23. Loved by Death

"From now on, you shall walk a path no one had ever tread upon. Not even a being whose soul had mixed with a beast and a Spirit Devourer had managed to have both a Spirit World and a Beast Core in their body."

"It matters not, in the past, I walked the path that led me to finding what's beyond the Spirit World after abandoning my spirit, this is not the first time I became an aberration. Let us just hope I do not destroy this Universe."

"Indeed, repeating the past mistake is not exactly a commendable thing, but try not to avoid it too much because the more you avoid fate, the more fate would try to devour your whole life. "

"There is no such thing as fate. Well, enough of that, what matters most is that I am not unmatchable in this realm. I should be able to survive most dangers now."

Kiel nodded his head at the sight of his Beast Core and Hallowed Spirit Bead. With both of these in his body, he now gained twice the strength of an ordinary being. What's more was that he's not bound to any element or power.

The Ouroboros acted as Kiel's Soul-Beast, and as it occupied the Hallowed Spirit Bead, its insides changed into something, entirely different.

Once a Hallowed Spirit Bead becomes occupied by a Soul-Beast, it would conform with the corresponding element of the Soul-Beast. If the Soul-Beast is Fire, then there would be a sea of flames, or if it was a combination of water and lightning, there would looming dark clouds and atop a sea ocean or something like that.

The Ouroboros represented existence itself, and with Kiel peering through the vast cosmos of existence, the two of them crafted this unique spirit bead that houses every form of element.

It was quite literally nothing and everything at the same time.

Kiel's Hallowed Spirit World was now the Universe and it became proof of him entering the True Spirit Realm.

He appeared inside the Hallowed Spirit Bead as his own Soul to observe the Universe inside him.

Looking down, the floor was the very cosmos where stars and nebulas existed. The vastness of the world and the grand scale of the Universe was presented before him.

But Kiel did not care about that for he noted something bizarre upon his entry.

"This is the Hallow Spirit Bead? This feels rather familiar… it is like the Spirit World, but downscaled." Kiel stated as he filled himself with questions.

It was then that a being around a meter in size appeared adjacent to his left; it was a black serpent biting its own tail with a spiraling galaxy for eyes; it answered through the gaps of its mouth, "Astute observation, Ye Feng. This is indeed what others from your time can call a poor man's Spirit World; it is manmade and is made to be housed by two Soul-Beasts so they could be turned to a [Celestial Spirit] later."

Kiel looked around and made a conclusion to answer the Ouroboros' words, "The Universe breaks and is built from the remnants of the past. True Spirit Realm means that inside the body, a [Hallowed Spirit Bead] is created. This Hallowed Spirit Bead was created to resemble the Spirit World of the past and imitate the spirits residing within... I supposed this was created without anyone ever knowing that there was once an actual Spirit World."

He made the correct assumptions; he then asked the Ouroboros, "Is it possible for me to place a Soul-Beast here?"

"For better or worse, you and I are one and the same. I can be treated as a part of your soul; I am not counted as a Soul-Beast, so it is fine. Also, you are not bound to any Element, you may call this the Universe Bead, and as this is the Universe, everything that can exist can enter this place."

Kiel nodded his head, and the Ouroboros closed its eyes to sleep. It quietly floated in front of Kiel, its aura incomparable to any beast and as for the sphere it came here with, it silently floated between the gap of the Ouroboros' body.

Though two both of them had been together for eons, this was the first time in a long time Kiel saw the Ouroboros… for some reason, he could feel it being lonesome.

"I shall get you a companion then, my friend," Kiel said and closed his eyes in that space. He failed to see the Ouroboros smiling at the word friend.

Outside in the Physical World, his body moved on its own, and as he rummaged through his Dimensional Bangle, Kiel brought out a Soul-Beast.

He had the Soul-Beast enter his body through mysterious suctional forces and then its broke sphere soon after.

A tiger-like being roared inside his body, the beast left behind by his parent was a being called the [Storm Calamity Tiger] — it lived in the deepest parts of the chaotic seas. Despite it being a tiger, it had four pairs of wings and had a pair of bull's horns. It was blue in color and had red eyes; its resplendent color and beautiful plumage were considered one of the most enamoring creatures in this world.

However, it was a beast considered to beckon calamity; its roar creates whirlpools and hurricanes. The flaps of its wings created raging gales, and it controls water; it was a being of terror.

The [Heavenly Soul-Beast Rankings] ranked this beast 3rd amongst Soul-Beasts, fourteen ranks ahead the Inferno Devourer and just below the Reverend Golden Qilin.

It was considered one of the strongest and toughest Soul-Beast to refine; however, it found itself in the never expanse of space as it entered Kiel's body. The beast felt insignificant.

