Chapter 296 Tome

Despite the rarity of what was occurring with Madeleine, something very similar was happening on Ri’s battlefield.

The ice purity path was a difficult one. In fact, it was so difficult that Ri’s mother felt the need to leave behind part of her cultivation for Ri in the form of the cave’s ice pool.

What Ri didn’t know was that the ice purity path wasn’t even the best path for her… Ri’s mother was a kitsune as well, but, kitsune came in different forms. More specifically, the kitsune supreme beasts had thirteen faith seeds. And Ri’s mother? Had the faith seed of the river kitsune – Kawa. However, Ri’s mother had no idea that her daughter had a faith seed!

The reason was simple. Normally faith seeds were easily detectable by high ranking members of families that they originated from. However, Ri’s faith seed had been in opposition with the god level constitution. If Ri had had a normal god level constitution, maybe her mother would have still sensed it. But, a top three god level constitution was already nearly comparable to the weakest faith seeds. So, Ri’s mother had had no idea.

Which of the other twelve faith seeds did Ri have? Ri didn’t know. But, what was clear was that Ri’s affinity for ice purity was nowhere near her mother’s, and yet, she had forced herself to learn all so that she could follow the same path as her mother. In the end, this was why Ri only knew four wills: wind, water, ice and sword.

Although using the term ‘only’ when referring to four wills seemed a bit ridiculous, for a wielder of a faith seed from a supreme beast clan, this was far too little… And it was all because Ri was trying to be someone she wasn’t.

However, Dyon’s words had broken a dam within her. It was as though she found an identity she didn’t have to chase after. She wasn’t chasing a missing father or mother, she wasn’t trying to fill a void in her heart and she wasn’t trying to keep a kingdom together. Right now, she was Ri. Ri Sacharro. She was herself and no one else.

For the first time, Ri’s hair wasn’t the only part of her that darkened, and this time, it wasn’t to a mere dark blue.

Ri’s hair blackened completely, fluttering in the wind wildly as her sword suddenly became sharper. Ri’s tails followed suit, their blue-silver color become a jet-black.

Black-gold tattoos traces their way over her as her tails whipped out violently. Suddenly, Ri’s every step seemed to take her tens of meters at a time. Her sword seemed to slice the very space, not even allowing flesh to bleed before it fell to the ground. In fact, Ri’s beams of ice will no longer seemed to be of the purity path… they held nothing but a dense will for destruction. Black ice jetted out of them, piercing through everything in their path.

It suddenly became very clear to everyone why Ri’s faith seed had conflicted with her god constitution… Elvin Queen’s Reign was about elegance and purity, a path quite similar to celestial will. But, what Ri was displaying right now was an eerie darkness… a path that was the complete opposite.

If Ri’s mother were here, she would know immediately what was going on. Ri’s faith seed was one that hadn’t appeared in hundreds of generations… The kitsune of the Void – Kukan.

**

All the while, Dyon sat in the dark spatial pocket. The pain he was undergoing was unimaginable.

Whenever one of his clones died, he felt everything they did. He felt their organs corrode. He felt their bones crumble to ashes. He felt their skin burn and mummify before ripping apart. And unfortunately, this was an inescapable fate for the clones.

And yet, with every death, Dyon’s smile grew wider. Maybe it was a smile through gritted teeth, gritted teeth that had turned red with blood because of how tightly Dyon clenched them, but it was a smile nonetheless.

The faces of two beautiful women were all Dyon focused his thoughts on. He was sure that they were fighting hard right now, so, he could only do his part.

Behind Dyon, the black and blood red Weapon’s Hall loomed, but its door was ajar as streams of death qi entered it with the death of every clone…

Dyon’s humanoid manifestation was out as well, tattoos dripping in a black-grey aura etching their way onto its skin as Dyon melded more and more and the death humanoid manifestation with it like he had done with his master’s manifestation and her husband’s. After all, it would be a bit ridiculous to have tens of manifestations.

And just like that, another day passed. It had now been a day and a half since Dyon had dived into this rift and he had gained so much.

That being said, Dyon’s soul was completely exhausted. Without anyone to use devour on, he had been sustaining hundreds of 10% clones for hours on end, and that was on top of dealing with death again and again…

But, what Dyon had yet to realize was that the fact he experienced death again and again was what truly made this death core his… His understanding of the concept was at such a level now that even without the affinity and power given by the Florence family technique and his abyssal core, he could very well learn death will to its peak now.

‘I need to rest, or else going to the Epistemic Tower will be useless…’

And so, Dyon did just that, taking his time to replenish his soul properly.

However, there was yet another thing that had escaped Dyon’s notice. In his ring, neatly arranged among his important items, the ‘ranking’ tome had been glowing faintly with a black aura. When its pages flipped opened, it landed on the [dao of array alchemy] … but, the array was completely black now!

But then, it suddenly reverted to its original form. The pages of the tome closed, silently resting in the space Dyon left it.