9 Chapter 9: Requirements

Ling dreamed that he was inside Wang Lao's mind. In that dream, he was in a black void but in front of him was the outside world. Only his consciousness was present in that dream and it was like he was sitting watching a movie in a dark cinema alone. In that dream, he was recalling a scene from one of Wang Lao's memories, his duty, his regret.

...

"Wang Lao. Help me hunt a Dark Lightning Leopard so we can take it's fur and beast core make it a present for my best friend. Her engagement party is coming and I can't wait to see her. She wrote in the letter she recently sent me that she was going to be married to some scrawny ugly kid who has no mana so she was down lately. I like to present those two items to her at the party to cheer her up. You will accompany me to that party." Wang Luo said.

"Of course, my lady." Wang Lao slightly bowed with his hand on his abdomen like a gentleman's bow.

Ling was attentively listening to their conversation when the dream faded quickly. Before he woke up, bright words appeared once again like the last time. This time it was an instruction.

"To be able to reap stronger souls, you must first fulfill the void in their soul and dispel their regrets so that their soul's shackles shatter."

After Ling read the instruction, the sentence faded and he woke up with a headache. The white orb was on top of his head and he was sitting while leaning on a wall. The shadows were in front of him still kneeling. It looks like the shadows laid him there and returned to their positions.

Ling pressed his temples trying to suppress the pain in his head while groaning. "So it's like that... Fuck... there's more work to do..." he complained to himself.

The pain slowly faded and he started to calmly think about the problem and the solution. "So I need to accompany her but the problem is how..." He thought hard to himself. "I think I need to be with this boy's family when I attend that party. The soul's regret was not being able to obey his master's order so I need to be with that girl at the party."

He then stared at the glowing orb at the top of his head trying to get even a little bit of hint from it. "... I can use all types of cloning techniques from my last world or the original technique that I made. It has a cloning part in it to create another version of me..." Ling thought. "... I can do that but the people here don't know qi and they might suspect something. It's also weird for a man who disappeared for 4 months to just reappear out of thin air and saying 'I survived'..."

Ling stood up with an annoyed look on his face. "How the fuck do I this shit. Your regret is not fulfilling your master's orders? What the fuck is that? I can tell that you're loyal as fuck but come on." Ling touched the orb once again but this time, the orb was absorbed by his hands. His body was glowing and an immediate pain from inside and out suddenly shocked his mind.

Ling screamed in agony. "Wh-what the fuck is this pain...! It's like my bones are being shattered a million times and it's being rearranged forcefully... and my fucking skin is melting and I feel like I'm swimming on lava... Ahhh...!" he fell on his knees while crying. "Help me!"

...

A faint wailing can be heard echoing from the surroundings and it caught the ears of a group that was nearby the secluded entrance of the cave. There were 2 beautiful girls with swords strapped on their hips and straw bags filled with herbs on their back. One had a petite body and short blue hair while the other had a voluptuous and slim body, blonde long hair. They both have bright blue eyes.

When they heard Ling's loud cries, the blue-haired girl cautiously stood in her spot while the blonde-haired girl immediately unsheathed her sword and slowly backed off towards the blue-haired girl.

The blonde girl whispered. "W-Wang Bao... You call our senior sisters and tell them about the sound while I guard this place."

"Wang Qing... be careful..." the blue-haired girl nodded and immediately vanished like thin air.

Wang Qing jumped on top of the tree and covered her entire body with her mana. Her body and sword became invisible and sat there cautiously looking around her.

Meanwhile, Ling was squirming while his cries became softer and softer, the glowing light coming from his body slowly turn darker and darker and the shadows who were kneeling a while ago surrounding Ling's glowing body while panicking.

"Master, are you okay!?" Hei was the most panicked one as he was walking back and forth from Ling's body and the corner of the room.

"F-Fuck! The pain's still there but it's slowly fading..." Ling replied. "You all hide inside my shadow and wait for my orders..." he said while gritting his teeth.

The shadows reluctantly followed their master's orders and dissipated into thin air like smoke. Hei looked at his master before dissipating. "Master, you can talk to me through your 'Sea of Consciousness' so I know what your orders are."

Ling slightly nodded while laying on the floor, ignoring Hei's words.

...

When the pain completely faded, Ling immediately sat with his legs crossed and eyes closed. He searched his entire body and was shocked. "S-Sea of Consciousness!" he shouted in his mind. "...But the Sea of Consciousness only appears when you are in Demi-God state..." he intensely thought after standing up. "Mortal state has the 'dantian'. Demi-God state has the 'Sea of Consciousness'. God state has the 'Avatar' while the Immortal state has the 'Heaven's Immortality' mark on your body..." he then muttered. "I'm still at Body Transformation state so why do I have a Sea of Consciousness."

He then entered his Sea of Consciousness. It was like in his last life. Golden fluid in the bottom and stars filled the top of his Consciousness. When Ling stepped on the Golden fluid, his footstep created ripples on the water and he thought to himself. "Just like last time..." When he looked in the middle, there was a black hole floating there. Ling approached it cautiously. As he moved closer and closer, he thought to himself. "Maybe this is the storing space of the formless souls."

When he reached the black hole, he peeked in. A dark room filled with stars was inside the black hole. The room is also wide enough to fit four school buses and high enough to fit an entire truck was inside and at the middle was a pedestal. A black thick book was on top of the pedestal and the white orb was floating on top was inside.

Ling entered the black hole and looked at the floating orb. "Looks like I was right." Ling then approached the pedestal and read the cover of the black book.

"---o- Immortal's Archive." Ling's eyes widened with joy. The first title was gibberish but the 4th letter was barely readable.

"Whatever this is, Jackpot!" Ling jumped and yelled happily before reading the inside of the book.

...

Ling read the first ten pages of the book but when he turned for the 11th page, a formation was on the page stopping Ling from reading. He then closed the book before leaving. He also left his Sea of Consciousness.

Ling stood there dumbfounded. "Sea of Consciousness... Unlocked when I'm still at the Body Transformation state... An unknown Immortal's techniques... obtained... hehe" he smugged. When he was the emperor, he only knew one Immortal and that was the infamous Shadow Immortal but his technique was sealed in the throne so he was confused when he saw the book's title. His confusion was still overpowered by joy so he just shrugged that thought off.

Ling's face turned serious when he remembered the book he read. "Body Manipulating technique. A demonic technique that can be used to change one's appearance and aura. The energy inside the body can be hidden completely and also hide one's cultivation state. When you want to practice this, the bones in the body will be broken and the skin will be melted. This allows the one who's practicing to freely be able to manipulate their own body and dantian using qi." Ling muttered. "That explains the pain I felt earlier and the appearance of my Sea of Consciousness is explained in the second part. To be able to use mental energy to read one's mind and use mental energy to attack the target's sea of consciousness and dantian. Eye of the Blood God."

Ling was satisfied and grinned after he recalled the book. "Whoever owns that book, thank you!"

"Now let's get out of here and see what happened to that girl and boy. I hope my plan works." Ling evilly smiled and his crimson eyes glowed. "But first, let's change our appearance to that of Wang Lao, and later I will try to manipulate the shadow's forms. I wish the Body Manipulating technique works." Ling leaves the room and walks towards the location of the rune he wrote. It was near the entrance.

When Ling was about to dispel the rune that was hiding the cave's entrance, Ling felt 4 auras outside. 3 was moving fastly while the last one was in a nearby tree.

"Looks like I attracted a few nobodies when I was screaming..." Ling smiled shrewdly. "I was already expecting this... hehe" his eyes glowed crimson red.