"Hehe, you brats are not ready to learn about the Immortal stage yet!" The Dragon Ancestor cut in, and the Phoenix Ancestor nodded in agreement.
Draco and Eva frowned with anger, but their masters did not care about the petulance of their disciples. The two masters snickered evilly and continued.
"That's it for the basic information of the Martial Spirit World. Now, we'll be talking about cultivation, what each stage entails and how to gauge your progress."
"As we said earlier, cultivation was handed down to us by the Heavenly Dao. Of course, a part of it came from the Immortal World, but that was only the minimum skeletal framework."
"Usually, the Heavenly Dao should be the biggest enemy of cultivators, and our records of the Immortal World's cultivation says as much as well. Apparently, for them, from their 5th stage ongoing, they have to suffer lightning tribulations of increasing power after breaking through a major realm. Their 5th stage is called Soul Formation."
"Bwehehehe, however, ours is different!" The Phoenix Ancestor cackled as she took over. "As said earlier, our path to the Upper Worlds have been cut off, and because of that, the Heavenly Dao is damaged and incomplete!"
"It seeks to complete itself, and to do that, the path needs to be opened once more. It cannot do that itself, so who else can it rely on but us cultivators? As such, we enjoy the smoothest cultivation among Lower Worlds that we know of."
Draco realized something, but still asked to be sure. "You have verified this with other Lower Worlds?"
The Dragon Ancestor gave Draco a pointed look. "Just because the paths to the Upper World is blocked, that doesn't mean there is no way to travel between Lower Worlds."
Eva furrowed her brows. "Then why bother? Can't just anyone who has reached the Integration Realm's peak and wishes to ascend simply travel to another Lower World to do so, enjoying the smooth cultivation of that world for free?"
Eva snorted. "In fact, is there any reason why others of various Lower Worlds don't rush over here to cultivate what they can and head back home with smiles on their faces?"
"Bwehehe, that's my disciple! Unlike the Draconic fellow's, you use your brain!" The Phoenix Ancestor praised happily.
The Dragon Ancestor harrumphed and folded his arms. "What use is using your brain when you can use your fist or donger to solve issues with men and women, respectively!"
Draco gazed at the Dragon Ancestor with shock, then his eyes softened. For the first time, he felt like this old geezer might not be that bad of a master.
Eva and the Phoenix Ancestor though, gazed at him with disdain. The Phoenix Ancestor ignored the lewd Dragon Ancestor and fuckboy Draco before facing her disciple with a smile.
"To answer your question, the Heavenly Dao is not foolish! Once you leave the Human Stage, and enter the Mortal stage you can no longer leave the Lower World you're in! The Qi Condensation Realm is usually also the first real realm of other Lower Worlds, so you get no benefit if you run before that point!"
"The reason we have the Human Stage, consisting of five whole major realms that are below the first realm of other worlds is because we need to strengthen our bodies thoroughly in preparation for the Integration Realm, when we will merge with our Martial Spirits."
"Don't forget, Martial Spirits are the essence of Divine Beasts that are hiding in this world, and their power is not something even Immortals could easily deal with. You need a sturdy body to merge with them even for a second, otherwise, you'll explode into bloodmist!"
Eva nodded at the Phoenix Ancestor's explanation, feeling that it made sense. The Phoenix Ancestor then remembered something.
"Oh, as for others coming here to train, that's fine with the Heavenly Dao. The same rules apply, you cross over the 5th stage's peak, you cannot leave. So those who come are mostly body cultivators from other worlds, and we like them to be here."
A vicious light shone in the eyes of the Phoenix Ancestor as she smiled ominously. "After all, without them, how can we find targets to rob and kill for resources not found locally?"
Draco and Eva shared a look and mused that yes, this was indeed a cultivation world. Just because their backgrounds were tight, so everything was smooth, did not mean that this was a pleasant place to be in.
"As for how you will cultivate, you will respectively use the Dragon Ascension Chant and the Phoenix Rebirth Mantra." The Dragon Ancestor stated with a calm smile.
"Both methods require a pureblooded Divine Beast origin of each type, and the two of you have that. Oh right, Eva has a problem with hers though, and I'm sure Xue'er can explain to you."
