Molting the Mortal Coil

Remembering that Sage wasn’t privy to their findings, Peak Master Zhen was actually kind enough to explain, “We’ve already reviewed the core techniques of the Soul Taming Abode. If that really is the Soul Training Grounds you’ve found, we might have some of the Disciples start training in them. You see, the Soul Taming Abode’s core techniques were based upon taming a beast spirit. Normally they’re quite weak, but they have an advantage over regular ghosts in that their will is quite weak.”

“I see you’re still confused so I’ll elaborate. Ghosts are remnants of Soul that are clinging to unfulfilled desires or attachments of their former lives. The greater their bonds to things in this world, the more powerful the ghosts become. Unintelligent beast spirits are usually formed by beasts dying too young, or too rapidly. They don’t have the time to come to terms with their end and accept death, which leaves behind a spirit. They’re weak, but also the easiest to tame and control. At least that’s what we’ve learned from the Soul Taming Abode’s techniques. They communicate with the beast spirits and build a bond with them like a Master and Servant. The greater the connection the spirit forms with them the more powerful it becomes. The most advanced technique that remained in the library is used by those over Rank 6. Once the soul can leave the body, the Cultivator can permanently fuse their soul with the Beast Spirit. There’s also quite a few techniques to use the beast spirit for combat, support, and tracking. The technique claims that once the soul and beast spirit fuse together they will be just as strong as the Cultivator’s body and qi, and their methods are far more mysterious and unusual.”

Sage had to let all this information sink in before he finally asked, “Will these techniques be restricted, or open to the whole Sect?”

The Peak Master nodded at the insight of his inquiry, “Good question. I’ve spoken with the other Peak Masters and we’re going to allow a few Disciples to test them before determining how beneficial they might be. There’s no telling if the Soul Taming Abode was wiped out or if this is merely an older abandoned dwelling. They might still exist out there and we don’t want to make it public knowledge that we are using their techniques unless we’re sure they’re gone.”

Sage nodded, knowing he wasn’t exactly top choice as one of the testers. Additionally, he didn’t exactly need to capture a beast spirit as he could already form a Twin Soul. He was far more interested in the other techniques. If they were usable by beast spirits, perhaps he could make use of them with his Twin Soul. He thanked the Peak Master for the information and marked the location of the training grounds on the most current map of the Valley. He also reminded her of the swarms of beast spirits that were in the Lake of Souls, which might be useful for those chosen Disciples. As reward he only wished to be given clearance to purchase the Beast Spirit related techniques of the Soul Taming Abode, to which he was given a lukewarm response. The tests would have to be performed first, before he would be cleared.

Sage spent a couple days at the Soul Taming Abode preparing more meals and catching up with other miscellaneous duties before heading out again to search for treasure. The next couple spots he checked were destroyed or otherwise non-existent, but a few weeks later at the fifth site, his luck improved. The map marking showed some sort of house, but upon examining the area there was no sign of habitation. He was about to leave and chalk it up to another failed hunt when he noticed a pattern upon the valley wall. Among the many scattered rock formations and ridges there was a winding path. Parts of it had fallen away, and other parts were blocked by a boulder, but as he stepped onto the start of the path he could see it clearly.

Cutting back vegetation and pushing aside or climbing over rocks, Sage made his way up the winding path till he reached the end of it halfway up the cliff wall, near a hundred feet up. The path dipped downwards, creating a high point that hid a small cave. The entrance was a few feet wide and a half-dozen tall, barely the size of a doorway. Cutting aside vines and bushes with a blade, he stepped inside and walked down a tight hall for a dozen feet before the cave widened into a small room. The floor, ceiling, and walls of the small room were perfectly flat and straight, much different than the roughness of the cave he’d just passed down. This room seemed to have been created and not naturally formed.

At the far side of the room was a door with an octagon carved onto it. When he approached a circle drew itself in the air. It was a spectral image of a circle that lined up with each of the points of the octagon floating a few feet in front of the shape on the door. In the center of the circle a symbol began to form. Line after line, stroke after stroke, the symbol grew more and more complex before his eyes. Sage tried to record everything he saw into his memory, the symbol seeming to bloom before his eyes like the blossom of a flower. Finally, the transformations stopped and the full symbol sat before his eyes. Amazed, Sage took out his journal and recorded down as much of the symbol as he could.

As was his usual pattern, once Sage finished recording the array down he then started his analysis. The array was unlike anything he’d ever seen before and he had trouble making any progress whatsoever. He’d already referenced all of the knowledge about array symbols and formations he’d amassed from his time at the Holy Flame Sect. Only when he started to flip through the new foundational books he’d found at the Soul Taming Abode was he able to finally make a breakthrough. While searching through the recorded knowledge on Formations, Sage had a hunch and called up the most basic book on Seals. What he found shocked and amazed him as the structure of the pattern in front of him more closely matched that of Seals than it did an Array Formation.

Have I found something related to the extinct Seal Masters?

Sage didn’t let his errant thoughts distract his studies and quickly started to consume the foundational knowledge related to Seals. There was so much of it that his time ran out quickly and he had to head back. Before leaving Sage made a new copy of the pattern on the door, using the new information he’d learned in order to copy down more of the relevant information.

Back at the Soul Taming Abode, Sage picked up his study on Seals and returned to his usual duties. Once he had deciphered that Seal he would return back and see what was behind the door. Unfortunately for him, time was up. Peak Master Zhen informed him that they’d completed the archival of the upper two floors of the library and the time allotted for their exploration expedition was used up. They’d spent nearly half a year and it was time for the Inner Court Disciples to end this training mission and return to their usual routines. There was a yearly ranking tournament to perform and contribution points to be spent and earned. Like most Sects, the Holy Flame Sect used the spirit of friendly competition to allow their Disciples to grow. Outings like this were used to temper them in the fires of true danger, but they were a rarity and not the norm. All but the most evil of Sects would be eager to protect their Disciples.

The entire library of the Soul Taming Abode was loaded into a few dozen large Storage Chests. These chests were similar to the ones used for food but the arrays embedded in them were tuned to protect against aging rather than temperature. Given that the ‘books’ weren’t all uniform in type and style it only made sense they didn’t bother with special book carrying apparatus. Before finding out, Sage was imagining they would have special humidity seals to protect paper, only to learn that normal paper books were actually among the minority for Technique Manuals. Most of the valuable ones were stored on arrays carved in stone tablets, spiritual imprints left on special types of jade, or even copied into Memory Spheres.

The other two floors of the library were important as well, but the Storage Chests kept constant temperature and were essentially airless within which seemed to work just fine for storing books. Of course, these concerns were mostly moot as the books would only be in storage for a short period. The special storage chests were merely precautions in the event of tragedy. The Flying Ship would return to the Sect within a few days and the books would be disseminated into the Holy Flame Sect’s own libraries in short order.