The green-haired beauty fell into a short daze before muttering absentmindedly : "I have made my decision."

The princess's angelic face brightened when curiosity got the best of her and she urged her sister to spill the beans, Mela even faked a pout while saying : "Come-on! Tell us already."

Orime also nodded and waited for her sister to speak her mind, after all... for a wood-elf to give their heart-wood is like when a person willingly gives away more than half of their soul.

That's not something they get over with time, that's like a permanent scar which they live with for the rest of their life!

Of course Odla wouldn't be physically or spiritually affected once she exchange her heart-wood with Lin, however... that's something which is certainly going to leave a trace on her emotional-wise.

Said trace might even be a bit too deep that this wood-elf might struggle when it comes to living her life like she once used to before making that transaction.

It's undebatable that whether she's willing to give the heart-wood to Lin or not, Orime and Mela are going to support Odla's decision on this matter one-hundred percent.

Odla : "Actually... I don't necessarily have to give Lin my own heart-wood." The wood-elf seemed somewhat ashamed and avoided eye-contact with her sisters.

Orime : "What do you mean by that?" The raven-haired beauty sat on the other side of her sister and held hands with her once she noticed how shy she became all of a sudden.

*Sniff...*

Mela leaned towards her sister and inhaled deeply before saying : "Oh... I smell secret!" Then circled the waist of the green-haired beauty and hugged her tightly while smirking like a heavenly-enchanting demoness!

Odla blushed slightly and scrunched her nose towards the startling beauty before saying : "I wouldn't have kept it hidden from you guys if it weren't for grandma Aida's warning me about telling anybody about it, these were the orders given to her by the holy-envoy herself."

The pregnant-elf rolled her eyes towards the blond-haired beauty who's causing mischief then patted her sister on her shoulder while saying : "It's alright sister Odla. We all have our secrets, stop beating yourself over it."

Odla smiled towards Orime to show her appreciation for her understanding. "I received the seed for my mother's heart-wood that day and grandma Aida told me that this was my mother's dying wish, besides my own seed I still carry hers... I've been nourishing it with my heart-blood ever since I received it."

Orime : "T-that's great-" After noticing signs of sadness on her sister, the raven-haired beauty quickly corrected her attitude by saying : "Uh. I guess!"

Mela : "Do you find it difficult to decide which on to give?" The princess used both arms to hug her sister this time and asked while using a much gentler tone of voice.

"En." The green-haired beauty nodded and uttered the voice from her throat with her mouth closed before burying her head into the chest that welcomed her, she seemed to be saying : "You guys help, my brain is all worn-out thinking about it for days now."

*****

Soul-world.

Dark... everywhere!

Decree... nowhere, yin-yang platform... nowhere, purple-red cloud of tribulation-lightning... nowhere, Lin's two soul-clones... gone!

Had Lin been there to see it happen? Then... he might've really had a heart-attack right there and then, no kidding.

Especially when he's been the most proud of his soul-cultivation and how far he was able to reach at such a young and immature age, even when he's not denying the factor of great luck in the whole process.

Like Jin Bao using his own primordial-source to help the boy survive Mia's folly for instance.

Without that help? Then... the great-sage would be a goner now.

Yes, he's the one who endured soul-torment many times to get where he's.

But, Lin is still included within the dao-truth of how all sorts of cultivators are impossible to truly reach greatness without the factors of talent, chance, and resources.

He's just the same like any body else in this world, without timely opportunities and chance encounters then his talent no-matter how great... would certainly wither-away some day and the final result would be him falling into mediocrity like many unfortunate talents before his time.

Still, the most important question to be asked in this situation is : "If these two soul-clones are not within the soul-world? Then... where the hell are they?"

The first time Lin noticed a difference in his surroundings when he saw a pair of black-wings grow on the back of the soul-clone facing him from the other side of the yin-yang platform, through the eyes of that same soul-clone he could also see that he also have a pair of white-wings!

Oddly enough these two pairs of black and white wings are nothing alike at all, they're different from his spirit-wings also.

Oddly enough is the circle around the feet of each one of these two soul-clones, the one standing on the white circle has the black-wings and the one standing on the black circle have white-wings.

The pair of black-wings are made from leather and have spike-like bones jutting out from corners, their size is three-times bigger than the wings on the other soul-clone despite both being in a folded state.

They also have these dark, malevolent, baleful, and evil-looking flames running all-over them.

There's nothin friendly about them, this pair of black-wings had this malignant-aura that screamed the words unkind, vengeful, and extremely ill-natured to sickening-rates.

Unlike the previous example, the pair of whit-wings had spotless-clean white feathers covering them completely.

Their size is much smaller yes, but... the faint white-colored glow was so angelic and addictive to look at.

The aura coming from this pair of white-wings was so steady and firm that it naturally and easily balanced against the evil aura from the black-wings!

At the center of the swirling yin-yang platform was the extremely compressed purple-red cloud of tribulation-lightning.

Looking at it from both sides through the eyes of his soul-clones, the boy felt like he could hug it with the other soul-clone if he tried.

Of course he wouldn't do something like that to this terrifyingly-condensed source of extremely painful energy.

On the center of this yin-yang platform, said energy struck with another bolt of purple-red tribulation-lightning that was so fierce that it actually exhausted the entire within the cloud when it ended.

Unlike before where these bolt of purple-red tribulation-lightning left no trace on the circular platform, this time there was a difference made.

