Warning: Proceed at your own caution, as it may contain some dark, sinister rituals! *Spooky*
....
"Haha" Kora Le Blank chuckled.
"Om ManiPadme Hum..." Kora recited as his lips curved up in a genuine smile...
"Manipadmi...I actually invoked a female deity named Manipadmi..." Kora shook his head amusedly.
"...Huh?" The female figure was confused.
"*Cough* I mean, Tara...What a wonderful surprise..." Kora's mind spun at top gear to recollect the events of recent days as he decided to tell Tara the truth,
"That Ralvuzeth is no more..." Kora spoke but held no emotions towards Ralvuzeth. He could now deduce who, that Ralvuzeth was working for.
"I know...she was supposed to brief me...tonight but didn't appear..." 'Tara' said in a sorry tone, she felt slightly guilty for pushing Alea to her death.
"...You have changed a lot...Vatsyayana or should I say, Kora Le Blank..."
"A name that only means empty...huh..." Kora said with a small smile as he recalled that 'Kora' meant 'Empty' in Hindi texts and 'Blank' which means 'Nothing'.
"A suitable name for a Zero..." Kora muttered in low voice. The coincidences made him chuckle slightly.
*Swoosh*
'Tara' unleashed her cultivation of High-Stage Elementary Profound Realm and put pressure on the village chief. The disparity in cultivation was towering, thus the pressure couldn't be resisted by the chief and he had to kneel on the ground.
'Tara' approached the now kneeling man on the ground and...
*Slice*
"I have grown to live up in this cultivation world..." She said as she prayed for the chief's soul to find peace by joining her hands in a prayer sign and reciting the peace mantra: "Om Shanti Om..."
As she turned around, her beautiful glimmering wintry blue eyes gazed upon the emerald-colored hair and jade-eyed handsome man. With Kora's increase in cultivation, his body, face, and physique have slowly started to morph to perfection. 'Tara's' silver hair flowed with the breeze as she looked deeply into Kora's jade eyes.
Although facial features were different from her memories, she knew who he was,
"The day you formed your dantian Kora Le Blank, I had a dream..." She displayed a small smile.
None of them find anything strange about their reincarnations and their memories intact. Even though 'Tara' died very young and didn't research the spiritual paths, 'Tara' knew about reincarnations mentioned in ancient texts along with Kora who only thought that if he could reincarnate, why can't others?
As soon as Kora's eyes met with 'Tara's' he could recognize who she was in this life as he added:
"A dream about Kora smashing Josephine of Moon Bee, Princess Scarlet O Conailli of Kingdom Glipike?" Kora exhibited a rakish grin as Scarlet's silver wings on her back fluttered in embarrassment with a tinge of red hue all over them!
Kingdom Glipike was the Kingdom Kora lived in. Glipike had 3 Grand Dukedom, 4 Dukedoms, and many Marquessates under. And 'Tara' was reborn as Scarlet O Conailli, a Princess of Glipike Kingdom. A Kingdom ruled by Nixie Race, a fairy-like being with wings on its back and could fly in the air even at the Elementary Profound Realm. Males had white wings while females had silver wings.
"A dream about all the positions in which Vatsyay-, no Kora fucked you crazy?" Kora's smirk widened as Scarlet couldn't refute while her face flushed red completely and her silver wings flapped even faster.
Kora took a step forward as he continued: "So you deduced the only person who could replicate those movements could be your Vatsyayana?"
"And sent a Ralvuzeth to spy on me..."
"And when Alea didn't return I came to check up on you..." Scarlet added with a slight smile.
"But you were not sure until you heard me reciting the mantras!" Kora concluded as he took another step forward to hug Scarlet in his embrace.
But-
Before he could take another step and appear right in front of the 36-year-old, Ace-talent, Scarlet, Another woman appeared with black eyes and black hair, A Ralvuzeth, and unleashed her cultivation of High-Stage Ace Tribulation Realm as she said in a cold neutral tone:
"Take a step forward Junior Marquess and your dead body will be delivered to your father along with a Royal Edict to surrender his head for the crime of his son defiling Third Princess Scarlet O Conailli."
