Yun Qian looked at his dream counterpart, his face filled with annoyance and fatigue. Like his companion, the first thing he did after returning to the Shard was throwing himself on his bed. After four days spent sleeping in the wilderness the rough bed of the Shard seemed like one of the highest comforts, and it didn't take long for their entire team to fall asleep, Yun Qiang included. However, after he fell asleep, he found himself stuck in one of his dreams.
As his dream counterpart calmly walked in a forest Yun Qiang started thinking about his dreams. A long time had passed since his last dream; in fact, the last time he was forced into a dream, he was still a mortal.
All of my dreams had some kind of continuity. The last time my counterpart was fighting blood cultivators with his team. Why is he alone now?
He wondered what his counterpart was going to do in this dream. Maybe he was seeking someone for a duel, or he was investigating some case related to a blood cultivator?
Maybe I can use this occasion to study his Fighting style.
His annoyance was instantly replaced with interest. Right now he lacked both knowledge and experience about combat. However, his counterpart clearly didn't lack these qualities and had even developed his own fighting style! This dream could easily become a huge learning experience for him.
He looked at his counterpart with longing in his eyes, anxiously waiting for a fight to break out at any moment.
Dream Yun Qiang continued walking, his steps neither slow nor fast. It seemed he didn't feel tense or in a hurry. Instead, it seemed like he was a normal man enjoying the scenery while traveling.
Yun Qiang continued to look at the scene. Considering the past dreams, a fight was bound to blow up at any moment. His counterpart spent a lot of his time fighting; there was no way this dream was just a random part of his life with no value. All of the dreams held some kind of significance or lesson. Yes, most of them were about the dangers of blood cultivation, but it still counted as a lesson from his dreams.
A small village appeared at the end of the road. It looked like a normal village with some sparse wooden houses and some farms in its surroundings. His counterpart started running towards it while smiling.
Yun Qiang could feel the excitement of his counterpart. Yes, it was here. A fight was clearly about to start; maybe an evil beast or cultivator was hiding in the village. He started paying even more attention; he didn't want to miss any detail of the ensuing fight.
The houses became clearer, and only a few meters were left to the entrance of the village. Yun Qiang smiled in anticipation. It was almost time.
Yun Qiang woke up, he was lying in his bed, his eyes staring at the roof while his face was contorted in an ecstatic yet creepy smile.
The dream had ended.
He couldn't believe it, the dream had ended and nothing had happened, his counterpart spent the entire dream walking in the woods. He felt extremely confused, he thought that every dream he received carried some kind of teaching or lesson, but this time it was just aimless walking.
He sighed, there was nothing he could do since his dreams were never under his control to begin with. He closed his eyes and started meditating to calm himself down.
He opened his eyes in shock.
I reached the third stage!
After a brief moment of excitment he forced himself to calm down and check on his rings. Sure enough, his fourth ring was still there, silently rotating while being hidden by the others light. He spent a few hours meditating before opening his eyes again. Now that he had reached the third stage it was time to ask Voss about the nature of the fourth circle.
He dawned his armor and started heading towards the training ground where he would find his team leader. It was still dawn, and almost nobody could be seen walking around the Shard. Only a handful of patrolling guards passed him by as he made his way through the stillness of dawn.
Once he arrived at the training ground, he found Voss training with a series of green weights attached to his body. Somehow these weights weren't attached to him with a rope, but it looked like they were naturally attracted to Voss and wanted to weigh him down.
Voss instantly noticed his presence and greeted him.
"Yun Qiang, you have come early, you don't want to relax on your free days?"
Yun Qiang looked around the training ground, excluding Voss it was completely empty. He moved towards the still moving Voss and respectfully bowed to him.
"I have come to ask Sir some questions," he paused for a second before adding, "and train."
Voss stopped his training and looked him in the eyes, he was still sweating and the green weights didn't seem to want to detach from his body.
"I see. Well, I'm all ears, tell me."
He detached the weights from his body to show that he was listening to him.
Yun Qiang cut to the chase and told him about his doubts.
"I can see a fourth ring when I meditate. I wanted to ask if Sir could tell me what element it is."
Voss's serious face softened; he probably expected some more hard-hitting questions. He put his hand on Yun Qiang's.
"I will circulate my Qi to check on you. Don't move."
When a small puff of Qi entered his body, Yun Qiang couldn't help but stiffen. The Qi gave him a strange, almost ticklish sensation as it travelled through his veins.
"The reason I'm asking is because I know this fourth ring can't be of the Qi element, and it can't be body element since I already have maxed my body element with the last two stages. But I never cultivated my soul, so it can't be a soul ring either."
There were a few seconds of silence before Voss finally spoke. "Are you sure you never cultivated your soul?"
"Yes, Sir, I have never cultivated my soul."
Voss gave him a doubtful look, however it was apparent from Yun Qiang's lack of hesitation and confused expression that he wasn't lying.
"Yun Qiang…," Voss gave him a strange look, "You have two soul stages and one Qi stage. The fourth circle that you are seeing is your first body stage."
Yun Qiang looked at him, his look was even more confused than before.
"But I have nev—"
Voss silenced him abruptly by putting a hand on his mouth.
"Don't tell anyone about this. You will only put yourself in danger."
