Later, Tian Mo arrived back in the courtyard, he sank down onto a nearby stone bench, checking out the book, he needed to verify. Was this really worth the trouble?
"This plain-looking book... it keeps me doubting whether it even contains a technique." he muttered
As he flicked open the first page, scanning the page for anything, what he saw was nothing, he breath sped up, he was about roar, something flew out the page, before he could react it entered his body.
Tian Mo eye snapped open, he was suprised to find himself amidst a boundless void, suspended on a fractured obsidian platform that floats in an ocean of shadows, it's void streaches wide where there darkness, broken only by faint, pulsing stars bleeding red and violet light. The air is heavy, not with weight but with the suffocating presence of unseen eyes, watching from every corner of the abyss.
He started shivering, his body trembling as a cold sweat dripped down his spine. All he had wanted was a technique, not whatever this cursed book held. The pages fluttered as if they had a life of their own.
"Where... am I?" he whispered, his voice lost in the endless void.
A deep, resonant voice booms from nowhere and everywhere, shaking the very fabric of the galaxy.
"At long last... you have arrived."
The void rippled, and from the horizon of stars, a figure emerges. A man strides forward, his every step echoing like thunder despite the lack of ground beneath him, his body is shrouded in flowing robes of black and silver, alive with shifting constellations. Spectral chains coil and uncoil around him like sentient serpents. His eyes, twin galaxies of violet and silver, lock onto Tian Mo freezing him in place.
The man's gaze alone feels like it pierces through flesh and bone, reaching the very essence of his soul.
"So many centuries," The man continues. "So many aspirants, yet none with the audacity to awaken my will. And now, here you stand... fragile, trembling, yet unbroken."
Tian Mo fell to his knees under the pressure of the man presence. Every instinct screams at him to flee, but there is no escape, his voice quivered as he spoke. "Who... who are you? What is this place?"
The man tilted his head, a faint smile cold and knowing forming on his lips. "You dare invoke my technique and ask who I am? You stand within the Soul Dominion. I am the Soul Emperor, sovereign of the Soul Race, master of the boundless arts of the soul. And you, insignificant one, have been entered here by your reckless ambition."
Tian Mo was shocked, by what he was hearing of course he heard of all powerful demon in the dark demonic realm. He didn't think he will run into something like his so early on in his cultivation, he started to panic questioning if he will kill him.
"My Lord… I sought to learn your technique." he stuttered, his voice shaking with both fear and reverence as he bowed.
The obsidian platform beneath Tian Mo began to crack, pieces floating away into the void, the Soul Emperor twisting it in his hand."Do you believe that learning my scripture is a matter of study? A series of movements, a collection of chants?" He chuckles, the sound reverberating like distant thunder. "No. To wield my power is to confront the essence of existence itself. It is not learned. It is endured."
He stepped closer, the spectral chains around him clinking softly. "Worst, off your to soft there worst you couldn't done to Zhao Kang yet you had him bully you like that without consequences."
"I…I can't. There wasn't a real reason to hurt him." Tian Mo replied, his head raised high instead of bowing he remembered something.
The Soul Emperor's gaze locked onto Tian Mo with chilling intensity. "Your innocence in this world is worthless... It is only fitting that your fragile vessel serves me in my return." he declared.
"What wait!"
Tian Mo shouted in confusion, still before he could do anything the spectral soul chains shoot, from the soul emperor, wrapping around him trapping him in place. He noticed that the Soul Emperor moved each step he took. His body occasionally flickers and distorts at the edges, as if he exists on multiple planes simultaneously.
As soon as he arrived infront Tian Mo, the Soul Emperor flew straight into his body, instantly he felt scratching inside, his body that made him scream out maniacal, he really regretted his choice to take Feng Hao advice on this book.
Subsequent, thinking he was about to die he felt normal again, glanced around he observed the Soul Emperor outside his body.
"Damit. Why wasn't I able to take over your body? My soul is one of the strongest in the world." the Soul Emperor questioned aloud, his voice laced with curiosity.
Tian Mo touched his chest in a sigh of relief. Why wasn't he able to take my body?
"There's something in your body that pushed me out... it even tried sucking the qi out of me." the Soul Emperor observed.
'Again the things my father gave me…First, I can't get it, now this.' He thought.
The Soul Emperor's chains flew back to him with a sharp hiss, and he walked down to stand before Tian Mo. A bone throne materialized behind him, and he sat upon it, his posture regal and imposing.
"Boy," the Soul Emperor's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper, "Where are you from? What is that inside your body?"
"…I'm just from a normal village... my father gave me those things before I left," Tian Mo responded.
'As time passed did someone managed to create something that can block a soul…this boy is getting me interested.' The Soul Emperor though.
"Forget these trivialities, boy. The real question is: Do you possess the fortitude to learn from me, to grasp the essence of power that transcends mortal comprehension?" He questioned.
Tian Mo hearing The Soul Emperor change of way was shocking, he didn't have time to dwell on it because he can die or learn and he would rather learn from someone, who powerful this was a one a lifetime opportunity, this was rare situation in the world.
Tian Mo went full kneeling with forehead to the ground kowtow to The Soul Emperor. "Yes my lord I am willing to learn." He said quickly.
