54 Returning to the original world

When he left his soul realm and returned to his body he could feel tremors on the ground like an earthquake.

"Nie Li!" shouted the girls running towards him. While everything was happening inside his soul realm, only a couple of seconds passes in the outside world. Girls only noticed Mo Kuang in his incorporeal form attacking Nie Li, and before they could do anything the tremors started.

"Are you okay?" Xiao Ning'er asked him worriedly.

"Yeah," replied Nie Li and put his hands on the red orb, "But it looks like I screwed up."

"What happened?"

"It looks like this world was tied to Mo Kuang's soul. And when I killed him the world started to collapse." Nie Li replied.

"Oh!" girls looked around worriedly.

"Don't worry. It will take almost an hour for it to reach us. We are exactly at the center of the world and the chaos only started to devour the edges of the world. By that time we will leave this world. I found a way to leave the world."

"So what are we waiting for then?" asked Ye Ziyun.

"It will take me some time to refine this world seed and take control. Not much, ten minutes at most. But I am mostly not happy because we can't take anything from this world that belongs to it." Nie Li said looking at Yin Origin Tree.

"I hope it doesn't consider us belonging to it." Ye Ziyun said shivering. Staying in this world any more than necessary would be extremely problematic even if the world wasn't getting destroyed.

"No, we must stay in this world at least for two weeks before it considers us as a part of itself" Nie Li replied.

"What's that tree?" asked Xiao Ning'er noticing his glance.

"It's the most valuable thing here. Yin Origin Tree is a world-class treasure. It was the only thing inside this world when Mo Kuang found it."

"World-class treasure?" asked Ye Ziyun looking at a strange white tree with a white trunk and black leaves. She could feel that it exuded an enormous amount of energy.

"There could be only one such treasure of this kind in a world. They are usually owned by great organizations. This tree gives fruits every three years that greatly improve the foundation of those who cultivate yin techniques." The Heavenly Note Sect in the Draconic Ruins Realm would have given anything to get such a treasure.

Ghosts also flocked here because of this tree. It emanated a huge amount of yin energy and because of Mo Kuang incorrectly connecting to this world, it was overlapping with the real world. This world became a sort of a ghost of the real world.

Now it was getting destroyed. When Mo Kuang found it in a ruin somewhere on the outer edges of the Black Devil Forest, he had no idea what it was. Thinking that it was some kind of powerful artifact he decided to refine it. Naturally, the usual methods didn't work. So he decided to force the issue and tried to draw energy from it. The world seed responded by sending the energy he wanted. His body couldn't deal with the amount of energy that a world, even a small one, could operate with. He was burned to death.

His ghost, on the other hand, was luckier. It was sucked into the internal space of the world seed with the remnant energy. There he bonded to the world seed as a part of it, because the world seed hadn't been whole since its word creation process was interrupted. It was practically crippled, and couldn't create its own laws, and grow.

How it was done or who did it, Nie Li had no idea. But in his opinion, taking a potential real world and turning it into a glorified storage device was a bit idiotic. Even for a world-class treasure like Yin Origin Tree. Maybe Nie Li was mistaken and there was some other reason for ending a potential new world even before it was born, but Nie Li had no idea what it was.

And whatever the case, the seed was now practically lobotomized. It had lost its ability to grow on its own. It needed someone to control the process of creating the laws of the world and fine-tune its growth. Nie Li couldn't imagine how anyone could accomplish the extremely complicated task of creating a world. Subsidiary worlds were easier. Because they copied the laws of their mother world or the laws of the world cores if they were used in its creation.

But Mo Kuang got a seed of a real world and became its mind. Considering he had no idea what it was and what to do his instincts took over. His phantom state and desire to keep his mansion safe resulted in world seed copying the area around the mansion and overlapping it with the real world.

This overlapping allowed Mo Kuang to observe the real world and kidnap some people into his world. He did it mainly to find a way to get himself a real body. His ghost state prevented him from advancing further in cultivation. And because he had no idea how the death energy operated, he created an incomplete version of it. It was mostly based on his ghost state and was very unbalanced. That made it very vulnerable to other types of energy and Nie Li and the girls exploited that weakness to the fullness in their fight.

