"…my karmic wheel?" Qiren murmured.
His eyes were wide as they returned to their normal state, the all-white glow fading away.
Blink. Blink.
He closed and opened them again as his irises reformed—still fragile—the sensory light-blindness brought on by his wyrm traits gradually receding.
His skull sealed shut.
The bone crown sank back in, the flames atop his head extinguishing.
The exoskeletal armor along his arm and tail faded as well, leaving only his burnt, disheveled hair as the final remnant of his wyrm transformation.
His thoughts drifted back to their conversation at the chasm.
Slowly, a clearer picture formed from what he'd been told.
"Though most don't engage in physical conflict,"
Yīnluò had said after explaining the workings of True Adept territories and social structures, "they instead focus on mass soul consumption and treasure collection in hopes of completing their karmic wheels."
"Karmic wheel?" he'd asked. She nodded.
"You might not have experienced it yet," she continued, "since the conditions are quite harsh."
"How so?" he asked, intrigued by the idea of extending his own limits.
He knew his Qi capacity was capped at four hundred and ten, but he'd always assumed that was simply the standard.
He'd also begun to wonder whether his Negative Karma had a limit at all.
He'd never seen one—but that might have been because he constantly expended it crafting talismans, never once stepping back long enough to see whether it would naturally stop increasing.
Yīnluò went on, "As I said, most True Adepts focus on soul consumption and treasure collection because those two can overload your current Daoist Aperture and Spirit Core, forcing them past their limits."
He stared at her, confused, and she realized she might have rushed her explanation.
"You see, even when you reach your natural limits, you can still cultivate more energy," she said. "You just can't store it. It simply leaks out. That's why most consume large quantities of souls and gather treasures—to stay constantly near their maximum limits."
She paused before continuing.
"If they can find where that excess leaks, they can attempt to form a secondary Qi reservoir—one that operates independently, with its own maximum capacity. You can even customize your karmic circle."
She raised a finger, her expression turning instructive.
"A demon with a much higher Qi output can continue developing along a Qi-driven path, raising their ceiling by repeatedly breaking their Daoist Aperture. They advance along their crystal array by awakening only Apertures that strengthen Qi, never Spirit Cores—deliberately neglecting karma."
"This gives demons the ability to choose how they grow—balancing weaknesses, strengthening a single aspect, or building more complex patterns to better mix Qi and karma, eventually lighting up all thirty-six crystal fragments in preparation for breaking through into late Qi Refinement and, later, the Foundation Realm."
So treasures function like mana recovery items, while souls act as limit breakers?
"I think I understand," he said slowly. "But when you say mass soul consumption… that means the number of souls an Adept needs to attempt this is staggering, right?"
She nodded. "It varies greatly from demon to demon. Personally, I experienced it first with my tenth soul—and a second time at my ninetieth."
She hesitated.
"But both times, I only gained a low-rank crystal fragment to resonate with. It gave me a small increase in my Qi and Karma reserves."
Her head lowered.
"And I've never been able to reach that state of enlightenment again."
Below them, rivers of Azure Flames flowed clear as day, the tides washing away their voices.
Swishhhhh. Swishhhhh~
In the present, Qiren finally became aware of his situation.
He took a moment to process everything that had come back to him.
How long did I fall asleep for?
—!?
He suddenly grabbed the wall as his feet staggered beneath him.
His vision swept forward, his gaze snapping to his formation.
The talismans lay scattered across the floor.
Unable to steady himself, he moved toward the center—and saw Yīnluò.
Her mask was disjointed, and his heart nearly leapt from his chest as he thought her soul had fully left her body.
He was about to count his losses when her chest moved.
There—his orange talisman still flickered with embers, weak but persistent. It had cracked in places, white light leaking through the fractures.
"Thank goodness it still held," he murmured, his wings fluttering.
He hovered closer, reaching into his pouch.
He pulled out another orange talisman and placed it over the first.
It released a pulse of Qi that stimulated her heart, delivering a steady stream of compressions fueled by demonic essence—keeping her alive even as her soul struggled to depart.
