As Hana ran forward with all her might, she held up both of her hands high, as if to catch the faraway 'star' with her hands. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, but the star didn't look that far anymore. What was so bizarre was her steps. It was slowly ascending in elevation, as if she was climbing stairs in midair. Hana didn't even realize her own unusual movement, as she continuously focusing on the pulsating red star with extreme concentration.
After she had ran for a really really long time, she finally reached the glaring red star, where she saw the familiar shadowy figure of her beloved little snake swimming inside in the midst of all the light. To her delight, the little red snake had sprouted cute maroon-colored wings. Towards the end of Kuro's breakthrough, Hana hadn't had the opportunity to observe him as she was busy cleaning up the cave in anticipation for welcoming Ara's guardians. Hence, she wasn't aware of Kuro's new feature. She immediately reached out happily and hugged the star with all she got while closing her eyes from the intense glare. In her embrace, the red star slowly fused inside of her and disappeared. Hana was floating in midair as she now emitted a red hue.
Simultaneously, both Hana and Kuro's consciousness succumbed into an ethereal state.
[Mommy, I have been waiting for a long time.] Hana saw him as a gigantic shadowy black snake with red wings. He was like an apparition. His current ruby red eyes were as large as her own body. She looked at her own body and was surprised to see herself in a faint shadowy form too.
[Geee..sorry, I was strolling before. It is still a weird dream. Are we in a dream? I still need to prepare to welcome our guests you know.] Hana easily diverted from the main topic.
[Mommy, remember, you had eaten the skewer. You're now in extreme danger and may die. Please let me help you tide through this.] Kuro pleaded Hana to stop her from talking nonsense as it was a time-sensitive matter at the moment. Hana realized the large scarlet red eyes were glistening with water. Her pet was crying. From how serious Kuro was right now, she could infer that she was in serious trouble.
[What should I do?] Hana slapped her face and answered seriously.
[Follow my lead, follow my chants, and let me merge with your soul. I will guide you along the way as long as you let me.]
Hana blinked back helpless tears. [How? I can't really follow what you mean, Ku-chan.] Hana was nearly crying with the Xianxia-ish abstruse words by her own pet. What chant? What soul? She didn't know anything at all.
[Relax, relax. Ease into it with an open heart. Just concentrate and Mommy could hear it soon.] Kuro soothed Hana gently, like trying to coax a little child.
Due to her immense trust in Kuro, she quickly eased herself and try to relax. Slowly, she could hear a very faint whispery sounds being repeated and unknowingly fallen into a trance. Strangely, she did not realize that she did not hear the profound chants from her ears but from the inner depth of her body.
Little that she knew that they were the abstruse chants which was always lingering in Kuro's mind. Only after his recent breakthrough he came to understand what the chant was for. It was the opening chant to cultivate the soul of a lightning serpent. The Lightning Emperor's Divinity Soul.
....
[Ahh.. I see..]
Awed with what he saw, Kuro gasped in realization once he finally saw Hana's soul with his own eyes. Only when Hana had synced completely with his soul, was he able to enter Hana's Soul-hall domain with his true astral body.
He quickly pushed away all distracting thoughts and focused on the most immediate task at hand. He needed to modify Hana's soul to bear a semblance to a Lightning Serpent's soul. Only when Hana's soul bore the runes inherent to a Lightning Serpent could he performed the soul-cultivation method in her stead through establishing a Soul-link. The overwhelming energy will then be expended to nourish her soul while the threat to her life would be lifted gradually with the diminishing energy. However, he was currently out of time, as his mistress' bodily functions were collapsing rapidly, approaching a threshold where it would be beyond repair.
Kuro continued to chant in the aged-old language he could barely understand while lashing his psyche to carve profound incomprehensible runes directly on Hana's shining soul in a bid to draw the same natural runes he had within his own soul one at a time. It was his first time doing such a thing. He was extremely careful, as the soul of his mistress was so tiny, and as fragile as glass. She was just too weak. Nevertheless, he was an expert in soul-related techniques, and could only proceed with caution.
He himself wasn't sure whether he could succeed or not.
The Lightning Emperor's Divinity Soul cultivation method he unearthed from his bloodline was one of a kind and was meant for lightning serpents only. Although it was present in all lightning serpents with pure bloodline, what was strange was, he had never come across anyone being successful in cultivating it to the end in his previous clan grounds. Due to that, not much information could be gleaned on what to expect when the full mastery was achieved.
