Cultivation throughout the void

"When the heavens called upon us, we sent the best of our kind to fight for us, no one came back. Reaching beyond the space we knew, beyond the stars of our night skies we went into the unknown for our kin but all we found was more like us, those seeking their lost kin. Had we been lied to? Was the universe truly in need of our meager strength? From galaxy to galaxy everywhere is the same, endless warnings of the end times yet no evidence to show for it. Now only we are left"

-Unknown spirit cultivator ~ Deity transformation ~ Seeker of the truth.

The south-eastern region of the vast tree universe - Sea of broken isle's.

Clusters of small spirit continents littered the surrounding space like an asteroid field, covered by several galactic nebula the continents seemed like islands in a turbulent sea.

Each of these small spirit continents had once been part of a larger whole at one point in time that due to various factors split into thousands of smaller pieces leaving a chain of dust clouds littered across space for trillions of light years.

If one was born deep within such a place, below the dust clouds, ice and gas, the night sky would be but a distant dream.

To them the universe was a place filled with matter in all directions, one could not even accurately envision what the concept of open space truly was.

Each fragment of the shattered spirit continent was like a world onto itself leaving little desire to explore what seemed to be an empty void outside of your known universe.

For billions of years space could be devoid of matter with few object to keep one sane, intergalactic travel wasn't very appealing.

"Uncle yi is it true that there is nothing outside the sea of clouds? I heard if we jump up above the sea that we would be sucked off into a black void never to return, also they say that you can see small dots that glitter everywhere but if you try to reach for one you will never come back" a young man asked.

"It's not like that. Beyond the sea it may seem empty but it's simply that things are very far apart, making it seem empty. As for those small dots that glitter, they are like the sun's we have here in the sea of clouds just very very far away. Oh, but you can get sucked into the void so make sure you never get off this ship ok?" The young mans uncle replied with a tone that carried gentleness yet worries hidden within.

"So, there are things out there? Then why do people say it's empty?"

"You will see soon, once we reach the melting star field it will only take two days to leave the sea's vicinity"

From the boys perspective the world he lived in was always covered by something, at night he did not see star light, during the day the sun was a blur while the occasional meteor storm would darken the skies for days on end.

Should the weather be clear he wouldn't need to wear heavy eye protection but there wasn't much to see, should it be a bad day he wouldn't wouldn't care because evey day is a bad day.

A world without anything to cover the sky. What would that be like?

The young man looked outside the window, the sea of clouds looked calm without the slightest of turbulence.

The boy and his uncle had left the small spirit continent of [lesser stone isle north], it had been the only place the boy had known since he was born.

Now on this flying ship they headed off on a trip they would never return from.

"Already feeling homesick?" The boys uncle asked.

"No. I'm just getting a final look at it"

Tens of thousands of arks and tens of millions of flying ships could be seen gathering in the dust filled skies making many mortal souls wonder what was happening, they had never seen so much activity in the sky before, not from the spirits at the very least.

From isle to isle these vessels travelled in one direction gathering every resource available along the way while increasing their numbers.

It was notable that things like flying ships weren't rare here compared to those living on spirit continents but most of the time such vessels would be well hidden rather then out in the open.

Cultivators would use formations that shifted light to cast illusions on the surroundings only to reveal themselves when they reached their destination.

This group wouldn't have any problems for the foreseeable future just based on scale, if anyone actually attacked they would truly be a hero.

All manner of flying ship was seen here, from the classic boat with sails, metal like cylinders with no windows, spiritual islands chained and pulled by thousands of creatures to flying houses made out of wood like that on earth.

While mortal engines used stars to power propulsion, spirit cultivators used spiritual Qi for basically everything they did, including the fauna and flora of the spiritual realm.

Likewise flying ships required a power source, this power source had to be available in large quantities and stable, but most of all it had to be replenishable.

For spirit cultivators spiritual Qi was like water, without it they would die. Unless one was a god like being it wasn't really viable for long term use as a fuel for propulsion, it was too valuable.

While they could always recover spiritual energy by meditation or cultivation it wasn't guaranteed that spiritual Qi would be available everywhere during their voyage.

