CH35: The different paths of powers

"Hmmm ... You and Wu's mother are a couple?" Zhuqing seems focused just on that, and I laugh, kinda weirdly, of how she put all the rest on hold just to ask that.

"Yeah, and she knows about me and Wu, of course. They also know about you, no way I would act without them knowing, and if you're with me, I won't do a thing without talking to you first as well" I tell Zhuqing, wishing to show her I wish to be responsible, and if we're together, I get it that I can't go 'hunt' every girl I see with no repercussions to my existing relationships.

"And be ready to travel to far away lands? Or you can stay here and I'll come visit? Zhuqing, I have a strong feelings for you, and will share the lead in our relationship, but if you choose me, then I will never let you go, no matter what obstacles will come our way" I declare to her, and she have a soft-smile, as she cuddle to my chest, whispering "I think I feel the same".

While my hands on her cheek and back, I roll a bit on the sling-bed, as we lie-down face-to-face, and I see Zhuqing close her eyes, and I move forward, touching her lips with mine.

We dry-kiss for a minute before I suck her lower-lip into my mouth, licking it with my tongue, and she try to do the same, but when her tongue gets out, I lick her tongue with mine.

Like 2 innocent dummies, we kiss, hug, lick, touch, each other's body for an hour, before she fall asleep with a weird ahegao-face, but not the wasted-sex-type, rather the 'I-love-it-too-much-face-type'.

I take a few pictures of her, as I started doing so lately, and then start cultivating, mainly slowing down 'time', making the less then 2 hours till sunset to stretch to 8 hours, and by the time she wakes up, she seems fully energized.

"Best night ever, I feel so good" Zhuqing says smiling, while I think 'haha, if you just knew why'.

We start kissing again for 10 minutes, before stopping to eat breakfast, and I escort her to the hotel.

"What should I tell Wu?" she asks, and I answer "whatever you deem right, but can you at least tell her we met and everything alright? Her mother as well? and by the way, I'll train for this month, but when I'll come, I'll let you know, so don't waste time on roofs without me hugging you too much", and she nods 'yeah', give me a quick kiss, and run off, and when she's gone, I *Teleport*.

-

At the red-line, in Sabaody tree's-house, I meet Roxanne, telling her "ready? let's go", as we discussed about moving to Rusukaina, the training-island, and live there for a while, plus it's close to Hancock's island.

In a few hours we reach the island, and first thing I go to the 'safe tree' Rayleigh talked about, and try 'talking' to it, expanding it slowly by filling it with energy, but it already have a massive trunk, so I try expanding it upper-branches, while creating a 'flat ground' on top of the trunk, and soon enough there's a hidden ground on top of the huge-trunk.

I keep manipulating the tree till it look like a fancy wood-house, and jump down.

"Can you get up or we need stairs?" I ask, and Roxanne says "no need", and jump into the gap I left near the entrance door.

Walking inside, she smiles as she check everything, like she's happy it's smaller then the tree-house in Sabaody, with only 1 bedroom, kitchen, dining and living room, and bathroom, but it's obvious, as Sabaody-tree is in a different league than this one.

I pull things out of my space-storage, and she help me arrange, decorate, and make it appropriate for living here, including generator for electricity, and also water-container, which I fill by manipulating energies, stocking it for a long time usage, and I plan to do much more for the next days or so.

We both sit on a sling-chair in the entrance-deck, watching the beautiful view of mountains surrounded by forest, while drinking wine, and wishing out loud "cheers for a good training".

-

A week later, I'm on top of a volcano-mountain, looking inside, and seeing boiling lava, sending chills to my spine.

Yesterday, Yuena, a dragon herself, told me about a training exercise for fire-dragons, but all I can do is fly half-way down, before escaping up, suffering from the heat.

I suddenly hear [Bro Ayn, what's up? It's your beautiful Big bro, Ge, the sexy ice-dream-worm. I think Iv'e got an idea for you].

'Oh, Hi, I'm good, thank you, how are you? how's Infinity's space? what's the idea?' I answer in mind.

[It's getting better and better here! keep on training! I think that training in ice-zone can balance your tolerance and fire power. Let's go back to where I came from].

'That's a great idea' I think, and go say goodbye to Roxanne, who remind me Hancock will come in few days, while I remind her how dangerous this island is, before we kiss, and I *teleport*.

-

At soul-land, way up at the north, in a place not even shown on the map, I walk on the icy-snow, listening to Bro-Ge, the ice-warm, explains me things.

