Unlocked Soul

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

'It is time.' Seeing the event unfold before him, the red figure casually pulsed a wave of formless power from his soul toward Qing Fang's mortal soul as he fixed his eyes on the unfolding scene.

His twelve huge and blood-red angel wings swayed with the non-existent air within the Void.

...

Qing Fang planned to form a thick and sharp blood spike that would rise from the ground and impale Qing Dong Cai's heart from behind, lifting his dead body into the air. Once he was thoroughly dead, Qing Fang would retrieve the gold coins before coming back to his hiding place. It was a perfect plan that would catch his enemy off-guard and kill him quickly and smoothly.

However, the moment Qing Fang tried to control the blood beneath the feet of Qing Dong Cai, his eyes widened as a piercing pain shot through his whole body. Qing Fang felt his body spasm out of his control as veins surfaced on the skin covering his whole body. His skin turned from a soft shade of pink to red under the pain that ravaged his body.

"Guh..." The pain was so great that even someone like Qing Fang grunted harshly. His eyes went bloodshot as he tried to remain in control of the water around him. However, his body was still too injured as the water regained its freedom.

The air bubble around Qing Fang suddenly collapsed as the water heavily crashed down on Qing Fang. He looked up at the whole lake fall from his control and drop toward his face.

It had to be known that one cubic meter of water weighed a ton or one thousand kilograms. So, when at least ten cubic meters fell at a height of one meter onto Qing Fang's head, it was instantly smashed onto the floor violently.

Qing Fang gnashed his teeth with a vicious expression. His head was being held to the floor by the immense weight of the water. He screamed internally with an unwilling expression as his head was held down by the sheer mass of the water.

His pride screamed at him to do something, however, he restrained the impulses as he tried to bear the pain.

...

Currently standing on the scarred patch of grass that had been destroyed by the previous battle was Qing Dong Cai. He was staring at the sky with a reminiscent look in his melancholic gaze. 'Things weren't supposed to go this way,' he thought.

His senior brother, the deceased Qing Jinfeng, was a Stage 4 cultivator while the target, Qing Fang, was only Stage 3. How could this happen?

While cursing fate for the absurdity of the outcome, he stopped wishing things were different. Qing Jinfeng was already dead. There was no need for needless indignance. As a cultivator, Qing Dong Cai was in touch with the Laws of the Universe. He knew how small he and his senior brother were in comparison to something as grand as death. So, he stopped cursing the outcome and mourned for Qing Jinfeng instead.

While revelling in the fond memories he had with his senior brother, Qing Dong Cai couldn't help but tear up a little.

Qing Dong Cai lost his father while he was still in the womb while his mother died in childbirth. Coming into this world all alone, he was adopted by Li Shan, who was Stage 5 and a minor elder at the time, and nurtured to be a fierce combatant. There, he met another like himself.

That was Qing Jinfeng. Seeing a kindred spirit, although a little older than himself, for the first time, Qing Dong Cai quickly got attached to him. It was like a younger brother constantly following his elder brother around, quite a comical scene. However, he was never sent away in annoyance.

Qing Jinfeng was an extremely kind soul and known within the forces of Li Shan to be so. He always had a smile on his face and never hesitated to lend a hand. Even though Qing Jinfeng also had no parents, he always saw the good side in that he had the opportunity to meet all his current friends. He was a very warm person, making others smile wherever he went.

Thinking back on the expression his senior brother had when he found him, Qing Dong Cai stifled his tears. When he walked toward the corpse, Qing Jinfeng's white skull was exposed and dirtied with thick blood and black dirt. There was a nightmare-inducing expression on his face. How could the heavens let such a kind soul be killed in such a way? It was unacceptable to him.

Seeing the face of his beloved senior brother flash in his mind, his sorrow turned to anger.

Filled with hatred, he wanted to find Qing Fang this instant and rip him to shreds. He wanted to avenge his senior brother by putting the head of the demon on a pike. They had already witnessed his atrocious deeds as they watched Qing Fang massacre a whole village. At that time, he saw his senior brother sigh in helplessness. His senior brother wanted to go and save the villagers but they were ordered by Li Shan to hold back.

