Hello, dear readers! Here's your weekly chapter!
The first case of my new detective story is available on youtube, along with the first chapter being available on patre0n if you're interested. it's a story following a detective and a new police officer who partner together to resolve crimes committed or linked to extraordinary beings. The setting is a 1920 style parallel world.
Do check the first case of 'Everlight City's Extraordinary Investigations' : https://youtu.be/BKCr9mg4OeQ
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Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
As time passed, Demian could feel his Elemental Void Rings absorbing more and more Pure Void Energy from his Chaos Soul Ring, slowly tending toward a balance between his Water Elemental Energy and Void Energy.
That was the process of cultivation for Void Seed cultivators, though it would normally involve only one Ring during the Rank's breakthrough.
For each level in the Void Seed Rank, one Ring would attain balance between Elemental Qi and Void Qi before the former started to merge with the cultivator's Core.
Each Ring merged would provoke an overall transformation, both in terms of quantity and quality of a cultivator's Lower Core, Physique and Soul Power, until the nine Rings were all fused into the Core, nourishing the 'Void Seed' until the latter germinated into a 'Void Sapling'.
Although the process sounded simple in theory, in practice it was anything but.
Indeed, to break through one level, hundreds of years were needed, and that was with rare resources, high talent, comprehension, a great foundation, and heaven-defying luck.
Although most of those cultivators at that Rank could be considered talented, each cultivation Rank was like a crucible, where missing a little bit would condemn them to be stopped at a certain level for the rest of their lives.
Any locked main acupoint, hidden injuries, accumulated impurities, lacking heart realm, etc., increased the difficulty of not only breaking through to the Void Seed Rank itself, but also progressing through it.
Of course, that was for normal geniuses.
For Demian and the girls, not only did they not encounter bottlenecks, but the Immortal Runes inscribed on their Elemental Rings were so high level that whether it was the balance, Elemental Qi control, Void QI absorption, etc., everything was happening naturally, with no need for them to act themselves.
In a way, it felt more akin to natural growth rather than deliberate cultivation.
Shaking his head inwardly, Demian contemplated his situation while sensing his own state.
'The nine rings are acting together... Does that mean I've got the equivalent of the Ninth Level Void Seed Rank's cultivation speed? Then again, if you put my Perks in the equation, it should be beyond that...'
Although the transformation was slow, the young man's perception told him that with each second passing by, his strength was growing exponentially, though it was difficult to know the exact degree without practical testing.
After all, before leaving for their mission, they were only at the Peak Foundation Building level, which meant that their perception and strength made it impossible to discern the combat strength of those at Tier 4 and 5.
Still, a rough estimate should put his and the girls' fighting strength around the Late Tier 4, and that was with them having just reached the Void Seed Rank, without time to master their newly increased strength.
After feeling his cultivation stabilize somewhat, Demian's eyes fluttered open, letting out a breath of impure Qi that unwittingly broke the First Void Layer and unveiled the Second Layer behind it.
It only lasted a brief moment before the Void Qi Sea automatically repaired the broken Layer, leaving the young man feeling a mix of both amusement and awe at his current power.
In his senses, everything around him felt fragile, as if any sudden movement on his part could break reality around him.
In truth, that was why Tier 4 and above cultivators battled in the corresponding Void Layers, as the damage they could inflict was so high that the Surface Layer would have turned into a field of ruins by now otherwise.
Even the weakest Void Seed cultivator was more deadly than hydrogen bombs.
In front of them, cultivator cities were exceedingly fragile, let alone Mortal ones.
As for Late Void Seed cultivators, even those Large Outer Islands could be devastated after a few Spells.
Thus, Demian, who had his strength increase so quickly, needed to be extremely careful until he was able to fully master his own power.
Fortunately, with his comprehension and his Perks, it would not take too long.
After that bout of contemplation, Demian looked around, seeing the three Mikhailov women still in the midst of their own breakthrough, while the Secret Realm had almost disappeared from his perception.
As something came to him, he checked his ID token, finding that an entire month had gone by already as they were busy with their own breakthrough.
Letting out a sigh, Demian thought.
