Opening her eyes, Yvette no longer saw that her surroundings were no longer the desolate Silver Kingdom, but a road filled with the hustle and bustle of the people.

Keeping her calm, she examined her surroundings and noticed that her location was still the same. The road filled with the houses of nobles on both sides, albeit with those houses being in a much better state.

But as she looked around, she realized that the others had disappeared, leaving only her at the center of the crowd.

Just as she was pondering over her next course of action, a giant explosion suddenly occurred in the distance, followed by the scream and escape of the crowd.

Out of reflex, Yvette turned and looked at the source, just in time to see a crimson explosion appearing underneath a gathering cluster of dark clouds which gave off an oppressive feeling.

Following that, a group of cultivators could be seen flying up towards the cluster of dark clouds.

As she observed, the group of cultivators collided with the dark clouds. At that moment, a soul-rending scream could be heard from the dark clouds, as if it was filled with evil spirits.

Observing underneath, Yvette stared on, attempting to understand the current state of events.

But suddenly, she heard a voice calling towards her direction.

“Princess! I finally found you!”

Turning towards the source, she caught sight of a young man clad in silvery knight armor.

When the young man arrived before her, he suddenly kneeled down on one knee, saying, “Princess, please hurry and return, currently is not the time for you to be playing around. The kingdom is in danger and we must secure your safety!”

Seeing the unexpected turn of events, Yvette parted her lips to speak of her doubts, but just as she wished to do so, a different kind of voice and lines came out.

“Ian, as the princess of the kingdom and a member of the Silver Royalties, I must not abandon my kingdom and its citizen, for I and my family have long tied our fate together with the kingdom.”

As Yvette- or to be exact, Argent, the princess of Silver Kingdom said those words peacefully, the illusion covering her faded away akin to the morning mist.

The ordinary black hair turned deep silver, reminisce to the moon, whilst the ordinary face slightly changed, yet turning her simple look unordinary and noble which even the commoner clothes she wore was incapable of hiding.

Then, as Argent caressed the ring on her index finger, a mist appeared and covered her whole body. When it faded, her commoner clothing was replaced by a set of battle garments, which overshadowed her gentleness with heroic charisma.

“Come, let us once again push back that demon. Even when we perish, we should never give in.”

Hearing her words, although the young knight, Ian, felt helpless, he still stood up and thumped his chest, proclaiming loudly.

“As the princess desires!”

Following his words, the air trembled.

“AS THE PRINCESS DESIRES!!!” When the cluster of voice suddenly came out of nowhere, a group of people flying in a formation could be seen coming out from the center of the kingdom.

Then, with a stony expression, Ian flew up with Argent, leading the group of knights to engage against the enemy.

The moment they did, Yvette who, at some unknown time, had changed her form of view from being through Argent into a floating specter, saw her view being obstructed by a thick veil of mist.

As she continued to calmly observe, a familiar voice came through the mist, followed by the appearance of a silhouette walking out of the mist.

“This servant greets my lordship.”

As the silhouette walked out of the mist, the person underneath could be clearly seen.

It was Argent, the princess of the Silver Empire, once upon a time.

But Yvette noticed that the Argent she is currently looking at looked is older than the one she saw in the illusion.

If the one from the illusion was a young adult, then the one she is currently looking at is a full-fledged adult.

Yet even with her noble status, she referred her as her lordship.

Noticing Yvette’s confusion, Argent simply smiled and simply said, “You will one day understand.”

After saying those words, the air around Argent changed, turning much more noble and solemn as she spoke out, “In accordance to the ancient oath, I, Argent Lune, princess of the Lune Royal Family, represent the Silver Empire, swearing allegiance to under the current Celestial Descendant, binding our fate.”

Although Yvette still has no clear understanding of the situation, there was an urge deep inside her. Feeling no malice, she followed the urge, reciting.

“In accordance to the ancient oath, I, Yvette Celestiel, accept your allegiance.”

