18 Bataar & The Dharmic Nodachi

•••

"Although I did say I would like for you to use a sabre, it is often known as a female weapon throughout the universe because of its agility and elegance. It is fairly obvious from looking at your frame now that you will be a tall man one day, and a single-handed sabre may be impractical as it will not bring out the full strength of both your arms and upper torso. Try leaning towards a double-handed blade, as it is most fit for a man." Grandma Anemone revealed.

Grandma Anemone placed an array of various blades before Astrallis with a wave of her hand. A beautiful display of craftsmanship appeared before his inquisitive face.

"Aesthetic weaponry for our aesthetic bloodline," Grandma Anemone said narcissistically,

'Maybe, too aesthetic.' She thought inwardly looking at Astrallis.

"You should have noticed by now that the blades of the weapons are an opaque crystal, this is because they are made out of Primal Instinct Ore, this material is recherchè in the universe, I wouldn't be surprised if the amount within your sect can only be counted on one-hand. Once a cultivator chooses the blade and the blade the cultivator, the blade will amalgamate with the cultivator's emotional and instinctive attributes; forming the purest and most efficient blade for the cultivator. That is the reason why Primal Instinct Ore is searched for far and wide." Grandma Anemone said solemnly.

"Hey! But who am I kidding, I've got tons of this stuff. After all, I can't help being a Supreme Being." She sighed in mock exasperation, Astrallis looked towards his grandmother and nodded his head as if this was only natural.

Little did he know, even a Supreme Being wouldn't have nearly as much as her.

Astrallis sat in a lotus position with the blades circled him.

He noticed a blade placed in an ivory sheath, with bright-green luminescent Sanskrit embedded on it, appeared conspicuous between the opaque coloured edges. He felt an odd connection to it just from placing his eyes on it. A white bone hilt protruded out from the sheath, wide enough for more than two hands to be put on it, there was an engraving of an emerald lion upon the hilt.

"Grandma, how come this blade has a sheath on it?"

"Oh.. that. This blade is something even I can't identify, I found it at the core of an old Buddhist temple in a forbidden zone. It took a group of people and me a thousand years to get through the formations surrounding the blade; all for nought, I mean for them, they are all dead now." She said with regret

"And for the reason why it is in a sheath? Well, I can't get it off. It seems to be waiting for its fateful one. Now that you've reminded me, it does feel quite similar to..."

She turned towards Astrallis, her eyes lighting up with a passion.

"I want you to release your Qi, and from there pick the blade you feel the greatest connection too."

An emerald Qi began to generate around his body, it then moved from his body and spread throughout the blades. An immediate cacophony of blade songs started to sound out in the air. Swords, sabres, katanas, and daggers all began to fly around Astrallis in an outbreak of excitement.

Grandmother Anemone nodded her head, expecting such a result.

"Roar!"

An awe-inspiring shout of a beast ran throughout the air.

The ivory sheathed blade flew to the front of Astrallis, an aura of a king of beasts permeated the air, in fear the other weapons began trembling. As a sign of respect, the weapons inserted themselves into the ground before the ivory blade.

A blade cry rang out in the ears of Astrallis, the bone hilt gradually removed itself from the sheath. A blade, seventy centimetres long slowly presented itself before the young child; the bridge of the edge was the same bone as the hilt, but beneath the bridge of the blade was a clear crystal that ran throughout the length of the blade. One would be able to see across the lake when looking through the gem of the blade.

An odd squeal occurred behind Astrallis, but he was so engrossed in the blade he didn't even notice.

"Primal Instinct Steel? In arcane canons it has been said that the material is formed when a practitioner of the selfless path of the Way of Buddha breaks through to a pinnacle realm, hence the clarity of the ore - lacking all desires." Grandma Anemone stared incredulously at the blade.

Astrallis subconsciously held out his hand and graced the hilt with his Dharma Qi, in response to the Dharma Qi the clear crystal on the blade began shining with an incandescent emerald colour.

Astrallis stood up and grabbed the bone hilt of the nodachi, and inserted his Dharma Qi inside the blade. The blade began to shimmer with an emerald flame, a spectral form coalesced in front of the sword.

A forty metre tall emerald lion with a magnificent white horn on the centre of its forehead materialised, another heaven-shaking roar echoed throughout the heavens. It's piercing golden eyes looked towards Astrallis, suddenly it faces turned to an odd colour, "You are a child…"

The majestic lion shrank to a forearm-sized kitten, despair in its eyes, "I've waited trillions of years to present myself majestically! For what? My new Master doesn't even have enough Qi to keep me materialised for a second."

The now emerald kitten stared at the exhausted Astrallis.

Softness in its eyes, "Child, for you to be able to achieve Dharma Qi is something my old master Shakyamuni never managed to achieve."

