Ether-Based Full-Life-Spectrum Evolutionary Sequence Trajectory (Part 2)

Inside the safehouse. Ye Huan took a phone call, said a quick goodbye to Luosha, and hurried off. Luosha sat on the sofa, lost in thought for a while. On the television, a melodrama of tears, heartache, and universal condemnation was playing, but she had no mind to spare it another glance. No one knew what was going through her head. *Beep, beep, beep!* Her cell phone rang. She picked it up and looked, feeling a bit surprised. "Hello?" "Is this Luosha? I heard you're currently under police protection and wanted to ask if you need any help." A crisp, youthful girl's voice came through the receiver. "Little Sister Xia Li, how did you know about this?" Luosha remembered that pretty, lovely girl. She had donated a large sum of money to the orphanage. —Every detail had been arranged properly and seamlessly. She was probably someone of great power and influence. No. She even knew about her being under protection. She definitely had immense influence and background. "How are you doing right now? What are the police planning for you next?" Xia Li asked. "I'm doing fine," Luosha said, a little bewildered as to why the girl was suddenly showing so much concern. "Going forward, I'll probably be placed under some sort of protection." "Sister Luosha, I've met you before, and I know you're remarkably talented. Please, you must listen to me," Xia Li said. "Please, go ahead," Luosha said. "Don't let your talent go to waste. It will grant you true power—from now on, you'll truly be able to take charge of your own life, and you can attain real freedom and safety," Xia Li said. *She's amazing.* *I only just made my choice, and she already knows.* Yet Luosha could sense that the girl harbored no ill intent toward her. "What if I continue being an ordinary person? What would happen then?" Luosha asked. "Since the start of this year through the end of November, two cities in the Empire have already been utterly destroyed, breached and overrun by demons," Xia Li said. Luosha froze. Information like this was completely beyond her reach. Was she telling the truth or lying? "In Lantie City this year, the total number of military personnel, police officers, investigators, and undercover agents killed or injured has reached 491. Administrative orders have already been invoked to transfer personnel from other cities," Xia Li added. "How could that be..." Luosha murmured in a daze. "In the demon-related incidents that erupted in Lantie City this year, the casualties among ordinary civilians stand at 19,941. All information is strictly controlled—never reported, actively concealed—so the outside world has no way of knowing." The voice on the other end was icy and calm. Then. She delivered the decisive words: "If you are a powerful martial artist—" "Think of the children at the orphanage. If you're a martial artist, they will certainly be looked after—in fact, people will scramble over each other to take care of them." *—And what if you aren't a martial artist?* That was the subtext. Luosha understood. What she understood even more clearly was the other girl's earnest, painstaking goodwill. *This Xia Li is truly wonderful.* She went so far as to speak of such grave matters solely to persuade her to practice martial arts. "Becoming stronger is the best way to protect yourself. I hope you won't miss this one and only opportunity," Xia Li said solemnly. "What should I do?" Luosha asked. "Go take the sect evaluation. Become a martial artist, and we'll be true sisters from now on." "But the choice I just made, I—" "It doesn't matter," Xia Li cut her off. "I'll arrange everything; you don't have to worry about a thing. Please believe that I only made this call with your future in mind." "Thank you, Little Sister Xia Li. I know you want what's best for me," Luosha said. "Then please tell me, what is your final decision?" Xia Li asked. "To become a martial artist," Luosha said. "Good. I'll take care of the rest. You don't need to worry about your investigator companion either; he will receive a reasonable explanation." "Thank you so much, Xia Li." Xia Li curled her lip. Her tone had been plain earlier, but this last sentence was spoken with vastly more warmth. As expected of the girl who had even let him touch her chest. Still, since she had agreed, making this reluctant trip was at least worthwhile. "You're welcome." Xia Li gave a soft "Hmph" and hung up. Now it was Luosha's turn to feel at a loss. Everything had been fine just a moment ago, her tone earnest, so why did that last remark carry an edge of annoyance? Xia Li's temper was truly impossible to fathom. The door of the safehouse suddenly swung open. A girl of seventeen or eighteen walked in. