Yan Zaizen felt shaken. He stared heavily at the sword hilt embedded into the stone. From it, he felt a repulsive yet familiar and gentle aura.
"This is…" he walked towards the sword unhesitantly. His body flickered with a soft, pure white light. His innate aura of his Non-Entity physique revealed itself for the first time.
Observing himself, he couldn't help but gasp softly in wonder. This was the first time he'd ever seen the Non-Entity physique of his react. Even while he traveled into the actual universe, or the space that inhabited its laws, didn't illicit such.
"Stop! You can't touch it!!!" A feminine voice shouted.
Yan Zaizen glanced at the three individuals nearby. He had nearly forgotten about their auras, his attention focused heavily on the sword in the stone. The one who shouted was a young girl. Her hair was violet and she was a beauty.
Yan Zaizen noticed that behind her was several beast-like tails. He frowned. His eyes looked towards hers and he grew confused.
He had met many humanized beasts in his lifetime. They cultivated a unique path and had a unique aura, but they all had the same characteristics: No pupils. However, this young girl radiated a beast's aura, but had pupils. This contradiction didn't line up with his understanding and caused him to pause.
"W-who...are you?" Akane asked, getting up and exiting Kaiga's protection. Her eyes held a deep vigilance and struggled to muster her strength. For some reason, her body was abnormally weak.
"You can call me Ascension," Yan Zaizen replied. After, his frown deepened as he turned and saw a violet light and a sea of black. The light in the distance was radiant and powerful, it was definitely at the level of someone at a high-level Heavenly Genesis Realm or path equivalent.
When he saw the knights and felt an impure aura from them, as if they were infected by the most impure existence, he grew even more confused. This was only an aura, and it didn't seem as if it defined them. If he had to compare it, it was like the black orb from the Oneuli Empire's Prince was a sun, and these people were basking lightly in its light.
It was so vastly different that most wouldn't even notice. However, what surprised him was that it wasn't just the knights.
The violet light, the three individuals that was beside him, and the people in the distance with tails all had the same aura. If he closed his eyes, not letting his eyes differentiate, he would think they were the same type of existence.
There were far too many questions that made this situation odd, and little to no answers. However, he decided to take it one step at a time. Without hesitation and disregarding the words of the young girl, he moved swiftly.
Reaching out, he clasped the hilt of the sword.
Zuuum!
His amber-gold eyes transformed into a pure white color. The surprise caused his eyes to widen.
"No way?!" Yan Zaizen's heart started to beat wildly. "How is this possible? Why is it here?" A surge of information that was instinctual flowed into his mind, like a well-timed release.
The sword hilt was connected to a blade and this blade was something he had only read in legends. In various stories, it was said that everything had a heart. This was often taken metaphorically, but this was a universal truth.
Even existences of a spiritual nature had a heart, so did the Yaoguai, and every living and sentient life, even plants and mountains. This 'heart' was often loosely termed in literature. It could mean spirit, soul, or core of something's existence. You would know if something has a heart if it could not live without it.
If taken, it would die.
What made humans, beasts, and various physical lifeforms special, why they can even cultivate, had to do with this unique aspect of theirs. They had both a physical and spiritual heart.
A blood-driven heart and a soul flame.
In fact, cultivating relied heavily on these hearts. The Yaoguai grew and died with their hearts. It wasn't just limited to them either.
This sword was a heart.
"A piece of it, anyways." Yan Zaizen paid special attention to the sword. However, before he could feel out more about this, a sword sliced towards him with imperious momentum.
A tiny girl struck out, her expression vicious and terrifying. It was filled with fear, anger, and desperation.
Yan Zaizen glanced at her and was taken aback. Her aura was turbulent and vicious, a willingness to lay down one's life emanated from every fiber of this young girl's soul. It was as if he was threatening to obliterate her entire family.
"So young…" Sighing, Yan Zaizen flicked his finger towards her. The space surrounding them seemed to constrict and the blade was trapped in mid-air. Tsumi's body froze as well. It was as if she was put on pause.
"Ahhhh!" An anger-filled roar followed. Kaiga had risen, his body badly burned and missing patches of flesh, but he held his blade with all his energy and dashed towards Yan Zaizen with reckless abandon.
Feeling somewhat awkward, he pressed his hand forward. Kaiga felt like thunder had erupted in his soul. His eyes lost focus and he fell face first into the ground. He was unconscious.
Clenching his hand, a white flame was birthed. Gently, he pushed it over to wrap tightly around Kaiga's body. Soon, the damage to his body had been thoroughly healed.
He turned towards Akane, "You're not going to attack too, are you?" He smiled softly. To him, these people weren't his enemy and he didn't know of their situation. Following his Dao, he would never kill others because of a misunderstanding or because they attacked suddenly.
"..." Akane stayed quiet. Her eyes were glued to Yan Zaizen's palm that safely grasped the sword's hilt.
"Hm." Musing to himself about the situation, he refocused. The sword was the 'heart' of something. However, it wasn't the thing that was triggering his body's unique aura.
Instead, it was connected to whatever was. Yan Zaizen knew this much. He used his soul and heavenly sense, but realized that they could not penetrate the stone. This made him realize that the stone was extraordinary. With his Heavenly and Soul cultivation base, he could be considered heaven-equalling, so for this stone to prevent his senses was by no means a small feat.
He decided to resort to his Dao Sense. It was far more powerful than his soul and heavenly sense combined. In fact, he speculated that it was a combination of soul, heavenly, and physical sense amplified by a hundred-fold.
After sending in his Dao Sense, the stone became clear like glass.
"A cup?" Yan Zaizen saw a grail stabbed through and through by an arming sword. This arming sword had runic markings on its surface and felt profoundly mysterious. He had never seen markings like these. However, the grail was even more profound.
It had no etching or marks, just one defining feature: it was translucent.
An aura he was all too familiar with was apparent. It was the Non-Verse's aura.
Just as he was about to investigate further, Akane shouted. "Sir Ascension!"
Yan Zaizen looked towards her. Tsumi was frozen and Kaiga was unconscious. This young woman hadn't attacked him or was injured, so he ignored her.
"Can I ask you to...save my people…" her request took Yan Zaizen by surprise. He didn't know her and she didn't know him. Akane also understood this, but her ancestor had said that the compass was important and it summoned this person...so she had to risk it. He didn't seem like he was going to kill them, and he didn't taint the Ancestral Hope after touching it, so she took that risk.
She pointed towards the sea of black knights and violet light that seemed to be engaging them in a life or death battle. There were even other Kitsune people flying to the skies to protect their homes. With the protective formations down, they could only rely on the weapons in their hands and their lives to block all who may be an enemy.
Yan Zaizen could tell that one side was invading and the other was defending. Unfortunately, he was by no means a saint. He didn't want or like to interfere in situations like this without understanding the entire story. Who knows, perhaps the Kitsune who was being attacked had slaughtered the knights beforehand and they've come back for revenge.
It could also be a territorial dispute or something else that he shouldn't interfere with as there was likely no right or wrong.
He pondered for a moment and nodded. "Luckily, I have some questions about this sword and cup." Yan Zaizen casually said.
While he wouldn't pick a side, he would follow his own Dao. The relentless pursuit and willingness to achieve one's goal was a part of this Dao. To sate curiosity was a goal, and it was a sufficient one.
He lifted his palm towards the sea of black and violet light. A surge of heavenly might flowed from his heavenly shrine and into his palm. He gently pushed forwards.