The kitten paused for a second, a shocking revelation within its eyes. "You!? Are you a descendant of the Astral God? If it weren't for the benevolence of the Astral God, my old master Shakyamuni would never have reached the heights he did. This must be fate."

Before the kitten managed to reach Astrallis, it felt a life-threatening gaze on its back, it slowly turned around and saw a tall female with heavenly-beauty gazing at him.

A soft whisper reached its pointed ears, "Ah, it's so cute."

•••

A one and a half meter tall figure could be seen traversing across rocks upon the surface of a lake, the character moved around in elegant stances, the movements themselves spoke volumes of the amount of practice put in. The figure's golden hair danced playfully in the wind, a visage so perfect even devils would cry. Signs of immaturity were still clearly visible, but it was only a matter of time till he becomes a handsome man, one with bewitching features.

'Grandmother told me that within one year when I turn eight, I will be able to commence training the Sanguine Felicity Blood-Art. This body-art takes joy in the blood of its enemies, through their blood and other things I can increase my blood vitality. Increased vitality correlates to an increase in the physical capabilities of the body, such as speed, endurance and strength.' Astrallis mused between swings of his nodachi.

Bataar, the weapon-spirit of Astrallis new sword, called it a nodachi. A nodachi is similar to katana, but has a longer blade, allowing for a more extended reach as well as better usage in battle.

'When Bataar found out grandmother was going to train me in a body-art similar to a battle-hardened Asura he was ecstatic. You'd think the Dharma Protector of Sage Shakyamuni's Monastery would be against fighting. I can still remember his tone, "How do you think my old master Shakyamuni managed to reach where he was? Fighting of course, but that doesn't mean he killed mindlessly". I haven't met many monks, so this was somewhat interesting for me. It's reaffirmed my will to walk the path of an Asura.'

"I'm magnificent." An enraged roar spread across the lake.

"No, you're cute." A teasing mellifluous voice soon followed.

Astrallis looked up from his training and smiled towards this scene, he'd seen the same thing happen day in and day out. Grandmother Anemone chasing after the kitten version of Bataar, if his Grandmother really wanted to catch Bataar, she would have done so already, but she preferred to play around instead. Although Astrallis would often see them fooling around, he also knew that they would engage in intensive discussion about the most optimal way in which to train him, every day.

Both Grandmother Anemone and Bataar were hundreds of millions of years old, Bataar even reaching into the trillions, so their pools of knowledge were vast and plentiful. Over the past two years, they had trained Astrallis in a myriad of ways; sparring, pressure training, comprehension training, different types of blade practice and many other bizarre methods.

Throughout these two years, his cultivation has only intensified, the cultivation area designed by his grandmother is leagues better than anything currently available in the Astral Realm. Using the untapped potential of the naturally formed Mt. Evanescence she combined it with the Sanguinary Felicity Tree, creating the perfect cultivation ground with vast amounts of the high-tiered essence; there is also the added effect of helping the cultivation of the Sanguinary Felicity Body-Art. But, Astrallis has not begun his training in the body-art, so the results are still a mystery.

"Astrallis is currently heading towards the peak of the Foundational Realm, and he is sure to break through to the Spirit-Gathering Realm close to his eighth birthday. Due to Astrallis' already having a Soul-Being, he may pass through Spirit-Gathering Realm as well as the Spirit-Convergence Realm with ease and never before seen speed," A kitten with emerald fur pondered out loud.

"There is no worry Bataar, we will just intensify his training of the Body-Art during the spirit-realm stages. This way, he will stay within those realms long enough, and no problems will occur," Grandmother Anemone placated Bataar.

"Okay, I understand your thoughts Anemone. If we don't slow down his speed he could very well break through to the Sky-Realm within a week after just stepping into the Spirit-Gathering Realm; there may be no problems whatsoever, but it's best for us to play safe. Also at the same time, his Soul-Being can be reinforced to an even higher degree. His Shakyamuni Manifestation is a superb technique for the cultivation of essence, as it links the three principles. At the same time, because he has Astral Qi, the Shakyamuni Manifestation has the unintended effect of strengthening his soul replicant. Truly, some people are heaven's favoured," Bataar the emerald kitten replied.

"It may be the case that some are heaven's favourites, but at the same time heaven has chosen a path that is anything but peaceful for them." A smile crept onto her face as she was watching Astrallis blade-work, "It seems he is near to breaking through to the third layer of my nine-layered Felicity Blade-Art. He is close to the comprehension of blade-intent; he's even more of a genius than my daughter and me."

"Well, if he couldn't beat a sea-plant in swordsmanship then what would he be?" Bataar joked to the women next to him.

Before he could even react, he was sent flying across the lake.

The emerald kitten with a white horn on its forehead, lifted himself off the ground, and while he dusted off his tail, he looked towards Grandmother Anemone and said, "It's only natural, how could someone I chose as my Master be weak? Well, that and he is the only person in existence who has ever created and used Dharma Qi.

•••