"Isn't it funny? You worked so hard to get here, you lived for millions of years upon millions of years and all you have to show for it is some half-baked immortality. So what if your cultivation has surpassed deity transformation or body reformation in the end all of it was given to you by the heavens. From the blood running through your veins to the spiritual Qi in your dantian, all of it comes from us"  - God Levothrox from the chronicles of time.  Northern quadrant - phantom star gaxy - green star nebu. This location was special even among the spiritual universe's many heavenly creations, this gaxy was a pce not quite real, that is to say even if one attempted to touch the stars or pnets one would find themselves unable to. It was not because the gaxy was an illusion or a figment of ones imagination simply that this gaxy existed on a different dimension of reality. There was only one way to access this universe and only one way to exit, a singur point in time and space that both exists and does not. A windowless white building without the slightest of cracks or deformities y hidden inside the core of a bck hole, a gathering of spirit cultivators and mortal souls took pce hidden from sight. This group was not made up of elite fighters nor the greatest hero's of an era instead it consisted of the spiritual worlds greatest dreamers. "Today we of the absolute holy nd of the purple Qi sea, alongside the absolute holy nd of the golden phoenix pace and the absolute holy nd of the battle domination sect have gathered the greatest minds from both the physical realm and spiritual realm to create the - final solution" a broad shouldered man stood on a podium addressing a crowd of spirit cultivators and souls of the dead alike. The spirits had been brought here against their will while the souls had been stolen from the path of reincarnation and pced into soul mps. "This solution is not for the creation of a weapon to use against the camity destroying our universe, nor is it to create a pn for how to save those living in the universe, instead what we have gathered you all here to do is something far more important" The crowd did not understand. What was more important then the universe and all that lived in it? The mortal souls understood even less, the universe was being destroyed? "Rebirth!" Rebirth? What does he mean by this? Some among the crowd instantly understood what he meant while others looked confused. "We, no everyone should by now know that there is no saving the universe. Anyone who is unable to leave the universe by the end of the twenty-fifth year will inevitably die regardless of the w of reincarnation upheld by the universe. It does not matter if you are a spirit or living being of the physical realm, it will all come to an end" A small chatter picked up. The souls of the mortal realm conversed among each other, what did this mean for them? They had been taken from the afterlife to a pce that was clearly not the afterlife as they thought of it. "What exactly are you asking of us?" Someone asked. So far the speech was simply that, a speech without a clear goal. "We want you to find a way to recreate the beginning of the universe and the innumerable life that comes after with a simir likeness to our own without what we know of as a soul" the broad shouldered spirit felt his mouth go dry as he said it. The crowd went silent then a rge cmor erupted. "Nonsense how can we create life without a soul?!" "Re-create the universe? Mortal souls may think of us as gods but we are very far from such a thing" "What is life without soul!? This is heresy!" "We cultivators cultivate to find out the inner workings of the universe to attain immortality, if we all simply knew how to create life why would we bother creating an immortal body when we can just take over a soulless body?!" "Do they want us to create robotic life? Like in the mortal realm?" "We already know how to make spirit puppets isn't that the same thing?" "Can't those at the heavenly rebirth realm and above create gaxies on a whim? Why do they need us for?" "That's right, and what of these mortal souls they brought?" The mortal souls looked at the spirits and mostly agreed, they had no knowledge about the soul other then the belief among some of them in life that such a thing existed, obviously now they knew it was possible but in hindsight it wasn't exactly perceptible to them. The broad shouldered man lifted his right arm motioning for the crowd to calm. "We do not mean for you to create a soulless lifeform, but to create a lifeform without the need of a soul fire-" again the crowd went into a ruckus this time with more gusto. "Start life without soul fire!? That's impossible!" "We spirits are nothing but soul fire! While we might have bodies like those of flesh and bone it is all of spiritual nature! How do you expect us to recreate something from nothing?" "Without soul fire even if a body can be made it will never move!" "This is the equivalent of creating a spirit puppet but forgetting to inscribe formations to move the dam