Chapter 145 - Inkarsia 2

After a month at sea, the ship finally landed.

One of the guards shouted.

"Get out! And do your job properly or forget that you’ll even get any food!"

With their hands bound by rough rope, Cale and 187 others exited the ship.

There had been 200 of them initially, but twelve had died during the voyage.

Each of the surviving slaves was given a large basket woven from jute material.

"As explained earlier," the guard barked, "go and collect all the herbs and rocks you can. We have already told you what to get from there. The more you submit here, the more money you’ll get. Oh, and..." he smiled cruelly, "don’t stray from the designated areas. There are things in there that make even Apex Stage cultivators nervous. Stay in the collection zones or die."

***

’So us commoners collect low-tier items while the cultivators go and find the inheritance grounds. Interesting.’

The slaves around him had varied opinions, most already resigned to their forced jobs.

"W-will we be able to leave after this?" one man asked nervously.

"We should be... right?" another replied uncertainly.

"I came here for money. As long as I get money to settle my gambling debts..."

Within just an hour of searching, Cale had found a yellow root ginseng that appeared to be approximately one hundred years old.

As he was about to dig it up, someone shouted.

"You! Hand that over!"

’Sigh...’

He looked back to see a man with a greasy beard, his expression desperate and gaunt. Cale simply threw the ginseng to him without resistance.

"O-oh... you’re handing it over just like that?" the man asked, shocked by the unexpected generosity.

Cale smiled and walked away.

"Wanna team up? I’m sure we can do better together!" the man called after him.

Cale simply waved his hand as he continued onward.

’That man is about to die. With the amount of poisonous herbs he’s consumed, he’ll likely be gone in a day or two.’

Three days passed.

’Oh, here it is.’

Cale found a distinct trace of demonic qi and quickly moved toward it. The energy signature was subtle but unmistakable to someone of his high senses.

He discovered a dense forest with black trees, their bark twisted and gnarled as if corrupted. Cale quickly found a suitable spot and sat, extending his senses to ensure privacy.

’Hmm, this much energy should be enough to use Ailment Split Soul Body Creation Technique, right?’

He considered attempting to give sentience to his system itself. If he had the chance, he would definitely try... imagine having a system that could think and communicate beyond mere notifications. But given how impossibly powerful the system was, he doubted even Transcendent Stage cultivators could accomplish such a feat, much less someone at his current level.

’Sigh... let’s just improve it a bit then.’

He cast a barrier around himself and began the delicate work of creating a small split soul body — more accurately, a small consciousness fragment that would give the system subtle emotions and understanding, allowing it to communicate with greater nuance in the future.

Sitting within the barrier, Cale started absorbing and refining the demonic qi, using it as a primary energy source to enhance the system’s consciousness and presence. Simultaneously, he began creating a split soul body, since he also wanted a second physical form too.

Two hours passed.

Then, a system notification appeared:

[Warning! The host is trying to influence the System’s Structure!]

[GRANT ACCESS?]

A smirk crossed Cale’s face.

"Asking me to grant permission to myself? Dumb, aren’t you?"

’Do it,’

[PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED. HOST CAN ALTER THE SYSTEM’S STRUCTURE AND INFORMATION.]

Although the system said that, it didn’t actually mean much. Cale wasn’t even one percent powerful enough to change even a single element of the system’s interface. The system was simply following protocols, granting permission because technically, Cale was its master.

His split soul body was finally formed, only its core, a sphere of consciousness measuring a few inches in diameter.

With Genesis, creating such an absurd thing would definitely become easier in the future.

"Hah, if the Emperor can do it, so can I," he murmured to himself.

The next day, a week had passed since they’d arrived at the collection zones.

The ship returned to pick up the slaves.

A guard roared, "Only those who’ve collected three kilograms worth of items will be allowed to enter! The rest will stay here until we return next month!"

Many cried and screamed in protest, but no one could revolt against cultivators who held their lives.

Cale, however, had gathered far more than the required amount. More importantly, he’d gained valuable information about the island’s layout.

From observing which zones the slaves were directed to, he could infer which side of the desolate island the inheritance grounds were likely located.

For his first trip, that was good enough intelligence.

The inheritance site housed a Beast Phantom Skill among its rewards — his primary target. It was known throughout the world that cultivators who possessed beast phantom summoning abilities would also gain the beast’s skills in real life, and would surely unlock beast transformation when reaching Emperor Stage, unlike normal Emperors who bet it on chance.

But the most important benefit was partial transformation capability. With that ability, he could save enormous amounts of essence even during transformation.

There was also a lightning attribute technique available, but that was secondary.

’Let’s see about that later.’

Ten more days passed as the ship sailed toward the actual inheritance site.

They landed on solid ground again.

’So are we finally starting to hunt for the inheritance today?’ Cale wondered, continuing his work washing clothes on the ship’s deck.

He watched as many elders and young masters of the Soaring Crane Sect moved about the ship, clearly in the middle of planning their strategy for the inheritance grounds.

"They’ll easily see through my fake realm if they focused," he mumbled to himself.

Five more days passed.

The ship came under attack by Beast King-level vultures, which were creatures as large as buffalo, with talons and beaks capable of tearing through cultivators. They attacked anyone visible on the deck, causing utter chaos.

But the sect members persevered through the assault.

The day after the vulture attack was bright and clear.

One of the ship crew screamed from the crow’s nest.

"Look! Look! It’s that island! We finally found the island from this huge cluster of small islands!"

Someone rushed downstairs urgently.

"Elder Xan, we have arrived at the location!"

The sect leader of the Myriad Sword Sect stood alongside the sect leader of the Soaring Crane Sect, both their expressions focused.

The Myriad Sword Sect leader laughed.

"It’s definitely this one. See how there’s a rainbow-colored vortex above it in the sky? That’s the inheritance marker."

The Soaring Crane Sect leader nodded in agreement.

Many older cultivators in Emperor Stage and Sage Stage began to arrive on deck, their combined presence making the very air heavy with spiritual pressure.

These powerful cultivators poured their essence into breaking the barrier of mist surrounding the island.

"It’s like an endless void!" one of them shouted, strain evident in his voice.

"Indeed, it’s taking everything even with eight of us combined!"

The sect leader’s voice boomed across the ship.

"Everyone prepare to leave! The elders have broken the barrier!"

The cultivators from the sects erupted in excitement, their eyes gleaming.

The commoners, by contrast, simply waited in resigned silence, fully aware that this place was beyond their capacity to survive. Many would not return from the inheritance grounds.

As they landed at the shore, Cale’s heightened senses detected movement near the water.

Without hesitation, he jumped from the ship and ran to the very front of the advancing group, positioning himself among the sect’s cultivators rather than remaining with the other commoners.

’Hell if I die with you idiots.’