Fates Parallel Chapter 336 - Hypothesis

One day of relaxation soon turned to two, then three, then a week, then a few weeks. Taking Jung’s lesson to heart, the girls took the time to focus on themselves for a while rather than worry about training or fret about the upcoming summit.

They resumed their regular sessions with Xiulan, who strongly approved of their extended break.

“It’s good that you’re taking a step back to keep yourselves grounded and remember what makes life worth living. It would be a horrible tragedy if you became the sort of cultivators to sequester yourselves in some hidden mountain cave for thousands of years.”

That wasn’t to say she didn’t do any training. Cultivation and study had become such an intrinsic part of their day to day lives that the girls would have been more stressed if they’d stopped entirely. But aside from some light meditation and the occasional chat with their friends, it was kept to a minimum.

On one such day, while Jia and Eui were quietly sharing some time alone to meditate, they received an unexpected visitor.

Princess Seong Misun sniffed haughtily as she regarded the humble Purewater Spring to which the girls had confined themselves.

“So this is their precious place of power, is it? Hmph—I commend the efficacy, but a simple mana collection array would yield similar results and far better control.”

Eui cracked an eye open and frowned at the princess.

“I’ve been inside the palace at Songdo, and the mana was strong but it still paled in comparison to this.”

“Tsk, of course it did. We don’t run the arrays at full strength all the time, or we’d drain the local region of mana and disrupt the ecosystem.”

“And this shrine is like this year-round. Sounds like there’s pros and cons to different methods to me.”

Misun rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, whatever. I didn’t come here to debate about mana concentration.”

Jia rose to her feet and bowed.

“If you’ll pardon me for asking, Princess, why did you visit us? We’ve hardly seen you since the dinner after we first arrived.”

“That’s because I’ve been busy. Some of us have actual work to do, and this ‘wedding’ may well be the most significant diplomatic event in the history of our continent.”

“If you need our help with anything, you can always just ask.”

Princess Seong scoffed.

“You just keep enjoying your vacation. I’ll have more use for you during the summit. In the meantime, I came to discuss that strange Shadowflame of yours.”

Jia raised an eyebrow curiously. That was an odd turn.

“It’s not mine, it’s Heian’s. What about it?”

“In my spare time—limited as it is—I’ve been doing some research on that twilight space you brought us to. It’s annoyingly expensive to cross between the realms without your little spirit’s help, but it brought up some implications that are worth exploring.”

Eui scratched her cheek, frowning.

“You didn’t strike me as the type to do something so...proactive.”

“Tsk, it’s not like there’s anything else to do around here. And it is an interesting subject. I mentioned before that there was something I wanted to tell you about the shades populating that realm, didn’t I?”

Jia nodded.

“I’d nearly forgotten about that, but yes. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

It was only a moment, but Jia thought she saw Misun’s expression soften a bit.

“Yes, well—do pass on my congratulations to Lee Jung for curing her condition and awakening. Actually, she is somewhat related to what I wanted to talk about.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve spent some time observing the shades that exist in the twilight realm. They generally ignore intruders entirely, so I’ve been trying to figure out what provoked them to attack the first time we went there.”

Eui crossed her arms.

“I assume that means you’ve got a theory?”

Seong Misun tossed her hair back and waved her six fox tails in a peacock-like display, grinning smugly.

“Oh, I have much better than that—I have an answer.”

She snapped her fingers performatively, casting a talisman that inscribed a magic circle onto the flat area of the plateau designated for formations.

“Here’s another spell for you to steal from me. It’s only fair, since I took the base from you.”

Jia recognized it right away. The circle had been adapted from the soul sight formation that she’d developed alongside Hyeong Daesung. She didn’t even bother trying to take a mental snapshot with Absolute Awareness—her studies with Ja Yun were paying off.

“This is a projection formation? Instead of the spirit realm, it’s designed to view the world of shadow.”

Misun’s eyebrows rose, and she inclined her head.

“Good eye. It’s easier than physically displacing myself, and I’ve been using it to make observations. Now tell me—what do you see?”

Jia peered through the formation, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The world of shadow had a strange overlapping quality to it—as though everything was out of focus, or she was crossing her eyes.

“Nothing?”

“Correct! And yet, until just recently there would have been dozens of those shades milling about. Before then, I’d thought that they were just ubiquitous to the realm, but look—there isn’t a single one.”

Jia furrowed her brows. Misun was right—no matter where she looked, she didn’t see any sign of the shades.

“So what does that mean?”

“You already hypothesized that the shades were the souls of the dead, but I can confidently corroborate that idea. Furthermore, I believe that I can extrapolate the existence of other parallel realms similar in nature to this world of shadow. At least five in total, counting our own physical realm—six if we count the divine.”

