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nHaving obtained control over that green scaled lizard sucesfully, Aster nodded and then he took out a book from the mind space.

n“What are you doing?”, Esmeralda’s curious voice could be heard coming from Aster’s right, where a small green wisp of light was floating a few centimeters away from his face.

nEsmeralda’s strength diminished from the very moment she entered a contract with Kana, she who used to be probably as strong as a Heavenly Conqueror within her secret realm, was reduced to have influence equal to the middle stages of the Transcending realm.

nBut it was for the better, in exchange for her realm regressing she gained the ability to grow the way she wanted instead of being limited by being a spirit wind, that’s what she obtained through her contract with Kana, as for Kana, she obtained Esmeralda’s special wind which has now integrated with hers.

nKana re-named it as “Fragrant Wind”, but Esmeralda’s wind originally had eroding properties due to its fierceness, that’s why she was easily able to integrate poison attributes into herself, and that is also why the guys from the Tempest family wanted to obtain her, she perfectly complemented the poisonous wind of the Tempest lineage.

nThat being said, Esmeralda didn’t obtain the capacity to use poison like Vivian does, she became able to redirect it, like how the wind will take away detrimental things floating in the air, refreshing the area.

nThat’s what was supposed to be used to channel Vivian’s poison in a way that the toll her poison had on her body was lessened, but ultimately Aster’s spirit energy did a better job so Esmeralda only taught Aster the process and guided him the first time, her job regarding Vivian ended like that, very much to Julian’s surprise, since the spirit wind that his family was guarding was basically given away for “free”, on the other hand he was more than happy that Vivian was healthier than and happier than ever, though he sometimes looked at Aster with accusatory eyes due to the closeness that Vivian had with him.

n“So, you can now leave Kana’s body to explore on your own?”, asked Aster, Esmeralda softly snorted at him not answering but she still said.

n“We both have grown thanks to that Kana’s efforts, the more she becomes closer to the wind the more of my freedom I will regain, though I can only come out in this form to not put a strain on that little girl’s dantian”.

nAster nodded, and then an interested expression appeared on his face, he extended his hand and used his right index finger to poke that little green wisp.

n“Mm, what are you… uhhh”, Esmeralda was taken by surprise but as she was asking Aster what he wanted, his finger shone and the green wisp was covered in a dazzling golden light, which made Esmeralda let out a comfortable sound.

n“Oh, so it did work, I thought about it and I seem to remember you saying we were incredibly compatible despite our attributes not matching, so I figured that while you can’t give me your wind since you are contracted by Kana, nothing prevents me from giving you spirit energy”, said Aster.

nEsmeralda knew how wealthy Aster was, if the only requirement for her to use a copy of herself to be outside of Kana’s body was spirit energy, she would have just asked for some of them, a problem that can be solved with money is not a problem for the current Aster, at least not at the level of middle grade Stellar Systems.

nThe green wisp moved until it was directly facing Aster, before Esmeralda’s voice could be heard coming from it.

n“With those eyes of yours, there is no way you can’t see “them” right, stop before the link is completely formed…”, she said.

nAster’s golden pupils changed to vertical ones, he looked downwards and saw green “chains” with multiple spiked teeth mouths on them, which were connecting his dantian and the green wisp.

nThen under Esmeralda’s surprised eyes, Aster casually snapped his fingers and then the chain which were invisible until a second ago lit up in golden flames.

n“Screee!”, the multiple mouths screeched in pain as the chain cracked before it was turned into thin dust that disappeared not too long after.

n“Only I decide whether my spirit energy contains annihilation or not and more importantly, how dares a mere curse try and snatch a gift from me, learn your place”, said Aster, he then placed his finger on the green wisp and once again injected spirit energy into it, but this time those strange chains didn’t appear, or more accurately they didn’t dare to appear, which made Aster smirk.

n“An artificially intelligent curse, I guess it was created by a really advanced hex master, what a shame the only runes that can survive after being exposed to my annihilation are the ones, I create using my soul energy so you better not interfere next time”, he coldly said.