'Truly, the higher you go, the more time loses its meaning. Who knows if once we become Immortals, a single cultivation session or breakthrough could take thousands of years at a time or even longer...?'
Shaking his head slightly, the young man thought.
'Forget it. As long as I keep my true heart, all of those problems aren't problems. Instead, I'd better think about what our next step will be.'
Indeed, without needing to actively cultivate, the four people's schedules were bound to be much emptier.
Aside from that, even the previously daunting threat of the Mid Tier 5 Whale Demon virtually vanished now that he knew it would merely take a few decades to reach Tier 5 and most likely less than a hundred years after that to reach Mid Tier 5.
Feeling a bit lost for a moment, Demian's gaze then turned toward the location of the previous Void Cracks, his thoughts turning toward the mysterious Immortal Realm.
'With our current cultivation speed, it seems like it won't be long before we ascend... Thinking about it, the Mortal World has become somewhat like the newbie village for us, while our true battlefield has shifted to the Immortal Realm. Grasping Time and Space, overturning Worlds and controlling reincarnation... This is where we belong!'
Unwittingly, his mind was progressively falling into a special state of enlightenment, with fissures appearing slowly on his Heart Seed.
Many images went through his mind, old memories from his past and current life, all of his choices, whether they were morally good, bad, or neither, appeared in front of him.
He recalled all the people he met, those he befriended, those he killed, and those he loved dearly.
He retraced his path inwardly, from a weak mortal to his current divine-like powers, and from feeling powerless to regarding the Mortal World as a fragile place.
Cracks continued spreading on the Heart Seed, but there seemed to be something lacking, a catalyst of sorts.
At that moment, a singular thought appeared in his mind.
'Ascending to the Immortal Realm with my wives and other loved ones, exploring and battling other Immortals... That's my Path!'
That last realization was the last straw, triggering an incredible transformation inside him.
Indeed, the heart seed suddenly shattered, unveiling a sublime Divine Lotus sapling previously hidden inside it.
The broken seed pieces, however, were not wasted, as the lotus roots brushed against them before starting to absorb the Heart Energy they contained until those broken pieces vanished, turning into nourishment for the magnificent nine-petalled lotus left behind.
The lotus radiated an aura of purity and majesty, its golden white color resembling a divine object.
At the beginning, the sapling was relatively small, but with the absorption of the seed fragments, it quickly achieved maturity, its energy starting to wash over Demian's entire being.
A massive Lotus phenomenon also appeared in the Void, creating a commotion that alerted every Peak Tier 5 being whose location was relatively close.
An unknown distance from the Mikhailovs' location, a man's eyes fluttered open.
Turning his gaze toward the direction where those energy fluctuations came from, the man's eyes became filled with a tinge of envy as he muttered.
"The 'Lotus Blooming' phenomenon... That fellow Peak Tier 5's odds of reaching the Transcendent Rank have increased exponentially... How envious..."
After a brief moment, the mysterious man shook his head slightly before closing his eyes once more and resuming his comprehension state.
At his level, mere energy absorption was useless, and only through comprehending a complete Elemental Law could he hope to break through to Tier 6.
As for attaining the Heart cultivation's Third level called 'Lotus Blooming', that was not something he could hope to achieve by simply striving for it.
The First Level, Red Dust, was 'knowing through experience'.
The Second Level, Refining Seed, was 'understanding through realization'.
The Third Layer, Lotus Blooming, was 'anchoring through embodying'.
As for the mysterious Fourth Level, Flawless like Water, it was something that only those Peak Transcendent could hope to touch, and not something that a mere Peak Tier 5 cultivator like him could speculate about.
Aside from that unknown man, several other Peak Tier 5 Demon Beasts, Spirit Beasts, Evil and Orthodox Cultivators, whose cultivation prowess was similar to that of the man, were able to sense the appearance of that majestic Divine Lotus, though none made a move to find its origin.
After all, in their minds, only someone at their level could hope to achieve that feat, and none of them wanted to risk injuring their foundation by facing an unknown threat just for a slim chance at gaining something useful for them, which would decrease their already slim chance of breakthrough to Tier 6.
