Lin was so frustrated, he was especially angry because in these sorts of situations there isn't any outlet for him to vent these emotions.

*Phew...*

Finally he exhaled a long breath to calm himself before looking upwards at the swirling layer of black and white smoke.

'As if the loss of a soul-clone wasn't enough, now my martial-spirit is held hostage by that foggy nonsense.' The great-sage inwardly complained while balling his fists.

*****

"Oh! He fell asleep." Once Odla opened the door she saw the boy lying in bed.

Orime's expression softened once she snuck a peek and she muttered : "He looks so adorably cute, I hope his sibling would inherit these characteristics of his." While massaging her belly she felt her limbs go soft when her motherly instincts took hold of her emotions.

Mela also felt similar emotions once she saw Lin being so at peace in his sleep and tried to toughen it up by saying : "You two are just hopeless.

"Humph. When it's time for negotiations, let me do all the talking." Afterwards the princess turned on her heels and went back towards the living room.

Odla : "B-but it's supposed to be me!" The wood-elf seemed like she's worried about something yet she didn't voice it to her sister.

*Snort...*

The beauty stopped and twisted her neck to look back at her sister after making that nasal voice before saying : "That pretty boy would make both of you melt if he so smiles at you, you can be swooned all you want but I won't let that human take advantage of you Odla. I'll never allow it, never."

Looking at Mela's back when she left, the shadow-elf had a fleeting glow within her eyes.

'Hmm...' This personal-maid smirked because she seemed to have noticed something.

*****

Within the ring of origin.

Kai, who was supposed to be slumbering, was looking directly through the membrane of space and matter at Lin.

'This kid... the ignorant really are fearless! I was startled awake when he began absorbing that decree without a care for the world, luckily for him, his foundation is firm enough. The same goes for conditions, situation, position, and placements.'

While the raccoon was delving deep in his own thoughts, a slightly smug and proud sound pulled him away : "Heh. Fiend-Blood, I hope you're not regretting handing me the boy earlier."

"You make it sound like he belongs to me, but we both know that we all going to need his help." Kai twisted his neck slightly to look at the pixie who's standing on her begonia flower at the sacred-area and watching the boy eagerly with anticipation burning within her eyes.

Fiend-Root : "Tsk. You and that bone were just lucky to find him before I did, that's all."

Fiend-Blood : "That's where you're wrong." Kai shook his head slightly as if to dismiss the veil of uncertainty from the heart of this pixie.

Indeed she frowned once she heard the raccoon and squinted her eyes, "How so-" Once Fiend-Root uttered these words she noticed a smirk and a dangerous glow within Fiend-Blood's black eyes, "The prophecy! I-it was right all along?" Judging by how imbalanced the pixie was, she was really shaken all the way to her core.

Kai merely gave a slight nod, "The prophecy being true doesn't mean that it's certainly going to happen, a set of events need to happen at the exact order... and sacrifices need to be made."

Afterwards the raccoon said to himself : 'Why else would I allow myself the humiliation of being degraded into a mere awakened-soul of an inheritance-tool, the child of prophecy had to be summoned from the eye of the dao-vortex. But I never would've thought that there would be a time where I get to witness a mortal carry all that potential, no... he also carry the fate of three old fools such as myself! Even I can't imagine the burden of all that karma.'

Right when Fiend-Root was about to open her mouth to ask Fiend-Blood to explain more, she heard a deep sound chanting an extremely familiar verse : "Sieve sands of worry, calm my soul away." This time the source of this voice wasn't coming from the boy or any of the four branches of mercenary-guild.

Thanks to Kai's insanely advanced dao of space-time, the pixie could trace the voice to the source where it originated and found herself looking at someone who shouldn't be alive anymore!

Gasping, Fiend-Root covered her mouth while feeling at a loss for words.

Tears began accumulating within her eyes and she stuttered : "H-how... w-why didn't you... after all these years."

The elder within the black and white room sighed deeply and his eyes opened a crack, within the depth of these old and murky eyes Kai could see a twinkle of a flame that burned with intense longing for the woman standing on the begonia flower.

Yet behind these emotions of love was a much greater desire for revenge and a well-groomed patience for a chance to break-free of these fetters.

Ancestor Mu : "Little-Root... I've wronged you." This time the old man's voice was so gentle that it made the pixie feel like melting from the warmth which annoyed her to no end when she noticed how vulnerable she's become!

"Damn right you have... you stinky and rotten bone!"

Kai smirked then ignored the two of them before directing his attention towards the boy.

The three little elves might think that he's asleep right now.

However, the kid is in the process of laying a foundation upon which not only his own future depends on it... but also the fate of three old fossils like themselves.

Even the raccoon himself has forgot for how long they've refused to die or surrender to their fate!

*****

Within the dark place.

Lin stood on the tiny yin-yang circle waited for the black and white smoke to stop swirling or to dissipate, otherwise there's absolutely no way for him to know what's happening inside or what to do next.

