Unsealing Emptiness

She had forgotten for a minute that she was no longer the once-feared and adored pinnacle Sage Realm expert in this cultivation world.

Her eyes shifted to the ball of black fur curled beside Ozul and she once again wondered about this strange cat.

She couldn’t see through her even after examining her with her Scarlet Eyes. Except for her captivating heterochromatic eyes, which she had fortunately gazed at, that black cat appeared to be no different from any other cat.

‘Am I overthinking?’

Ember began to doubt herself but a certain feeling inside her warned her about this seemingly ordinary cat.

Ignoring the burning glare directed in her direction, Ember coughed slightly and shifted the topic, “As I was saying, I have confirmed the success of your task.”

.....

She again beamed at the mention of the task and continued, “I have to admit, I half predicted that you’d make a blunder. And as I promised on my name, since you have satisfied me, you will receive a high-tier Earth Grade weapon of your choice and four 8-Star Earth Grade Spiritual Arts suitable for each of you.”

Stars shone in the trio’s eyes at the mention of the Spiritual Arts. As for the high-tier Earth Grade weapon, not a single thought crossed their mind about it. The weapon, without a doubt, belonged to Ozul.

“Choose what type of Spiritual Arts you need. I will bring out a suitable one.”

Ember smirked as she spread her arms like a merciful leader offering her starving people free food.

Ozul noted her confidence as it meant that she really had countless things stored in her Spatial Ring from her time as the peak Sage Realm expert.

He was puzzled as to why she hadn’t been attacked yet. After all, many people should have known she was wealthy, and she was also an easy target at the moment.

‘She must have her means...’ Ozul concluded internally. Greed followed all sentient beings and the fact that Ember was alive until now meant that she deserved to be a peak Sage Realm expert at one point in her life.

Even losing all her strength, she had somehow managed to not only survive but even commanded this entire manor for her purpose.

‘I shouldn’t underestimate her,’ he once again mentally noted to himself.

“Can you give me some technique to create a storm of icicles?” Blaze asked impatiently.

He and Raven had continuously tried to recreate their Spells here as Spiritual Arts, but a few steps into the process brought them intense pain to their entire body.

Only when Ember chanced upon them trying to forcefully mimic their previous Spells did she lecture them again. They were thoroughly reminded never to try anything like that.

Only at the Sage Realm could people begin to truly understand the nature of Spiritual Essence and how it interacts with their body. And at that time, they could experiment with the Spiritual Essence to create different Spiritual Arts.

Many succeeded with exceptional results while even some Sage Realm experts failed to discover any Spiritual Arts or Cultivation Techniques greater than Spiritual Grade.

Hearing Blaze’s request, Ember raised her brows in amusement.

“The Spiritual Arts that you desire, even the weakest of them all, wouldn’t be any lower than the Spiritual Grade. The good ones would easily reach the Transcendent Grade.”

She looked at Blaze in contempt and spoke again, “Even if you were to write your enslavement contract to me, I wouldn’t give you a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Arts as you are right now.”

Blaze’s nose wrinkled up in irritation. He felt it was unnecessary to put him down so much. ‘If she didn’t have anything like that in the 8-Star Earth Grade, then she should have just said so!’ Such were his thoughts on the matter.

What he didn’t know was that Ember purposely worded her reply like that. She didn’t mean that he was worth less than a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Arts. Only that even if she gave him one, with his current Cultivation Realm, he wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.

It was like a child asking for a sword. No matter how sharp the sword, the child first had to have enough strength to hold the sword properly before it was of any use to him.

Even the Spiritual Arts and Spiritual Weapons in the Spiritual Grade required cultivators to first achieve the Nascent Soul Realm.

“I only promised 8-Star Earth Grade Spiritual Arts. Ask for something simpler. At this level, you can only hope for something temporary to boost your raw power.”

Blaze began to contemplate his choices when Zier sprang up like a grasshopper. He asked, “Do you have something that enhances all my senses?”

Amused, Ember smirked and replied, “And here I thought you were the least intelligent in this group.”

