and filled the glass to its full before tossing back the bottle.

“What do you want?” Though he took a sip, he did not dare lower his guard.

“What I want is nothing. Maybe some meaningful conversation before I die. I do not have much time left.”

Clay activated his Godly Eyes. There are two overlapping souls and their brightness is almost dim, dimmer than the elders in the village. He did not respond and remained silent.

“How did you know I killed your friend?”

“Not really a friend but a fellow soul slave. He attacked you using his soul strength leaving a low level soul mark on your body. I had trouble tracking it down.”

“I have trouble believing you won’t avenge him?”

“You should. Not only do I have any obligation to avenge him but the likes us should have been condemned to eternal damnation long time ago.

The driver stopped talking and after a minute of awkward silence, he turned to Clay and tossed the bottle of wine and asked, “Do you believe in destiny, young man?”

“People believe in things that make them feel better.” Clay caught the bottle and refilled his glass before passing the bottle again to the driver.

“That is one funny outlook you have there. Ha ha ha. You know I have many regrets and I wanted to kill myself the moment the seal on my soul expired forty years ago and liberate myself from the sins I have committed and forget everything and move on in the afterlife, yet something has compelled me to keep on living to this day.

You see, the earliest of my memories is a dream about this very scene right now this very moment. I have always felt like the very reason I was born is to fulfill this destiny or I will never be able to rest in peace. In my dreams though, your face was blurry and I know it is absurd but I when I saw you twenty nine years ago, something told me you are that person in my dreams.

I wanted to force you to wake up and talk to you but I had doubts and maybe it was just me getting closer to death so I decided go back here and spend the rest of my life in peace yet here yet we are. I guess destiny really wants us to meet after all. I strongly believe that our meeting is no longer a simple coincidence. You see, the past few years, my dreams had become more vivid, and that you asked me about Fei Hong. Tell me exactly what’s been bothering you?”

Clay took a sip from the glass of wine while carefully assessing the situation. He needs to tread carefully and make sure he won’t die from a surprise attack. Indeed he has a lot questions about how things relates back to earth and he had been doing his best to suppress his curiosity when he decided to live a simple village life. He had long convinced himself it will not make a difference should he know the answer. Since he still doesn’t know what is going on, he can only pretend and go with the flow for now.

“Since you want to be asked about Fei Hong, can you then tell me more him?”

“SHE was the master who placed seals on our souls. We are criminals on death row and our souls should have been purged denying us a chance to reincarnate but she gave us a chance provided we follow her bidding. It explains how we became spectral cultivators. It’s a long story and is that really what you want to know?

“Maybe it is and we have the rest of the night. As long as it would not take ‘til sunrise.” Clay did not sense any activation of magical tools so he responded confidently.

Mrghhh. The driver cleared his throat.

“From what she told me, she and her Dao Companion had chanced upon a Fire Class Dao Stone allowing them to reach the peak of Divinity Realm. Then, someone got greedy and an elder of Immortal Green Mist Soul Sect took her Dao Companion as hostage imprisoning him inside a Spatial Tesseract made from Emerald Dragons. The time within that space runs at a ratio of 1 to 5 days and it is one of the most unbearable tortures known to cultivators. In an attempt to save her companion, she tried negotiating but was cornered and ended up detonating herself. Her enemy was unwilling to let her go so before Fei Hong’s soul dissipated, her enemy utilized all his strength to place an Immortal Level Soul Mark on her.

Thousands of years later, Fei Hong reincarnated into the mortal plane.

It is a taboo for cultivators to step into the mortal plane and it is still a mystery why the mortal plane is guarded by powerful puppets that even peak Divinity experts would perish if they venture there yet the lure of obtaining a Dao Stone and step into the realm of Immortal Gods is so strong and irresistible her enemies tried to pursue her still.

Although her enemies were able to locate her, they failed to capture her soul. Fei detected their arrival and killed herself before her enemies could find her.

Her enemies were being pursued by the puppets and since their objective failed and to avoid being slaughtered, the enemies sacrifice the souls of every inhabitant of the planet(Earth) at which Fei lived and were sacrificed to power an Emerald Dragon Spatial Formation for their escape.

The heavens gave Fei Hong another chance to reincarnate and according to records, she was a true talent as she achieved the 2ND phase of Dao Comprehension in less than three thousand years immediately granting her an elder title from her sect. The soul mark on her had long disappeared so she was able to cultivate peacefully and built her own secret army which she called NASA.

Which brings me to you? It is interesting that you have a very powerful Soul Mark in you that made you invulnerable to my companion’s last attack.”

Clay has been listening attentively and his focus has gotten more serious he began to lower his guard.

“I did have a few enemies but I’m quite sure none of them was capable of placing a Soul Mark on me. Can you tell more what happened to Fei Hong?”

“Here I thought I was boring you. Anyways, she believed the reason of her existence is to save her Dao Companion. She had been relentlessly searching for him and that is how we met. I gave the information as to who is holding the key to free her Dao Companion. She had doubts thereby she placed a Soul Seal or curse if you call it on my soul.