Following her words, the surrounding mist churned and a cluster of voices could be heard from within. At first, they were only whispers, but as time passed, they became roaring sounds which shook the world of mist.

But no matter how long, all they said was only one line of words.

“We greet the lord!”

At the center of it all, Yvette stood with her usual calmness which disregarded the surrounding roaring voices. As she stood there, her gaze landed on Argent which still knelt before her.

Her gaze only contained a single meaning.

‘Why?’

As if knowing the meaning of her gaze, Argent silently stood up, silencing the roaring voices beyond the mist.

“My lord will one day understand. For now, I ask my lord to visit the cathedral within the center of the kingdom, we have left something for my lord.”

Even as she said those words, Yvette saw Argent’s body becoming fainter and transparent, as if dissolving.

Noticing this, Argent continued to speak, “There is not much time. Should my lord ever need us, simply call onto us by spurring upon the power of the oath, we shall aid you to the best of our abilities then.”

As she spoke, her voice became fainter and fainter together with her body until she completely faded away, turning into a ball of light which shot between her eyebrows.

But Yvette who was still pondering over her words did not notice.

At the same time, the surrounding fog started to thin away, revealing the place she and her group had been engulfed in light before, the lane between the houses of nobles.

Around her, the others who had disappeared could be seen standing where they stood before in a dazed state. But moments later, they broke out of it and looked around confusedly.

Unsurprisingly, the first to actually come to their senses was Daiyu whose thoughts never left her young mistress.

When she caught sight of Yvette standing there in a daze, she approached and inquired, “Are you alright, my lady?”

Hearing a voice calling out to her, Yvette broke out of her thoughts and saw Daiyu looking at her with worry.

“I am fine.” After reassuring Daiyu from her worries, Yvette looked at Behnam who had just broken out of his daze and approached him.

When he noticed her approaching, Behnam blinked his eyes, “Is there something wrong?”

“Brother, could you take me to the kingdom’s cathedral?”

Taken aback, Behnam inquired with some doubt, “Does this… have something to do with what you saw?”

Although she was not sure whether what they saw was the same, Yvette still nodded.

When he heard her words, he took a fleeting look at the surroundings before finally announcing.

“Alright, since we don’t have any actual destination in the first place, let’s go!”

Following his words, the group finally proceeded deeper with an actual goal in mind.

As they were already half-way into the core of the kingdom, they soon caught sight of a giant cathedral standing strongly in a large square, emanating a holy aura of faith which had not disappeared even after the passing of time.

“We’re here.” Bahram whispered, looking at the cathedral with awe.

Standing before the door, he tried pushing open the two large cathedral doors. But purely by his physical strength, the doors barely budged, causing him to crease his brows.

Without any other method, he infused his arms with his Qi, causing a faint layer of golden light to appear over them.

As he breath in, he pulled back his arms.

“Hmph!”

The next moment, a bang resounded as his pair of arms hit the two doors.

Even though the effects seemed intimidating, the two doors did not even budge an inch, only managing to scatter the gathered dust around.

Seeing this, Behnam shook his head and looked at Yvette.

“You try.”

Following his words, Yvette nodded and approached the two doors while Behnam stepped back.

As she stood before it, she found that the cathedral gave off a sense of intimacy. But before she even had time to ponder over it, she noticed a small ball of light floated out of the center of her eyebrows and entered the cathedral doors.

After the ball of light disappeared, a layer of light appeared on the doors’ surface before rapidly dimming.

Then, the doors slowly opened, as if a seal had been released.

At that moment, a silhouette appeared and rushed at Yvette. By the time she realized it, it was already so close that she would not have any time to properly react.

Yet at that moment, another silhouette came and intercepted it.

“So, you all can no longer wait patiently it seems.” Behnam said as he pushed back the person who attacked Yvette.

“When did you notice?” The assailant, a boy around Behnam’s age asked.