This was where spiritual stones came in, it was still spiritual Qi in essence just a more mixed form of it that could be found everywhere in the spiritual universe. The biggest benefit of spiritual stones was it's stability, as long as the energy inside was not activated and the stone was unblemished it would contain the Qi forever without any degradation or energy loss, It was the perfect natural energy storage.

The only problems would be that it required storage and that it could only be mined from earthly spiritual veins which couldn't really be found in the middle of space.

Hiding flying ships by using formations to cast illusions or mask ones true location used spiritual Qi in large quantities, while most flying ships carried enough spiritual stones to cover shorts trips the voyage they were undertaking now had an undetermined location with no set time limit to reach said location.

Basically unless one had a planet or spiritual continent with them no amount of spiritual stone storage would ever be enough to power the flying ships for the unforeseeable future.

Qi gathering formations may help alleviate this problem but the amount of energy that could be gathered in open space far away from planets or spirit continent was again undetermined and not enough to power entire ships let alone an armada.

Due to this most ship captains and fleet commanders chose not to use concealment formations near spirit continents as this part of their journey could be used to conserve power for any problems that may arise.

Likewise they used spirit gathering formations to their maximum for this part of their journey rather than waste their spiritual stone reserves.

Practice makes perfect after all, it was best to start regulating energy usage as early as possible.

The _Salvation arks_ on the other hand were designed to be space faring ships being one of few flying ships created in the vast tree universe to travel the void of space for extended periods of time, although their original purpose was not to travel the inner universe's space it still held up when compared to conventional flying ships.

The outer frame was durable, easy to fix and most importantly it was able to isolate the chaotic energies of the _Endless void_ from those living inside the ark. A good vessel must be well sealed, a vessel that can travel outside the universe boundary had to be completely isolated that not even atoms can escape.

It was one of the best ship designs to ever be created and if not for the vast tree universe's impending collapse it would never have made its way to the common populace and be kept a secret of its creator.

As more arks took to the sky joining the armada on the looting journey from continent to continent, devilish cultivators took this time to do what they generally couldn't do without being chased down and killed - loot, murder, rape and mass genocide.

All over the vast tree realm soul sacrifices, blood sacrifices, the creation of undead soldiers or refinement of devilish treasures took place causing a calamity to descend upon the spiritual realm even before the calamity of corruption arrived, mortal souls and unlucky cultivators who had lost the greater protection of the cultivation world could only flee in desperation.

No other place in the Vast tree realm experienced such a large problem with devilish cultivators as the south eastern region did, the southern region had the most lax 'laws' amongst the eight main directions of the realm as well as the most opportunities for those seeking to make a name for themselves. This created a zone of freedom that allowed for both the good and the bad to flourish alongside each other.

The south - east of the Vast tree realm can simply be known as the adventurer's dream land for it is considered by most as a wild area with few footholds for any not considered a local of the area.

Here the demonic beasts of the southern universe meet with the vast alien spirit species of the wider universe.

Although this area has seen its calamities, wars and even occupations from several other powers not even 1/10th of the south-east had been conquered at any point in time allowing for a perpetual no mans land to exist.

While many have visited and gained immeasurable wealth in the depths of the south it has remained as free as it ever was, which is likely why it will never have a chance to rise either as it's simply too chaotic. 

Currently the largest devilish faction had mobilized the entirely of its power to construct the largest sacrificial ceremony in it's history, while many of the previous powers that controlled the area were able to gleam what was going on they did not try and stop it and simply looked away.

At this point in time it was too late to stop a gathering of devil's on such a scale. Boarding the flying ships and arks they left everything that was once theirs behind.

Mortals of all spiritual species were slaughtered in droves to set up a single formation corner stone, devilish cultivators as a whole took this chance to rise in power across the universe but the south was seeing a golden era like never before.

Devilish cultivators were not immune to the affects of the calamity but having lost more then half of their peak fighters in recent years fighting both the calamity and other cultivators they all together abandoned the wider universe instead choosing to hide for this very moment.

Had devilish cultivators not been outnumbered in a ten to one ratio they wouldn't have hidden themselves till now to try and take control over vast portions of the universe in this time of need.

