"—We do have it. It's just," the clerk didn't finish his sentence, only looking down at the Disciple Token.
"Is there something wrong with your copy? Is it incomplete?" Galau asked with a sinking expression.
"It's not that. We do have all five layers of [Corporeal Artificer Line], including the annotations of its creator. The problem is that it costs 16,250 Erudition," the clerk explained.
"I can afford it," Galau said, hiding his pain behind a staid expression. He couldn't help but call on the Disciple Token to confirm.
[Imperial Merit: 14,834]
[Erudition: 1,733]
"I'm aware, and I should not meddle in Junior Disciple's matters. It's just that you just arrived and there are many things you're not yet aware of. The court does not provide cultivation resources. It's all bought with Erudition, as is access to the most valuable cultivation grounds. Even travel between different districts comes at a nominal cost."
The bespectacled young man continued with a troubled expression. "I also happen to know a bit about this particular manual. It might not require as many resources as your average Body Tempering Manuals, but it has very stringent requirements to get started. I fear you will waste your time by picking this. Why not wait to settle in before making the decision? The manual will still be here in a week or two."
"Thank you, but I have my own considerations. Please make a copy," Galau said, feeling a bit like a pauper ordering a feast with the last of his money.
Galau didn't blame the clerk for his meddling. His concerns were valid, and the suggestion was sound. Galau could only blame his lacking ability in barely scraping together enough merit. Then again, the fact that his contribution just barely covered a copy's cost felt like Destiny urging him on. It was meant to be.
"I've put in the order, it should be here shortly," the clerk said before pouring a cup of tea. "Have a drink while we wait."
Ten minutes later, another disciple appeared with a freshly imprinted, high-grade Information Jade. Galau's eyes lit up at its dense spiritual nature. It was no worse than an Inheritance Crystal, retaining the true intent hidden within the words of the cultivation method. Following this jade guidance would provide twice the result with half the effort.
"Welcome to the Anima Court, Junior Brother, and good luck with your endeavors," the clerk said with a gentle smile.
"Thank you, friend, for your help and sage advice," Galau said before leaving the administration hall with a spring in his step.
There was not much of a bustle when he emerged at Soulwrest Chapter's main square. There were still some disciples flitting to and fro, most of them Servant Disciples or Outer Disciples with unimpressive cultivation. Not that Galau's own aura made him stand out. A Middle Hegemon was a dime a dozen in these parts.
At this point, Galau couldn't be bothered. "The river runs east for 30 years. I've finally made it."
Rather than looking down on himself, he should be celebrating. He'd reached Anima Court in one piece after desperate struggles and near-death experiences. His gains matched his suffering, and he arrived at the perfect moment. The Daynight Nexus had opened. According to what he discovered outside, rather than another part of the Daynight Dreamer's Soul Aperture, the nexus was an actual piece of the beast's brain.
Flesh made up the bridge between the soul and the earth, fastening the Daynight Dreamer to the Left Imperial Expanse. Galau could scarcely picture it; the flesh of a genuine A-grade being fused with the spirituality of a Primal Heaven. Just what kind of phenomena would it give birth to? Just what kind of opportunities waited within?
Galau knew this was his shot. The culmination of the thread of fate he'd solved during his migration from the Daedalian Court was finding an inheritance ground of one of Anima Court's Elders. He'd died on a mission outside. Unfortunately, he didn't leave any resources related to the court, only an ancient method he'd stumbled onto during his own adventures.
The inheritance was called the [Arcane Artificer Chart]. It was a five-part ancillary cultivation method that nurtured a Spiritual Body based on the Peak of Grand Tapestry. The ancient scripture may as well be tailor-made for combat-oriented Array Masters. It allowed one to engrave and store thousands, millions of array patterns within one's spiritual body.
The chart would look different depending on your scholarly focus, thus creating different effects. Some arrangements would add a spiritual barrier; others would improve one's cultivation speed. In addition, the spiritual body would always have two central functions. First, it allowed for the configuration of arrays on the fly by combining pre-arranged patterns into a greater tapestry.
Secondly, it could shift some of the spiritual strain of the complex calculation from one's soul to one's body by acting as a bridge between the two. In essence, it was like gaining a secondary brain solely focused on deducing and arriving at the mysteries of the Grand Tapestry. It would make it much easier to invent proprietary arrays.
The drawback was the immense difficulty of practice, especially when one's constitution was nothing to write home about. The manual was invented by a small, highly advanced species called the Methele. Galau hadn't even gotten his foot through the door, and completing the first layer through his own efforts was a toss-up.
As luck would have it, the elder who left the manual behind had experienced the same issue, and he'd devised a solution. [Corporal Artificer Outline]was a Body Tempering Manual originally meant to complement [Arcane Artificer Chart]. It could nurture a physique tailor-made to make huge strides with the spiritual body, and the spiritual body in turn would temper the physique. It was a closed system of mutual enkindling.
The only thing left was solving the issue that the clerk mentioned: the stringent starting requirement. The "Outline" mentioned in the name was that the body tempering method needed a suitable Bloodline to guide the way. Without it, one couldn't start practicing. Furthermore, such bloodlines didn't grow on trees. The elder even mentioned that he only knew three bloodlines that could take the manual to its fifth layer.
