"But… I don't know how to use this, Ancestor. I don't think I can even use it, even if I knew how. This is a fifth-grade herb..." Lyra's voice was quiet, with uncertainty creeping in.
Her initial excitement drained as quickly as it came. The reverence she felt for the herb was matched only by the helplessness gnawing in her chest. It was like being handed a divine sword... but lacking the strength to lift it.
Seeing her struggle, Leo smiled gently as his presence steady and comforting he said. "I might have a solution."
"Huh? A solution?" Lyra blinked in confusion.
"Bring me that pendant you picked up in the city two months ago."
Lyra hesitated for just a moment before reaching inside her robe. Her fingers closed around the familiar curve of a jade pendant an item that had seemed to whisper to her soul the moment she found it amidst the clutter of a street vendor's stall. She had bought it on a whim, inexplicably drawn to it.
She handed it over with both hands. "Here, Ancestor."
"Good." Leo accepted it, his expression unreadable for a brief moment as he weighed the soul fragment within.
Then, with a flick of his left wrist, a stalk of luminous spiritual grass bloomed into his palm.
It was the Soulgrass, the same five-grade herb he had handed to Lyra only moments before. Even now, its translucent leaves glimmered faintly, like starlight dancing across a lake at midnight. A subtle humming seemed to radiate from it, as though the plant itself existed in tune with a deeper rhythm of the world.
Lyra's breath caught in her throat.
"That energy…" she whispered.
This time, the Soulgrass's aura was far more concentrated, its essence awakened by Leo's control. Her soul trembled involuntarily after feeling the aura, as if responding to a familiar call.
Leo's expression didn't change. With a flex of his fingers, he conjured a swirl of flame which was chaotic, formless, and strangely silent. The Primal Ember, a flame born of his chaotic cultivation, wrapped around the herb and began burning it away in slow, deliberate spirals.
A pungent sweetness filled the air, rich with life and death. Lyra could only watch her mouth slightly parted.
In the space of a few heartbeats, the Soulgrass liquefied, becoming a thick golden nectar that shimmered faintly in the air.
Then, with a thought Leo willed the jade pendant to rise. It hovered in the air between them, surrounded by the floating essence of the Soulgrass, which wrapped around it like a cocoon of moonlight.
Then—
Hum...
A subtle, resonant vibration echoed from the pendant, like the sound of a bell ringing across a grass plain. Lyra gasped, and even Leo's eyes sharpened as they both sensed something.
A powerful soul presence stirred within.
The weight of the pendant, its age, its density felt like a cold mist pressing down on the skin. To a lesser cultivator, this kind of soul pressure would've been unbearable. A third-grade alchemist might have been shattered from the shock alone.
But the soul-nourishing liquid suppressed it, containing the force just enough to keep the balance.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "You're awake, aren't you? How long do you plan on hiding?"
There was silence. Then—
The air rippled as something ancient stirred.
From the heart of the pendant, a ghostly form began to emerge. A feminine figure, half-transparent, her outline blurred as though sketched in drifting ink. Her long hair floated gently around her, and her eyes bright and crystalline were as sharp as polished glass also cold as starlight.
She studied Leo for a long time. A full dozen breaths passed in silence.
Then, finally, her lips curled.
"To think that in a forgotten place like this… a monster like you would appear."
Her voice was melodic, but not soft.
"Your cultivation is at the Transcendent Realm," she said slowly, "and yet your aura… your presence, it rivals that of a Soul Stage master."
There was something like awe in her tone but also calculation. Her gaze was not that of a spirit in awe of salvation. No this was someone who was already weighing him, assessing the value he might bring to her.
"If word of your existence were to spread…" she continued with a faint smile, "dozens of Nirvana monarchs would flock here, begging you to become their disciple. You could ascend in a single leap, walk the palaces of the central domains, or even enter the Immortal Courts."
Nirvana comes after Ascendant, as a major metamorphosis stage same as a phoenix rising from the ashes. But Leo didn't know too much about the Nirvana stage as it was akin to legend in a small area like Blazecity.
Her voice was velvet-smooth, her tone rich with subtle temptation. She was testing him, prodding for answers to questions she hadn't spoken aloud.
Who are you?
Where did you gain such power?
Can you be used?
Leo chuckled, utterly unmoved. The air shifted slightly as he stared straight into her eyes.
"Nirvana monarchs?" he said lightly. "So what?"
The smile on Kaela's lips froze hearing his answer. That wasn't the reaction she'd expected.
"The system," Leo thought to himself, "is the only thing I need. Why would I be in need for a secondhand shortcut that may just be false promise?"
Kaela's eyes narrowed. She was no fool. As a seventh-grade alchemist in her prime, she had once stood at the apex of a region, revered by nations. And yet… this young man radiated a confidence even her old sect masters had rarely shown.
"Your tone… what do you mean by that?"
Leo's gaze remained placid, but there was an undeniable edge beneath the calm.
"You want me to contact your sect. So they can come rescue you, rebuild your body, and give you a second chance."
"But I'm not your errand boy."
"I don't have time to go running off across the continent," he said with a shrug. "If I wanted something from you, do you really think I'd waste a Soulgrass a fifth-grade soul herb just to wake you up?"
Kaela's ethereal form flickered and her spirit visibly unsettled. She said nothing for there was nothing to say. He was right.
That kind of resource wasn't something even noble clans would toss around casually.
And the more she looked into his eyes, the more she realized just how far behind she was. Her once-proud soul refined through centuries of alchemical mastery was now but a flicker compared to a towering blaze that stood before her.
She relaxed, finally. Or rather… she surrendered the pretense.
"Then… why did you wake me up?"
Leo looked at her for a long moment, then turned to Lyra, who had been standing silently at his side.
"I want you to teach one of my juniors alchemy."
"If you can guide her to reach the rank of fourth-grade alchemist within two years, I'll personally rebuild your body. Or, if you prefer, I'll deliver word to your sect."
Kaela followed his gaze to the girl.
Lyra blinked as she looked at the soul she was keeping with her all this time, uncertain but eager.
"That's her?"
"Indeed."
Kaela floated closer, her brows furrowing as she studied the girl.
"Sixfold soul strength… and high-tier cultivation talent…" she muttered.
A pause.
Then, she slowly shook her head.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, "but I must decline."