As for those at the Late Void Sapling Stage and below, none could sense anything aside from the Federation's Core Elders, who felt a vague fluctuation, but their relatively low cultivation and the use of Demian's Soul Shield Perk resulted in them not being able to perceive much.
Of course, if it were so for those at Tier 5, it would certainly be even more potent against those at Tier 4.
Indeed, even Sergei and Ling, who were still investigating the Mikhailovs' disappearance not too far from the latter's current location, were completely clueless about what was happening not far from them.
Fortunately, the two were not too worried as the secondary bond they shared with Demian told them that he was more than fine, evidenced by the cultivation speed feedback growing exponentially stronger over the last few months.
Back to Demian.
Unaware of the reactions of others to his breakthrough, the young man was too busy experiencing the powerful mental and physical sublimation to pay any attention to the outside world.
If before, he had felt confident in reaching the Peak of the Void Seed Rank in two or three decades, the current heart breakthrough was lowering that estimation by a few times as its effects were progressively becoming apparent.
Aside from the obvious talent and comprehension elevation, he could sense that his bloodline was being nurtured at a speed dozens or even hundreds of times faster than before.
Previously, although the nurturing was already quick, Demian could sense that he would need to reach the Peak of Tier 4, or even attain Tier 5, to fully elevate his bloodline.
However, the unexpected Heart breakthrough seemed to expedite the process massively.
As time passed slowly, a torrent of unknown energy kept falling from the Lotus above his head into his body, with that same energy being then absorbed and elevated by the Chaos Soul Ring to become a kind of Immortal Qi before being absorbed by every cell of his body along with his own Soul, propelling his Life level to an unknown height.
After what seemed both like decades and a mere second, his bloodline reached a certain threshold before the metaphorical barrier stopping its evolution suddenly crumbled, triggering a new round of transformation inside him.
Waves of uncontrollable Qi fluctuations started leaking from his body, breaking the First Void Layer even more quickly than previously, which automatically brought him to the Second Void Layer.
However, even that Second Layer was starting to shake, as if it were about to collapse with a slightly stronger push.
Now, normally, the Peak Void Seed Rank's strength would plateau at the Peak of the Second Void Layer.
In other words, with no external items, someone at that level could at most barely shake the Second Void Layer, but breaking it was impossible.
However, what was currently happening was beyond 'barely shaking' the Void Layer, and although it was still far from truly breaking it, it did mean that the young man only needed to leak some energy to rattle those at the Peak of Tier 4.
Of course, it was beyond using his mere Aura and included some Elemental Qi, Soul Qi, Blood Qi, and even a level of Immortal Qi suppression within it, all of it due to the breakthrough process he was experiencing.
As his Elementary Human bloodline finally elevated to the Immortal-Grade High Human Bloodline, Demian felt a Heaven-shattering change inside him.
It was akin to being reborn, as if he had been blind and had now regained his sight, as if he had been deaf and had now regained his hearing, or had been paralyzed and had now regained his mobility.
Everything around him felt clearer, deeper, and purer.
When previously he had been able to sense and direct the Water Elemental Qi and Void Qi dancing around his body, he was now able to directly control other Elemental Qi with the same ease as he had previously been able to with Water Elemental Qi.
Normally, unless one had a high Elemental Affinity with a particular Element, that was something impossible to achieve.
Of course, it was still possible to move them indirectly through the use of a cultivator's own Elemental Qi, but that was a completely different concept.
Only those Transcendent who had mastered Elemental Laws could do so, and that was only if they actually mastered the Law of said Element.
What did it mean for Demian?
From control came perception, which meant that his path through the Transcendent Rank, where he would need to master all Nine Elemental Laws, would become much smoother.
As for Water Elemental Qi, his perception had gone a layer further, with his mind sensing some blurry principles from it, as if the Water Law was being laid bare in front of him to comprehend at his leisure.
Of course, 'laid bare' might be a bit exaggerated, but saying that the previously closed door had opened a crack would be very accurate.
After all, his own Water intent had already reached the Peak of Heavenly Grade, and the next step would be comprehending the full Water Law.
