Gift

There were approximately five hours left until the sun rose on a new day. Inside the majestic main building, dark wood and precious minerals adorned the corridors, which were traversed by the cold night breeze. At the back of the building, positioned where the councilors and the patriarch had their quarters, was a small and dimly lit room. This room was a strategic point where nothing escaped the keen senses of the clan's top cultivators.

In this room, a young woman sat on a stone bed, holding a book in her hands, while other books were scattered around her. She hadn't been able to sleep that night; her body was filled with energy, and it seemed that this sensation would linger for much longer. Thus, she decided to resume something she hadn't done in a while.

She closed the book with a deep sigh, unable to concentrate on reading. She had grown up in this solitary room for as long as her memories went. With the help of a kind maid, she had learned to read. Dedication was her defining characteristic, and she had devoted herself to reading everything that came her way.

Her life was like this, lonely and peaceful, until the day the maid, tears in her eyes, told her about her past and what had happened to her entire family. After that day, the maid never appeared again.

Reflecting deeply, Ruri, who no longer had traces of childhood innocence, realized that her future would be a daunting challenge. The books, despite exaggerating and romanticizing the lives of cultivators, made it clear that history was always told from the perspective of the victors. Little did she know that it wouldn't be long before her homeland was manipulated and destroyed, and she would be a key pawn in that process. Or would it?

Looking out the window, Ruri gazed at the starry sky and sighed deeply. Nowadays, she has the opportunity to leave the room and experience a bit of the outside world. However, in exchange for this small taste of freedom, she had been stripped of what little she still had with the addition of the slave seal.

"But... at least now I can live a little, with a purpose," she murmured slowly. The image of her master, illuminated by the stars in a beautiful and magical way... and fat way... appeared in her mind. She couldn't shake this vision all night.

At that moment, not too far away, in a dark hallway of the main building, Alm and Bruno moved silently, advancing deeper and remaining vigilant of everything around them.

'We're taking an unnecessary risk here. If we get caught, the consequences will be severe,' Alm spoke mentally.

Bruno replied, still advancing cautiously, 'All the most powerful cultivators in the clan are scattered throughout the main building. They hardly sleep but often spend long hours immersed in their cultivation. They won't pay attention to stealthy shadows like us.'

'We could have attacked the elder who is related to the girl. He's not that strong. The Qi we took from her body would be enough for a fatal blow. An old fool like him wouldn't be able to sense our approach. He had many connections and a lot of knowledge. If we could attack him, we'd gain access to valuable information for a clearer picture,' argued Alm.

Bruno countered, 'Attacking an elder with a much higher cultivation is a safer path? Don't let your bloodlust cloud your judgment. The guy is at the end stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm! Let alone him, even someone in the very first stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm would already be a huge, hugeeeeee stretch. Pretty much a 100% guaranteed fail.'

'Even if we succeeded, which I'm sure we wouldn't, he would die. The clan's investigation would be rigorous, and after the attack, we wouldn't have the energy to escape without leaving traces.'

'Don't be a pathetic coward! We've faced a much greater cultivation gap when we killed the necromancer,' Alm responded angrily.

Bruno almost let out a heavy sigh but held back at the last moment. 'The necromancer was due to very specific circumstances that could already be considered almost a miracle to be fulfilled. Anyway, we're very close to the entrance; stop complaining and do your job. Keep an eye on the people around for now. Those runes are definitely related to physical refinement. That seemed like a complex formation, and we need to see it up close before dawn.'

A few minutes later, they arrived at the discreet door, but it was covered with runes, indicating it was the right place.

They examined the formation in silence, even though they didn't know much about formations. The formation certainly used the laws of the universe that were beyond their comprehension. However, for their luck or the misfortune of whoever had made the formation, the main rune used the laws of Yin of death.

'They must have harnessed the abundant death energy from the beasts,' Bruno commented.

With their long-standing specialized knowledge, they managed to open the formation at the level of a mortal world without destroying it, allowing them to enter and exit without raising suspicion.

'The Heaven's Will's curse must be conspiring against us,' complained Alm after spending most of the Qi they had stolen from the girl on the formation.

'There's still some left,' Bruno replied, containing a laugh.

Now that they were descending through the tunnel, they didn't hold back and ran quickly toward their final destination. They had no time to waste. However, even before they reached the location, they began to feel a heavy fluctuation of Qi, as if a hammer were pressing on their chests.

'This is definitely not something simple. The Qi density here is at such a high level that even a divine cultivator would feel pressured,' commented Alm as he continued to run, eager to find something valuable that night.

The earth under their feet trembled and made a loud noise due to the weight, but they were so deep below the surface that no one could hear them.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the large cavern they had seen in the memories. Bruno muttered, astonished, 'Holy shit! This is much, much stronger than it was in the girl's memories.'

'Almost all of the runes are overflowing with power. Only about... ten percent of them are not completely filled,' analyzed Alm.

They approached the walls, almost touching the runes, and felt the intensity of their power. They walked slowly, analyzing the flow, and were not surprised to realize that everything converged towards the center, where the pool should have been. However, there was now a hole in the ground, just over five meters deep. 

In the girl's memories, the lake was three meters deep, but as they had seen, it was because part of the yellowish liquid was already gone by the time she came to absorb it. The hole where the lake was located was five meters deep in total.

'There's no doubt that the Qi inside these runes comes from the cores of demon beasts and divine beasts,' said Bruno.

'This place that should have been the pool is barely connected to the formation... it's as if the water she absorbed in her memories is just the residues or impurities from the accumulated cores. The divine blessing of this trash clan is a pool of scraps and impurities, hahahhahahah,' Alm laughed uncontrollably. He was right. In their opinion, the lake that formed was nothing more than the residual effect of the formation, not worth mentioning at all.

Bruno tried to contain his laughter and added, 'This formation is something left by some divine being. The Divinestone Clan is hunting beasts in the forest and feeding the formation, and they benefit greatly from this... pool. However, the end result of all this is something much greater.'

After Alm stopped laughing, he commented, 'By my calculations, it should take about 100 years of being fed by beasts at this planet's level for the formation to complete its function.'

'If we were in the divine realm, I would say it's for creating a pill, but since this clan wouldn't have the capability, the formation probably generates a bloody rune,' Bruno nodded, agreeing. 'It must be about ten years away from completion, and with the intensity of Qi here, the rune must be used to forge weapons in the divine realm.'

'Yes, a high-level weapon,' Alm said before a cold smile appeared on his face. 'But now, we must accept this gift with open arms.'