"Figure it out." Pinaka snorted softly and ignored Yan Zaizen. "I'm going to recover my soulforce," she abruptly said, turning into a dot of light that silently siphoned Yan Zaizen's soul-attributed vital energy and soul energy to bolster her own.

"..." Yan Zaizen's inner expression was ugly, but his outward expression before Damian was dignified and smiling. In his thoughts, "really? Aren't you supposed to be…"

Then it hit him.

When he was learning from Pinaka, she essentially transmitted the conceptual method to him, she chose suitable methods and arts based on what he already cultivated or just top-tier and could be cultivated, and explained the basis of cultivation to him. However…

"Does she not know how to instruct a disciple properly?" Thinking about it, Pinaka was more a mentor of the cultivation way with a slight word of guidance, but she never offered a single word of instruction, but simply filled in his gaps of knowledge. Not a single word. His Non-Entity qualities had easily covered this, but on further thought, Pinaka seemed quite useless in terms teaching things.

It makes sense.

Pinaka was a True Spirit, a creation from a flawed path that couldn't cultivate any arts, be it soul, qi, or martial. Even in terms of the Dao, she speculated and guessed during the Asura Phantom Realm, sounding quite unsure of success. This wasn't the only incident.

Throughout his entire life, she had done nothing more than fill in gaps and speculate. There were even times she had no clue of things, even Yan Zaizen's own knowledge exceeded hers in some aspects.

He was quite sure that Pinaka didn't even understand the profoundness of the laws inscribed on her...after all, she never taught him anything relating to it, even though his Archery of Pure Destruction had always lagged behind his other abilities.

In retrospect, his question earlier accentuated her disadvantages and heightened the notice of her limitations as a True Spirit. The flaws were now clearly apparent. An intelligent lifeform that had a soul but couldn't use soul energy, relied on external formations or metallic bodies for growth, and...

"..." He wanted to apologize but...would that be insensitive? In the end, he decided against it and that he would make it up to her in the future somehow.

Looking at Damian, he couldn't help but smile. He waved his hand, a white flame engulfed Damian. Shockingly, Damian didn't even utter a sound. He clenched his teeth and hoped for the best.

This white flame engulfed him and suffused his body with an uncanny and powerful force. This force was lifeforce. The wounds on his body healed instantly. As it continued to wash over his body, the lifeforce entrenched in his bones, blood, heart, brain, and muscles. Before long, his body had received a baptism of lifeforce.

It was brief, but this single action would place him as invincible to all those beneath the Qi Unification Realm.

The flame dissipated leaving only a wide-eyed and shocked Damian. His eyes not only contained disbelief, but when he looked at Yan Zaizen, they were filled with reverence and respect.

"You can call that the first gift of our relationship." Seeing how he'll have to wing this master role, he decided to bless Damian with good fortune.

However, just as he was about to continue speaking, his eyes flickered briefly. "Oh? Maybe...I think two will do."

"Master?" Confused by Yan Zaizen's sudden words, Damian looked at Yan Zaizen expectantly. From those words, he felt that a second gift will be bestowed. Currently, he felt an exceptionally powerful force surging in his body, and it nearly intoxicated him.

However, Yan Zaizen chuckled and said, "Let's meet your Junior Sister." He waved his hand to produce a sword. This sword was a low-grade, sky-rank armament. It floated silently beside Damian.

He was a little confused by all these magical things and odd words, "Junior Sister?"

"Your second gift. Step on it. I'm not a patient one." With a smile, he calmly said. His eyes radiating a light of dignity and profound power.

Damian nodded, stepping on the sword, further exhibiting his astonishing decisiveness. The sword lifted slightly and Damian felt his balance break, but a soft light emitted from the sword that propped him up. Stabilizing himself, his eyes grew even more excited.

"A flying sword?!" He had heard of these armaments. They were like sword-shaped skyships. However, they only held one or two people. They were exceptionally expensive and only top-tier cultivators had them.

Even Origin Core Realm experts could only drool at this, at least...that's the rumor.

"Mhm. Your third gift will be given with the third gift of your Junior Sister. Let's go." He floated without warning and flew. The sword followed behind by his will. For now, Damian couldn't control a sky-rank armament, even if it was a miniature skyship.