thing, and how exactly are you expecting it to move without a power source?!" "It... May be possible" "How do you expect us to create life in the universe without soul fire?!" "The path of reincarnation dictates a soul must be present to be judged in the afterlife, otherwise it is not a living being!" "What did you say?" Several voices about to speak calmed. "I believe it may be possible to recreate life from nothing" The crowd looked at a skinny wood spirit that towered above the rest. They did not question him or pressure him they simply waited for an answer. "We spirits are made of soul fire, the living soul of any being in the physical realm was crafted from soul fire by the ws of heaven, but do any of us actually know where soul fire comes from?" The crowd whispered among each other but no answer was given. "We have myths both in the spiritual and physical universe about the creation of life and all that, but we of the spiritual universe should know above all that long ago in the primordial universe a spark of soul fire was found by the primordial’s. It wasn't created by any mighty being like the gods of the mortal realm or by the ancient cultivators, it simply manifested from nothing" the wood spirit said matter-a-factly. Some of the souls from the mortal realm agreed with this, among some of them myths of God or gods having found a spark of life had been written. While religious text could be open to interpretation the same type of myths and stories always seemed find its way into the minds of the living regardless of time pce or distance. Even if life developed on completely separate pnets without knowledge of the other the same types of myths always came about. "That must simply be a myth from whatever part of the universe you come from, from my understanding soul fire has always been and will always be even after we are no more!" "That's right" "If it will always be then why should we worry about creating life without soul fire? Wouldn't it simply be there?" "That's ri-" "..." "..." "While we can't create soul fire... Can't we just assume that it will be there?" Here the crowd went silent and turned to the broad shouldered man whom understood that forcing them to work with nothing wasn't so simply said. "If you wish to work with that assumption than we will not stop you. We only ask of you to find a way to recreate the very fundamentals of life from zero. Both of the spiritual nature and physical. We have no expectations that this will succeed or that the life that comes after will be in our image but we do hope so" Create only the fundamentals of life? With this the crowd could at least imagine a scenario of its possibility. "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? Have we forgotten the universe would still need to be created from nothing?" Here the crowd took a moment to think. "Does the camity destroy everything? Forgive me for sounding uninformed but as far as I am aware, while the camity rips everything apart to the atomic level it does not in fact destroy energy in any form" Some mortals seemed to understand what was being said here, the talk about souls was simply beyond their scope of understanding but matters to do with the physical realm they knew. "So what we would have to create is not the universe but a way for that energy to gather as one once more?" "No energy is already naturally attracted to itself, wouldn't it simply reform even without our need to intervene?" "That would depend, just how rge is the universe and how strong is the attraction of energy? How long would it take to gather once more, or would it even gather at all if the universe is infinite?" "Why would it be infinite if the salvation arks were made to travel outside the universe?" To the mortal souls present this information was world changing, the universe was limited but it was not at the same time. Did this mean the universe was one among many and that this was simply the end of this universe but not of all creation? What was in-between the universe's? Was it some metaphysical bubble or was every universe a separate dimension? "Then we are certain that energy won't escape the universe's boundaries then? You know after the universe's destruction!?" "Energy shouldn't totally escape the boundary of the vast tree universe on its own but it will probably split the universe into many smaller universe's no?" "...can we somehow imprint energy to reform like cells or spiritual Qi gathering techniques?" "..." "Like cells?" "Energy that is made to only act one way..." "We do that all the time with spiritual Qi because both the soul and spiritual Qi have simir origins but to do this with simply any energy... Wouldn't we have to create artificial souls made of pure energy? As in energy of the mortal pne, not spiritual Qi" Here the broad shoulder man felt a little hopeful, he didn't know what was to come after the end of the universe, all he knew was the task at hand. To recreate the universe in a simir form to what it once was, the level of absurdity was simply asking for failure but that is why only dreamers had been gathered. If one does not dream a little what was the point of it all?                 <+==  Intermission  ==+> Diamond rain void port - near the spiritual continent of Hapo. Here tens of thousands of flying ships from across the north quadrant of space exited the void river en mass. The five family union was one among the many to exit on this day. "Madam Nordaine today we have achieved more then we could ever have hoped for! For the first time in a hundred years I feel the tides turning in our favor" Elder Proteus stood tall as he talked to his niece. His cultivation had significantly recovered from the middle stage of nascent soul into the te stage of nascent soul while his body had healed. While not comparable to his peak it was already considered a miraculous turn of fate for the man that nearly died twice trying to breakthrough into deity transformation. Most would never dream to get not only a second or third chance to attempt to breakthrough to the next stage but a fourth? Right now the elder considered his luck to be a heavenly mandate. If heaven didn't want him to rise why would it give him so many chances. His son, daughter, nieces and nephews had all improved their void path accomplishments greatly improving their fundamentals had they been given just a little more time would they have advanced? Well it didn't matter now they still had another void river to enter in the future anyway. Madam Nordaine was in simirly high spirits, while she had not achieved growth in terms of spiritual attainment she had gained something much better. Her hair which was originally brown had turned pitch bck like the void of space while it's length had originally only been waist long now grew to twice her height, her skin took on a milky white complexion, while her eyes once brown turned dark as the night sky filled with many small specks seeming like starlight. "A void body. Hahah!" The madame ughed, such a thing had only been written of in the historic records of the Nordaine family. While the Nordaine's of past had naturally been born with a void spirit body the Nordaine's of today did not hold such distinction. The spirit bloodline had long thinned and the Nordaine's of old had long departed from the world. "To think the heavens would bless us so! Not only have I healed my wounds and recovered some cultivation, but the madam has restored our family legacy!" The elder cheered aloud. "No. Let's not get too excited. We have secured our safety for now but there is much work to be done" madame Nordaine looked at the piles of void path materials behind her, from top to bottom they had filled the arks and flying ships with treasures they had only every heard of and then some. "We didn't get a chance to properly sort everything we gained, the other families should have also acquired a fair amount of materials as well, we would do well to work with them for now to attain everything we can. From here on out we can't make a single mistake" madame Nordaine looked at the vast expanse of space with a new mindset, it was time for the Nordaine household to rise once more. Among the many arks and flying ships of the five family union the fgship of the union _The bells of hope_ owned by the Bell family had acquired what could only be seen as a miniature void river. While the Nordaine family had focused on the material aspect of the void river the Bell family had greater pns. "The Nordaine's will surely have gained a great amount this past few months, let's not fall behind. Integrate the void river into the arks defensive formation, let it become the night sky" the elders of the Bell family along with many helpers from lower families activated their spiritual Qi. The void river originally spread out chaotically inside the ark gathered into a singur spot at the top of the ark, then as the spells chanted and activated this spot spread like a spider web from the top of the ark to the deepest corners. "If anyone manages to infiltrate the ark now, they will simply be sent into the void river, while it may not kill them it will trap them long enough to buy us time to prepare"                 <+== Intermission end ==+> As the physical realm fell to silence and the spiritual realm reached it's end voices sounded out in the minds off all living and spiritual beings. The voices could not be deciphered by ordinary mortals, it could not be understood by the common spirit and even those at the very peak of power struggled to understand the message they carried. God Heaven and the heaven defying lord - Lerim understood the meaning behind the voices and knew what this meant for the universe but even they could not hope to stop it all. These voices came from the universe itself or to be more exact the ones who alongside God Heaven created the Vast tree universe. The gods that had been defeated in the past and the gods that had simply entered rest now all spoke at once. This was the nguage of creation, destruction, time, dreams, nightmares, energy, dimensions and many more obscure and forgotten aspects