Kora immediately suppressed his cultivation to Rank-1 Elementary Profound Realm as he could guess that the servant was looking from far away, didn't intrude upon Scarlet's privacy, and only interrupted when she sensed him moving towards Scarlet. He knew he can't afford to gain unnecessary attention, as a 'Zero'-level talent.
After True Profound Realm comes the Spirit Realm in which cultivators could form a Soul Armor. Unlike a Soul Weapon which could be formed as soon as one gets a Dantina upon turning 18, Armor has a prerequisite of reaching the Spirit Realm first.
After the Spirit Realm comes the Sky Realm, the Realm in which cultivators gain the ability to fly without the help of racial features like wings. And then comes the Ace Tribulation Realm.
The sky-high difference in power forced Kora to take a step back, As the Princess of Glipike Kingdom, she would have powerful servants around her, and Kora was not foolish to kill himself if he had nothing to gain. He was not a suicidal maniac!
Scarlet didn't know what to do, she ran away 4 days ago from the Royal Palace and came here but her maid refused to leave her side.
"Entris!" Scarlet yelled at Entris and grabbed her shoulder to stop putting pressure on Kora, but Entris didn't listen as she responded in the same neutral tone:
"Sorry Your Highness, my job is to protect you from evil spirits and this man is nothing but a rake, who only has debauched and wicked thoughts as he had indulged himself in many noblewomen and is the cause of many broken marriages in the Vrigaipis Marquessate."
"I didn't stop you from investigating him but if you get too close to him, I won't be able to keep your escape a secret, and I will have to reveal everything to my master, the Royal Ancestors," Entris warned without displaying any emotions.
Scarlet gritted her teeth as she had no idea how to deal with this matter, meanwhile, Kora nodded silently understanding Scarlet's condition.
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Kora acknowledged his powerlessness along with his low status of not only being a Junior Marquess compared to a Princess but also a Joker level Talent in contrast to the princess's Ace-level talent! The Chakra revolving in the air disappeared into light motes and entered Kora's dantian.
"Goodbyes are not forever, goodbyes aren't final, They simply mean I'll miss you until we meet again" Kora walked past Scarlet and Entris once the pressure was released towards the village and do what he came for.
"Wait!" Scarlet suddenly remembered something and spoke while tossing a 'Dao Spirit' to him. It looked like black colored marble. Scarlet could tell that Kora had suppressed his cultivation to Rank-1 because of Entris's presence but she knew he was at Rank-3 Elementary Profound Realm.
Kora caught the marble and analyzed it as Scarlet added:
"Once someone is about to breakthrough to rank-4 Elementary Profound Realm, they would require a Dao Spirit to integrate with..."
Kora could see that this Dao Spirit was special, one that a Marquess or even a Duke won't see in their lives...If they did, it would be pure luck, as it is extracted from powerful beast cores. Kora already had a Dao Spirit with him that his mother prepared for him in advance as he planned to break through to the Rank-4 today.
'You wear your honor like a suit of armor... You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move' Kora thought as he immediately accepted Scarlet's gift without any hesitation. Other men would puff their chests and deny with pride, but Kora has severed all the myriads of illusions that this world held.
Entris squinted her eyes a little, but it was not her job to interfere, even if the Princess throws her treasures in a slum or bury them underground, she had no right to impede.
Kora kneeled near the village chief and extracted his storage ring, and stepped towards the village while collecting the three guards' storage rings on his way.
...
Meanwhile, Athelisia's hands went under her robes after she inspected the Golden Chakra and made sure that the doors were closed and formations working...
"Aahhh~ Kora~~"
*Knock* *Knock*
Athelisia's body jerked as she immediately got up from the bed, panicking, dressed properly, and walked towards the door with slow steps, as she tried to maintain a prideful expression outwardly.
