In a classroom full of rowdy students, the door opened, and a young man with green eyes and black hair entered. He looked similar to a mixed blood but many of his facial qualities reflected that of the noble purebloods.
Wearing a green robe with willow branch designs, Cain walked up to his podium with a board behind him.
He was internally sighing, 'I still didn't know what I'm going to teach...I should do something easy...'
With a piece of chalk, he skillfully wrote his name on the board before facing the class.
"Okay class, you should already know who I am, news travels fast. All you need to know is I'm here to cultivate and cultivate only. Ask me any questions you have and I will answer, otherwise, I won't be teaching you anything and we can all just silently wait until class is over."
Cain said his peace and stopped speaking. Whispers filled the room, most of them with hints of annoyance and anger.
These students were in other classes but their teachers were killed by Cain. They could only switch to the other classes not filled yet, the students in Cain's class were those who couldn't get into the other classes due to them getting filled.
He killed their teachers and then became one, and now he refuses to teach them anything besides answering their questions.
No one thought this was how this was going to play out, in truth, the students were excited about having a Growth Stage Cultivator as a teacher, forgetting the deaths of the others. A pity Cain had no plans to teach.
Even still, one student raised his hand, Cain nodded and he spoke up, "Teacher, I have a question related to harnessing. What will happen if I go against my technique and harness a soul not compatible with my refined body part? Is there a way to get around this?"
Slowly blinking, Cain clicked his tongue and turned back to the board, he picked up a piece of chalk and started to write and draw.
He began to lecture, "Cultivating is by absorbing Spiritual Qi, but then we stop cultivating the qi within us to harness being beyond sense and use them to cultivate instead. This process has many effects on us, for one, we have to make our bodies acceptable to these creatures. However, it is worth it, not only do we gain their strength and have access to their innate abilities as we increase our cultivation. They also purify and harden our Dantians for us so we no longer need to cultivate rigorously.
"I like to think this is due to a kind of pressure these supernatural beings give off, helping out Dantian's condense our Spiritual Qi. But that wasn't your question, what you asked is what if you put a soul in the wrong cage. In this case, the cage will either be too small or too big, too weak or too strong. What I mean is you can't bring out the creature's full power.
"Using myself as an example, I have a broad technique but it doesn't allow me to use the full power of the souls I've harnessed. In more extreme cases where things don't work out, the area of the soul harnessed can die or explode. I've even seen records of the Dantian collapsing due to poor regulation of qi to the seals containing the soul. As of now, the only way to fix this issue is to do what I do, have a broader technique at the cost of weaker power.
"To have both contradicting souls and cages is impossible, you must go in line with the way of the heavens and appease them by following the rules. That is the best advice I can give."
Flicking the chalk, a scene of beasts and seals was drawn on the blackboard. Next to them were notes and quotes from the many books Cain had read in his time here. They all backed up the fact that conflicting cultivation was not the way, it was only the path towards self-destruction.
Unexpectedly, the students took notes the whole time. Afterward, even more hands were raised and students asked questions pertaining to cultivation. Cain used his wide spring of knowledge to answer every question flawlessly.
By the time class ended, no one doubted in their mind Cain was an excellent teacher, a complete one-eighty from the start of class.
...
A few days passed, and seeing the result of the new teacher and his way of teaching. The Headmaster became quite the joyful man.
On this day he called Cain to his office in hopes of getting help with something. His sister couldn't help him much but Cain already proved he knew a lot, perhaps he could get the help he needed.
"You asked to see me, Headmaster?" Cain peered through the door.
Sitting behind his desk, the Headmaster smiled kindly at Cain.
"Yes I did, please take a seat, and call me Ren He."
Taking a seat, Cain got straight to the point, "Why did you ask for me?"
Ren He's smile became warmer as he explained his situation, "I have a problem, one me and my sister aren't knowledgeable enough for. I was hoping you could help."
He stood up and brought Cain into the basement, while they were there, he opened a secret contraption that led deeper underground.
Ren He lit a torch and they descended the stairs. During this period Ren He went into specifics.
"A few years ago, I began feeling fluctuations from my office coming from below the earth. I had this path dug, at the end of it is an ancient array. I don't know how old it is but it predates all the major countries and sects, except the Immortal Sect of course. Everyone knows that sect has a longer history than the 7 Provinces itself."
A few moments later he exclaimed, "Ah, we're here. Take a look, I don't know what it does but it could be a great treasure!"
Before them was a small dug-out room with ancient broken pillars. Between the pillars was an array carved into a black ink-like stone. Cain made his observations, rubbing his hand against the material and studying the symbols.
Cain wasn't a master in arrays but his head held a wellspring of knowledge, if it wasn't for his condition he could find the corresponding information in an instant.
Unfortunately, he had to study the symbols deeply and slowly try and awaken any memories related to them. He got lucky and remembered an old book in the Royal Palace's library, it was written by a previous Emperor who liked to explore and was hardly ever leading his country, but he was a Peak Enlightenment Stage powerhouse with a Zenith Innate Spell, he was the leader of his era no doubt.
In his journal he described an ancient way of getting around, it was how ancient immortals traveled to different worlds and lower realms, but for some reason, they all stopped working at some point and now could only be used to enter the void.
The void was a place that exists between all realms and dimensions. It was a cold space that held within it horrors and treasures of equal value to those mysterious monsters.
One could find anything in that place if they looked long enough.
Cain stood up and locked eyes with Ren He. "I figured out what Array this is. But it's more dangerous than worthwhile, it only leads to the void. However, this one has some changes to the commonly seen array I know. I don't fully understand yet."
Ren He's eyes lit up, "No matter, as long as you activate it I can show my sister and she will grant a reward!"
"Whatever you say." Cain shrugged and took out a Spiritual Stone, as a teacher he's given a few hundred every week for cultivation and monetary use, but he doesn't need them to cultivate due to his need for heavenly energy.
Putting the stone in a slot in the ground, Cain frowned, he needed to use more. There were over 137 slots, and it took around ten minutes to fill them all, when he finally did, the whole array lit up, and a crack opened in space. Cold energy wafted through the crack as an empty abyss stood on the other side.
Cain expected this but what he didn't expect was for a strong tether of Spiritual Qi to wrap around him and Ren He before they were pulled into the void.