Jack could feel his pulse increasing in rhythm. Although the tension in the room was building up, the atmosphere was actually one of perfect silence. In fact, if a needle had to drop right now, it would produce the sound akin to thunder.

The grinning creature targeted Jack for a while, but then it seemed to ignore him, instead cuddling its face. It appeared completely relaxed, without any hint of worry whatsoever.

This unexpected development left Jack undecided how to react, but after recalling the old creature’s temperament, he suddenly had a bad premonition that something was gravely amiss. Even though Jack didn’t wish to verify such a possibility, there was really no point in delaying this matter any further.

“Old man, did it work?”

“Who are you calling old man, bag of bones? Old? Do I look old? Me human? Are you blind? Dare say it again if you want your face slapped to death!”

Jack had his initial suspicions, but after hearing these words, he had no more doubts that something went terribly, terribly wrong. He swallowed a gulp of saliva, indirectly increasing the anxiety that was accumulating inside his stomach, feeling like vomiting at any moment.

“Impossible! It can’t be you?!!”

As soon as it heard Jack’s terror, the Creature appeared to have entered into deep thought, as if the simple question required a lot of effort to answer. But a couple of breaths later, the Creature seemed that it had forgotten about everything, instead inspecting its tail and twerking its butt.

“Who I am? Err, I don’t know myself.”

Jack was stunned. “What?! Could it be your memories—”

“I own both of their memories, but I am not them. I am a product of them. Heavenly Pillar? Secret Taboo arts? What an idiot! All that fanfare, yet he couldn’t even possess such a trivial soul!”

The Creature then grinned evilly. “Not that I have any complaints…”

The Creature rushed forward, then hopped towards the outside.

Jack was about to yell for it to stop, but seeing that its shadow had already vanished from his sight, his only option was to follow after.

In the meantime, the Creature had already entered the Archaic Billows, and upon first inspection, it couldn’t help but admire the various high-quality relicts. For a sect of the middle realms, it thought that this vast heritage could be considered a treasure amongst treasures.

“Azure realm, is it?” The Creature kept grinning as it enlarged its tail for a full ten metres, then slammed it randomly around itself with massive force that caused crevices to appear.

“This is the strength of my body? Not bad, not bad.”

It suddenly eyed some demonic beasts in the distance, and an absurd idea had already popped in its mind.

Just when it was about to charge forward, a human shadow appeared, blocking its path.

“Hey! Wait a second! Have you forgotten about our promise?”

The Creature glanced innocently. “Why are you stalking me human? I know my body is irresistible, but our biology isn’t compatible. Don’t give up hope though; you are still young and not bad looking. I am sure you will find someone who will love you in the future. If I ever obtain the chance for reincarnation as a human female, I might even consider…”

Jack was left without words for a moment. “What are you talking about? Your Oath! You said that you will be protecting me for one thousand years!”

The Creature seemed to recall something from its memories, then shrugged noncommittally. “Ah, that promise… But that wasn’t me, it was my previous half. Why should I be bothered about it?”

“Hey! Weren’t you the one who boasted that you would proudly yell from the tallest mountain, that you would never break your oath? Are you going to put your previous being’s words to shame?”

The Creature appeared confused. It shrank its tail then shook its head with resignation. “Ah, Ah, that… ok, ok, listen… it was only half of my former self, no? So half the amount! Five hundred years! I’ll protect you for five hundred years, and only a half protector at that.”

Jack didn’t mind the proposed reduction of time; a period of five hundred years was still a long one from his perspective, and he really didn’t have to break a sweat to save the old man. He just had to roll the dice and then do some easy searching. For the effort he made, the deal was still well worth he thought.

However, the matter of half protector confused him, so he civilly asked for an explanation.

“Yeh, yeh, half protector. It means that I will not be protecting your ass all the time. I will be keeping an eye on you if I happen to be around, but that doesn’t mean I am going to keep babysitting you. If something will happen to you when I am not in your vicinity, then bad luck to you. Don’t worry, I am a being of honour. I would make sure to pay my respects to your grave every one hundred years…”

“But—

“Hey?! Who said my conditions could be haggled? Either you accept my terms or screw off. Honestly, I prefer if you screw off. This should be the happiest day of my life since it is the day I was born, but you are annoying me now. Hmmph!!”

Jack found it impossible to argue with such a stubborn mind, so he gave up.

The Creature was evidently pleased that the matter was now settled, disappearing from Jack’s view in a brown flash.

Shortly after, Jack could hear localised explosions, followed by the cries of demonic beasts that were sent flying by random slaps. All of these beasts had the eyes of incredulity, as if they had no idea what had just hit them.

The Spectre was also shocked as he watched the Creature approaching the monastery with unfathomable speed. The shield surrounding the monastery was instantly ripped to shreds, followed by a giant tail that swept the monastery and sending it flying towards the sky like it was made of paper.

The little spectre’s technique was instantly dissolved as he screamed with terror amidst the roaring winds. However, before he could even react, the silhouette of a creature appeared before him, swallowing him whole in one gulp.

The Creature casually burped, then turned its attention towards the sky.

It unleashed a mighty roar that was capable of distorting the space of the entire region. The several moons in the sky cracked, exploding one after each other as large pieces of rocks rained downwards, littering the whole realm.

The Creature then descended gracefully, apparently satisfied by the outcome. “This should suffice. Otherwise, I risk alerting the higher-ups of the sect.”

