63 Homecoming (1/2)
Lineir's Qi ran out right around when the undead truly began to thin out. If before they had been a thick river, now they were little more than a thin stream trickling down. In fact, Lineir had actually seen some undead grow disorientated and begin to disperse. A few had outright fallen into pieces and scattered on the wind, especially the larger ones. It would seem the mysterious death angel had achieved his aims and no longer had any use for his disposable army now that Lightholme had fallen. After dispatching a few wanton undead, Lineir actually found a moment of peace. He quickly used a darkness enforced kick to smash a hole into the ground.
Krack!
Sinking down, he settled down to cultivate and stabilize his Second Heart which had been wildly blazing during his flight. Random flares of fire Qi would occur from time to time, and his darkness and lightning elements would suddenly appear in intertwined links to chain in these eruptions. The Phoenix had been completely quiet after releasing that final technique to Lineir, and he wasn't sure if she would wake again. Regardless, he was fine if she didn't, he wasn't keen on fighting for supremacy over his own body with another powerful divine being, he had enough trouble controlling the Madness and he could only thank the heavens that his master at least was on his side.
In this makeshift cultivation cave, Lineir spent several days meditating to restore his exhausted Qi and try to grasp the method for controlling the raging fire Qi. He began to absorb some of the cores he had obtained on the mountain again, and his Second Heart greedily sucked in the exceedingly pure golem energy.
”Kiddo, you're energy is now at the middle stage of the Raging Storm Stage, and you can begin to cultivate from cores again. Be careful, you've been marked by so many different legacies and there are so many elements involved in your cultivation that if you do not properly control their conflicts, you will naturally be torn apart!”
As Lineir's energy returned, he came to realize just how much more powerful he had become. It could be said that qualitatively his power had only risen up partway through the Raging Storm Stage, but he could feel that the spinning storm cloud in his Second Heart was now far larger and teeming with Qi of all sorts. A sudden flash of insight appeared inside his mind. A painting of what was to be appeared, a massive storming hurricane unleashed terrifying lightning below, yet this lightning did not simply flash, it thundered through in a condensed manner as the shadow of the cloud, covered in darkness, sealed in the lightning's terrifying outbursts and focused them into burning streams of light.
Hong Hong Braaaaaaaang!
These streams seemed to set an endless Qi sea below alight as if it was oil channeling great flames whose heat stoked the clouds above to ever greater power! All of these Qi's were perfectly balanced in this portrait, and Lineir could feel an overarching force guiding this all. This force was slowly feeding off this perfect combination of disorder, each Qi violently raging without completely destroying each other and growing ever stronger! Soon it would break free! Lineir shivered as the entire portrait flashed with a ghastly crimson red aura which permeated every section as if it was within the particles.
Startled, Lineir stopped meditating and opened his eyes to find that several days had passed, and his cultivation was stable. In his Second Heart, there was even a small coal like ember which was feeding off a chain of lightning and darkness wrapped around it. This was the beginning of the portrait he had seen! With a roar, he awakened and spread his wings, his bone scythes came out and he exploded from the ground like a chick breaking free from an egg. Suddenly, as he ascended into the sky with burning wings of flame, a humorous voice called out from behind him in the sky,
”Oops, I was just watching, I didn't expect you to wake up so soon.”
Lineir whirled around, his bone scythes instantly at the ready to do battle. He had been completely unable to sense this humorous voice's owner at all. The current Lineir was different from before. His bone scythes had become more elegant and refined, and had begun to take on a black sheen reminiscent of Mei's sword. It was evident that her presence as part of his undead heart had some interesting effects on their development. As compared to before, they had grown in, and actually had less reach than before. However, they essentially followed the curvature of his forearm and as such protected them like armor. The burning wings on his back gave him a magnificent aura like the divine phoenix. Lastly, while it was impossible to tell even for those who possessed a cultivator's eyesight, minute sparks of lightning danced in Linier's eyes, and a red haze permeated the white's of his eyes as darkness danced around the pupil. All this led to Lineir's appearance being much changed from before. To be honest, he looked slightly evil, it was evident that his path was stained with the slaughter of a true cultivator, and that he was no stranger to killing anymore. This was not a person to approach lightly. However, this person behind Lineir had clearly taken all this in and still declared his presence. He was either an idiot or powerful enough not to care who he addressed.