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, her figure slender, dressed simply in a white T-shirt paired with dark blue jeans and a pair of little black boots. She looked remarkably unassuming. Yet the presence she radiated commanded respect. The sea of power concealed within those almond eyes still allowed Luosha to instinctively sense a glimpse of her true depths. "Xia Li!" Luosha was stunned. —She had no idea how Xia Li had managed to get in here. There hadn't been the slightest sound from outside. "You chose to become a martial artist, which is why I've come to help you. If you were going to be an ordinary person, this matter wouldn't have made a difference," Xia Li said softly, raising a finger to point at Luosha's left hand. "Don't move. It's dangerous." Luosha froze, then realized what she meant and asked softly, "Why is it dangerous?" "It's not that you or anyone else is in danger, but rather your future is at risk. Let me resolve this quickly first, and then I'll explain it to you in detail," Xia Li said. "All right," Luosha said. Xia Li walked over to her slowly, cupped Luosha's left hand in both of hers, and pressed down gently. A fine, dark red thread as rich as blood manifested from the void, one end tied around Luosha's fair wrist and the other vanishing into empty space, its destination unknown. Luosha gasped in astonishment. How did she know— And she had made it manifest with a single touch! "What does it do?" Xia Li asked indifferently. "It senses his condition, and if I feel he's in danger, it pulls him to my side through an Ether pathway," Luosha answered honestly, wilting under Xia Li's razor-sharp gaze. Xia Li lowered her gaze, her eyes dark. Innocent and utterly ignorant, yet blessed with such terrifying talent—it left one at a loss for words. —It reminded her of her former self. "Right now, you are a blank sheet of paper brimming with power. Whatever you think, the Ether responds to." Xia Li produced a string of silver bells and deftly, silently tied them around Luosha's wrist as she patiently explained: "However, if you designate this spatial Ether-utilization ability, the Ether will gradually form a pact with you, locking your ability into place." "Is that a bad thing?" Luosha asked. "You originally had a boundless future ahead of you. You could have planned out various formidable Ether evolutionary sequence pacts that synergized with your own combat style to become an overwhelmingly powerful martial artist." "Yet if your Ether evolutionary pact is locked in right now, all your future talent will be bound to this single function." "You will only ever be able to reel someone in via a red thread." "That will be the only thing you can do." "Even if you develop it further, it will never compare to combat-oriented Ether pacts." "It would be the most shameful waste of your astonishing talent." As Xia Li spoke, her hands moved like blurred afterimages around Luosha's wrist before she let out a low cry: "Release." The red thread abruptly broke free from Luosha's wrist and was caught in Xia Li's hand. Xia Li held her breath and slowly opened her fingers. The red thread drifted soundlessly into the void, vanishing completely. Only then did Xia Li let out a slow breath and say, "The pact is dissolved. Now you're a blank sheet of paper once more." "Thank you... very much..." Luosha stammered. *Actually, there was no need.* *All I wanted was to protect him.* *Even if I only possessed protective abilities in the future, it wouldn't have mattered.* And yet. Though Xia Li wore a sour expression and spoke coldly, her actions were full of genuine zeal, doing everything she could for Luosha's future. When someone put in such earnest effort to help— she really couldn't bring herself to refuse. Xia Li pointed to the string of silver bells and said, "Before you reach the Jiuyao realm, do not untie these bells. Their purpose is to force any pact into a 'one-time' effect." "And after that? What do I do once I reach Jiuyao?" Luosha asked. "The sect will have corresponding rituals and trajectories that can help maximize the reinforcement of your pacts and push your Ether abilities to their peak." "—That ritual is known as the martial artist's full-life-spectrum