29 The Old Man's Return - Part 1

The old man saw the scene on the balcony and his heart almost leapt out of his chest when he noticed Asura Ryuu with closed eyes on the chair.

Old man: "That fool, does he know what he's doing?!"

He rushed with the greatest speed he could muster and arrived in an instant next to Asura Ryuu, who was comfortably sleeping on the rocking chair. When he saw that relaxed face as if he wasn't sleeping in a chair but rather the most comfortable bed in the world, old man felt a chill crawl up his spine.

"How strong is his Spirit Power to appear so relaxed on that chair? Even I have problems fighting back against its power sometimes..."

Even though the old man tried to convince himself that Asura Ryuu's mind wasn't so peaceful despite his expression, he found it very hard to believe what he was seeing. The kid who didn't even undergo Awakening could resist the assault of Spirit Power from that chair. It was unbelievable at first, but when he remembered Asura Ryuu's origins he just shook his head, finding it somewhere within himself to somewhat believe what he saw.

"The kids of those two dragons truly are extraordinary, just like their parents...", the old man thought as he recalled the battle of those Immortals and Dragons that took place six years ago. It was a very scary event for the residents of this world that destroyed a considerable part of the land in the surrounding area.

Even though it happened far away from the Crimson Star Academy, the old man still remembered it clearly because if that happened within the Academy, the damage would take up almost a fifth of its entire area.

It wasn't a small area when we measure how big the Crimson Star Academy actually is - its entire area was around the same as one continent on Earth. A fifth of that area is a fifth of a continent!

One can't merely describe that event with words if they don't see it for themselves. Precisely because of that, the event got a worthy name: "The Day of Divine Calamity." Similarly to how humans didn't dare go to the area with strong radiation, the residents of this plane didn't dare go to the place where the battle happened because of the remnant aura. The ones buried within the soil were Immortals!

They thought the continuous cycle of withering and blooming of the nature there was because of their resentment and their drifting spirits that ravaged the land but strangely enough, the shattered mountain remained untouched as if those spirits didn't dare go there. There were several brave souls who entered the area but despite their high cultivation, they were now just drifting energy for the nature and joined in the cycle of withering and blooming. Even their bones were deconstructed and absorbed, hence the area became off-limits zone.

Spiritists often came around the borders of that area to try and feel the Immortal aura within, seeking a chance for enlightenment, but to this date nobody succeeded.

There would occasionally be a colored thunder falling on a mountain which led to the birth of a story about Divine Treasure that left behind after the battle. Nobody was sure whether there truly was Divine Treasure within the mountain or buried underneath the soil because nobody successfully made it there.

The strongest Spiritist that gambled with his life got dispersed into the air after penetrating only several kilometers in. After his fall, nobody else tried to attempt something that crazy. He was made an example of because his clan fell apart and was absorbed by the surrounding clans after his death. Various legends were born during the six years the area existed but as nobody could ascertain their validity, they only remained legends. The witnesses of that event six years ago told what they saw, and that was the only story which was officially announced to the world - the battle of Immortals and Dragons happened at that place hence it became a cursed land.

The old man recalled all those legends as he watched the sleeping boy on the rocking chair, somewhat a comical scene considering his age. He didn't know what to think of his parents if only the remnant aura could kill the beings in this world. What would happen if someone investigated and decided to take over this world? The old man could only pray for that not to happen because there was nothing he could change. Only the fate would tell the future of their world and what these two little monsters would turn out to be.

What the old man was sure of is that both Asura Ryuu and Asura Tenka are guaranteed to become Immortals and that nothing could possibly threaten them in this world with the protection of his parents. How could he know that there was no more protection after Asura Ryuu nearly died by the creature in the Dragon God's world? Not even Asura Ryuu's mother, who cast that protection, knew of its disappearance - let alone the old man who had no connection to it. That's how powerful abilities of the crimson claw were in separating the space. If the Dragon God didn't want for them to enter that world, there was no way they would be able to do so.

With its strength, Dragon God naturally knew of everything that happened within the Lifeless Valley because the strength of his mind was nowhere near the level that the ants of this world could understand.

He naturally noticed how strong Asura Ryuu's and Asura Tenka's Spirit Power was even before they found a way to that world. That is why he lured them into it in order to test their reaction and closely observe them. Otherwise, how could there be a Spirit Beast in the area without Spirit Energy?

The Blue Tiger evolved purely because of luck and by eating various other beasts and absorbing a bit of the Spirit Energy contained in their flesh, but that was only because there were no natural predators or threats to the tiger so it could do what it wanted and the old man didn't find any trouble with it.

Even the old man was beneath the Dragon God's consideration. That fact itself tells how strong Asura Ryuu's Spirit Power was before merging with the power of the Dragon God. After the merging, his Spirit Power didn't increase much because it was already vast, but it got a qualitative evolution. The higher the quality of Spirit Power - the higher the control of Spirit Energy one would achieve. Not to mention other effects on perception, vision, power of mind and extended concentration time.

For Spiritualists, the Spirit Power was much more important than Spirit Energy because of how hard it was to cultivate it. There were even extreme cases when people turned into real devils because of unorthodox methods like absorbing others' Spirit Power and being devoured by the emotions and thoughts of the opposite party, leaving aside the moral questions that come with that method.