Advancing to the soul-compression stage is an evolution of life itself.
Zilan had now truly separated himself from mortality. He was now officially walking along the long, long, seemingly endless road to immortality.
His soul had just experienced an evolution. Due to the fusion of his attribute along with the soul, what he currently possessed could be considered a ‘Water soul’. A single attributed soul.
The peculiar thing though was that within his now ocean blue soul, hints of a foreign yet eye catching emerald colour could be seen. Needless to say, Zilan was clueless as to what it represented however, after some careful probing and conforming that it posed no danger to himself, he decided to put it at the back of his mind.
He had more important things to think about such as the formation of his void as well as further exploration of his upgraded cultivation.
Appearance wise, Zilan did not change much. His body just grew a bit bulkier, betraying his previous lean self. In the past, it was still possible for his muscular body to go unnoticed due to the robes he wore but now, no matter what he wore, it would be hard for his ‘features’ to go completely unnoticed.
A sheepish smile hung on his face as he shamelessly nodded, complimenting himself ever so often.
It was at this moment when a shocking discovery was made.
The story of the Spring Dragon that was depicted on his chest was now gone, replacing it was what seemed like a look into a window rather than a recollection of past events. This window on his chest showed on the other side of it, the depths of an otherworldly water body. The likes of which simply staring at would cause one to feel both lost and insignificant.
‘Where is that place?’ wondered Zilan.
Surprisingly unlike what most would think, he had no desire to head to this water body. The reason for this? Well, deep down he had this feeling that it was a place no living being should be allowed to exist in. As he continued to stare, he felt his blood boil, not the Dragon blood inside him but rather for the first time, his Scorched blood was reacting. Maybe it had something to do with his recent advancement.
Nevertheless, his entire being was telling him to stay away from that place and Zilan was more than happy to acquiesce.
Ignoring it, Zilan turned his attention inward. Now that the fusion was completed, the time had finally come to accept the natural change that is, void formation.
After the attribute is separated from the core, a space is naturally left. This space through a process unknown to most would then mystically transform into a void. This void would be unique in the fact that it would only respond to commands of the person in which it resides.
Zilan was no different. All he had to do was wait and very quickly a swirling vortex of emptiness abruptly took form within his core.
This swirling vortex was growing larger and larger until it finally covered the entirety of the gap left behind by the relocation of the attribute.
Seeing this Zilan was happy but he still was not satisfied. Ever since he’d began planning his breakthrough, although nothing he planned was actually used, he had some ideas on how to get the most out of his circumstances.
For example, the previous Zilan, when he was too young to understand anything, cultivated in the way of the Heavens and at that time possessed a core of his own. Granted it was first destroyed by the Order before he later disposed of any of its remnants however, an idea recently popped into the ever-churning mind of Zilan.
The size as well as functionality of one’s void could not be changed unless one made another breakthrough. In his case, the next upgrade would come once he reached the Mid-level of the stage.
Zilan naturally, would rather avoid this outcome if he could and that’s why he decided to go ahead with his idea. If it was to fail then he would lose a part of his void, incurring a huge loss. However, if he was to succeed then his void would have potential to grow, even without achieving breakthroughs.
Pressing his hand just above his navel, Zilan began feeling if his actions could succeed. After the time it takes one to enjoy a meal, his eyes shone with a unique splendour.
Using his Blood Force as well as a few materials such as Beast cores that he’d collected along the way. Zilan began crafting a fake core.
It didn’t require the intricacies of a real core nor did it need to possess even a single function of a real core. All it needed to do was successfully fool the void into mistaking fake for real. In truth, all the fake core needed to be was a sealed, durable shell, devoid of anything but also exceptionally spacious. All it needed was some of his core essence put in the exact amounts.
After constructing the fake core which took up roughly the same amount of space as his previous core, Zilan forcefully separated a small strand of the vortex and quickly shoved it into the fake core.
Sweat began pouring down his back as he anxiously prayed for his desired outcome to come to fruition.
The tiny strand of vortex remained motionless for a good while causing Zilan to worry but the mere fact that it had yet to dissipate meant that the environment was suitable.
Seeing this, he plucked off a few more strands of the vortex, being excessively careful with each of his movements such that he does not damage his main, true core.
After shoving the strands in, movement finally occurred. The black tiny strands slowly came together before beginning to rotate counter-clockwise, a strange occurrence since the original vortex in Zilan’s true core was rotating clockwise.
Their movement was beyond slow bordering on not moving at all however, to Zilan his experiment could be termed a success. He didn’t want to risk plucking anymore strands from the vortex and was more than happy with the current result. As he learnt more, the more he would be able to achieve in the future. This was not the finished product, just a prototype.
Unfortunately, the consequences of plucking strands from the original vortex were now showing themselves as the originally normal sized void had shrunk by a significant amount.
Almost a quarter of its total size had been shed off and it showed no signs that it would recover anytime soon.
Biting his tongue, Zilan could only grunt and bear with the setback.
‘Be a man Zilan. Being too greedy isn’t good. Progress usually comes at a cost.’
As he was thinking this, he eyed his voidless sack. “Looks like we won’t be parting anytime soon.”
“Good, now that you’ve consolidated your cultivation we can talk.”
“Talk with you?” asked Zilan in bewilderment. He had many things he wanted to ask Hihi but he also knew Hihi would not be willing to answer his queries.
“What? You don’t want to talk? Fine, I guess you’ve changed your mind about the second level of the Cloud Inheritance Palace. After all that threatening you did last time, Hihi was even considerate enough to inform you but since you don’t want to talk then it’s fine for this genius to go back to sleep.”
“Ah! I can finally use the second level?”
Hihi, “……..”
“Ah, if you don’t speak, do you believe that I will eat you right now?”
“EHH, young Master, no, Young Lord…Hihi is just joking.”
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