The truth

After Diana and Arte went to cultivate, Drake was left alone. He once again took out the talisman they left behind for him and decidedly shattered it, waiting to hear Darth's explanation.

"Hey, kiddo, I hope you are safe when listening to this.

"Sorry if you were expecting to hear Darth, but there are some things I need to tell you that Darth can't know of. " the voice of his grandmother Ginna was heard.

Drake wasn't expecting Ginna to be the one who left behind the voice talisman, but he didn't mind it if his questions were solved.

"First I would explain why we had to break the seal now then I will proceed to the more pressing matters at hand.

"I thought it was strange that being descendants of such a divine beast, our power could only progress until the Dantian Opening realm. Sure it is hard to progress in cultivation, but for thousands of years, not even one of us has reached the Merging realm. That could only mean there was some problem with us or the seal.

"It ended up being both. I discovered that the seal was leaving a mark on our soul that was being refined by us when we were progressing in the Soul Refinement realm. After we were breaking through to the Dantian Opening realm, the mark was moving to our Dantian and was residing there, taking about half of our Dantian's space, making us unable to fill it up and reach higher than the fifth stage."

'So that's the reason Darth and Doko could only reach the middle stages of Dantian Opening. Good thing the seal has been broken before I entered the Soul Refinement.' Drake thought.

"The mark had other effects though; it was using the Ki we had stored in the Dantian to slowly destroy our bloodline. The more time one spent on the Dantian Opening realm, the more his bloodline was being diluted to the point that after hundreds of years, we would have no trace of the Sun Wukong's bloodline.

"As you can understand, if we let it go, it would only end with our deaths. We wouldn't even have the power to weaken the array after a couple of hundred years.

"Therefore, when you were born, we had to make a decision. Either bet our race's survival on you and Diana, breaking the seal by using a spell that sacrifices, everyone's who took part in, life force, or face extinction. Everyone in the village chose the first option, so we drugged you and Diana and then cast the spell."

If Drake could, he would have stopped the voice. It was making him uncomfortable. He did not consider these monkeys his family, yet he couldn't help but have an awful feeling of something being stuck in his throat. He didn't need their help. He just wanted to get his revenge. Why would they sacrifice their lives for him?

'Did I feel a connection with them since I grew up with them?'

He was clenching his fists. He wanted to vent this feeling. He didn't want to accept it, but he was feeling sad.

"Now onto important matters that only I had knowledge of in the whole village. Not even your father, being the village chief, had access to this information.

"The first was that I had unlocked an ability when I broke through to the Dantian Opening realm. Unlocking a unique ability of the soul isn't uncommon albeit rare. It was giving me the power to see one's soul, true form after he sees it himself. I know yours is a human.

"This can't exist in a beast. Similarly, a beast's soul can't exist in a human. It will make that being lose his sense of self and drive him mad in the end. But there is one exception, and that is the second matter I need to address you." Ginna's voice kept explaining in his mind.

Drake was feeling a sense of foreboding. Why would his soul's true form matter at all, except for his affinity with elements?

"Some beings in this world were born differently. It doesn't matter if they are human or beasts, their souls were extremely powerful since birth and their growth rate was extremely fast. There is only one reason that this can happen and it is the reason their soul has an otherwise impossible form. Reincarnation."

Drake froze on the spot. From all the things he expected hearing from the talisman, the matter regarding his reincarnation was not one of them.

'What is going on? Is being reincarnated a common occurrence here?' Drake thought.

"Some cultivators that have reached the Fate realm are unable to proceed to the last one, the Godhood realm. I do not know why this happens, but I do know some found a solution to it, a forbidden spell to be exact. They sacrifice their lives, cultivation and their memories get sealed, for a chance of being born again. The chance is extremely low, but if they succeed and reach the Enlightenment Realm once again, their memories return.

"That gives them a second chance of reaching the Godhood realm.

"The being that they are being born into is completely random, but they do hold something from their previous lives. Their soul's true form takes the appearance of what they were in their previous lives."

Drake was bewildered.

'She must think I am a reincarnated cultivator. Well, I guess that confusion helps me.'

"I imagine you are such a being. An old human cultivator reincarnated as one of ours. I want you to know that you, being a human before, doesn't make you any less of our family now. So, I would like first to warn you and then ask you for two favours.

"You need to be extremely careful about revealing your soul's true form. Every cultivator that reached Godhood has their pride in reaching that realm by fighting against their Fate. They consider beings that fail to do so as not worthy of being Gods. So they declared the spell as forbidden and they kill themselves all the cultivators that use it if they find them out.

"You need to be especially careful of the Holy Church. Their old ancestor is a reincarnated human. He wasn't just any kind of human, he used to be the brother of the so-called Goddess Delia. He has reincarnated at least five times that we know of. His name used to be Enver Dust. They will not let anyone get in his way of achieving the peak of cultivation and they will kill you to avoid the attention of the other gods.

"The reason that Goddess plotted against Sun Wukong is that our ancestor found out the truth about her brother. She colluded with the other gods that are in a similar situation as her and silenced him before he manages to speak of it. They also targeted the other god beasts, on the assumption that they also knew about it."

Drake was shocked and happy at the same time. He started laughing with excitement.

'Who would have thought there would be such a story. Haha! This is perfect. Now I definitely know that she cares about that Holy Church!"

"That is the warning I said I will give you and now for the favours I want to ask you.

"The first is for you to take care of Diana, she is the last of our race and even though she is still young, she is a hardworking and strong-willed girl. I know you think she is a bother but I assure you, she can help you. She is very talented in pill-making. I had her help me with some of my pills and I know her talent rivals mine. You can give her the book I left in your interspatial ring to her so she can cultivate her talent in pill making, or keep it to yourself. The decision is up to you. But please, keep her safe.

"The second favour is to not go against the Holy Church. Hide from them until you become strong enough because they are extremely powerful. Apart from their old ancestor, they have other hidden cultivators who are at least of the Enlightenment realm. I guess the current Pope should be around the peak of the Merging Realm himself. Therefore, please just be careful.

"Anyways kiddo, that is all I have to tell you. This is probably the last time you will hear my voice so know that whoever you were in your previous life, we love you."

Silence... Drake was in deep thought, thinking everything he heard from Ginna. He felt that while her voice lasted, he was going through an emotional roller-coaster. It made him extremely tired. There was so much information in so little time.

It wasn't until the first rays of light entered the cave that Drake moved. He checked to see the others still sleeping and he moved out of the cave. Drake walked until he found a glade. He checked around until he found a spot where the soil was softer and he dug a small hole putting the pieces of the now broken talisman inside.

'Ginna, I am not your grandson neither I am your family. I am not a good person, I never was. I will only walk the path of revenge killing everyone who tries to stop me. So I can only ignore the second favour you asked of me.

'I will destroy the Holy Church. I will kill everyone related to Delia.'

Drake slowly started filling the hole he opened.

'But you showed me that I am not alone in this. Since you want me to take care of Diana, I can only do it by having her walk the same path as me. As long as she stays with me, I will protect her. But if she chooses a different life, she is on her own.'

Drake gave one last look where he buried the talisman before walking back to the cave.