With Mo Kuang dead, all of the rules were gone as well. And if Nie Li wants to create his own world he has to work tirelessly, because it wouldn't be an easy task. He didn't even know where to start. The only example he had, was the Tiny World. It was created by some unknown expert millions of years ago and there were no records of how he did it.

Nie Li decided to think about it later. Right now, he must bind the world seed to his soul as Mo Kuang did.

Nie Li warned the girls and sit down to meditate. The binding process will require all of his attention. He also wished for the ability to hide it in his soul realm hoping that it would work as it did for Mo Kuang. During the binding process, he concentrated on the idea of the world seed becoming like a soul weapon. It had taken him five minutes to finish the binding process. His wish also worked. He could feel the red orb becoming part of his soul.

Now he couldn't bond with any other soul weapon, but Nie Li considered it a win. There was no better weapon than your own world. Of course, that would be true only if Nie Li would succeed in creating the world.

"Are you done?" asked the girls seeing that Nie Li finished his meditation.

"Yes, I am finished. And I have an idea what to do with the tree as well."

"Oh, did you find a way to get it out as well?" asked Ye Ziyun.

"No, but I think that I can create an array that will allow you to absorb its essence energy. That would be a very wasteful use for the tree and going to drain it seriously, but it's going to be destroyed anyway so I think it's okay." Nie Li said looking at a tree. Its fruits weren't ripe yet, so they couldn't use them.

But he could create something like a Spirit Concentration Array for the girls to absorb the tree's energy. And with the limited time they left, they won't be able to drain the tree completely, but Nie Li couldn't do anything with it. There was no way for him to stop the destruction of the world. And his bond to the world seed will be fully completed only when the last traces of Mo Kuang's connection will be erased.

Nie Li proceeded to create the array right away because the sooner he finished the more benefits the girls are going to get. The array he designed was simple. It drained the origin yin energy of the tree and concentrated it for the girls to absorb. Without a physical barrier, a large part of the energy would just dissipate into the world, but the rest should be more than enough for the girls. He finished drawing the array around and on the Yin Origin Tree's trunk and called the girls.

"You have half an hour. You must try to absorb as much origin yin energy as much as you could. It's the purest type of yin energy. It will improve your talent and physique greatly. After this, the dangers of cultivating at night would become a thing of the past."

Girls looked at the tree in wonder. Improving one's talent was a rare opportunity.

"Wait, you won't be using the array yourself?" asked Xiao Ning'er.

"No, It's not very suitable for me. That much pure origin yin energy may actually turn me into a woman." Nie Li replied. Then looked thoughtfully at the tree stroking his chin and meaningfully hummed "Hmm."

Girls glanced at each other panicked. And Ye Ziyun said hurriedly, "Nie Li we haven't explored the manor entirely. I am sure you can find a suitable treasure for yourself."

"What? You don't think that I would be a beautiful girl?" he asked smirking at them.

"Go!" shouted Ye Ziyun understanding that he was joking. "I am sure you can deal with the ghosts if you meet them."

"There are no ghosts left. When I killed the Mo Kuang, his binding on the ghosts disappeared and their souls joined the circle of reincarnation."

"Even better! Now go," ordered Ye Ziyun resolutely. She didn't want to allow Nie Li anywhere near the array. Xiao Ning'er was snickering on the side. She didn't know how much of what Nie Li said was a joke and how much of it was true. But she knew that Nie Li would never agree to turn into a girl of his own will.

"Okay," Nie Li said laughing. "Let me just activate the array."

After the girls sit down to cultivate he decided to follow Ye Ziyun's advice. Because of the density of the energy, the area inside the array had a hot air distortion effect. There was no point in watching over the girls. He could feel that there were no dangers left in this world after they dealt with ghosts.

He looked around for the treasures. There may be something that could be used immediately by him also. Even though the world seed was more than enough reward for his efforts, that was not a reason for dismissing everything else. But he couldn't find anything useful in the chamber. Of course, there were some interesting treasures, but nothing that could be used by him now. Even though the Mo family had been richer than his, they didn't have such a distinguished history.

