Promises of the Future

As Raiden sprinted out of the forest as quickly as he could, Astoria shifted back into Rictoli's spatial ring, only this time, she had a guest—an unconscious golden tortoise.

Back in the ring, Astoria gently let down the tortoise in the lake, letting him float on the surface while she floated around him. Though Little Gold wasn't a turtle, from Rictoli's memories, she learned that it was physically impossible for someone to drown in a lake full of spiritual liquid.

Apparently, the massive quantity of Spiritual Qi in the lake would act as oxygen, allowing anyone to breathe inside of it naturally. Also, Little Gold needed to heal, and since Rictoli sold everything to his name to prepare for his reincarnation, the lake was her only option.

So, dropping the tortoise, Astoria started to look through the interior of the ring.

From Rictoli's memories, Astoria learned that he never managed to get the ring's name, so he merely called it an immortal ring as a replacement.

Using her memories and experience writing in similar worlds, Astoria guessed that you had to recognize the black tower in the center to get the ring's true name. Since Rictoli never did, he was left in the dark.

Still, with just the herb garden and lake of Spiritual Qi, Rictoli was able to turn from a poor kid in a desolate area to one of the Nine Desolate Domains' strongest experts, so it wasn't like he lost out on much.

Curious about it all, Astoria floated to the black tower, planning to inspect the divine artifact.

Since it sat in the center of the immortal ring, it was obviously the core of it all, but Rictoli didn't know anything about it, and as his inheritor, Astoria didn't either.

Landing at its base, Astoria stared at the tower, hoping to unravel its mysteries, but she couldn't.

The black tower wasn't built of bricks or any other metal. From what Astoria could see, it was created from one large piece of metal. When she saw how large the tower actually was, she couldn't help but become shocked.

With a Child Soul Realm soul cultivation base, Astoria could see dozens of kilometers in any direction if her vision was not impeded. However, even with her eagle-like vision, she couldn't see the top of the tower, and this was despite the fact that there were no clouds in the immortal ring.

The tower extended to heights that Astoria could not see through due to its sheer size and height. This was amazing and further drove Astoria's desire to investigate.

Looking closer at its sleek black shell, Astoria noticed numerous complex yet simplistic-looking runes covering the base of the black tower.

Even as Astoria spun around the entire base of the tower, the runes continued to be there. Moreover, no rune was ever repeated, making it even more bizarre. 

Sadly, Astoria didn't understand a single rune and could only stare at them in ignorance.

While Astoria was circling the black tower, she noticed something. On the other side, opposite the lake of spiritual liquid, was a large cut-out. Looking a bit closer, she saw a small outline of a door. 

The door and its outline weren't large, but thankfully, Astoria was investigating every inch of the black tower and was able to notice them.

Rictoli also noticed the door, but even with thousands of years of research wasn't able to even make the door budge, let alone open.

"This is probably the key to opening the tower, but the question is, what the hell do I do next?" Astoria mumbled as she put her chin in her palm. Her chin, of course, phased through the palm, leaving her looking stupid, but she didn't care much and just continued to pose as if it did work.

A few seconds passed, and Astoria had a few ideas, which she tried out with her growing curiosity.

She went to the door and put her ghostly palm on it, hoping that it would open after recognizing her talent. 

That didn't work.

She tried to phase through the door as a whole and break into the tower forcibly. 

That didn't work either.

Astoria even tried to say some magic words, hoping the tower's consciousness would hear her and open magically. 

That one obviously didn't work.

Astoria ran out of ideas.

Giving up, Astoria snorted at the black tower in disdain and exited the immortal ring.

'All right then, keep your secrets!'

—

After Astoria entered the ring with Little Gold, Raiden quickly looted the assassins before running out of the forest at full speed. But without any cultivation, his run didn't get very far, very quickly.

Yes, he was good at running away and had decent physical strength, but Raiden could only travel at a mortal's pace without any type of universal essence to his name.

Cultivation in the Nine Desolate Domains had three paths and three universal essences, each aligning with one.

To follow the Qi Refinement path, one had to open their lower dantian, or their Qi Sea, which was located about an inch or so below the navel.

Only once a cultivator opened up their Qi Sea could they absorb Spiritual Qi safely and begin treading upon the Qi Refinement path.