"Tier Two Compressions," he murmured.
The talisman pulsed harder.
Her breathing gradually stabilized, Qiren's demonic life support helping her withstand the poisons in her system as his Qi slowly annihilated the spreading toxins.
He stared at her, then called for his Abyssal Ash. His scarf smoked as ash drifted forward, forming a scroll in midair.
Applicable Curses & Blessings
Unnamed Bad Luck Spirit Curse (Truly Fragmented)
Despair: 0.7
Hope: 7.6
Fear: 146.8
Pain: 74
30 Years of Life Experience
(Certain emotions, conditions, knowledge, experiences, spirits, blessings, or curses may be transferred.)
Treasures
• Six Rings of Misfortune (Tier 1 – Cursed Objects)
• Demonic Parchment Ash-Strip (Tier 1 – Hellish Object)
• Twisted Fruit of Rage (Tier 2 – Cursed Object)
• Mariadal Talismans: A subcategory encompassing all demonic-type talisman treasures in your possession, ranked from Tier 1 Cursed/Hellish Objects to Tier 4 Cursed/Hellish Objects.
Dao Authorities: Contract Manifesting, Mortal-Grade Occultism, Toxin Explosion. Hive Farther.
Authority: Contract Manifesting
By fully merging the rare residual ash granted by the hellish object Demonic Parchment Ash-Strip into your Azure Flames Dao, you have been acknowledged by The Endless Nether Abyss.
Authority: Mortal-Grade Occultism
A heightened state of mastery granted by the broken authority of the newly born Shamanic Dao within you over low-grade shamanic arts—granting exceptional success in curses, blessings, hexes, and ritual workings.
Authority: Toxin Secretion
By infusing Qi through your frame, natural poisonous gases will secrete from your pores, mouth, or internal organs at will. With this Infernal Bite Dao, it is possible to trigger medium- to large-scale toxic detonations at will.
Authority: Hive Father
A lesser authority given to male demons with the Infernal Bite Dao, helping male insects to propagate selected genetic traits within their offspring—strengthening, refining, and optimizing the hive over successive generations.
Through this Authority, nests may evolve with purpose rather than chance.
Rituals
Bad Luck Cleansing (Incomplete)
Imparting Rite (Incomplete)
Demonic Vessel Imparting (Incomplete)
Sub-Rituals
Cursed Berry Vessel
Using Demonic Vessel Imparting and Cursed Berry fragments, you may craft vessels to house spirits of misfortune.
Abyssal Rift
An unstable ability allowing short-term portals to an object or location using an existing contract or anchor. Requires a sacrificial rite and invocation of the target's name.
Titles
Dark Embryo
Bearer of the Blue Sea & Azure Flames
Emotional Balance
Despair: 13 | Hope: 2.3 | Fear: 146.8 | Pain: 74
Physical Attributes
Strength: 43
Speed: 31
Agility: 24
Total Negative Karma: 25,218 / 31,000
First Spirit Core: 25,000
Secondary Spirit Core: 218 ↑
Total Refinement Qi: 1,118.6 / 52,410
First Daoist Aperture: 410
Secondary Aperture: 108.4 ↑
Third Aperture: 600.2
Refinement Realm: Middle Stage / Beginner
Current Lifespan
22 Years · 350 Days · 4 Hours
"My status is starting to get a little hard to follow now," he said, rubbing his chin. "I don't know what I'll do if I really have to keep track of thirty-five more Taijitu fragments."
"I guess I could just keep summoning the total amount—that would make it easier to manage. Besides the new state addition, it's all the same…"
His gaze drifted back to the numbers.
"Aside from my new authoritie, my other physical stats have advanced—forty-three Strength, thirty-one Speed, and twenty-four Agility—and that's when I'm practically at my lowest."
He murmured as he transformed his right hand into a talon, watching his Strength increase by three.
Then he shifted his left eye into a wyrm's sensory organ.
It whitened, and the world dissolved into a visual blur—yet every living thing became vividly imprinted in his mind.
The sensation wasn't like normal sight.
