Those three words were as clear as heavenly thunder erupting within a dead sea! It held the qualities of being a sound that was ever-present, elusive, far away, and unfathomably close simultaneously, giving one a sensation of cognitive dissonance that evoked boundless confusion.
Was this a voice a memory? Was it a premonition? Was it real? Was it fake?
All these questions surfaced within Wei Wuyin's thoughts as his heart wildly beat with tremendous force. His heart was like an ancient mythological god, pumping endless, boundless, and mysterious fluids into his body. He felt as if he was being shuttled through countless different streams of reality with each pump that surged from his heart, reaching his brain, and influencing his senses. It was as if he became an idle traveler in the vehicle that was his mind and it overtook his sense of balance.
This feeling lasted for a mere few seconds before it was resolved by a tree. The Alchemic Eden Natal Soul's roots that were plunged into his sea of consciousness sent continuous rainbow-colored light into it, allowing him to regain some semblance of a consciousness.
"Holy shit! What the fuck was that?!" He exclaimed directly as he seemed to experience a radical come-down from psychedelic drugs. He couldn't help but grasp at his head as he tried to recall all those sensations earlier, trying to find out what had just happened.
"Shared." – Alchemic Eden Natal Soul.
Since that day three years ago, the Alchemic Eden Natal Soul's ability to communicate directly to him had thoroughly improved. While its voice was still androgynous, its tone flat and without a sense of emotion, it was clear. Furthermore, it wasn't the only one who exhibited this ability.
All of his Natal Souls shared energies, this included alchemical energies and eden energies that were unique to the Alchemic Eden Natal Soul. It seemed they could transmit strands of eden energies into his sea of consciousness to communicate. While they all sounded the same, lacking any individualistic differentiation in terms of tone, their speech patterns were quite distinct.
Having this pathway of communication had greatly enhanced his understanding of the Natal Souls, but also confused him still. Because even they were unable to explain their sentience and ability to act independently. However, he learned a few essential things.
They were all connected to him. Any sensation he felt was similarly experienced by them, and his death would lead to their deaths. They relied on him to survive, and this was further proven when they couldn't externalize for longer than a few minutes at a time. Furthermore, they weren't truly independent.
They couldn't use Qi, merely their innate energies when they acted. This meant they couldn't be used as independent fighters, and they were highly vulnerable while externalized. This was even worse for the Alchemic Eden Natal Soul and Draconic Natal Soul, because it was completely reliant on his sea of consciousness and heart, if they suffered severe injuries, they could be completely shattered as a result.
With this, he was a lot more trusting towards his Natal Souls. This didn't mean he would lower his guard, however. After all, the Tree of Eden that was now embedded into his sea of consciousness had once tried to possess his body through his mind.
"What do you mean shared?" Wei Wuyin asked.
"…Shared moment." – Alchemic Eden Natal Soul.
Wei Wuyin pondered briefly before coming to a realization. His sensation earlier was what his Draconic Natal Soul likely felt upon completing its transformation. He swiftly inspected his heart and realized that his flowing blood had ripples endlessly coursing through his entire body, and his fleshy heart was grey-ish and three times the size of an average heart. However, it didn't seem to experience any discomfort and beat naturally.
The additional arteries and veins that circulated throughout his transformed body seemed to off-set the difference somehow.
"What is Void?" Wei Wuyin asked his heart, the Draconic Natal Soul. He had heard of the Dark Void, which is the emptiness between celestial bodies and stars that roamed the world. This area was incredibly dangerous and only Realmlords could traverse it without experiencing death. Well, Realmlords and unique existences like Bai Lin, or other star-grade beasts.
They were called star-grade beasts not because of their ability to enter or exit the Sky Layers of planets or continental flat earths, but because they could travel the starry skies and the Dark Void that held it. Of course, due to the immense distance, no known star-grade beast could even hope to make the trip to another land mass or celestial body.
He felt his heart rumble slightly, gathering its spiritual intent and mental energies, trying to transmit a message to Wei Wuyin. It was unaccustomed to doing so due to its dormant state for three years.
"I'll help." – Alchemic Eden Natal Soul.
"Me too! Me too! I want to help too! Let me help!" – Divine Elemental Natal Soul.
"Tch." – Divine Saber Natal Soul.
The three Natal Souls started to offer support to the Draconic Natal Soul, slowly infusing strands of intent that seemed to contain their own experiences in communication. It was as if they were helping the Draconic Natal Soul learn how to get on and ride a bike, slowly and patiently.
Wei Wuyin calmly observed this. Since they could communicate, he knew that their sentience would grow into personality, and their personalities were becoming more and more apparent as time passed. The most essential quality was their absolute support in each other, and when he recalled the Alchemic Eden Soul berating and even teaching the other souls lessons, he realized they've developed a dynamic akin to a family.
