Chapter 111: Tolem Soul Sutra
"Only some of my descendants have been able to cultivate this one," [Blaze] said.
"Why is that? Is there some issue?" Night asked.
"There is no issue. It just requires the cultivator to refine beasts into totems on their body. Hence it’s difficult to cultivate. Since it is the soul that will be refined, it acts as a Soul Cultivation technique.," [Blaze] explained.
Night winced. "That sounds brutal."
"No, in fact, the refined beasts don’t die. These beasts will live out their lives in your internal world. Of course, the first time they are refined, it is painful for them, but nothing can be done about it."
"This has nothing to do with fire. That Fire Soul Sutra sounds more like your main technique," Night pointed out.
[Blaze] sighed. "Back in the day, when the cosmos was in its early stages of development, before the system had even set its eyes upon us, I created this technique."
"We humans were at the bottom of society. We barely survived on plants, grass, or sometimes the trash left over by some powerful being."
"Humanity’s situation was that bad?" Night asked.
"Yes. At that time, the cosmos was a lot smaller than it is now, and it was ruled by the Cosmic Races and Beings. These were entities born together with the cosmos itself."
[Blaze] paused for a moment before continuing. "They had the purest bloodlines, ridiculous reality-bending powers, and almost all of them were the progenitors of their races or bloodlines."
"Though the humans back then were innately a lot stronger than they are right now, a bigger ant is still an ant to a dragon."
"Almost all of us were used as slaves by them. While some of us were lucky to have kind masters, most of us had cruel ones."
"You see, no matter how gentle a race is, their kindness usually only extends to their own kind. Towards others, especially weak races like humans, they show their true colors. Except for some rare ones, like my wife, almost all of them were like that."
"My wife was kind enough to secretly teach me some of her clan’s cultivation techniques, which I later used to create cultivation techniques for myself."
"I used these techniques to grow stronger, becoming powerful enough to defend myself from the mid-grade races."
"It was then that I created this Totem Soul Sutra. With it, I would refine the souls of my enemies and make their strength part of my own."
"It allowed me not only to grow stronger but also to use their techniques, even things like Aspects, rare bloodline abilities, and their innate traits. This Soul Cultivation technique is so powerful that if one cultivates it correctly, they wouldn’t need any other techniques."
"Since it is refined as a totem on the body, the body naturally grows stronger alongside the soul. And since these totems continuously gather energy, energy cultivation is taken care of as well. The only drawback is finding good beasts and actually being able to refine them."
Night nodded. It sounded absolutely broken.
"Anyway, with my strength and my wife’s support, I was able to create a small safe haven for a group of humans. I was lucky enough to gather competent people around me. One of them was especially helpful and later went on to become one of the strongest in the cosmos, and a fellow Primordial God."
"[The Sleepless Sword]!" Night exclaimed, already knowing about the Primordials from the information in his mind.
"Yes," [Blaze] confirmed. "It was tough, but we managed to carve a path for humanity. It became especially easier when the Second Universe was born and integrated with the First."
"The system had just arrived, and we became Primordial Gods. The Cosmic beings and races were still stronger than us, but after the Second Universe merged, they suddenly became weaker. Most of them either disappeared or entered a deep slumber."
"My wife was lucky; even within her clan, her bloodline was the weakest, so she was not affected and managed to survive."
"Why did they become weak?" Night asked.
"The cosmos had become too weak to sustain them," [Blaze] replied. "The type of energy they needed to survive, Origin Energy, was no longer freely available. It’s not something you need to worry about right now."
"So, do you want to cultivate it?"
Night nodded.
"Good," [Blaze] said.
Immediately, Night felt the connection that existed between him and [Blaze] strengthen.
From it, a wave of heat energy traveled into his body, settling on the back of his right hand. At the same time, a small red flame entered his Soul Space, appearing beside the core of his inner world: the small plant.
Night opened his eyes and looked at his hands. Of course, he hadn’t stopped giving commands to his friends the entire time, but he had paused his cultivation.
On the back of his hand was a small tattoo, or rather a totem. It looked like a small red flame.
When he scanned it with his spirit sense, he felt the entire Soul Cultivation technique appear in his mind, and he instantly understood the purpose of the red flame totem.
It was there to help him refine his first totem, after which it would disappear.
"Even though you should be able to cultivate it, refining the first totem without experiencing an Enlightenment like I did at the time is almost impossible," [Blaze] explained. "So, this one time, the flame will act as a substitute."
"Do I need to find a powerful beast?" Night asked.
"If it were anyone else, I would have recommended they refine the best beast soul they could find," [Blaze] chuckled. "But I doubt it will matter for you, even if it was a strong beast. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to stumble upon a dying True Dragon or a True Phoenix."
"So, what do I choose?" Night asked.
"It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can start refining immediately. If you are asking for a preference, you can try one of those Armoured Fire Lizards, since they have a Fire Aspect as well."
Night nodded and got to work immediately. He quickly asked his friends to capture one for him.
In no time, Death had captured one. Looking at her hold the Armoured Fire Lizard together with the Undead Knight and offer it up to him with a pious expression, his lips twitched.
"Careful," [Dream] cautioned him, like a worried mother.
Night nodded with a smile.
"That fire chimney is unreliable. Be extra careful," she cautioned him again.
Night’s lips twitched once more, making him wonder why she was so doubtful of his Patron God.
"The first totem refinement will be done using my Fire Flame," [Blaze] instructed. "So you just need to touch the beast and channel the totem; it will do the rest. Make sure to watch the process carefully. From next time onward, you will have to do it yourself."
"I will be careful," Night replied, addressing both [Dream] and [Blaze].
He got up from the throne and walked toward the mutilated Armoured Fire Lizard being restrained by the Undead Knight and Death.
As he walked closer, the Armoured Fire Lizard looked at him with dread. It clearly thought: if the minions are this strong, then the boss must be far worse.
Standing near the Armoured Fire Lizard, Night wasn’t worried it might attack him. After reaching the peak of Qi Awakening and achieving almost Basic Mastery in Body Refinement Rank 1, he doubted it could do much to him anyway.
He lifted his hand, placed it on the Armoured Fire Lizard, and channeled the totem.
As the small fire totem on the back of his hand pulsed, the small red fire beside the plant in his Soul Space expanded in response.
But just as the expanding flames covered his core, something reacted. It was not the plant, but the white snake that always clung to it.
The one [Dream] had said was a rune of unknown origin.
The dormant rune, in the shape of a snake, reacted for the very first time.
It released a pulse that covered his inner world in an instant. [Dream], who was hiding in a subspace within his Soul Space, looked at it in puzzlement.
The pulse was not threatening; in fact, it gave [Dream] and System Girl a warm, friendly feeling. Probably because it considered them fellow residents of the world.
Of course, the pulse didn’t stay limited to his inner world.
It expanded outside his body and, in the next moment, covered the entire planet. The instant it happened, everything and everyone on the planet froze, sensing a dreadful aura that came from nowhere, yet was everywhere at once.
...
Far away on another planet...
[Blaze] stood up in shock, and beside him, [Aqua] did the same.
Because they had been watching closely, they felt the aura radiating from his body before anything else did.
The aura pouring out of Night was one that was very familiar to them...
It was impossible to miss. [Blaze] had experienced it almost every day in his early years, and [Aqua’s] parents had always possessed a similar aura.
It was the aura of a Cosmic Beast.
And it was not the aura of a descendant, nor a diluted bloodline.
But a real Cosmic Beast, one that, at its peak, was stronger than even the Primordial Gods...