n“…”, Esmeralda remained silent but Aster hadn’t finished yet, she was in for a scold.

n“We might not be in a contract, but Esmeralda is my friend, what do you think Kana will feel if she got to know you have been taking the burden that thing puts on your existence, all by yourself?”.

n“I… her dantian is too young, the pressure would have hindered her growth but if I told her, I was sure she wouldn’t be able to concentrate in her cultivation, this curse will naturally disperse when my hosts advances to the Transcending realms anyway”, mumbled Esmeralda with a somewhat ashamed voice tone, similar to the one child would use when they are caught red-handed stealing a cookie from the candy jar at home.

n“I get that, but are there no older or stronger people in our family that could have helped, specially since we have quite a few talented princesses around?”, said Aster which made Esmeralda remain silent.

nThough Aster said that, he understood why Esmeralda didn’t say anything about it, curses are a branch of spirit formations that specialize in making their target suffer or go through certain difficulties.

nAs usual, it’s something that cultivators created by taking inspiration on something, to be more specific in the punishment that the heavenly law casts upon those that break the law, of course within the evil faction.

nUsing curses doesn’t make one an evil cultivator, it’s just a field of cultivators are way more vicious than the heavenly law, so usually hex masters are evil cultivators, or at least many of them bloom within the evil faction.

nUsing curses doesn’t make one an evil cultivator, it’s just a field of specialty of rune mastering, but hex masters are known for holding grudges over the smallest things, and their curses reflect that, they are quite annoying enemies to deal with, as some curses might spread to other people depending the situation.

nProbably the one that was casted on Esmeralda belonged to that category, and it had to come from someone that has surpassed the Mortal realm, since Esmeralda knew about Eris and Mylene families.

n“My senses aren’t almighty, there is still a large gap between me and a Soul King, though I might be able to “see” things others can’t, there is a couple of “birds” who felt something was troubling you and whispered it to me”, said Aster before adding.

n“So, I thought about what could I gift you as a thanks for helping with Kana’s training and came to the conclusion that “freedom” is the best I have for you as of current”.

n“So, this is the gift I get for my “date” that’s strange according to the others, the gift always comes after a lot of teasing” said Esmeralda, which made Aster chuckle.

n“Well, I didn’t know you could separate from Kana like this so I was going to wait until she fell asleep to have a small conversation with you, but things turned out different than what I expected, also don’t think too much about it, I already have many things in my dantian, what’s another one at this point”, he said.

nAster wasn’t lying to make Esmeralda accept this gift, he had the black book where the twins resided staying in his dantian, besides the representations of the stars inside his inner universe.

nThe curse prevented Esmeralda from cultivating on her own and she couldn’t advance through Kana since that will take a toll in her body, but Aster’s barbaric way of training consisted in pushing himself to the limit, be at the energy, body or soul paths, he advanced by repeatedly putting more and more pressure into his dantian, meridians, flesh, bones, soul and mind.

nSo, he lending Esmeralda some of the processing capacity of his dantian, so that she could keep a small copy of herself out of Kana, didn’t amount to much, he produced more spirit energy than what he could use anyway, the only reason he hadn’t reached the Star Tribulation realm in the energy path is because he put quality over everything.

n“I see… in that case I’ll shamelessly accept this gift”, mumbled Esmeralda, as she thought.

n‘Back then I didn’t feel anything when those guys offered me heavenly treasures of all kinds, have gone softer after being isolated… or perhaps this is the first real gift I have ever received’, the green wisp slowly floated before it landed on top of Aster’s head. 𝒪𝑣𝐥𝒩xt.𝗇𝓔t

n“The view is better from this perspective, since you are controlling that lizard, so I’ll stay here, speaking of which you still haven’t told me what are you going to do with those two”, she said.

nAster inwardly laughed and decided to leave it at that, he is not a rune master but the curse on Esmeralda can’t affect him, so he is free to give her as much spirit energy as she needs, the best solution to her problems is helping Kana advance which is a win-win situation.

