Chapter 24: The Wrath Of A Father

“Come here, Niel”. Zax motioned with his hand.

Pleased with himself, Niel ran to his father and took his hand. “Remember your promise, dad. I’m ready to go adventuring”.

He had the brown hair of his father and the blue eyes of his mother, a combination that coupled with his boyish charm made him look so adorable and yet the things he spoke of were of significant consideration to every other expert with the same cultivation level.

‘That’s it’. Zax determined the source of his son quick accomplishment upon making contact with him. ‘The obscurity had cleared out now that his cultivation had risen to a sufficient level’.

...

Niel’s dantian was void of innate Seed of Qi, but Zax never believed any son of his to be inferior to those Mist Lord’s children, who were the bottom threshold for possessing a Seed. Hence, since birth Zax planned a strict regimen to extract Niel’s hidden latent potential.

In the process of locating Niel’s forte, Zax encountered minor hints that were like pieces of a grand puzzle, from which he even drew inspiration for the struggles of his own path.

At the age of nine months, Zax imparted the nucleus of the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement to Niel. This decision nearly created an irreparable fracture in his marriage. The main principle of the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement is Pain, the second is Destruction and third is Rehabilitation. Anet did not practice in the technique, but she was still versed in it. How could she have allowed her infant son bear such torture? No sane parents would. Then again, no child on and in this planet ever had a parent who attained the Mortal Enlightenment state, or at least something that was very similar to it...

Zax convinced Anet that he will regulate the output of Pain to a degree that Niel will at most feel the inconvenience of a small stomachache and that, too, for a breath long period of time and it would only be for four to five sessions.

Already in the first session, to Zax’s absolute astonishment, Niel began to reveal bits of his talent. Unlike his father, he did not have the support of a Black Core to enhance the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement and eliminate its Pain principle, but it seemed to not be an issue. The toddler’s level of endurance not only proved to be outstanding, before its limit was challenged he was actually enjoying the discomfort. What really was amazing was that the boy flesh and skin were soft and as durable as any other child at his age.

Zax could only partially explain this phenomenon by the assumption that his son possesses an exceptional affinity to the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement, beyond anyone else who cultivated it.

From that day forth, Zax assisted Niel in the cultivation of the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement, until he developed the frame of mind to practice without help. Nevertheless, the amount of resources he was permitted was stringently rationed. Ultimately, Niel did not have the Black Core’s support, so his cultivation speed was just above average while the main point was that he was unhindered by the Pain principle. Additionally, the initial aim of his father was to find his forte, which could not be done when taking away all the effort...

At the age of three Niel absorbed his first and last Earth’s Core. Its quality was unimportant since Zax planned to give him a three scales Deformed Being’s Pure Core when the time is right. The purpose of the Earth’s Core was nothing more than another attempt to push out Niel’s potential as a full New Earth’s indigenous, i.e. Gogenta’s special lab rat.

On the front of the mist aspect, Niel cultivated considerably faster than in the body aspect. That was when Zax made another discovery ... a measure of dark attribute energy had been in Niel’s soul since birth and streamed to his dantian, adding to his mist, when he became a D level Earth’s Core Holder. Moreover, the quality of the dark attribute energy was almost immaculate.

...

‘Originally I calculated that it would take two years for Niel to reach the second realm as a Mist User and the fourth gate of the seven stages. Now I understand how he suddenly surpassed my expectations ... maybe in four to six months he will also reach the fourth gate’.

What Zax currently had his attention on was not Niel’s mist energy or body, but soul!

Of the three aspects, the soul was the pivotal. Cultivating any of the other two to a higher realm than the soul can cause adverse effects.

Last time Zax check, Niel’s soul had only been at the Mist Master level and his attainments in meditation had only progressed into the Adraak stage.

‘I thought that if not a Qi Seed from Anet, than a portion of my dark attribute physique was passed down to him, but from the start, apparently it was the soul!’

Up until this moment, he never detected something out of the ordinary in Niel’s soul.

‘This is my Inner Panorama’.

It seemed as if it appeared out of nowhere, like an exact model, inside the soul housing Niel’s spirit.

Inner Panorama supposed to encompass the soul and not the opposite. For Niel’s to have one in his soul was beyond Zax’s comprehension of the aspect and perhaps anyone else on the planet.

“Uncle Zax, the Star Scavenger is opening!” Jingrow arrived.

Behind him followed an entourage of those who accommodated the two platforms. They were men and women, humans and beasts, dignified third realm experts and a quota of New Earth’s forces beneath the blue sky.

“Sir”.

“Zax”.

They greeted Zax before turning in wait for the entrance at the transformative chassis of the spacecraft to fully form.

Five people flew out of the Star Scavenger in brown and silver, futuristic looking uniforms; four human males and one female beast in human form.