“You got all that from the shades disappearing?”

Misun rolled her eyes.

“No, I got that from weeks of analysis and study which I am glossing over for the sake of brevity—don’t be dense. The shades gathered most strongly around Lee Jung, and I believe that it was because she was close to death. I was able to prove that by killing a few things and seeing how they interacted.”

Eui grimaced.

“You killed things just to see what would happen?”

“Oh please, you of all people shouldn’t be squeamish. Besides, most of the subjects weren’t even human.”

Jia stared incredulously.

“Most?!”

“Mhm. Regular animals made up the bulk, but I was able to track down a weak magical beast, a few elementals, and that traitor that tried to sell us out to the Bai clan—once Ienaga was done questioning him.”

“You murdered a prisoner for an experiment?”

Seong Misun nodded.

“Yes, that’s what I said—try to keep up. It was quite enlightening. Animals and beasts resulted in new shades being ‘born,’ for lack of a better word, while the elementals didn’t. The human, however, had a different result entirely.”

She waved her hand, effortlessly casting several illusion spells that Jia would have needed talismans or a dedicated spiritual art to match. The illusion projected an image of Meng Ying—the Flowing Purewater disciple who Yue had caught trying to betray them—dying. As he expired, his body surrounded by dark shades, he released a brightly shimmering phantom.

The shades fell on the phantom like a pack of hungry wolves. They tore away at the essence of the phantom, draining the light away from it until there was nothing left but another shade. The shades that obtained the lion’s share of the ‘light’ became more defined and clear, while the shade that remained of Meng Ying’s soul had been reduced to nothing more than a vague blob of shadow.

Jia scowled at the sight.

“Ancestors.”

“Note that cultivating beasts and elementals didn’t produce anything like that—only a human soul. A year ago I could have written a paper on this as conclusive proof that only humans have true souls, and probably done extended research on the nature of these shades of the dead and their role in reincarnation, but you’ve already proven that elementals do have souls with your bizarre little slime creature.”

Eui pursed her lips.

“Her name is Iseul.”

“Yes, I know—my memory is fine, thank you. Anyway, while I’m still not sure what sort of implications this has on the theory of reincarnation, knowing that elementals have souls tells me that they must be going somewhere when they expire. The common theory is that they just disperse into mana, but that seems naive.

“Instead, I posit that there’s an ‘elemental realm’ like the world of spirits, as well as a similar twilight between the physical and elemental realms.”

Jia scratched her head.

“That’s...interesting. I’m not really sure what to do with that information. Also, why are you telling us about it?”

Misun shrugged.

“Call it a professional courtesy. I couldn’t have learned any of this without you, after all. As for what to do with it—who knows? But with all these extradimensional invaders running around causing trouble, perhaps it will be useful to have a better understanding of the dimensional fabric of our world, hm?”

“That’s a good point. Thank you for sharing.”

“Don’t read too deeply into it. I’m not about to let myself owe a favor to Eunae’s little minions.”

Jia crossed her arms and scowled defiantly.

“We are not Eunae’s minions!”

“You’re literally permanently enthralled by her. Among every person currently living, you are perhaps the most beholden to her power—except perhaps our poor cousin Kim Yongsun. And that includes the two souls she intentionally mangled on the way here. I’m not yet sure whether your progress with my sister’s ability to control her power is for better or worse, but for you? There’s no hope—you’re already hers.”

Eui scoffed.

“Look, I get that growing up with her did a number on you—even if you were already an adult when she was born—but she’s our friend, and she was our friend before she ever used her power on us. I don’t care what you think.”

Jia nodded.

“She’s only ever used her power to help us. And she’s never taken advantage of the geas she accidentally placed—in fact, she’s been bending over backwards to accommodate us as a result. I trust her. I know how hard she’s been working to learn how to remove her geas, and I believe in her to do it as soon as she makes a breakthrough.”

The princess rubbed her temple and grimaced.

“I don’t know why I’m wasting my time arguing with brainwashed thralls about their brainwashing. Whatever—good luck with all that. I’m done here.”

Misun turned and left without another word, leaving the girls alone once more.

Jia sighed and scuffed the ground with her foot.

“I hate to say it right after fighting with Misun about it, but we should probably check in on Eunae’s progress.”

Eui snorted.

“She may be a bitch, but It would be pretty stupid of us to prove Misun right just to prove her wrong.”

“And I have been kind of itching to do some more cultivation stuff.”

“Pfft—you’re insatiable. What happened to taking a break?”

Jia blushed and crossed her arms, flicking her ears.

“We’ve relaxed for long enough. Besides, we’re just checking in—it’s not like we’re going to be inventing another technique while we’re there.”

“Oh, now you’ve said it. We better clear the schedule for this one...”

“Shut up!”