Although Qing Jinfeng had a strong moral compass, Li Shan raised him. Out of eternal gratitude for his saviour, he watched passively as nearly three hundred mortals were ruthlessly slaughtered.

The desire to bring the demon to justice burning within, Qing Dong Cai glanced around before resting his eyes on a trail of blood connecting from the pool he was standing in. It went for a few tens of meters before abruptly stopping.

In reality, when he fell to insanity and charged toward Qing Jinfeng, Qing Fang suffered many daggers being stabbed into his whole body. As he ran, blood splurted in an unending waterfall and left a bloody trail in his wake. Then, when he fell to his knees, Qing Fang bled the pool of blood before he crawled into the water.

Misinterpreting this trail as the direction of Qing Fang, Qing Dong Cai travelled into the forest that way with quick steps worthy of a Shadow path cultivator. Driven by feelings of hatred, he lost the sense to search the surroundings before he left. Maybe it was stupidity or maybe he didn't want to stay in the cursed place where his senior brother fell.

Although Qing Fang managed to kill his senior brother, who was Stage 4, Qing Dong Cai didn't care as he was filled with thoughts of vengeance. He thought that Qing Fang definitely didn't come out from the battle unscathed. It had not been more than five minutes since his senior brother died. If he could find Qing Fang quickly, the battle would be easy for him to win. He knew this because of the pool of blood he was standing in. That blood didn't belong to his senior brother so he knew Qing Fang's injuries must be severe. After all, what Stage 3 could come out completely unscathed after killing a Stage 4.

However, right as the lake left his perception, it suddenly caved in at the middle. The water was disturbed as the surface pulsed with many ripples. It looked as though a lot of water was displaced. If Qing Dong Cai witnessed this, he would know there was something big in the lake and search it. He would've found a grievously injured Qing Fang who was suffering immense pain.

Unfortunately, Qing Dong Cai didn't see this. Maybe if he stayed a bit more level-headed, he would've examined this environment before rashly choosing a single direction to search. However, accidents happen.

...

After about thirty seconds after the water caved in, the weight on Qing Fang's body gradually lessened as the water regained its calm and the shape of the lake reformed to its previous state.

Finally able to lift his head off of the floor, Qing Fang quickly controlled the water to form an air bubble again. Due to the pain and heavy weight on his body, Qing Fang's breath was stolen from him at a quick pace. With his Stage 3 body, he could already go without air for an hour but due to the pain, he nearly drowned after thirty seconds. Just this showed the strain on his haggard body.

Once he had filled his lungs with sweet-tasting air, he turned his attention to the piercing pain still ravaging his whole body. It felt as though his body was constantly slipping from his control. He knew that if he relaxed for even a second, he would fall into a slumber he would never wake from.

Acutely sensing the pain coursing through every corner of his body, he determined that the reverberations originated from inside him and dispersed to every corner of his body. He felt as though he was being burnt alive.

Knowing the pain arose from within, Qing Fang closed his eyes and opened his senses. Once he felt the existence of his soul, he locked onto it. In a dark space that was an unknown size, a spherical and shining blue light was floating. This was his soul. On the outermost periphery, the light of the soul was much brighter and dominating than the dull blue in the centre. This was the part of his soul he had unlocked while the dull blue was the part of his soul that was still sealed.

He looked at his soul and realised something was wrong. There was a dim red light encasing the sealed part of his soul and entwining around it.

When he saw this, he couldn't hide the shock on his face. It seemed as though his soul had been forcefully invaded by something, causing the intense pain he was currently experiencing.

Looking intently as the dim red light, Qing Fang slowly succumbed to a feeling of uneasiness. Who used the soul in cultivation and fighting? He has found out earlier. It was immortals! Despairing that he had likely attracted the wrath of an immortal for an unknown reason, Qing Fang was disappointed. He aimed to reach the peak but he would die as a lowly Stage 3 mortal cultivator.