Its roar was deafened by the beat of a heart, and as it looked ahead, it saw a man in white robes. In white robes, this man was Kiel, who lifted his hands and then said a word, "Kneel…"

Thus, the Storm Calamity Tiger kowtowed before him and the Serpent by his side. Kiel was untouchable inside this space inside his body — the Storm Calamity Tiger was no more than a house cat for Kiel.

The Storm Calamity Tiger roared but sounded no more than a cat... it felt pitiful.

Standing up, he patted the dust off his body, "How long did it take to create the door and Key?"

"42 days, there are 44 days left before the end of the year."

"Then, I must hurry and collect the necessary material to open the Astral Path of Souls. But first, I need to eat."

Kiel picked up the spear adjacent to him and then swung it to a circle to destroy the Runes he had drawn.

Keeping the spear away he stepped forward towards the boulder that sealed the entrance; he reached out and extended his index fingers.

Summoning so little strength, his finger became a sharp blade, waving it multiple times over.

Fwu!

The boulder was destroyed, he expected that it would be the moon or the sun to meet him when he came out, but as he stepped outside, he saw no one other than a purple-robed woman with a zither placed her laps.

She caught Kiel's attention, and he caught hers.

But something more striking seized Kiel's attention, and that was the pile of rotting mutilated bodies behind the woman.

'Most of the corpses have already decomposed. They are all cultivators so it took a while, taking that in consideration… they have died two months ago.'

Kiel's gaze went back to the woman — she and Kiel were now looking at each other.

The cave Kiel stayed in was in some Forest he knew not the location of, but somehow, a woman was waiting for him outside. He would think it was an assassin, but she did not show him a hint of animosity and had no Spirit Energy to give out.

If based on her looks alone, she was as dangerous as a duck holding a knife on its mouth.

The woman looked at Kiel's eyes and then asked, "Are you Kiel Zarte?"

Kiel looked at her as he opened his mouth to give an answer, "…No, I am not."

"Hmmm, I thought I was in the right direction." She said with a titled head while watching Kiel disappear from her sight.

The lady looked at his disappearing his back and tilted her back. With a sigh she closed her eyes and cupped her hands, a being then appeared from out of thin air and a being with a circular body and had spike-like fur, and big round eyes appeared out of nowhere.

Its red eyes blinked multiple times as its tiny tail and legs wiggled about, it had no mouth to speak of but with a mental connection with the lady, it sleepily asked, "Is something the matter? Have you found him?"

The lady shook her head, "The direction was incorrect, again. It would appear that he is not here, please."

"Again?" Its tiny voice asked in a lazy manner.

The lady ferociously nodded her head. She lowered her head in shame of not finding the man again, "I wasted my time in a dead end, once more… I apologize, Muki."

Muki, shook its head and then sighed, "Well, you are lucky Miji is asleep in this cycle, so do not worry. I shall find him again little one, do not worry."

Muki looked up the skies and watched the stars beyond the light of the sun. Its eyes burned but it got the information it needed, "You are lucky, he is nearby, it appears you did not make a mistake. But you should go now, he seems to be in a hurry to move."

"Thank you, are you, all right? I felt nothing, but you could have redirected it to me, if you needed to."

"It is nothing, dear, the search was not that long anyway. Now, get going, do not call me unless it is a fight, I can no longer track anyone for the next three weeks without consequences."

"I see, I hope to receive your help again, Muki."

Muki yawned and nodded its head before disappearing into the girl's body.

The girl stood up and picked up her Zither once again. Her steps were as feeble as before as she walked, twinkling black dusts appeared before her. She followed them as she moved once again.

Though her steps were rather slow — really slow.

===

Silver Inn

There was a relatively well-dressed youth sitting alone in a table.

He held a pen and a notepad, writing out runes with ease.

'It appears I have improved a lot.'

He was enjoying his time while eating a meat dish he had not had before.

He was inconspicuous, and as he kept his pen and notepad away for it now served no purpose, he brought out a black medallion.

"Would you like some more tea?" a young man carrying a teapot asked.

Kiel noticed his empty cup and nodded his head.

"Thank yo~"

CRASH!!

"I-I am sorry, Uncle Jiu, I-I'll clean it up right away."

"Ah, there is nothing to worry about, child. Everyone makes mistake, why don't you take a break for a bit, I'm going to clean this up."

The waiter who gave Kiel tea saw this and quickly excused himself with a respectful bow.

Kiel watched this scene and saw the woman with trembling hands.

'Her heart is also not that well in place, she's anxious for no reason, and…' he turned t the man who served him tea and saw the concern in his eyes, 'She must be the lover from the other town.'

Kiel shook his head at the woman's sorry sight. The trauma of fearing for her life and seeing so much blood could truly change a person. Kiel could not understand such a thing.

Drinking his tea, he chose to pay more attention to the black medallion in his hand.

He quietly observed it with a now solemn expression, 'The Mystic Palace, was it?'

In the past, he gathered the barest of information about this place; it was situated north of the Lily Town and was West of the Immortal Phoenix Mountain.

