"The possession technique was activated... did we end up inside this useless whale?" Bruno spoke dazedly.
"You idiot, but... our soul hasn't fully settled yet. There's still time!" Alm shouted.
"No! This bastard's spirit has already been wiped out. We won't kill another person unnecessarily!" Bruno retorted.
Alm ignored him and looked intensely at the patriarch, trying to get up. However, when he attempted to command his legs to move, a strange sensation came over him. He couldn't move his left leg... in fact, he had no control over the entire left half of that body... it was as if a single body had been perfectly split into two parts.
The patriarch, still in a fury, saw those widened eyes slowly rise toward him. His instincts momentarily stirred upon encountering those eyes as dark as the abyss; it was as if a sinister entity was observing him. Adrenaline still pulsed in his body, and after a brief moment of surprise facing that gaze, his anger flared even more.
*CRUNCH!*
The sound of breaking bones echoed through the main building of the clan. With an unrelenting kick from the patriarch, Alm and Bruno were sent flying several meters through the air, spitting blood and rolling like a fat ball until they slammed into a wall.
"If your father wasn't someone important, I would personally kill you now! You won't receive any clan resources for the next ten years; everything will be allocated to these girls as compensation!" the patriarch spoke, making an effort to calm himself.
Then he made a gesture, freeing the tied-up girls, and spat his final words before leaving. "This year, you turn eighteen and officially become an adult. Now you can't escape your responsibilities in the clan. Within a year, if you're not approved and don't join the sect, you'll be demoted to a clan laborer."
The door closed, and the round, red body struggled to stand. "You idiot, we've lost our last chance! Now we're trapped in here. We'll have to find a lucky opportunity to free ourselves."
"It won't be necessary, even though this body is... well below what we expected. It's still young; maybe it's even better not to wait until we grow up to be adults and cultivate properly. Let's get up and assess calmly first."
As both of them tried to get up, rocks were thrown by the clumsy body, which flailed among the debris. Its weight caused a comical imbalance, and with the two consciousnesses jointly controlling the body, the scene quickly became ridiculous. In a short time, they gave up and rolled on the ground until they reached a chair, which served as support to finally stand.
"How can there be someone so idiot to the point of getting so fat like this?" Alm asked.
"Hmm... He's only in the third stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, even though he's eighteen. We weren't sure if the big clans and sects of this planet would be able to perceive our souls, so we selected this tiny one instead. Still, it is a clan that controls a small territory. This fat's identity shouldn't be that useless, right? Maybe there's something in his memories." Bruno commented.
"I'm not going to waste time on the life of a pathetic whale." Alm retorted until the sound of knocks on the door was heard.
The door then opened slowly, and a small figure entered with a fearful look. "Sir... Mr. Denil... I came to help you."
The door opened cautiously, revealing a petite figure stepping into the room with a gaze full of fear. A girl of delicate stature, her face was round and soft, accentuating subtly slanting eyes. Despite her young age, there was no trace of childishness in her expression. She advanced with trembling steps towards them, dressed in garments denoting her lack of importance as a servant in the clan.
"This is Ruri, the only servant left from the former owner of this body. All the other maids... Well, you can imagine what he did. She's only ten years old, so there wasn't a big risk in temporarily serving him. Be quiet for a moment!" Bruno advised.
Ruri approached slowly. With small hands, she retrieved an ointment and applied it gently to the various wounds on the bulky body.
Although those at the Qi Gathering Realm stage possessed strength, speed, and senses superior to ordinary beings, that body was little better than an ordinary mortal in the early stages of cultivation. It bled from several points, and several bones were broken, but the pain was so insignificant to them that they didn't pay much attention. It was only after Ruri used the ointment and the wounds instantly closed that they realized the gravity of the situation. They had lost a lot of blood, and if not helped, they could even die without realizing it.
"Thank you, you can go now. No need to bring any meal for today," Bruno spoke calmly.
Ruri felt like she had heard it wrong. He always scolded her and ordered her to bring more and more food, as if he was never satisfied. She was sure that if all the clan's food were at his disposal, he would devour it without hesitation. Moreover, he never expressed gratitude for anything. She wondered if the patriarch's last beating had something to do with it. 'That must be it,' she innocently thought.
