Chapter 0013

A beautiful woman with gleaming black eyes, skin white as porcelain, plump kissable lips and perfect symmetrical features glance at the camp with dismay. If she lived back on Earth, she can be the top Asian model. The black common leather gear low-level mercenaries wear looks like an impenetrable suit of armor on the fragile looking woman, delineating her voluminous curves, but the dangerous aura surrounding the woman marked her as a high level cultivator.

The people in the camp was aware of her disregard, so they amped up their efforts to display their abilities.

“Quit scaring the new recruits Zhi Hui.” An enchanting voice filled with humor and a carefree attitude that put the nervous camp members at ease. A white hair woman wearing layers of thin, almost transparent silk, glided into the camp. The newcomer's step was light as a feather, her movements graceful as a phoenix in flight. Despite the angelic aura surrounding the woman, she can be described as pretty at best. Her unique sky blue eyes cover with an opaque film stands out too much, distorting the symmetry of the possibly beautiful face.

The black clad woman glared at the new arrival, her partner in this expedition, Aria Se Jivock.

“Call me Xing Zhi Hui. We are not close enough for first-name basis.” Xing Zhi Hui tried to put up an emotional front against Aria Se Jivock yet the woman from the Ethereal Depths bypass all of her efforts to distance herself by putting her arm around the reserved woman as if they were close friends.

“Many life times ago we were good friends, protecting each other’s back for millennia, sharing wealth and woe. How can you say we aren’t close?”

Xing Zhi Hui scowled but didn’t refute Aria Se Jivock’s statement. She can’t, although she didn’t know if Aria Se Jivock was telling the truth or not.

Aria Se Jivock hailed from the Ethereal Depths, where the majority of the cultivators focus on the power of the soul. If rumors can be believed, the powerful cultivators can see into the soul. Some can see further than that, into the past life of the cultivators, or for those at the pinnacle of the Ethereal Depths, into the past lives. Yes, plural.

The structure of the Ethereal Depths is similar to the clan system of China with some unique features outsiders like Xing Zhi Hui can never understands.

Xing Zhi Hui knows the basic structure of the Ethereal Depths. The major powers in the Ethereal Depths are the five great clans, a mysterious sect known as the Soul Cycle Sect and the council of elders comprise of the 25 major powerhouses of the Ethereal Depths.

Xing Zhi Hui never paid attention to the cultivating ranking of the Ethereal Depths, but she does know the titles of their subdivision. Regular cultivators are called Soul Practitioner. Cultivators focusing on the reincarnation life cycles and can see into the past life are called Soul Visionaries. Cultivators focusing on the ideology of karma are called Soul Liners. Soul Binders is cultivators who use the power of the soul to bind other cultivators to them. A line was established in regards to Soul Binders. They can use their arts on beasts, but never another human, though that doesn’t prevent them from trying and those who are found to do so are hunted down.

Then there is the taboo Soul Extinguisher. Much is not known about this group. The members of the Ethereal Depths never talk about them. Rumors and speculation run rampant whenever anyone sees a cultivator practicing utilizing the power of death to destroy the soul of a cultivator. It is because of the Soul Extinguisher that the Ethereal Depths gain the reputation as the ‘Final Destination’ since they can destroy the soul.

The Ethereal Depths naming system is different from the Magus Alliance where a person name is first followed by their last name, as well as the Heavenly Mountains where the clan name comes first then the name. Aria was the name given to her by her parents; Se is her clan name and Jivock is a name derived from the fluctuation of her soul.

Aria Se Jivock is a direct descendant of the powerful Se clan, one of the five great aristocratic clans in the Ethereal Depths. Although Se clan specialized in soul attack with the Hidden Soul Seizure regarded as their trademark spells, the Se clan are renowned for producing Soul Liners.

Aria is one of the most powerful Soul Liners produced by the Se clan in the last two thousand years, yet she was sent to the Heavenly Mountains to train.

Because of Xing Zhi Hui special connection with Aria Se Jivock, she was privy to Aria’s secrets. Due to Aria’s special status in the clan, great care was given to her grooming. During her early years, Aria growth was phenomenal, almost unheard of within the last thousand years and only the Sage of Soul can compare to her.

When she turned fifteen, her growth just stopped. At first the Se clan thought her inability to cultivate was a result of an attack from the other clans.

There are always friction among any clans, both open and secretive. The other clans did not want a powerhouse to emerge from any other clan aside from their own and even then it is questionable.

The power base of the Ethereal Depths could have been greater than what it is now if the clans didn’t suppress and kill each other.

