Pov Illios:
For preparation, I spread a blanket on the floor and set about marking a circle with higher level spirit stones.
When I finished, I saw that both Lila and Mery were waiting quietly behind me.
"Okay, we are ready. Now, Lila, I need you to follow my instructions completely and not get impatient about what you might feel. Remember I have everything under control," I told her with a serious expression.
"I understand, my prince." On the other hand, I could see that Lila was more embarrassed than nervous, as her face was completely red.
Not surprisingly, this was due to the procedure being performed in a hospital patient gown, in which most of her back and part of her hip was visible.
Thanks to the intense battle I had yesterday with Mery, I was able to control my instincts and not show a reaction to this sight. But it is better to start right away to avoid unnecessary thoughts that could affect this delicate process.
"Lila, sit in that circle, close your eyes and do what I say," I told her and continued.
"Remember, whatever happens, everything will be fine. You just have to follow my instructions."
I said this because a stable state of mind is necessary to avoid any side effects due to the fact that we specifically handle the dark element. If she doesn't concentrate, maybe she could go crazy or something similar.
After saying this, Lila nodded and, without further words, sat in the circle I made surrounded by spiritual stones.
The moment I saw Lila seated and ready, I prepared myself.
What I had to do before starting this process is to overload my body with Phoenix Qi. This way, the aura that comes out when I release the drops of dark Phoenix blood essence will not affect me, and in turn I will be able to partially control it with the first exercise of the Ode of the Imperial Phoenix.
After that, the procedure is as follows:
Guide the drops to Lila's dantian, and after settling them for a few moments, with the help of the spiritual energy of the upper stones I accommodated earlier, move the first drop all over Lila's body and try to activate her Primal Darkness Body.
After her body is activated due to the dark attribute contained in the blood essence, Lila should be able to absorb it more efficiently and finish the most difficult part of the procedure.
That is the way Mery and I came up with with the help of the information provided by the system.
Back to me.
Phoenix Qi supercharging is done when you put a lot of spiritual energy into the bloodline and move constantly with the Phoenix aura of the Imperial Ode. This process is almost instinctive, so it is not very difficult.
The curious thing about this process is my obvious change in appearance, which turns my eyes a fiery red, and my hair also changes to that same shade, with a peculiar flame effect on the ends.
"I must admit, I look pretty intimidating like this," I thought the first time I tried to do this.
Thanks to my bloodline having the royal or Phoenix royalty rarity, I can control some unwanted effects quite well, such as accidentally expelling flames from my body and burning my clothes.
"Okay, here we go," I said as I placed both hands on Lila's bare shoulder blades.
I checked one last time if everything was okay in Lila's body and seeing that there was nothing strange that could cause inconvenience, I carefully pulled out, with spiritual energy, a drop of blood essence that was in the vial.
When I removed the drop, I could immediately feel her powerful, dark aura contained in that line of blood.
I momentarily removed my hands from Lila's back and concentrated on the drop, trying to steady her, but life is not always that easy.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Small bursts of black flames could be seen as I tried to use the Phoenix aura to control her.
This is also the reason why I chose Fire Phoenix instead of Ice, as apparently Dark Phoenix is descended from the line that handles fire and it is easier to control dark fire with Fire Phoenix Qi.
Lila's back trembled a little, but after the explosions seemed to stop, she calmed down.
"Okay, pay attention, Lila, let's get started," I said and waited for her reaction first.
When she nodded, I began.
With both hands and consuming the spiritual energy of the previously installed stones, I gently pushed the drop toward Lila's back.
The drop entered Lila's body smoothly with the help of the spiritual energy.
Now the next thing was to move the drop to the dantian as quickly as possible to avoid problems.
Gently, but steadily, I moved the drop to her lower dantian, settling it there.
Up to this point, there was no reaction from Lila. This was because I was restraining the drop with spiritual energy as I moved the drop to her dantian.
But now was the decisive moment when I would gradually release the restriction to the drop.
As I released the drop, Lila's body began to react by releasing a dark aura, but it was not powerful enough to bother me, so I continued.
I also felt Lila's heart racing, so I immediately checked the status of her internal organs with some spiritual energy, but found nothing unusual or noteworthy, so I turned my attention to her dantian.
In Lila's dantian, the gout was shaking frantically and bombarding it with a lot of energy, as if it was trying to explode. Fortunately, that energy was only feeding Lila's mortal dantian, which was already slowly making changes in her body, preparing to receive spiritual energy and officially reach the realm of the Celestial Initiate.
---
Time passed, and it was approximately 16:00 hours.
As Lila's body slowly became accustomed to the drop, I slowly loosened her suppression until it reached the point where it was no longer needed. However, I knew this was just the beginning and my thoughts were confirmed when.....
FUSHHHH!
Lila's body, which was already calm, suddenly began to expel dark energy wildly, which surprised me a bit because of the abruptness of the change.
And I immediately focused on helping Lila in case something happened.
"Lila, this point is important, calm down and concentrate on flowing the energy like I did a few moments ago," I said as I tried to guide her.
Although she did not respond, I could see the energy calming down a bit. During this time-lapse, I could identify two types of dark energy in her body that were slowly merging.
The first was familiar because it came from the dark Phoenix Qi that the essence drop had expelled into Lila's dantian.
The second was dangerous because it was pure dark energy from the immortal world. This energy could not be controlled with any shortcuts, as it had been with the previous one, so I had to take precautions and prepare to defend my body in case a certain part of my being was not activated.
Wondering where the second type of dark energy comes from? Well, this one comes from the Primordial Darkness Body, which was apparently in the process of activation. This was a good sign, as it meant we were succeeding.
With my hands on Lila's back, I set about guiding her steadily, but there came a point during the energy fusion process when my control of the energy was weakening. This was because the Phoenix Qi in Lila's body was waning, and it was the energy with which I was able to help her before.
The reason for this is the same fusion of energies, which were giving birth to a new type of hybrid energy that I could not control. This meant that my help would at some point cease to serve, and it was Lila's turn to fend for herself.
FUSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
There was another round of energy expulsion coming from Lila, which this time did threaten my body, as the following notification appeared:
[ Star Demon has detected an elemental aura that threatens his integrity ]
[ Star Demon uses cosmic energy to protect itself from the aura ]
[ Remaining time of cosmic energy: 3 days, 14 hours.]
When I saw this, I understood that it was time for Lila to complete this evolution alone, so I took advantage and gave her words of encouragement.
"Lila, don't give up and become the woman who will never lose anything in her life again," I told her and quickly retreated to a safe perimeter where Mery was.
The dark energy surrounding Lila's body seemed to detect that there was no longer any influence from me and took the opportunity to form a cocoon almost my height around her.
---
Another hour passed, and it was already 17:00 hours.
Suddenly, I exclaimed, "oh shit…" as I felt the dark energy lose power and dissipate. This was bad, as I did not feel that the process was over. I moved closer and saw that there were no more spiritual stones around.
You should know that I had put a lot of stones there, enough to fill a small van to the brim, but it seemed that the Primordial Darkness Body needed more energy.
Quickly, I ejected a bunch of stones I had in my inventory, and her body, detecting them, started sucking them up like a vacuum cleaner.
"Fuck, how this thing swallows," I said as I steadily expelled spirit stones from my inventory. The sum of these already exceeded three million.
This went on for about ten minutes before it stopped sucking up the spirit stones. Once satisfied, the atmosphere calmed down and only a dark cocoon remained in which, if you focused your senses, you could detect very important changes in Lila's existence.
An example of this is that she was already one step away from reaching the Celestial Initiate realm and with that, beginning her path in immortal cultivation.