Chapter 9: Chapter Nine
The first thing Celius did was quickly go home and get washed. After making sure he was clean, he rushed to the market to pick up a few snacks for the kids. He even got some for Luna. Meat and other ingredients were also bought. Then right after that, he sped towards his grandpa's place.
"Celius?" His grandpa was a little surprised to see Celius.
"Brother!" The three kids rushed up to him and hugged his legs. Celius kissed all three of them before looking at grandpa with some happiness.
"What is it?" Grandpa Amlenor asked with curiosity.
"We have guests coming over." Celius said with a smile.
"Guests? Who could want to come to our place?" He found it hard to believe but still asked.
"Remember Ennie?" His grandpa nodded his head. "Well, yesterday I went to their house for dinner after getting invited. Uncle Lorron also came by my plot today and helped me clear out some boulders. So, I invited them to dinner so that I can thank them for that, and also for… you know, taking such a big risk for us."
Hearing such news, even Grandpa Amlenor was thrilled. "Haha, I knew that some people couldn't just sit back and watch my grandchild suffer. At least some people aren't that cruel." What made him happiest wasn't the fact that people were coming over for dinner, rather it was that there were people who actually spoke to and even helped Celius. This was his greatest happiness.
"Alright, let's quickly get to your house and prepare the food and other stuff. Let me also bring my best wine. The lad, Lorron, should be able to drink with me at least. You are underage, so having a drinking buddy will be nice." The whole lot of them got excited. Even the three little ones were excited when they heard who was coming, especially for Rislia. Luna could be considered her first and only friend, so getting to play with her more felt great to her.
Soon, the group headed to Celius' house. They were excited and filled with expectations. This would technically be their first guests in the last three or so years.
At Ennie's house, Uncle Lorron was explaining the events of the day to his wife. Aunty Vena listened patiently and couldn't help but smile. She stroked her husband's cheeks before complimenting him. "You did a good thing, dear. I still find it hard to believe that you went and cleared his plot with him."
"It's the truth. We did talk a little after. That kid, he only thinks about his siblings and no one else." He sighed, "Like when I spoke to him, honestly, it felt like he was only living for his siblings. If one day his siblings move on with their lives, I don't know what he would do."
Aunt Vena also showed a pensive and grave expression. "Although it is good that he cares so much for siblings, I think this is very unhealthy for him. He doesn't have any goals of his own. Who could have thought that his parent's death would lead to him becoming so extreme in his thoughts? Dear, you should talk to his grandpa about this. You are technically his blood-related uncle."
Uncle Lorron nodded his head. As he spoke more with Celius, he did notice the extremeness that he had within him. He was only living for his siblings. What would happen if there were no siblings? Death? A walking corpse? This was what Uncle Lorron got from his conversation with Celius. It wasn't a pleasant thought.
"Let's just get ready and head over there when the time comes. I will find elder Amlenor and see what he thinks. I am just assuming these things from our conversation, but it may not be the case." Aunt Vena nodded her head and began to slowly prepare.
"Ouch!" As everyone was preparing for the coming dinner, Celius suddenly felt a bit of pain in his eyes. Lifting his hand, he rubbed it slightly to ease the pain, but nothing happened. "Jeez, ouch!" He put down the spoon which was in his hand and washed his hands quickly while keeping his eyes closed.
He then began to throw water on his face and also tried to add water into his eyes, hoping it would help him, but still nothing.
"Celius, what's wrong?" He heard his grandpa's voice coming from behind and he waved his hand blindly.
"I don't know, my eyes are hurting a lot." Continuing to rub one of his eyes, he moved his empty hand around, looking for a cloth or something similar. After getting his hand on one, he dried his face lightly, but the pain in his eyes kept coming.
"Here, let me see." Walking forward, Grandpa Amlenor sat Celius down and slowly moved his hand towards his eyes. Using a finger, he gently lifted one of his eyelids. "What?!" He was taken aback as he saw the golden color in Celius' eye which was usually hidden. "Celius, other than the golden color coming back, I don't see anything wrong."
"Golden? How could you see it right now? I didn't even purposely show it." Celius was shocked himself. Usually, he would use a trick his dad taught him to hide the eye, but for it to show itself without any prior notice was a shock, and not a good one. "Ouch, dammit it hurts." The pain suddenly grew more intense.
"Celius, come, let's get you to your room first." Grandpa Amlenor quickly took Celius to his room and helped him lay down. "Rest for now. I don't know what is wrong with your eyes, but other than you feeling pain, there doesn't seem to be any problems. Maybe you are too tired and haven't slept enough." Although he said this, even Grandpa Amlenor knew that was extremely unlikely. His wouldn't be in such pain because of a bit of lack of sleep.
Not replying, Celius just kept his hands on his eyelids and lightly rubbed them.
"Grandpa, what's wrong with brother?" Alura suddenly walked into the room and asked with a cute voice. Her face showed concern as she looked at her brother.
"It's alright, Alura. Brother just got something in his eyes, that's all. You go and help grandpa while I rest, alright?" Even though he couldn't see his sister, he still replied to her calmly.
"Ok. Grandpa, let's go and finish making the green salad. Come on." She walked to her grandpa's side and began to pull his hands. Grandpa Amlenor smiled at her before looking at Celius once again.
"Just rest for now. There is still time before they come. Maybe you did overwork yourself and didn't get enough sleep, so just try and rest. Call me if anything happens." With his hands still covering his eyes, Celius nodded his head slowly. He kept mum and didn't even groan in pain. He held it in even though it felt like fire was burning his eyes away, only because his siblings might hear him and worry or get scared.
