The Broken Halo

Chapter 982 - 981: The Ten Physiques

’Heavenly-Demonic Dual-Meridian Physique.’

Rowan read the name again.

He recognised the words separately. Together, they left him wondering what exactly the System had found inside him.

Was that why he had demonic energy?

Was he truly born with this physique?

”Rowan.” Sir Luke leaned closer. ”What did you see? You look as though something frightened you.”

”There’s a physique listed here, Master. I don’t know what it means.”

Rather than try to explain, Rowan concentrated on showing them the window. The lettering became visible to the three people gathered around his bench.

Adrian began reading. His lips parted when he reached the talent, but before he could comment, his attention caught on the entry beneath Bloodline.

Celeste bent forward.

”Heavenly-Demonic Dual-Meridian Physique,” she murmured, a small crease forming between her brows.

”I’ve never heard of that,” Adrian said. He looked toward Sir Luke, whose face had grown equally serious.

”Have you, Master?” Rowan asked.

”The name sounds familiar.” Luke rubbed his jaw. ”I’m trying to remember where I heard it.”

Rowan watched him hopefully. He had grown used to his master having answers whenever he asked about cultivation.

”Oh!”

Celeste snapped her fingers.

”I remember now.”

”You know what it is?” Rowan asked, turning toward her.

She looked from the status window to him. Her mouth opened, but she took another look at the name before answering.

”I read about it in a book on rare physiques. Rowan, there are ten that stand above the others. The gods gave humanity their names and the order in which they were ranked.”

”Ten physiques?” Adrian repeated.

He had never heard of them before.

Celeste nodded.

”They’re so rare that hundreds of years can pass without one appearing. For some, it can be thousands.”

Rowan swallowed.

”And mine is one of them?”

She nodded again, looking almost as bewildered as he felt.

”The tenth was the Elemental Emperor Physique. Elemental Empress for a woman. Ninth was the Calamity Thunder Physique, and eighth was the Transcendent Soul Physique.”

Sir Luke folded his arms, listening closely.

”Seventh was the Primordial Titan Physique,” Celeste continued. ”Then the Undying Phoenix Physique in sixth place, followed by the Myriad Poison Physique in fifth.”

Rowan tried to remember them in order, but he kept glancing at his own entry. She had already named half the list.

”The Eternal Void Physique was fourth. The World Sovereign Physique was third.”

”And second?” Rowan asked.

”The Samsara Physique.”

Celeste paused. Adrian turned fully toward her, and Sir Luke’s arms lowered.

She pointed at Rowan’s window.

”The first was the Heavenly-Demonic Dual-Meridian Physique.”

Rowan stared at her finger with wide eyes.

”First?”

The question came from Adrian. He sounded as though he wanted her to check and be sure of what she was saying.

”Yes,” Celeste said. ”I’m certain of the order.”

Sir Luke read the entry again. His student had only just awakened. A few minutes earlier, they had been wishing him a happy birthday but to his greatest surprise, his student had a physique that was ranked first by the gods.

Rowan looked down at his hands.

There was no sudden strength in them to explain what she had said. He could feel the two energies moving, but he was sitting on the same bench, in the same clothes, with three people who now seemed unsure what to make of him.

”Are there other people with it?” he asked.

”I’ve never heard of one,” Celeste replied. ”And I’ve never read an account of it appearing on Earth. You might genuinely be the first human born with it.”

Adrian let out a breath.

”The first...”

Rowan couldn’t decide whether he liked the sound of that.

”But what does it do?” he asked. ”Apart from nearly killing me.”

Celeste’s expression softened.

”The book didn’t say much, but it did explain the name. You have two sets of meridians, or energy pathways. One carries Aether. The other carries demonic energy.”

Rowan sat forward.

”They’re moving along different routes now. I can feel it.”

”Then that part matches,” she said. ”Your body can hold and use both energies at the same time. Each has its own pathways, allowing them to circulate without interfering with one another.”

”They didn’t seem to know that earlier,” Rowan muttered.

Celeste glanced at Sir Luke.

”The book didn’t explain what the first awakening would be like,” she admitted. ”I can’t tell you why they clashed before settling. But what you’re feeling now is what it described.”

Rowan relaxed a little. At least the two energies weren’t doing something entirely unheard of.