Unfortunately, his current Tier 4 cultivation was completely insufficient to achieve that goal, unless his Essence was further elevated, which would in turn elevate his perception.
However, evolving a Mortal-Grade bloodline into an Immortal-Grade one may be able to do the trick, though it was unknown which of his cultivation or comprehension would reach the next Rank first.
While the young man was sensing the changes inside him, unbeknownst to him, his double breakthrough had also triggered a massive reaction inside the three Mikhailov women, each gaining benefits beyond what they had previously expected.
Seraphine, who was busy observing the Void Qi and Dark Qi being absorbed in her Core Elemental Rings, suddenly fell into a completely unexpected state of enlightenment.
A slew of memories from her birth to her present self washed over her mind, though each of them was surprisingly clear, as if time had slowed to a crawl to allow for her contemplation.
She was still extremely young—merely 24 years old—especially for cultivators, and even more for those at Tier 4.
In her eyes, however, it felt so long.
Happiness and Sadness, Love and Loss, truths and lies, Life and Death...
The worst time of her life was when she lost her grand-parents, which was also the day she lost her sight, and almost her life, if not for her sister helping her get out of the building that had been crumbling on itself at the time.
The happiest moment was when Demian accepted her feelings, and the two bonded through their Souls, granting her the comfort to know that no matter what would happen in the future, she would never feel lonely again.
Those two memories, though completely opposite, made her realize what she had been seeking all along.
She wanted power and longevity, not for their own sake, but to be able to enjoy her man's love and her family's care.
That was her Path, maybe not overly original, but nonetheless true.
Reaching the Peak of the Mortal World?
There were still stronger Immortals above, and lifespan, though long, was ultimately limited.
No, what she wanted was Immortality, with its strength and endless longevity.
At that moment, a lock seemed to have broken in her Soul, and a set of unknown memories appeared in her mind before swiftly integrating itself with her previous ones.
A name that felt both familiar and unfamiliar escaped Seraphine's lips.
"Syllia Shaynore, Transcendent of the Shadow Void Elf Race..."
In a strange twist, the young dark elf had awakened her past life's memories when her identity was that of the Shadow Void Elf's Supreme Elder, a Peak Transcendent of the Earth World, a woman who had lived for a few million years.
Having lived for so long, Seraphine's own memories and personality should have been overwritten completely, turning 'Seraphine Mikhailov' into a beautiful but extremely brief memory in Syllia's own.
However, the result was actually different, with both personalities merging in equal proportion.
In other words, she could now be considered both as Seraphine and Syllia, a situation that should have been impossible normally, but reality was reality.
With a wry smile on her face, the dark elf pondered.
'Is it because of that lad's Perks... Well, he's my husband now, I guess... Funny that I refused the advances of all those peak geniuses back then and now my reincarnation chose a young 19-year-old lad... I don't know how I should feel...'
Although she grumbled inwardly, whether it was Seraphine's side or Syllia's side, none of them were dissatisfied with their choices as Demian met all their expectations and even went beyond them.
His only 'flaws' were his slight inexperience due to his young age and the fact that she could not be his only wife.
However, the former would be resolved with time, and the latter was something she had made peace with long ago.
As Demian's handsome face appeared in her mind, another thought came to her.
'If things keep going that way, I might be able to avenge my people... That damn Immortal Demon...'
A brief moment later, she chose to shove that thought to the side as she contemplated inwardly.
'Let's forget it. Syllia is dead, and now I am Seraphine. As for that old enemy, It's best not to think about it for now. After all, with so much time having passed, his strength has most likely increased even more. I wasn't his match back then, let alone now. Anyway, for now, I'm in the dark, and he's in the light, so there's no need to be impatient...'
As she pondered inwardly, her body was undergoing another round of transformation.
Similar to Demian's state, the Heart Seed inside her Soul Space broke into pieces before a magnificent Divine Lotus bloomed both in its place and above her head, with her sister and mother also experiencing the same phenomenon.
Having four 'Lotus Blooming' anomalies was something that rarely, if ever, happened, prompting those previously uninterested Peak Tier 5 cultivators to pay more attention to their origin.
