The Growth of a Titan in the Cultivation World

"Wait, so this Legacy Rune is not the Inheritance of Su Moon?"

"No, but if you can reach a certain level of cultivation, you could study the methods used to create it. But it's not like you'll get that chance, you won't be you in a few days."

Sol looked at the Nian Beast and asked.

"How are you planning on resurrecting Su Jin?"

The Nian Beast paused and met Sol's gaze. It realized Sol was too calm, though it still explained.

"The Grand Formation Array stores all of Su Jin's memories from when he was a child. After wiping your soul and memories clean, this Legacy Rune will fuse with your soul and replace Su Jin's memories with your own."

"That's not a resurrection. Do you really think you'll get back your friend like this? What kind of memories would the Grand Formation Array have? Was it not when Su Jin was suffering the most?"

"I can just make new memories brat, and enough with your questions."

The Nian Beast then walked over to place his soft paw on Sol's forehead to wipe his memories from his soul.

"I'll try to make it as painless as possible, but nothing is painless about this process."

"That's fine, my tolerance for pain is extremely high."

"You can still smile in this situation?"

The Nian Beast said when he saw Sol smiling at him.

It ignored this weird child and sent its Divine Sense inside Sol's head to wipe his soul clean, like words on a page being erased leaving it blank.

However, just as the Nian Beast's Divine Sense entered Sol's mind, a black and golden light burst forth to repel his Spiritual Energy.

A sense of danger erupted in the Nian Beast's heart, causing it to leap back in retreat. It then stared at Sol's forehead with what looked like a shocked expression on its face.

At the same time, its hair was standing on end, and its heart was filled with immense dread.

When one enters the Spiritual Realm they gain access to their Divine Sense, an energy source connected to one's soul and mind.

During that moment, when the Nian Beast sent its Divine Sense inside Sol's mind, it saw a dazzlingly golden sun and a pitch-black crescent moon.

They were protecting his soul, and the power they unleash to repel his Divine Sense would have likely caused its mind and weakened soul to crumble if it hadn't retreated in time.

That sun and moon were presently seen on the brat's forehead, and the Nian beast couldn't take its eyes off them.

'It's not unheard of to have another God or Goddess's Holy Crest appear on someone other than Keres, but what is that sun? The Holy Energy it's releasing is far stronger than what Su Jin's own released. But more importantly, what the hell is that crescent moon? It's not a Holy Crest; the energy it's releasing is tyrannical and barbaric. That is far from being Holy Energy, it's the completely opposite. It's Chaos incarnated.'

Nian Beast's face looked solemn.

"Brat, who are you? No, what are you?"

He quickly retrieved his arms pinning Sol down, fearing it would provoke those things in his mind to act further.

Sol, now free, calmly sat up and crossed his legs.

"I don't know, that's what I plan to find out when I get stronger. But can you tell me more about Holy Crests? Is this one?"

Sol asked as he reached up and touched the sun at the center of the crescent moon. Though the two soon fade away.

The Nian Beast stared at Sol, and it seemed to frown.

"Brat, that's not a normal Holy Crest. No wonder you weren't unconscious when I came here. This is the strongest suppression area of the Grand Formation Array, but you're completely fine."

Hearing this Sol's eyes widened in realization, and he recalled what happened to him before he entered this room.

"Perhaps I did feel the suppression force of the Array, but it only lasted for an hour."

The Nian Beast's frown deepened before a sinister aura suddenly began radiating from its body.

Sol's shoulders slum from the pressure and he felt like he was being suffocated.

"It matters not, that Holy Crest and moon only passively protect your soul, so just using my remaining power should be enough to wipe your soul completely."

The Nian Beast was ready to attack, but Sol suddenly smiled and tap his storage bag.

He took out some more dakkochi and said.

"Little Abdu I never got to feed you, so here."

"What?"

The Nian Beast froze, but soon it glared at Sol.

"You brat, who do you think I a-"

Before the Nian Beast could finish its sentence Sol said.

"I know what it's like to lose someone dear to you. First, you deny they're actually gone, but immediately after, rage takes over. Then, a deep sense of hatred towards the person responsible settles in your heart, but after you realize you're too weak to do anything you start to think to yourself, 'I should have done this,' or 'I should have done that.' Maybe we wouldn't have lost the people we care about then. But that sort of thinking won't bring them back, nothing will. Their souls have already passed on to the afterlife."

"You don't know what-"

"I do. This time I do. But I say these things to you when I myself haven't moved on, and I don't think I ever will because it's too hard. Why should I move on and accept their deaths? Why should I forget my hatred or stop loathing my pathetic attempts to justify why I wasn't able to protect them? Just why should I forget when the person who caused me this much pain, the one who killed my father, and my entire village is still alive?"

Tears well up in Sol's eyes, but he quickly wiped them away.

"Little Abdu, my arm is getting tired."

Sol said holding out his hand that held the piece of meat.

"I can't let go of my hatred, but I won't forget to live by the values my father taught me. He always said having a friend is better than making an enemy. Little Abdu, I need friends, but considering how long you've lived like this, I think you need one more than I do."

Sol chuckled to himself after he said those last few words.

The Nian Beast's threatening aura suddenly dwindled, and it stared at Sol in a daze. An image of a little boy seemed to overlap with his smiling expression.

"Little Nian, you should stop disguising yourself as those missing children. If you need someone to love you so badly then why not get a friend? Alright fine! I'll just be your friend then. But you should really feel grateful, I'm not someone that has many friends, ah, but that's by choice! My father says I'm his heir so I should be careful of people trying to trick me..."

The Nian Beast unknowingly walked over to Sol as he recalled what Su Jin had said to him when they first met.

"Brat, don't get the wrong idea, it's not because I gave up on my plans. I just haven't tasted something like this in several millennia. After I'm done, I might just continue."

Little Abdu said as he snatched the piece of meat from Sol's hand.

"I know, ha-ha."

Sol said with a laugh before he sneakily tried petting Little Abdu's head, but he immediately got a bite and a scratch in return, which agitated him quite a bit.