Chapter 49: Spreading Cultivation

Chapter 49: Spreading Cultivation

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It seems that Leviathan worked very fast. I hadn’t gone to check on him yet, but he was working hard and diligently. In just a day, he was already gathering me some Faith. He was a good worker. He was paying his sentence well enough. I’ll let this Faith accumulate until I can use it again to upgrade my Divinity Tree.

I am fairly sure the next Upgrade might help my Divinity increase its rank or perhaps its stage a bit more. I would have simply not cared about these things before, but seeing how powerful a Divinity can be and seeing how it was something I didn’t have before, which wasn’t even present within the world of Murim, it is of vital importance to grow it.

I might have been fighting all kinds of weaklings until now, but I want to continue growing stronger because I know there is something out there capable of killing me. The Heavenly Will was not slain. I only escaped his grasp.

And if this cosmos is so vast as for dimensions and other realities to exist, the presence of beings that could match my power or even surpass it is not outside of possibilities.

Maybe I am paranoid or something, but after seeing how vast everything truly was after stepping out of an already vast world such as Murim, being ready for anything should be my priority.

Two gods have been slain, but there are at least a hundred more to go for; maybe some might not be the same as the others, and I might even ally with a few if their sins are not big enough.

But even then, the number of foes I must fight remains over a hundred, and each one will continuously have more incredible and strange abilities.

Growing stronger is a priority, so I can adapt to any situation.

I wish I could simply chill with my family, but unfortunately, the tower exists.

“Come here now; touch the tree. Yeah, just like that.”

After the talk with the elder, I ended up taking a decision. I wanted every single member of this tribe to awaken their innate potential. Even if some weren’t fighters, they could be useful in other ways for their tribe. So I opened a portal to my Inner Realm and let every person touch the Spirit Tree.Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com

Just like that, after an hour and a half, all of the members of the tribe awakened Spiritual Hearts and gained their unique Spirit Abilities. Some were similar to Hekita, others could wield elemental spirit energies. Others could summon a single elemental spirit; some could summon spiritual weapons, armor, or other tools.

The possibilities for how the powers of the Spiritual Hearts manifested were almost endless. I was unable to form one myself, as this was a power of their bloodline and ancestry. I could try to imitate it, but I felt it was not really worth it.

Instead, I simply absorbed the Spiritual Energy and made it interact with my Mana and other energies, attempting to refine my Primordial Venerable Essence.

And it worked; the dew drops I often created rather slowly were now being made even quicker than before. At least three were fast. However, that wasn’t where it ended; the new dew drops were formed differently than before, had a small rainbow-colored aura, and were loaded with spirit energy.

It persisted despite having been merely used as fuel, showing how interesting this energy is. Could it give new abilities or effects to already existing powers? I’ll have to try them out later once I fight a slightly worthy opponent; a wild monster shouldn’t really be something I waste my strongest abilities against.

“This is amazing...”

“Our latent power—we always had this within us?”

“I never thought this was a thing!”

“Woah, did I conjure some spirit flame?!”

“Mama, look! I made a bird out of winds!”

It would be an understatement to say that the people weren’t excited about their newly discovered spiritual powers. My family had also naturally tapped into that. My mates, the twins, had touched the tree right after Hekita, and then even their grandmother, who didn’t really want to fight anymore.

They awakened unique abilities that were somehow attuned to their cultivation. Their inner martial core fused with the spiritual heart and gained a crystalline cover around it instead of having two cores inside of their bodies.

“I see, interesting!” I nodded. “A spear is a good weapon with good range. It keeps you safer, as you can always have some space between your foe and yourself. If you’re precise, you can strike a weak point and deal massive damage. However. It can also be easily overpowered. A strong strike into its handle can break a spear. Here, let me give you one. Take this.” I gave him a pitch-black spear with a red jewel at the end.

“T-This is...?!” He was shocked.

“I am not gifting it to you... I am renting it to you.” I smiled. “It is a spear made with the black scales of a powerful dragon. That jewel is the core of a Blazing Ogre, it can let you release some flames with each strike.” I said. “That’s all you’ll get. This spear shouldn’t easily break.”

“Thank you, sister-in-law.” He said with eyes full of admiration.

“Who are you calling your sister-in-law?!” I roared back. “You’re not getting married to my sister! Now, show me you’re worthy of doing that.”

“Yes!” He nodded. “I’ll get going once you move to the second floor.”

“Good.” I nodded. “Ruby?”

“Y-Yes?” She wondered, looking at me while half-expecting some reprimand from me.

“He’s good.” I nodded at her.

“Eh? Ah...” She quickly realized what I meant.

“Sorry for judging him badly before. He’s an alright man.” I patted her shoulders, as Juan had already walked away. He began practicing his spear techniques with the other warriors of the tribe. I’ve seen him spar with them sometimes.

“Oh, it’s ok...” She said. “Did you have bad experiences with men before, big sis? I know you’re lesbian, but you never really were this wary of guys.”

“Maybe... It was a long life, full of hardships after all.” I sighed. “It was a world completely and utterly dominated by men that treated women as nothing but tools, materials, or... just slaves to satisfy their libido.”

“Ugh...” Ruby sighed. “D-Did something bad happen to you? Did you...?”

“No, nothing like that.” I smiled back at her. “I fought tooth and nail for them to never do anything to me in that regard. But I still had bad experiences in other forms: beatings, being tricked, being betrayed... Women had barely stood in that hellish world; despite being able to grow stronger themselves, it was a society made around discriminating against and using women.”

“Sounds worse than fucking Earth, Jesus.” Ruby groaned, patting my shoulders. “Did you... you change that world, right?”

“Of course I did.” I smiled. “Once I took over it, all such traditions, all of such beliefs. They died alongside all the old men who commanded them. I tried to create a world where both genders could stand on equal terms. And where bloodshed and destruction weren’t daily occurrences that you had to get used to, I protected that world. Despite hating it deep down, there was also a part of myself that grew to love it.”

“...” Ruby gasped, looking into my slightly sorrowful eyes. “Do you miss that world?”

“Not at all, haha.” I laughed. “There were very few good memories about such a world, but I do think about it sometimes. If not always, anyway, let’s get this over with. You and Mom are getting to Rank 3 now.”

“That fast?!” Ruby asked.

“Indeed. Now follow me.” I said. “Mother, please come with me!”

“Huh? Katherine, what is it?” She followed me.

As we entered the tent, I decided to finally let them take another step into their cultivation journey.

It was time for Rank 3 to let them forge their own Physiques.

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