That's not to say that all of them are simply wicked beings, many nobel spirit cultivators had deserted the front lines during the many battles for the universe being deemed devils as a result, gaining such a title made them unable to go back to their homes in shame.

The calamity was simply a different level of existence, even the bravest of souls bowed their head in shame upon their failure to repel the calamity.

Such cultivators had no choice but to barter for safe passage or even join devilish factions as a result of being deemed devils, today most of these cultivators would truly be deemed forevermore as devils.

As devilish cultivators gained power, some took this time to conceal themselves among the devils in order to cause mass genocide upon enemy races they once had conflicts with.

It was clear to see that these beings were far more cruel then the devilish cultivators themselves for the devils had unfortunately become very efficient with the mass slaughter they caused quickly killing for what they needed but these 'other beings' taking revenge did not kill quick, choosing to prolong the suffering of those they encountered.

The devils did not try and stop these actions, after all to them the universe had already abandoned them long ago and likewise they abandoned it in return.

Massive explosions and rituals reaped the lives of millions every second while leaving the survivors to see the aftermath and curse the ones who caused this.

Cities destroyed, fortresses leveled and countless civilizations fell overnight it was as if hell had descended and madness had taken over.

Unlucky flying ships that failed to join the greater armada were besieged with all passengers onboard being killed, the ships then dawned new flags under the devils banner.

Very few stood their ground and protected their people till the very end, in hopes of buying either buying time to evacuate as much of their people as possible, or simply to take down the devils in one last valiant act.

"°My my if it isn't the great khan of kron, I heard you ran away like all the rest of the so called 'noble spirits' but then again you were never very noble were you?"°

"Batu... So the shame of kron finally shows himself. Tired of living like a rat? Step forward for once in your life and fight me!"

"°Ah, my dear khan. You bless me with your words, sadly I cannot play with you today. However you are free to watch me with those eyes filled with desire for me as I burn your people to ash"°

"You bastard! My son should have killed you the day you were born!"

"°Hahahahaha he was always sentimental"° with a great laugh the devil Batu spread his wings as fire rained down covering the sky.

The khan of kron chased after the devil Batu but the devil avoided a direct confrontation always keeping his eyes on the khan as he spread fire and ash across the world.

From the sides other devils took the opportunity to invade the cities left undefended by the khan, each suffering horrendous losses as the devils rampaged unhindered.

When the khan returned to defend the cities the devils would retreat to attack another area, should they be caught they simply fought back for a bit before retreating. There was no point on fighting the khan head on, he was too pre-occupied defending the indefensible.

As time passed the khan grew weak, his speed dropped, his spiritual Qi diminished, the devils only got stronger and their attacks more ferocious.

"°I wonder khan, are your wives still around? Or did you send them away? What about your daughters? I've always had a liking for them!"°

The devil Batu neared the final city yet to fall, here the legacy of the khans great empire was recorded on the walls of the city themselves.

The barriers protecting the city had long fallen but those remaining loyal soldiers kept struggling to hold whatever remained of the city intact.

As the devil Batu scanned the city he noted the khans great house was gone.

"°Ah but I didn't think so, shame. I always wanted that girl you cared for so much. Maybe I'll find her later"°

"YOU! I'll kill you!" The khan was beaten down but not out. With every attack he intended to kill the devils assailing his empire but it was simply too much.

"°My great khan don't tell me you want her all to yourself? Well it wouldn't be the first time a khan has taken a daughter as his own wife"°

The khan had sent away the best of his people on a long journey, he knew that those that remained weren't strong enough to aid him in combat yet he fought for them regardless. He wasn't a saint, he had pillaged, murdered and raped as he expanded the empire he built, but he valued peace still. After all what is an empire without its people?

"EVEN IF I SHALL FALL YOU WILL NOT BE GIVEN SATISFACTION DEMON!!!" The khan exploded with rage, arriving just a step away from demon Bath sword in hand.

"°Oh but I'm already satisfied >:)"°

<+== Intermission ==+>

Whats the difference between a devil and spirit cultivator if they both use spiritual Qi?

Devil cultivators do not care from where the spiritual Qi comes from. As such they tend to gather even the most polluted of Qi from the surroundings, this pollution is not because the Qi is unrefined(many mixed elements) but because not every soul is a good soul.