“That’s not really important now, is it? Now, why don’t the rest of you come out?” As he spoke, golden light overflowed his body, empowering his presence.

Then, following his words, one person after another started came out of hiding, revealing the numerous people that followed them here.

‘Dozens… and more coming…’ Behnam thought as he examined the crowd.

“Just give way, you don’t stand a chance.” The boy who first appeared said, taking the position of a leader.

Ignoring him, Behnam turned and said to the others, “You all can go first, I’ll catch up later.”

“What are you even saying? You think you can handle this on your own? Either way, this inheritance is supposed to be your sister’s, I’m not going to take it from her. You’ll just beat me up later.” Arash said flippantly as he stepped forward, drawing out a bow.

Right behind him, Saba who had barely spoken since their arrival in the secret realm closely followed, drawing out a sword, seemingly holding the same intent.

Shaking his head, a pair of gauntlets appeared on Behnam’s hands as he waved his hand back, hitting against the assailing group which had silently sneaked onto his back as they were talking. Then, his fists pummeled down onto one person to another, each blow knocking one out.

Following his actions, arrows were rapidly shot out of Arash’s bow while Saba moved swiftly and caused chaos throughout the battlefield with a gale behind her.

Seeing this, Yvette instructed Daiyu who was beside her, “Help them.”

Without hesitation, she replied, “As you command.” Following that, she drew out her rapier and rushed into the battlefield whilst waving it, causing icy wind blades to cut through each of her targets.

Reassured, Yvette finally proceeded into the cathedral. Following her entry, the cathedral doors closed, unbeknownst to those battling outside.

When the door was closed, Yvette found herself surrounded by pitch black darkness. But as she looked around, she could faintly see a wisp of light in the distance. With no other goal, she went and walked towards the wisp of light.

As she closed on to it, the wisp of light in her view enlarged. By the time she realized it, the light was already around the same size as her.

Stepping through the gate of light, she found herself within a forest clearing, similar to the place which she arrived in when she first came to the realm.

But differently, at the center of this clearing, there was a small lake peacefully residing there.

As Yvette approached, she curiously found that the moon which hung high up in the sky was reflected perfectly right at the center of the lake’s surface.

Standing before the lake, Yvette took a careful look around, attempting to find what she was supposed to look for.

In the end, as her gaze returned to the moon reflecting lake, a wind blew as a voice softly whispered into her ear.

“Come…”

Sensing no malice from the voice, Yvette followed its words and stepped into the lake.

As her foot dipped into the water, the lake rippled as small waves appeared over the calm lake. Yet even as it did, the reflection of the moon could still be clearly seen at the center.

When Yvette finally reached the center of the lake where the moon was reflected off, half of her body had already been submerged in the water, yet nothing seemed to happen. But as the moonlight fell, her gaze was attracted towards the moon high up in the sky.

As moments passed, Yvette started to feel that there was something off about the moon.

Subconsciously, she tried to raise her hand which had gone deep into the water, producing waves over the lake.

Yet at the same time, Yvette could faintly see the moon high up in the sky suddenly dimming and wavering, as if waves had washed over it.

Taken unaware, Yvette quickly thought of a possibility and looked down at the lake under her. But at the same time as she did so, she suddenly felt the ground underneath her feet disappearing, causing her to plunge down into the depth of the lake.

Reflexively, Yvette shut her eyes, not wanting the water to enter her eyes.

But when her head entered the water, she did not feel the water that was supposed to surround her. Instead, it felt as if she was floating in the air.

Out of wonderment, she cautiously opened her eyes, and what she saw caused her to falter for a moment.

It was a world of darkness glittering with numerous tiny lights, the starry skies.

Floating there, she could feel a sense of familiarity towards the starry skies itself.

But just then, the surrounding starlight suddenly moved. At first, their movements were hardly noticeable, but as time went on, they got faster and faster, until they all seemed to look like a rain of falling stars, a sight to behold.