n“I’m aiming to two things, first, I want to see how they fair under pressure, for Kana I want to confirm her current battle prowess as for Espi I want to see what are its strengths and weaknesses, based on that we’ll start our training as spirit tamer and contracted spirit beast”.

nAster already knows what Kana has to work in, the little girl is too gentle, which isn’t a bad thing, if the cultivation world wasn’t filled with crazy bastards Aster wouldn’t let a single drop of blood stain Kana’s hands, unfortunately reality is often disappointing.

nAnd there is no way to live in this world without killing, stealing, harming or getting in other people’s ways, such is the life of a cultivator, but there is a solution for every problem, even for death apparently, he reincarnated after all.

nHe just needs Kana to notice those who are unworthy of her gentleness and make it so she can kill them without even the slightest sense of remorse or hesitation, that way she can keep being the kind bright little angel she is without being naïve enough to be taken advantage of.

nAs for Espi, the little snake has to strengthen its bond with Aster, through a variety of things, they have mutually chosen each other to be their first contractor and contracted, respectively, so their bond will be quite special as they are starting in from complete zero, there are three conditions that decide on the quality of a spirit tamer.

nFirst of all, willingness, for example, the guys from the Yin Azure Palace wanted to force a contract upon Myra, that’s the first mistake, a spirit tamer who isn’t legitimately trusted by its contracted spirit beast will never be able to exploit the full potential of its occupation.

nSecondly, there is age or for those related to spirit beasts, it would be more accurate to call it stage of growth.

nAccording to the book that Natasha and Charlotte left for Aster, a mistake that many aspirants to spirit tamers commit, is to chose immediate gains over long term benefits, in simple terms, they chose a spirit beast that is way stronger and in an older stage of growth than them, use it as a temporal boosting mean of some sort and then change focus when they can no longer enjoy those big benefits.

nWhich not only is bad for said spirit beast, but also for the spirit tamer, because once they have taken the easy path, they can no longer obtain the long-term benefits that come with being a spirit tamer, it’s a decision that has to be taken before making one’s first contract.

nThe previous method is popular because a lot don’t know if one spirit beast will be their limit, so they aren’t willing to have to cultivate a spirit beast from scratch, which often ends in regret.

nThe first two are often ignored for the sake of the third one which is compatibility, it’s not referring to attribute but whether the spirit beast is compatible with the other part, and here there is a big flaw, because the tamer can be incredibly compatible with the spirit beast it might not apply the other way around.

nA spirit beast rarely initiates a contract with a spirit tamer by itself, because unlike with others, the contract with a spirit tamer allows them to see their true names, which is the same as trusting their lives to others, on the other hand the spirit tamer at most will reach its limit in what contracted beasts regard, without any life-threatening risk involved.

nAlso, the one with the highest compatibility will reap the most benefits, so of course the spirit tamers choose a spirit beast with which they have the highest compatibility, whether the spirit beast has high compatibility with them or not.

nIn case you wonder, Espi was the one that offered Aster to make a contract with it, and their compatibilities are equally incredibly high, so both will benefit from their contract, and since the little snake is also on the same stage of growth, in other words near the infant stage like Aster, they meet the three conditions.

n“According to the book, to start the process of synchronization with a spirit beast, the latter has to stay in the proximity of its tamer for long periods of time, it’s as simple as that and yet many skip it by just chaining the spirit beast near them, instead of having it with them or venturing together”, said Aster.

n“And those are still not the worst, some interpret “proximity” according to their own beliefs or desires, such would have been the case of that ligress girl if it wasn’t for the fact that she isn’t completely a spirit beast, as strange as it sounds, she couldn’t be forced through either the means of a spirit element nor a spirit beast since she is neither but a hybrid”, added Esmeralda.

