Chapter 221
If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again
Chapter 221
Beyond just the single success near Sarton, some other members of the same group were found and successfully captured. That was harder than it sounded, because even though the group hadnt yet figured out that their weapons gave them away their members were often skilled and more importantly extremely unwilling to be captured. If a cultivator was willing to give up their life, it was only a small effort to tear themselves apart with their own energy. Most wouldnt, unless they expected to be subjected to extreme torture, because everyone seemed to want to live. Yet they seemed to have little regard for their lives.
It wasnt impossible for a cultivation sect to have dedicated groups of fanatics willing to give up their lives for something, but usually it didnt go so far. It wasnt a surprise though. Even back in Black Soul Valley they had been willing to sacrifice themselves to empower a formation pushing one of their members towards ascension.
For those same reasons, interrogating them was difficult. Even if their energy was restricted from leaving their bodies, they could still kill themselves easily enough. Only if their energy was completely drained- or if it was frozen- could anything progress in that area. Doing either of those was not so simple, and required someone of a significantly higher rank and usually a bit of stealth.
Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect was in early Life Transformation, but even she took some time and the element of surprise to be able to freeze the energy of the mid Essence Collection cultivator that had been fighting on Chikere, Hoyt, and Timothys side of the battlefield. So far, he was the highest cultivation person that had been captured- and even if the group didnt know how they were being discovered, they quickly enough learned they were being pursued and began to hide themselves even more carefully.
The interrogation process by the alliance of cultivators was long and slow. Regardless of whether or not ethics were considered, prying useful information out of a cultivator with torture was rarely possible. As many of those they captured were practitioners of illusory techniques, it was difficult to gain information through those methods as well. But slowly they pulled bits and pieces of information out of the captives.
The first few times they were nearing useful answers, their prisoners died in rather violent explosions, even without access to their own energy. After that, they were more careful with their interrogations and eventually managed to discover formations carved into the very souls of their captives. That meant if they were close to revealing sensitive information, their souls would be torn apart and they would die along with their memories. But once such formations were known about, they could be studied and counteracted.
-----
The more Catarina interacted with the soul killing formations, the more she realized how far the hole of forbidden techniques went. She was only at the far edge of interacting with the process, allowed to study what was learned but only under strict supervision. Just thinking about modifying the very core of a person, especially for reasons that clearly werent in their own best interests, sickened Catarina.
Interacting with another persons soul on the level where the formations could be sensed and properly observed was another level of forbidden technique all on its own. Trying to unravel the formations without causing it to activate in any way- whether the intentional fully destructive method or anything else- was quite difficult, even for Elder Rana and the other formation masters involved. Catarina wasnt considered a true master herself yet, and she found it difficult to make sense of how some of it worked.
The formations were easier to unravel on the weaker members, but they also had less information. The only concrete information was an actual name for their group- the Twin Soul Sect. There was some speculation as to why they would be called that, but delving into knowledge of cultivation techniques was harder. The more complex information was, the harder it was to get someone to say it either through coercion or subterfuge.
They didnt actually have twin souls, but a careful inspection revealed that each member had two cultivation techniques. The one they displayed to the world, and the dark, often illusory related technique that they all made use of. That information was discovered by capturing some of their members who held weapons from the same maker, before they had revealed any other form of connection. Interrogations of such people were done cautiously in case they turned out not to be connected to the same group- but only one actual mistake was discovered.
One man in particular had managed to survive one of their attacks and found that their weapons were better than his own. When the man- Jameel- found out why he had been captured, he gladly gave up all the information he had. He was reluctant to allow an in-depth look at his soul, but with the solemn vow that nothing would actually be done to him as long as he was not a member of the enemies, Jameel accepted and was declared clean.
Anton didnt like the sounds of that, but from his experience he knew that Everheart wasnt evil, or even truly malicious except against those who came into conflict with him.
Senior Everheart, theres no limit on who can enter? someone in the crowd standing nearby asked with obviously strained politeness.
None at all. As long as everyone can fit in the building, it doesnt matter. Fun for all ages! Everhearts projection downed his mug, sloshing some of it onto his shirt. More fun for quick studies though. I like geniuses.
Unlike many times with similar events, most of the cultivators around were from the Order or otherwise local to Graotan. Anton could tell some werent from the area, but as long as people were on good relations with Graotan access wasnt restricted in any way. Notably missing were most people from Ofrurg, but for most of the country there was a closer entrance regardless. Only somewhat western located sects like the Grasping Willows were present. Likewise, there were cultivators from eastern Ambati, southern Estary, and northern Droca.
