"What? What happened?" Yuria asked with concern as Valentina tightened her grip around his arm.
"My slave is compromised. Farah must have noticed something or became suspicious. But right now, she has knocked Tristen out cold, and I have no idea what is going on inside," Damien said with a frown.
"I knew it...that woman is even more crafty than I expected. Hmph, that two-faced bitch," Yuria passed a biting remark, making Damien wonder if women indeed had a sixth sense to learn so many things from each other from just their first meeting.
He always knew Farah was a calculating and manipulative woman though he never expected her to play her hand now.
"Anyway, we should now find a way to get your slave back before she does something with it.. Is there no way you can control your slave now? Or does it have to be conscious?" Yuria curiously asked.
Damien shook his head, "Tristen's soul plane has been cut off from his physical body temporarily. So even if I try to control him myself, it is of no use if I can't move his body. I won't even be able to hear or see anything. And soul perception won't work since an undead slave like him only has a small slice of my soul essence. It isn't powerful enough to break the seal she might have put on his soul plane."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtValentina finally spoke, "She has an ethereal defense formation on the outside, right? What if I phase through it and see what she is up to?"
"No, that would be too dangerous. Her cultivation is at the fifth level of the Sky Ethereal Realm, and if she were to—" Damien suddenly stopped himself, realizing that he was again unconsciously holding back Valentina instead of trusting in her abilities.
"Okay, what do you plan to do after phasing through the ethereal formation? Will you be able to remain invisible long enough to escape? I know you have only a short time to maintain your invisibility," Damien asked Valentina, who was busy thinking about her own plan, while Yuria slightly smiled, seeing that something about Damien was different.
Damien decided to first hear out Valentina and see if her plan was viable enough.
"My soul cultivation has broken through to the Early SubIime Soul Stage. So I can stay invisible for thirty seconds or maybe a minute if I try my best. But that should be long enough to see what Farah is up to and come out. But...in case you are afraid about Farah noticing my presence, then there is something else you should know," Valentina said with a proud smile.
Seeing her smile, Damien asked with a slight head shake, "What?"
"I also had just broken through to the fifth level of the Earth Ethereal Realm, and even without turning into my beast form, I am still as strong as an Early Sky Ethereal Realm cultivator. And with Yuria's help, I can become even stronger just in case you were worried about Farah overpowering me," Valentina said confidently.
Damien felt lost and put up his hand as he glanced at Yuria, "Wait a minute. Yuria can make you stronger? How?"
Yuria came forward and said with her chin up, "Don't you remember the mysterious ethereal cultivation art you gave to me from a mysterious source three weeks ago?"
"The Endless Chaos Arts of the Fallen?" Damien suddenly remembered that Luna had come up with another cultivation art on her own for Yuria that was best suitable for her Chaos Ethereal Core.
Yuria was inwardly astounded to see a cultivation art that best suited her and seemed quite profound as well. Since it seemed so powerful and required deep understanding, she had to take quite a while to comprehend the initial parts, because of which she was only able to gain a single level in these three weeks though she made a breakthrough to the Sky Ethereal Realm.
Yuria nodded with a happy smile and said, "I am really glad that you gave me such a precious cultivation art. It really blew my mind off, and I got to learn more about my own ethereal core too. But most of all, I learned something that could be helpful to you all."
"And?" Damien asked as he slightly tilted his head.
"I can augment your ethereal cores if they contain any ethereal seed that belongs to the six elementary elements. But of course, this is a temporary effect, and after it wears off, it will be followed by intense exhaustion and fatigue, which could make you feel like taking a nap," Yuria explained.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDamien raised his brows in astonishment as he curiously asked, "By augmenting ethereal cores, you mean by a level or two?"
Yuria put up one of her hands with all fingers raised, "Five. Five levels I can augment. So Valentina will be temporarily as strong as a cultivator at the Middle Levels of the Sky Ethereal Realm."
Damien had a blinking expression since he knew how much of a game-changer it could be to suddenly gain five levels of cultivation, especially in the Sky Ethereal Realm, where each level increase would give one considerable gain.
"Luna, you knew this, right? Isn't this why you told me that I should start relying on my women as well?" Damien mentally asked Luna, who was watching everything with an elegant pose.
"Of course. I am the one who created her ethereal arts, especially with the knowledge of learning things about your strange ethereal core and Death Laws since they are part of the Chaos Laws as well. Anyway, Yuria still has a long way to go, and only time will tell if she would be fortunate enough to touch the real Chaos Laws like you. If she does then, she could be quite a deadly and unstoppable force. But you shouldn't get too happy thinking that she can augment your ethereal core too."
"Why not?" Damien asked in a perplexed tone.
"Obviously because of your weird ethereal core that has a mix of ethereal and nethereal energy, especially your lightning seed connected to your Origin Seed. Of course, if you isolate the Origin Seed from your elemental seeds as you did in the Xeton Empire, then Yuria can augment your ethereal core."
Damien inwardly smiled, thinking that this could still be useful to him in certain situations, and felt proud for Yuria as he said with a slight smile, "Then you two can go ahead."