Hidden Truths

'Upgrade.'

Trilok looked at the body cultivation technique and thought of upgrading it. 10000 points were lost instantly and the information about a High-ranked Legendary technique filled Trilok's mind.

[Name: Trilok

Age: 19

Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)

Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 2 (Upgrade Requirement: 29,000)

Spirit Points: 57,908

Technique: Sea God's Essence (Earth-Legendary)(Special Traits: Heart of Sea— 2, Ruler of Ocean: 2)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,000,000)

Emperor's Shock Fist (High-Legendary)(Special Trait: Lightning Veins— 0)(Upgrade Requirement: 100,000)

]

Mighty Fist was upgraded to Emperor's Shock Fist and the cultivation technique finally produced a special trait. But Trilok still waited. He didn't bother Vayu tonight with his brotherly urges to smack his cheek, not with what they had suffered today.

"Huff! Huff! Boss, I got it!" Kol entered through the back door while holding a squarish package in her hand.

"Where's Vayu?" She inquired, "We have to help him start his body cultivation." Although Kol was still dissatisfied with Vayu, she didn't wish to rant. Who doesn't commit mistakes? Right now, she was more interested in growing strong and if she could, help the boy placed under her charge to grow quickly, too.

Trilok's lips twitched. Vayu already had begun the path of body cultivation. In reality, the lower the quality of the body cultivation technique, the more harmful it can be to a young, undeveloped boy like Vayu. But there was the threat of pirate.

Even if the information suggested that only cultivators below rank 6 of Spiritual Enhancement and in the age category of 18-30 ended up dying, who's to say the risk won't fall on Vayu still?

So, even at the threat of harming the body's potential slightly, Kol was willing to take the chance. Of course, what she didn't know was that Trilok would have still imparted the upgraded technique to Vayu. Kol might not have the means of helping Vayu but that didn't mean Trilok, who had the means, wouldn't.

"He's tired. I had two petals of impure lotus left so while you were buying more of it, I massaged his body with the Impure Oil," Trilok sighed.

"Oh, I see," Kol nodded. She still felt a little sensitive about the situation and her hold around the package grew tighter unconsciously, "When this is all over, Vayu can stop cultivating his body. In fact, we can try our luck with Trade Ship. There might be something useful there," she cleared her throat while Trilok stood up and unlocked the door to his store.

"Let's make the oil and we can help each other purify our bodies," Trilok replied.

Biting her lips, Kol followed Trilok and placed the package on the counter. Unwrapping the board box, Kol revealed stacked, palm-sized yellowish petals. There were a total of ten of these petals placed together.

"Hmm, five petals for both of us each should be enough," Trilok nodded. Vayu was short and thin. The oil prepared with two petals would truly be enough for him and this is why Kol accepted Trilok's lie without any issue.

Thinking for a moment, Trilok increased the output of the oil to the lamp from the rotation nob built outside and the flame within the lamp instantly grew bigger. Finally, Trilok and Kol could see the contents placed on the counter more clearly and began their work.

Trilok started off by laying a steel sheet on the remaining portion of the counter. This was an ordinary tool, something that blacksmiths would use to repair weapons, fishing poles, and armors. While Alchemists used it as a base to crush materials and let their juices settle instead of seeping through, say, a wooden base.

Slowly stacking five impure petals on the steel sheet half the size of the counter, Trilok lay his glass rod on the surface of the petals horizontally and pressed.

The glass rod acted as a 'Belan', a wooden rolling pin used to flatten the dough and cook bread more easily.

*Squelch*

Wet and slightly disgusting squirting sound echoed from the five petals as a yellowish liquid that shimmered like amber flowed out.

"Get to the other side and start cleaning," Trilok ordered and Kol picked the clean sponge before standing opposite to Trilok. Moving the package to the corner, Kol started pressing the sponge against the steel sheet and cleaned all the flowing juices out of the five petals.

These are impurities.

As the name suggests, Impure Lotus sucks impurities from air and ocean through its petals and leaves. However, the hollow roots of the Impure Lotus are more expensive and weren't needed to simply purify the body. However, to use the petals to purify the body, the already absorbed impurities must be removed and this is what Trilok was doing.

The dirty, yellowish liquid that tainted the Lotus was the collected impurities from the atmosphere.

On the other hand, to not let the impurities get soaked into the lotus again, Kol continued to use the sponge and clean the area around the petals while carefully avoiding the rolling glass rod with Trilok's hands on the two ends of the item.

This was the first and most important step of concocting an Impurity Absorption Oil. This oil is simply too basic and the recipe is widely known. Not only that, the process of the concoction is simple enough for potential body cultivators to create it on their own so alchemists like Trilok and Noland simply avoided making such items.