All the Elders of the Se clan investigate the matter, but nothing was found, until their third clan patriarch, a powerful Soul Liner by the name of Jevick Se Jivock proclaim the source of the problem as the karma lines.

Within Aria’s last seven life times, she was burdened with a forceful karma line. The source of the karma was not her own, but it was attached to her with a secret technique. The gist of it was simple. During a clan’s rise to power, blood spilled like rivers and bodies piled like mountains, creating the Karma of Revenge, hindering any future growth of the clan. In order to get rid of the negative aspect of a clan’s rise to power, soul cultivators created the Karma Displacement Technique, a spell that takes all the karma formed during the slaughter and piled it onto the weaker members of their clan then they killed said members and dissolving the karma.

Karma has never been limited to one lifetime. The karma placed on the sacrifice will follow them through the reincarnation process until the karma is resolved.

There are side effects to the technique. While there are ‘bad’ karma, there are ‘good’ karma as well. The Karma Displacement Technique does not differentiate between ‘good’ karma and ‘bad’ karma. It takes all the karma accumulated and transfer it onto the sacrificed.

Where the sacrifice must resolve the ‘bad’ karma placed upon them, they also benefit from the ‘good’ karma. Most of the time the ‘bad’ karma outweighs the ‘good’ karma, so the sacrifice suffers.

Aria Se Jivock was once a sacrifice. As such, the accumulated karma has choked her ability cultivate the soul.

Once the fact was known, the Se clan gave up on Aria. She went from the brightest star of the Se clan to a waste. The Se clan went as far as demanding Aria pay back all the resources given to her and her parents cut ties due to pressure from the clans as well as the fear that the karma will implicate them. Through it all, the Se clan forgot one important fact - Aria is an impressive Soul Liner as well.

Aria knew there was a way to undo the karma placed upon her or to send the ‘bad’ karma back to the original owner ten times, a hundred times stronger than before. However, she did not want to destroy all her potential for revenge against assailants long dead.

She decided to look for a Defyer instead. A Defyer, as the name implied, is someone who can defy fate. Specifically, a Defyer is a soul the heaven itself burdened with the fate of rectifying all the wrongs, every anomaly created by the fight between the Heavenly Dao and the Devil’s Path. Lifetime after lifetime, these souls pay the price for a war that started from the beginning of time and will continue as long as cultivators exist. Souls, humans, cultivators, tempered by lifetimes of tortured by the Heavenly Dao, how can they easily accept their fate? They don’t. They rise up to defy the Heavenly Dao and the Devil’s Path, walking the road between the two, becoming beings who can defy the two powers.

There are two Defyer who were able to become an immortal. The heavens announce the birth of an immortal Defyer by displaying the name of the name across all worlds. The Defyers are an existence soul cultivator never dare mention openly for fear of incurring the wrath of heaven yet they secretly admire the individual. It takes grit, determination, endurance and heaven defying luck to ascend as a Defyer. Aria can never approach these legendary beings if they exist in the Cardinal Realm.

Through her power as a Soul Liner, she can see the lines of karma converging. Another with the potential to become a Defyer is in the Central Domain, more specifically, on the route between the Magus Alliance and Heavenly Mountains.

Aria had no karma with the potential Defyer. To approach him or her before he or she becomes a Defyer will be suicidal because both Heaven and Hell will sense her interference and punish her.

Aria want to build karma with those who have karma with the Defyer. It is easier to ask a favor from a complete stranger if she knows someone close to the stranger.

So Aria is here trying to hook ...ahem build relations with the one who has a connection to the Defyer.

Xing Zhi Hui is Aria’s lucky charm.

What Aria said was true. Life times ago, Aria and Xing Zhi Hui were the best of friends and they did protect each other.

“We simply aren’t.” Xing Zhi Hui knew Aria had no reason to lie to her. However, just because they were close friends how many lifetime ago doesn’t mean they have to be friends in this lifetime nor does it mean Aria isn’t using her now.

“But you still allow me to be close to you.”

“It is because you are worse than a bed bug. You dig deep underneath my skin.”

“Hey now!” Aria was affronted over the comparison no matter how accurate it was.

“I’d tried to dig you out, but you just burrow deeper and deeper. One of these days, you’d be the death of me.”

The members of the camp knew that although Xing Zhi Hui is a stern taskmaster, she handles things with caution and prudence. She doesn’t treat the lives of mortals as insignificant ants ready to be used and thrown away when they aren’t useful anymore, therefore, her words have merit.

Everyone begins to look at this friendly cultivator in a new light.

Just as everyone was going to gossip about Aria Se Jivock’s bad personality, a stranger wandered into camp.