Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, Main Continent, Cloudmount City, ****** **** Mansion. She asked. “You reached the Mid Basic Level of both the Law of Light and the Law of Darkness in just a few hours! What the h... Cough!” She suddenly coughed to hide her embarrassment, after which calmed herself and asked with solemnity. “I apologize for my outburst. I was simply surprised. Now, tell me what happened.” Guang Yang noticed her serious face, which made him realize that what happened was not 'normal' even by his teacher's standard. After everything she explained to him about cultivation, and from what their link transmitted to him when she described the 'Mortal level' of cultivation [A/N: I'm not sure what word to use to describe the Mortal, Immortal and Divine 'period' of cultivation. Level would work, but I've used it already for the Level 1 through 9. Maybe the word 'Layer'? If any of you have any idea, let me know in the comment. For now I'll use Level.], which was as if she talked about babies, he guessed that she was not a Mortal Cultivator, but someone much stronger. And if someone like that thought that what happened was unusual, then his situation may even be dangerous. Finishing this train of thoughts, he started his explanation, without omitting anything. During his story, she kept silent, seemingly lost in thought. “...And I woke up and looked at Teacher.” He stopped talking and looked at her, waiting for her verdict, a bit anxious as he had never seen his Teacher act like that. After a few seconds of silence, she noticed his cute face sporting a nervous expression, to which she smiled at him to reassure him that everything was fine and said in a calm voice. “Don't worry! Whatever happened can only be beneficial to you. I was just surprised since despite the poor condition we're in, you were still able to progress so much.” Hearing her explanation, he sighed in relief and said in a blaming tone. “Teacher, you can't scare me like that. I thought I was in big trouble!” Her left brows raised up slightly and her smile turned a bit dangerous while her tone became emotionless. “Are you blaming your teacher?” Catching her implied meaning, he reacted quickly. “Of course not! Teacher is the most beautiful, the most amazing, the most incre...” She rolled her eyes and decided to cut him short, or he might keep going for a long time. “Alright, cut it out! We both know what each other are thinking little fox, so your little show is useless.” That made him feel a bit embarrassed. Looking down, he mumbled. “But I really think that...” A slight tinge of pink appeared on Bai Yue's cheeks from embarrassment, however it disappeared too quickly for the boy, with his head lowered, to notice it. “Alright, let's get back on track. So from your explanation, I can tell you that I experienced the same phenomenon when I comprehended the two Laws. Although my gains are higher than yours, it might have to do with my higher cultivation level.” The boy then asked. intrigued. “What level did Teacher reach?” She then replied. “I reached the Basic Late Level of the Law of Light. As for the Law of Darkness, it did not budge at all. Since I basically reached the Natural limit, I'm not really surprised about it. Although, since the two Laws seemed to be linked, once I reach a high enough level...” She mumbled the last sentence without finishing it, as it was simply her conjecture, and she had no proof to back it up. “Anyway, let's think about the facts. One, we both, and at the same time, experienced the mysterious phenomenon that increased our speed of comprehending those two Laws tremendously. Two, from my knowledge, no one's ever experienced that phenomenon. From that we can conclude that the reason behind it should be because of something that link the two of us. I'm guessing the Dual Yin Yang Seals are the culprit behind it.” Guang Yang nodded to her explanation, with amazement in his eyes when he looked at her. “Teacher is really smart! I remember that Teacher told me that they should boost our cultivation of Mana and Laws, so it definitely makes sense.” She smiled and added. “Also, with our link, my comprehension of the Laws should have boosted even more yours. It basically created a virtuous circle.” She was very satisfied with this new discovery. After all, even if she could not boost her mana cultivation for now, she could improve drastically her Law comprehension, which was as good if not better. As the higher her Law Comprehension was, the faster her Mana Cultivation would be. And when you need millions of years to increase one sub level at the Divine Level, or sometimes at the Immortal Level, then it was a welcome improvement. After thinking about all the advantages, she shook her head slightly to get her mind back to the current situation. She then reminded the boy. “However, don't be complacent about your progress. Understand that for each improvement in your Law comprehension Level, the more time you will need to reach the next. Let's say for example that it took you a day to reach Basic Mid Level, which is already extremely fast. Then it may take you a week to reach Basic Late Level, and maybe a month to reach Basic Peak level. Of course, all that is theoretical, since there are people who are stuck at their level for their whole life without progressing one bit. So what you need to do is to be diligent in both your cultivation of Mana and Laws. Understood?” He nodded to signify his understanding. He then asked her a question that just came to him. “Teacher, I know that