When one dies they are judged to be good or evil.

Most normal cultivators only ever interact with souls whose sin's are unclear, yet none of those souls were deemed evil, at least not evil enough to deserve damnation.

The righteous spirit cultivators will cleanse the souls they encounter of their sins to gain good karma, but devils do not.

Devil cultivators do not care for the souls origin. They will not assist a soul to help them reincarnate, they will simply consume the soul altogether.

An unwashed soul, a soul still filled with impurity and sin will pollute the soul.

Ill gotten gains one might say.

While this action may empower the devils far more then a spirit cultivator it also weakens their mind and soul. A soul is an individual after all, taking more then one soul into a single body is a dangerous act.

The more the soul deforms the worse one's mind becomes.

<+== Intermission end ==+>

While the south-eastern area of the vast tree universe's southern sector had taken the warning given to them to heart, the rest of the south had turned ignorant to this incoming 'Calamity'.

Those that left were considered cowards by the vast populace, while many joined bandit groups simply to not miss out on all the looting going on.

Building flying ships wasn't cheap after all, not everyone would have access to advanced forms of transportation.

Most spirits would be unable to escape the universe's fall.

"Can you believe it?! Those beasts in the deep south have started to believe these rumors about the end of the universe, they just up and left everything behind!"

"Cowards! I didn't think the enemies we've been fighting all these years to simply leave because some so called big shots of the vast tree realm told them too, if it was me I would have shown them what my canon's can do" the being pumped his hips.

"Heck yeah! Screw this so called central coalition, what have they ever done for us!"

"Well since they left all that open land with no one to defend it, why don't we uh, go sightseeing?"

The southern region had yet to experience the full weight of the oncoming calamity, having experienced countless 'World ending calamities' they no longer held the same fear to the word 'Calamity'.

This was truly not fully their fault, when every event is considered some major disaster of a scale never before seen, people tend to start ignoring warnings.

The south had always been a free land, a place with little contact beyond their borders.

Even if the vast majority of the south held the same beliefs, they had always entered conflicts over even the slightest of missteps.

With the vast amount of wealth gained from the vast resources of the south, the leadership could simply wave some money at the problem and it will simply disappear for a while.

If that didn't work, they always had the option of threatening to call someone a devil should they not align themselves with the rest.

Even if one wanted to change the south for the better, the fragmentation of power had already seeped so deep into the south that no one force could ever dream of achieving unity.

Those in charge wanted to keep the status quo and they will promise to do absolutely everything required to improve life in the south but never actually do it, claiming 'Heaven has willed it to be, we cannot fix this'.

The southerners had become so accustomed to these lies or 'fibs' that they started to believe the heavens were truly punishing them for doing nothing wrong.

The central coalition or the overseer's, it didn't matter who tried to impose some sort of rule on the south, they didn't care for it if it didn't benefit them immediately.

Any outsiders coming to benefit from what should be theirs will be seen as invaders no matter which side they are on.

Sadly for the south, perpetually doing the same thing and expecting different results does not cure ignorance.

Should they keep to their ways till the very end and choose to stay unchanging then the calamity will arrive without mercy.

As for the leadership of the south, they have mostly already finished their preparations to leave the universe behind. They already got what they wanted from those ignorant enough to listen to them. By the time anyone wise enough appears to fix the situation it will be too late.

<+== Spiritual matter vs matter ==+>

The spiritual realm is filled with matter. It can be the same matter found in earthly realm or matter that can only form in the spiritual realm.

Spiritual matter can interact with the mortal place the same way matter can interact with the spiritual place, however spiritual matter will often corrupt those of mortal life.

Spiritual matter can create miracles such as creating oceans from a single stone, creating verdant forests with a single drop of life essence and it can even give immortality to mortals.

The spiritual realm is a mix of both spiritual matter and normal matter, it does not matter if both interact for nothing will happen without cause.

<+== Spiritual matter vs matter ==+>

In the space of the Vast tree universe one-hundred thousand flying ships headed towards the west, they were one of a thousand squadrons sent out to delay the calamity.