Soon enough, two wooden jars were filled with the oil of Depth Jasmine, and the shriveled petals of the impure lotus were placed in the jars equally.

In reality, Kol and Trilok would only need 4 petals each, but with Vayu not needing these petals any longer, the two could divide among themselves.

Kol gulped, only feeling more restless. She didn't want to face what was going to happen, but then again, she wanted to.

Under Trilok's and Kol's observation, the shriveled Petals grew plump once again but being inside a jar full of oil, their color wasn't exactly visible and only took a slightly warmer shade.

[Impurity Absorption Oil: An Uncommon concoction under Heaven brewed from a number of petals plucked from Impure Lotus and mixed within a large amount of oil secreted from herbs.]

"It's done," Trilok sighed deeply. He looked up and matched gazes with Kol.

"Ready?"

"Ehm, yes. But... who will go first?" Kol inquired.

Trilok fell silent.

'If Kol goes first, she might end up sleeping right away,' Trilok traced his chin while he observed Kol, 'But if I go first and reveal something that might not happen in Kol's turn... well, the changes shouldn't be too drastic considering that we'll only reach the first stage of Common Physique.'

"I'll go first," Trilok nodded.

Kol blushed. She wasn't embarrassed by too many things in life, but tonight, she felt her cheeks burning and heart thumping in a strange form of excitement.

"Boss... it wouldn't be weird, right?" She inquired once again.

"It will be weird if we think too much about it. Instead of letting someone else see... that, I am more comfortable around you. Of course, if you feel embarrassed, you can probably ask Patty to help you tomorrow," Trilok shrugged.

Aside from his cheat, there was something... well, a few things that Trilok had never shown to Vayu for obvious reasons. But with Kol being a close associate for a long time now, she had gotten a few chances to see things that Trilok had wished to hide.

In retrospect, maybe it was only because of exposure of such nature that Trilok had been able to place his trust in Kol. Even if that trust amounted close to nothing.

"Alright, I'm going to lie down."

Trilok waved his hand and returned to the room behind the store while Kol picked the two jars with trembling hands.

---

'Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!' Kol felt her thumping heart through the interior of her ears while a wave of suffocation hit her. It wasn't the oil. Trilok specifically demanded the oil to not be something with a strange scent when they could purchase the fragrant one using the same number of coins.

Slowly, Kol stepped into the room and found Trilok lying on his mattress. Given the nature of the task, he had spread a mat over the mattress and silently waited for Kol. His back was exposed.

Exposed!

Kol's gaze fell on Trilok's feet spread slightly apart and soon, she gazed at Trilok calves and the back of his thighs with a thin sheet placed over his butt.

[A/N: They don't do underwear in this world.]

And finally, she gazed at the deep scars left on Trilok's back. Long, almost as if a beast left multiple claw marks. The skin around the scars looked puffy and out of place. But that wasn't all. Close to the back of his neck was a small burning mark. And Kol had, at the very least, known about Trilok since he was a young boy. After all, Trilok's appearance with someone from the Ark bringing him was quite the trending topic back in the day.

After his arrival, Trilok had suffered injuries, sure, but none had been of this nature. The first time Kol accidentally walked in on Trilok while he was bathing exposed his back to her.

And it was after a few hours of thinking that she realized that whoever gave Trilok these marks must have known the boy while he was a child.

Of course, after a course of smackdown, Trilok stated it clearly to the blue-faced Kol that if she ever revealed the nature of his scars to Vayu, she would be in a world of hurt... while she was already hurting just enough.

In fact, the day when Trilok broke through Spiritual Enhancement, Vayu came down suddenly and Kol had instantly recognized Trilok getting a little anxious as he ordered the boy to enter the bathing region while making sure that his back wasn't exposed.

"Stop gawking," Trilok grumbled without looking back, "It's not the first time you have seen these marks."

"Got it," Kol gulped and finally sat down close to Trilok. She was his face. His eyes closed as if he was resting and his breathing quite relaxed. The way Trilok presented himself finally allowed Kol to feel a little calm. 'If he isn't making a big deal out of this... then no reason to feel shy.'

Kol wore thin skin gloves, dipped her index into the left jar, and pulled her hand back, revealing a thick and viscous form of oil wrapping her index. With a deep breath, Kol spread the oil across her other hand and started rubbing her hands together to even out the oil. If she hadn't worn the pair of gloves, the effect of the oil would have kicked in over her palms before she completely spread the oil on Trilok's back and it would have just wasted both of their times.

"I'm starting, Boss," Kol whispered and pressed her hands over Trilok's back. She started from Trilok's shoulder, the only area unmarked by any form of lasting injury. Trilok, meanwhile, continued to keep his eyes closed but soon, as Kol reached closer to his scars, she could feel Trilok trembling oddly.

