Chapter 88: Lucien returns

Gazing at the ecstatic look on the girl's face Lucien couldn't help but conclude that this girl must be suffering from mental issues or maybe she hit her head somewhere hard the previous night. With no strength or will to look into this any further, Lucien shut his eyes tight and allowed the massive spirit wolf to lead while resting on his body.

With his eyes shut Lucien began to cultivate his soul and spirit. According to Lord Rakuzen, there are three ways of cultivating and increasing one's spirituality for a spirit beast cultivator. The first has to deal with cultivation materials! Just like mages and other physical cultivators, there are many cultivation materials that one can use to quickly strengthen his soul and spirit but Rakuzen strongly advised against this. He claimed that the most effective, yet dangerous way of cultivating has to do with the spirit realm.

To draw the purest soul energy to nourish one's spirit, the caster directly draws strength from the spirit realm. While normal spirituality cultivators that use cultivation materials only strengthen their soul, this method allows the soul to evolve, that way even in death the soul will live on.

The third method has to do with artifacts with dark pasts, filled with malicious spirits and all that. Rakuzen claimed that this will grant them a large boost in power.

"Let us give it a try" Lucien muttered as he sat in a cross-legged position and meditated deeply. With his eyes, he could already see that the only thing separating the spirit and the physical realm is a thin veil so all he needs is a little push to send his soul over.

[Be careful, the spirit world is filled with so many terrifying existences… Even demigods proceed with caution when they enter the spirit world] Rakuzen warned in a stern tone and Lucien only nodded in agreement.

He could understand what the system was trying to say to him and even though he is young, he is no fool. Sending his soul to the spirit world was no different from writing a suicide note and then slapping a full-grown fire dragon in the face, hoping it won't reduce you to ashes the next moment.

Lucien's body released a bright silver light invisible to the naked eye, but Chenoa could see it since she was a spirit cultivator. She watched as Lucien's spirit gently tapped the air, leaving her confused. Watching Lucien repeat this action from time to time, she couldn't help but look at him and wonder if he was just fulling around, but soon she slowly realized what Lucien was planning to do, making her face turn pale in fear.

Skkkkkkk!

The light veil was torn just enough to fit Lucien's arm! Sticking his arm inside, Lucien began absorbing the pure soul energy of the spirit world. She felt Lucien's body shiver in discomfort while his soul which was only a silver light with the shape of a human body began gaining other futures. The bright silver light lessened as he slowly became identical to the main body with the only difference being the little silver halo around his body.

Wooo!

Lucien's body spat out a mouthful of blood as his soul shivered terribly due to the absorption of too much spirit energy! It wasn't that Lucien's body couldn't absorb the spirit qi, it was just that he was absorbing too much, too fast, not even giving his body some space to digest what it has already received.

DING!

DING!

DING!

[Spirit realm has been added to the stats]

[WARNING!!!]

[Host has forcefully broken into the 3rd sky of the human realm in the spirit realm! Should the host make one more breakthrough in this manner, his body will be damaged and his soul will be overloaded!]

[Lucien! Pull out!] Rakuzen growled but Lucien wasn't responding.

He was so focused on the feeling of his soul getting stronger that he failed to notice the damage it's causing to his body and spirit.

"Stop!"  Chenoa cried out as she felt Lucien's soul turning unstable and getting pulled into the spirit realm!

ROAR!

Lucien's soul suddenly emitted a blue light, as a miniature human-sized version of a Chinese serpent dragon shot out of his body, wrapping around his soul tightly.

"That's enough for today kid!" Rakuzen growled as forcefully pulled Lucien's soul back into his body.

Lucien's eyes yanked open and only then did he realize he has been bleeding from so many parts of his body, leaving him weak and fragile. 

"That was close" Lucien muttered while breathing heavily.

He felt stronger, yet weaker at the same time. He felt like his soul was exhausted but his body greatly benefited from this exercise as well.

"Rakuzen? Was that our lord Rakuzen?" Chenoa asked with a quivering tone.

'This girl has to stop asking some stupid shit' Lucien lamented in his heart while considering whether to answer or not.

He knew answering this question will lead to him answering series of dumb questions which this perverted girl has to ask and he found it annoying.

[Don't be a bad leader… You should clear the air and let people know how amazing I am… With this, their faith will increase and my power will grow in turn] toRakuzen said.

'You know, now I am beginning to wonder if I want your power to grow' Lucien lampooned while looking for a perfect answer for the question.

"Yes,  Lord Rakuzen lives in me and since he can take control of my body when necessary, it's only natural he can help me from time to time" Lucien said while summoning a piece of cloth from his omini pocket zone and started wiping the blood off his face.

"Can you switch with him now? I would love to speak to him" Chenoa asked with a cute reddened face.

"No!" Lucien replied coldly, causing the lady to shiver in fear.

[That was harsh] Rakuzen dropped a comment and turned silent.

Lucien couldn't feel Rakuzen's presence anymore and Chenoa wouldn't look at him anymore, she obviously didn't want to speak to him. Seeing this, Lucien couldn't help but feel bad for what he has done. The rest of the journey back was silent with only the spirit wolf growls heard.

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It was already afternoon and Lucien was yet to return, making Instructor Emma hate herself for letting him go alone. She wished she could track them but after waiting a day plus, their tracks were gone, making it impossible for Lucy to know which way they went. They silently waited until the growls of the spirit beasts were heard. 

Jumping on their feet with their fists raised and magic spells at their fingertips, they watched as two massive spirit wolves jumped out of the forest. While the lady they fought was on one, Lucien was on the other. His eyes were shut tight and from his body, soul energy kept pouring out. He was cultivating, taking final steps to attain his spirit beast.

"Young master is in a critical moment in his cultivation… You may not disturb!" Chenoa said coldly but these people could not understand her words. In their ears, she was threatening them!

From Instructor Emma's view, they saw Lucien struggling with some sort of spirit energy so they assumed Chenoa was the one responsible. On Lucien's face was dried blood from his eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouth! In their opinion, Lucien must have been tortured and subdued by her!

"BITCH!" Instructor Emma growled as she shot forward, with the tier 3 shattering ice spear following her tightly behind.

"YOU ARE TOO NOISY… GET BACK!" Lucien suddenly yanked his eyes open, revealing a pure silver spirit aura.

With a wave of his hand, he released a powerful wave of spirit aura which collided with instructor Emma, knocking her off the air.

Bang!

Hit by the surprise attack, Instructor Emma lost focus, forcing her ice spear to be shattered. Landing roughly, she looked up to see Lucien gazing down at her with his bright silver eyes and a charming smile on his face.

"I missed you…" Lucien said breaking down all the mental defenses, instructor Emma had put up!

She could tell that this was Lucien but gazing at him, his body was shrouded in spirit energy, didn't that mean he found a way to start cultivating soul energy?

"She is my personal bodyguard now… I am just a few steps away from acquiring my own spirit beast, I hope you won't interfere with my cultivation any further… No one attacks her too" Lucien said calmly.

"That soul energy… It belongs to Lucien, not her… LUCIEN IS CULTIVATING SOUL ENERGY!" Lucy exclaimed in shock

Even though his voice was calm, it was threatening. By the way, they were too stunned by the fact that Lucien could cultivate soul energy. Isn't it impossible for someone to change pathways after they have joined? What Lucien is doing defies every law of cultivation given to them since they were young!