”There was another detail I remember,” she continued. ”It said a person with this physique could possess demonic energy without a Chaos Flame.”

”What’s a Chaos Flame?” Rowan asked.

Celeste brought a hand toward her chest.

”It forms within a demon’s Demon Heart. It’s the source of their demonic energy and the most important part of their existence.”

”More important than their heart?”

”Yes. Some demons can survive having their heads cut off. Others can survive a blade through the heart. But if their Chaos Flame is destroyed, they die. There’s no surviving that.”

Rowan’s hand went to his own chest.

”Do I have one?”

”No,” Celeste said firmly. ”That was what made your physique so unusual in the book. You can possess demonic energy without either a Demon Heart or a Chaos Flame.”

Adrian leaned toward the window.

”Your bloodline is listed as Nil,” he added. ”And your race is Human.”

Rowan read those entries again. He had barely noticed them before.

”So I’m not becoming a demon?”

”Nothing here says that you are,” Sir Luke replied. ”Don’t decide there’s something wrong with you just because one of the energies is unfamiliar.”

Rowan looked at him, remembering the instant all three had recognised the demonic energy that was coming out of his body.

”I thought you might...”

He stopped.

Celeste touched his arm.

”We were worried about you, Rowan. You were in pain, and we didn’t understand why.”

He nodded, embarrassed by how much relief those words gave him.

”There’s more,” she said. ”Normally, demons entering Earth suffer a suppression. The world resists their power, and being here makes it harder for them to use their strength properly.”

Rowan recalled the words of Commander Mara when she said that the demons ran towards the closing rift.

A question suddenly came to his head and he decided to ask.

”Are there humans that use demonic energy and not aether? My father once told me that some humans chose to betray the human race and sided with demons in the past.”

Celeste’s face grew solemn.

”Some betray Earth and seek power that way. They’re often called demonic humans. Besides the danger of contamination, they face tribulations. Misfortune and calamities follow them because the world rejects what they’re doing.”

Rowan’s fingers tightened against the bench.

”But that won’t happen to me?”

”Not for possessing demonic energy,” Celeste assured him. ”According to the book, your physique allows you to use it on Earth without that suppression or punishment.”

He glanced toward the sky above the training ground with a slightly worried expression.

Fortunately for him, nothing had changed in the sky.

”You won’t face a tribulation simply because you use the energy your body was born to carry,” she explained. ”Nor the bad luck that afflicts those demonic humans.”

Sir Luke listened with increasing interest.

”And on the other side?” he asked. ”What happens if he enters the Demon Realm?”

”The same protection applies there,” Celeste replied. ”Humans ordinarily suffer even greater suppression when they enter that realm. Its environment makes the risks much worse for us.”

She turned back to Rowan.

”You wouldn’t suffer that suppression. Its demonic energy wouldn’t contaminate you either. Your body is capable of handling it.”

Rowan took a moment to understand.

”I could use Aether there?”

”Yes.”

”And the demonic energy around me?”

”You could cultivate with it. Here on Earth, you can cultivate using Aether. In the Demon Realm, you can use the demonic energy available there.”

Rowan looked at his master.

”That means I wouldn’t have to stop getting stronger if I went there.”

Luke nodded, though his expression remained serious.

”It would remove a difficulty most human expeditions have to prepare for. A very considerable one.”

Adrian shook his head.

”Two kinds of energy, and neither world suppresses him. No wonder it was ranked first.”

Celeste looked at the window again.

”That’s all I can remember reading about it. There may be much more. The contents of the physique was short, and it didn’t explain how everything worked.”

She gave Rowan an apologetic smile.

”I wish I could tell you more.”

Rowan barely heard the apology.

He had spent the first moments of his birthday wondering whether his own body would kill him. Then he had worried that the people beside him would see him as a demon.

Now Celeste was telling him that the gods had placed his physique first among the ten.

He could cultivate on Earth. He could enter the Demon Realm and cultivate there too.

Both energies continued moving beneath his skin, close enough for him to feel their differences. They had nearly torn him apart, yet neither hurt him now.

Rowan looked back at his status window.

His eyes moved from his race to the name of his physique. Then he read the name again, sitting in a daze while the others watched him.