n“Crazy bastards”, mumbled Aster as he closed his eyes, even before Espi became his contracted spirit beast, his dragon lineage told him that the little wyrm was extraordinary, it became clearer than day that in the future Espi will shine so there won’t be a lack of people trying to take it from Aster’s side, but the same applies for many members of his family, and Aster’s duty is to make sure that those tries stay as that.

n…

nAt the other side of the jungle, two swift figures flashed through the thick vegetation, avoiding the different dangers that lingered in the area, since the “game” demanded them to work together instead of competing with each other, the little girl and the snake were

ndoing exactly that.

nEven in its current small state, the little snake was large enough for Kana to ride on top of it, not to mention Espi as a Mortal Transcending realm spirit beast could fly at a faster speed than Kana, of course the little girl did her part too, just by riding Espi, she was reducing the wind resistance, they were both contributing and helping each other out.

n“Hisss”, Espi suddenly stopped advancing since there was something blocking their way, the little snake warned Kana about the strange sensation of being observed that it felt.

n“Yes, I feel it too, there is something is hiding nearby”, said Kana.

n“Roaaarr!”, a feline-like roar came from above as yellow large figure descended from a tree at an amazing speed, with its blood-stained snout pointed towards Kana.

n“Watch out”, Kana and Espi jumped backwards to take some distance from the newcomer, normally spirit beasts that aren’t in an agitated state won’t be hostile towards Kana, but this carnivorous spirit beast was clearly not only angered but also hungry, so there were no considerations taken.

nIt was a wind jaguar, a spirit beast that lives in these kinds of jungles, and moves by jumping through the branches of the giant trees, to attack its prey from above.

n“Hrsgshhh!”, just as the jaguar flashed towards Kana to attack once again, a strange sound came from below the ground as a ten meter green scaled lizard came from below the ground and used its tail to whip the jaguar sending it flying towards a giant tree, making it vomit blood due to the impact.

n“Roaaar!!!”, the jaguar painedly roared before it engaged in a quarrel with the green scaled lizard, a fight which ended in the jaguar ultimately being crushed by the lizard, but the lizard also suffered quite some injuries like a missing eye and a bunch of claw marks and scars.

nThe lizard collapsed on the ground while looking at Kana and Espi who didn’t involve in the fight, not because they didn’t want to, but because they had no chance to, the previous fight was quite violent and bloody, the two spirit beasts didn’t let go of the other, so level of wounds if left alone it would become food for the other spirit beasts that lived in the jungle.

nattacking one meant attacking the two of them.

nThe little girl saw the pitiful state in which the lizard ended and she looked at Espi who nodded at Kana, the wounds were real and not feigned, though the lizard didn’t look as if it was dying, with that level of wounds if left alone it would become food for the other spirit beasts that lived in the jungle.

nUltimately Kana took out a healing pill from her spatial ring and then with Espi accompanying her, she left it on the ground a couple of meters away from the lizard.

n“Eat it, it’s a medicine that will help you heal faster, that jaguar attacked me so it’s a thanks for helping me”, she said.

nThe lizard looked at Kana and then at Espi before it swallowed the pill, which was effective on the spot, as the wounds stopping the bleed and cursing, suggested.

n“We have to, good luck”, said Kana, since the lizard got rid of the jaguar, they didn’t have to fight nor they were in danger of losing their concentration which will make Aster change his current position, which Kana and the little snake had more or less discovered.

n“Hgrshshh!”, the lizard opened its mouth and let out some strange sounds, which Espi was able to somewhat understand, despite the other party being a wild spirit beast that hasn’t obtained wisdom.

n“Mm, it says that as a thanks for saving it, it can guide us through the jungle so we can avoid the most dangerous parts at least”, mumbled Kana.

n“Hisss”, the little snake nodded, though Espi is a spirit beast it’s not like they all understand each other, after all different races have different ways of communicating, but Espi could more or less understand what the lizard was saying.

nKana ultimately nodded, as she rode on Espi’s back, the lizard slowly got up and then led the way into the forest, the little girl and the little snake had no clue that a pair of vertical golden eyes were floating on top of the lizard controlling its every movement.

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