After a long while, Shiro finally managed to calm down before narrating his story to Yato. He told Yato about how he was betrayed and then reincarnated into the mortal plane with the scroll of reincarnation, he also told him how he lost his ability to cultivate energy and how he was forced into body cultivation to survive in the forest and also how he learnt the skill martial awareness in order for him to be able to see, he also didn't forget to tell Yato about his fight with the old man and how he was able to use sword Ki even as a martial artist.
However, what shocked Yato the most wasn't the fact that Shiro could use sword Ki as a martial artist, it was the fact that such disputes was going on in the higher planes.
'Gods scheming against other gods even going to the extent of forcing one of the founding gods to reincarnate, what the hell are the higher ups even doing? And here I am, leading a slow life as a village head whereas the instability among the gods grow, damn it!'
The more Yato thought about it, the more disappointed at himself he felt, but looking back to see his loving wife and daughter Eris, Yato couldn't bring himself to regret the choices he had made, this was what he loved and this was what he wanted to protect.
Yato felt more at ease as he spoke to Shiro
"Time flows differently the higher you go, the plane we are in now is called the mortal plane, the next is called spirit plane."
He then bent down and began drawing diagrams on the ground as he explained.
"The time difference between here and the spirit plane is 1:10, meaning that a year over there is about ten years over here, you still have a lot of time to strengthening yourself in the mortal plane, but due to my family, I won't be able to accompany you on your journey and we can only meet when you are ready to leave to the spirit plane, is that okay?"
Although it took a while, but due to his superior intellect, Shiro was able to lay out a suitable plan of action in his head. His primary goal now was strength, he needed to get stronger so he could ascend to the spirit plane, he wanted to get to the bottom of this, why were the gods killing other gods and why didn't the higher-ups intervene?
Shiro was hungry for answers as he nodded his head to answer Yato.
"Good, although I wouldn't be able to accompany you, I will still send someone in my place, my student, overall, he is even more talented than me and he has the tenacity to get stronger, however... his race is a little tricky to deal with"
Shiro was a little bit concerned about Yato's last statement
"Tricky? Every race is okay with me as long as it is not a lost seeker...!"
"..."
Most cultivators wouldn't even be able to say the name 'lost seeker', the lost seekers were a race that had already gone extinct and had already been eradicated from the face of the seven planes, however, the destruction caused by this race was something even the gods could not erase. The lost seekers originated from the underworld, the plane that was directly under the mortal plane, the power each lost seeker possessed was more than enough to destroy an entire plane, however they were incomparably small in numbers which made the higher ups not to notice their presence.
But by the time they did, it was already too late, weapons of mass destruction that was what they were, the amount of power each possessed made the term 'cultivation' seem useless. Most of the founding gods sacrificed themselves just to cripple their birth in the underworld, while the other gods struggled to cleanse the seven realms of their presence.
They were victorious in the end, but the damage caused by the lost seekers as well as the deaths of a lot of founding gods made the seven planes unstable.
The death of a founding god was akin to uprooting the law of that god from the seven planes, so it might not be evident yet, but Shiro's reincarnation had made comprehension of laws and techniques a whole lot harder than it was, and as time passed, it was bound to get even worse.
Shiro wasn't afraid of saying the name 'Lost seekers' what actually scared him was the fact that Yato stopped responding afterwards.
It can't be right? He didn't actually train a lost seeker right? It is all a joke right?
Many questions flashed passed through Shiro's mind as he stared at Yato in complete disbelief. The hairs on his back stood as he increased the range of his martial awareness, he couldn't risk anything when it came to lost seekers.
As one of the founding gods himself, Shiro knew more than anyone just how dangerous a race the lost seekers were.
Although he hadn't encountered one before, the fact that his late master had fallen to one of them was a testament to their strengths. The lost seekers were dangerous and Shiro wasn't ready to face one yet.
"No point in getting your guard up, he isn't even around, plus he isn't at a level where he could actually cause that much damage and besides you know better than anyone just how useless it is to sense one".
Yato said after seeing Shiro's reaction
One of the reasons why the lost seekers were able to grow both in number and in strength was the fact that even the gods' sense couldn't locate them, every search method tried against them proved to be useless, they were practically invincible.
"Okay, enough about that for now, overthinking isn't going to get us anywhere, you mentioned something about being able to use sword Ki even though you are a body cultivator, right?"
"Yes?"
"Well that's probably because of your core, it still hasn't formed yet so you are using the Ki present in the air to power up your attacks
"Then how does that explain being able to use sword Ki?" Shiro asked after getting the gist of things
"Well, you were fighting a sword master and no matter how you look at it sword Ki, it just for swords, meaning sword fighting is a form of martial arts and since the sword master was dishing out attacks with sword Ki, that type of energy was just more dominant in the area allowing you to use it".
Yato's explanation filled in a lot of blank spaces in Shiro's mind, his eyes opened wide, his mind working fast as he instantly figured out a way to make dual cultivation possible.
While energy cultivation required one to link their dantian to the meridians, body and sword cultivation needed the dantian to be linked with the core, Meaning that, by forming two smaller cores instead of one big core and filling one with normal Ki and the other with sword Ki, a cultivator should be able to practice both cultivations at once.
It was just a theory, however, the limitless possibilities that came with this theory made it impossible for Shiro to give up on it.
"How are cores formed?"
Shiro asked with more enthusiasm to his dull tone.