Most countries didnt have a centrally located entrance. Unlike Graotan, many other countries had two or three entrances scattered about. There was no clear pattern that had been found, except that they were generally similar distances apart. At least it seemed that Everheart hadnt predicted where countries would be centuries after his death, just placing entrances to this place wherever he could. Usually somewhere remote, though one appeared in what had become a bustling city in Estary.
It probably wouldnt have been easy to keep it a secret while building them, but once they were placed underground they could have stayed there the whole time without any fuss. By the amount of earth they brought with them, the entrances also hadnt been shallow. Perhaps hundreds of meters or more deep in the earth, beyond the range of the senses of even Life Transformation cultivators, unless they had reason to look underground at the exact spot the entrance was located.
Ah, its time, Everheart said. Everyone in! Hurry up! he clapped his hands. I havent got all day. And neither have you.
Some people hesitated, but those who knew Everheart hurried as he said and the rest followed quickly. Nothing horrible happened as they stepped inside the big cylindrical building that had come out of the ground, though even Anton could tell there was some sort of formation at work, slowly building up energy.
Hope nobodys late, Everheart said. I was very specific about that. Now then, youre all in. Going down!
Anton felt his stomach jump for a moment as power washed over him, and then the sky went dark. Except not quite.
Just kidding, Everheart laughed uproariously. This is Ascension were talking about. Why would we go down?
The sudden darkness caused Anton to look out the door, where he saw the night sky. Except something was wrong with the moon. It didnt look the same at all. It was too blue and cloud-covered. Antons eyes widened as he realized what had happened, and it seemed many others had come to the same realization as himself.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Chapter 221
Beyond just the single success near Sarton, some other members of the same group were found and successfully captured. That was harder than it sounded, because even though the group hadnt yet figured out that their weapons gave them away their members were often skilled and more importantly extremely unwilling to be captured. If a cultivator was willing to give up their life, it was only a small effort to tear themselves apart with their own energy. Most wouldnt, unless they expected to be subjected to extreme torture, because everyone seemed to want to live. Yet they seemed to have little regard for their lives.
It wasnt impossible for a cultivation sect to have dedicated groups of fanatics willing to give up their lives for something, but usually it didnt go so far. It wasnt a surprise though. Even back in Black Soul Valley they had been willing to sacrifice themselves to empower a formation pushing one of their members towards ascension.
For those same reasons, interrogating them was difficult. Even if their energy was restricted from leaving their bodies, they could still kill themselves easily enough. Only if their energy was completely drained- or if it was frozen- could anything progress in that area. Doing either of those was not so simple, and required someone of a significantly higher rank and usually a bit of stealth.
Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect was in early Life Transformation, but even she took some time and the element of surprise to be able to freeze the energy of the mid Essence Collection cultivator that had been fighting on Chikere, Hoyt, and Timothys side of the battlefield. So far, he was the highest cultivation person that had been captured- and even if the group didnt know how they were being discovered, they quickly enough learned they were being pursued and began to hide themselves even more carefully.
The interrogation process by the alliance of cultivators was long and slow. Regardless of whether or not ethics were considered, prying useful information out of a cultivator with torture was rarely possible. As many of those they captured were practitioners of illusory techniques, it was difficult to gain information through those methods as well. But slowly they pulled bits and pieces of information out of the captives.
The first few times they were nearing useful answers, their prisoners died in rather violent explosions, even without access to their own energy. After that, they were more careful with their interrogations and eventually managed to discover formations carved into the very souls of their captives. That meant if they were close to revealing sensitive information, their souls would be torn apart and they would die along with their memories. But once such formations were known about, they could be studied and counteracted.
-----
The more Catarina interacted with the soul killing formations, the more she realized how far the hole of forbidden techniques went. She was only at the far edge of interacting with the process, allowed to study what was learned but only under strict supervision. Just thinking about modifying the very core of a person, especially for reasons that clearly werent in their own best interests, sickened Catarina.
Interacting with another persons soul on the level where the formations could be sensed and properly observed was another level of forbidden technique all on its own. Trying to unravel the formations without causing it to activate in any way- whether the intentional fully destructive method or anything else- was quite difficult, even for Elder Rana and the other formation masters involved. Catarina wasnt considered a true master herself yet, and she found it difficult to make sense of how some of it worked.
The formations were easier to unravel on the weaker members, but they also had less information. The only concrete information was an actual name for their group- the Twin Soul Sect. There was some speculation as to why they would be called that, but delving into knowledge of cultivation techniques was harder. The more complex information was, the harder it was to get someone to say it either through coercion or subterfuge.
