Chapter 8 - Soul Resonance

As promised to the Elder, I left with my father for the Martial Arts Pavilion in the morning, two days later. I knew what awaited us once we met the Elder. Heh, he wants to use me as a front for his sect while he operates behind the scenes under the cover of my strength. As I said, Respected Elder, you have a lot to learn about politics. Your plans are nothing compared to the schemes I dealt with on Earth.

Secretly laughing at the thought of the Elder’s reaction, we arrived at the Pavilion’s entrance. Leo was waiting for us, as if he’d been expecting us. He led us to the same room where I had met the Elder two days earlier.

After Leo departed, we entered the room to find the Elder sipping tea. He smiled at me and my father.

“Come, come, Lorvak. Let’s talk over tea. This is a specialty from the capital called ‘Wild Herb Tea’. You can’t find these tea leaves anywhere but the capital, you know,” the Elder declared proudly, as if he had personally made it.

“Thank you, Master. So, are you leaving for the capital today?”

“Ah, yes. The Sect has called for its half-yearly meeting. All the Elders are required to attend; otherwise, they will be disowned. This time is even more critical as they are electing the Patriarch of the Sect from among the various Head Elders. The opposing party has gathered quite a number of followers this time. We are not confident that someone from our faction will be elected.”

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at his statement. I suspected his situation in the Sect was bad, but I didn’t realize he was this desperate. Suddenly, I was looking forward to seeing how he would test my Spirit energy levels.

“Azalon, have you been practicing diligently these past two days?”

“Yes, Elder. I even cultivated the entire night on the day we met.”

“Good, good. You are intelligent and hardworking. Remember, only through hardship can one advance in cultivation. Even if you have a heaven-defying treasure, you will not be able to use it without effort. Now, lend me your hand. I will check the Spirit level in your body.”

I extended my hand with an innocent expression. The Elder grasped my pulse and injected his energy to examine my cultivation. His energy flowed through my entire body before returning to his palm. His expression shifted from expectation to shock, then bewilderment, and finally to faint anger.

Despite my best efforts to maintain a neutral expression, a smirk appeared on my face. Naturally, the Elder noticed. His face reddened with rage. I glanced at my father.

The Elder understood my intention. He couldn’t accept that his plan had been seen through. An almost two-year-old kid intimidating a Head Elder by leveraging his father's position was infuriating.

But the Elder had lived for almost two centuries for a reason. He quickly calmed his emotions, and his face returned to a serene expression.

“Lorvak, I’ll be blunt. Your son cannot comprehend the intricacies of cultivation. He couldn’t even refine the Spirit energy using the basic techniques. I cannot expect him to understand higher-level cultivation techniques at this stage. Perhaps he may have better luck in the future, once he grows up. Maybe the Spirits will grant him their grace.”

My father’s face fell. I had debated whether to reveal everything to my parents. In my previous life, I was an orphan and didn’t know what family felt like. But now, I have a family willing to support me no matter the path I take. Yet, I chose not to reveal everything. It’s not that they wouldn’t believe me, but once they did, they would no longer see me as their son in the same light.

I would become an enigma to them, and I can’t bear the thought of that distance, now that I’ve experienced the warmth of family. So, even though my father looked dejected, I remained silent and watched the drama unfold.

“But don’t worry, Lorvak. Even if Azalon can’t cultivate, he can still become a Knight. If he becomes a high Realm Knight, the kingdom will grant him many favors. Though not at the level of cultivators, for a Knight, these favors will be more than enough.”

“It is as you say, Master. I brought him to you for guidance. If you show him his path, he will follow it.”

“Good. Now, Azalon, I have two techniques to give you. One is a Spirit energy refining technique, and the other is a Body refining technique. I originally intended to gift them to your father as a parting gift from Master to Disciple. But since you have sought my guidance, I will consider you an Initiation Disciple and grant you these techniques.”

“Thank you, Head Elder,” I replied with a deep bow.

