Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 25-The Unbound One

Lineir was shocked for a moment. He had not realized exactly of how much significance this sword was to Mei. It was equivalent to him holding part of her vast cultivation base in his hand. As a matter of fact, with her body gone, it was her entire cultivation base, literally her Final Heart. While he was shocked though, Mei went on,

"But disciple, there is one more stage. An existence so strong that even Fate itself was once forced to bow down and bend for. Would you like to know about...The Unbound One?" Mei's voice dropped low and she leaned infinitely closer. As such a great beauty came closer, Lineir was unfazed this time, his focus drawn by the movement of her lips. Those who truly seek the path of cultivation would be unfazed by simple things as mortal attraction. He was much more interested in what she had to say.

"The Unbound One? I've never heard of such a thing. What is it? Who is it?" He wasn't really sure which question he was asking. Such a being didn't sound human anymore. Perhaps it never had been. Mei's answer was clear on a few things, but clearly her knowledge was not complete.

"The Unbound One, is a being with such power that instead of keeping his cultivation base inside of the body, or the sword, it is completely separate from both. His cultivation base has attracted so much power that it is like a black hole, constantly absorbing all energy around him. Thus, it is actually not even necessarily located on his body, it could be anywhere. That is to say... he can survive without an actual physical presence. I know this because I learned from him myself. Or so I think." Mei's words were said slowly, with great care. She clearly didn't want to make any mistakes in her wording. Lineir was puzzled,

"What do you mean, you met him? He's human?" His questions were unending, this Unbound One was extremely mysterious. He couldn't understand how someone could survive without a physical presence. Mei tried to explain,

"Well you see, it would be more accurate to say I learned from his teachings. Long ago, while I was still far more powerful than you now, I wasn't that strong compared to others in my plane. However, I chanced upon a strange sword in my travels. I couldn't tell whether this sword had fallen from the Heavens or had surfaced from Hell, but I can say that the devastation surrounding it when it appeared was absolute. Your body is holding the same sword I'm speaking of. Inside the twisted dark lightning of the sword, in the hands of one powerful enough, it is possible to sense terrible runes that are near impossible to comprehend. Given great fortune, and a number of coincidences, I managed to do just that. My ultimate technique, the The Twin Path of Lightning and Darkness, which you have seen a small demonstration of, is but a copy of one of the techniques I was able to understand from these runes. But this was the world of cultivation, and every power comes with a price. When the world learned of this technique, cultivators the world over swarmed at me as if Fate itself had turned on me. You know the rest of that story."

Lineir sighed. The world of cultivation vicious. Even an expert such as Mei, armed with an ultimate technique, had been unable to hold out against the vastness of it. Compared to himself, who wasn't even an ant to a fragment of her soul, it really felt too huge. Mei wasn't done though,

"There's one more thing you should know however... I'm not telling you about The Unbound One as a fun story. While I learned several techniques of a slightly lesser scale than the Twin Path of Lightning and Darkness, these are all higher order ultimate attacking techniques. But I learned something else. If the world had known I had this, they would surely still be scouring random world after random world hoping to find this. That is, the final forbidden inner technique which I spent almost all the energy I had carefully saved for years on. The Nine Paths of Asura. The ultimate inner technique which I placed in you!" Mei's voice had gradually risen throughout this. In fact, by the end she actually sounded a little angry. Clearly, the amount of energy she had spent on Lineir was no small matter. There was one question Lineir had to ask though,

"But I'm still so weak! What are you talking about? Wouldn't I be able to tell if there was such a powerful technique in me?" Mei's voice calmed down a little. Lineir was not to blame for this, and she hadn't had a choice at the time. While she feigned indifference, who knows how long it would have taken before she was discovered again that time.

"Well disciple, I only used this technique, and the other prerequisite forbidden techniques on you at the time because I had no choice. To be truthful, while I know what to do for the technique, I honestly don't know what it does!! The only thing I knew was that while you were on the verge of death, remaking your body with these techniques would save your life which flickered like a candle. How to train this technique, the limits of its power, if there are any, almost everything but the name, The Nine Paths of Asura, I do not know. As a matter of fact, from what little I do know, besides granting your body some small benefits initially, and making you capable of surviving the heavy blood loss at the time, you may not even gain any noticeable effects later on if you do not meet the prerequisites for this. My efforts may all have been wasted wuwu..." 

So saying, Mei looked like she was going to cry. Seeing his beautiful teacher who was always composed, or at least angry, look like this, Lineir panicked. He didn't know what to do, and in the end, his gut feeling took over, seeing the incredibly short Mei in such a situation, he leaned over and gently patted her on the top of her head. Instantly, she froze, and Lineir did too as he got a premonition of death, as if the scythe of a reaper was hanging right in front of his neck.