I stood as close to the ice palace as possible without triggering the castle's defenses. Toi was able to warn me in time. She had pointed out the hidden runes that I hadn't activated. The traps that had been placed for the unwary or greedy might not be deadly.

Those traps would require proficiency with spirit summoning, a proficiency that would take much longer to master than the few weeks and months I had spent practicing. If I had triggered the traps, I would have found myself lost in a formation. Those formations would have held me in place. Trapped in an illusion so real that I would find myself in the castle at a time when it was staffed by servants and occupied by Cultivators.

An illusion populated by guards, Cultivators, and royals- spirits that were created and programmed to act, each spirit lacking any free will. Spirits of the dead with the full range of abilities, skills, and grievances they had when alive.

The trap was set so that I would become enthralled by those spirits, so enthralled that I might never find my way out.

Spirits came in two forms in this Realm. Those like Toi were an amalgam of ideas and concepts. This type of spirit is formed when summoned and is attracted by the needs of the person doing the summoning.

I needed a guide, a spirit that was knowledgeable about the professions unique to this place, and a spirit able to replicate the conditions I would need to harvest the resources required to practice those professions. I needed someone that was proficient in the professions I had discovered and able to aid me in furthering my martial abilities.

The spirits in the castle were the souls of the dead. Yuki-onno had performed demonic arts, those associated with necromancy, to create a phylactery, using the castle itself as the medium that tied the ghosts she bound to her twisted traps.

I didn't know much about necromancy. It was a skill set tied to the demon-cultivating arts. What little I knew was based on the knowledge that was found in another Mystic Realm- a place that was rife with demons. Demons who practiced blood arts instead of the arts of corruption and possession.

A cultist moved from Cultivation to Demonic arts by forming a demonic contract similar to what I'd formed with Toi. But instead of a symbiotic relationship, the demon acted as a parasite. The cultist was able to advance quickly, but they needed to kill and steal the cultivation of others to do so. The ritual took a toll, one that took an increasing amount of time to recover from as the cultist stepped into each new stage.

That toll was acerbated by the parasitic demon they had bonded with, as the demon and cultist fought for control of the host body. There may be instances where the cultist remained in control, but in any mention available to me in my Realm, they always lost their battle for supremacy.

The demon, once it had gained full control of the host body, would sacrifice the cultist's soul. They would cloak themselves in the spiritual signature of the host, hiding their demonic essence with the memories needed to step into the life of their host seamlessly. And the sacrificed soul would be used to open a rift between planes long enough for another demon to escape.

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The wards protecting the castle blazed red in warning now that I knew what to look for. My perception allowed me to notice the fluctuations of Qi as the energy gathered to keep the formations empowered. I would risk those wards in the future once I had stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm.

Only then would my soul be strong enough to contend with the spirits Yuki-onno had left. Those guarding and those innocent individuals locked in perpetual limbo doomed to repeat the actions they were familiar with when alive.

That didn't mean I didn't have a target. Now that I had gathered as much as I could from greenhouses, workshops, and forges, I had one last target that I would loot, hopefully before the Mystic Realm closed.

The Clan house in front of me wasn't the most affluent, but the wards that had protected the estate from intrusion were wearing thin. What remained were remnants of tattered threads that could be picked apart. The process wouldn't be easy, but it was doable at my current level.

There were a few other estates that might have served my purpose, but the signage and Clan markings, if I was reading them correctly, linked this Clan with the spirit-summoning arts.

When deciding what my final target would be, I had to balance the advancement of techniques for known professions with the expansion of knowledge for an entirely new area of knowledge.

I made the choice that would strengthen my House, Dojo, and territory. The communication devices were a step in that direction. The monopoly I held with the devices would help, but it would be sure to draw as many individuals that coveted the device as it would those willing to protect my factories and distribution from being sabotaged.

For some, if they could not control a thing, they would rather see it destroyed. Summoning spirits would help, not just with the knowledge of something new, but with spirits bound to my people that could help protect and guard against sabotage and intrusion.

The threads holding the wards together were knotted and intricately layered, which required that I work methodically to unknot them. The threads of Qi remaining needed to be teased apart in a precise manner, or I would find myself trapped in a spiritual cage. My Qi siphoned from me to restore and repair the bindings that remained.

If I could not gain my freedom in time, the siphoning would continue until my Qi was stripped from me. At that point, the ward would begin draining my life's energy. This Clan was willing to kill anyone that tripped the ward. That mindset was also the reason I had chosen this estate. If they would go to that length to protect what was inside, then I reasoned the contents must be valuable.

If I did not have Toi assisting me, guiding me, and warning me before I could make a fatal mistake, I wouldn't have risked the ward, no matter how deteriorated it had become. But she was well-learned, with an amalgam of knowledge, including the knowledge of how to dismantle spirit energy.

I'm not sure how long it took. Hours, maybe even days, but eventually, the final thread, the last knot, was undone, and the gates of the Clan stood open. I watched with my perception as the opened ward caused a cascading effect across the estate. Glowing wards that were blazing in red responded to what Toi and I had accomplished, fading until a healthy green aura remained.

The gates opened on their own, the Clan estate sending out feelers of Qi energy to taste and process my Qi signature. A spirit thread wrapped around my wrist; an intricate knot formed to keep the thread in place.

"The Clan seal," Toi informed me as I was studying the bracelet that had formed. "The estate must have been programmed to identify whoever successfully opened the wards and acknowledge them as the new Head of Clan.

"There shouldn't be anything left that can harm you now that the estate has recognized you."