The bright moon hung silently in the sky. While most of the area slept peacefully, Damian was still searching relentlessly. At this point, the skin of his fingers were nearly non-existent. He had dug for so long that he felt like a machine, but he had no luck. Not a single Object of Law was revealed.
The first thing to give out was his arms. They were sore and turned limp like soggy noodles. Even if he wanted to continue digging, he was physically incapable. There was a distinct glimmer in his eye still burning with the ardent flames of youth, but it was noticeably weaker.
The next to give out was his legs. After putting his entire body in digging, his legs suffered greatly. Like a cracked table leg, he fell.
On the ground, he laid on his back calmly as he looked at the stars. "Beautiful…" The stars were always beautiful no matter what realm or heaven you were in, the stars were dazzling and contained boundless mysteries. The worries he had still remained, but in comparison to the stars, they were smaller than a speck of dust.
"I...I can sell some things tomorrow to meet daily demands. Yeah. I still have a few things…" Despite these 'things' he mentioned seemingly being trivial, they included precious family mementos that contained sentimental value. All of which were on his father's side and none of his mother's.
"It'll be fine. Tomorrow, I'll find something. I know I will." With a smile, he chuckled lightly beneath the stars. It was as if the future was bright and could never become dimmer than his beliefs.
Yan Zaizen floated about nearby, his eyes shining in spatial concealment. "His optimism is unbelievable, almost foolish. I must say, he's almost nothing like my younger self. Even his talent is better than mines...haaa…" Over the past few days, Yan Zaizen had watched Damian's life with rapt attention.
Initially, what caught his interest was him being kind despite being spat on and thrown out. He wanted to know if he was the cunning type, willing to seek revenge over the smallest offense in the future, but it was completely different. He truly had no heart for revenge. It was as if, no matter how others treated him, his life and choices was the only things that mattered.
All other things, the insults, the derogatory remarks, the inferior natural status of men, or violent attacks were nothing but dust in the wind.
At the moment, even though he may be killed for finding a treasure, he still continued regardless, all so he could take care of his father. This gained his approval on many levels.
At first, Yan Zaizen was thinking about creating his own storyline. A male and female experiences an exceptional lucky chance, guided by a powerful expert(him), and rising to prominence in a short period of time. With this, they would overturn the situation that was this realm's issues.
Now, he had no heart for that.
"In this life, I haven't taken a disciple. What better way than to do so here? And if he decides to kill all those who kicked him, spat on him, or insulted him, I have no objections in that either. As for this realm?" Yan Zaizen softly smiled, then a sudden thought entered his mind.
"Is this what it means to dote on someone?" He found it quite amusing that he was already biased towards this youngster.
"I think you should take him as your disciple." Pinaka's voice echoed in his soul, her tone was rather lazy as if she had just woken from sleep.
"Oh?" He found it shocking that Pinaka had awakened at this time. However, considering her words, it seemed like she had been awake and aware for quite some time, yet unwilling to say anything.
"I approve, if that means anything," she casually said.
"It means everything! With that, it's settled." Yan Zaizen laughed, his soul form appearing besides Pinaka. He inspected her soul form. "Do you know what happened to you?" He was quite curious about Pinaka's abrupt slumber in the Vast Expanse. He had his own guesses but he wanted to hear her recount her situation.
"I'm not sure...It was like my entire being went into slumber...I couldn't control it. However, I was conscious, just not capable of doing much. As if it was locked in." Pinaka thought for a moment and explained.
"Existential Slumber. Is it because of the Law or Path of True Spirit doesn't exist in the Vast Expanse?" In the Non Universe, the heavens didn't exist so his laws were useless, and if they were disconnected from their origins, then perhaps that happened to Pinaka?
This was the likeliest scenario and the one he believed the most. It also answered a question he had for a long time. Somehow, the True Spirit Path was officially recognized by the heavens but generally outlawed. The 27th, 17th, and 7th Heavens' Heavenly Domains didn't have a trace of the complete True Spirit Path, but they did have the Spirit Form Path.
If the Essence Path is a prelude to the Heavenly Path, then the Spirit Form Path is a prelude to the True Spirit Path. However, it seems the True Spirit Path portion was thoroughly corrupted in some way where the Heavenly Gods of these heavens were unified in their decision to outlaw.