He only ever kowtow his mother and father, he was only wiling to right now if it gains him thr power to get vengeance, it was also still gratitude for him staying alive and being his master.
"Excellent... you are now my second disciple." The Soul Emperor said waving his hand Tian Mo stood up. "You will need this absorbing technique." He pointed to Tian Mo and a light flew into his head.
Tian Mo felt extremely pain, still it wasn't much compared to the shock he was in from the amount of knowledge, the absorbing technique and how powerful it was.
"Thank you master." Tian Mo bowed.
"The Demonic Soul Reaping Art has a total of five layers, every one of which was very hard to cultivate. They required vast resources and clearing of a corresponding demonic tribulation…you will need alot." The Soul Emperor said.
In Tian Mo mind the technique is a cruel and overbearing cultivation method that absorbs all true essence through a black vortex with a very strong gravitational pull.
'There really nothing currently that I can properly practice this technique on.' Tian Mo thought.
"Go to the blood pool"
Tian Mo was brought out his thought. "I can't enter there yet." He said.
"Just sneak in go somewhere no one can see you." the Soul Emperor said.
Tian Mo scrached, the back of his head. "Allright…how can I leave." He said.
As he spoke his sight became clear and he was back in the courtyard, it was even still the same time of the day. Focusing on what he had to do he walked to rhe blood pool. Where there was other discple walking around some in the pool.
After waking around for a couple minutes looking for a spot. 'There really now where to go, there discples everywhere…ignore them keep looking.'
When Tian Mo decided to keep looking he saw, a couple discples walked throught a cloud of he couldn't see throught. Yet he his realized that there more blood pool behind there so he followed, the blood behind the mist was more darker and vile so he keep going until no one was around.
Tian Mo stepped into the blood pool instantly he skin burn of heat, still he pushed throught he can't give up yet, the furthest into the pool he sat down.
Looking around. "I've always believed in a world where kindness prevails, where love overcome all. But now, I'm standing at a crossroads, forced to absorb this dark power for revenge. I know it's a dangerous path, one that could consume me entirely. My heart aches with the weight of loss, and I need to grow stronger strong enough to avenge those I've lost. Still, as I embrace this demonic technique, I won't let it strip me of who I am." He said.
Instantly began running the Demonic Soul Reaping Art . Inisde the book was him also being watched over by the Soul Emperor.
Outside the moment a small vortex appeared in his hand, pulling in rhe blood around him, the moment the dark-red drop of blood entered Tian Mo's body, tens of bloodstain-like crimson lines wildly fanned throughout his body, stright to his forehead making a slit marking.
The lines spread across his whole body in an instant. His chest, hands, legs, face, ears, and even pupils were now full of blood colored channels that looked like demonic markings.
"Ughhhhhhh..."
At that instant, Tian Mo felt as he was stabbed by tens of thousands of blades. Immense agony fiercely beamed from every single corner of his body, and made him let out a painful whine. His entire body started to shake tremendously, as his vision also became blurry, until it completely became a shade of crimson red.
A wave of pain emanated from a force digesting the insides of his body.... Tian Mo that rhe blood of cultivators change to bloo more poeerful and poten to survive, it wss worst because of demonic beast blood are pure strong, and without a meridian he isnt suppose to absorb this more blood and suck a twenty prrcent speed, that his body was slowly being ripped apart and shredded; and one could only imagine that degree of misery.
Inside he had little pain still, he felt it from outside, He was afraid of dying, but he was also viciously persistent. Were he not, to meet the Soul Emperor he might take longer than how this technique is to stenghten himself.
He ended up wracked with pain, forehead dripping with great drops of sweat. Gasping for breath, vision fading to black, he finally rested for a moment, then started cultivating again.
He could feel the tendrils of demonic energy begin to seep into his body, coiling around his veins like molten fire. His body screamed in protest, the pain almost unbearable, it was the war within his own heart, the suffocating weight of what he was about to do.
Why am I doing this?
The question echoed through his mind like a hammer against steel. His entire being screamed for him to turn back, to escape this demonic technique. But he had made his choice. He had long since made his choice.
The Soul Emperor knew what kind of pain he was going throught so he let him rest. I my younger days just slowly creating that art was just destroying my every being…now that it'd complete its worst for those unaccustomed.
The night passed relatively uneventfully. Soon it was the next day. And the day after that. And yet another day.... Eventually days went by.
Outside the book Tian Mo clothes on the side grew wrinkled, his hair became disheveled, his eyes were completely bloodshot. He seemed completely bedraggled, and at the same time, completely focused. Regardless of the pain he felt, he never gave up.
At the same time, the qi pressure he radiated increased by more than before. He was now very close to reaching the second stage Flesh Training of Origin Awakening.
At time pass, the demonic marks all over Tian Mo's body suddenly twinkled with red luminescence, and his contorted face finally started to slowly ease down.
His sweat no longer flowed and his muscles spasms stopped; even his expression became calm. Tian Mo closed his eyes, and remained motionless. If one looked carefully, they would see a gentle smile hanging from the edge of his lips.
At this moment he was overjoyed by the use of the Soul Emperor technique, it's speed and it's benefits, dispite it's vile use that he May or may not use.