Elaine found herself alone, floating in the void.
One moment, she had been with the others gathered around the smaller demonic tree in that strange celestial fog with pocket realms trapped in shards of glass floating by, but now she was here... wherever here was supposed to be.
Maple's sibling had brought her here after only a few words. She glanced around at the total nothingness and fear gnawing at her mind, yet her soul felt oddly comfortable.
It was only now that Elaine realized what true nothingness really was and what the void actually entailed despite cultivating void Qi her whole life. There was no light or shadows, no sound or colors. No scents or feelings. No wind or distant chirps. No clouds, sky, sea, land, or even air.
Just... nothing.
In all directions until eternity.
Elaine wasn't even sure if there was time in this place. What could have been hours or minutes passed, but with nothing but her spiraling thoughts as a reference, there was no way to tell.
"Strange, isn't it?" Mars materialized in front of her. "To be deprived of all senses and stimuli, to experience true nothingness."
Elaine gulped as she looked into Mars's inhuman eyes, "Yes... it's oddly comforting, though. My soul feels at peace."
"As it should. You are a young voidling, after all. This is your home, your birthplace. It's where you belong."
"What does being a young voidling mean exactly?" Elaine asked, "You called me that earlier before bringing me here... wherever here is. Are we in a pocket realm?"
Mars shook their head, "As I mentioned, there are no pocket realms of void Qi because how can you create something like a pocket realm out of nothingness? Tell me, what is Qi?"
"I-I have no idea..." Elaine stammered. It was such an open-ended question she froze up. Qi was... everything. How could she describe such a thing in a sentence? It was like asking what is reality.
"Let me explain from the beginning then," Mars said flatly, "Heaven is simply a force of change. Before the heavens, there was the void, and it was only through the heaven's will for change that reality was woven into existence. We call the manifestation of heaven's will 'Qi.' When cultivators meditate on the heavens will and become able to wield Qi, they can enact change on their environment. Creating crimson flames, powerful tornados, or even devastating earthquakes. It's only through manifesting heaven's will that cultivators can cause this change in the reality that has been woven for them."
Elaine nodded slowly, "I see... but what is Void Qi then?"
"Void is the absence of else. When one cultivates void Qi, they cultivate the absence of Qi rather than a type of Qi itself." Mars explained, "It's why void Qi is so hard to come by when you are suffocated by reality. When everything around you is constructed by heaven's will. Only through cracks in this woven reality can you catch a glimpse of true nothingness that sneaks through, which is what your soul yearns for. True nothingness."
Mars drifted closer and placed their hand on her shoulder. It felt like nothing. There was no texture, weight, or feeling to the grip. "That is why I call you a young ignorant voidling. You are one of us, something born outside of heaven's touch. An anomaly that shouldn't exist within heaven's carefully woven reality."
"I don't understand," Elaine felt like crying. What did Mars mean she shouldn't exist? "How can I be a voidling? I'm a human, aren't I?"
"Do I look human?" Mars asked while tilting their head. Their eyes transitioned from total darkness to normal human eyes with pupils that almost looked pretty. They smiled, but it felt forced and fake, like a monster wearing a human's face as a mask and trying to fit in.
"I guess?" Elaine replied hesitantly.
"What about now?" Mars's face melted away to reveal a single giant red eye that stared right at her.
Elaine gulped, "No."
"How can you be so sure you are human then? What makes you human?" Mars poked her in the chest, "Does this fleshy vessel your soul resides in define you? If I took your soul and implanted it into a monster's body, would you still be human? You still think and act the same, just in a new body."
Elaine diverted her gaze to her feet as looking into that grotesque eye that had been hidden behind a visage of a human face irked her out. "So all that matters is my soul, not the body surrounding it?" Elaine asked.
"Exactly! Appearance is the worst thing to base somebody on. Always look at their soul." Mars put their finger under her chin and forced her to look into the eye, "The soul never lies, and that's why I call you a voidling. Your soul is like mine."
"So, can I change my body like you?" Elaine asked.
Mars drifted backward, "Not now. You are too weak for such a thing. Only those in the Nascent Soul Realm and above can comprehend the deepness of a soul and change their fleshy vessel at will."
"Ah..." Elaine's shoulders drooped, "My family is cursed. Nobody has reached the Nascent Soul Realm."
Mars laughed, "You aren't cursed! Your family is simply foolish and looking at the void in the wrong way."
Elaine's eyes widened, "Are you saying there's a way I can form a Nascent Soul?"
"Nothing is impossible. You just need to have the will to shape your reality," Mars waved their hand, "Come, look at this, and you will understand."
Suddenly, everything changed. The void was no longer empty.
Elaine wasn't sure how, but she was now gazing up at a stack of progressively larger discs surrounded by a celestial fog.
"You see that tiny realm down there?" Mars pointed to the small disc below them.
"It's breathtakingly beautiful," Elaine muttered.
"That's the ninth layer of creation. The place you call home." Mars then pointed at the disc overhead, "And that larger realm is the eighth layer of creation."
Elaine noticed that between the two realms was a sort of void that was filled with the same celestial fog of shattered realities as the Mystic Realm.
"Why is the ninth layer so small compared to the others?" Elaine asked as she noticed something below it. There was what could only be described as a wasteland below the ninth layer with strange black monoliths reaching up.