Its possible it was similar to the Sirius Path. It was inherently flawed and thus unable to become an Eternal Path like Fiendgod Path, Bodily Path, Bestial Path, or Soul Source Path. It needed to be added manually to the True Origin of the Heavens.
However, the Herculean Path was obviously an Eternal Path, but one that exceeds the Heavenly Domain, and thus could not be housed within the domain. This was his conclusion after factoring in what he knew. The heavens simply were inadequate to contain the Herculean Law and Path.
However, it being outlawed was the 27th Heavenly God's choice. To be more specific, it was the Extreme Rebirth Heavenly God's choice. Before, the Chaos Origin Heavenly God had no restriction over it.
If what he believes is true, then a way he could complete his promises to Pinaka was to request a Heavenly God to allow the True Spirit Path within the heavens and convert her soul form via soul laws into a conventional one.
However, saying this and doing it was fundamentally different. This was merely a single way, however. It's possible that there may be other circumstances that would allow him to do so without such drastic action.
"So, shall you take him as your disciple or what?" Noticing Yan Zaizen was slowly deviating from the main subject, Pinaka questioned.
"Mhm." He stepped backwards, traveling out of Damian's sight, and cancelled his concealment art. If he just cancelled he might cause his disciple-to-be to die of fright. Unwilling to see this, he did so at a distance.
At first, he was thinking of a grand entrance. If he appeared from a thunderbolt or from a world-sized rift in the sky! He would descend like an immortal of legend and take this commoner as his disciple. It would be spectacular! However, it would be flashy. He wasn't sure if that fit him personally.
Initially, he was going to leave two astral remnants with his two selections and some cultivation methods he had 'claimed' from others. With resources he had in his ring, their rise was unstoppable. However, this was his disciple! What need was there to be so roundabout?
The best method is the most direct kind.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Damian awoke from his tired daze of dreams of happiness. His blurry vision caught sight of an amber-gold figure. This figure was tall, muscular, and had eyes that seemed like amber-gold stars in a sea of white!
He felt like he was dreaming.
It was only after he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times did he notice Yan Zaizen standing a few feet away from him. To a child no older than twelve to be near a person of Yan Zaizen's stature, he felt small and insignificant.
"ho-how may I help you, sir?" Damian's words were cautious as he tried to get up and perform a proper greeting. Unfortunately, his legs were wobbly and his arms still hurt.
"Help me?" Yan Zaizen smiled, placing his hand on his chin. His fingers lightly caressed the bottom as if in thought, "I wonder...oh! If you're willing to be the disciple of I, Yan Zaizen, you would help me greatly."
"W-wh-what?!" Stammering in shock, Damian felt the situation was surreal. He had never met this man in his life, yet he wanted him to be his disciple? Why?
"No need to think about the why. When you've reached my level of strength, the why isn't important and is almost always: 'because I feel like it.'" He chuckled a little, his eyes beaming with amusement.
If only Han Genji was as cool as he imagined himself being right now. Instead, Han Genji slaughtered a few people and kidnapped him suddenly without question. He felt as if his life was hanging on a yes to being his disciple. That was definitely a bad start for a disciple-master relationship. After all, it was built on death and force.
"..." Speechless, Damian felt the entire situation was surreal. Was he dreaming?
"Come on, give me an answer. I'm not a patient one." Yan Zaizen furrowed his brows slightly in feigned impatience.
Seeing Yan Zaizen growing visibly impatient, his heart thumped in agitation. He had the inkling of a feeling that, if he refused, his life would never change. "Y-yes!" Damian answered stuttering throughout.
"Yes what?"
"Yes, Master!" He kowtowed immediately three times on the spot. There was no hesitation in his actions and it left Yan Zaizen startled. This boy's hands were nearly all muscle and his legs had minor fractures, but he acted quickly. Even the pain that afflicted him was stifling deeply. This level of decisiveness was both admirable and a little worrying, but if one hit rock bottom, then why would they ever refuse a free meal?
"Good. Excellent. Splendid!" He felt excited as well, almost as much as Damian. "Now...Pinaka, how does one go about teaching a disciple?" As someone with no experience, he asked without any hesitation.
"..."