[We entered 'Absolute north'. If the cold starts to break you, I can protect you .... You see that giant in the distance? That's 'Ice Devil Titan', biggest land-dweller in Soul-land! 3rd strongest here! I know you wanna talk to someone here, so I think you can talk to the 2nd strongest! and I know her, so no worries! Keep advancing forward!].

'I have no fire or ice spirit-bone, but I'm a dragon, so fire should be okay, and I have an ice-spirit-ring. Luckily I have wind-bone, so I can keep training in this extreme wind my with wind-attribute' I think while keep on walking on endless icy-desert, suffering more from the wind then the cold.

After a few days of running, barely resting, I suddenly see a golden-ring shine out of me, and an illusion of Bro-Ge appears, but not as a worm, rather as a human-like-aura, and he start speaking "ICE EMPRESS, I KNOW YOU CAN FEEL ME, COME OUT", and then he whispers to me "she's almost 400,000 year old, so don't be too shocked".

Suddenly, the sky turn green, lighting-storm strikes around us, and a voice roar "TIAN MING, YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, HUH? WHY DID YOU COME HERE?".

[To make you my bride!].

"YOU WISH TO DIE?!" the voice roar at him, and he open in a monologue about his endless love for her, but then I shout "STOP STOP STOP STOP. MISS ICE EMPRESS, I'M AYN, I GATHER BEAST-KIN TO FORM AN ALLIANCE, CARE TO SPEAK WITH ME PLEASE?".

"Why are you shouting?" I hear the voice appear out of thin air, as a presence of a giant jade-green scorpion appears before me.

"Bing Bing!!" Bro-Ge yells, but I tell him "Bro-Ge, please, you're not helping, save your comments for a moment. Miss, nice to meet you, is it possible to change into humanoid form?" I ask them, while manipulating the ice, building an Igloo, also creating a table with 3 chairs inside, and pulling out few snacks, and an apple juice.

"OHH, YOUR'E SO BEAUTIFUL. LET'S MARRY" Bro-Ge keep yelling nonsense, so I control my powers on him, making him return to the spirit-ring, while saying "Sorry, both of you, reunion later".

[Sorry, sorry, I'll shut my mouth, I'll sit quietly], and i let him materialize again, as he's sitting down like he said he will.

I see the jade-scorpion metamorphose to a lovely, really cure looking, girl, with a green hair, and a jade-scorpion-tail, and she come sit next to us.

"Why aren't you showing your real body?" the lovely girl asks Bro-Ge, who responds "I can't. I'm his spirit-ring now".

"WHAT? Why? How can he even withstand your power?" she asks, and he explains "after all I went through, I invented a way to keep my mentality in this spirit-ring form, and lock most of my 1 million year of cultivation, and tell you the truth, he could even do so without me ... You know... only death awaited me, but my solution to reach eternal life is to become a part of a human, and help him reach god-hod, and right now, he got at least 50% to reach it, if not more".

"Wait, what?" I asks in confusion.

<I think he's trying to make her your next spirit-ring> Infi suddenly explains to me, making I'm think 'but I'm not even in level 50, and not even agreed'.

<Well, we can always force your body through the painful route? I'll release some seals and restrictions, while fast-forwarding time, and you can reach level 50>.

'Oh, damn, it feels like I'm in a trap Bro-Ge and Infi set up' I think.

<HAHAHA, and Robin and Mia> Infi suddenly laughingly tells me, making me shocked 'YOU CAN TALK TO THEM??', and hear <Yeah, since when I said I couldn't?>.

"So... Bing Bing, if you join us, I bet we can raise the chances by at least 10%! The space inside Infinity is amazing, and keep on getting better and bigger! ..." Bro-Ge keeps talking to her, and she nods in agreement, but then says "OKAY, okay, I'm in, but because Ayn, and Infi, seems reliable. Ayn, you're ready for the pain? You sure about it?" Bing Bing asks me.

I just *sigh*, smile in wonder and kind of a misery, as I know pain is involved here, and says "If my women trust this route, and you think there's no negative effects, I'll go for it... so yeah, am ready".

"Let's go find a hiding-place, I have the perfect cave for that" Bro-Ge advise, and we all follow him for almost half a day till we reach deep inside an ice-cave.

"That's ice-essence! Keep them on you! They're Priceless!" Bro-Ge dig some shiny-ice like he found a diamond-mine, while I arrange the space for living, plus a bed for me to lie on, but Bing-Bing says "Better lie on the ice for what's coming", making me be prepared to how painful it's going to be.