It felt closer to altering his brain's sensory pathways, creating something akin to a telepathic scan of his entire three-hundred-and-sixty-degree environment.
It went deeper than vision.
Through the wyrm eye, he could feel the world—layers of information bleeding into one another.
Impurities in the stone pulsed faintly, revealing veins of brittle rock and dense, unyielding strata.
Weak points glimmered in his awareness, fractures and stress lines mapped out as if the earth itself were transparent.
With this, collapsing tunnels, carving escape routes, or striking the ground at its most vulnerable point wouldn't require guesswork—making the creatures he stole this skill from true elites in burrow warfare.
His stats climbed as he continued mutating his body, but he soon stopped and refocused.
"Alright—enough messing around. I have a patient's life in my hands."
He closed his eyes, pulling out more talismans and preparing her once more. He reset her mask and the array around her.
"Bronze Body Incineration."
He clapped his hands together.
Fwishh—!
A purple glow filled the cave as flames engulfed Yīnluò and the Wyrm Queen's body.
The queen's carcass cracked as Qiren enclosed it within a dome of pure fire Qi. The blazing spiral spun at blinding speed, ripping and tearing with hundreds of degrees of heat—
Turning the formation into a powerful incinerator.
Mother~?
An aimless wyrm that had been tunneling in defeat finally stopped.
It had believed its mother truly defeated, leaving it in an automaton-like state—digging endlessly, waiting for a command that never came.
But now it sensed something.
Its mother's scent.
Calling to it.
It turned eagerly, tunneling toward the source.
Mother! Mother! Mother!
It wasn't the only one. More loyalists were drawn in.
Qiren turned as several burst from the cavern walls, moving blindly toward his formation.
Mother!
He felt their intent.
So you'll still choose your mother's side. Fine—go right ahead and join her.
He watched as they slithered in blindly. Some screeched in pain, yet still forced themselves into the flames.
Qiren smiled at their sacrifice. They would only fuel Yīnluò's growth.
They screamed as their bodies broke down—their insides melting, their spirits refined.
Purple, white, and black ash swirled together as it flowed into Yīnluò.
Her body shook, Dao flames burning brighter as she felt something crawling beneath her skin.
A glowing red root spread down her bone spikes, tainting the white flames pouring from her spine into a deep scarlet.
The roots spread through the fire, and Qiren watched as they attempted to cocoon her.
His gaze dropped to his waist, where a fruit pulsed in response to the roots within the blaze.
It shimmered, the roots moving with a will of their own.
Qiren turned back, his Qi draining as he fed the array even more.
The roots shrieked as they burned—yet clung all the more stubbornly.
They balled around Yīnluò, sinking into her skin and bones, while the Fruit of Rage shimmered brightly at his side.
"You're really a troublesome curse," he cooed at it—yet could only watch as a grand garden unfolded within his flames.
Plants bloomed from scorched soil.
Burning shrubs scattered across the dome.
Vines crawled over wyrm corpses, the queen's carcass, and beyond the boundary—breaching the formation with blackened branches and rose-red petals unfurling from budding stems.
They opened around a spherical orb, shining with golden patterned rings and a luminous red mist—
Flowing like deadly pollen, wafting through the air. Sweet-smelling, yet hiding a dark secret—enough toxins to paralyze even small animals in seconds.
Let alone a person's limbs.
Golden rings lined the roses' outer petals, chiming with an anger-inducing resonance that stirred anxiety and provoked violent impulses in any who heard it.
A rogue wind carried several strands of pollen toward Qiren's arm.
He felt nothing—until his pinky finger tingled, locking in place. His entire arm stiffened, and he reacted instantly, reinforcing it with exoskeletal hide.
"Interesting…"
He stepped back and ignited his armored plating with Infernal flames—countering poison with poison.
Time passed as the garden continued to grow, spreading its toxic fragrance throughout the cavern.
Yīnluò remained within her cocoon, the formation still active, while the vines wrapping her body spread outward, attaching themselves to every surface.
They had long since escaped Qiren's array and moved freely.
And Qiren himself had been forced by the flames to sheath his entire body from head to toe.