The other two paths were similar in that you had to open up their corresponding dantian before you could do anything. The middle dantian or vital flame was for the Body Tempering, and the upper dantian or niwan palace for the Soul Cultivation path. 

This left the Qi Refinement path with Spiritual Qi, the Body Tempering path with Vital Energy, and the Soul Cultivation path with Soul Essence. But Raiden didn't have any of those.

Another distinction from the Qi Refinement path was that to start its journey, one needed an innate talent from birth. This talent usually took the form of a plant root and was located right behind where the lower dantian was. The Qi Sea was an extension of the plant root, and because of this fact, the strength, quality, size, and practically everything in a cultivator's Qi Refinement path journey would be dictated on the tier of the plant root.

Colloquially called the spiritual root, this plant root's tier and, therefore, the cultivator's talent level wasn't dictated by how many elements it could absorb like what Astoria was used to.

Rather than the element, it was the brightness of the spiritual root that mattered.

Their tiers were from highest to lowest: Radiant, Luminescent, Bright, Faint, Dull, and Hazy.

When Raiden was born, he was discovered to have a luminescent-tier spiritual root and was thought to be the next generation of a Heavenly Seal Realm cultivator.

After all, at the very minimum, a luminescent grade spiritual root could potentially allow Raiden to cultivate all the way to the peak of the Nine Desolate Domains. 

Sadly, thanks to a ruthless uncle of his, the news of Raiden's talent was leaked, and he faced a swift and barbaric extermination campaign. 

His uncle already had grand ambitions of becoming the head of the family, and when he realized that Raiden could become the greatest cultivator in the world, he put his plans into action.

He feared Raiden's potential and used this bit of information to call upon a much greater power that usually wouldn't even bother with a small clan like Raiden's. 

This power, what Astoria heard from the triplets, was called the Profound Saber Sect. 

That leader wasn't lying either.

The Profound Saber Sect was indeed the most powerful force in the Black Lotus Domain. So while Raiden's clan might've had some influence in this domain, it was nothing compared to its strongest force. 

And so, during Raiden's twelfth birthday, the day that he would finally begin his cultivation journey, Raiden's direct family members were killed, and his spiritual root was forcibly excavated out of his body.

Logically, he should've died that day too, but due to the excavator's mercy, Raiden survived the ordeal. However, his spirit root was still forcibly excavated and given away, making it impossible for him to enter the path of Qi Refinement. 

Without the option of the most famous Qi Refinement path, Raiden was only left with the other two paths.

However, the Black Lotus Domain didn't have any Soul Cultivation inheritances, making it nearly impossible for him to enter the Soul Cultivation path. Moreover, the Body Tempering path, which was his only true hope, required a wallet far larger than what he had.

After his clan was destroyed and he was chased out of his home, Raiden was forced to hide in a village where real, tangible currency was scarce. Bartering was the standard in his village.

Because of this, Raiden barely had a few silver coins, which wasn't enough to buy cultivation resources.

Cultivators were above mortals. As such, they used an entirely different currency—spiritual stones. 

Spiritual stones, though, were far beyond what Raiden could currently afford. Just one spiritual stone was worth 100 gold coins. But despite this conversation rate, no sane cultivator would trade one spiritual stone for 100 gold coins. Even 200 gold coins weren't enough. 

So when you remembered that Raiden didn't even have a dozen silver coins, which was only one-tenth of one gold coin, you realized just how poor he was.

Shaking his head in dismay, Raiden started to despair.

"How am I supposed to cultivate at this rate? Even with Little Gold guiding me, how can I cultivate? Moreover, get strong enough to avenge mother and father?" Raiden was strong-willed, but with so much against him, his will showed signs of cracking.

However, just before he succumbed to darkness, a cheerful voice full of life sounded to his right, bringing him right out of it.

"You have me now, Raiden! Even if a god is your enemy, I'll get you through it and help you take his head!" Astoria exclaimed energetically as she exited the ring.

What a joke!

Raiden was the exact template of every damn novel protagonist she had read before. If even Raiden, this poster boy, couldn't find a way to reverse his situation, then no one could.

Plus, with her and Rictoli's immortal ring at his side, if Raiden couldn't become an Immortal Emperor, he might as well just kill himself right now to save everyone the trouble.

However, despite Astoria's encouraging words, Raiden didn't feel too much better.