one simply overlooks. While God Heaven was the motion of the universe where every form of energy could only exist because he deemed it so, these other gods represented simirly important aspects of creation that held their own unique voice. Not to say that each god could only represent a single aspect or that they had complete dominion over that aspect without question, no often times gods shared aspects of creation. God Heaven rules over the motion of the universe, with motion heat is generated, with heat energy comes in tow but God Heaven does not rule over heat and energy. He is the God of motion, perpetuity and change. From these voices one can hear the ws of the universe being told by the very beings who made it so, for any spirit cultivator such a thing would normally be an opportunity never to be wasted. With the deeper understanding of even a single w one could reach new heights on their desired path(dao). Sadly the voices did not speak one at a time, from a single voice one can find crity but from many voices all speaking of different things only disorder came about. Eastern quadrant - Pnet Diūshī de - Sect of quartz keepers. "Can you hear it?! This sound, its the sound of time! This is a sign. It time. Time to ascend!" An eager old man rose to his feet drawing in the energy of the pnet with a ravenous desire. Those near to him screamed out in horror at the suddenness of it all, they had all gathered to discuss the future pns of the sect only for this out burst to shake them up. An sphere of energy formed from the old mans dantian quickly expanding beyond the constraints of his body. The crowed was smmed aside by the energy sphere as it broke the stone temple open creating a zone where none was allowed to trespass. "You crazy old man! This is the center of the sect, our very foundation ys below!" With that outburst many of those that had been pushed aside fought against the repelling force protecting the underground against the old mans energy. "Link up, create a time out zone!" The old man paid no mind to those speaking as his body was slowly lifted up into the air by the sheer force of the spiritual Qi gathering. Bck and gray clouds stretched for hundreds of kilometers across the skyline as a rumbling sound started to build. For those going about their day the sudden loss of light and the appearance of a menacing thunder cloud shook them to their core. Ten seconds was all it took, from a bright and sunny day to lightning raining down from the sky. The first strike of lightning was building up with more intensity than even the old man expected. "Is elder Li this accomplished in the dao of time?" "The thunderclouds haven't spread more then three hundred kilometers yet this intensity is far beyond anything I've ever seen!" "Abandon the sect vault, evacuate everyone in the sect!" "We can't abandon our foundation like this!" "The disciples are out foundation now, this tribution is not normal we can't protect the hidden vault..." The elders bit their tongue and stopped protecting the temples underground chamber simply opting to save the disciples instead. The old man in the sky felt the oddities but it was too te, heaven's will had locked on onto him and his own dantian had already split into multiple parts. From the pce his body was forcefully locked in, he could see lightning strike the surroundings eviscerating everything as it made a circle around the epicenter, him. "Nine heavens strike..." The old man knew of the tribution he was undergoing. It should not have a fraction of this level of power at its worst yet now as the first of nine strikes formed a heaven shaking Qi gathered above his head. The old man looked at the sect and at those fleeing. "Forgive me" The lightning pierced through his skull and body, the temple below was entirely decimated, while the ground below the sect set afme as the lightning strike charged past the mantle of the pnet and into its core. On the other side of the pnet a city of stone and gold slept, here millions of souls whom called it home disappeared in a fsh. 1/16th of the pnet had shattered with this single lightning strike, the lightning strike did not stop even after piercing the pnet and simply kept going into the void of space. The storm dissolved as quickly as it formed leaving only smoke and charred remains as evidence it had ever been. "I don't understand! Why did elder Li's tribution trigger such a strong reaction? It's not normal!" "It must be because of this sound, it must have caused him to go insane" "That can't be it otherwise we would all have gone insane" "Than how do you expin this?!" "A nine heavens strike shouldn't be this powerful... At best it's in the middle css of difficulty among tributions. Even the old ancestor had a stronger tribution- at least in rank than this. If the tribution had been this powerful for her would she have survived?" Not one among the sect elders knew why such a catastrophe had occurred. The universe had long forgotten the days of old when beings known simply as gods lived among the stars. In a universe