Even so, Yvette noticed that the starlight seemed to be moving to the same point. As they gathered, they became bigger and bigger, forming a silhouette of a person.

Find i

Although cautious, Yvette still gave a curious look at the silhouette formed by clusters of starlight. But suddenly, Yvette heard a voice.

“My descendant…”

Caught off-guard, Yvette looked at the only possible source of the voice, the silhouette formed of starlight.

“For you to have reached thus far signifies the choice you have made.”

As the figure spoke, Yvette felt an increasing sense of familiarity towards it, one that is far closer than those bound by blood.

“Although it is what I desire, I must tell you that the path you are taking will be full of pains. You may possibly face many loses, yet forced to stay strong.”

Then, the figure approached Yvette and embraced her without an ounce of resistance from Yvette.

“There is not much that I am capable of giving you, and all that I could give, may simply bring you more pain.” As the figure said thus, the starlight which formed it started to enter Yvette’s body and gathered in her head.

“I will not force anything upon you. You may choose whether to use what I gave or not, but be warned, for whatever you gain could bring you more losses.”

After uttering those words, the figure of light finally faded away, leaving Yvette who stood there in a daze with a trickle of tear flowing down her cheek.

Meanwhile, outside of the cathedral, Behnam and the others finally managed to push back the group of assailants, although they were left in a rather sorry state.

“Phew, that was one helluva fight!” Arash said as he sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.

“Do not let your guard down, more could be coming at any time, and we have no idea when Yvette will return.” Said Behnam as he sat down cross-legged, attempting to recover as much energy as possible.

Following his example, Saba and Daiyu also focused on recovering their physical energy and Qi.

As he looked at the three, Arash smiled wryly. Yet in the end, he also followed their actions.

Suddenly, the three heard the sound of doors opening behind them and turned their heads back.

“My lady!” Daiyu called out as she stood up.

Yet Yvette who slowly walked towards them did not react.

“My lady?” Daiyu once again called out as she approached Yvette.

This time, Yvette finally went out of her daze and nodded towards Daiyu.

She then looked towards Behnam and the others, asking, “I am a bit tired, could we rest and halt our exploration?”

Seeing her gold and crimson eyes that seemed duller than usual, Behnam and the others were worried, but Behnam still said calmly, “Alright, we also need to recover from the battle just now. We can enter any one of the surrounding buildings and rest there.”

As he said that, he led the group into one of the large houses.

When they finally arrived there, Behnam finally could not hold back his worry and inquired Yvette.

“Are you sure you’re just tired? Did something happen inside the cathedral?”

But Yvette simply shook her head and said, “I am fine, I will be going in first.” Saying that, she entered a nearby room.

Still unable to shake off the worry in his heart, Behnam could only say to Daiyu, “Do watch over her.” Who simply nodded her head and entered the room which Yvette walked into.

Unable to do anything else, Behnam entered another room, followed by Saba and Arash who also silently departed to their own rooms.

Meanwhile, Yvette who had sat in meditation on the bed sent her consciousness into her sea of memories.

There, other than the memories from the bracelet that are and are not covered in mists, there is also a new piece of memory covered in starlight.

Naturally, that piece of memory was something that the silhouette of starlight in the cathedral gave to her.

The memory only contained two things, and what Yvette is currently searching for, was a memory of a cultivation technique.

But this cultivation technique was not one of flesh nor Qi, but one which cultivates the soul.

Of course, those who cultivate the soul before the Core Formation Stage are the minority, even after counting the soul cultivators who specialize in soul cultivation.

There are many reasons for this, but the biggest reasons would be because of the difficulty of cultivating the soul in the early stages, and the low number of soul cultivation technique. And even then, the expended resources would usually not be worth the small amount of improvement at the early stages.

As Yvette tapped into the piece of memory, a line of words appeared in her mind.

Soul Purity Scripture

Different from normal soul cultivation techniques, Soul Purity Scripture did not require much resources and it only needed to be used once.