She opened the door and saw a human maid,
"What is it?" Athelisia sneered.
"A recruitment letter for direct enrollment in the King/Queen Class from the Azure Syndicate Academy."
It was quite common for the Academy to send recruitment letters to promising cultivators as they could be used for many missions plus if they could grow into powerful cultivators tomorrow, they could be integrated into various noble households once the doors of the Academy opens for the new disciples.
"Oh!" Athelisia took the letter and closed the door behind her to find her individuality in the cosmos.
....
Meanwhile, Kora was sitting on a chair with a boy by his side, as the boy's parents were standing some distance away in a village hut. It was a dimly candle-lit room and the eerie feeling that Kora's emotionless gaze exuded sent a chill down their spines. Kora was wearing a cloth on his face, that hid his emerald hair and the rest of the face except his jade eyes.
*Thud!*
A knife was pointed at the boy's neck as Kora took out two heavy ropes from his storage ring and tossed them near the mother and the father of the boy.
"The word Dharma is from Sanskrit and means to uphold or support. The duty towards progeny is one of the greatest Dharma of a Parent!"
"They are expected to work, for their welfare from the time of their conception until they renounce their worldly lives and take up renunciation like me, parents have an obligation to perform all the sacraments and sacrifices for their children." Each word that Kora spoke brought terrifying waves of chilliness to the parent's minds.
"Hang yourself and I will leave the boy, Make any stupid moves and I won't mind killing all of you!"
"Choose 'None' or the 'Boy'?" Kora's knife grazed the boy's skin as a few drops of blood trailed off the edge of the knife.
"You can't do this!!" The Father shouted in a gravelly voice.
"Please...Sob...Nooo!" The mother's heart seemed to have been broken, her mind shattered as she begged Kora to stop.
"I can do this and I will," Kora only unleashed his cultivation and forced them to kneel in front of the ropes. After all, after those guards and the village chief died, there wasn't anyone above rank-2 Elementary Profound Realm and with his strength, Kora could easily subdue the entire village of commoners.
"You have time to decide until the flame of that candle extinguishes! Choose wisely" Kora pointed towards a candle from the corner of his sinister eyes.
The current couple, in front of Kora, had the cultivation of Rank-1 Elementary Profound Realm. It was very hard to cultivate in this world without spirit stones and low cultivation talent. Kora was different, he had the support of his mother, who gave him spirit stones and even a 'Dao Spirit' in advance, even if he was a 'Zero', Furthermore, he had the gift of Kama Sutra!
Usually, only, cultivators did business in spirit stones, commoners with low talent had a separate economy that included gold, silver, and copper. But these currencies couldn't be traded with even a single spirit stone.
Villagers like these usually earned a small number of spirit stones if they traded beasts or beasts cores that could be found in the forests, but the risks are very high because, in order to fight those beasts, one needed strength, and to gain strength, one needed spirit stones. Thus a cycle from which these villagers can't escape to increase their strength is set in motion!
"Nooo!! Please!"
"Right right right, I get it. Don't waste my time. Your village chief, a Rank-4 Elementary Profound Realm is dead, 3 guards at Rank-3 are also dead. I hope you could learn from their mistakes if you want your child to live."
"What do you want? You can have all the wealth that we have!" The father had many questions. A nameless person knocks on their door, suppresses them with his cultivation, and demands them to hang themselves. What kind of lunacy is this?
The couple didn't dare approach Kora and their son, as Kora had his knife pointed at the boy's neck and, they also knew, they couldn't win against him in a fight.
"One thing! Either you two kill yourself to save the child or I will kill all three of you. I don't care about any other things, kind sir!" Kora knew they didn't have spirit stones as they didn't even have a storage ring. They were non-cultivators who just had a dantian that was naturally formed and stronger than anyone below the age of 18. He was not interested in their 'wealth'.
"H-How could you be so cruel? What did we do to you?" The father of the boy shouted in a strident voice.