“Now listen carefully. I will explain the techniques to you once. You can take these techniques with you and start cultivating at home. But you must give me your word, Azalon, that you will never reveal the fact that you have these techniques or that I am the one who gave them to you. Understand?”

I nodded with a childlike, innocent expression on my face. You could almost see the veins throbbing on the Elder’s forehead.

“The Spirit Refining Technique is called the ‘Soul Resonance Technique’. It is a fairly high-level technique available in the capital. It is powerful but comes with great complexity. It has been gathering dust in the capital’s Martial Arts Pavilion. It caught my attention, but it is of no use to me at the moment. Perhaps someday someone from your family can use it. Here’s the technique script. You need to inject your refined energy into it, and it will imprint itself into your memory. After you use this script, it will turn to dust and exist only in your memory.”

He handed me a green, almost transparent sheet of paper. The letters on it seemed to move as if alive.

“The Body Refining Technique is a mid-ranked technique called the ‘Four Chakras Body Refining Technique’. It is not very complex but is not particularly powerful either. You can consider this technique a supportive art used by cultivators to enhance their bodies to handle excess energy absorption. It was in the same condition as the cultivation technique. However, I believe it will be useful to you. You have a unique physical condition, and this technique may enhance that condition further. It will make you slightly more powerful even among Knights of the same Realm. The method of study is the same as for the cultivation technique.”

He handed me a brown sheet with similar moving characters. However, it felt off compared to the Soul Resonance Technique, which gave me a sense of mystery as if it held all the answers to my questions.

This Body Refining Technique seemed incomplete and somewhat lacking. It felt almost worthless and seemed to lock itself away. Finally, he gave me a simple animal skin book with various unknown characters and their explanations.

“And finally, this is something I wrote in my spare time. It contains basic information on Runes and Rune Formations. If you thoroughly understand this book, you can consider yourself a beginner in Runes and Rune Formations. I hope you can make something out of these gifts.”

“Elder, thank you for your gifts. I will definitely work to comprehend them as quickly as possible to meet your expectations,” I said sincerely.

His eyebrows twitched slightly, but he nodded and turned toward my father. My father’s eyes were filled with gratitude and admiration. I had to refrain from facepalming. My blockheaded father...

“Alright, Lorvak. It’s almost time for my departure. If you ever come to the capital, feel free to visit me at the Sect. I have some preparations to make now. You may leave.”

My father immediately bowed deeply and thanked him. I followed suit, bowing even deeper. After bidding farewell to the Head Elder and Leo, we returned to the mansion.

That evening, I sat on my bed, holding the cultivation and body refining techniques the Elder had given me. I absorbed energy from the surroundings and refined the remaining energy in my body. Instead of transferring all the energy to LILY, I siphoned off two streams and sent them to my palms.

I then inserted the energy into the cultivation technique sheet. As soon as I filled it with energy, a massive flood of information surged into my brain, and the green sheet turned to dust, falling from my hands.

I immediately scanned the information that appeared in my memory. As the Elder had said, it was called the ‘Soul Resonance Technique’. I understood the technique almost immediately. It was quite simple, similar to the basic cultivation technique.

It operates on the premise that the raw energy from the surroundings contains all the soul signatures. Instead of searching for a signature that matches your soul and rejecting all others, the cultivator divides their soul into several fragments. Each fragment is a part of the same soul but with slightly different signatures.

The more you can divide your soul, the more energy you can refine, provided your body can withstand it. The only drawback is that soul diffusion comes with pain more excruciating than death. That’s why, despite the technique’s power, the process is usually hidden away.

The more I thought about it, the more it felt like this technique was tailor-made for me. My body can withstand almost four times the energy of a normal human. If I can divide my soul, the frequency resonance will increase, allowing me to utilize more bandwidth. As for the pain, I have already experienced it once, and if becoming strong means enduring it, I will. Even though the pain will be significant, it will only last for a short while. If I can refine more energy, LILY will recharge faster. By my estimate, the recharge time will be reduced by almost two-thirds.