Of course, the drawback is far worse.

Just as the name said, the Soul Purity Scripture purifies one’s heart. But the level of purification could not be limited and would fully purify the soul.

Although a perfectly pure soul may sound good, it was something no normal cultivator would ever want.

A perfectly pure soul is far purer than those of a newborn. It is without a single desire nor emotion, it can never carry happiness nor sadness. As most cultivator cultivates to fulfill their desires, who would ever wish to lose them?

But naturally, a soul of such purity had its own advantages.

If the sea of memories could be said to be a part of the brain which stores memory, then the soul could be said to be the part which processes those memories.

With a purer soul, its thought processing power would also become far better. It would also make refining and absorbing the world energy much easier, as the purer the soul, the closer they are to nature.

Of course, although there are many advantages to it, no cultivator would be willing to lose their emotions and desires, what would differ them to a puppet then?

But Yvette who was facing such a choice did not even hesitate and recited the incantation within the scripture.

Unusually, even though the language used in the incantation is foreign to her, she managed to smoothly utter each and every word.

With each word she uttered, she could feel a sort of force entering her body.

Following that, Yvette suddenly felt the Qi inside her moving out of her control.

But knowing that it is in accordance to the technique, she let go of her control over her Qi.

After some time, all the Qi in her body were guided into her head.

Once they all gathered there, she felt a weird movement in her Qi.

The next moment, she felt as if her whole body, or even existence, being washed over.

At first, she felt as if her body was washed over by water, but as time went on, a sense of emptiness started to fill her heart.

By the time she realized it, she could feel more and more of her emotions disappearing. Together with it was her flame of life which seemed to dim and wanting to fly away, as if it wanted to detach from the mortal world.

Noticing this, Yvette did her best to keep her will together, knowing that the moment all her emotions disappeared, her life would also disappear along with it.

Even so, it was easier said than done.

Even after she had stopped reciting the scripture, she could feel her emotions starting to fade away, washed away by the combination of her Qi and the power of the scripture.

Still, Yvette kept a stable mind, searching for that little shred of emotion which still kept her soul bound to her flesh.

Not knowing any other method, Yvette tried to reflect on every memory she had gone through to discern which emotion still kept her together.

The small happiness in her carefree life in the past, the overwhelming sadness of parting, the tiny fear of losing more, and all those other little emotions she had.

In the end, she managed to grab ahold of one emotion which made her unwilling to go, the strongest emotion which had held her together.

It was melancholy

The melancholy towards her fate, towards her life, and towards those around her.

She felt no anger towards those who parted her with whom she loved, there was no indignation towards fate for its cruelty, nor was there envy towards those with a better life.

Only a simple melancholy.

As she came to that realization, she could feel her flame of life burning once more.

It did not burn strongly with passion, but it was steady and warm.

Together with the rekindling of her life flame, she sensed something condensing in her sea of memories.

It first took the form of motes of light, but it then gathered together and formed a ball. Then, the ball shaped itself into Yvette wearing a simple white robe, bearing a perfect imitation of her appearance even to its minute details.

The moment she saw it, Yvette knew that it was her soul which had finally condensed and took form.

For those who did not focus on cultivating their souls, their soul would only condense and take shape in the later stage of cultivation. Even then, their soul might not be as pure nor as exquisite as Yvette’s. And even those who cultivate their soul, it would take a ridiculously long time for their soul to even come close to such quality and purity.

But for Yvette who had condensed her soul early on, the future growth of her soul would be much farther than those of her generation, maybe even stronger than those of the late generations.

Of course, its true benefit would only show far in the future.

But currently, Yvette who had done such a feat through that deadly ordeal, she only had one thought.

‘I should rest…’

With that thought in her mind, she laid back down on her bed, silently going to sleep.

And so, without causing the slightest disturbance, a turning point of fate had silently occurred without the knowledge of those around.