"You don't have to comfort me so much, Big Sister. I know my situation very well. My talent for Body Tempering is sub-par, while my spiritual root was excavated. Even if I had your help, achieving the Muscle Tempering Realm would be difficult to achieve in my lifetime." Raiden said, depression taking over.

He was strong-willed, very much so. If he wasn't, how could he still be alive after everything that had happened to him?

First, his extraordinary talents had been exposed by a family traitor. 

Then, before his clan could react, they were once again betrayed by those same people and exterminated to the last man. Finally, he had even been forced to witness the death of his parents as they tried to make time for his escape.

But if all that wasn't enough, he had been captured by the devils who killed his family and had his spiritual roots forcibly excavated. And at the end of it all, the only reason he survived the ordeal wasn't because of his parents sacrificing themselves, but rather the cruel butcher who took his spiritual roots had some pity on him.

Raiden could still remember the words he had said to him.

'I never did like this plan and still don't. But you, poor lad, I feel the worst about. Run away, kid. Hide somewhere far away. Live a good life. Marry a smart girl. Maybe even have a kid or two. But don't you dare bring up the past. For both you and me.'

It was aggravating to be talked to like some worthless beggar, but Raiden knew there was no point in arguing and left without looking back. And now, having to run like a wild dog around the Black Lotus Domain in hopes just to survive another day.

The past few months had taken a toll on Raiden's young mind. Adrenaline had been the only thing keeping him going all this time, but now that the enemies were dead, it had left him.

By now, all that was left was the crushing weight of reality, pressing him down like the force of a neutron star.

Raiden wanted to grow strong, avenge his parents, and kill the devils who handed him this fate, but he could not imagine such a reality.

Not without his spiritual roots.

He wanted to be strong, but how could he? 

There were no more straws left for him to grasp onto. 

Thankfully, a bright light shined a way out just before he could walk into the abyss.

"Raiden, there is a saying where I'm from. If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving." Astoria directly quoted the great MLK Jr: "Just because times look dark, and everything seems hopeless, it doesn't give you an excuse to give up."

"You have to keep moving! Times may seem hopeless, and the clouds might be dark, but that is only temporary! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and don't look back."

"If you can't enter the path of Qi Refinement or Body Tempering, then become a soul cultivator! The heavens might seem ruthless, but they always leave a door open." Astoria said as she floated around the depressed Raiden like a fairy.

Her words were cheerful and full of motivation—especially the philosophical quote. And because of this, Raiden actually started to regain some color. But some of his depression remained, and he still questioned his big sister's words.

"But how can I start cultivating my soul? Let alone a cultivation technique for it. I don't even know how to open up my upper dantian. Plus, where am I supposed to get a teacher?" Raiden asked.

"The Black Lotus Domain doesn't have any soul cultivators, and while I don't know much about this path, I do know that having a teacher is extremely important. Without one, it's very easy for one to turn themselves into an idiot." 

Raiden was right about this part.

Soul Cultivation was the rarest of the three possible cultivation paths because of fearful bigots, who wanted all sages dead, but it was also the most dangerous of the paths to tread upon.

This wasn't a piece of false propaganda either.

Qi Refinement and the Body Tempering path also had many dangers, but they weren't too lethal unless there were other circumstances.

If one messed up in their Qi Refinement, their foundation could become unstable, and they could possibly regress a few cultivation stages, along with a few other nonlethal side effects. 

On the other hand, Body Tempering was a bit more dangerous. If one messed up during a physical cultivation session, their body would suffer a great deal of internal and external injuries.

In the worst-case scenario, these injuries could kill the cultivator, but it wasn't guaranteed.

This is what happened with Rictoli.

However, with Soul Cultivation, even one minor mistake can cause a cultivator to suffer soul injuries, the single worst kind of injury one could possibly suffer.

Injuries to the soul could do many harmful things. And not one of them was even remotely negligible. From a steep lower in comprehension ability to a complete collapse in personality or intelligence, even the most injuries to the soul were extremely dangerous. 

On the middle end of mistakes, you could easily turn yourself into a mentally handicapped person who would pee themselves at any given moment.

That was why Raiden had a few qualms about Astoria's words.

Thankfully, though, Astoria had some more words to dispel these worries.

"Dude, you're literally looking at sage right now. Obviously, I'll guide you. And as for cultivation techniques, that's even less of a concern. I have more than enough stored in my ring," Astoria bragged with a wide smile.

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