“I have just the thing.”

Ember closed her eyes and before long, an aged thin book appeared in her hand. The cover of the book was too worn out and the words written on it were barely readable.

She explained, “I don’t remember the unfortunate human to whom this Spiritual Art belonged to. It’s called Hunter’s Arse...? Uh... Hunter’s Arsenal, my bad.”

Zier cringed at her pause and looked at her weirdly. He first looked at her straight face and then at the withering excuse of a book.

Ember further emphasized in the book, “In my honest opinion, this is truly trash. However, it’s exactly what you need. This will collectively improve all your senses to a minor degree. Although it doesn’t feel much, it’s really handy in tricky situations.”

She then threw the book toward him with no care in mind.

Zier, however, struggled to catch it gently. He didn’t think this book could handle any more of this world’s harshness. It had already endured too much. The pages had almost come all lose and if he hadn’t been careful, this book would have already ‘scattered’ all over the ground.

He almost felt sorry for the book.

‘Just how long this old hag has been holding on to this so-called trash book?!’

Next up was again Blaze’s turn, he again asked in a loud voice, “Give me anything ice-related that will make me more strong!”

Ember gave him a deadpan expression.

Everyone could tell how little thinking he had put into his decision.

She flicked her hand and another aged book appeared in her hand. This one at least had some life in it and the title of the book was also visible.

It simply read ‘Cold Fists’.

It merely exploited the Ice nature of one’s Spiritual Essence to strengthen their fists, as befitting its name. It seemed as if a covering of hardened ice had formed on their hands, increasing their lethality.

Although Blaze didn’t seem to have been satisfied, Ember ignored his expressions and moved on toward Raven.

“Do you have something like your Scarlet Eyes?” Raven asked out of curiosity.

She had given it a thought, but just like Blaze, she couldn’t come up with anything useful.

When Ember heard it though, her face paused unnaturally as if she had heard something absurd.

Right after, as if she had made up her mind, she flashed Raven a cunning smile and almost rubbed her hands like a shady merchant.

“I knew you’d be the smartest of this bunch.”

She lied. She had the lowest opinion of Raven at first glance.

“As for your question, well, I have something exactly like Scarlet Eyes.”

“As a matter of fact, it is the Scarlet Eyes!”

Ember noticed her confused expressions and proudly dwelled further into the matter, “You see my Scarlet Eyes are a unique Spiritual Arts developed by a Sage of the past who had witnessed countless histories and had gained innumerable knoweled-”

“You created it?” Raven interwined in her rambling.

“Ahem!”

“You indeed have good eyes. I developed the Scarlet Eyes.” Ember stood arrogantly as she was still quite satisfied with this Spiritual Arts.

“So... Can you teach me?” Raven asked hopefully.

She had inquired about the Scarlet Eyes earlier as well and Ember had boasted about it endlessly.

According to her own words, the Scarlet Eyes once let her see the ‘truth’ of this world.

Though Raven didn’t quite understand what she meant. It had quite a nice ring to it. Suddenly she also had the urge to see the truth of this world. Did Ember view this world differently? If so, she also wanted to see this world differently.

Her mind wandered to Ozul, ‘He also sees this world different than anyone else.’

“Well, you see my Scarlet Eyes is unique. I started developing it from the base up, so if a new cultivator were to learn this Spiritual Art, they would have the most basic version of it and as they advanced through the cultivation Realms, the Scarlet Eyes would also evolve and get better. Though they would need all the manuals for it to happen.”

Ember finally explained the catch regarding her Scarlet Eyes.

So while it was possible that Raven learned the trashiest version of the Scarlet Eyes at her current level, she would need to beg Ember again and again for it in the future.

Raven calmly processed everything she had said.

‘Sigh... She will never hand over a unique evolving Spiritual Arts just like that.’ Raven lost hope in the Scarlet Eyes. It seemed like Ember only wanted to boast about her personal Spiritual Arts.

“I can give you the most basic version of the Scarlet Eyes. Only if you agree to my terms.”