<INFI HERE. I BELIEVE ALL OF YOU CAN HEAR ME. LISTEN. I believe Ayn can have more than 7 spirit-bones, even though soul-land textbook says it cannot, but by having more than 200 bones in the body, and the fact he's more than 50% a dragon-god already, I think you should first transfer all your body-power to the end of his tail-bone, the dragon-tail, as a stinger, or, into his eyes, or rather, as external bone to his 'Pineal Gland'>.

"Pineal gland?" I ask, "that small part of the brain?".

<Yes, also known as the 'Third Eye', which believed to be 'The Principal seat of the 'Soul', as told by Rene Descartes>.

"Wow, sounds amazing, and why do you know of Rene Descartes? ... whatever, just control the pain, and try maximize the 'time-concept'" I tell them, and lie-down on the ice.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH", "AHHHHHHHHHHHH", "AHHHHHH", I keep screaming as I feel my head burst open.

This pain is not just a feeling, nor as simple as words can tell, it something that deprive my existence beyond numbness.

After an hour I stop screaming and rolling around, just becuase the pain is that much overwhelming.

I cannot even pass out, and my blood feels like it's on fire, even though I'm on ice, and I even freeze my body to a giant ice-cube, trying to stop that burning sensation, knowing that this 'Pineal Gland' is the 2nd blood-controller in the body, and my blood run hot and wild in me.

Blood keep oozing from my eyes, but after a time who felt endless, it starts to fade away, and I awake, but just to hear Infi.

<Okay, we finished the first part, onto the second>.

Moment later, I yell "OUCHHHHHHH", as I feel like my body will burst open, my whole nerve-system go hay-wire, as infinite energy flow in my body, expanding my energy-channels, just to rotate back into Infinity in the middle of my chest, while my blood pump my heart like a war-drum, and like that, another 40 minutes of pain pass out, till again, I hear Infi.

<Part two done. Miss Bing-Bing, please let your soul enter Ayn's body>.

I'm ready to the torture, but after half a minute, as energy flow into me, I feel better than ever, like something really good happened, and I can even control my new over-powered-upgrades and new external-spirit-bone.

<Done>, [AMAZING], Infi and Bro-Ge happy sounds heard, and then (It really is a great host), I hear Bing-Bing voice in me with them, but somehow different.

(HEY, WAIT, WHY DOES IT SEEMS SOMETHING WENT WRONG?Why I'm not a spirit-ring to infinity? I'm a spirit-ring in his brain???), I hear her panic voice, and as the ice melt, I look at my chest, and see I still have only 4 rings around Infinity.

I touch my head while thinking what's going on, but instead of hitting my forehead, I stab my eye with my hand, a third eye.

"OUCH, WHAT THE FUCK, OUCHOUCHOUCH, WHY I HAVE ANOTHER EYE??" I also begin to panic.

<It seems the previous experiences developed your body, and together with the advance of your 'Pineal Gland', your body developed a separate 'container', like Infinity, in your brain. I assume Miss Bing-Bing, the source of that external-bone was pulled to be your 1st ring for it> Infi explains the weird phenomena I have.

"Whatever, I go to sleep, talk to me tomorrow" I say with zero-concentration, totally tired, falling asleep on the bed I left here, dying from exhaustion.

...

Opening my eyes, I see ice all around me, and remember all that happened yesterday.

I touch my forehead, but nothing there, so I pull a body-mirror, look, and see nothing is different, till I hear Bing-Bing voice, saying (look inside your eyes).

I look at them, and I can see a red-circle around my pupil, in the center of my eyes, with 4 golden-lines on it, looking absolutely beautiful, charming, mesmerizing eyes, like there's a whole world in them.

I focus on the energy in my eye, and suddenly the spirit-ring pop-out of me, around my body, as power ooze out of me.

(Seems I evolved to 400,000 years when becoming your spirit-ring, and by the way, call me Bing-Bing) I hear Bing-Bing talks inside my body, or rather, in my head.

'Can you hear my thoughts, Bing-Bi?' I try speaking to her in my head, and she respond (Yeah, plus, it seems if you don't talk to Infinity's space directly, they cannot hear you now, like this change was brought by the excess influence Infinity took from you) Bing-Bi tell me.

