Unsealing Emptiness

Ozul turned in his bed. ‘Maybe I should have asked for a Core instead of the Spiritual Art.’

His body had strangely embraced this Spiritual Essence, giving him the most hope for this approach. His body gulped down the Essence in the air if he let it. He would undoubtedly stun Ember with the sight of his generated vortex if he did so in front of her Scarlet Eyes.

Unfortunately, the majority of it was still being expelled from his body, but Mana was treated similarly back in the other Realm. Only the purest drop of it would be left for his body to absorb.

The other three greedily read the Spiritual Techniques as he was lost in his contemplation.

Suddenly, as if a ghost had possessed him, Ozul stood up, back straight to the wall. Taking a deep breath, he told them, “I am going out for a few days. Do whatever you want until then. I will come back here.”

Before Zier could ask him where he was going, Raven beat him to it. She looked straight into his unforgiving eyes and questioned, “Do you need me?”

.....

“I don’t.”

‘Right...’ Hiding her expressions, she steeled her face and nodded back at him before pretending to read the book for Scarlet Eyes again.

Zier didn’t want to ask anything now since the atmosphere felt a little chilly.

Ozul received a nod from Blaze as well. He also wanted to accompany him, but since Raven wasn’t permitted, he doubted he would be allowed to.

Taking another heavy breath, Ozul walked out of the room.

Through the darkly lit hallway, each step of his made a creaking noise that rang out and echoed into the hollowness.

‘Why do I feel so heavy...’

He wondered. Just now he was troubled but otherwise completely fine. Now as he started walking out, it felt as if something ghastly was evidently about to happen.

Walking out of the hotel, he flew and landed on the roof under the moonlight.

He surveyed his surroundings, felt the Spiritual traces, and confirmed that no one was keeping an eye on him. ‘Why is it so suffocating then...’

His head spun around, eyes falling to the countless stars, and then to the darkness holding them together.

The noise drowned the night and the night drowned the noise.

A nauseating feeling permeated his body as it seemed to pause unnaturally.

Cold wind soaked the rustling of leaves with its loneliness.

“...my boy... won’t be ... for ... my Ozul...”

At the hint of this familiar voice, he forcibly took control of his body and anxiously turned around.

His desperate eyes searched all the world around him. He flew above and hurriedly looked around thinking that someone was messing with him.

A few minutes passed but he was not willing to give up.!

He had already expanded his sense and kept an eye on Spiritual traces, but there were none anywhere around him!

No!

He wasn’t willing to admit that it was only in his head!

*Meow!*

Soft inky hair brushed past his feet. He seemed to pause again, albeit with complete control over his body this time.

Looking down at the dark blob of fur, he chuckled to himself bitterly. Who was he lying to? Didn’t he know it?

‘...It was all in my head.’

. . .

Sitting atop one of the unknown roofs, Ozul gazed at the numerous lives busy in the meaningless struggles of life.

In his lap was the only being alive that could soothe his mind instantly. Curled in an unimaginative way, Jinx furiously licked her paws.

“Really... who are you?”

His words swayed with the winds as they carried it to a kingdom not named.

As if he had never expected a reply anyway, he looked up and gazed at the horizon.

Countless years had passed since the day he was born.

His birth mother wanted him to live by being true to himself. It might have not been difficult for anyone else, but for him who didn’t even understand his own being, such a thing was close to impossible.

The voice he had heard earlier in his head belonged to that silver-haired lady. Even on her death bed, she sounded so pleasant that he could close his eyes in comfort.

She who, at the time of his birth, had given him the task of ‘be yourself’.

‘...Is it really necessary that I heed her wishes merely because she gave me this life?’ He felt conflicted.

Jinx paused and stared into his eyes.

For some unexplainable reasons, Ozul was certain that she somehow understood what he was contemplating at this exact moment.

It felt as if she knew all the answers to his questions. As if the only thing stopping her from spilling all the secrets was her inability to speak.

