Ryan was back at his courtyard, he had sent Zahia away as he needed to assimilate with the Heathen's Way. His courtyard was completely quiet as he had chosen the one closest to the forest which was quite far from the centre of the family castle.
"Young master, Madame Grace has asked me to get you ready for the ceremony today. Should I prepare your bath now?" Ingrid was standing outside Ryan's room. She had been hired by his father as a personal maid for Ryan when she had returned with Ryan and Zahia 9 years back. According to Ryan, Ingrid had the best figure as she had C-cup size boobs and a perfect peach shaped ass. Ryan would order her to dress skimpily and even felt no shame or remorse grabbing around her body. Since Ingrid had a timid and submissive personality she would often follow Ryan's order to the last word.
"I will take a bath with you, but not right now. Although I can't wait to taste your body it will have to wait till the ceremony gets over. After that I will definitely have you serve me properly. For now, you go wait outside the courtyard and allow no one to disturb me. Remind me when its time for the awakening ceremony" Ryan spoke in a commanding voice, seemingly different than his playful demeanour.
"Yes, young master" Ingrid blushed a little, but wasn't surprised at Ryan's orders or speech. She was used to it since she took care of him for last 9 years.
Once back in his study room, Ryan called out in his soul sea, "Jiji, now what do I do and you better not pull another stunt like using force to control me".
"Do you even listen to what I say, how am I even capable of taking over your freakishly strong soul with my withering soul. sigh* I can't argue with you. Just take out the scroll from your soul sea."
"Umm.. How do I do that? Do I read a spell or call out Inventory?"
"You mindless block, just put your hand forward and think about the scroll. Seriously if anyone knew that a person of my strength was babysitting a kid, I will die from humiliation."
Ryan thinks about the scroll and it appears in his hand surprising him a little. He opens it but can't understand a single word of that ancient script. "Jiji, I can't understand a word even though I know almost all languages of this empire. How will I assimilate this?"
"Brat if this scroll was so easy to access, won't it be easy for anyone to learn the heathen's way. The script means nothing, its just a bunch of gibberish, nothing more than a veil to protect from the heaven's eyes and other unworthy people. The trick is to burn the scroll. Nobody in their right mind would ever think of burning such a precious looking scroll if they ever came across it." The heathen's soul continued; "Now I will warn you, assimilating with heathen's way will be very painful as it will restructure your dantian and profound energy veins. The pain is so intense that most inheritors lost their mind assimilating it. This is why there have only been a few successors of heathen's way. Don't worry I will kill you if you lose your mind."
"Wai- wait a minute. Why are you so casually talking about killing me?" Ryan calmly thought about the consequences. Since this is the only way he would be able to cultivate, it would appear that he had not choice but to go through it. "Jiji, I have been through harsh beatings everyday I can definitely handle this."
"Interesting. Let's see how tough you are after you start assimilating it."
Ryan burns the scroll; however, it didn't scatter into ashes. It formed into a thick crimson red drop of blood which just floated there. The drop of blood gave off an energy of its own and it increased the gravity in the room. Ryan was having a hard time standing straight. The walls of the room were reflecting brightness of the blood creating an eerie atmosphere.
The soul's voice resonated in Ryan's mind, "Don't worry, this energy field won't go out of this room. I have set up a barrier so nobody will interfere or know anything. Swallow that drop of blood and absorb it into your dantian and just wait for the pain"
'Making me swallow such a disgusting thing. If I come out of this in one piece I will definitely turn the piece of trash heavens upside down one day.' After raining curses in his mind, Ryan reluctantly swallows the drop of blood which strangely felt heavy. He sits down on the floor and directs the drop of blood to the dantain. As soon as it reaches there, the blood drop explodes and shatters his dantian.
Ryan bawls out in pain as blood starts leaking out of the side of his mouth. He starts flopping on the ground while continuously howling in pain. Ryan felt as if each body part was being torn. The energy starts swirling in that empty space, repeatedly contracting and expanding. This goes on for a few minutes after which the energy gradually takes the shape of a new larger dantian. When the dantian is complete, the energy stops and Ryan heaves a sigh of relief. 'Fuck that was really painful, good thing I didn't lose my mind. Phew, these few minutes felt like forever. However this much pain was within my control'
"Brat, it isn't over yet"
Suddenly the remaining energy from the blood travels up and forcefully drills the profound energy veins, creating void pockets in different parts of his body. Ryan gets dragged right back into the painful hell. As each additional void pocket gets created, the pain would amplify by 10 times. Ryan's voice got hoarse, but he still couldn't stop screaming. As he was enduring the pain he only had one muddled thought repeating in his mind, 'I don't want to be helpless ever again, so I have to get through this'. He gritted his teeth and kept on enduring the pain.
But as soon as the 8th void pocket is created Ryan passes out from the pain. "What determination, it's impressive that he could stay conscious till the Timeless void gate was formed. Most people pass out by the time the 4th void gate is formed." The soul moves towards Ryan's sprawling body and presses on the point between his eyebrows. "Sorry, but I can't allow you to pass out. Only when you feel the energy through the pain, will you be able to use it to cloak yourself from heaven."
Ryan wakes up again screaming just when the 9th void gate gets created right between the space of his eyebrows. His body starts shaking from the pain, and blood is leaking from his eyes and ears. Even the most inhumane torture would feel better than this. However even when going through such pain that most people would choose to die instead, he never once thinks that it would be better to die. He doesn't want to lose the precious life that he has been given again.
"Brat, now that all the gates have been created you have to gather the remaining bits of quintessential energy and gather it back into your dantian. It will be a big help during your tribulations." Ryan using what little willpower he has left, gathers the quintessential energy back into his dantian and passes out. "I wonder if this brat would be able to recover from the pain before the ceremony."