I happily reply 'Bing-Bi, I trust you, and wish us a blessed path. Is there something I can do? For you? Care explain me the powers I gained?'.

(Dual spirit-essence, if you can call Infinity so. You can create the ice-attribute now to the absolute, creating an 'ice-domain', freezing anything, even soul-power. For the external-bone, I have no idea, you better explore it, if it even exist in more than a spirit-soul form, BUT, more than anything, right now you can probably add 4 more spirit-rings to your eyes ... but maybe add a spirit-ring to Infinity, so you can keep on growing) Bing-Bi explains me a lot.

"Thanks Bing-Bi ... Infi, Bro-Ge, any idea what to do now?" I say.

[I have the perfect ring for you!] Bro-Ge declare, [There's an Illusion beast here who can give you an amazing power to hide yourself, change your look, and deceive human perceptions].

"But... But... I haven't killed anything in my life" I answer.

(WHAT?! FOR REAL?!) Bing-Bi is shocked, and I reply "Yeah, clean slate, all my spirit-rings are powerful-fruits, or you two who agreed, plus the dragon-bones from Gu Yuena, the Silver dragon princess" I tell her, and she says (QUEEN!), and I laugh, saying "Empress?".

<I advice asking the shadow-bosses> Infi declare, and I continue to laugh, and while I hear (Who's the true bosses?), I *teleport*.

-

"Hey, Robin, Mia" I call them as I see they're in the house, eating lunch, seemingly returning from shopping with all the bags on the floor.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!?!" Mia yell, and Robin turn her head, also screaming "WHAT?! AGAIN?!".

I ask with a shocked face "what are you talking about?", while checking my body, but see I'm almot totally naked, lots of dry blood on me, mostly from my eyes, but I just smile and laugh, saying "no worries, relax".

'Bing-Bi, please come out', and as a red-spirit-ring comes out of my eyes, Bing-Bi in spirit-form appear, and I say "Bing-Bi.. Mia.. Robin.. you talk, I'll go take a shower", and walk away.

An hour later, finishing bath and lunch, Robin, Mia, and Bing-Bi discuss between themselves, plus I hear them talk to the air, like they hear Infi and Bro-Ge.

I go prepare deserts, and by the time I'm back, serving the 3 ladies, they all look at me, explaining shortly their conversation, before going back to the issue in hand.

"It's your decision" Robin tells me.

They all wait for my answer, and after a long thinking process, I decide "I want the power to steal power, just to avoid killing. Is it possible? As for the Illusion-worm, if he agrees, I'll add him as a spirit-ring".

All 3 have giant smiles on their face, almost crying from joy, as I choose to keep on my no-killing-policy, even though I'm ready to do so when needed, but still need to find another plan to neutralize enemies, so I smile back, and we continue our conversation.

<Ayn, Everybody, I have an assumption to say ... I assume that the last soul-fruit, 'Yami-yami-no-mi', Can somehow disconnect the 'Soul-connection' between the 'Soul-fruit' and it user, even pulling it out in some way. As for cultivation, breaking the energy-channel, or worse, the energy-core in the body, can cripple a cultivator, and even if he heals, the energy most likely will escape his body already> Infi tell us a solid solution, kinda solving all, and after a long break, I stand, ready to go.

"I hope the Illusion-worm has enough wisdom for a conversation. I'll see ya after, ciao", I tell Robin and Mia, as Bing-Bi return to the soul-ring, and I *teleport*.

-

Back at the 'Extreme-north' in Soul-land, I keep flying, feeling safe doing so as Bing-Bi said it will be okay, and I spread my 6th sense to the maximum.

Few hours later Bro-Ge suddenly say [I can feel one, but she's already old, even passing 100,000].

(I think I met her few times, let me try) Bing-Bi says, while Bro-Ge argues [If she won't agree, then she's too strong for Ayn], but I declare again "I won't kill to steal power without even a single solid reason, like a maniac. If she doesn't agree, then no thanks, what have she done wrong to me?".

By now, we got near the place she's supposed to be, but we're shocked by what we see, and Bing-Bi asks to materialize herself, and I agree.

In front of my eyes there's 2 Bing-Bi, and as I look at those 2 giant jade-scorpions, and Bro-Ge laugh in my head, I hear Bing-Bi says "Hi, long time we didn't meet. How are you? I wish to offer you something", and a gentle shy female voice respond "o... okay".

I again build an Igloo, pull 3 chairs, a table, few snacks and drinks, and ask for the 3 of us to sit and talk together.