Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Edwards Meridians took very little effort to open. But Sorin didn't want to devalue the process and exaggerated the amount it took. Three hours later, he walked out of Edward's bedroom and proceeded to Anabella's.

"I heard from your brother that you used to be quite the prodigy," Sorin said to Anabella as he pushed aside her long black hair to touch his hand to her clothed back. "That must have been stressful. I was born with an abnormally strong spirit and an eidetic memory. Expectations were sky-high, and saying no was not an option."

"It wasn't too bad," answered Anabella as Sorin injected his poisonous mana into her body, this time taking great care to scour every inch of her for potential problems or complications. "My father always had a soft spot for me and never pushed me as hard as he could have."

"What about your mother?" asked Sorin. He'd never heard of her during his stay in the outpost. This type of thing wasn't uncommon, however, as the spouses of governors were often required to remain in the provincial capital.

There was more flexibility with their children, however. Three siblings remaining with their father instead of their mother made sense from a practical standpoint. "Died," replied Anabella. Memories of his loss instantly made Sorin regret asking the tactless question.

"Apologies," said Sorin. "I shouldn't have brought up painful memories."

"She died protecting me," continued Anabella. "Father says a rival tried to kill me when they discovered my special constitution."

Sorin sighed. It was a tragic but common occurrence in political circles and possibly the single greatest reason humanity's resurgence had slowed to a crawl. Despite their boundless potential, humans were power-hungry. They often sabotaged the entire group for meager benefits.

"Then the damage to your meridians," said Sorin. "Is it related to the incident?"

"Indeed," said Anabella. "Opening my primary meridians was challenging to begin with. The injury made opening them all but impossible."

This confirmed Sorin's observation that the injury to her meridians was closer to physical trauma. The damage was inconveniently close to her heart and her lungs, making it difficult to determine the extent of the damage and nearly impossible for a physician to heal said damage.

Sorin was a good physician. Blessed with an eidetic memory and strong spirituality, he'd pored over countless texts and case studies from the time he'd been able to read. While the other youngsters in the family were out playing, he'd compiled all this information into his framework, giving him superior diagnostic and troubleshooting powers to doctors twice or three times his age.

He was, therefore, able to sort out the tangled condition and isolate key factors. There is muscular atrophy on the left ventricle. This is masking a recent infection—not a threat to her current condition. The infection is unrelated to her meridian injuries, but treating it will be tricky. I'll need to suggest the governor have a physician inspect her for the condition and have him suggest an ointment of tri-scale lavender and rainbow olive rind as a possible solution.

As far as her lungs go, they're unusually congested, given the extent of the damage. Moreover, there is extensive scarring that encompasses nearby nerves. The scarring extends to the mana sea. Sorin followed the trail, leaving no stone unturned until he arrived at the crux of the issue: the mana distribution system attached to the mana sea. The meridian network was intricately connected to it.

Sorin's spiritual senses saw nothing. Yet his intuition told him that there was something there. All signs and symptoms pointed to it.

Yet, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find it. It made him… angry. It made him want to break something beautiful, to hurt an innocent person. It made him want to…

Wait, why is that me or my corruption talking? He suddenly realized that he was on the verge of losing control. He moved fast to suppress the bubbling corruption sealed inside his body and barely managed to make out a tiny speak nestled between Anabella's heart and lung meridians before managing to seal it away.

Everything suddenly made sense to Sorin. The root of her cultivation problem wasn't trauma but a parasite, one that had been hiding for a very long time. Sorin had no idea how long it had been present or if it had caused the injury to her meridians, but he was certain that it was the reason behind her strange condition.

My mana can't interact with it, and neither can my spirituality, thought Sorin. I also can't risk manabane poison, as it's too close to her mana sea. For similar reasons, my other toxins risk damaging her physically. I can't use most of my arsenal.

He quickly ran through a list of potential treatments but found them all lacking. Most, if not all of them, would result in damage to Anabella's cultivation base or an outright destruction of her cultivation talent. Some treatments could easily result in her death if the attending physician weren't cautious enough.

I can't do anything physically, but perhaps I could use the corruption in my mana to kill the parasite? thought Sorin. Violence and Madness were antagonistic to one another. One was attuned to raw instincts, self-preservation, and proliferation, while the other was attuned to chaos, irrationality, and self-destructiveness.

Sorin wasn't completely confident in being able to treat her, but he was mostly confident in not causing further damage. The ideal solution involved calling the governor in to oversee the process, but unfortunately, he couldn't do that, as it would risk exposing his entwined corruption and divinity.

Perhaps I could use my own corruption to disturb Anabella's and force it out of hiding, thought Sorin. The Governor would then be able to have the Temple of Hope treat her properly.

Having made his decision, Sorin drew upon his blood and the sealed Violence within. He fused a small stream of it with his poison mana and guided it down the intricate network of meridians leading into Anabella's mana sea.

At first, the seed didn't respond to the presence of his corruption, but when Sorin drew closer, it suddenly awakened. Anabella twisted from her seated posture, grabbed a dagger from beside her, and violently stabbed the unprepared Sorin in the chest.

Surprised by her sudden and aggressive behavior, Sorin reacted calmly. He first suppressed his coughing reflex, then grabbed Anabella's wrist and twisted it before she could yank out the dagger. He then grabbed her by the shoulders and mobilized his spiritual energy to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.

