Heart Contract - Change of Will.
Shu He followed Elder Bai in to a small room within the sanctuary building, he hadn't entered this room before and had assumed it was just another storage room, but clearly it wasn't; The room was about 5m2 in size with nothing in it but a large engraving on the floor, it was large and complex with thousands of marks, letters and lines all interlinking, the most obvious part would be the two circles that stood out from the rest.
"This… is the formation for the <
"Amazing, right?" Elder Bai said as he carefully placed Little Xue's chrysalis in the centre of one of the circle before standing up, patting the dust off his robes "It took me many years to make this, even had that fellow from the Formations Division help me" he said with pride.
"I read that we needed a formation for the <
"Right now, yes; I'm sure that if we showed a formation master this pattern and gave them plenty of time to study it, they could reproduce it, but right now there is no one but me that knows the full extent".
"But why? Wouldn't it benefit the other sects to have this…?" If this was much more widespread, beast taming would be a much more popular path, is what Shu He was thinking.
But Elder Bai shook his head "This formation is a culmination of my experiences as a Evolved Spirit Beast, at the same time, it is also knowledge that could be used as a weapon against my kind… I only want people I can trust to use and have it".
"So that's why…" Shu He immediately understood how Elder Bai felt, it was like if he made a cure-all medicine that was then turned in to a deadly poison by someone else and used for mass slaughter, the guilt would crush him. "By the way, I was wondering; Why is it that the <
"Oh, that's simple; They're incomparable to each-other, the latter was something I made during the first few steps while developing the former and there's many such techniques out there already, I included them both in the technique scroll because of that relation but in reality they're two entirely different techniques, both in complexity and result" explained Elder Bai as he swept his hand causing a gust of wind to sweep across the room, gathering all the dust and sending it through a small window that burst open. "That's better" he said, clapping his hands together.
"Now, Shu He, take your position in the other circle" he directed.
Shu He did as he was told and positioned himself in the centre, he was opposite Little Xue's chrysalis. "So what exactly do I have to do? The scroll never went over anything specific…".
"Do you have any Blood Transfusion Pills on you?" Elder Bai replied with a question that surprised him. "Yes, I do, why?" The Blood Transfusion Pill, along with Bone Fixing and Fleshy Restoration pills were the trifecta of healing pills, so he always had some on him. "Wait… do you mean…?" Shu He's thoughts answered his own question as he looked at his feet, a small round indentation that led in to grooves that encircled the formation was barely visible.
"That's right, you need to fill that first" Elder Bai nodded, confirming his dread.
Shu He sighed as he pulled out a small knife from his robes. 'I didn't think I'd be performing a blood ritual here…' he thought, but it did make sense, blood was used in contracts a lot of the time, and this was an incredibly stringent contract.
*Shh*
He made a light, precise cut to the artery on his wrist; Of course doing this would be dangerous for a mortal, but he could monitor his body and constrict the artery if he felt it was going to be dangerous, it's just that he needed a lot of blood so this was faster; He then consumed a Blood Transfusion Pill, the effects of this pill were to simply bolster the production of blood in ones body, more pills taken at once will increase the speed of production.
Of course, if one took too many at once it could lead to the rupturing of organs and blood vessels, so one had to careful!
The blood fell like a fine, thin waterfall as it pooled into the round indent before the formation reacted and glowed lightly, the blood then travelled through the grooves before it covered the entire formation in an eerie red glow. Shu He could also see the faint glittering of his Gold-Azure Qi within, creating a rather odd spectacle in his eyes.
He tightened his fist as the muscles and vessel constricted cutting off the blood flow temporarily, he took out a small cloth and wiped the blood off his skin before taking out a small flat container, inside was a clear gel like substance that he spread on the cut, and in an instant there was slight fizzle before the wound was closed over with a scab immediately.
It was a much-improved version of his clotting salve from back in the day! It was much easier to produce than pills and cost less, so he always kept some in arms reach. He unclenched his fist and moved it around a little just to make sure it had closed fine before glancing at Elder Bai.
"What's next?" He asked, watching Elder Bai who seemed distracted.
"Oh, sorry, your blood has a nice smell to it" The Elder said honestly causing Shu He to shiver a little "Don't worry! I won't do anything, I told you this before!" he complained seeing Shu He's expression turn dark.
"It gets hard to believe you when you're almost drooling" Shu He said as he pointed out the drip of saliva dribbling from Elder Bai's mouth. Said person panickily cleaned away the drool "It's just my instincts kicking in, you can't blame me right? When you smell some amazing food you drool as well!".
"Did you just compare me to food… you know what, never mind; What's next!" Shu He gave up on that subject, he really didn't want to hear any more of it.
"Right! Ah, first you need to steadily feed you Qi into the formation to establish an initial contract between you two, at that point you need to create a bridge between your consciousness, this will happen without you doing anything, but you need to remain open, don't reject it".
"One the bridge is made, the formation will steadily adjust itself to you two before it will light up, at that point you need to feed as much Qi as possible into the formation! Don't hold back! I don't know what failure would do to you two in this state, so don't even consider it!".