"The heaven's will and authority grows weaker the further down you go, so the layer of creation's size reflects this with less overall Qi poured into each layer's creation." Mars said and then seemed to notice Elaine's gaze on the wasteland, "That is the demon realm, also known as Hell. It's where Qi, which has become corrupted, gathers, and abominations are born. As Qi flows down the layers from the heavens above, eventually it will fall beyond heavens reach, and that is the result."
"So it's like a waterfall?" Elaine murmured as she gazed up at the stack of realms overhead, "Qi flows down from the top and makes its way to the bottom... but I don't understand. How does this show me that my family isn't cursed?"
"You see how reality is a self-contained system under heaven's control?" Mars asked.
Elaine nodded.
"Well, my young voidling, we belong out here in the nothingness of the void, outside of heaven's influence." Mars spread out their arms and gestured around, "Yet you ask me why you can't ascend when you are trapped in there? If you don't play by heaven's rules, don't expect the heavens to smile upon you."
"Can you say it more simply," Elaine sighed.
Mars drifted closer and rammed a finger into her chest near her heart, "Your soul can contain something it should not... the void. When you cultivate under the heavens, you are coming to an understanding with the force of change and learning to wield it yourself. How can the heavens create an infant soul out of something even it can't contain? Remember, there are no pocket realms of void Qi."
Elaine's eyes widened, "So you are saying the reason nobody in my family has formed a Nascent Soul isn't because we are cursed but because the heavens cannot help us shape a new soul out of the void?"
Mars nodded, "There's no such thing as a void cultivator in the upper realms, to my knowledge. How your family exists, and any of them even cultivated to the Soul Fire Realm, is baffling. As I said, you are an anomaly that shouldn't exist within heaven's carefully woven reality."
"So what should I do?" Elaine asked, "How can I overcome this issue and ascend?"
"Two options," Mars said as they raised two fingers, "The first option is to reform your soul out here and learn to cultivate like Worldwalkers do outside the constricted system of defined realms of power. This means you will no longer hit the Nascent Soul bottleneck, as we never form one. We just grow continuously stronger by consuming Qi."
"So, Worldwalkers grow stronger as they eat away at heaven's carefully woven reality? Just like monsters and demons?"
"Why do you think we are enslaved by heaven from birth and barred from setting foot on their realms?" Mars showed their teeth. "Endless power without bottlenecks comes at a price. Heaven knows that voidlings like you and I threaten its existence, so if you follow our path, you will suffer the same fate as us and be exiled."
"I see... so what is the second option?"
"You can stay within the heavens system and play by its rules."
Elaine did feel comfortable out here. As if the constant pressure of the world wasn't pressing down on her soul at all times. But it was also eerily quiet and dull. Despite the vast space before her, this felt more like a prison than the 9th layer of creation below her feet.
"So what will it be? Want to stay out here and become a Worldwalker?"
"I would rather be down there with my friends if possible," Elaine pointed to the realm below, "So how can I advance within the heavens system with my void Qi?"
"The simple answer is you can't," Mars said.
"So what do I do?!"
"Hold on, let me finish. Yes, advancement with void Qi may be impossible, but who said you couldn't cultivate another type of Qi? Just become a dual affinity and play by heaven's rules with void Qi on the side."
"That's possible?" Elaine was baffled, "Dual affinities are rare, and I thought you basically had to be born as one."
Mars shook their head, "There are many ways to acquire another affinity, and of course, it has its downsides. Cultivating two affinities at once dramatically slows down a cultivator's progress and can cause other issues. But those downsides are infinitely better than being stuck at the peak of the Star Core Realm forever, wouldn't you agree?"
"Absolutely," Elaine agreed, "So how do I get this second affinity?"
"Oh, I can do it for you," Mars said casually as they thrusted their hand into Elaine's chest and pulled out... nothing, but Elaine knew that her soul rested in their palm.
Elaine shivered, "How can you do that?"
"I'm a Worldwalker, overlord of the void." Mars gave an inhuman smile that reached their ears, "Pulling a void soul out of a voidling is an easy feat."
"Okay... now what?" Elaine had studied everything about Qi known to those on the lower realm of creation, so to have everything she thought true turned on its head by this Worldwalker made her exhausted.
"This is the fun part! Usually, a dual affinity comes with the issue of two Qi types competing against one another within a person's soul. But void Qi is the absence of anything, so it's the perfect dual affinity as it will work with anything." Mars gestured around, "Imagine your soul is like the void we find ourselves in now. Now look at the realms of creation that represent the other affinities you can pick."
"Pick?" Elaine opened her mouth in surprise, "I get to pick what dual affinity I want?"
"Sure, why not?" Mars tilted their head, "We have all of creation before us. All we have to do is condense a strand of any Qi type you wish within your void soul and then foster and cultivate it into a nascent soul and, in turn, give you a second affinity."
Elaine had not expected today to go like this at all. She had always felt weak and behind everyone else, grasping at the faintest hints of void Qi around her, but now she was being offered the opportunity of a lifetime. She's getting to pick what affinity she wants?
"So what will it be, my little voidling?" Mars said flatly as if it weren't the most exciting thing ever, "Fire, earth, wind, water, light, darkness, lunar, metal, space, divine... even cosmic Qi is possible."
"How can I possibly decide something just like that?" Elaine was overwhelmed. This had to be the hardest decision any cultivator had faced in the history of reality.
"Don't worry," Mars said casually, "You have all the time in the world... there's no time Qi in the void after all."
