Xu Ling breathed in and then exhaled. Cheng Hao coldly looked at her fragile body, within which he knew was either his greatest ally or his most formidable and vicious enemy yet.

The girl waved her left hand and the mark for ‘Spirit’ appeared hovering above her palm. Space cracked and distorted, gathering around and compressing the glowing symbol as if even the fabrics of space were mere moths gathering around a bright flame.

“Let’s go back to my battle. I had prepared thoroughly, revising my plans over and over until I felt confident that I could achieve victory.” the girl pointed at the strange events occurring above her palm.

“The plan would revolve around my Dogma: by using my ability to bend space, I would create a bubble of space around my opponent and trap him within...”

Cheng Hao squinted his eyes as a bright light as emitted. When it faded, a small bubble had come to form where space had been fluctuating. It was extremely small, however by looking inside it, Cheng Hao could see that it housed within a vast amount of space; such a small bubble held within what could be defined as a whole other dimension!

“That bubble would be a pocket dimension connected to the outside world, our world, only through a very thin tunnel, like some kind of safety line to keep it anchored to me and this universe. However, once I would have ensured that my opponent was trapped within…”

The bubble suddenly disappeared! As it had no more ties to this world, it was as if it had never existed in the first place!

“Boom. Off she would have gone into nothingness!” Xu Ling chuckled. She raised her head and couldn’t help but smile smugly after seeing Cheng Hao’s expression had changed greatly.

In his eyes was now incredible awe as well as fear: in just a few breaths, this person had created a whole pocket dimension and had severed its contact with its universe!

The ability to create and erase! It was truly an ability that would make even Gods pale in fright. After all, no matter how strong one was, if he were to be thrown into a whole different universe, hollow and devoid of any other matter except for space itself…

No matter if one were invincible or immortal, the thought of that situation alone would be enough to make even the strongest cultivator shiver in terror, as it would be like completely erasing someone from existence! It could be aid this ability was the bane of all Immortal beings!

“Impressive ability, isn’t it?” Xu Ling chuckled. She sighed and looked at her hand with reminiscence:

“My master, a former Spirit, had also been amazed when he had first heard of its property. Despite it being only a Bend-tier ability, if used correctly, its power would have been enough to rival any and all other Dogmas, even completely outclassing the Will-tier series!”

Xu Ling grinned knowingly:

“Because of it, I had no doubt I would be able to win this battle! If I just closed in and were able to stop her movements for a second and then trapped her within that bubble… victory would have been mine!”

The young girl’s grin then turned into a mask of anger; she gritted her teeth and slapped her thighs, glaring at her own body with despise as she spat out:

“The bastard however was powerful… much stronger and faster than I could have ever imagined! Let alone pin her down for a second; it was already hard enough to just stay alive! Logic and instinct told me to run, however, after coming to challenge this opponent myself, how could I possibly turn back?”

Xu Ling then gazed at Cheng Hao as he seemed to notice something about the red-skinned youth. He looked at him for a while with interest and then opened his mouth to speak, almost in a trance:

“Pride is a terrible beast… it is what hinders many great geniuses from rising to the very top. If you were to choose between humiliation and death, remember that, with time, any wound inflicted on your spirit can either be healed or avenged. Remember these words, child. There will always be a way for those who keep fighting…” after speaking those words, Xu Ling fell silent and looked at herself with pity and contempt.

Cheng Hao raised his eyebrows: humiliation and death? What was that supposed to mean? He was about to ask but then the girl resumed her lecture:

“Our battle lasted for a long, long time, long enough for us to explore each other’s habits and weaknesses enough to know the two of us wouldn’t be able to win without giving up something in return…

“It became a vicious cycle of chasing and escaping… I would keep dodging her mighty and unpredictable attacks, and she would evade all the counterattacks I could occasionally slip in between the barrage…

“For years, decades, centuries even, we battled to our death. During that time, not even for a single instant did we stop to take a breather. However, after dozens of years spent unleashing and dodging the same attacks over and over, our bodies had gone in what could be described as in some kind of autopilot mode.

“We both came to the conclusion that we would be unable to win through the sole might of our skills, as we had so many abilities we could cancel any attack we sent our way or evade those we could not.

“At one point we fused abilities in ways we could have never imagined before, and found ways to channel our abilities so efficiently our past selves would have been shocked silly… it came to a point where we almost didn’t want this fight to end!

“We were like two sharp blades getting more and more deadly each time they exchanged blows. Rivals, brothers forged through a battle to the death. We could understand what each was thinking at any given moment, we explored each other’s past and reasoning. It was a very special moment that we both knew would one day end with the death of either or even both of us.

“And indeed, no matter how strong and sharp a blade could get, the arm holding it would someday run out of energy. And one day, after the umpteenth time my bubble failed to trap him inside and his glowing symbols couldn’t land on me… I finally came to the conclusion that I would not be able to escape alive from that place.

“I was completely spent, with barely any trace of energy, both physical and spiritual, remaining in my body, without taking into account the exhaustion of my body and my mind.

“After hundreds of years spent battling in a state of everlasting deadlock, I ran out of energy first.”

Xu Ling shook her head:

“It was then that I made a decision. When I spotted a certain attack I had evaded countless times before, one which I was sure would bring me incredibly close to death, and at the same time still leave me within an inch of life, I took that attack head on and let it strike my body!“ she chuckled devilishly and looked at her own body with superiority.

“After witnessing such an event that had not happened in almost a thousand years, how could she not be shocked out of her wits? I used that chance to wrap my own body around her and create a bubble surrounding the both of us! And after that…” Xu Ling used her index and middle fingers as if they were scissors to cut an invisible thread:

“Boom! The both of us were locked into a completely different dimension!”

Cheng Hao nodded: up until then everything made sense.

“As nothing is created, nor may anything be destroyed, everything IS and will forever BE, albeit in different shape, as soon as I completely cut myself off from the mountain and the universe, I broke this unspoken yet fundamental law of nature.

“Thus, I was completely erased … my body, that is. My soul remained because of my role as a Spirit. No matter which world or in which universe, the might of this book was absolute! As long as I did not pass on my role, I would not die!” Xu Ling pointed at her chest.

“As for her… her body somehow, survived too! About that, I have no explanations… I can only guess she had somehow obtained some kind of blessing, giving her something similar to my partial immortality: instead of an indestructible soul, she had an immortality of the physical body. As for what this meant, it’s simple: her body had become the perfect vessel for my wounded spirit.”

“For that reason I did not hesitate to take control of this body, whose consciousness had been wiped clean leaving space for my own.

“This body that would not disappear even when it should have been erased from existence, coupled with my undying soul due to my role as a Spirit, kept me alive.

“However, as I was sealed in a completely different dimension from that of the Mountain, I could not awaken a new Spirit!

“I wasn’t actually there, but from what you told me this is what I believe actually happened: seeing that no Spirits remained within its borders, I estimate that, after a few eons passed and another kind of danger appeared, the Mountain created a whole new generation of Spirits starting from scratch.

“What this means is that, despite me still existing, in a different form and universe altogether, sure, but still very much alive, the Mountain passed the role of Spirit to the following generation! For the first time ever in the history of the Mountain’s Vassals…”

“Two lineages of Spirits coexisted! Mine, the main lineage of spirits, and another one, created just a few millions of years ago, descending from a completely different ancestor than ours.

“And it is because of this, I believe, that you, as an ambassador of both lineages, have the greatest chance to unlock the full potential as the Mountain’s Soul.”