Unfortunately, he made the mistake of locking eyes with her. They shook him to the core, and even with Cobra's Gaze, Sorin was unable to free himself for a full three seconds. This allowed Anabella's shadowy mana to infiltrate his body and taint his mind using his eyes as a bridge. Incomprehensible and mind-shattering images rushed into Sorin's mind, further paralyzing his surprised soul. Thankfully, his soul was abnormally strong for his cultivation level, and he was able to hold himself together despite the horrifying potency of the attack.

Yet holding himself together and escaping his predicament were too different things. His mind was slowly descending into a quagmire. Anabella's dull eyes, her chilling smile, and the black blood that ran down her lips all served to amplify the madness invading his spirit.

Thirty seconds quickly passed, though, to Sorin, they felt like thirty minutes. His mind gradually warped until, finally, it broke, and a feeling of despair flooded every inch of his being.

He wanted everything to stop. He wanted to let go. He wanted to—no!

Violence bubbled up from inside him and filled Sorin with strength. It broke the maddening veil Anabella had carefully pulled over his eyes and chased away the remainder of her influence.

Sorin barely managed to suppress the fury in his mind. He refrained from crushing her windpipe and settled for using Python Coil with paralytic mana to subdue her.

As for the handmaid, she'd been knocked unconscious during the collision. She would likely need some serious rehabilitation to open her eyes again.

Sorin was about to move towards the door and inform the governor of what had transpired when a stifling aura pressed down upon the room, smashing the door open and knocking Sorin to the ground. He hacked up a mouthful of tarnished gold blood as a very familiar figure walked over the broken-down door and picked up Sorin by the collar.

"I don't know what that fox is up to and what Bishop Harold was thinking, but it's clear that he made a mistake," said Governor Marsh. "Do you have any last words you wish to share, Demon?"

"Anabella…" coughed Sorin. "Seed… Corruption. Parasite."

The governor frowned when he heard these words and turned to his daughter, who Sorin's Python Coil still entangled. He waved his hand at the illusory serpent and shattered it, further damaging Sorin in the process.

A few tense seconds passed as he inspected his daughter's body, reached into it, and pulled out a mass of wriggling corruption. "Explain," said Governor Marsh, tossing Sorin onto the floor.

Sorin first retrieved his poisonous blood and sucked it back into his body. "While inspecting Anabella, I spotted a disguised seed of corruption leaching on her mana sea," said Sorin. "It was this same seed that was affecting her lung and heart meridian. Though inactive, it had been building up strength for quite some time. I was concerned about it suddenly awakening at an inopportune moment."

"And why didn't you immediately report this?" asked Governor Marsh.

"In hindsight, I was impulsive," said Sorin, realizing that Violence had unduly influenced him. "What I should have done was brought this to your attention, then thought up an excuse to accompany Bishop Harold in treating her."

Governor Marsh's eyes looked over Sorin one more time, then seemed to realize something. "Your corruption inside you is more complex than I realized. It's not just something you're keeping under control with the fox's help; it's merged with something no one in their right mind would ever want to rid you of." The governor was an intelligent man and avoided using the term 'God Seed.'

"I'm sure you can see that my own… condition is not the same as hers," continued Sorin. "The root of her affliction is Madness. Also… I'm sorry. While the corruption can be cured, I'm afraid that it has compromised her cultivation and incorporated itself into her meridians. This level of damage…"

The governor sighed. "She's alive, and her current cultivation is intact. That's more than I could ever hope for. If you hadn't discovered this seed, it would have grown until it exploded mid-battle, distracting me at a critical moment."

"If possible, I request that you keep what you saw today to yourself," said Sorin. "For obvious reasons."

"I will naturally keep your secret well, Sorin Kepler," said the governor. "Now, let's get you and Anabella cleaned up so there aren't any misunderstandings."

***

The governor was an efficient man. The scene was cleaned up, and an official story was crafted stating that the governor invited Sorin to convey his condolences after finding his deceased cousin, Marcus, buried in rubble near the center of town. During his visit, he noticed that the dryad's seeds had infected Annabella. The young woman attacked him but was unable to accomplish anything before the Governor intervened.

For his meritorious service, the governor awarded Sorin with a poisonous herb called a two-star jade-leafed corpse-eating lily that he'd obtained a decade and a half prior. It was a potent poison that might prove useful to a promising apothecary.

He also gave Sorin a Dagger of Amplification as a gift, a two-star weapon capable of enhancing techniques it was used to deliver by 50%.

"These gifts are too precious," said Sorin. A poisonous herb like the one in the case was easily worth 10,000 gold. As for the dagger, it was probably worth at least 15,000."

"Not nearly as precious as my daughter's life," said the governor. "In addition, I heard you're going to Delphi. Are you aware that my son Allen is to be posted there?"

"I heard as much," confirmed Sorin.

"Then make sure to visit him," said Governor Marsh. "I'll put in a good word for you and discretely let him know about your contributions to his siblings' well-being."

Sorin shook his head. "Apologies, Governor, but I have no intentions of seeking him out. I simply wish to make some inquiries with close family members and confront some frustrating relatives while adventuring on the side. As for politics… I'd like to stay as far away from them as possible."

"It's your life," said Governor Marsh. "But you should know that it never hurts to hear people out. The more information you have, the easier it will be to make good decisions. Perspective is a powerful thing, Sorin. I know you and my son have a bit of bad blood between you, but believe me when I say that it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Better to bury the hatchet and use that as an excuse to make a valuable connection."