evolutionary sequence trajectory." Xia Li held up a finger and explained: "For example, a darling of the Ether like you might say to the sky, 'I want rain,' and the Ether would make it rain." "Yet the Ether doesn't know what scale of rain you want, when it should fall, or how long it should last." "Only with the correct trajectory and procedure, where you inject corresponding specifications into the pact step by step, can your ability become stable and clear, with its power maximized." "I understand," Luosha said. "So don't use it recklessly right now. The precocious are prone to early demise—that's the logic behind it. Wait until you've grown stronger," Xia Li said. "Can't I use that ritual now to solidify my power?" Luosha asked. "It's far too early... It's easy to go astray." Xia Li thought of something, her voice softening: "I have a friend who acted on her own early on, completing an event-type Ether pact through a ritual that decreed 'competitors shall inevitably meet with misfortune.'" "Her Ether ability was exceptionally formidable, but it had a loophole—" "She didn't define what 'competitor' meant to the Ether." "And that led to one outcome—" "The moment the Ether deemed someone to be her competitor, that person was in grave danger." "'Competitor'..." Luosha mused. "She could have restricted it to martial enemies." Xia Li's face suddenly turned as impassive as a mask, hiding any trace of expression. "You might think of martial enemies, but what about the Ether?" Her voice sounded somewhat muffled: "The Ether assumes that all martial artists qualify under the screening mechanism, and any competitor among them—" "even over something as trivial as grabbing an apple, or climbing a mountain together and competing for rank—" "would be designated by the Ether as a 'competitor.'" —The fate of such "competitors" went without saying. Thinking of that scenario, Xia Li couldn't help but shiver. Luosha couldn't help asking, "Couldn't that pact be canceled through a ritual? Just like mine?" "She obtained this Ether ability through an extremely high-level ritual," Xia Li replied. "To cancel it requires a ritual of the highest grade, and she is unable to complete that ritual." "What ritual is it?" Luosha asked. "A ritual that is completely meaningless—even though it's incomparably powerful, it's meaningless. Let's not speak of it anymore. You aren't allowed to ask about it in the future either. I'm doing this for your own good," Xia Li said, suddenly on guard. "...All right," Luosha said. "Remember, this is definitely for your own good, do you hear me? You are not allowed to ask anyone else." "I understand. Thank you, Xia Li." *** Meanwhile. Bureau of Investigation, Mysterious Affairs Section. "Preventing her from locking in her ability is for her own good," Song Fushan said. "Understood," Ye Huan said, leaning back in his office chair with a cigarette dangling from his lips as he stretched lazily. "It's like a child playing with fire." "That was actually a 'spirit power' technique of the Daozang Baji realm—without that kind of innate talent, one can't even conduct the ritual, and even upon reaching the Baji realm, one wouldn't be able to communicate with the Ether." "Her talent is truly astonishing," Song Fushan remarked with a sigh. "Thanks to you noticing it early, Section Chief, or it really would have been troublesome," Ye Huan said. "Section Chief Xia was the one who noticed it. When she gets back in a bit, you'll need to go see her—she still has to dispel the Ether power on you." "Chief, if an ability does become locked in, is there really no way to cancel it?" "Unless you summon the Ether with a higher-level ritual, using the stronger to overwrite the weaker, it can't be canceled." "Higher-level..." Ye Huan asked curiously. "What is the highest-level ritual like?" "The highest-level ritual is meaningless." "Huh?" "Yes. The highest-level full-life-spectrum evolutionary sequence trajectory requires the sacrifice of one's life to achieve—once a person is dead, even if the ritual succeeds, what meaning does it have?" "Hm, that's true," Ye Huan agreed. Just then, for some reason, a vague thought flickered through Ye Huan's mind, only to vanish without a trace an instant later. Ye Huan froze, furrowing his brows as he tried carefully to recall it, but found he couldn't grasp the thought at all. That thought was too complex, containing far too much information, with a thousand tangled threads that offered no place to start— It was gone.