Since lightning serpents were already naturally endowed with a very strong soul power, in time, the unique cultivation method was phased out as the majority felt that there was no need for it. It was then replaced with other more advance spirit and body cultivation methods others unlocked through their cultivation journey. The soul cultivation was plainly slow and the benefits would be less apparent than the other types of cultivation. However, it was less physically and spiritually demanding and only required one to repeat the chant in concentration while focusing the resulting energy into one's own soul.
He had gone through all the techniques he had and felt that the body and spirit cultivation techniques he had were unsuitable for Hana since she wasn't inherently blessed with a lightning serpent's physique. He can only take his chance with the new soul cultivation technique he just obtained during his recent moment of enlightenment. As long as all the energy could be digested, Hana would be safe.
Although Hana's soul was weak, it was the most beautiful he had ever seen. It was glowing beautifully lighting the mundane and murky colors of other spiritual beasts' souls. As a lightning serpent who excelled in soul power and psyche attacks, he had faintly felt it from day one.
As the final rune was carved in Hana's soul, Kuro braced himself.
[Please ignite, please!]
Finally, the runes on Hana's soul flickered slightly before they shone bright.
Kuro felt relieved. He quickly followed through with the remaining verses of the chant with caution to observe the effect. It was slow, but he could see the newly rune-covered shining soul was finally responding to the effect of the chants. Once a cycle was completed, a tiny amount of spiritual energy was successfully absorbed by Hana's soul! He was finally able to make his mistress cultivate the soul cultivation method. It was an unprecedented feat!
No other species were given the privilege to learn the profound cultivation methods of other spiritual beasts, especially one from an Ancient bloodline such as the Lightning Serpents. All bloodline inherited cultivation methods were strictly guarded by their respective spirit beast clans besides the concerns on suitability to other beasts. His mistress was the first. He knew he would die as a traitor if his clan knew about this.
He observed Hana's soul lovingly as how a filial son would to his mother. Hana's love for him was so immense, he couldn't bear to part with her anymore. Should she succumbed to death's door, he would gladly follow with an open heart. After all, he was the precursor of all this. He immediately controlled Hana's soul as gentle as he could to start absorbing the accumulated rampaging energy in the hopes that Hana's bodily function won't fail from the over exertion. The runes on his own soul brightened; they were the mirror image of the runes artificially carved on his mistress' weak soul.
...
Inside Hana's body, her soul was strengthened progressively. Day after day passed by. The energy inside her body reduced bit by bit as her hardworking pet snake helped her soul to digest the energy at a snail's pace.
This was because he was using Hana's entry-level soul to digest an immense amount of energy. It was like asking a six month old baby who was just introduced with solid food to finish up two pounds of barbecue lamb shoulders. It was an impossible feat! Unless, the mother helped the baby by pureeing the food, diluting it a couple of times before mixing it up with milk (1). That was what Kuro did at the moment. He had patiently directed Hana's soul to absorb the energy while encouraging the excess ones to be expelled out of her body. He then recycled the energy again before they could exit her body and restarted the absorption process. Kuro was unwilling to waste even a single bit.
Opportunity do come hand in hand with calamity. This was equally a chance for his mistress to strengthen her soul to an unprecedented level! Once she did, she will be able to use a small fraction of his ability! It could increase her chance of survival even when he was not by her side!
From outside, Hana's increasingly long hair inside the water bubble had blocked the vision of others. Nonetheless, most of them could still sense her beating heart, hence they were not bothered with it.
Elder Watershade had left the cave dwelling on the second day, leaving Lord Tittua alone to assist Hana. There were too many things to be done besides the regular administration works. The search party for Ara had been called off a few hours later.
Lord Tittua had been carefully observing Hana's condition in a tensed state everyday ever since. A small mistake, then he will also kill his own descendant. At that time, it was too late for regret. Only when Hana's internal healing process started on its own a couple of days later, he had cheered in his heart. Gradually, his hold over Hana's injuries were lifted.
On the seventh day, Hana had finally opened her eyes.
...
Author's Note:
(1) ... mixing it up with milk = please take note, for first timers with their first baby, when introducing your baby with solid food during the 6th month NO MEAT should be given okay. Start with (very watery) pureed banana or avocados. Meat are usually introduced around 10 months to 1 year, and the most friendly kind of meat for a first timer is fish, followed by chicken. Never give seafood or eggs until after 1 year. (yes, this is a disclaimer from mr and mrs mooncat haha)