171 Light Tiger Sect Law

Ed and Flair returned to the central area of the Light Tiger Sect. Flair activated her powers, once again checking the various passages. "I don't see anything related to laws." She shook her head. "They're all ordinary. Bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining hall... Oh, there's one called Administrative Affairs."

"Let's try that." Ed replied as he started walking in the direction she indicated.

Once again, they traveled down a long dungeon-like hallway. They reached a wooden door and opened it, revealing a small office. Surprisingly, there was a woman sitting behind an oak desk within the room.

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue. 'I figured they'd leave some people behind. I was bound to run into one eventually, though most of them are probably in their rooms or the training area.'

The woman behind the desk was on the older side and seemed fairly ordinary. She had no particularly defining features other than her glasses and her brown hair tied in a bun atop her head. She glanced up at them. "Who are you?" She asked. "I don't have any appointments today, and I don't recognize you foreigners."

Ed smiled politely. "Hello ma'am" He took a step forward and bowed slightly. "Sect Leader Wan crossed our paths the other day and told us that we have great potential to become light cultivators. She mentioned it being too dangerous to travel with her, so she sent us directly here."

The woman behind the desk frowned skeptically. "Do you have proof?" She asked. "Sect Leader Wan should have given you a medallion."

"Ah, of course." He slapped his own forehead in embarrassment. He pulled his backpack off his shoulders and held it in front of him. Then he started digging through it using exaggerated movements. Meanwhile, a small amount of reddish-dark shadow left his body near his feet. It slowly inched forward, making its way around the desk.

The secretary cautiously watched Ed and Flair for any suspicious movements. The backpack was especially distracting, as it was clearly full of unknown objects. The sect was at war right now, so she needed to be extra careful. However, the fact that the two foreigners had made it in this far meant they were probably telling the truth. After all, not just anyone could get past their invisibility barriers. One wrong step and death was all but guaranteed.

"Ah, there it is!" Ed happily exclaimed while looking up.

Right as the secretary stared into his eyes, a bad omen descended upon her heart. Unfortunately, it was too late. Ed's red shadow was like a lion leaping upon its prey, instantly connecting to her lower body.

"Enemy!" She shouted in panic as white light covered her body. Unfortunately, it was too late. The red shadow seeped into her body and began whispering to her subconscious. 'The foreigners are friendly allies. Sect Leader Wan ordered you to treat their words as if they were direct orders from herself. You need to show them our laws. You need to tell them our secrets. You need to...' A looping message dug into her mind, causing her to claw at her head in frustration and confusion.

"Hmm." Ed rubbed his chin as he observed. 'I had an easier time brainwashing the prisoners. I guess that makes sense though. After all, they were mostly ordinary humans except for having some mana. It'd be weirder if cultivators were too easy to brainwash.'

Suddenly, the white light covering the secretary's body grew even brighter, followed by a loud popping sound.

Ed stared in confusion as he felt something wet land on his cheek. He reached up with his fingers and wiped it off. Looking down at his hand, he spotted a bloody red piece of flesh. Slowly, the blinding white light vanished, revealing the secretary's body having been ripped to shreds. "The hell was that?" He said in shock.

"She blew herself up." Flair replied while wiping some flesh and blood off her clothes. "I guess she decided that death was better than betraying her sect. Or maybe she really didn't want to be controlled by someone else."

"I see." He nodded. "I can understand the sentiment." He nonchalantly pushed the remnants of the deceased secretary away and began searching her desk. Dozens of papers and folders covered her desk, but none of it seemed important. They were mostly member profiles, financial documents, and other such things. Perhaps they might hold some small value if he could sell them to Nexus, but they weren't on good terms. Unfortunately, none of it held any significance to him at all.

"Damn." He complained as he sat down in the secretary's blood-covered chair. Unlike his previous self, it seemed he wasn't bothered by the lack of cleanliness. He reached for the desk drawers and pulled them open one-by-one. Unfortunately, it was all office supplies. He let out a sigh and lazily leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling. "Hmm?" His eyes widened in surprise. The ceiling had what looked like ancient language etched into it in a spiral pattern. Unfortunately, he couldn't make head or tails of it at all. "Flair, any idea what the words on the ceiling mean?" He asked.

Flair looked up at it and stared in concentration. She frowned as she stared at it and resorted to using her powers. As the white light shone in her eyes, the ceiling seemed to react, causing the words to glow. She continued staring vacantly, as if she was in another world.

'Hmm?' Ed looked towards the ceiling again, concentrating on the glowing letters. Soon, his eyes grew dull, and he continued staring vacantly just like Flair.

