Unsealing Emptiness

This had been on his mind for a very long time now but he had always been putting it off for later.

‘It would be understandable in the case of Raven since she had no one else to rely on but me...’ he couldn’t put his fingers on it, but something was evidently off. ‘Maybe even Blaze’s case can be dismissed as he had no meaning to his life after massacring his village... but what about Zier?’

Even now, he felt that sickly kid was somewhat wary of them. Yet, he went ahead with everything that he ordered him to do.

His case had made him wonder about Raven and Blaze as well. Why were they willing to lay down their lives for him?

As he relaxed in the arms of the illusory nothingness he had made for himself in the name of sleep, Ozul pondered these concerns to himself.

He felt a little too at ease when all he could see was blackness, which in this world seemed to be only attainable if he closed his eyes.

.....

. . .

He thought deeply on the matter but there were no conclusive results.

‘Do they have anything other than that they all are geniuses when compared to others?’

Sometime later, Blaze and Zier returned, drenched in their own sweat.

Seeing Ozul and Raven both resting, they made sure to be extra quiet while moving across the room.

Blaze removed his shirt in the corner, exposing his towering, nearly peerless body.

Looking over his shoulder, Zier couldn’t help but admire his physique, secretly comparing it to his stunted muscles.

“Pst!” he whispered, “Why do you not have a single scar on your body?”

This was the most fascinating thing that had caught Zier’s eyes. Even he, who barely had any life-threatening experiences had a few visible cuts here and there. Even so, the battle maniac in front of him looked like a sheltered noble brat who had never left his home!

“Ozul frequently used The Purity to heal mine and Raven’s injuries.”

Blaze answered him offhandedly. In response, Zier made an enlightened face as he remembered the time that Ozul had also healed his injuries by strapping The Purity on the wounds.

Having gotten his answer, he continued to poke questions at Blaze who gradually started getting irritated.

Unknown to them, their conversation had sparked something new in Ozul’s mind.

‘The Purity!’

There was something else they all had in common. And it was the fact that he had healed them whenever they were even slightly injured!

He even remembered that he had once examined Raven and Blaze’s internals and minute traces of The Purity were circulating around their bloodstreams, though it didn’t seem to have any effect on them physically.

Opening his eyes, he stood up from his bed, and to confirm his suspicions, he abruptly approached Zier.

The person in question was startled as he saw Ozul walk toward him with such a fiery gleam in his eyes.

“Sit down and meditate.”

Zier gulped in apprehension but complied without asking for reasons. Ozul seemed in quite a hurry.

He sat down and focused on his breathing. They had just returned after exhausting themselves, so he battled to relax his body.

A minute later, Ozul also sat down and pressed his palm against Zier’s back.

He transmitted his senses into Zier’s body and to him, it felt as if he could physically travel through even his veins!

As he passed this strange vision to his Spiritual Core, he didn’t have to think twice about what those minute black particles that revolved around the Core were.

It was the Scent.1

The same Scent that had also found its way inside Raven and Blaze.

‘It was also used to make those healing potions...’ he internally retched at the distant memory.

When comparing the two scenarios, it was evident that the Scent invaded the trio because he had consistently healed them over the years. The same couldn’t be stated for Zier because he had only recently joined them, but it would still be accurate because the amount of Scent swirling around his Core was significantly lesser than that of Raven and Blaze.

‘That may be the case, but I simply can’t test if the Scent really does influence their minds to be loyal to me...’

Doubtful, Ozul shook his head in irritation. It was yet another mystery that he had no way of solving.

Unless he had the patience to slowly inject the Scent into random beings and test their behavior.

It would take too long and they didn’t have so much time on their hands.

In reality, they had nothing to do right now except for training, so he did have enough time on his hands but he couldn’t be bothered with such a tiring thing. Though he wouldn’t admit it.

. . .

The next day, the trio was busy training their Spiritual Arts and cultivating while Ozul simply passed the time as he lay there on the bed.

He was trying to think up of other ways he could get his hands on higher quality Spiritual Core. Going to that death arena was one of the ways, but it wasn’t efficient.

There were many cultivators there but most of them were at the first or the second stage of the Core Formation Realm. He had only seen two people at the peak of the Core Formation.

Even if there were any cultivators in the Nascent Soul Realm, killing even a single one would put him in the eyes of some unsavory people.

‘That leaves me only two options; either I find some battlefield and kill random people to collect Spiritual Cores, or I ask for those from that old lady.’

For the former option, he would have to look for at least two kingdoms at war. As for the latter, the old lady had made it clear that she would take her sweet time before giving him another task.

‘Is the death arena my only choice then...?’ he was contemplating when he felt an immediate flux in the Spiritual Essence. Though minuscule, it was enough to catch his attention.

He got up to witness Raven looking at one of her rings. She seemed a little startled at first and then poured some of her Spiritual Essence in the ring.

Ozul remembered that it was the communication ring that the old lady Ember had given them.

Raven felt like in a daze for a few seconds before looking up towards Ozul.

“Ember needs you.”

Raising his eyebrows in a surprise, a much pleasant one, Ozul couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “lt’s the latter option after all.”

In confusion, Blaze and Zier couldn’t help but turn toward Raven only to be disappointed as she didn’t know about these options either.

“You guys cultivate. It might take me a while, but I will be back here,” Ozul spoke while walking towards the door. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to give Raven ‘the eyes’.

Raven could only smile awkwardly in response.

After Ozul left, Blaze smiled slyly, “You messed up again huh~”

The temperature in the room started dropping rapidly as Zier moved to the corner of the room. Even with a fresh start, he could obviously never compete with these two.

. . .

Ozul arrived at the alley where the teleportation gate was hidden.

He walked right through the old wooden door as if it was just an illusion.

This time he kept his senses focused on the fluctuations of the Spiritual Essence and as the scenery changed in front of his eyes, he still found it hard that the waves of Spiritual Essence were so weak despite being teleported to a completely different location.

Before he could even ponder on these thoughts, his sight was blocked by a tall person with a hood covering their face.

“You needed-”

He hadn’t even finished his sentence when Ember removed her hood and dashed towards the gate.

She motioned to the gatekeeper, who drew a little crystal from his Spatial Ring and poured his Spiritual Essence into it.

Only Ozul, however, could sense the passage of Spiritual Essence.

The crystal began to shine at one point, and the gate began to produce a dim light at the same time.

Ember turned her face just enough to meet Ozul’s eyes and explicitly worded, “Follow me,” before disappearing through the gate.

He had no option but to follow her as they emerged in an entirely foreign area. As he had predicted, their location was yet another bleak fringes of a city where only the most miserable people lived.

“I would like it if you first explain the situation,” Ozul spoke firmly to hold Ember down when he noticed her trying to rush somewhere.

“I know... I know... But this place is not safe either,” Ember replied in an understanding manner. She was in a hurry, but she hadn’t lost her mind.

Ozul nodded and finally decided to follow her to an even more remote place.

He couldn’t even sense a single trace of life near them when Ember stopped, “There should be no one here.”

Ozul made a thoughtful face while appreciating Ember’s senses.

‘She really does have many tricks up her sleeve.’

“You already know that it’s an emergency. So, I will come straight to the point,” she took a deep breath and continued, “Some of my people are caught and are probably going to be interrogated.”

Ozul squinted his eyes. If that was the case, then the situation was really dire for the old lady.

“I want them dead before they break.”

.....