However, unlike the first one, those three other phenomena seemed veiled under an impenetrable fog, and those people and beasts could only sense a hint of fluctuation without being able to pinpoint its location.
Indeed, with Demian's Immortal-Grade bloodline awakened, his Soul Shield Perk had also experienced another upgrade, capable of shielding both his and his wives' Aura from Tier 4 and Tier 5 cultivators.
Of course, with the Lotus Blooming anomaly being enormous, it was difficult to hide it from those whose comprehension had brushed against Elemental Laws, like those at Peak Tier 5.
Actually, if there had been any Tier 6 Transcendent close by, they would have seen through the Shield instantly, but those cultivators were either deep on the Main Continent or in the Endless Sea Abyss, both being located impossibly far from the Federation.
Although their curiosity was now piqued— though greed would be more accurate for those few Demons and Devils—there was no lead to follow, so they had to give up on any untoward thoughts, simply keeping the strange event in mind before resuming their own cultivation.
On the Mikhailovs' side.
While Seraphine was adjusting to her new 'identity', Brynhild was also reviewing her whole life.
At first, she had been pretty critical of herself and the choices she had made, believing that many of her past decisions had been mistakes she could have avoided.
When her loved ones were in danger, she blamed herself for her weakness, believing that by training more, she could have protected them better.
When her sister told her that she knew about Bryn's feelings for Demian and that Sera was still willing to share him with her, she blamed herself for being greedy and lustful, putting her sister's love life in peril because of her own selfishness.
When Demian told her that he found her beautiful, despite her large muscles that many men and women would find disgraceful for a woman to have, she did not believe him, thinking that his words merely stemmed from his kind nature, though she still blamed herself for hoping they were true.
Her whole life, she had constantly blamed herself, even when it had nothing to do with her, or when she did not know any better.
As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.
However, who could always guess the right path to take?
Whether it was the past or the future, both were, in the end, merely figments of one's imagination, simple memories that ended up shaping our present.
Thus, why harp on what did not exist and would never exist?
Wasn't it better to listen to your Heart, experiment, make mistakes and learn from them?
Truly, saying that Bryn had made no mistake would be a lie, but she definitely did what she believed was right at the time.
Should she have trained harder?
She had already been training hard at the time and could not have guessed that some Tier 2 superhumans would fight close to their house, and even if she did and trained like a madwoman, at most she could have reached Tier 1 strength.
Against Tier 2 cultivators, Tier 1 cultivators were as weak as insects.
Should she have refused her sister's proposition?
If she did, would that make her sister and Demian happy?
Would that make HER happy?
Of course not!
Once romantic feelings appeared, especially since they would all stay together most of the time, if nothing was done, every party would end up miserable.
Thus, the four of them would certainly break up, with Demian and Sera staying together while her mother and she would leave to avoid deepening their pain further.
Even Seraphine, despite her selfishness, would not enjoy the situation.
Knowing all that, and with both Sera offering and Demian accepting, why should Bryn blame herself for wanting to be cherished by the man of her dreams?
Should she have crushed her own hope of finding someone who truly appreciated her for both who she was and how she looked?
Different people had different tastes, so why could the man she loved not appreciate how she looked?
To be honest, none of the three Mikhailov women looked alike, whether it was their skin colors, physical frames, facial traits, or even personalities, and finding someone who would love each of them should have been extremely hard.
Only lusting after their bodies, that was easy.
But truly love them?
However, after she bonded with him, she realized that his feelings for the three were genuine and not merely words to comfort them.
Still, she kept a small barrier in her heart, though she now realized that it was not really against him, but instead it was against her own feelings.
She had been scared.
Scared of loving and of being loved, of trusting and of being betrayed, of being able to protect and failing to protect...
She... Had been scared...
It felt strange now that she was facing it, as if the fear did not come from herself but from someone else.
It was... silly...
At that moment, she heard an ethereal crack sound, as if an invisible barrier had unwittingly crumbled, letting out a stream of memories inside her mind, while her Heart Seed cracked open, unveiling the Divine Lotus inside.
Viktoria Petrov.
A simple name, for someone who experienced some not-so-simple events during her life.