Xue'er, who seemed to be the Phoenix Ancestor, nodded and spoke to Eva gravely. "We know about your lineages. You, of the Amaterasu Clan, and he, of the Lucifer Clan, are descendants of actual Gods who once passed through this world. In fact, we believe they created the world and brought the Divine Beasts here."
"After all, the Divine Beasts had to have come from somewhere, right? It isn't as convenient as saying, 'Somehow, Divine Beasts appeared in the world'."
Xue'er waved her hands in dismissal. "Anyway, that's not the point. The problem is that the boy, Draco, is closer to atavism than you. His bloodline is so deeply woven into his essence that his very soul is modeled after his bloodline."
"Frankly, it should not be possible without training, but here he is, and he has achieved it. You are more normal in this regard, as you have yet to embrace the true meaning of your bloodline and origin."
Seeing Eva frown, the Phoenix Ancestor chuckled. "To simplify, you need to give a shape to your soul and your bloodline. The boy has modeled his after a Black Dragon, and his Draconic bloodline has also selected the Black Dragon as its main power."
"You, though, have a light-based bloodline, but have not selected an image for it to take, so it appears as a ball of light. Your soul has no shape, also being a ball of indistinct light."
Xue'er gestured simply. "So, what you need to do is to shape it after something that you feel represents you the best, and your power will acclimate to it."
Eva looked thunderstruck. "That's it! I've always been wondering why my Light Inheritance has been falling behind Draco's Dark Inheritance!"
Draco raised a finger to correct Eva, then paused and smacked his lips.
After all, his Soulmate wasn't exactly wrong to call the Serpent God Inheritance the Dark Inheritance, because the Black Dragon was a being of Darkness and Destruction. On the other hand, Eva's light had clearly shown traits of Light and Creation, which was why they were perfect matches.
However, in the Martial Spirit Awakening Ceremony, the Black Dragon was graded as early 13th grade while Eva's Light Inheritance was graded as peak 12th grade, just short of the 13th grade.
Why was that? It wasn't like Draco was stronger than Eva. For all intents and purposes, they were of the same power level overall. It was necessary for them to be if they wanted to merge their Origins and become the Gods of the Univers- *cough*…!
That might be going too far into the future, so let's pull back to the present.
In essence, it was a problem of identity and visualization. The original Eva, who was now the third thoughtstream, had been raised in the clan and trained accordingly, so she viewed her bloodline as nothing but a tool.
This continued into Riveting Night, who was the second thoughtstream and encompassed all the years Eva spent in the previous timeline plus a few in-game months in this one.
This, along with other issues that have already been identified and fixed, were why Evaterasu had been created, as Eva would not be able to progress with her bloodline without this first and premier thoughtstream.
She had solved most problems, but there was one minor one that she had neglected. Her connection with her bloodline and how she viewed herself.
Draco chose the Black Dragon from birth, and his Serpent God Inheritance manifested the Black Dragon as his major and the God Serpents Array as his minor.
Eva simply had to do the same. Select a Light Element Divine Beast to make the avatar of her Light Inheritance, as well as choose one that would be molded into her soul vessel.
Eva hesitated, and Xue'er's eyes narrowed. "Is there a problem, disciple?"
The Dragon Ancestor looked over with furrowed browns, while Draco by the side had his expression change greatly when he understood the quagmire Eva was in.
Given the circumstances, it was obvious enough that the best choice Eva could make for shaping her Goddess of Light Inheritance was to use the Light Phoenix. It would allow her to use the Phoenix Rebirth Mantra and also grant her light based abilities similar to Luxia like super speed, light absorption for healing and more.
However, the issue was that Eva was not limited to the Light Phoenix, but could literally choose any species she wanted. This was where her problem lay in the first sense.
The second was that, unlike what these two old fellows thought, their bloodlines were not limited to Martial Spirits. They were just nifty little add-ons as part of this floor's world.
In essence, if she picked the Light Phoenix, it wouldn't just make her Martial Spirit shift from a ball of light into the beast, but her Avatar within her bloodline too would.
And this change would undoubtedly be permanent.
As such Eva naturally hesitated.
Should she follow the beaten path and go with the Light Phoenix, or should she diverge and try something else…?
