"Come, finish cooking these. I'm tired and low on Qi so have to meditate for a few minutes,

" Hao Xuan said looking at Jin Wang. He was cooking three dishes at once. There was fried rice in one, meat being grilled in another pan and soup being heated up in another.

"Sure,

" Jin Wang got up and took the spatula and tongs from his hand. It was normal for cultivators to spend weeks or even months out in the wild so knowing how to cook properly was one of the most common and best skills to have.

Hao Xuan sat down beside the fire and closed his eyes, appearing in the mind palace. Ensis, Black, and White were all sitting around the podium in the middle.

Ensis had his eyes closed and had wisps of Qi coming out from the sword placed horizontally in his lap. Black and White sitting in a corner entwined together like ropes.

Hao Xuan smiled and walked up to the podium with light steps so as not to disturb any of them. But upon reaching the podium he froze. A white little kitten was sleeping under the skill books he had learned, snoring loudly.

"How the hell did this brat get in here?

" Hao Xuan frowned. He hadn't initiated a contract with Zhurong nor severed his soul. Yet here he was, sleeping soundly within his mind palace.

The Mind Palace was where the soul resided and without the permission of the owner, no one else could enter it, or so it used to be.

"I'll deal with you later,

" he stroked the sleeping Zhurong's white fur and moved on. The door to Hyde's room was open so he just entered without knocking or announcing himself.

Hyde was, as usual, sitting in his chair facing the window. Everything was the same as the last time, other than a chessboard to the left of the room. Hao Xuan frowned and walked up to it. It looked like someone had been playing as there were pieces on either side of the board.

"Playing with yourself?

" Hao Xuan sniggered.

"Very funny. And yes, in a way. Come have a seat, we need to talk about your future,

" Hyde's monotone voice came from behind the newspaper that covered his face completely.

"Ohh,

" Hao Xuan raised an eyebrow and walked up to the other chair and sat down.

"What do you read in it? Actually, what even is that?

" he asked looking at the newspaper.

"It's none of your business,

" Hyde folded the paper and put it on the side table. He looked at Hao Xuan up and down and shook his head.

"You're almost at the spirit realm so its time you understood what really is the 'Soul Severing Heavenly constitution' and how to properly use it,

" Hyde said calmly and without waiting for a response, started explaining everything.

It took almost an hour until they were done. Hao Xuan didn't have a chance to speak up even once and could only listen. But the more he heard, the deeper his frown got.

Hyde told him many things, but the gist of it was that the 'severing' ability that came with the constitution was only the most basic one. Most of the other abilities were locked until he reached the spirit realm and would be unlocked as he became stronger.

What caught Hao Xuan's eye was that upon reaching the spirit realm, he would be able to get detailed information about all of his 'followers'. This information would be extracted from their blood and the hidden memories within it.

Even on earth, many people believed that the DNA of every living creature held far more than just their genetic information. Mainly that one could get secrets about their bloodlines and ancestors, and it seemed like that was true.

Even vampires in this world had similar abilities. More powerful vampires would be able to extract an entire lifetimes' worth of information by ingesting a single drop of blood.

But Hao Xuan's ability would be different in the sense that he would not be able to

"see

" their memories, only get some specific information.

This would allow him to help his followers evolve and become stronger, just like their ancestors.

This 'extraction' ability had another use. Once and only once, he could 'extract' an ability or a skill from each follower, making it his own.

Meaning he would essentially be able to learn entirely new abilities and skills without actually having to go through the learning process itself.

Like the 'The Six-Armed Heavenly Ape' technique he got from Green and Red. He had spent weeks leaning and making it his own before actually being to use it in combat. But after unlocking the 'extracting' ability, there would be no need to learn it. It would just be...his.

Also, that was a technique that could be learned by other people. But taking Black and White's flame attacks for example, there was no way for Hao Xuan to acquire that ability other than through 'extraction'.

That was an innate ability of their species and could not simply be learned by others.

"This is how we are supposed to fight. The quality of our followers and their numbers directly influences our combat strength,

" Hyde said somberly.

He paused and then looked out the window where it was always snowing and mumbled.

"This was one of the reasons for our downfall as well. We focused so much on becoming stronger that we forgot about its repercussions. The cruel heavens will not simply let you become their equal. You have to be very careful.

"

Hao Xuan looked at him for a good few minutes in silence.

"Who are you? You are certainly not my 'other' personality or whatever. How can you know all these things?

"