Being passive really isn't the best position to be in these sorts of situations, but that damn ball of black and white smoke doesn't seem like it's ever going to stop or dissipate!

'Looks like nothing is going to change, unless I do something to scatter that layer of black and white smoke. But... I don't have a spare soul-clone anymore, and that ball is holding my martial-spirit hostage! Not to mention that earlier it practically absorbed all of my soul-force when my third-eyes targeted it with a soul-gaze ability, should I risk it with my main soul-body? Is that miniature yin-yang platform going to be of any help? Sigh... these are the times where I really wish senior Kai would help. A small piece of advice would do really.'

After struggling internally for a while, the great-sage decided to be active.

Once he confirmed the solidity of the tiny yin-yang platform beneath his feet and his ability to maneuver it however he wishes to, the boy willed it to move up until the black and white ball of smoke was within an arm's reach.

"Here goes nothing!"

Lin took a deep breath in before raising both hands towards the ball.

The tip of his fingers penetrated the black and white smoke and the great-sage frowned once he noticed the ease and lack of resistance from that ball! Honestly this wasn't what he was expecting at all.

Right when the boy was having second thoughts and was about to pull-away from it and think things through... he felt the small yin-yang platform beneath his feet being attracted towards the ball.

Sensing how strong the force of attraction was between the ball and the platform, Lin immediately understood that he wouldn't be able to prevent these two from uniting no matter how hard he tried.

Now he either let it happen and get himself absorbed along with it, or... stay clear away from the yin-yang platform and watch what happens next.

However, once the great-sage attempted to remove himself from the yin-yang platform he sensed a much greater attraction from the dark and colorless abyss beneath it!

Alarm bells immediately rang within his mind and his instincts warned him that nothing good would happen if he fell there, his uncertain fate would be met with a miserable end.

Earlier he thought that he had two options, now it's clear that there's only one left.

"Sigh." Lin rolled his eyes and surrendered to the force of attraction between the black and white ball of smoke and the yin-yang platform beneath his feet, he allowed these two to squeeze him between them and was swallowed into the black and white smoke.

*****

The moment Lin surrendered.

More than a dozen of the undying fossils within spirit-world sensed the rippling in karma strings within the fabric of space, all the ant-like creatures living within their domains were oblivious of the fact.

Only those who share the same stage with the likes of Kai, ancestor Mu, and Fiend-Root could notice it.

All of them looked towards the sky and witnessed the signs of how the wave-like winds of fate began to change!

Even those of them who weren't skilled in the dao of divination, were able to look into these wave-like winds before that and read these signs thanks to their deep attainments in their own daos.

Before that day, whenever the wind of fate shifted this way or another... these undying fossils would be able to understand which side is going to benefit the most from the auspicious-signs and who needs to prepare for the tribulations yet to come.

However all of them, except the three who already know the reason why this is happening, kept staring at the sky in befuddlement while wondering why the winds of fate have suddenly became turbulent and murky.

None of them could read the signs of fate anymore, not even the rare ones who could actually boast about their abilities in the dao of divination!

They anxiously waited for the phenomenon to pass, but hours went by and the hours trickled into days and the days became months and years.

Only the ones who got to survive the storm were able to see these winds of fate change and become peaceful once again, but they didn't celebrate the event because they already knew why that phenomenon happened in the first place.

But all of them looked towards the southern-continent and sighed, because that's where it all started and a certain event which coincidentally happened in the central-continent at the same time... gave it the perfect disguise.

*****

Lin remembers when the flash of the extremely familiar light happened, it scattered the dismal and depressing darkness around him.

In the blink of an eye, the great-sage found himself back within the world of light and its comforting embrace warmed his heart... the tickling touch of the mischievous strands of light on his skin made him feel like moaning from happiness.

Yet, this time he sensed a difference and looked behind him.

*Gasp...*

What the boy saw made him gawk and stare wide-eyed, the world of light was colliding with another world... this is a world of blood!

From it, Lin can sense a supreme will that made him feel like his heart is going to leap through his chest... the great-sage felt instinctive fear like nothing before in his life.

But somehow he felt some familiarity from that world of blood, the image of a certain arrogant talking-raccoon appeared within his mind and the boy was certain of his assumption.

'But if that world of blood is somehow related to Kai, what is my relation to this world of light? And who was the one comforting me before? Why are these two worlds even colliding?' Questions gave birth to even more questions and Lin couldn't make heads nor tails of this situation.

A tugging force bulled him downwards and the scene before his eyes shifted from the clash between the two worlds into some sort of battlefield, it was chaotic everywhere yet... everywhere the boy looked on this battlefield he'd feel small and helpless!

He saw a five-clawed golden-dragon use a tail sweep after a double slash with its two strong, muscular, and scaly limbs.