One of them was the Daynight Dreamer's.
Galau knew he was running behind, and he wasn't a Son of Destiny qualified to compete for the main treasures of the Nexus. However, Galau believed that most disciples of the court would target the Daynight Dreamer's anima, opportunities that would enhance one's soul. Meanwhile, Galau's target was literally the soil that made up the ground.
So long as he could find a patch or Natural Treasure that held traces of the Daynight Dreamer's bloodline, he would have the outline he needed. Galau's steps unconsciously sped up as he headed for the teleportation stations. His cultivation path had been winding long enough, from swordsman to merchant to Array Master. With these methods, he'd finally answer the Heavens as to what his Dao was.
Galau passed an imposing palace on his way to the teleporters. The palpable winds of Destiny surrounding it dampened his jubilant mood and replaced it with a tinge of regret. He felt as though he'd missed something. Although he had just arrived, Galau knew what was inside—the teleporter leading to the Left Imperial Palace. Was his mood a premonition that he wasn't qualified to join the ultimate battle at the continent's center?
Why would such a thing leave him with regret? He'd never planned on going in the first place, and no one expected him to. Those big shots had their paths to pursue, and he had his. Strong or weak, they just needed to do their part. Not everyone could ignite a Halo, and not everyone could change the course of history on their own.
And that was fine.
----------------
The pressure was overwhelming, and the waves released by the subterranean lotus pond never ceased. Its Dharmic waves lingered and superimposed. Emily was already drained after circumventing the trapdoors and silently taking out the acolytes on the upper layers. Now, she was only enduring by holding onto an internal cycle of seasons.
With each passing season, the hymns lost some of their hooks into her heart. Spring brought rebirth through cleansing crackles of lightning. Summer burned the madness away under its punishing rays. Fall caused the external Dao to wither away. Winter was stillness, purity of the self. No matter what happened, no matter what changes were brought by man, the cycle of seasons would eventually return everything to its origin.
Emily felt her comprehension push through a threshold, yet it brought her no succor. She didn't dare break through in the current environment. Even if she did, it wouldn't matter. The monk facing them was at least a Middle Monarch. A stronger Dao would only mean lasting a little longer. Some didn't even have that.
"No!" Inda wailed, and Emily could veritably hear her Dao Heart shattering.
'Hold on a little longer! Help is on the way!'Emily entreated, her message falling on deaf ears.
With glassy eyes and almost robotic mannerisms, she placed her palm against her chest. A powerful ripple of Space burst from within. It briefly overcame the cave's Dharmic seal, and a small, trembling gate opened. Inda more fell than fled inside. The monk didn't bother to stop her; the damage was already done. With a final infusion of Dharmic light, Inda was gone—in more ways than one. Whoever stepped out of the gate on the other side wouldn't be the Endemire Sage's granddaughter.
"Benefactor, it is not yet too late to turn back from the sea of regret," the monk smiled from his perch atop the central lotus. "Wanton slaughter weighs on your soul. Peace will elude you if you persist."
"Peace? When was that ever an option?" Emily's eyes burned with defiance as she tried to get back on her feet.
"It is right before you, benefactor," the monk kindly smiled. "You only need to open your heart to the Dharma. Help me help you."
"Help me? By making me go crazy like Inda?" Emily growled. "How will I face my master when I return?"
It wasn't mock anger or empty words. Inda had started out as something of a hostage and meat shield. Months had passed since then, and shared hardships nurtured a seed of friendship. They'd worked hand in hand to seize opportunities while fighting off competing sealbearers. A moment of hubris was all it took for it all to come crashing down.
The fact that Inda was the one to push them to explore themselves didn't alleviate the guilt she felt. She suspected her final action wasn't so much to save herself as to give Emily a fighting chance. She wasn't lying when she said that help was on the way. They'd naturally ignited an emergency call upon finding the hidden compound. Their mistake was entering themselves out of fear their benefits would end up in the pockets of someone higher up the food chain.
"Destruction is needed for a stronger pagoda to be erected. The young acolyte will settle and resume her pursuits in time," the monk smiled.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. What I know for certain is that your days are numbered," Emily growled.
"It matters not. This poor monk's life and death are inconsequential. Our suffering will become jewels adorning the tapestry of history, the price that needs to be paid. All rivers lead to the same ocean. All is within Buddha's heart."
"Then go ahead and return to his side, Heretic," a dour voice shook the cave as the Dharmic seal shattered.
Emily scrambled out of the way as a terrifying force descended. There was no suspense in what came next. An unstoppable force tore a hole in the ceiling, and the C-grade monk was impaled on a spear burning with golden flames. The bastard was annihilated without putting up a fight. The flames swept outward, vaporizing the pond and incinerating the flowers. In seconds, only the Empire's glory remained.
"As expected of my premier heretic hunter. I don't know how you keep sniffing these sinners out, but your efforts are noted," a stocky templar said as he descended through the newly opened path.
'How hard could it be? You people are the ones who marked their locations,'Emily thought to herself.