Since it struck the point where the black met the white, a puff of black-white smoke began to rise upwards.

The black-white smoke blocked his vision and Lin couldn't see beyond it, but... something did happen.

First to appear from within that swirling puff of black-white smoke is his own martial-spirit!

Suddenly his spirit-wings are there hovering in the air at the center of this yin-yang platform, looking so at peace despite not having its protective-barrier to surround it.

Right before the boy got to calm himself by thinking : 'Oh, alright... I guess it decided to relocate into this strange place then.'

A fountain of blood gushed out from the center, flying a dozen meters up in the air before getting absorbed completely by the martial-spirit which is hovering right above that point.

The most surprising is that not all three pairs of wings absorbed that blood, only the pair of white-wings did.

Seeing the smallest pair of wings on his martial-spirit feeding on that blood and gaining solid form unlike the violet-gold pair and the silver-pair which are still immaterial and incorporeal like they used to be, was intriguing yet slightly worrisome for the great-sage.

After consuming all the blood until the fountain was completely dry, the white-wings began to change.

A plethora of colors chaotically appeared on most of the white feathers, yet some rare few maintained their white-color.

Right when Lin thought to himself : 'Oh... okay!'

Another change happened.

*****

"Now that we've agreed on which one to give the boy, let's decide on the price he needs to pay." After a short pause the princess continued to say : "I say his life itself!" While revealing a sadistic smile she looked towards her sisters.

Orime : "No... his soul. Not a fragment, but as in its all entirety as a whole!" The pregnant-elf chipped-in and played-along, while making an evil expression she voiced her own opinion.

*Snort...*

The green-haired beauty made a nasal voice while crossing her arms, clearly annoyed by the attitude of these two sisters of hers.

Odla : "I don't want anything from him. As long as he keeps a promise of being an eternal ally for our elven-race, then... it's fine with me."

Mela : "No! Y-you can't do that." The startling beauty gawked before shouting these words while shaking her sister back and forth after holding her shoulders.

The wood-elf endured the frustrating experience of having her upper-body getting roughed like this by this blond-haired beauty and struggled to say : "Why not? I have no use for the extra heart-wood anyway!"

Orime : "Because it's a crime against heaven itself to let this opportunity slip-through your fingers! Don't you know how rich this kid is? Hell... I bet you could get your hands on a fortune." The raven-haired beauty had a dangerous glow within her eyes and a dreamy look on her face when she said that.

The princess nodded seriously before adding : "That's so true, just a brick or two of that solidified sin-energy would cover the expenses of your cultivation for thousands of years to come!" After a short pause Mela continued to say : "I'd kill you myself if you give your precious heart-wood away in exchange for a promise! Do you hear me sister?"

The shadow-elf chipped-in once again. "Heh. That's even worse of losing your virginity to that boy in exchange for a promise," Seeing the startling beauty glare at her, the pregnant-elf continued to say : "I-I'm not saying that sister Odla would enjoy it or anything! Girl... stop being so jealous."

The blond-haired beauty blushed fiercely and retorted : "Humph. It seems like you've become so perverted to the degree where your mind has spoilt rotten, I just hope your child gets born safe and away from that sickness."

Odla lowered her head and sank into a short period of deep thinking before saying : "But... wouldn't Lin see it as me being greedy when I ask him for something so expensive?"

"Hell no!"

"Who cares?"

Both of her sisters answered instantly, clearly both of them agree on this topic... none of them wishes for their kind sister to make it easy for the human kid.

Their thoughts ran-along these lines : 'We need to milk this cow dry.'

*****

"This scene reminds me of what I once heard about Lantian." Lin muttered to himself once he saw the pair of silver-wings and the pair of violet-gold wings merge with the pair of material and colorful-wings.

But that wasn't the end of this experience, the pair of third-eyes on the soul-clones shined a silver-colored beam on the martial-spirit at the same time.

The boy could clearly sense the invisible knot-symbol within each eye becoming active.

Surprisingly each of the silver-eyes was focused on one wing while the other eye was focusing on the other wing.

The puff of black-white smoke which kept to itself ever since it appeared on the center of that yin-yang platform suddenly became active!

Earlier before that moment that tiny puff swirled slowly, the black-white smoke never flew over a certain elevation and never seemed to dissipate.

It just hid what lies within the circle of its motion and never got affected by what happens around it.

However, that all changed when the pair of vertical third-eyes took action.

The black-white smoke increased in volume and altitude, all it took for it to cover the pair of wings hovering at the center was a split-second.

What Lin noticed immediately was how the yin-yang platform began to lose color when that happened.

A few seconds later the pair of tadpole-shaped images on the circular-platform completely disappeared, only the black and white circles which the pair of soul-clones are standing on them still exist.

However... each one of the soul-clones lost the wing sprouting from one of their shoulder-blade, the white-winged clone lost the wing on its left shoulder and the black-winged clone lost the wing on its right shoulder!

"What the fu-" The great-sage didn't even get to complete the sentence when a foreign yet mighty and supreme force gripped both soul-clones and slammed them into one another, this unstoppable power carried this high and superior feel to it... it amazed the boy and left him wondering where it came from and how could it even exist.

Even the circles beneath the feet of each clone was pushed towards one another.

Now there's only one soul-clone standing on a miniature yin-yang circle, above it is the black-white smoke which blocks the boy's sight from seeing the current state of his martial-spirit.

Lin : "Fuck sake! Why do things keep changing so much? How am I supposed to know what's what?"