where heaven runs on autopilot and the challenges put upon cultivators are neutral and without favor, the universe suddenly having a mental break was anything but good. Who is to say that God can't have a temper after all? Worse off what happens when God pys favorites? Would they be able to judge without prejudice? No, a god with any sort of emotion or favor is the bane of reality and can not be trusted. The God of time may allow one to record the events of past and even view them through different lenses but to grant passage into his domain was a whole different matter. While he slept beings could traverse time without fault, now that he wakes heaven does not judge those beyond time, he does. Western quadrant - spiritual continent Illo Towering pilrs piercing kms high into the sky made of stone defied gravity as they covered an area four hundred kms wide in a semi circle. Facing these pilrs a woman slowly drew the spiritual Qi in the surroundings as she ascended to the sky outside of anyone's gaze. Storm clouds surged instantly covering the surrounding two hundred kms in ashen clouds rumbling so fiercely that the air could be seen splitting from the atmosphere. The woman instantly turned pale activating every defensive treasure she owned only to be instantly disintegrated when the lightning fell from the sky. This being a spiritual continent its girth was more comparable to that of several earthly sor systems stacked atop one another, to be able to pierce a spiritual continent from top to bottom would be an astonishing feat. With a single strike a hole had been melted straight through the continent leaving a permanent mark on the spiritual continent. This event shook the entire continent waking even those dormant spirits from their isotion. All over the universe a billion deity transformation peak experts undergoing tribution died by the minute. While the failure of one served as a warning for others witnessing the tragedy, not everyone would have the fortune to bear witness. The universe was simply too vast, for a pnet the ascension of deity transformation expert into a body reformation godly being was an event that could change the world for generations to come but to the vast universe it was simply another moment in time. While the chances of successfully ascending had always been low the current 100% failure rate was simply unheard off in the modern cultivation world. God Heaven bore witness to the chaos caused by his peers his voice trying to dissuade them from such actions to no avail. Even if he tried to disperse or negate the affects of the tributions taking pce he had simply been outnumbered, he couldn't stop their actions on his own even if he decided to stop the motion of the universe. No, while he could stop the physical universe's motion the spiritual realm had long left the grasp of his control. "I see now why the cultivation world of past decided to bury you all" Lerim could not see the universe in it's entirety like God Heaven did but he could witness the destruction caused by the heavenly tribution on a grander scale. Moons shattered to pieces, pnets split in two, sor systems in disarray, gaxies covered in heavenly lightning and many spiritual continents had become pin cushions. Those traveling the void via flying ships did not avoid this catastrophe with many brave souls attempting to ascend beyond the mortal realm to no avail. Fleets of flying ships vanished as heavenly lightning tore past them with leaving only ash behind. The salvations arks seemed to be the only ships that avoided this fate, as they were not considered the domain of heaven and earth but the domain of lord Lerim whom had created them. While he had not personally made each ark he had designed the formations that covered each ark from top to bottom. Simir to pcing a seal or brand of ownership the arks are designated as something beyond the control of heaven and by proxy beyond the gods reach. Lord Lerim may not be the strongest being in the vast tree universe but he was still considered a heaven defying lord, one beyond the heavens. He was not bound to the universe and it's rules could not be imposed on him. While the arks were notably immune to the effects of this new camity they still could not avoid living beings error. From the outside heavenly lightning could still strike the arcs, from the inside many living beings wished to undergo tribution but with the eye of heaven not being accessible within the arcs they ventured out. The news of such a camity befalling the universe spread much faster among those in flying ship fleets for they had many more eyes witnesses to tell the tale. Quickly anyone that attempted to undergo ascension was dissuaded or restrained and if anyone dared attempt it regardless of the consequences every flying ship nearby would abandon nearby space. The voices of the gods kept spreading across the universe affecting the minds of every spiritual being, the weak could see improvements to their cultivation path only to find out ter it was all wrong. Of course not everyone had