"…The Void is a Dao. The Dao of the Void…is space, time, astrological forces, and void energy. Space is fixed, stable, chaotic disturbances within the Dark Void and its various forms, including atmospheric space. Time is the past, present, future, isolated, and paradoxical temporal periods of existence." – Draconic Void Natal Soul.
"…A Dao?!" Wei Wuyin was taken aback. He had learned that about Daos fairly earlier on, and knew that the Saber was a part of the Weapon Dao. There was also the Mind Dao and the Material Dao, which likely encompassed the Eden Qi and Elemental Qi respectively. Besides the Heavenly Daos, which governed the world and was its will, and the Alchemic Dao, there wasn't any other Dao that he knew.
But the Void Dao! It governs time and space? Did it govern all time and space? Fixed? Stable? Chaotic? Atmospheric?! Past? Present? Future? Isolated? What the hell was paradoxical?! Did he just gain the entirety of a Dao?
If the Alchemic Dao could be divided, then it was definitely classified into seven core types, based on the seven traits of Alchemy. It was broad and profound, and he had merely stepped onto its edge at this moment.
Step. Step.
His thoughts became chaotic, but he soon calmed down with several breaths. The steps were from those two beauties who were asleep, and he vanished. He arrived in his Alchemic Lab, an advanced version of his previous room. There were countless shelves of books, spiritual jades, and recording jades. He calmly sat on a chair and started to ask the Draconic Natal Soul a series of questions.
He was swiftly corrected that it was no longer just a Draconic Natal Soul, but a Draconic Void Natal Soul, in much the same way as the Alchemic Eden Natal Soul had Eden Qi, Divine Elemental Natal Soul had Elemental Qi, and Divine Saber Natal Soul had Saber Qi, it had void-based powers that originated from its bloodline powers. While its basis was still entrenched in a dragon's bloodline, its attribute now included the Void Dao.
After that, he learned that its bloodline abilities had awakened. However, they could only be used when he enters a unique state called Dragonification. His human traits would become secondary, and his True Dragon Bloodline will take the dominant traits of his bloodline.
This explanation shook him deeply. He could transform into a dragon?! He didn't know this before. Why hadn't he known this before?
According to it, he could always do it, but it would consume an insane amount of its bloodline energies, and when it ran out, his body would return to its natural state. The first innate ability was called the Infinite Void Wings, which was a growth-type ability where he would create a pair of wings. These wings will give him the ability of flight, no longer needing mana to enable this.
The second innate ability was called Void Crystallization. By using his Void Bloodline Powers, he could condense the ambient void and crystallize inanimate objects into it, such as a cup or a weapon. Furthermore, it would shrink it into a very small size, simultaneously creating an independent and stable space.
This seemed to be an elementary application of the storage ring concept, where a stable set of space was created and used to store things. Unfortunately, he couldn't seal living things, things with volatile energies, or objects of a certain size with his current cultivation base.
His third was the most important! DRAGON BREATH!
When he heard this, his inner child squealed in excitement. The stories of dragons breathing flames of annihilation was the main obstacle of any grand mythological epic! The Myriad Yore Continent had various stories written by scholars and enlightened writers, and he would often delve into them in his freetime, especially as a child.
Moreover, his dragon breath was actually fire and it was called Void Flames! He wanted to test it out, but the Draconic Void Natal Soul hurriedly expressed that he shouldn't. His growth on his throat hadn't completed its growth and it was the medium at which the void fire was produced. If he tried, he could end up igniting his throat and head in a quick death.
"…Okay. So no fire for now." An easy decision was made that moment, and Wei Wuyin instantly cooled down.
His excitement was quite tangible as he animatedly asked all sorts of questions. Unfortunately, he quickly learned that besides the basics of the Void Dao, the understanding of its innate abilities relating to its bloodline, it was completely ignorant of everything else. It didn't know how to use the Void Dao or manipulate space, time, or even what space and time really meant.
His eyelids twitched without end.
"Haaa…" That was the path of cultivation, after all. Everything must be learned or gained from previous generations. It's not like he immediately knew how to use his spiritual energies or qi when he gave birth to it, simply knew the basics after a bit of understanding. Even Wu Jiao could only clearly explain the cultivation paths he'd traveled and personally underwent. His Natal Souls were an extension of his soul, mind, and body, so it made sense they would be ignorant as well.
Otherwise, he could instantly master the Alchemic Dao and be invincible throughout the world.
Even if the Draconic Void Natal Soul hadn't told him these things, a little observation and analysis would've led to him discovering this through feelings and instincts. In the end, he could only sigh.
The road of cultivation was quite long.
Twiing!
Just as he was about to casually concoct some products since he was already in his Alchemic Lab, he received a transmission message from Su Mei. It read:
"Lord Wei, there's a matter that might require your attention. Qing Qiumu is about to be executed."
