Chapter 0054

 

“Proof positive you are my soulmate.” Verack De Nunick happily pronounced. The Red String of Fate spell is not a spell that can be easily cast. He was lucky he cultivate the Sun Soul Mantra which causes his soul force to become extremely pure. The purer the power, the less it takes to cast the spell.

 

“I still believe you got the wrong person. Aria Se Jivock says the spell belongs to her clan, and you conveniently have the same spell?” Jean sneered while trying to incite a fight between Aria Se Jivock and Verack De Nunick.

 

“I don’t know about the spell the Se clan posses, but my spell is a spell that illuminates the bond between soulmates. It derived its origin from the Sun Soul Mantra that I cultivate in my previous life. You have seen the results yourself. What more do you need?”

 

Tempest saw Jean wavering in her determination, as if she wanted to believe Verack De Nunick but was too hurt from past transgressions to trust him.

 

“He’s right. The spell he cast isn’t the same as the one the Se clan posses. It is much easier to cast and require less power, however it requires a very pure soul force to power it.” Aria Se Jivock interjected.

 

“Don’t interfere in our affairs.”

 

“Oh it’s our affairs now. Weren’t you trying to incite a fight earlier?”

 

“This has nothing to do with you Aria Se Jivock.” Jean tried to vent her anger on Aria Se Jivock, but it is like hitting cotton. Verack De Nunick, on the other hand, is happy for Aria Se Jivock’s interference. At least his soulmate acknowledges there is a connection between them.

 

“It has everything to do with me since you are wasting my time. A manifestation of the Red String of Fate is evidence enough for a stranger to accept the validity of the soulmate claim, yet you are hemming and hawing.”

 

“You don’t understand my situation!”

 

“Pfft, a discarded princess trying to salvage the situation by coming here. There is nothing but certain death if you return. Might as well take the sanctuary the idiot provides. If nothing else, he is a strong cultivator.” Aria Se Jivock mocked.

 

“Please come with me. I assure you; you’d want for nothing. My status in the clan in very high. No one will dare bully you.” Verack De Nunick sincerely pleaded.

 

Jean floundered. Verack De Nunick knew she needed another push for her to capitulate.

 

“If you leave within the hour, I won’t demand compensation for the Iron Clawed Wolves ambushing us earlier.” Aria Se Jivock pushed.

 

“She’s the reason the Twilight Shadow Assassin’s Guild targeted us earlier.” someone from the crowd connected the dots and figured out why they were attacked.

 

“I knew it. Royalty always has enemies. She isn’t different from the rest of them.”

 

“Why did she have to involve us in her problems? It’s not like we don’t have it hard enough, paying our hard earned money as taxes to support those uppity brats masquerading as royalty.  Now we have to directly deal with their backstabbing.”

 

“Royalty always have their schemes. No doubt she deliberately came here to avoid the assassins sent her way, but she miscalculated and dragged us into her problems.”

 

“What miscalculation? It was deliberate. If the assassins attack us then they make enemies with two Foundation Establishment cultivators. It isn’t much, but they have a powerful sect behind them.”

 

“Damn this shameless woman!”

 

“It was your fault our friends are dead!”

 

Faced with public outrage, admonishment and blame, Jean turned towards Verack De Nunick for help, “I’ll go with you, just hurry and get me out of here.”

 

Verack De Nunick smiled brilliantly before wrapping Jean in his embrace and flew out of the mercenary camp with the silent Cercicity De Auvent right behind him.

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Tempest was watching the whole show with an air of a spectator, aloof and uninvolved. The spectator has the best view of the whole situation.

 

Tempest wasn’t a spectator, though. She is a silent boss. No, not a boss. She the CGI specialist that comes in and adds all the special effect so the drama follows the script.

 

The Red String of Fate spell does manifest a red string that connects two soulmates. Due to the amount of soul force required, Verack De Nunick probably cast the spell three times at most. He doesn’t understand the subtle nuances of the spell. As a powerful Soul Liner, Aria Se Jivock knows the spell better than Verack De Nunick. No doubt she cast the spell very often, trying to find all her clan’s soulmate.

