CH-8: Elephants In The Room

Tomorrow morning, elders were gathered in the Assembly Hall and called for me with Iyana and her mother. The reason was simple, there was one huge elephant in the room that needed addressing named Special Physique.

We arrived at the Hall together, waiting for the elders to start. Patriarch came in and started the conference.

"Today's assembly has three topics which will be discussed shortly. But first and foremost one is the activation of Iyana Jiang's special physique. It was detected by Xander and confirmed by Solomon." Then he turned to Iyana's mother "As her mother, you should have noticed some strange things happen." but it wasn't her who answered.

"My physique makes any sound I make a soul attack, causing dizziness to those who hear it and with weak mental resistances. One day, I was playing with it, I forced myself too much and became a mute."

-"It was already activated!"

-"Could it be 'Mellifluous Melody Physique'?

-"No way, is the Jiang family stupid enough to pass this genius to others!"

-"There must be something more to this matter."

"Silence! Is what she says true?"

"Yes, my lord. At that time she had hurt her meridians too, becoming a cripple. Thanks to heavens, she met a Miraculous Doctor when she went out last month, saying it was fate they met, he fixed her meridians. Since then we worked hard, building her Body to enrol to the Institute." 'Shit! Is that the Male god? No, if he was she would have a better Body, this is probably what she told her mother to explain how her meridians were cured.'

"If that happened, why didn't he also treat her voice?" Asked my father, grasping the inconsistency in the story. He is not a patriarch for nothing, after all.

"Responding to Lin Patriarch, the Doctor was a bit strange, saying I could treat it myself in the future so he did not need to treat it." 'Hah! Truly a girl boss protagonist, not treating her voice to make the branch family underestimate her, waiting for a good moment to strike swiftly, sweeping all of them at once!'

"Hmm, that sounds like what those lunatics do. Alright, you can get your voice treated with the 6th Elder. You will also be tutored during your treatment, as there isn't much time left for entrance exams. I won't have my daughter-in-law called incapable!" 'Now she became a daughter-in-law?'

"As you wish, my Lord."

"You are excused. Now onto the next- Axel! Why are you still here, I said you are excused." 'Why did you call me if you won't tell me anything?' I got out too, grumbling.

'Now that everything at hand has been resolved, I can practise Descending Starry Palm.' Going to the training grounds, I took the horse stance and pushed my hand forward. One did not need to have Qi to touch upon a Law because, since time immemorial, there have been countless mortals who touched some Laws through their art and used their wills and art to shape it, they are called Sages.

'Those mortal Sages are not aware of it most of the time, but art in itself is a way to cultivate the soul. Reaching so far at their craft, their souls are as pure as they get, allowing them to touch the Laws. In Foundation Establishment, a cultivator opens their Soul Sea and actively cultivates their souls, using the Qi pressure from their Lower Dantian. Since I have a purer and bigger soul than normal, I should be able to do the same too.'

INSIDE THE ASSEMBLY HALL

After sending the three out, the patriarch continued.

"Now to the remaining two topics, first is the stand-in during my seclusion. Is there anyone unsatisfied with the arrangement?" No one raised their voice."Alright then, 7th brother, you can give your report."

A burly man stood up. He was in charge of the front against extraterrestrial demons.

"Responding to Patriarch, our diviners sensed a great turbulence in the World's protective barrier. We are expecting a big invasion." The atmosphere grew grim at his words.

-"Isn't it too soon?"

-"Nothing to do about it, we can only prepare for the worst."

Then the first elder took the lead. "I suggest we reduce the prices of renting cultivation spots. We will need as many and as strong cultivators as possible!"

-"I concur!"

-"Me too!"

As nearly all of the elders agreed, the Patriarch then approved.

"Approved, from today till this invasion ends, every spot will be 15% discounted, for those close to breakthrough a major realm will have an additional 5% discount!" Some of the elders became excited after hearing this, as they still had children who had not achieved Foundation Establishment. Not every branch member enrols after all.

"I believe we should update our defensive formations, Patriarch. Their maintenance intervals should be shortened too. We must prepare for the worst."

"You are right seventh brother. The invasion this time came at a bad time, we must be prepared. Have every formation-master above 4th rank check out the formations, from now on the intervals will be a month. The same things could be done with every occupation;

-Stock on spiritual herbs and get ready for mass production of pills with healing properties.

-Collect beast blood, not just from those we kill but also we rear. Talisman masters are to practice using sand, we must save on talisman paper. Tenth Elder, you are in charge.

-Second sister, post more missions about gathering precious materials, they will be needed both when upgrading formations and refining. Same with hunting missions.

-Everyone who can delegate their duties, do so and go in seclusion, nothing bad with having more Reverends, you will resume your positions once the threat is over. "

"Should we wake up the ancestor?" Said an Elder.

"No, he probably knew before us this would happen. He has faith in us that we will get through this without him, we must not prove him wrong!" Replied Reagan Lin "Dismissed."

The assembly came to an end.

TRAINING GROUNDS

"Huff, huff." I practiced the Descending Starry Palm rest of the day. "I thought it would not be easy, but to not even progress a little! That's the laws for you, I guess. 'Although I made little to no progress, it was a good humbling experience. I thought I could be a protagonist template too, so maybe I could instantly grasp the Law inside the technique. Protagonists are not just talented in their way, but also very lucky. So lucky they could be called sons and daughters of the heavens.'

'Sigh, reborn as an extra was a trope too... Wait, there is a problem here. There were novels where Sons of Heaven had an explanation as to why they are as so, the world faces an extinction-level threat and rears protagonists to protect itself, protagonists then having such big debt to the World, would have to save the World and do some other things to pay it off and finally ascend.' I stopped in my tracks and turned back to the training grounds I had just got out of. 'Multiple protagonist template means multiple sons of heaven. And what begets multiple of them? An Armageddon.'

'She must know something. The question is, should I ask? Technically, I don't have to. There are little ways a World would meet destruction. Either an evil cultivator planning to use all life on it for a ritual, alien beings invasion, or maybe another cultivator is trying to refine the world itself? Hopefully not that... I could find the evil cultivator if I stayed close to templates, Prominent Clans would make preparations for an invasion, there have been multiple in the past. But the last one... No one can do anything other than get stronger and hope it is enough. She should know which one it is and how bad the situation is if she is a regressor, though she did not give any clues of yet. I can't come open without knowing what would she do, and how do I even explain it even if I do so?' I sighed

'For now, I should focus on getting stronger. No rest till I get a grasp on this technique.'

I push my hand forward, again and again. 'Law of Gravity... Gravity, gravitational force... Everything that has a mass has it. It is a force that pulls two bodies of mass together. The bigger the mass, the stronger the force. How do you increase the mass?

- Add more matter? Impractical.

-Qi? If it were that easy, every mountain and seal artefact would have the Law of Gravity with it, only special ones do so there must be something more to it. Not to mention most of them just seal the original weight they were refined and not increase it.

-Formations? Close... They can achieve it because of runes. Runes are used in refining, formations and talismans. Drawing them depletes your spirit, closely related to the pureness and quantity of your soul. But I already knew I would have to depend on my soul and Altar Activation Grandmasters surely don't draw runes to touch the Laws. So how do they do it?'