been negatively affected by such a camity, from the ashes of ruin those that had already long ago become godly beings made use of the camity to their advantage. "Heavenly lightning without an owner? Hahaha don't mind if I do" a buff man simply motioned at the heavenly lightning changing it's direction. "To think such good fortune would befall the universe, with this the future of my kin will be secure" the lightning threatened to destroy his body but with a bottle in hand the lightning was sucked in without a spark escaping. "Lightning in a bottle! How fun" the man noticed several other godly beings had also captured heavenly lightning and felt a need to compete. "Can't let them take it all" with that he among many other godly beings made use of the camity.                 <+== Tribution ==+> Why does a cultivator have to go through tribution in order to ascend into a godly being? Heaven already provides them with all that is necessary for a cultivator to cultivate so why does it need to retrain them? Doesn't this go against heaven? Cultivators or at least the spirit cultivators of past weren't meant to ascend into godly beings, originally they had been created to serve as guides for the souls of the dead and as caretakers of the spiritual realm but as in all living beings spiritual or not things often go awry. In the past spirit cultivators did not have to go through tributions and simply ascended into godly beings after tens of thousands of years. It was not guaranteed that one would live that long of course as a spirit more often then not one would die long before then. Now these spiritual beings did not rebel against the system set up by the gods for they simply had no reason to bear ill will against the gods. From the moment they were created to the moment they ascended the gods had been ever present in their minds. Many spirits even took the form of the gods they saw in an attempt to be closer to said gods but the gods cared not. With age came many things, while not primary among them the desire to care for ones kin took hold in the hearts of many. The average spiritual being was nothing more then a passing moment in time, that being even if one was to be injured or tired weren't seen as anything but disposable. While the old spirits had attained a long life beyond that of mortal spirits they had seen too much, with extended life they had to witness not only the uncaring nature of the heavens but also as their kin and descendants died long before them. From morning to night they toiled as they guided the souls of the living to the underworld, the environment also had to be tended by them as they were after all the spirits of the universe. They born of creation had not been created by copution but simply as an after thought. The gods did not want to care for their creations themselves, to them it was simply a minor ordeal that should be dealt with by their lesser counterparts. So while the gods enjoyed the marvels of creation the spirits kept the universe in motion. But nothing stays the same forever, watching their kin die with a smile on their face as they could no longer move truly hurt those godly spirits. With great apprehension some of the wisest spirits gathered together, they wished to ask the gods a question. Why do spirits die? The answer that came was a swift end. Had the spirits offended the gods? Had they stepped too far outside their boundaries? They did not know. Only this action led them to realize just how little they truly meant to the gods. From here the spirits no longer worshiped the gods as they once did, now after guiding the souls of the living the spirits took on a new form and built for themselves a life outside of their duties. No longer would they take the form of the gods and no longer would they worship the gods, to them the gods had become the bogeyman one best not meddle with. But as always things tend to go wrong, the gods did not like this new found freedom gained by the spirits. The spirits had been ordered to be caretakers of the spiritual universe not to be the ones enjoying said universe. The universe was the gods pyground, it was made by them to be used and they did as they pleased with no one to question them. The physical realm was the power generator giving life to their realm, but the spiritual realm and the spirits that lived in it were nothing but objects and servants meant to keep the home of the gods in order. With that in mind the first tributions of spirit kind took pce as lightning struck down the defenseless spirits. No longer would one gain godliness by having lived life, now all spiritual beings would be eliminated upon reaching that final threshold.                <+== Tribution end ==+> Witnessing the chaos caused by the heavenly tribution a certain group gathered hidden from heavens omni present eyes. "Do you see, the legends of old have proven yet again to be true" a man with several keys hanging from his hair spoke. "Gods, true gods not like us have appeared. They just like the legends say, hate our very being" The others nodded in agreement. "It seems that the scriptures written inside the minds of mortal beings was not so far off, when God lost control of the spiritual universe war was waged in order to stifle us" an old woman looked at a cube that dispyed the memories of many mortal souls. "In the mind of mortals - gods won the war and we were deemed as the evil spirits but here in the spiritual world it is the gods whom were defeated and us whom cimed victory" "That expins why the physical realm is so disconnected from the spiritual realm, it is written into the very minds of all living beings that gods are just instead of the disgusting monsters they truly are" another old spirit being spoke. "It is likely they were never truly defeated, just look at the state of the spiritual universe. We spirits are born pure and without ill thought yet the evil of the physical realm infects our realm, the souls are the dead aren't being cleansed in the after life but in the spiritual realm" the man with many keys said. "Yes, too many have fallen to the devilish ways of the mortal realm. Why is it that the souls of the dead which we guide to the after life leave their vile thoughts behind? Those thoughts should have been cleansed in the underworld not here" a snake like being sounded out. "It was all a trap, while the spiritual realm fell to the same desires of the physical realm the gods recovered. Once more they will attempt to ensve us, we must prepare" a spirit hiding in the scabbard of a sword spoke. "Worry not, even while the wider universe see's us as madman we have never stopped toiling" the old woman said. "Soon the time to unveil our greatest creation will be upon us, from this we will show the universe that our madness was in fact just!" A spirit voice without origin sounded. "The only thing I regret is that it will not be us whom delivers the final blow to these wretches!" The old woman looked to the side where a half-breed(one of spirit and mortal origin) y in stasis. This half-breed was sleeping peacefully unaware of the happenings outside of his pod and as to the pns of these spirits. "When the universe ends we will activate the 'system'! Then the universe will see that just because they made the heaven it does not give them the right to rule over all!" The man with many keys roared. The spirit beings ughed and cheered, they may be unable to kill the gods but just like the spirits were the bane of the physical realm and the corruption camity was their bane, the physical realm was the bane of God.                <+==  Echo’s of past  ==+> "So the fifth clone where do you come from? I'm sure it doesn't have to be said but your name is rather odd" a chubby merchant looked at the brown skinned man carrying a spear on his back. 'Yet he said it still, well better keep silent as to where I come from' "I come from the desert nation of UL from a small cultivation sect that no longer practice's" "UL? Ah! that's right the nation to the south past the sor steeps of the Ju empire, I have been there once long ago when my father stone was still intact, shame of what happened to that pce" the merchant wiped his forehead as he reminisced of the past. "Yes I was one of the fortunate that survived that fateful day, but that is now in the past. I'm simply hoping to restart my cultivation journey far from that pce" the fifth clone lied through his teeth to gain favor. "Well we do have need of a few more guards, if you are willing to work for half a greater spiritual stone every six rotations we can work something out" 'half a greater spiritual stone for six rotations!! This is worse then paying for transport!' the fifth internalized his compint. "Does it include free meals?" Having successfully obtained free transportation with pay the fifth clone made his way across the city looking at the shops and inspecting the spirits of all nearby. 'The wares here are very basic with hardly any being useful for my current nascent soul cultivation, worse off the spirits of this area have all been corrupted beyond salvation. Haaa!' the fifth clone had yet to find a single soul along his journey that hadn't been corrupted. Even if no one knew it the corruption had already infested their bodies and soon their minds would fall. 'I can feel the corruption trying to enter through my spirit, if master hadn't shielded me with his saintly status I would long have fallen just like them' To be decred a saint in a universe devoid of faith was no easy feat, it truly meant that the spirit was someone far beyond the norm along their desired path. The status of a saint was only granted by the heavens with even less saints having lived then those heaven defying cultivators that broke past heavenly w. Sainthood was the path to become a true god, while everything else was breaking the path heaven wished upon cultivators. The fifth clone was not a saint nor was he even close to becoming one but he was undoubtedly under the protection of heaven. Had spear saint Hajl not been injured while fighting the corruption he would never have fallen so soon.

  Hc_Hc