They didnt actually have twin souls, but a careful inspection revealed that each member had two cultivation techniques. The one they displayed to the world, and the dark, often illusory related technique that they all made use of. That information was discovered by capturing some of their members who held weapons from the same maker, before they had revealed any other form of connection. Interrogations of such people were done cautiously in case they turned out not to be connected to the same group- but only one actual mistake was discovered.
One man in particular had managed to survive one of their attacks and found that their weapons were better than his own. When the man- Jameel- found out why he had been captured, he gladly gave up all the information he had. He was reluctant to allow an in-depth look at his soul, but with the solemn vow that nothing would actually be done to him as long as he was not a member of the enemies, Jameel accepted and was declared clean.
Anton didnt like the sounds of that, but from his experience he knew that Everheart wasnt evil, or even truly malicious except against those who came into conflict with him.
Senior Everheart, theres no limit on who can enter? someone in the crowd standing nearby asked with obviously strained politeness.
None at all. As long as everyone can fit in the building, it doesnt matter. Fun for all ages! Everhearts projection downed his mug, sloshing some of it onto his shirt. More fun for quick studies though. I like geniuses.
Unlike many times with similar events, most of the cultivators around were from the Order or otherwise local to Graotan. Anton could tell some werent from the area, but as long as people were on good relations with Graotan access wasnt restricted in any way. Notably missing were most people from Ofrurg, but for most of the country there was a closer entrance regardless. Only somewhat western located sects like the Grasping Willows were present. Likewise, there were cultivators from eastern Ambati, southern Estary, and northern Droca.
Most countries didnt have a centrally located entrance. Unlike Graotan, many other countries had two or three entrances scattered about. There was no clear pattern that had been found, except that they were generally similar distances apart. At least it seemed that Everheart hadnt predicted where countries would be centuries after his death, just placing entrances to this place wherever he could. Usually somewhere remote, though one appeared in what had become a bustling city in Estary.
It probably wouldnt have been easy to keep it a secret while building them, but once they were placed underground they could have stayed there the whole time without any fuss. By the amount of earth they brought with them, the entrances also hadnt been shallow. Perhaps hundreds of meters or more deep in the earth, beyond the range of the senses of even Life Transformation cultivators, unless they had reason to look underground at the exact spot the entrance was located.
Ah, its time, Everheart said. Everyone in! Hurry up! he clapped his hands. I havent got all day. And neither have you.
Some people hesitated, but those who knew Everheart hurried as he said and the rest followed quickly. Nothing horrible happened as they stepped inside the big cylindrical building that had come out of the ground, though even Anton could tell there was some sort of formation at work, slowly building up energy.
Hope nobodys late, Everheart said. I was very specific about that. Now then, youre all in. Going down!
Anton felt his stomach jump for a moment as power washed over him, and then the sky went dark. Except not quite.
Just kidding, Everheart laughed uproariously. This is Ascension were talking about. Why would we go down?
The sudden darkness caused Anton to look out the door, where he saw the night sky. Except something was wrong with the moon. It didnt look the same at all. It was too blue and cloud-covered. Antons eyes widened as he realized what had happened, and it seemed many others had come to the same realization as himself.
Chapter 221Beyond just the single success near Sarton, some other members of the same group were found and successfully captured. That was harder than it sounded, because even though the group hadnt yet figured out that their weapons gave them away their members were often skilled and more importantly extremely unwilling to be captured. If a cultivator was willing to give up their life, it was only a small effort to tear themselves apart with their own energy. Most wouldnt, unless they expected to be subjected to extreme torture, because everyone seemed to want to live. Yet they seemed to have little regard for their lives.It wasnt impossible for a cultivation sect to have dedicated groups of fanatics willing to give up their lives for something, but usually it didnt go so far. It wasnt a surprise though. Even back in Black Soul Valley they had been willing to sacrifice themselves to empower a formation pushing one of their members towards ascension. For those same reasons, interrogating them was difficult. Even if their energy was restricted from leaving their bodies, they could still kill themselves easily enough. Only if their energy was completely drained- or if it was frozen- could anything progress in that area. Doing either of those was not so simple, and required someone of a significantly higher rank and usually a bit of stealth. Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect was in early Life Transformation, but even she took some time and the element of surprise to be able to freeze the energy of the mid Essence Collection cultivator that had been fighting on Chikere, Hoyt, and Timothys side of the battlefield. So far, he was the highest cultivation person that had been captured- and even if the group didnt know how they were being discovered, they quickly enough learned they were being pursued and began to hide themselves even more carefully.The interrogation process by the alliance of cultivators was long and slow. Regardless of whether or not ethics were considered, prying useful information out of a cultivator with torture was rarely possible. As many of those they captured were practitioners of illusory techniques, it was difficult to gain information through those methods as well. But slowly they pulled bits and pieces of information out of the captives.The first few times they were nearing useful answers, their prisoners died in rather violent explosions, even without access to their own energy. After that, they were more careful with their interrogations and eventually managed to discover formations carved into the very souls of their captives. That meant if they were close to revealing sensitive information, their souls would be torn apart and they would die along with their memories. But once such formations were known about, they could be studied and counteracted.-----The more Catarina interacted with the soul killing formations, the more she realized how far the hole of forbidden techniques went. She was only at the far edge of interacting with the process, allowed to study what was learned but only under strict supervision. Just thinking about modifying the very core of a person, especially for reasons that clearly werent in their own best interests, sickened Catarina.Interacting with another persons soul on the level where the formations could be sensed and properly observed was another level of forbidden technique all on its own. Trying to unravel the formations without causing it to activate in any way- whether the intentional fully destructive method or anything else- was quite difficult, even for Elder Rana and the other formation masters involved. Catarina wasnt considered a true master herself yet, and she found it difficult to make sense of how some of it worked.The formations were easier to unravel on the weaker members, but they also had less information. The only concrete information was an actual name for their group- the Twin Soul Sect. There was some speculation as to why they would be called that, but delving into knowledge of cultivation techniques was harder. The more complex information was, the harder it was to get someone to say it either through coercion or subterfuge. They didnt actually have twin souls, but a careful inspection revealed that each member had two cultivation techniques. The one they displayed to the world, and the dark, often illusory related technique that they all made use of. That information was discovered by capturing some of their members who held weapons from the same maker, before they had revealed any other form of connection. Interrogations of such people were done cautiously in case they turned out not to be connected to the same group- but only one actual mistake was discovered. One man in particular had managed to survive one of their attacks and found that their weapons were better than his own. When the man- Jameel- found out why he had been captured, he gladly gave up all the information he had. He was reluctant to allow an in-depth look at his soul, but with the solemn vow that nothing would actually be done to him as long as he was not a member of the enemies, Jameel accepted and was declared clean. Anton didnt like the sounds of that, but from his experience he knew that Everheart wasnt evil, or even truly malicious except against those who came into conflict with him. Senior Everheart, theres no limit on who can enter? someone in the crowd standing nearby asked with obviously strained politeness.None at all. As long as everyone can fit in the building, it doesnt matter. Fun for all ages! Everhearts projection downed his mug, sloshing some of it onto his shirt. More fun for quick studies though. I like geniuses.Unlike many times with similar events, most of the cultivators around were from the Order or otherwise local to Graotan. Anton could tell some werent from the area, but as long as people were on good relations with Graotan access wasnt restricted in any way. Notably missing were most people from Ofrurg, but for most of the country there was a closer entrance regardless. Only somewhat western located sects like the Grasping Willows were present. Likewise, there were cultivators from eastern Ambati, southern Estary, and northern Droca.Most countries didnt have a centrally located entrance. Unlike Graotan, many other countries had two or three entrances scattered about. There was no clear pattern that had been found, except that they were generally similar distances apart. At least it seemed that Everheart hadnt predicted where countries would be centuries after his death, just placing entrances to this place wherever he could. Usually somewhere remote, though one appeared in what had become a bustling city in Estary. It probably wouldnt have been easy to keep it a secret while building them, but once they were placed underground they could have stayed there the whole time without any fuss. By the amount of earth they brought with them, the entrances also hadnt been shallow. Perhaps hundreds of meters or more deep in the earth, beyond the range of the senses of even Life Transformation cultivators, unless they had reason to look underground at the exact spot the entrance was located.Ah, its time, Everheart said. Everyone in! Hurry up! he clapped his hands. I havent got all day. And neither have you.Some people hesitated, but those who knew Everheart hurried as he said and the rest followed quickly. Nothing horrible happened as they stepped inside the big cylindrical building that had come out of the ground, though even Anton could tell there was some sort of formation at work, slowly building up energy.Hope nobodys late, Everheart said. I was very specific about that. Now then, youre all in. Going down!Anton felt his stomach jump for a moment as power washed over him, and then the sky went dark. Except not quite.Just kidding, Everheart laughed uproariously. This is Ascension were talking about. Why would we go down?The sudden darkness caused Anton to look out the door, where he saw the night sky. Except something was wrong with the moon. It didnt look the same at all. It was too blue and cloud-covered. Antons eyes widened as he realized what had happened, and it seemed many others had come to the same realization as himself.
