Lu Yao hadn't spoken much because of her tired state. Yet, she felt obliged to comment when she saw what Xue Mo was about to do. "You want to swear an oath?" Lu Yao's question made the two's attention focus on her.
"Yes, what about it?" Xue Mo arched his eyebrows in confusion. It wasn't like they hadn't discussed this before. Why was she asking this now?
"Can you leave us alone for a moment?" Knowing that Lu Yao was talking to him, Hesroth just nodded his head and left his hut.
After making sure that Hesroth wasn't spying on them, Lu Yao looked at Xue Mo as stupid and asked, "why?"
Her questioned contained several meanings that Xue Mo understood. She wanted why he wouldn't swear the oath? Why would he trust Hesroth? And, most importantly, why he didn't ask her to do the same? Xue Mo knew that she was asking out of care, so he patiently explained.
"I am doing this because I can do it. Hesroth, although he may not know it, he would never betray me, and the reason for that is the Divine Dragon bloodline in me. This bloodline would make anyone with dragon blood in them obey the Divine Dragon. This is also why other Dragons so revere Divine Dragons." Xue Mo looked and confirmed that Lu Yao understood what he said, so he continued, "you are different. However, although your bloodline contains dragon blood, it had mutated and made you special and immune to this."
"Furthermore, I am doing this so we can have someone inside the sect without having to swear the oath. This way, if anything happens, we can deal with it. I shall depend on you, Yao."
Understanding dawned on Lu Yao, so she just nodded her head. She was still too tired from giving all her energy to Infinite darkness and needed sleep. Xue Mo let Hesroth enter after talking with Lu Yao.
Hesroth didn't ask what they talked about as it wasn't his place. He just waited for Xue Mo to speak.
"So, as we were saying, I am going to swear the oath. How are you going to confirm it for the others, though?"
"Divine one, I can just record it using this media rune!" Hesroth said before getting a small pen from his pocket. The pen seemed to have runes carved on every part of it, and they were so intricate and precise. They were the work of a master.
"Divine one, this media rune, has several functions and among them is capturing images of someone and preserving them." Xue Mo was surprised but didn't care. Although this device was good to have, it couldn't do anything to increase his battle prowess,
After Hesroth took the media rune out, he gestured for Xue Mo to begin, and just like what Hesroth told him to do, Xue Mo spoke the oath. Once he was done, an illusory mark of chains materialized and entered Xue Mo's body. The oath was completed.
"Welcome to the Dark Arts sect, Divine one!" Hesroth welcomed with a happy smile while putting the media rune away.
Xue Mo didn't ask Hesroth about Lu Yao taking the oath, and Hesroth didn't open that subject. He didn't want to offend the Divine one. Also, Hesroth was sure that the sect master wouldn't mind this once he told him that a Divine Dragon had joined and that Divine Dragon would interest the sect master after he checks him out. Hesroth was sure of it!
Xue Mo didn't dally. He picked Lu Yao up and asked, "where will we stay?"
"As I told Dominic, the Divine one will stay here with me."
After he said that, Hesroth went further into the hut, and just like what Dominic and Hiari did when they let him enter other territories, Hesroth moved some things, and a mechanism was heard.
'These guys love their locks,' Lu Yao thought as she gazed at the walls opening again.
They met with a huge wall opening. Unlike when they entered through Dominic's office secret door, a small building appeared in front of them. It looked like the Qi and Mana Pagoda but seemed grander.
Hesroth led the way, and soon they entered the tower. However, unexpectedly, the tower wasn't another Pagoda. It was a storage device. As soon as Xue Mo and Lu Yao saw the inscriptions of both Arrays and Magic Formations, they knew that this place was special.
The inside seemed to be a house with an upper and ground floor. There were six rooms that Hesroth happily introduced. "The two rooms up are bedrooms, while the four rooms down are for cultivation purposes. Three of them have Qi gathering Arrays and Mana gathering Magic Formations. In contrast, the last one is a simulation room. You can use it when you breakthrough to Foundation Establishment."
Xue Mo learned that the Foundation Establishment was the equivalent to his Foundation Opening realm. But he didn't know what it does, so using Hesroth as an encyclopedia, Xue Mo asked, "can you explain what happens in Foundation Establishment?"
Hesroth knew that Xue Mo read all the books in the Assassination Academy and didn't contain all the info he wanted. Seeing a good opportunity to butter Xue Mo up, Hesroth asked, "Divine one do you want me to explain it directly or read the books yourself?"
Xue Mo pondered this question but decided to do both. Telling Hesroth his answer, the latter started without delay.
"As you know, in the Qi Sensing realm, the cultivator absorbs Qi into his body to let it get used to it while Qi Condensation is the stage where the cultivator absorbs the energy into his dantian and start storing it. This is a grueling and long process; it could take months or years. It depends on the cultivator's latent talent." Hesroth saw that both Xue Mo and the sleepy Lu Yao were following him, so he continued.
"In Foundation Establishment, however, the cultivator runs the Qi that he had accumulated through his body's meridians and let it cycle through it. With every cycle, the energy would congregate and turn into Qi pillars. The amount of Qi pillars someone has and their purity defines how strong someone's Qi will be. This is also why it's called Foundation Establishment." Hesroth's face turned serious after he said that.
"However, there is another way to achieve this, and that is by refining someone's foundation. This is a dangerous way, and it could lead to the death of its user. Its drawbacks are just as bad. As not only might you get killed, your foundation would be shaky. The only ones who would use it are people with no other choice."
"Yet, if done correctly, this method would ensure you an unshakable foundation, but there is still another drawback, which is losing some of your talents!" Hesroth watched as Xue Mo analyzed what he said and waited.
'This is completely different than my world's Foundation Opening!' Xue Mo thought in amazement. He felt that although these two-cultivation power-systems were different, there might still be some similarities later, yet from what Hesroth said, there wasn't.
Xue Mo was done questioning. He just dismissed Hesroth and told him to prepare all the books that he had as he entered one of the cultivation rooms with Lu Yao.
As soon as he sat down on the mattress to relax, he thought. 'Isn't this too easy?'