46 Way of the Caged Soul: Demons Release 2 (2/2)

”Ah, you noticed! That is where my existence comes into play.” The Demon started doing a courtesy bow and the rest of the attendance followed.

The Demon explained that, it merely act as an anchor to help guide his soul to its destination. As long as the Demon was present Stigma's soul would go inside his body instead of being spirited away. And if it completely devours Stigma's soul it can manifest into its physical form and become 'alive' once again.

But such action needs a form of payment from doing such a dangerous task and living inside Stigma's body means it acts like a prison. Hence the Cultivation is called: Way of the Caged Soul: Demon's Release.

And the price for such a dangerous cultivation...

”A piece of my soul isn't it...”

”Correct, when you want to have a breakthrough you come to me as a price but if you are successful you will gain back more from the gamble, but you can do more than cultivate a break through here.”

Turning its head away, the Demon snapped its finger and at the same time about thirteen bright light shaped like beast appeared. Upon closer inspection all of them looked like the slain beast he saw, when he had the Tiger go berserk mode.

”These are...”

”The Beast souls you have absorbed and have fully formed, you see you can train here as well but you can only polish your skills here and cannot increase your cultivation stage, so your Zen energy is circulated here so it becomes infinite. You can either practice your skills by yourself or gain experience by sparring one of the beast you have killed. It's your choice.”

”By the way, the rules of time does not apply here. The time you stay here is not relevant to the time in the other world, you can adjust if you want to follow the exact time or squeeze this entire time here under an hour the least.

”Also, you can return as you wish by saying 'return' or when time runs out. If you want I can keep track of the time and tell you if it is about to run out.”

Taking a stroll towards one of the Beast the Demon turned around and started doing a series of hand seals, moments later he formed a ball of energy and made it flow towards Stigma.

”This is?”

”Your reward, a part of my soul you see to make a fair trade. You try to beat me here and you gain a part of my soul, but if you lose I gain a part of your soul. Also Zen energy is considered life energy so it can be substituted, understand so far, any questions?”

”...Just three. First, can I still form other energies such as forming another unformed soul? Second, do you get stronger by cultivating as well? Finally what do you gain from helping me”

The Demon grinned from the question and answered them as honestly as possible.

”This place is the inner world as I have told you, other than me you have completely authority on how the structure works especially the fortune you have gained, the souls can be formed here since there is no risk in wasting energy dispersing in the air since its trapped here. Also you can't die here.”

”As for the second, even if you don't try have a battle with me I still get payment from the tribute you gave from the hourglass, but do keep in mind absorbing my soul and me absorbing your soul, causes both of us to get more powerful by assimilating the souls to our own. So keep in mind try to visit every now and then, I may have authority here, but I still have no right in taking your fortune.”

”As for the last one, it's simple I want to get stronger and survive like you do. And I can trust you, since you are not the type to kill people out of joy, you just have some issues when it come to revenge, So no problem on my side.”

Stigma turned towards the beast, while the Demon understood and walked away taking his place standing by the background. It understand Stigma wants to train from the basics, but what he really needs is to gain experience from fighting all sorts of beast and he cannot die here and had all the time in the world.

Moments later, Stigma was going all sorts of hell trying to survive a just one beast. To be sure on how to familiarize himself with fights, he fought with the wolf, the Tiger, and the snake.

He had died about a number of times and yet he somehow survived each one, like what the Demon said he can't die here and all his injuries disappeared after the fight was over.

The first opponent was the Dire Wolf, like the one he had met before. It was extremely fast and cunning, using its advantage of its speed and dexterity. He had a difficult time since he was still adjusting on how to use his speed, but ultimately lost due to mistaking the distance in footing and got bitten at his neck. So he learned to be careful on where he takes his steps.

The Tiger was extremely fierce, they had an entire waiting game until one moved. Losing his patience Stigma took the initiative and tried to take it head on, only to be overwhelmed form how calm the Tiger was and using its advantage in its strength without using much effort. He learned to be patient in all fights.

The Snake was just dangerous, when he tried to be careful and relaxed his guard, the snake attacked him the moment he took a deep breath. Thankfully the snake was not venomous, but had been very slick when he tried to grab it and only slithered around and choked him to death. So he learned not to relax his guard until he was ready.

All those fights had given him some insights on how to fight, so he tired going through the fight again and again.So far he had gone into five fights with the wolf, three fights with the Tiger and about six fights against the snake.

Later he tired to fight the other beast and so far the average was about five fights each and somehow he had won each one.

But he noticed something, he was starting to get use to fighting and he was getting use to having a one on one match.

He soon realized the advantages in staying here, he can't die here and he can stay here as long as he had the time. With that in mind he planned to do something crazy for he wanted to push himself to go beyond his limits.

The last thing he remembered was that he ordered the little Demon to have all the beast attack him at the same time. Moments later, due to the number disadvantage he was mauled from the beast.

With the exhaustion hitting him he passed out from being hit in the head with a hoff. While the attendance were pulling him way, he saw in his fuzzy vision that the Demon was smiling at him at the distance.

'Looks like he will be a great person in the future, I can't wait...'