...

Ed found himself in a completely empty void. It was not the void of his conscious, as there was nothing here at all.

Suddenly, a ghostly figured appeared out of thin air. She looked like a beautiful young woman, and her white hair floated about in wild abandon. Her piercing blue eyes glared at Ed as she frowned. "Your soul lacks the proper element. Why are you here?"

Ed's eyes widened in surprise. 'Is she alive? No... this is a vision like the one Sect Leader Fang showed me... Maybe a living soul operates it then or something?' He curiously examined her, but he couldn't really tell whether she was real or not. "I have the light element." He replied. "I just don't have access to it at the moment because of some soul damage."

"Oh?" The beautiful woman rose her eyebrow curiously. White light glowed in her eyes as she examined him. "I see." She nodded. "It's rare for a soul to survive such trauma. I don't even remember the last time I've seen a mutated soul..." She continued examining him. "But you'll need to get it healed soon, or you'll eventually just die upon making a breakthrough."

Ed frowned. "Can you explain that in more detail?"

"There isn't much to explain." She shook her head. "Those with split souls such as yours are referred to as soul mutates. They're extremely rare, as very few cultivators would ever be willing to risk splitting their own souls, nor are they capable of doing so. Of the ones that manage to do so, the vast majority die nearly instantly. It takes a very strong will to survive such a thing, and the danger doesn't stop there. If a single one of your soul shards were to be damaged right now, then death is all but guaranteed."

"I see..." He nodded. "And I'm guessing the healing method is related to golden faith energy cultivation?"

"Yes." She confirmed. "Now then, you won't be able to master my law, but you may watch. Perhaps it'll come to you if you ever manage to recover." She rose her hand, creating an ordinary white barrier. "Light holds the most uniform paths of the seven elements, as it is the most stable of all elements." Her barrier turned from white to red as she explained. "Each of the seven paths of light correspond to simple barriers." Her barrier cycled through the colors of blue, green, yellow, silver, and black. Then it repeated the process, moving to white and then red once again. "Each barrier holds its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as its own uses." She lowered her hand, causing the barrier to vanish.

"Other than barriers." She continued. "There are many laws related to the light element, and some of them are the most powerful amongst all laws. Most light cultivators end up walking a path of healing, or they manage to take their barriers even further in strength." She smiled. "These are easy laws that are beneath me."

Suddenly, the entire dark void turned white in color. Shockingly, the light was coming directly from the beautiful ghost-like woman.

"Hmm?" Ed frowned as he looked around. There was something strange about the light, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"You can't sense it without the light element." She shook her head. "A pity." Suddenly, the light vanished, seeming to disappear into the woman's body. "My greatest law is Light Absorption. To master it, one must first master the seven paths of light. Then you must absorb all light in your surroundings into your body. Your strength shall increase dramatically during this time, and your surroundings will become nothing but darkness."

"I see." He nodded. "Is this the law Sect Leader Wan mastered?"

"Wan?" The woman tilted her head in confusion. A white light flashed in her eyes, as if she was searching for information. "Oh, that little girl who visited me half a millennium ago. She seems to have made some progress." She shook her head. "But no, she didn't master my law. She mastered a related law that relies on self-generated light within one's own body. It is far inferior to Light Absorption."

"Oh." Ed nodded in understanding. "By the way, who are you?" He asked.

"Me?" She smiled, appearing somewhat sad at having been asked. "I'm nothing but a remnant of the past." She waved her arm. "You may leave now."

...

The void vanished, and Ed woke with a startle. Taking in his surroundings, he saw he was still in the same office as before. Flair seemed to have woken up just a moment before himself. "Hey." He called. "You use the light element. What did you gain from the vision?" He asked.

Flair rose her hand in the air, creating an ordinary light barrier. "Just this so far." She answered.

"Did you feel anything special when she showed her law?" He questioned.

"Mm." She nodded. "It can't really be explained in words but..." She frowned and tilted her head. "It's like that feeling you get when you don't understand a complicated math problem and finally make headway with it but don't solve it completely. The rest is still kind of blurry, but I know the general direction I need to go in."

"Seems I missed a good opportunity." Ed sighed. He had only gained the knowledge without the feeling due to his current soul. Still, at least he learned more about what had happened to him with his soul splitting. It was comforting to know that he was not the first it had ever happened to and that others had survived such things in the past, though very rarely.

"Let's go." Ed said as he stood up. "It's time we return to the battle."

"Right." Flair agreed.

Together, the two left the Light Tiger Sect, preparing to return to the ongoing battle at Mount Dongling.