"…Got it" Shu He felt the pressure begin to set in, he had certainly rushed into this, and he hadn't considered what could happen if they fail, would he be hurt? Would his soul be affected? Would Little Xue suffer? Anything may happen… so he couldn't fail.
"Now then, I'll be off to the side to watch, I won't disturb you unless something bad happens" Elder Bai said as he moved to the side of the room, his presence felt like it was swept away in the wind, if Shu He didn't look at him he wouldn't have know he was even here.
In the end, Shu He took a deep breath before exhaling, he took out a Qi Pond pill and placed it in his mouth in preparation as he stared at Little Xue's chrysalis.
'Here we go' he gently crouched down and placed both of his palms on the floor, his fingertips gently touching the formation engravings; He then began shifting his Qi, circulating it around his body before it began leaving through his palms and being absorbed into the formation, it began to glow gently as a low humming sound began to echo in the small room.
The rate of consumption was high, Shu He immediately swallowed the Qi Pond pill after realising this as the formation glowed brighter and brighter, the light began to consume the two of them that rested in the rings, blinding the walls of the room. After a full minute the light shone with a resplendent light as Shu He felt his conscious tug.
He could feel it, a bridge being formed, it was like he was leaving his body and reaching out for something, something that was also approaching, searching, yearning. And then they touched, their 'hands' clasped, he felt it.
A young, pure soul, untainted by the world; It wanted to connect with him, wanted to learn from him, wanted to be with him; These simple desires were transmitted to him, and a connection would soon be formed.
…or at least, it should.
But he realised, the connection was blocked, something was wrong; He didn't panic however, because he knew was the issue was.
It was himself.
…
'In the end, am I scared?' He questioned himself.
Scared to open himself to another once more.
'I had closed myself off once before, until I was given a second chance with a family I loved…'
Yet it was taken from him.
'I don't want to lose someone I care deeply about again'.
So I won't care that deeply ever again.
'I've lived on the edge since then, never really getting close to people, keeping them at arm's length'.
What about Jing Yaling? I told her my secret, didn't I?
'That was out of necessity'.
Was it really? Didn't you just want someone to confide with?
'…'
What about Gang Bo?
'Just a friend'
Even though you are so close. Aren't you sad that he hasn't visited you since your return?
'I…'
Then, what about Wei Yu, Mei Ling, Tai Hui- Bai Lian, do they mean nothing to you.
'They… are just acquaintances'.
Don't lie to yourself, stop pushing them away, you know that if something happened to any of them, you would be hurt.
It's not just them, everyone you've met so far in this life, there isn't a single one you don't care about.
You just wish to not be hurt by them.
But is that really the way you want to live?
What happened to living your life to the fullest?
Can you really call this achieving what you want?
'… maybe not'
You realise it, don't you?
You can't go on like this.
'But… it's painful'.
You lived a life that couldn't be called such, and then when you were granted salvation it was ripped from you, it is painful, yes.
But that is life.
Joy and Sorrow are two parts of one, chasing each-other for an eternity.
Yet if you abandon one, you will abandon the other.
Such a life, is it even worth living?
'Then… what should I do?'
You already know the answer.
Ahead of him was a vague figure clad in white light, it held its hand out towards him as it spoke in a light, ethereal voice.
"Let's go"
He clasped the hand, and everything went blank.
…
The formation shone brightly like the surface of the sun, it was like the room had turned in to an ethereal vision, not a single spec of the stone walls or floor could be seen, only the light of the formation and the two figures inside.
'Not enough' Shu He's eyes turned lucid; he will had undergone a shift in that moment.
He could feel that the formation was waning, that there wasn't enough power to complete the contract, he couldn't leave it like this.
So without an ounce of hesitation, the Golden Qi surged from his body, pouring in to the formation like a tidal wave, in an instant the light changed and turned a resplendent gold that threatened to pierce the very walls they were in, a loud screech shot throughout the sanctuary causing all the animals to stare in that direction, shivering slightly.
"What's this?!" Elder Bai's voice could barely be heard over the screech, yet his exclamation contained deep surprise.
Shu He felt his body begin to weaken, his mind shook, and his very soul begin to creak, yet he held on; He had made this decision, he would see it to the end. He was so focused that he didn't realise that the Golden Qi from the surroundings had also begun to fly towards the chrysalis!
'Almost… there!'
He could feel it through their connection, it was like a child that had been indecisive, unsure about how it should look, he had guided it along, driving it to completion!
And then- There was a large boom as the light dispersed into particles that fell from the sky like snowflakes, followed by utter silence.
The room was filled with a fine mist as Shu He breathed heavily on all fours, he couldn't remain conscious much longer; But he wanted to check, he wanted to look, he wanted to make sure she was fine.
"Shu He! Are you okay?!" Elder Bai waved his hand as the wind blew away the mist, the moment before he collapsed he managed to capture a glimpse.
A figure that wasn't that of a beast, but human; Small in stature with pure white hair, that was all he could glimpse before he fell unconscious.