The past months had been a blur, where Emily and her helper rushed from memory domain to memory domain in search of ways to accrue Service, the infuriatingly hard-to-earn currency of the Radiant Court. With no genuine faith of her own, Emily focused her efforts on threads of fate connected to the Heavenly Peak. While her adventures didn't end up as gripping as infiltrating the cult of the Sun God, each memory domain held value.
Some memories provided cultivation opportunities; others, rare resources. Sincere effort awarded certain amounts of Service since she still carried the Radiant Court's visitor badge. Still, the accumulation was far from the pace she'd hoped, since her goal was the Four Desolates Pool. A better opportunity presented itself halfway through their journey.
Word came down through her visitor badge. Heathens were infiltrating the prefecture by the busload, leading the flock astray. The Radiant Court couldn't abide such filth in their vicinity and put a price on their heads. Shortly after, new memory domains cropped up. It was the perfect job for those lacking the religious bone needed to flourish in the Radiant Court, especially when the new memory domains essentially painted huge bullseyes on the heretics.
Emily and Inda had earned more merit over the past month than they had in months previous. It covered some of the deficit, though still not at a level she was happy with. People were igniting halos left and right, causing a growing anxiety in her. Advancing her Seasonal Dao Middle Stage of Earthly Dao might be the key to breaking the stalemate.
Though a Mixed-meaning Dao partly based on the Heavenly Peak, the unique insights of the previous stage had garnered a decent bounty of Service. At the time, the penny-pinching procurer said that the payout would be higher if the depths of her insights improved. Emily just needed to center herself to ensure there was no Buddhist hokum hidden in her envisioned Dao.
Knowing her goal might be within reach couldn't lift Emily's spirits this time. The templar before her was Temeri, the external handler they reported to. Usually a welcome sight since he represented the bottomless coffers of the Empire, Emily only felt a smoldering fury upon seeing him this time.
"You're late," Emily said through gritted teeth, unable and unwilling to keep her mouth in check. "My companion didn't make it. She was forcibly converted."
"We'll look for her. There is still a chance her soul can be salvaged. Ultimately, sacrifice is an inevitability for our undertaking, and I can only be in one place at a time. If not her, someone else would have fallen," the templar said.
It was only then that Emily noticed the exhaustion in his eyes, the cracks on his breastplate, and his unstable aura. He hadn't been dragging his feet when their distress call was lit. He was in the middle of battle, no doubt dealing with one of the heretical leaders.
Seeing this doused the anger to some degree. "I think this place is part of the reason we're running ourselves ragged. A group of acolytes we took out earlier called this monk a shepherd."
"You're saying it's the Buddhist Sangha that has attracted the sinners?" the templar asked with a solemn expression.
"That's what it looks like, I just don't understand how," Emily said. "There's a study further up. We didn't have time to look for clues when we infiltrated this place."
"These creatures meddle in the will of man, disrupting the natural order without leaving a trace. They must have erected an enormous Karmic lure to draw the continent's Mara toward our court. After eons of hiding, these greedy ghosts finally couldn't keep themselves in check," Temeri said with a scowl. "If you're right, this is a significant contribution. You can put forth a request."
"How about a dip in the Four Desolates Pool?"
The cardinal's mouth twitched. "That's... not possible. The pool has limited uses, and only the fated can partake. It's not something someone at my level can interfere with."
'Then what good are you?'Emily complained to herself.
The templar sighed and took out a token. "This is a [Four Desolates Seal]. While it will not grant you access to the pool, it'll allow you to meditate inside a connected Cultivation Chamber. With the pool's emanations and a few supporting treasures, gaining a preliminary attunement to the Four Desolates is possible."
"I'll take it," Emily's eyes lit up.
"You will also have to pay half the entry yourself," the templar added.
"Sure, sure," Emily said.
No matter what, accessing the pool was out of the question. She wasn't convinced even Zac could afford it, despite igniting halos left and right. Just getting close to its location was her goal from the very beginning. From there, she just needed to time things right and hope her guess was correct. Sooner or later, the memory domains would have to fade. At that point, she could dive directly into the adjacent pond. And if it didn't work out, she could still follow Temeri's suggestion.
Emily left the hidden compound through the path opened by the Cardinal, flying straight through the large hole in the roof. She was greeted by a ghost town when she emerged. Its citizens had no doubt already been taken for questioning. A flash of light in the distance drew her attention. An eighth and ninth halo erupted above Daedalian Court's pillar at once.
Both held the mark of those damn monks. The shepherd's parting words echoed in Emily's mind. Were the new halos related to her actions? Were the monks at the Daedalian Court harnessing the power of sacrifice? Emily shook her head. It couldn't be. Even if the monks' execution could bring a small boost to their efforts, it couldn't possibly be enough to ignite two full halos.
That conviction took a hit as Emily felt her memory domain tremble under an unseen force. The first pillar had finally been completed. Was she too late? The next moment, the tremors stilled, and Emily was shocked to see the ninth halo wink out of existence. It was the first time she'd seen a halo disappear, and it felt like a stay of execution.
No matter what, it was time to return.