He began questioning everything.

There was a strange hunger of curiosity bubbling inside of him, just like it used to when lived with Grandma Carol. The old lady who cared for him, the one who taught him many things even if he was a little shy to admit it.

‘There is no point in thinking about them. Both of them are both dead.’ He shook his head as if reprimanding himself for wasting his time on these useless and meaningless thoughts.

‘Meaningless, huh...’ What if all he had done until now was all for naught?

Jolting himself up, he forcibly put a stop to those feelings and tried to focus on the task at hand.

He wasn’t able to control his unrest any longer. He just had to try and absorb a Core from this Realm and determine if he had any means of getting stronger left. If he didn’t, he could already guess the unstoppable torrent of misery swelling inside of him.

With just this much power, he knew that he would never be able to go against Old Man Gu or his subordinate for that matter, much less the people who were at the absolute pinnacle.

It was still dark everywhere, the only illumination was from the oil lamps and decorating crystals on the streets.

Forming The Purity from his body, he rose above and sped in a certain direction.

Jinx had also jumped on his shoulders and was somehow able to stay perfectly balanced.

The direction he was headed in had a vast forest spreading to the horizon.

He had decided to get a Spiritual Core and getting one from a Beast was the easiest method. Attacking a cultivator human in any of the cities would cause quite a commotion.

Although he wondered what Ember would think if she knew that he was going to hunt a wild Beast for a Spiritual Core.

Not long after, he arrived in the forest and put a mental strain on his body to expand his senses as far as he could.

Anything that contained even a bit of excess Spiritual Essence than normal was marked in his mind as a target.

He found his target; a red snake emitting enough heat to scare away all predators around it. Even as it was curled in a mound, it stayed vigilant of its surroundings.

Unfortunately for the snake, it was immediately shredded into pieces as Ozul wasn’t patient at this moment. He searched the bloody mess to find the Spiritual Core but was disappointed as it turned out that the snake hadn’t formed a Core yet.

Ozul didn’t give up. He quickly searched for another target and just like the red snake, the wild panther was torn to pieces and dissected in a matter of seconds.

As if fate wasn’t having any of his tantrums, he was again faced with disappointment as the panther also hadn’t formed a Core yet.

‘The panther was clearly skies above the red snake in terms of Spiritual Essence...’ he wondered in distress. Even when he had no time limit, the reminiscence from before had arose a sense of urgency in him.

It was a time of trepidation in this forest as a bloody massacre began and ended only before the Star rose to illuminate the abhorrent smell of blood and bones that stained almost every tree in the surroundings.

The parts of the forest which were around the outskirts of this city were reeking of the smell and ringing with howls of wild Beasts who all felt that it was time to migrate.

Some of the intelligent ones trembled in fear while others feasted on the remains of these Beasts. It was free food for everyone.

...

Uncaring of the commotion and unrest he had caused among the wild Beasts, Ozul rested against a tree with blood smeared all over his clothes.

Even his hair weren’t spared from the stains.

Only Jinx remained unsoiled as she watched him tired and beaten, powerless to do anything.

Though Ozul didn’t seem to care that he had exhausted himself only to come to the conclusion that Beasts here had no Spiritual Core at all!

‘Heh... Should have asked the old lady instead...’

After a while, he recovered his stamina and stood up with a groan.

If the Beasts here had no Spiritual Core, then it seemed that he could only go for a human.

Going after Beastkin was even more troublesome as the only ones he knew were under Ember and she wouldn’t let him do anything to her people.

Summoning The Purity out of his body again, he was ready to take off and find a lone cultivator even if it took a few days.

.....

Before he could fly, however, he heard the soft noise which made him halt instantly,

*meow...*

‘Hm?’

He stared down at her curiously.

As he lost himself in the depth of her intelligent eyes, something clicked inside him. He instinctively knew what she wanted.

‘...You want me to follow you?’