 

Tempest can imagine it already. There is a long line of lovelorn people queueing up for Aria Se Jivock to cast the spell for them, similar to the crazy people camping out at the store on black friday. Instead of enjoying roast turkey with their family, they stayed overnight in the cold all for a sale. Humans are so incomprehensible.

 

The Red String of Fate spell requires a massive amount of soul force to manifest the red string, therefore the spell reveals the red string linking the two souls in the most efficient way possible, a straight line.

 

The red string linked Verack De Nunick and Amber, however, Amber is standing behind Jean so it looks like the red string is indicating Jean is his soulmate. The red line appearing behind Jean might give away the plan, so Aria Se Jivock stood on one side and Tempest stood on the other side, blocking other people’s vision. For added protection, Tempest cast Invisibility on the red string coming out from Jean.

 

After making the deal with Jean for Moon Soul Mantra and the Star Soul Mantra, Tempest began to learn Invisibility. Tempest thought Invisibility would require mental power to use or maybe light magic since the magician back on Earth use lighting or sleight of hand to perform their tricks.

 

Mizu taught her the Invisibility spell. She explained that Invisibility can fall under light or water. Light spells directly manipulate the light rays, changing a cultivator’s ability to see, where as water spells refracts the light to change the image.

 

The concept is similar to how lens or glasses change a human perception, allowing people with less than perfect vision to see perfectly.

 

There are more to the theory but when Mizu saw Tempest nodding off because she can’t assimilate the explanation, the water spirit left it as it is.

 

Tempest’s lack of understanding can be contributed to the method in which the spirits speak to her.

 

Tempest directly communicate with spirits via the elements which they control. For Ventus, the spirit of the wind, Tempest hears everything Ventus say, but it different for Mizu and Astrapi.

 

Mizu communicates with Tempest by writing the words out on her skin using water as a medium. Understandably, there are a lot of miscommunications.

 

Astrapi’s method… is to zap Tempest with electricity, not enough to hurt, but enough to make her presence known.

 

Tempest never understood why Mizu didn't communicate using ink and Astrapi type her thoughts out through the computer. It would make her life easier. They have communicated this way back on Earth. Ever since she arrived in the Cardinal Realm, Mizu and Astrapi refuse to communicate with her using the previous method. There are no electronic device in this world, so Tempest understand why she does do it, but Mizu is just being stubborn.

 

Ventus would have told her it was their way of trying to get closer to her but Tempest didn’t ask and Ventus isn’t going to interfere with their relationship.

 

So for the last couple of days, Tempest was alternating between reading the words Mizu spelled out with the water in her hand and practising the Invisibility spell like crazy. Reading the words spelled with water was the price Mizu demanded in exchange for the spell.

 

It had to be Tempest. If Aria Se Jivock or Xing Zhi Hui were to cast the spell, Verack De Nunick would be on them. Tempest, as the uninvolved third party, was free to do what she wants. Tempest’s ability to pre-cast the spells and hold it ready until needed comes in handy. Instant red line eraser.

 

She is definitely the CGI master!

 

Throughout the entire drama, Tempest kept an eye on the main couple as well as the possible mistress, Cercicity De Auvent.

 

At first, Tempest wanted to giggle at the superb acting on Jean’s part. The woman is a pro.  No doubt her skills were honed by living with devious foxes called relatives in a home called the court. If she didn’t know Jean was acting, Tempest was tempted to believe her. The frustration from being accosted by a stranger to disbelief over the news said stranger brought to naked desire tempered by fear of betrayal to humiliation and the need to get away, each and everyone of her expressions was spot on.

 

Tempest, who knew the inside story, wanted to applaud her acting skills, but that will disrupt the drama enacted before her, so she turned away to hide her reactions, only to catch the strange reactions of Cercicity De Auvent.

