Chapter 2: By The Lakeside

Finally, after almost three years since he detected the fourth spark of light among the black fragments of the Black Core's entity, Zax found the fifth and penultimate spark of light.

Zax breath out, a contemplated look was in his eye, who viewed the ceiling of Grandmaster Kartion's cave.

He lifted his back and sat on his bottom with no intentions to perceive the bottleneck of the fifth spark contained.

After months of thinking about what he will do upon finding it, the one decision Zax was determined to keep was not rushing to perceive the fifth bottleneck. The reason was very simple, if perceiving and comprehending the fifth bottleneck would have the same procedure as previous bottlenecks', then in its processes Zax's soul would break through to the Core Master realm.

Now, breaking through to the second realm of the soul was not the issue. Since Zax's soul reached the Peak of the Mist Lord level his Master explained to him that the breakthrough between realms is quite special for all three aspects and not just for mist energy.

The key points Kartius noted for every aspect are as followed:

Mist energy condenses into a Core.

The body exudes impurities.

Soul energy inflates the sea of consciousness

Each of these reactions occurs naturally, without the cultivator saying in the matter. They all also happen swiftly at the beginning and in each breakthrough to another realm take a while longer.

Zax, however, had a problem if he intended for his soul to make the next breakthrough at the same time as comprehending the fifth bottleneck. Cultivators do have a sort of tasks when one of the three aspects is about to surpass the final threshold.

For the Core that mist energy condensed into, a cultivator must shatter it to regain his powers.

When the body's impurities emerge, a cultivator is responsible of forcing them out of his pores so they will not merge yet again with the body and be impossible to remove.

And as for soul energy, a cultivator got to make sure the sea of conscious is not inflated beyond its limits, otherwise, like a balloon, it would pop, the soul will not have a place to be and the cultivator will die.

With Zax losing himself every time he perceives a bottleneck and comprehends it, it is understandable why at the moment his sea of consciousness might get overflowed he would like to remain cognizant and in control of the situation.

Zax's problem was in the choice he had to make. Either risk it and make the breakthrough for the second realm of the soul together with the fifth bottleneck, or make the breakthrough on his own and most likely lose the spark of light after the infiltration of his sea of consciousness.

Zax was more prone toward the former risk. Although each bottleneck was more overbearing than its predecessor, in the past four years his disposition was tempered and improved, especially after the war and Tularg's death, and at the time of the adaptation to the fourth bottleneck he became quite familiar with his ability to sustain and how to handle it when it becomes too much.

But like he already decided, he will not rush to choose which path to take. Besides, with the scene currently playing in front of his eyes, there were other problems he had yet to find the solutions for.

"Big bro Zax, big bro Zax, come, come, the fishies are ready!"

"Bukibi, Bukibi, wolufi fishies!"

A young girl with bright blue eyes and light brown hair, accompanied by a group of young Krikitories ran up the hill Zax was sitting on, calling for him in different and mix languages and childish tones.

The little girl was, of course, the almost five years old Liz. How is it, that she actually been allowed into Grandmaster Kartion's cave was a long story, but only in the length of years that passed since she first came to the cave with her parents and elder siblings.

After Grandmaster Kartion recuperated enough to receive guests, he asked Zetsa to bring for him to see the young girl which inherited his son's Cultivation Inheritance. Back then, Grandmaster Kartion did not deliberate about the matter with anyone and no one thought to go against his words. Moreover, the other members of the household, when recalling that their brother was still, in a way, among them, also wished to meet Liz, and now that their enemies were eliminated, they could roam with whoever they wanted in Valgarel.

The only thing is, to fulfill her Master's request Zetsa had to tell her parents who really was Tularg, partly to understand, partly to gain their sympathy and make it easier to convince them to travel to Valgarel – it was oblivious that even for a thousand of their son and daughter they would not let them bring their normal baby girl without them to the dangerous territory of the beasts.

Zetsa confessed about the identity of her Master, the members of the household and just about everything. The only thing she omitted was the scale of enemies the household previously had and the brutal manner in which Tularg died.

Marco and Laylen were reluctant to agree at first, but Zetsa was prepared with arguments that they could not turn a deaf ear to. Most played delicately on their feelings, how easily they let her bring Zax to Valgarel and even earlier, how unattended they let her be as a child.

Luckily, since some members of the household were Zhihui type beasts and already in the Core Master realm, in other words, possessing a human form, it was less stressing on Laylen and Marco when Zetsa brought them to the cave. Furthermore, after seeing how splendid Grandmaster Kartion's cave looked like and the affable Krikitories, the modest human couple started to feel even a bit excited and intrigued.

Grandmaster Kartion did not personally arrive to greet or even meet face to face either the parents or the baby girl he invited. From his blue tower he utilized his Sublime Soul Sense to inspect, and after a few seconds sent Zetsa his gratitude and approval for their stay.

Back to the bunch of small voices running toward Zax.

Liz and the group of young Krikitories grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up to his feet.

Zax smiled and did not bother to tell them to calm down or that he can go on his own. They would not listen anyway and there was not a lot of distance for him to cover in the awkward walk they forced him to.

...

A blond haired, gorgeous young woman stood by a wooden table, arranging a set of wooden plates atop it. To her side was a basket and a bit farther were a large bonfire and a shallow limpid lake.

Attending to the fire and picking up the roasted skewered fish was a blue haired woman, seems to be in her early thirties. She wore a blue feathery tunic and underneath, her expose skin was white with a pale azure luster.

The two women were smilingly preparing the meal.

"Big sis Anet, big sis Shulip, we brought big bro Zax, let's eat now!" Little Liz and the young Krikitories led Zax to the wooden table and helped him sit on the wooden bench beside it.

Indeed, in the years that past by Zax received permission from Grandmaster Kartion to bring Anet to his cave. After all, now that Karns and Kardelion are dead he did not need to be wary anymore.

Once in a while, after Anet got to know the members of the household and the scenery of Valgarel, to not stay separated as they often were in the past, she would come to travel with Zax to Grandmaster Kartion's cave. There, she will train with accordance to her Mor's instructions, spend time with Zax and sometimes have fun with the Krikitories and little Liz.