These squadrons would cover less then 0.0001% of the western point of the universe, being just a small part of the remaining survivors of the United army that did not die or flee during the final battle.

The commander of this army was considered to be among the top 100 strongest beings in the vast tree universe, with the death of so many higher tier cultivators he could now be considered one of the top 30 cultivators in the Vast tree realm.

This did not mean he was weak in comparison to those that came before him, he was still one of the strongest beings to ever exist in the universe of the current era.

Even if he fought with someone deemed his superior he wouldn't be guaranteed to lose, the chances of defeat or victory were always a 50/50 once you reach his level. The one thing he lacked was accomplishments built up over a vast amount of time, meaning he was rather young in comparison to others of a similar rank.

"How are the preparations going? Are we ready to once more face off against those corrupted fiends? And is the mind destroying formation ready?" A man's calm voice spoke almost seeming disinterested.

"We have finished all preparations, all thats left is... Well the enemy" a confident woman's voice sounded out.

The calm man was Abner, he was one of 147 surviving void realm lords left in the vast tree realm. For beings like him a million years was a blink in the past, the universe had even started to fell small for such beings.

From a peak of 1,107 void realm lords during the first encounter with the calamity, only he and 147 others had survived.

The woman was Ritika a heavenly rebirth stage arch lord who had participated in most campaigns against the corruption a strategist known throughout the realm, it was thanks to her plus the sacrifices of hundreds of quadrillions that the Vast tree realm could even survive as long as it did given its current crisis.

One might think the loss of life would have sent the universe into a panic, but in truth these numbers were expected for universal scale warfare. Even galactic warfare could result in the deaths of trillions over the course of a few years let alone a battle for the entire universe.

Currently the flying ships that made up part of the fleet had around ten thousand spirit cultivators at or above the soul integration stage, all veterans of cultivation and all renowned heros amongst their race. The death of a single one of these beings could be the difference between the rise of an entire species or its extinction, to date 10 trillion had died.

In total about ten million high grade cultivators had been sent out to face the calamity as the vanguard of 4 waves of attack, with another thirty million to assist them.

These numbers were considered as nothing more then a small militia compared to the numbers the united army held at the peak of the war.

The flying vessels these beings rode atop had equally enough importance as the spirits themselves any single ship would be strong enough on its own to conquer entire galactic clusters with relative ease, these ships are the current pinnacle of spirit artifacts available to the more affluent of the populace.

Any spirit artifact stronger than these ships was not obtainable by just anyone irregardless of wealth.

The goal they had was simple, to slow down the advancing calamity with minimal casualties over the next half year to buy time to set up a 'God realm formation' across the entire western quadrants furthest point which would buy at minimum 4 months time for all nearly continents to evacuate towards the north passage.

Considering it could take a normal flying ship several weeks to simply reach another galaxy it was a pointless waste of time. While the ships the army rode could travel 10 galactic clusters in a matter of days, most couldn't afford to buy such ships.

The only ships fast enough to traverse trillions of light years in mere weeks are the _Salvation arks_. Few other vessels would be expected to successfully arrive at the northern passage in time to escape the incoming calamity.

This was not told to the wider populace, it was better to keep some things secret.

Luckily many other options besides the arks and ultra expensive warships were available to speed up travel times.

If anyone was still in the western zone by that time they will be left for dead for no one is going to risk their lives for them.

The universe as a whole had 25 years left before destruction but the areas closest to the calamity had only five, granting them one extra year was already considered merciful.

"Huh? There seems to be a ship nearby, seems they are being chased by some corrupted fiends" the man said with a slight smile.

"Thats odd, we are still several weeks away from the furthest continent in the west continent and its not supposed to be encroached by the corruption yet! After all we planned to use it as a rest stop" the woman was a bit perplexed but not overly concerned.

Space was vast and full of mystery, to even encounter a stray rock would be a miracle big enough to pray to the heavens let alone another ship. Maybe this corrupted fiends had entered some sort of fold in space? Either way it needed to be investigated.

"Ok. Lets get the information we can first" said Abner as a trace of boredom left his face, standing up he simply phased through the hull of his flying vessel entering space unprotected.