He left the chamber and went to explore the manor. He found Mo Kuang's study, where he kept the records of his research on the world seed. Even though most of the research was superficial, Nie Li still copied them all into an empty notebook using the copying technique. There may be something interesting there considering Mo Kuang has been in possession of the world seed he called the God's Key for a long time.

Then Nie Li entered the prison chamber where the skeletons of the people Mo Kuang kidnapped, were kept. He hadn't been able to look into them thoroughly when they passed through here before. But there wasn't anything interesting here. Mo Kuang usually kidnapped people who he thought wouldn't attract too much attention. Commoners and some bronze rank cultivators at most.

He was afraid someone powerful might find a way into his world. Nie Li and the girls were brought here because Mo Kuang couldn't contain his hatred towards the Winged Dragon family.

Back then when he and some others went to explore the Black Devil Forest, he was the only survivor and brought the world seed with him. And one of the dead members of the expedition had been from the Winged Dragon family. They had somehow found out about the treasure he had brought with him from the expedition and demanded a share.

When he refused they began pressuring him. So even though he didn't know what the artifact he brought was, he decided to force a connection with it. It caused his death instead and he was forced to watch his family getting slaughtered by the attackers powerless to stop it in his ghost state. So he hated and blamed his death on them. Only good thing was that the Winged Dragon family couldn't get their hands on the treasure. It came to this world with him.

Some time after the ghosts of the dead started to appear in his world and many of them were aggressive towards him. He got killed quite a few times and got resurrected because of the artifact.

And he decided to bind the ghosts to his will. The binding he used turned them insane and allowed him to control them. But that control wasn't all-compassing so he was still wary of them. That was why he always kept most of the ghosts at a distance. Mo Kuang himself was different from them because of his connection to the world seed.

After exploring the manor and not finding anything interesting he returned to the treasure chamber. World boundary was nearing the manor now. They had 5 minutes at most before everything would be swallowed by the chaos.

"Girls, we have to go," he said getting near them. The tree looked a bit worse for wear but still alive. There was no way girls could drain it fully only in a half an hour. Girls opened their eyes and he deactivated the array.

After the blur effect of the array disappeared and the girls stood, Nie Li could see the changes that happened to them. That was expected. When he got Kong Ming's inheritance in the Ancient Orchid City Ruins it improved his constitution as well. And an improved constitution meant better looks.

Girls looked more radiant. With their glowing skin, lustrous hair, and sparkling eyes they are going to turn more heads in the future. And bring more trouble for him too. They were already called goddesses, so there would be more resentment towards him when they start dating officially.

But Nie Li was pleased. These two goddesses were practically his girlfriends. And the changes are going to continue for some time. He himself kept growing half a centimeter a day and only recently stopped at 167 centimeters in height. That was not a bad height for 13 year old. Girls were half a head shorter than him now. But that is most likely temporary. He just hoped that he wouldn't be left behind.

And their aura was also different. They exuded confidence and regal elegance. Their talent and cultivation must have improved a lot as well.

Girls became embarrassed under his scrutiny and blushed.

"So, um are we going?" asked Ye Ziyun.

"Yes, let's go outside. We don't know the condition of this room in the real world" Ne Li said. They left the building. Outside, the world boundary already swallowed most of the buildings. They got to the center of the square. This place must be safe. Unlike Mo Kuang, Nie Li couldn't look into the outside world.

He took out world seed from his soul realm. It was more transparent now with a small red spark at the center. Nie Li suspected that it would become completely clear after the last traces of the previous owner's influence disappear. "Come closer," he said to the girls. He didn't want to leave them here because of a mistake.

Nie Li activated the teleportation method he had pried from Mo Kuang's mind. A blue wave of energy they had seen during their entrance to this world appeared and engulfed them. When their vision cleared they could see they were in the same square. But it looked more worn out and littered with debris.

All of the buildings around them carried the signs of destructive attacks. The main building they just left, looked completely demolished. Nie Li thanked his lucky stars because he couldn't imagine what would have happened if they appeared inside the collapsed basement. Or if would they have appeared at all.