Kol was so engrossed with properly covering Trilok's neck and shoulders with oil that she didn't even look towards Trilok all this time.

An accidental glance towards him revealed that Trilok had a deep frown while his hands, which supported his chin, clenched against the mattress tightly.

'Is he... recalling the trauma?' Kol thought of the possibility. But she didn't stop. She felt that elongating the act more than necessary would only make Trilok feel worse. So silently, she endured the questions bubbling inside her while Trilok endured the memories the depicted the causes of the scars and burn mark over his back.

---

"Boss, you can turn around," Kol sighed. This was more challenging than she had imagined.

When she was done with the back, she began with the legs, and only then did she realize how hard it was to resist the urge of squeezing someone's buttocks. Not, she felt that she could at least empathize with odd perverts near the port and market.

"Yeah," Trilok groaned with a satisfied sigh. It had only been four minutes but he felt like he was in heaven. Of course, aside from the first minute where he personally stepped into hell.

As he twisted his body, Trilok adjusted the cloth over his crotch without any awkwardness but Kol almost rolled her eyes with a groan.

'What the heck! His legs and chest barely have hair but... what the heck!' Kol gulped. She only had a glance but it was oddly bushy from the upper side.

This time, Trilok spread his arms and let Kol start from there. The room was already filled with a thick fragrance but the two didn't mind it at all and soon enough, after covering Trilok's torso with oil, Kol had her back towards Trilok as she started with his thighs.

In the end, she couldn't help but glance at the clothed region again and again.

It was hard not to notice the outline, after all.

But with great determination, Kol finally completed the task.

"Boss, you won't find it hard to massage the covered area, right?" Kol finally inquired with a cough.

"Well," Trilok sat up while leaning against his elbows.

The massage was the key point.

If it was just spreading the oil, then Trilok and Kol could have just purchased a bucket worth of oil and drenched themselves in it. But the fact is, Body Cultivation started the process of opening up the pores needed to actively expel bodies' impurities. But if the oil cannot even reach close to such pores, it wouldn't be able to attract and suck the impurities out of the body. So, the person who applies the oil must do so with a good pressure.

'Things would seriously get weird if I expose my penis... the situation is extremely... arousing. No need to make things weird in the end,' he sighed internally.

He was even more interested in the opposite gender at such an age. But, he didn't want to explore his sexuality just for the sake of it. Cultivators are known to live a long life.

As his hard work creates the snowball effect of benefits, he can then think of such matters.

"Nah, I'll get it done myself. You can wait in the store. I'll call you when it's done."

Kol nodded and left quickly, with a heavy blush at that.

'Fuck, why did I have to suggest something so stupid!' She scolded herself.

Once she left, Trilok sighed and sat up straight. Removing the cloth, Trilok revealed one scar that Kol hadn't witnessed still.

A mark ran over the middle of his skin and reached till the base of Trilok's crotch. The youth bit his lips at the sight of the scar.

'And then there's this mark...' Trilok sighed deeply. But time was of the essence here. His palms were already laced with oil so it didn't matter to him and he dipped his hand into the jar.

It was almost emptied with the plump petals of impurity lotus stuck to the jar's curvature.

Rubbing his hands together, Trilok quickly massaged his scalp while ruffling his head and then began to rub the oil over his face, lips, ears, and even his eyes lids, and around his nostrils.

With that, Trilok finally used the remainder of the oils to rub his crotch, hips, the crack of his butt, and his inner thighs.

It wasn't long until the effects of the oil kicked in.

Trilok felt a tingling sensation spread throughout his body. His face and neck itched but he refrained from scratching. At this moment, he cannot even refine his body using the Body Cultivation technique since he was filled with impurities.

The impurities expelled from spiritual cultivation are, of course, different from the impurities expelled from body cultivation.

Whenever a cultivator has the fortune of his impurities expelled using the spiritual cultivation technique, he or she will find their spirit and mind invigorating. And this form of expulsion never really purified the core of a body.

*Pfft*

Trilok's body trembled and dark liquid slowly gathered around his body.

Impure blood!

Something that spiritual cultivation never refines but it is simply one of the most important components of Body Cultivation.

Pure Blood is pumped through the heart and the impure blood streams back into the heart for another round of purification. In the end, due to this process, the entirety of one's body is slowly filled with polluted blood.

The target of every body cultivation technique starts from the blood and slowly, the other parts of the body.

Every pore of Trilok's body was forced to open up while he gritted his teeth. His entire mouth felt numb and he would commit the task of actively clenching his jaws just to see if his mouth was there or not.

After all, what else could he do?