Laws are used to improved our cultivation, but when we went shopping the last time I saw some people controlling water and fire in the form of Mana Beasts to dance in the sky. Can I do that too?” What he was talking about was a couple sitting on the lawn at the crescent plaza, who used their Laws to entertain their children. Hearing his question, she nodded and said. “Well, if you didn't ask me, I would have told you about it anyway. After all, cultivation is just the base of your power. Think of it as the trunk of a tree. You still need branches and leaves. What you do with it is what's important. And the most basic thing is to know how to fight and even kill in certain cases.” When he heard that he had to learn how to fight and kill, he seemed very reluctant and lowered his head. “But Teacher, I don't like fighting. And why would I kill someone? I don't like when people are hurt...” She sighed from his naive answer that reflected his unblemished perspective of the Realms and the people in it. “Unfortunately, you only have two choices in the three Realms. One is what you want, which is to not fight. However, if anyone more powerful than you in combat wants to take something or someone from you, then you would be powerless to stop him or her.Your second option is to learn how to fight and defend yourself, your closed ones, and all that you possessed.” Her speech made him think deeply. After almost a full minute, he raised his head to look at her confused. “Why would anyone want to fight or even kill me? I didn't do anything wrong.” Despite not wanting to destroy his fantasy, she knew that it was something that he had to know sooner or later, so she might as well prepare him as soon as possible. She then raised her hand and caressed his head, while saying in a warm tone of voice. “I know you didn't do anything wrong, however other people don't need a good reason to attack you. You've been very lucky to have me and your parents, as we are very powerful, so we can protect each other. But everyday, people are hurt or killed by other, more powerful people. Only with enough power can you protect what's important to you. That includes everyone around you, and even me.” When he heard her terrible description of the world, he felt as if the comfortable illusion that he was used to live with, broke into pieces and he seemed to sucked into another space. Behind the beautiful and warm protective wall was a black abyss of fear and uncertainty, full of blood and death, which terrified him so much that he started to shiver and cry. He felt lost and alone, feeling as if his life was meaningless. After what felt like days, he started to feel some slight warmth and perceive some faint light in the distance. A small voice that was almost inaudible at first, grew until he could hear the panic overshadowing any attractiveness it could have had prior. “I-I know th-this v-voic-ce...” Feeling desperate, he raised both of his arms towards that light in hope that the woman calling him could help him get out of this hell. To his delight, he could feel himself approaching that patch of light until his fingers, hands, arms and his entire bodies went through it. The voice that kept calling for him seemed closer and closer until he felt the sound close to his ears. He then realized that he was back in the 'real world' and proceeded to opened his eyes. He saw the dread on his teacher's face who kept calling his name over and over, and he could perceive her feeling of powerlessness. It was a feeling that he never felt from her, as she was always confident and in control of everything around her. As for himself, he could feel his own body exuding sweat with a persistent itch coming from every part of it, from head to toe, as if he fell into a lake while being stung by tens of thousands of mosquitoes. His dace was muddied with his tears and sweat, however, after he woke up his body seemed to calm down, his tears dried up and the perspiration stopped exuding from his pores, the overwhelming itch going away for good. When he focused on his breathing, he could perceive his heart calming down as well. All in all, it felt like he went to the Realm of the Dead and back to the Realm of the Living. When he finished calming himself down he focused on his teacher and said in a weak voice. “Teacher?” *************** A few minutes earlier. “...everyone around you, and even me.” When she finished her speech, she noticed the change of expression on the boy's face, which tugged at her heart. She thought with resolve tainted by a tinge of guilt. “I don't like it, but I have to do it. I'm sorry little fox.” However, to her stupefaction, Guang Yang fell down on his back and started convulsing, his sweat and tears pouring as if a dam had broken. Panicked at the unexpected situation, she immediately took him in her arms and inspected his being (Body, Soul and energy) to find the problem. Despite her cultivation level, she could only find the symptoms and not the cause, which made her already unsettled mind, even more restless. “Could it have something to do with the mind?” She thought trying to find a solution. What was the mind? Thoughts? Memories? Was it your identity? Could one go without it? Even in the Divine Realm, godly healers had trouble with wounded minds. Let alone in the Mortal Realm. And let's not forget that her cultivation was restricted added to the fact that she was not very proficient in healing. Her nickname was after all Divine Assassin Empress and not Divine Healer Empress. Because of her mounting terror, she failed