One day, she found the base where the key was hidden and assembled a fleet for an attack.

The enemy had their own aces up their sleeves and two spaceships managed to escape, one to the Lower Plane and the other is near LX5 space station. We were only looking for a key but who would have thought that the key was actually the Spatial Tesseract containing her Dao Companion’s soul. Fei Hong detonated herself again to destroy the seals that has imprisoned her Dao Companion for countless of years.

People of this planet call the explosions The Burning Sky Incident and what happened next is us. There were originally three Soul Slaves but the first one did not make it alive. Our mission is to make a galactic broadcast and reveal the locations of the Dao Stones should the mission fail and unfortunately, the mission is considered accomplished and with our master dead, the only way to lift the curse on us it to wait for it to expire and it did forty years ago.

Unlike me, my fellow soul slave had some remaining ambitions and had been secretly contacting ships that docked at LX5 so he could escape this planet and take the Dao Stones for himself. Twenty nine years ago, he made an arrangement with Kyan Han Sword Sect and the departure schedule is twenty days from now. Too bad he died in your hands then interestingly enough, you showed up here.

Coincidence or not, I think it is the world telling us that you should be the one leaving this planet instead of him. Regardless, if you can get to the Galactic Bank, you should be able to inherit my treasures including the coordinates of the Dao Stones. When Kyan Han Sword Sect visits again in twenty days, this coin will be your safe passage.”

The cabbie driver tossed a coin towards Clay.

Clay emptied his glass as he laughed on the idea about predestined fate. If the world really wants him to something like visiting another planet, then why give him a hard time. Back on earth, one of the reasons he is an atheist is the notion about the book of life where god has written everything that has and that will transpire. What a crappy author that he purposely made his life miserable and despite his holy and divine powers, this god still continues to make his life miserable.

Destiny or not, at least he could finally fit the pieces together but it is still not enough to convince him to cultivate once more nor visit another planet. It is true it was what he wanted but it all changed after going through series of misfortunes.

He still does not understand his role with everything that has happened and the other thing is that the sect that killed everyone on earth is Immortal Emerald Soul Sect and not Green Mist Soul Sect.

“What about Immortal Emerald Soul Sect. Do you know their relationship with Green Mist Soul Sect?”

The driver gulp from the bottle again then turned towards the sea.

“At the heart of Green Mist Soul Sect is a unique breed of Emerald Dragons with a crystal on their foreheads. Similar to beast cores and unlike regular emerald crystals, these crystals had evolved to develop a spatial space where these beasts can brew an elixir necessary for the dragon’s evolution. The prison Tesseract where Fei Hong’s Dao companion was tortured is an example.

One other unique characteristic of this crystal is its ability to assimilate souls and convert it into energy to power up formations for interstellar travels. It’s a fearsome formation used for mass extermination. The size of the Formation and the color it emits resembles a regular emerald crystal and given the vastness of the cosmos, those who have never heard of Green Mist Soul Sect tends to identify them as Emerald Soul Sect especially on the Lower World. They are one and the same sect as long as they are using that Formation Signature. Do you have a grudge with this sect as well?”

“In a way, yes but it’s all in the past now. You said there is a soul seal in me. Can you help me locate and rid of it” Clay answered honestly.

“If you concentrate enough on your Major Qi Nodes, you’d be able to peak at your soul. The easiest and most reliable is to the Qi Nodes on your forehead. Unfortunately, even if I had my original strength back as a Stage 2 Divinity, I’m afraid I cannot help. I am unable to determine what type or rank is the Seal on your soul but I can tell that it will soon unseal itself within fifty years, approximate. As for what will happen, again I don’t know but one thing I’m sure of. Such powerful seal was not placed for lowly reasons. At this point I no longer care but if you want to protect yourself, my inheritance can help you reach the Divinity Realm.”

Clay silently digested the information the driver shared. While he was thinking for other question he could ask, the driver made a deep sigh.

Sigh

“It probably is the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard but it felt like the world had let me peek how my life is going to end the moment I became self aware and today, it happened. You have no idea how relieved I am tonight.”

The driver extended his Qi projection into the car and played a familiar instrumental soft music.

“It’s called If Tomorrow is the Next Life and thanks to whoever is Ching-Ru Shi or Hui-Mei Chang from the mortal plane for the good music.”

Clay noticed something is wrong with the deteriorated Qi control of the driver. As soon as he activated his Godly Eyes, the brightness on the man’s souls is almost nonexistent.

“Are you planning dying tonight?”

“If you do not have any more questions, I wish to stay behind and contemplate on my life. Unless you want to be interrogated by those bothersome police officers, then by all means, please stay and watch me take my last breath.”

He does have other questions but he could feel the driver is going die any minute now so he decided leave.

“I thank this senior for his stories and the treasures he bestowed.” Clay kowtowed with his fist.

“To a good life.”

Clay turned around and left.