Heading towards the fleeing vessel with extra vigor, his aura grew allowing one to see a sun like ball of pure spiritual energy shining white light surround his body.

On the flying ship that was being pursued, many cultivators launched ferocious attacks behind them.

"Captain! The teleportation formation is almost ready, 5 more minutes!"

"Good!" The captain responded with joy while in his mind 'dammit we probably won't make it out alive from this, 5 minutes is too long!'.

The vessel they rode was not in good shape and seems to have lost many of its parts already but the people on board did not seem overly panicked, clearly speaking for their experience or possibly loss of hope.

This flying ship was circular and seemed to carry mostly low grade cultivators and mortals, other than them was the crew which seemed to be made up of a captain in the body reformation stage and a crew consisting of mainly core formation and nascent soul cultivators with a handful of deity transformation stage experts.

It was clear as day that this was a hired ship payed for by the low grade cultivators collectively to ferry them away, a sizable sum must have been paid to move such high ranking cultivators hearts to become their taxi.

This was not however the same group that had escaped the destruction of the spiritual continent on the lower-western quadrant, this group was notably further away from the front lines and was a different ship altogether.

The pursuers behind and around their vessel seemed to fly in the void of space with no wings or propulsion to be seen, numbering in the tens of thousands at first sight, some clung to the sides of the flying ship in an effort to break it open while others simply tried to use their size to crush the ship from the outside.

The ships crew and the few stronger passengers were fighting back keeping them at bay striving for time and trying not to die in the process.

The 'creatures' had horns on their heads, beady eyes, sharp teeth with no lips, earth yellow skin with thinly spread hair which seemed to stick extremely closely to their bones.

All their skeletal figures differed in shape and size some looked like animalistic, others like insects and a few humanoid figures could be seen.

The low grade cultivators were not much help here but they could at least provide power to the ships defensive arrays taking pressure away from the ships core, those fighting head on against the enemy struck with a their might yet for every creature they killed the others would consume their fallen comrade to make themselves stronger.

This current stalemate was not in the favor of the defenders, eventually the fiends would overcome the defenders or the ship will run out of fuel and canon fire, no other option was available when facing the calamities ghoul's.

Monks chanted, nuns prayed, visions of rivers and mountains attempted to seal the fiends or break them, all to no avail.

"Be cleansed you foul beast! Return the the depths of hell where you came from" the monk screamed at the top of his lungs emitting holy light able to cleanse evil spirits and foul beasts of evil thought.

The skeletal fiends held no fear for the light charging recklessly regardless of injury.

As the fiend neared another man bald of head wearing red and yellow garments clapped his hands together.

"Rejoice o lost one! For I shall lead you to repent!" The bald monk in red and yellow struck at the ghoul with a fist covered in light.

The ghoul beaten back, the bald monk looked at the other monk "Would it not be better to spare your energy to power the ship instead?"

Both monks stared at each other in silence.

All of the sudden one of the crew members in charge of navigation noticed a change in the spiritual radar.

"Incoming! We got more incoming from the front!"

The captain looked to the forward direction the ship traveled.

Just as it was said space seemed to shake, compress and crack all at once followed by a deafening sound, as massive suns crashed down all at once twisting space as they dragged the ghouls into a fiery hell.

The ship was miniscule among these falling suns, fire tendrils spread from the suns grabbing any fiend latched onto the ship and ripping them off with minimal damage to the flying vessel.

Unbearable heat spread out from every nearby sun threatening to incinerate the flying vessel but as soon as the suns appeared they vanished.

The next thing anyone knew, all of the attackers were gone and only silence remained.

Everyone was stunned and only after a few breaths did they realize they had been saved.

"Who's in charge here?" Abner asked emitting a crushing pressure upon the vessel.

The difference in cultivation being too great, his voice sounded and several low tier cultivators popped like blood bags.

Captain Fulson quickly used his own spirit to cover his crew and passengers from harm but he had fallen to his knees unable to stand.

Everyone else on the ship passed out besides for the captain himself.

The captain could not withstand the force long enough shortly passing out much to Abner's annoyance.

Four minutes later the flying warships lead by Ritika arrived and encircled the comparatively small flying vessel.

"Why did you kill them?" Ritika asked.