Qing Fang wanted to obstruct the red light but was simply unable to. Mortals we're unable to cultivate their souls. This meant they couldn't attack, defend or comprehend with their soul. The only method in the Mortal Realm currently was to use one's soul itself to suppress and control another's. However, this was a very crude and unpopular method.

Knowing he was powerless to stop the red light, Qing Fang only watched helplessly, however, his helplessness turned to shock then exhilaration at what he saw.

Before his eyes, he saw the dim red light releasing pulsing light as the dim blue parts of the centre of his soul broke down before shining with shining and grand light. Qing Fang realised that this dim red light was unlocking his soul!

Normally, cultivators would gradually unlock their own souls using their cultivation as well as comprehension ability. The greatest puzzle in the mortal world was deciphering one's soul.

However, right now, Qing Fang's soul was unravelling itself to reveal the power and secrets it held within.

Cultivators usually achieved an unlocked soul at Stage 7. Previously, Qing Fang speculated that this was the average Stage that cultivators reached the required cultivation that was complemented by their comprehension to unlock their souls. Essentially, cultivators had to wait until Stage 7 before they unlocked their souls. Only a few geniuses with monstrous comprehension ability unlocked it earlier than that.

When cultivator's unlocked their souls, and gained the ability of divine sense, they had the power to send a formless wave to see and sense things beyond the reach of the five senses. After be linked divine sense to unlocking the soul, Qing Fang wanted to unlock his soul as he knew that divine sense would greatly improve his fighting power.

But now, he could save himself all the effort it required as his soul was unlocking itself! This was unheard of. After this, Qing Fang would be a Stage 3 cultivator with divine sense. Just the thought made him excited.

Awakening him from this feeling was the suspicion of the origin of the red light. Anything regarding the soul was inextricably linked to immortals. Wondering if he had caught the favour of some lofty immortal, Qing Fang couldn't accurately tell what was causing it.

Qing Fang watched as the dim red light worked its way toward the centremost part of his soul. Before, Qing Fang had unlocked about seventy percent of his soul but the difficulty kept on gradually increasing until he couldn't carry on. He knew that the last remaining thirty percent would take him years to comprehend. Now, only one percent of his soul remained sealed.

As the red light encroached upon the last remaining portion of his soul, Qing Fang nervously watched. He thought the red light might fail in the face of the centre. After all, it looked very dense and practically zero light emanated from it, showing its sturdiness. However, unlike the struggle he expected, Qing Fang watched as the red light shone with an even brighter light than before. After the red light burst out, the final seal on Qing Fang's soul crumbled into nothingness as the brightest blue light shone, lighting up the dark space the soul resided in. The soul seemed to grow ten times larger and rotated with a feeling of pride and domination, reflecting Qing Fang's personality.

However, before Qing Fang could marvel at his new and improved soul, the dim red light that had its attention stolen buried itself into the centre of Qing Fang's soul.

Watching this scene solemnly, Qing Fang suddenly entered a daze as a large amount of information ingrained itself into him.

'Blood path..?' Qing Fang got the information on his affinity that was hidden deep within one's soul and gasped. Now that he thought back, when he tried to control the blood, he felt a deep resonance within himself, like the blood itself was trying to whisper something in his ears. However, at that time, Qing Fang couldn't focus on it as the intense pain washed over him.

Thinking back to the emergence of the red light, didn't it appear right as he controlled the blood as well? Continuing along this train of thought, Qing Fang summarised that the red light could be a manifestation of his affinity. After all, it appeared right when that feeling of resonance did.

'Is it possible that my affinity is so great that my soul unlocked because of it?' Qing Fang couldn't help but think this. How could he know a being within the Void was secretly helping him?

Glad that he finally discovered his affinity, and it seemed terrifyingly strong as well, Qing Fang was quite bitter. Even though he discovered it, he had already started Water path cultivation. If he tried to destroy his combination and start again, his body's potential would be crippled and he would never be able to progress past Stage 3.