Yun Qiang was confused by this. Shouldn't he tell everyone about this? People that had high soul talent were extremely rare; if he could get noticed by a rich family or sect, he could still become someone important and live a luxurious life. He still remembered how disciples with good talent were treated in the Skyward Sect. Maybe he could become like them and live a good life in some sect or family.
He was about to ask about this, but Voss preceded him.
"Even if soul talent is more important than spiritual root quality, it's a hidden danger for most cultivators." Voss paused for a second.
"My old team leader once told me this: spiritual roots are a gift from heaven and can't be stolen, while innate talents are a gift of nature and have no owner."
Voss's eyes seemed that of a reminiscing old man.
"The meaning is that spiritual root quality is something unchangeable and unstealable. While talents like bloodlines, special physiques, and soul quality can be stolen by others."
Voss's eyes dimmed, as if recalling something unpleasant.
"If you want an example, there is a Golden Generation member called Mo Han; it is known that he is one of the few of the Golden Generation with a high-quality soul. However, what is also well known is the fact that he stole it from a mortal."
Yun Qiang's chest tightened. "Stole… a soul?"
"Yes, every evil cultivator has some secret techniques to steal souls from their enemies; if they got their hands on you, you would only become food for them. And don't think the righteous sects are different from them. There are a lot of desperate righteous cultivators out there who would use your soul as fuel for their breakthrough without thinking twice about righteous or evil."
Yun Qiang asked another question.
"Why? If they can exchange or steal soul quality from others, why don't they do it until they get one of a high enough quality?"
"There is no way for people to measure soul quality, and these kinds of techniques require a lot of materials, so people can't afford to do them multiple times."
Voss put his hand on Yun Qiang's shoulders. They locked eyes.
"However, Yun Qiang, you are different. You managed to gain two small stages without even cultivating your soul. This means that your soul quality is extremely high; who knows, maybe you even have some other soul-related talents. But you are also without a background; nobody would risk their life to prevent your talent from being stolen."
In other words, he was a nobody. If evil cultivators found him, they would kill him and steal his soul quality. If righteous cultivators found him, they would take away his soul quality and put it in someone more desirable. He was alone.
A chill ran down his spine. He looked at Voss. He would definitely keep the secret, however…
"The array…" he whispered these words in an unsure tone.
Voss slowly patted him on his back and reassured him,
"Don't worry, we aren't being watched right now, and it's unlikely that someone decides to search for this specific moment. We are safe."
Voss made sure to emphasize the we, since he would probably get killed along with Yun Qiang for hiding such a thing from his superiors.
Yun Qiang looked down. He had committed another mistake; he should have just continued training without minding the fourth circle.
"What do we do now?..." Yun Qiang's voice trembled as he spoke.
Voss gave him one of his reassuring smiles.
"What we always do. Train and survive. Once your three years are up, you can leave the guard and cultivate in peace somewhere else. If you have enough time to grow, you will definitely become someone strong that nobody dares to offend or attack."
Voss sounded confident, as if he could see his future.
"You… know about my three-year sentence?"
He patted Yun Qiang on the back.
"Yes, when new recruits enter the guard, what is known about their past is sent to us team leaders."
"So Sir knows about my brother?"
Voss didn't hesitate and stated as if he were reading from a book,
"Yun Qiang has a brother named Nian. Due to a lucky encounter, he has been taken in as a servant by the Liang family."
Yun Qiang was about to ask him if he could use his brother's connection to enter the Liang family, but he quickly choked on his words. Voss's information was wrong. His brother was a disciple of the third elder of the Skyward Pavilion, not a random servant.
He quickly weighed if he had to correct Voss or go on with the rest of the conversation. He chose the latter. Until that moment, he still hoped he could use his brother's status to rebuild his connections with the Liang family, but now it was clear he couldn't do something like this anymore.
"Yes..." he paused for a second, "Sir, is there a way to train my body faster?"
While talking, Yun Qiang looked around the empty training ground. He couldn't bring himself to look into Voss's eyes; he knew Voss would notice something was wrong with him.
Luckily, Voss didn't investigate further, and it seemed he misinterpreted his behaviour as something else.
"Don't worry, the Liang family knows how to divide grudges. If the alchemist you offended wants to get revenge on you, he won't attack your brother."
He patted him on his back.
"As for improving your body faster, there is only one solution: train more! Come on, we will train together!"
Voss's energy seemed contagious, and soon Yun Qiang found himself training with Voss while throwing his worries to the back of his mind. A resigned but hopeful smile bloomed on his face.
Voss is right. I only have to train and get stronger. I still have two body stages to go through; I shouldn't worry about my soul.
They trained for the entire day, only stopping for lunch and dinner. When it was time to say their goodbyes, Yun Qiang tentatively asked Voss,
"Sir, can we train again tomorrow?"
Voss looked at him. He seemed happy about the proposal.
"Yes, but only in the morning. I have to write and send a few reports to my superior in the afternoon."
Yun Qiang bowed. "Thank you, Sir!"
Voss breathed out some air.
"When we aren't working, you can call me Voss. Keep 'Sir' or 'Team Leader' for official occasions."
"Thank you! Good night, Voss."
"Good night."
Then, each of them walked toward their quarters. Yun Qiang walked tired but satisfied about the day, while Voss seemed lost in thought.