"I didn't mean to, I thought I was far enough away that they wouldn't die. Oh but not all of them are dead" Abner shamelessly said.

"Ha this is why I wanted someone else in the void realm to come, you can't control your power still" Ritika criticized.

Abner did not retort, he moved further away into the confines of a warship were his power could be restrained.

Ritika neared the fallen captain of the ship and those still breathing, with a wave of her hand the most noticable of wounds vanished.

'I'll just soul search them real quick, can't be helped'

Like lightning information flashed from the minds of the unconscious into Ritika's mind, everything about their voyage was revealed.

'The fiends did not come from the south-west? This group simply encountered them by chance and didn't even know from where they came' with a frown Ritika returned to her warship.

"Give them some provisions and send them off, lets quickly set of double the speed"

"Is something wrong?" Abner asked her.

"Its just a hunch but I believe the entirety of the western quadrant may already be compromised" Ritika said without care.

"What!? Then why are we still going to the far west?" Abner questioned.

"Because that's what it expects us to do"

"!?"

"If it expects us to arrive at the west and we aren't there what do you think will happen?" Ritika questioned him.

"We go back and regroup no? Or formulate a new plan to somehow isolate then entire western quadrant" Abner answered without much thought.

"Yes and by doing so we leave the entirety of the western quadrant completely defenseless and the corruption will be free to act without fear of reprisal. No we can't retreat. By going to the western point the calamity will need to to keep sending ghouls to try and throw us off, it will commit to a battle simply to keep up the act. If we retreat now the west will fall in less then a year" Ritika became serious.

"Then what of the other quadrants? Do you believe they have already been infiltrated as well?"

"The south undoubtedly, the north seems unlikely but we will send word to have it checked out, as for the east it should be the safest area still" thoughts flashed in Ritika's mind.

"So we just need to put on a good show huh. So be it" Abner seemed to be happy with the outcome of events.

With that the warships left with haste, leaving a small group to investigate the western quadrant in secret.

<+== Echos of past ==+>

Memory corruption, generally one only tends to think of it on a mortal scale. Say you have some information written on some sort of device that for some reason doesn't work the way it should stopping you from seeing what is written or maybe you know someone with Alzheimer's and have personally seen the self destruction of a living being in real time.

Spirit cultivators do not suffer these afflictions so they do not think of them.

A cultivator mainly uses the spirit for basically everything and at some point their head can simply be discarded.

When a cultivator reaches a certain point of cultivation their mind tends to become one with the soul and such even should one's body be destroyed as long as the soul has kept the memories of that cultivator, they can simply make a new body without hassle.

Here is where the problem begins.

Souls you see, happen to be particularly easy to corrupt, devil cultivators being the prime example that most should know as corrupted souls.

Spiritual Qi is commanded through the soul, without the souls guidance spiritual Qi is as useless as a fart. Do you know what this means?

Everytime you use a spiritual artifact, or when you cast a spell, when you gather spiritual Qi from the surroundings, when you so much as move the spiritual Qi in your body it requires the soul to interact with the outside world.

This is when corruption gets you.

It doesn't need to injure you physically to infect you, it just needs to be let in through the simplest of actions in the spiritual realm.

When I fought the corruption for the first time I realized the problem right away but I couldn't do anything about it, it was too late.

The moment that beast entered our universe it was already over.

What we need to do now is not simply fight, but prepare to run away.

It will not save us, but maybe we can save those yet to be infected, those yet to be born.

I do not have much longer.

The fifth clone, you are my inheritor. To you I will give my purest Qi which I have refined to a level I could only achieve from my failure.

May my spear and Qi lead you on the path to salvation, good luck number five.

"...dam old man. Where did you go?" The fifth clone looked ahead towards the mountains and rivers cleaved at the tip of a spears blade.

"So the corruption had altered the memories of the universe when it arrived? Then why is it taking its time to destroy us? For false hope? Does it want us to escape this universe? Is that it? Does it want us to spread the corruption without knowing...I see. We aren't escaping it's grasp. Only becoming a vector to its spread" the fifth clone held his spear firmly.

"I will not fail you old man, I will find the uncorrupted souls and guide them to salvation!"