The Martial Unity

Chapter 3181: A Body Five Minutes After Death

Rui raised an eyebrow at her words. ”How do you plan on getting stronger from this point on? One of your greatest sources of growth was the Martial’s memories. And now that you have it, you don’t have the bottomless reservoir of power that you did before.”

She nodded with an uncertain expression.

”I can’t learn techniques the conventional way,” she heaved a sigh. ”I can only learn them by virtue of action and repeated action. Even the Yin-Yang Shield of the Gen Temple, I managed to learn because my grandmother created a routine of actions for me to master that would allow me to learn the technique, but...”

She heaved a sigh.

”It’s very difficult to do that with high principles, which is what I need to learn to grow stronger. I realized this sore shortcoming of mine against Anthea.”

Rui nodded. ”It is truly strange for a peak Martial Sage to only have super strong punches and kicks. Although you truly have some of the strongest That I have ever seen in my entire. You need to spice it up, you know? Get some electromagnetism going. That’s basic, like even Martial Masters can use that.”

”I don’t understand such complicated stuff,” she complained to him. ”I just need someone to create a dance for each of these techniques and I will master them in a heartbeat!”

Rui pondered her words, shrugging lightly.

”I think I can help you with that.”

Her eyes lit up knowingly.

”I’ve never done it before, but...” he stirred. ”But with a little bit of tinkering to the criteria and constraint parameters of my Forge of Creation, I should be able to help create movement routines for you to master and learn.”

”Yes!” she celebrated, lunging towards him with a powerful hug.

The force she exerted almost cracked his ribs.

”Where would you be without me?” he squeezed out under the grip of her vice.

”...Dead.”

Her tone grew serious.

Rui gazed deep into her sincere amber eyes, heaving a sigh.

”You would have never died in the first place. It was my weakness that got us there.”

”...Our weakness,” she corrected him. ”But it was your strength that got me back.”

”Only to drown you in a nightmarish hellscape for millennia,” Rui remarked with a hint of sorrow. ”Don’t you hate me for putting you through that?”

His tone was hesitant.

”...I love you for giving me the opportunity to come back,” she replied with a knowing tone. ”You feel guilty for it. But you don’t have to.”

She smiled at him.

”Thank you.”

Rui gazed at her deeply in silence, before shaking his head. ”You give me too much credit, but you’re welcome. For now...”

He directed a sweeping gaze across the blizzard they were still in.

”Let’s get the hell out of here. We have places to go.”

She stepped back, raising an eyebrow.

”I have to visit the Esocline Federation,” Rui informed her. ”Your conversation just added another reason.”

Her amber eyes grew hazy as she understood what he was referring to.

”I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with the Psycher...” she murmured with a thoughtful tone. ”I must thank him.”

Rui raised an eyebrow. ”Thank him? He tampered with your mind as a baby.”

”...He fulfilled his promise,” she remarked. ”He fulfilled his promise to help find me a way tothe Enlightenment of Self. I have finally reached the Sage Realm in this body.”

Rui couldn’t help but grow uncomfortable when she spoke as Esil.

But he knew that it was hardly fair to ask her to hide her identity from him. His goal was to expose himself to Esil and grow to her, after all.

”What about you, Amare?” he asked with a tone. ”You once told me that you don’t resent him, for only thanks to him did you meet your grandmother and others in the Gen Temple.”

She smiled warmly at those words.

”And you.”

Her tone was one of sincerity.

”I must thank him twice.”

Rui shook his head. ”You’re just as insane as I am.”

She giggled at those words. ”All the more reason...”

She extended a hand to him.

”Let’s go together.”

Rui gazed into her eyes before placing his in hers.

WHOOSH

The two of them took to the skies as they shot through the Kandrian Empire, heading North-West towards the Esocline Federation, hand in hand.

”What business do you have in the Esocline Federation?”

Rui’s eyes lit up with a hint of eagerness.

A hint of greed.

”Power, of course,” his tone was eager. ”I would hardly pay a visit to the place otherwise, especially since the Esoterist is in the manifold with the Astromind working on the space station. I don’t have any love for the Psycher, but I do need to fulfill my promise to him.”

Amare raised an eyebrow. ”Promise?”

”He wanted my method of breakthrough to the Sage Realm,” Rui replied. ”Since I too overcame the curse of the Soul Transfer Ritual without needing to go through the tedious process of sealing my memories in another person. I told him that I would only give to him after you woke up. And, well...”

He turned to Amare with a wry smile.

”You seem pretty awakened to me. Although...”

His smile grew mischievous. ”With how careless and dim you were, it’s hard to say—Ow!”

Amare’s fist banged on his head like a hammer as she glowered at him while Rui chuckled at her expense.

”Scary.”

”Is that the only reason that you’re visiting the Esocline Federation?” she raised an eyebrow. ”You mentioned something about power.”

”Yeah...” Rui remarked. ”They transfered Anthea’s corpse to the Esocline Federation instantly after his death through the World Bridge and have suspended him in a stasis field where his body will remain frozen in time essentially. Just as it has been with you while you were trapped in your mind, pursuing Enlightenment of Self. Which means...”

Rui’s tone grew excited.

”His body is still only five minutes after death biochemically,” he remarked with an excited tone. ”And you, of all people, know what I can do with a body five minutes after death.”