“Grrr… you are its descendant!”

The Creature didn’t seem surprised as it glanced towards the flame in the distance. “Shut up little fish! A fart is all I need to extinguish you for eternity!”

“You…” The flame trembled for a while, then it fell silent.

Moments later, the Creature reappeared in front of Jack, as if nothing had happened.

“I know you want to ask me what the fudge I am doing, so to avoid you bombarding me with one hundred different questions, I am going to spoon feed you everything like an idiot.

“I still feel cheated by the stupidity of my former half for promising something so outrageous, but I can’t allow for my reputation to take a hit on my first day. The biggest protection I can give you right now is to teach you how to protect your ass... so… I’ve altered the mechanism of the realm a bit and delayed your expulsion by two months. This should prevent any unwanted disturbances…

“But before we start, we need to do something about those crappy mental defences of yours…”

The Creature did some weird patterns with its delicate hands, sending three beams of lights that penetrated deep inside Jack’s chest. However, Jack felt no pain and there were no visible wounds.

“Good, very good. I’ve created a mental barrier that should protect you from those peeping creeps. Unless your aggressors are in the Divine Realm or higher, only in their dreams would they be able to break this protection.

“Now, I need to teach you how to utilise your QI and how to activate your essence. As for the weapon you obtained, it is actually a sword of high quality. Judging from its aura, it is similar to other traces of auras found in the mechanism of this realm. I am confident that this weapon belonged to the original patriarch and was originally of the divine level. However, it seems damaged and should be of lower grade now… but more than enough for you…”

Jack wasn’t planning on interrupting, but an obvious question arose. “It seems that I’ve failed to obtain an essence, so now I will have to wait until I attempt my second severing?”

The Creature itched its tail. “And who told you that? Was is that ignorant fish, or the dumb Spectre? What if I had to tell you that not only you have an essence, but it is of perfect calibre?”

“When someone breaks from mortality and enters the cultivating world, the heavens rejoice, and they will shower you with random phenomena. And then, when someone severe a small fortune from the heavens, not only they will not be angry, but they will actually express joy that the fortune stolen is of a lesser magnitude.

“However, what you think it will happen when someone manages to severe a complete fortune from the heavens? I will tell you what! The heavens will tremble with fury! They may have not reacted yet, but if you keep severing powerful essences in the future, you will have to ultimately face Heaven’s Wrath! I am saying this from my experience hehehe… half of my former self actually had four perfect essences, and all quite strong too… such a waste I can’t unleash the full power in this limited body…”

As soon as the creature finished fantasying, it summoned Jack and placed its delicate hand on his forehead.

Jack could feel a tingling awareness that slowly infiltrated his entire body. The Qi began circulating as his conscious identified that something was being attached to it. Shortly after, he could perceive another presence inside his body, although this presence was utterly subdued and could be controlled by a mere thought from Jack.

“This is my first gift to you. Since I am not going to be around when I am doing my own little adventures, I’ve left a soul that can guide you. So, what are you waiting for? Summon the soul!”

Jack was still adjusting himself to this new sensation. He extended his hand and used his conscious to summon the soul. White light flickered over his palm, a small figure formed with a rate visible to a human eye.

Jack’s eyes immediately bulged out.

Hovering of his palm, was the little clone of the 3rd Spectre!

“Hah!? Why are you still afraid of that thing? He is now completely under your control; you can seal his senses, burn him with your QI, mute him whenever you want. He may be lacking in power, but his knowledge should greatly assist you!”

When the dumbfounded Jack allowed the spectre to talk, what followed were all kinds of colourful insults, so vivid that even if Jack had to spend many years thinking of an insult, it still wouldn’t match the ones emerging right now from the Spectre.

Jack’s eyes turned gloomy as he retracted his hand and sealed the Spectre deep inside his conscious. From his reaction, it was evident that the Spectre was not going to see the light of the day again for a very long, long time…

The Creature was pretty much satisfied at this point.

Its body then shuddered and began expanding. After reaching the same height as Jack, it smirked as it locked its eyes on Jack.

“Enough chit chattering for now. I’ve lowered my cultivation to match the peak of the second Qi realm. Guard yourself!”

The Creature dashed towards Jack without any warning, as Jack tried to defend against the incoming tail attack. However, despite the difference in strength, not only didn’t Jack manage to hold his position, but he was the one that was sent flying backwards for several metres instead.

“Hey, wait!”

“Hah?! Wait? When your enemies attack you in the future, are they going to wait? Here comes another one Jack!”

Jack gritted his teeth as he fixed his feet firmly on the ground, then extended both his fists to meet the incoming tail. With great effort and utilising his QI to the maximum, Jack managed to fend it off this time. But before he even had the chance to catch his breath, another tail attack arrived from a completely different direction.

“Hahaha! This is what I call fun,” The Creature seemed happy as it gained familiarity with its body, while Jack was continually struggling to hold his position. However, unless he wanted to end up being beaten to a pulp, he had no other option but to keep defending himself from the never-ending attacks.

As the training battle ensued, the demonic beasts observed from a distance. After a couple of days, they seemed to have gotten used to these two training and gradually lost interest. As more days followed, the atmosphere of the realm had returned to its initial tranquillity.

And like this, the whole two month period had slowly passed in a blink of an eye…