'At least...' Qing Fang thought. '...my soul was completely unlocked. I should have gained divine sense now, right?'

Without wasting time, Qing Fang used his new soul to send formless waves out from his body. Within a radius of ten meters in every direction, Qing Fang could clearly see everything at a microscopic level. He could clearly sense the fish swimming around him and the ripples of their muscles under their scales as they moved. He could also sense the souls of the fish if he looked inside their bodies. Everything was clear and easy to understand in his vision. He felt that if he went back and tried to unlock his soul now, he would do it easily if he had divine sense.

He could even see strands of colour floating in the air. 'These are Laws.' Qing Fang accurately recognised than as Law fragments. As cultivators absorb Law fragments into their bodies, they know what they look like.

Qing Fang was very pleased with this power. The only thing that was a bit disappointing was the range, but this ought to be because of his low cultivation. As he progressed, the range as well as power of divine sense should increase exponentially.

At the thought of this, Qing Fang could only look forward to it.

...

The Creation Deity was watching this scene with suprise. The blue lightning that comprised his body silently rippled.

The reason for his surprise was the fact that he watched the red figure unlock the mortal's soul. It should be known that unlocking one's soul is a sacred process on the journey of cultivation. Even the Creation Deity couldn't help people unlock their souls, so his surprise was natural. Beyond that, he was even a little jealous.

'If I had a great figure to unlock my soul when I was a mortal, how great would that be?' The Creation Deity griped. These days, he was continuously exposed to new things but none of them benefitted himself.

Crushing these petty emotions, the Creation Deity fixed his attention on the mortal's affinity.

At his level, he knew of every path. So, when Qing Fang wanted to control the blood, the Creation Deity knew he wouldn't be able to. This was because blood was its own path and Qing Fang's efforts, with his Water path cultivation, would be fruitless.

The reason Qing Fang couldn't control it even though there was water within it was due to Laws. The water within the blood is part of the blood itself and governed by the Law of Blood, not the Law of Water. Thus, when Qing Fang tried to control the Law fragments within it, nothing would happen.

In truth, the Creation Deity was glad Qing Fang would be unable to. This means that Blood path would probably stay undiscovered in his Universe. To him, Blood path was an abomination; the way of demons. It stole one's humanity in exchange for great power.

Although the Creation Deity admitted that it was one of the most powerful paths, it was a path belonging to evil demons. Up until now, he had controlled the lifeforms within his Universe to stay away from it.

If, by chance, anyone did slip past his control and discovered Blood path, he would send down a rain of heavenly lightning to instantly kill them. Since even God Kings would die a miserable death from a single bolt, the Creation Deity never doubted he would be able to cull the emergence of Blood path.

However, if this mortal Qing Fang, who was watched by the red figure, discovered it, the Creation Deity would be in a passive situation. Although the rise of Blood path would distort order within his Universe, a broken Universe was better than none at all.

As he expected, the Creation Deity previously felt the red figure send something into his Universe and toward the mortal right as he wanted to control the blood. His hopes that Blood path would stay undiscovered were destroyed so ruthlessly, he almost wanted to cry.

Although the red figure helped the mortal in discovering Blood path, the Creation Deity was glad that he had already embarked upon Water path. However, this doesn't change the fact it was still discovered. If this mortal spread information and Blood path rose in his Universe, the Creation Deity wouldn't even be able to stop it. This was because the red figure was watching over the mortal.

Since when did he, a being at the peak of known existence, get bullied so badly? However, there was nothing he could do. If he acted, he would lose so much more than the emergence of Blood path.

The Creation Deity knew that the red figure would probably help in Blood path's discovery but he found himself unable to object. Partly because he was afraid of the red figure but also because he wanted to discuss the great dao with him. Maybe he could even surpass his current form.

Deciding to keep his mouth shut, the Creation Deity was counting down the days until he would disturb the red figure again.