It was a Hegemon of its own right and had a lot of valuable resources. Kiel planned on growing stronger in that place while gathering information about his enemies and sister.

Though it was not sure if he'd be accepted there, Kiel had already decided that this Palace would be his base of operation.

The reason being, he liked the simplicity of the name. The name "Mystic Palace" had a mystifying sense to it.

'I should buy a map later on; I would need it to map out the paths I would be using. I need to find the most efficient way of traveling. I would also need to search for Ame, but that can only begin after joining the Mystic Palace.'

After years of separation, Ame, his sister, should have already reached a place where she could thrive in. As she had already done her Ascension, that could only mean that her path to Immortality was close.

Kiel had no plan of interfering with her desires, but he at least wished to let her know of what happened, thus his desire to find her.

The idea of revenge had never left his mind; he wanted to kill his parents' murderers for the reason of wanting to offer their blood to his parents' graves.

'Lives cannot be brought back, but I can give them the greatest offerings I can get my hands on.'

Kiel planned on turning the killers' souls to incense and then sticking those incense into their very skulls. Their very existence would disappear as even the Wheel of Reincarnation would not be able to save them.

But to do that, getting stronger was the first step of many.

Finishing the dish, Kiel wiped the non-existent grease off his mouth. He stood up and then walked towards the stairs of the second floor after paying for his meal. Kiel wanted to have a pleasant sleep.

He wanted to try something.

'I need peace of mind.' He said.

All the while Kiel was busy minding his own business, he heard a commotion coming from outside. There were a lot of shouting, yelling, and death throes.

'A fight must have broken out.'

He cared not about these screams even when it turned to horrified and even pained. To him, hearing a human's death throes were no different from a frog's croak.

The steps he made never changed, and soon, he reached his room with the echoing chaos outside. Kiel got on the bedsheets and then closed his eyes to begin an internal introspection.

'The 720 apertures are open, and the 213 bones are all refined to their absolute limit, and my veins and arteries are all spacious. My Soul is intact, my intents are as strong as ever, and my aged injuries have already disappeared without a trace. The sustained damage from my fight against the young assassins and the backlash of using Ethereal Runes have already healed the moment I stepped into the True Spirit Realm. I am now well.'

Kiel finally decided to sleep, but even in his sleep, he decided to dive into the pool of memories. He went to search for a particular person's memories.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Kiel found a woman, wearing a pair of fire-resistant clothing and an apron made of Dragon Scales, her hair was tied neatly behind her.

Her right hand was a purple hammer that radiated both fire and lightning with every strike on the heated metal. She was striking the metal handled by a black tong.

The flames in front of her were azure in color, yet it was hotter than the sun. Her name was Lin Wan'er, the greatest blacksmith of the previous Universe, according to Kiel.

Though Lin Wan'er's name never reached the eight extremities of the Heavens, and her weapons were considered nothing more than a second-rate trash, Kiel considered her to the greatest.

Even after watching all the blacksmiths, only Lin Wan'er stood out to him for her weapons were crafted to fit a single wielder.

That meant that her weapons could only be wielded to their truest potential by its designated wielder.

Sadly, she never got the luck of having a customer capable of dominating an era.

Lin Wan'er's sword, spears, war hammer, bows and arrows, and many other weapons she crafted were legendary in their own right, but because of a lacking wielder, she faded into obscurity.

However, Kiel deemed her techniques worthy. He now planned on learning how to craft weapons and items that had their capabilities drawn to the absolute limits.

The continuous, almost rhythmic hammering of the metal echoed in Kiel's mind; he watched until the image was burned in his mind.

This was one of the few skills he could and wanted to learn. In his past life, he was a Weapons Master and a Rune Scholar — he learned to wield a weapon for survival and carved runes to earn a living when he was in the Righteous Faction.

Kiel was learning in the midst of tranquility when all of a sudden, someone knocked on the door. He opened his eyes, and with a sigh, he stood up to check on who it was.

There was no evil intent behind the door; thus, he opened it without hesitation. He thought it would be one of the innkeepers, but to his surprised, it was the woman he met in the Forest.

On her hand was the Zither she had before, and as she saw Kiel, she opened her mouth after coming to the realization, "So, you are Kiel Zarta… it would appear Muki was correct after all. It would appear the mistake was on my part as I believed your claims of not being who you really are.

"You said your name was not Kiel Zarta, when it truth, it really was. You have fooled me, very clever." She rambled on without so much as a change to her expression.

The woman was around the same height as Kiel, at 193 centimeters… but upon further inspections, Kiel confirmed she was a little bit small in stature.

But that didn't matter, he looked behind the woman in purple robes, he saw nothing, but as Kiel turned towards the direction where she came from, he caught sight of bloody footsteps.

Staring at the woman, Kiel took a deep breath, 'She is bad news.'

Whoever this woman was, wherever she goes, death follows.