 

The woman’s reactions was strange. Before Verack De Nunick’s spell connect him and Amber, Cercicity De Auvent acted like how a close friend will act, admiration for her cousin and frustrated over Jean’s refusal. When the spell connects the two soulmates, it was as if lightning had zapped her. She immediately stiffens then went to a daze, similar to the daze Tempest goes into when she communicates with the spirits. Then she turns her gaze towards Verack De Nunick, as if he is the greatest love of her life and Jean is the interloper who stole her love. The two cannot exist together.

 

Tempest easily connect the dots. The Sun Soul Mantra, Moon Soul Mantra and Star Soul Mantra are soul cultivation methods that triggers the soulmate crisis. Since the cultivation method can travel with the soul; Verack De Nunick said so himself; this is the cultivation method he practises in his previous life then the three mantras can be used as bait.

 

Cultivators fight over the mantras because it is a heavenly cultivation method. Soulmate finding techniques are included in the mantra, however, if they use the spell to find their soulmate then a secondary effect is triggered, invoking love in the person closest to them, thereby creating a situation ripe for tragedy.

 

“Why do you guys want me to cultivate the Moon Soul Mantra and Star Soul Mantra? It’s nothing but a beautiful death trap!” Tempest lament to her spirits. Having seen the results of the three mantras, Tempest wanted nothing to do with it. Why invite more trouble when she can barely handle the troubles she has.

 

The spirits easily followed Tempest’s train of thought. It isn’t as you think.

 

“Then what is it?”

 

Can’t explain. We will attract their attention. As spirits who are outside the reincarnation process, many of our kind has been roped into their side by the benefits offered. It is not simple as linking everything to mantras and expect to get the Seven Lifetimes of Star Crossed Love. We can tell you heavenly level soul technique are needed for your cultivation and there aren’t that many in this realm. We should take advantage of it when it falls into our laps.

 

“Fine! Be all mysterious.”

 

We are trying to look out for you.

 

“Fine!” Tempest pouted. She doesn’t want to find trouble but it seems she is destined to get it. “Tell me when I am strong enough. This is my life. I want to make the decisions, good or bad. I will not allow you to make decisions for me.”

 

We won’t lie to you, but we will withhold information from you if we deem it too dangerous. It is up to you to search for clues yourself.

 

“Fine.” Tempest agreed with the spirits because it suited her and because she didn’t want to be spoon fed the rest of her life. She knew that if they gave her all the information then she might as well be a puppet, living the life they set up for her. Manipulating people with information is easily done. Tempest has done it in the past.

 

Tempest began thinking about the lawyers in a court of law. No, not court of law. Maybe the stories about the elves and their love for language are more apt to the situation at hand. They do not lie. They don’t have to. There are many ways to mislead people. Alluding, leaving a loophole, undisclosed consequences, ah there are so many ways to steal from the gullible.

 

Not that Tempest has ever stolen from the average people. Drug lords and con artist are okay!

 

By allowing the spirits to withhold information, it allows Tempest to think for herself. All she has is her soul and her sharp mind. She never forgot this body once belonged to Asalia.

 

Though she does wonder what exactly happen during the brief moment to change the affection Cercicity De Auvent had for Verack De Nunick.

 

Tempest doesn’t believe a spell can make a cultivator fall desperately in love with another, especially when they found their other half moments before.

 

The public shaming of Jean brought Tempest out of her daze. Watching Jean frantically acquiesce to Verack De Nunick from shame was laughable. The woman’s scheme runs deep. Tempest doesn’t believe for a moment Jean feels a tenth of the shame she’s showing.

 

“Damn this shameless woman!” Tempest said. There is a free show. Might as well get the best out of it by participating.

 

Watching the two ‘flee’ was fun. It’s like those cartoon character who always lose to the hero but somehow always escape justice and comes back in another episode. Tempest knew they’d meet again.

 

“Oh, take these two Se clan spies with you.” Aria Se Jivock ordered, tossing Tilda and Wilminia towards the fleeing couple as if they were a disease that might infect her if she held onto them longer than necessary. “Tell the Se clan, I’m too busy here to attend the annual clan meet!”

 

“You sluuuuuuuuut,” can be heard from the two whom were tossed like trash.

 

Spies? Huh? What was that all about?