She was five when she, along with her mother, left her motherland, Russia, for the USA, the so-called land of the free.
For years, the little girl had not understood why they had had to leave their country for a city like New York, where everything felt cold and cheerless.
However, she had learned much later that, unbeknownst to Viktoria, her father had started going down a dark path, becoming more and more violent, and with too many connections in the Russian mob, they had to leave to avoid a tragedy.
Well, tragedy still struck, but the victim was neither her mother nor herself.
Instead, it was a nice man, someone who had been very kind to her and her mother and whom she had hoped would become her father.
That way, she could have told the children at school that she had not been abandoned by her father because she was a bad girl.
See?
She also had a father!
But her hope was crushed that day, or more specifically, night, when an unknown man intruded in their apartment, threatening them with a gun.
At that time, the nice man fought with the other bad man and saved Viktoria and her mother, but then, there was a lot of blood and the nice man never woke up, and her mother was crying, and she was also crying and...
Years passed by after that day.
Viktoria went to college, married a nice man, and had a few children with him.
She lived until the age of respectable age of 76, when her heart stopped beating, too tired to continue beating, too tired to continue living.
A traumatic start, and an uneventful following, now recalling those 76 years of memories, it felt somewhat empty, as if a part of her had also died that night with that nice man...
She had never spoken of him again, but she had also never forgotten him.
His name was...
"Damian Knight."
When those two words left her lips, uncontrollable tears started running down her cheeks, though she was unsure if they were from the deep sadness turned fear that she had carried through one life to the next, or the happiness she was now experiencing, now that she realized that she had found the nice man that had been constantly in her heart for 70 years in her previous life.
Some things seemed destined, unveiled only when one was ready to see them for what they were.
Her eyelids fluttered open before her eyes swiftly moved toward the supremely handsome man, the nice man in her heart, who had now become her husband.
Her gaze softened, and with a tone filled with love, she sent a Voice Transmission to his ears.
["I love you, Damian."]
Interestingly, she not only uttered these words in English but also changed her voice to match Viktoria's 7-year-old own, startling the young man from his inner contemplation.
However, before he could turn his head in her direction, she had already closed her eyes, a playful grin on her face, as her attention had now shifted to her Bloodline evolution.
Backtracking a bit.
While her two daughters were going through their respective transformations, Adeliya was experiencing her entire life again, though this time it was as a mere witness.
Some would say she had been lucky for being born into wealth, others that she had been cursed for losing her previous husband, her sister, and her own parents through some freak accidents and unwanted casualties.
Even her daughters had been close to dying, with her youngest losing her eyes a few years prior, the fragile organs punctured by falling debris.
As for herself, she had incurred some lifelong injuries that would have forced her to painfully limp for the rest of her life.
It had been tough for her, especially since she had been a lone and weak woman, having to raise three children on her own in a world that was teeming with deadly dangers.
For a long while, she had lost hope, putting all her aspirations and needs aside, which left her numb to everything around her.
However, she had started to change the day Demian had awakened his memories and powers.
It was subtle at first, but in hindsight, it was that day that her attraction for him started.
At first, she had denied it, subconsciously, then consciously, until she could not lie to herself anymore.
Some would call her shameless for falling in love with an 18-year-old, especially someone she had raised since he was a baby, but at that point, it was not something she had been able to control.
It came from somewhere deep inside her, akin to an old obsession she had previously not known about.
Indeed, she had become obsessed with him, from his appearance, to his gestures, from his smell to his warm aura...
He was... intoxicating...
He helped her find her own happiness again.
It may sound foolish, but he was her path, and she would make damn sure she would never lose him again, striving for unstoppable strength and an endless lifespan.
She would become Immortal to make sure she would never lose him.
Never again!
Feeling puzzled, she wondered inwardly.
'Why am I thinking 'never again'?'
Similarly to her two daughters, these words triggered a massive transformation, breaking a barrier located in her own Soul that she had never known was there before.
As soon as the barrier crumbled, 60-odd years of memories appeared in her mind, with a name that brought with it the answers she had been looking for a few years now.
Sofia Petrov.