After she left, the two focused on meticulously analyzing the meridians and cultivation of the body but soon became disbelieving. "This is ridiculous... he's not even a pure human," Alm said, clearly infuriated.
"He possesses quite an intense beastly lineage. Those runes in his blood are... very primitive. In his memories, I could sense an insatiable hunger coming from him. But no matter how much he ate, it never diminished," Bruno commented.
"The cultivation of a human and that of a divine beast are quite different. He cultivated like a human, but these primitive runes sucked all the Qi from his meridians, and they still weren't satisfied. This bastard must have forced his cultivation even without sufficient Qi."
"All of his cultivation was compromised. Even with luck, he would never reach the Foundation Establishment Realm in his entire life. Trash, complete trash... And a strong and good body was right in front of us," Alm analyzed furiously.
"The patriarch wouldn't be compatible with us. It would take years for us to adapt. Well, we can just destroy everything and start cultivation from scratch. The good side is that he will be completely compatible with us, and then the body will synchronize perfectly with us as well. It's not so bad," Bruno tried to comfort.
A few minutes passed, and they finally managed to gather all the scarce Qi that existed in that compromised meridian. A few seconds later, they spit out an alarming amount of blood, almost fainting due to the loss.
All cultivation and Qi were completely destroyed. The few muscles that existed amid the extreme fat became limp and fragile. In just a moment, they became mere mortals.
After they managed to stabilize their bodies, night fell. Without hesitation, they closed their eyes in concentration to begin absorbing the natural Qi of the world again. They were going to rebuild a solid and perfect foundation for an unlimited future.
"How..."
"This celestial Qi... it's infinitely purer and denser than in our universe. And the laws... I can't quite comprehend them. We used to be able to surpass them before, but now everything seems mystical and much broader than in our world," Bruno commented.
"When we were able to sense other universes in the past, we realized that some celestial runes were different from ours. It didn't draw much attention at the time, as they seemed inferior. However, if there are inferiors, then there must be superiors."
"The queen achieved a level of assimilation capable of stealing the dao from other universes and incorporating it into her own, forcing her will into those Universes. She took everything best from other universes and brought it to hers. Our knowledge of another universe seems small in the face of all this here," Alm added.
"It seems the path will be much more arduous than before. Well, it doesn't matter. We now have a much clearer goal: she's here. We just have to kill her," Bruno concluded.
So, they focused and initiated the simplest method of Qi absorption, a breathing technique that should be common in all universes: "The Path of the Dragon."
But after a few minutes, they realized something was wrong.
"What the hell is happening?" Alm exclaimed, perplexed.
No matter how much they tried to draw the surrounding Qi into their bodies, it refused to settle in their meridians. As if a foreign consciousness was pulling the celestial runes back into the universe.
"This... the Heaven's Will controls the laws of the universe, or the celestial laws, if you prefer. Even though the queen has great influence, she shouldn't be able to control the laws like this. It has to be something else."
"We were brought into this universe by the so-called Heaven's Will, or so we believe, in its desperation to stop the queen. It wouldn't stop us from even cultivating, right? It should have given us something to fulfill our goal," Bruno analyzed.
"No, wait. This is the queen's main universe. Perhaps she truly does have some influence here," Alm realized a moment later. "Our original body wasn't strong enough to traverse. If the Heaven's Will split our souls for some reason... it must have left something."
Suddenly, having the same idea, both of them released the power of their souls in synchrony. Around the mortal's fat body, a pure white Yang aura intertwined with another sinister black Yin aura. A perfect resonance flowed up to the heavens as if the higher laws were bending together. Their eyes opened, and they felt their minds merging perfectly.
Each controlled one side of the body, which caused serious difficulties in moving. However, they decided to deal with that later. Now, both felt they could walk and behave perfectly as if they were finally one single soul, which greatly astonished them.
Still surprised, a voice echoed in their minds.
[Multiverse Salvation System Initiated]
"What?"
Quickly, a green-tinted window appeared in their vision, leaving them speechless.
[Do you want to check the missions?]
[Yes / No]