"Cruel? I don't see any cruelty! Flesh and bones, that can walk and talk, are supposed to act like flesh and bones at the end of the day." He exhibited a small smile as he said in a matter-of-fact tone!
"What did you do to me? Nothing! All for my dreams of attaining nirvana, the highest state of enlightenment!" Kora raised his calm gaze in the air as his jade eyes illuminated with profoundness!
"Y-You are crazy!!" mother of the boy shrieked in horror as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Fuck you! Bastard!!" father of the boy also cursed Kora, but as he knew that his son's life was in Kora's hands he couldn't do anything except to glare malevolently at Kora with hate and fury.
"Time is ticking bitches!" Kora pointed towards the candle as an eerie glint flashed through his eyes.
"Lunatic!" Both of them shouted in unison.
"fuu..." Kora tried to blow the candle in response as the couple's face twisted in a horrible grimace.
"None or Boy?" His face, beneath the piece of cloth, had an eldritch glow as he asked in a flat tone.
"Tick Tock Tick Tock!" Kora started moving his arm holding the knife back and forth in the horizontal direction near the boy's neck as he pushed the couple to insanity.
"Choose! Choose! Choose!....!" He shook his head while trying to blow the candle as the flame flickered which caused the couple to wail in agony and pain. But the sounds didn't escape as he had already formed a thin sound barrier with his qi to block the sounds. Although cultivators could amplify their voice using their own qi and sound could penetrate the barrier, but for that to happen, the couple's cultivation should be higher than Kora's.
"fuuuuu....."
"AARRGGHH!!" The mother of the boy couldn't take it anymore and immediately picked up the rope with a loud shriek.
"W-What are you doing??" The father of the boy asked in a brittle voice. His face was horrible as he looked at Kora with disgust but Kora didn't care, he only moved his head towards the candle and...
"fuuuu...."
*flicker* The flame was about to die which cause the mother to hit the father of the boy in rage!
"None or Boy? None or Boy?" Kora repeated like a maniac, but inwardly he was calm, he was only trying to push them to make a decisive choice!
"fuuu..."
"Why should I trust you? The father of the boy yelled, "What is the guarantee that you wouldn't kill him as well?"
"I could kill him right now...but I ain't doing it as I want both of you to die and not the boy..." Kora retorted nonchalantly.
"Arghhhh!!" The father looked at his son's pitiful expression and he also made his choice,
He picked up an Ax from the corner of the hut and darted towards Kora.
"muttonhead!" Kora uttered.
*BZZZZ!*
A Golden Chakra formed from the motes of light that escaped Kora's dantian.
*BZZZ!*
The grating sounds of the Chakra could be heard as it dashed towards the father of the boy.
*BZZZZ!*
"AARGGGGHHHH!! His leg was sliced as the Chakra returned back to gyrate above Kora's head, making him look like a divine deity by his appearance, but a demon at heart!
"Nooo!!!" The mother of the boy cried even more as blood gushed out from the leg of the boy's father.
"TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!" Kora reminded them while trying to blow the candle amusedly, like a lunatic he was trying to imitate, to pressurize the couple further.
"Stopp!! We will do it! Stop!"
"ARGGHH" One wept tears of emotional torment while the other screamed in physical pain and psychological distress.
"AAhhh!" Kora broke a finger of the boy as the boy cried, which made the couple bellow in despair.
"TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!"
The mother of the boy helped the father to step on a stool as he hanged himself, while she followed soon after...
Sinister silence filled the hut and only the sobs of a young boy could be heard.
Kora stood up, left the hut, and entered another hut to do the same, as he prepared for the Dharma ceremony of the Parent's duty towards their progeny also known as 'Grihastha Dharma Ritual of Tantrism'! 'Grihastha' is a Sanskrit word that literally means home or family.
One by One, a long line of crying orphans could be heard in the village.
But- Kora didn't kill anyone, as their parents killed themselves only to perform their duty as their Parents.
A 'Grihastha' Sacrifice!