-----

In the capital of the Graceful Sword Realm, there was a young maid. She was around sixteen or seventeen, her looks passable, with a lithe figure. This young maid serviced another young girl, about twelve or thirteen years of age. She had eyes of pride and dignity, but also a calmness rare in youths.

They were in the core residential area of the Blazing Forest Mortal Faction, a sub-faction to the Graceful Sword Heavenly Faction - the top Heavenly Faction in the Graceful Sword Realm and ruler of the realm.

In the 17th Realm, Factions were like a mixture of a Sect - following a certain doctrine in operation(i.e occupations like alchemy and armament creation, cultivation methods, or laws), and Guilds - a group of people seeking a common goal and protection. It is comprised of many families, even clans. The complexities within is often mind-boggling and hard to navigate.

The young girl belonged to the Blaze Clan, one of the top two clans within the Blazing Forest Mortal Faction. The other being the Grove Clan.

There were three figures before the young girl and maid, all three female. Within this group, a familiar face was among them.

It was Madeleine!

She had a calm expression but a respectful posture as she narrated the events that took place earlier. To others, they may think this young girl was defenseless and too young, but this girl's identity was shocking!

She was the Clan Lord of the Blaze Clan! Her cultivation was at the late-True Essence Realm!

"They've taken her?" Despite looking like a young girl, she had a husky voice similar to a heavy smoker. It was quite surreal and felt as if it was an illusion. This young girl was also a mother, the mother of the girl snatched earlier.

"Yes," Madeleine respectfully replied. However, despite receiving this confirmation, the Clan Lord's eyes lit up and a smile formed on her lips.

"Men, truly fools." She directly insulted, later adding, "if you show them a piece of flesh, they would hound towards it mindlessly."

When this was said, the young maid refilling a drink's expression subtly shifted. However, her actions wasn't impeded as she poured professionally.

"Lord Dana, if I may ask, how did you know they'll take the bait? You kept word of her travels isolated." A woman beside Madeleine curiously asked. Even Madeleine was intrigued. Their travels were truly kept isolated, and although information leakage may exist, it shouldn't be enough to actionably organize a squad and ambush them so thoroughly.

Now, a false plant has been sent to the men's headquarters. It wouldn't be long before their base was located and their entire force upended in a deadly assault.

Lord Dana smirked, sipping some wine from her newly refilled glass, "Easy. A fly on the wall." When she said this, she turned towards the maid suddenly with an even wider smirk. "I think its about time to squash it. It has long outlived it usefulness."

"!" The young maid's eyes widened suddenly, and as if she was going to say something and perhaps beg, she instead threw a orb forwards. This orb was the size of a child's marble, but it emanated deep earth energy. It seemed to contain the essence of earth law.

"Haha! Your death will not be swift, but I must thank you, your actions have allowed us to end this pathetic insurgency." Lord Dana cackled, with a wave of her hand, fire-attributed true-essence shrouded the marble and rendered it useless. Her cultivation base had suddenly risen as well!

Peak-True Essence Realm!

Witnessing this, the young maid attempted to dash away. However, her cultivation base was only at the Initial-Qi Unification Realm; running away was but a dream in this terrifying reality. This was even more true with Lord Dana's cultivation base being thoroughly exposed.

Her only hope was that talisman crafted by her leader, but it was sealed nearly in an instant. This was outside of her calculations.

It wasn't long before she was shrouded in a flame cage. She was naked, her clothes previously burnt to ashes, but her skin was only a little red from the heat. Lord Dana's control of fire was truly exceptional, mot burning her but removing all other possessions.

"Fly, fly, little fly, where will you hide~? When will you die~? Haha." Lord Dana felt utterly triumphant. She had properly used a spy to feed false information, cultivating ignorance for this one single blow to any resistance to the current regime. Now that she no longer had any usefulness, her death will be satisfying. With this action, she would be thoroughly rewarded by the Realmlord.

Maybe even ascending into the Heavenly Path wasn't a dream!

The young maid, the spy, only closed her eyes and calmly awaited death. The only regret she had was that the end of the resistance will be due to her incompetence.