to notice that her own mind had a slight fluctuation when the boy fell on the ground. Although, it was so slight that unless she focused on it she would not have felt anything anyway. All of that led her to hug the boy's body, calling his name over and over again in a almost incoherent rambling. “Guang yang! Please! Little Fox! I beg you! Come back to me! You have to come back! Don't leave me!” Because of her panic and sadness, she failed to notice the change in his body which were more and more pronounced. After a few minutes of despair, the boy's eyes fluttered open and turned towards her matching red pupils and puffy eyes. She then heard him asked in a frail voice. “Teacher?” When she heard his voice, she felt like she came back from an abyss of despair, which was, despite her being unaware, a feeling shared by the child in her arms. Before talking, she used her Law of water to dry her tears and held him as tight as she could without hurting him. She then mumbled. “You've come backt! Thank the Realms, you've come back! I thought I had lost you! Don't ever do that again!” When he heard the sadness in her voice, tears started to fall down again from his eyes and he said while sobbing. “Tea-teache-cher, I-I-I thou-thought I-I would ne-never see you-you again! Bwaaaaaaah!” While Guang Yang was crying loudly, only a few tears fell from Bai Yue's eyes, as she was used to keep her emotions frozen. Only because of their growing attachment toward each other, would she act as emotional as she just did, to a point where she lost her rationality. That touching scene lasted for more than a dozen minutes,until the two calmed their emotions down enough to be able to communicate without breaking down in tears. Bai Yue then held the boy away from her chest and asked in a warm tone laced with a slight tinge of puzzlement. “Little fox, are you alright? What just happened to you? I thought I had lost you.” To which he replied while sniffling. “I-I'm fine Teacher. And I don't know what ha-happened. I just know that when you told me about fighting and killing, I felt like I was transported somewhere dark, cold. I could feel death all around me. And I was so lonely... As if I could never see anyone of you again. I-I don't know...” While he was trying to describe what he just experienced, she noticed the changes in his body, which were massive when one thought about the few minutes it had taken to occur. She was puzzled by both the changes and his story, so she replied. “From what you told me and what I noticed, it had to be something sucking your mind into a special space where you had to endure all those negative emotions. But I don't know why that would happen and what or who could have done it...” She felt a bit lost, but she did not forget to add.”You should feel your own body. It seems that the rewards for what just happened were proportional to the difficulty.” Listening to her, he closed his eyes and scanned his own body for changes. The most obvious one was his body. Indeed, despite the fact that he was one year old, he used to look as if he was around three years old. Now that he went through that excruciating experience, he could see with his internal sense that he was as tall as a five years old. Despite not being the most obvious one, the most drastic improvement was the growth of his mind. Although it felt a bit elusive, what he could perceive was a kind of increased mind state that should only be present in teenagers. As for the other alterations, they touched on his cultivation, his Law comprehension of Light and Darkness and his Bloodline density which all increased by a sub-level. To his stupefaction, he also noticed that he reached the Basic Mid Level in his Law of Life, probably thanks to his bloodline density coupled with his recent brush with Death. Once he took note of everything, he opened his eyes and shared a puzzled look with his teacher, who said with a wry smile. “At least, that made you stronger.” She then caressed his head while saying in a caring tone. “How about this: We can go to the theater together with your parents tomorrow to watch their performance about the hero killing the bad demon to save the kidnapped princess. That way you can take the day off from cultivating to have fun. We can get back to it the day after. What do you say?” She thought that he would answer affirmatively, as he kept pestering her for weeks about that show. However, she caught the hesitation on his face and his replied surprised her. “I-I don't want to. Teacher, you said that I needed power to protect the people close to me, right?” He asked with some hesitation. She replied with a nod. “Then I would rather cultivate. What just happened... It scared me a lot... If I was to lose everyone, I don't know what I would do.” He then steeled his resolve and looked at his teacher with an solemn expression that are usually seen on adults with strong wills. “I want to be able to protect everyone, including Teacher. And I need a lot of power to do that. So I will cultivate really hard.” Listening to his resolution, her emotions were a bit mixed. On one hand, she was glad about it. But on the other hand, she felt that he shouldn't have to bear that kind of burden, as he was only a young child. Whatever she thought, however, was pointless, since he already made his decision. And she would respect it. “Very well then. From tomorrow onward we'll both cultivate hard.” She smiled at him with the same resolve he showed her while she was already imagining the amazing image of them two fighting side by side.