After destroying two heads of its three-headed opponent with these two attacks, the golden-dragon opened its mouth wide and used its sharp fangs to tear the third head of the hound.

*Roar...*

Afterwards the golden-dragon roared towards the sky and spread its wings before using its strong legs to push the ground beneath its feet and jump, its arms which held the carcass of the dead Cerberus tugged on opposite sides to tear it apart which made a river of blood scatter to the ground! While flapping its wings... the golden-dragon opened its mouth once again to breath fire on the torn three-headed hound and incinerate it to ash.

The great-sage was staring at a daze at the extremely beautiful yet extremely formidable and familiar dragon-flame, from it he could sense both light and fire-energy in perfect fusion and balance with fire-intent.

That intent was full of the will to burn and destroy.

Once Lin came to his senses, the golden-dragon was already engaged with a different enemy at another part of this great battlefield.

*Scree...*

*Hiss...*

The boy's attention was attracted away from the golden-dragon when a titanic Boa was targeted by a much smaller ice-phoenix.

The former immediately assumed the spring-like posture with its mountainous body and covered its brown-skin with a layer of earth-energy with the thickness of a tectonic-plate, the later stared its opponent down from above with a pair of wide, beautiful, extremely penetrative and formidable blue-eyes while accumulating ice-energy from everywhere around it to form countless icicles which seemed like stalactites has grown from sky itself!

The icicles elongated and became swords the length of mountains then fell towards the Boa, first it seemed like rain battering glass in a fierce storm and the great-sage thought Boa's sturdy defense would hold.

However, the surrounding area was frozen solid in the blink of an eye and no sign of movement from below the dome of earth.

When the ice-phoenix turned around to leave after a triumphant look at its masterpiece, Lin heard a crack and looked at the Boa's direction... there he saw the ice break and the earth below it fragment and crumble inwards.

Within the earth and ice was chunks and pieces of the brown Boa.

*Ho...*

A green beast with a startlingly huge mouth opened its jaws wide and took a deep breath, it vacuumed both time and space into its abyss-like throat... along with it was a dozen of its toad-shaped enemies who croaked in unwillingness and despair before silence prevailed until that beast howled towards the sky.

*Clang... clang...*

The sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard and it attracted Lin's attention towards an area of the great battlefield where the shadow of a person was lithely fleeting from this place into the other while exchanging blows with its enemies, clearly that humanoid was surrounded by enemies on all sides and wounds covered its body.

Yet... that one was actually laughing!

Clearly he's having so much fun, he even taunted his enemies to do better whenever he received another wound.

But his ferocity kept on rising whenever his wounds accumulated, more of his enemies kept falling under his weapon.

Still, that person was covered in a hazy layer of darkness.

The boy was unable to see anything beyond it. When he squinted and focused at that person... some details began to appear.

He's carrying a sword and a blade.

Sometimes these weapons change into a spear and a halberd.

Other times they become a hammer and a mace.

A great-axe and a meteor-hammer.

The variations and the weapon choices sometimes didn't make any sense at all, but that person would use a dagger and a hatchet against an opponent at long-range or use the spear and great-axe on opponents who stuck close to him.

He was the sort to thrive at times when he's at a disadvantage, also he's the sort to enjoy these moments... not to mention that's when he's the most dangerous!

However, the details increased and he got a closer look... the great-sage gawked once again when that person seemed to notice and turned to look at him and smiled.

The reason Lin was so shocked is because that person noticed him, also because that person have three-heads and six-arms.

"A-Ashura!" The boy muttered this word absentmindedly while watching the humanoid pay the price of his action in more wounds, being distracted during a fight made him suffer the wound of getting impaled to the ground by the horn of one of his opponent.

Once the other opponents jumped on him to take advantage of this opportunity, that Ashura skewered two of them by hurling his spear.

Positioned his sword at an angle where another opponent was aiming to take a bite of his shoulder, it pierced its eye and went right through its skull.

Another hand slashed the blade at the head of the beast pinning him to the ground, the other three arms hurled daggers and short-axes at the remaining opponents.

During that short window of time, this Ashura used the opportunity to take advantage of his enemies' weak-points and got rid of seven of them.

Before the remaining beasts got a chance to wake-up from the shock, that Ashura pushed the horn and the head still stuck to his side away to the ground and held the great-axe with both hands.

Like a whirlwind he flew within their ranks and initiated a slaughter and wreaked havoc and mayhem while they panicked.

"You who're destined to carry my legacy... being an Ashura means to never back-away from a fight, falling in the battlefield isn't death but glory.

"A true death is life without a fight." Afterwards that Ashura walked away towards the area where the chaos is most extreme on the great battlefield.

Lin watched his back fade into the chaos in silence, his heart was beating faster as if to keep up with the noise of battle.

And his blood was running hot within his veins, the boy was feeling hungry for battle.

Unfortunately, the weakest opponent he might find within this great battlefield can squash him like an ant.