As Grandpa Amlenor left the room, he silently bore the burning pain in his eyes whilst thinking why the pain appeared in the first place. 'What could cause this? I didn't get hurt recently, and even though I didn't sleep much yesterday, it was only one night. What could be the reason?'
Celius, go and run!
Suddenly, his mother's voice appeared in his mind. It surprised him, but he felt that it was different from a mere thought. It also almost like a whisper.
Celius, remember what I taught you. You're the older brother, so take care of your siblings.
Next came the voice of his dad. Just like before, it sounded more like a whisper. 'What the heck is going on?!' He began to panic as the pain also spread to the rest of his body. The pain turned from a burning feeling into one similar to electric shocks. It was as if there was something in his body being destroyed, something directly connected to him.
BOOM
A loud noise came from inside of his mind as the pain stopped right after. Everything became silent. There were no aftershocks of the previous attack as if it never happened. Celius breathed heavily as he stabilized his mind. For some reason, he felt a very comfortable feeling coming from inside of his body.
"Grandpa, that's not how you do it. Here, let me show you." He heard his sister's voice coming from the next room. Previously he couldn't hear her, but now he could.
He quickly got up from the bed and looked around. He saw the bedsheets were in a mess and that even his clothes were slightly ripped, but that wasn't what caught his attention. There was a blackish grey substance with an extremely pungent odor seeping out from his body. He touched his face next and felt something warm and gel-like. Bringing his hand in front of his eyes, he saw that same blackish-grey substance exuding the disgusting odor.
'Impurities?' Shock betrayed his calm expression as he looked at the substance in his hand. Impurities were the extra material in the body which were released during a breakthrough in the realm. It would not only make the body purer; it would also begin to strengthen it greatly, plus also enhance certain abilities. 'Why is it coming from my whole body? Shouldn't it only come out of my ears?' Since he only needed to clear his ears before breaking through into Physique Purge - Heaven, it was an unexpected surprise to see his whole body release the impurities.
Getting off of the bed, he quickly ran out of the room. "Grandpa, I'm going to the river nearby, I'll be back in a little bit." Before leaving he hurriedly yelled behind him before rushing out.
Grandpa Amlenor quickly walked out of the kitchen with Alura, but before he could say anything, Celius had already disappeared.
"Grandpa, what's wrong with brother? He's acting weird." Alura looked up and asked curiously. Seeing her expression, Grandpa Amlenor shook his head before taking her hand and dragging her back to the kitchen.
"I don't know what's wrong with him. Your brother is crazy." Alura couldn't help but giggle as she took one last glance at where Celius left from.
Celius quickly got to the nearby river and jumped in. He didn't bother taking his clothes off since they were covered in the impurities as well. He soaked in the water and began to clean himself as quickly as he could.
With his clothes coming in his way, he took off his shirt in the end. He noticed that as he cleaned his bare chest, it would get lighter and lighter in color. Soon, he found that he became almost as light as his two sisters.
'I did get rid of a lot of impurities. I should be at Physique Purge - Heaven now, at least in the beginning stages.' A smile formed on his face as he continued to clean the black substances off his body. Even underwater they were difficult to remove. Although gel-like, they were very sticky, kind of like sap from trees.
As his body finally got rid of the last few bits of the impurities on his skin, he felt a weird sensation in his chest. It wasn't uncomfortable, rather it was very refreshing. He felt that every time he took a breath, his body would feel more relaxed. 'What's happening? Why am I feeling something like this?' Questions couldn't help but pop up in his mind. Everything that he was experiencing was just too surreal.
Slowly, he calmed his mind before swimming out of the river. He walked onto the grass and quietly sat down. 'Let's just slowly feel what is happening in my chest. Maybe I can figure something out.'
His breathing became slow, yet stable. He concentrated on the feeling coming from his chest. Every breath he took, he would feel a clear sense of refreshment. Not only that, but his body would also feel lighter and even a bit stronger.
He continued to wrack his brain and tried to figure out what the sensation was and what it meant. The more he thought, nothing came to his mind. At some point, he thought that it may have been essence, but he couldn't absorb essence. He needed an orb inside of himself to absorb. Even if he did coincidentally acquire essence inside of his body, there was no way it could strengthen him without an orb.
Not being able to figure out what was going on, he laid flat on the ground with a huge sigh. 'Should I ask grandpa? He has traveled a lot in his early years, more than even uncle and dad. He is bound to know something.' After coming to this conclusion, he quickly got up and sped back home.
As he ran, Celius noticed that his speed increased yet again. It was very negligible, but it was there. 'This weird feeling inside my body is doing work.' He could tell that the feeling was a good thing, and if it was only that he would have ignored it, but he didn't know if it had any problem it could cause in the future. What if suddenly began to attack his body rather then make it feel comfortable? Such a risk was not worth taking.
Celius finally arrived at his house. Getting there, he noticed that everything was normal. Alura was, of course, the only one helping with the cooking, while Elrith and Rislia were just playing in their room.
"Celius, what happened? Why did you run off-- hey your eyes are still golden, quickly hide them!" As Grandpa Amlenor was talking, he couldn't help but whisper to his grandson when he saw his eyes showing their real color.
Nodding his head, he quickly covered his eyes with his hands and changed them. This trick of his dads was just a concentration skill. He would cover his eyes to increase concentration and then he would use his cloud transformation skills to hide his eyes. Of course, anyone with greater strength could see through it instantly.
After completing the process, he grabbed his grandpa's arm and pulled him to the side, making sure that his siblings wouldn't hear him. Although he didn't want to hide anything from them, as kids, they were bound to expose him. Children were more talkative and easily tricked, in contrast to adults.
"I just broke through Physique Purge - Hell, and just entered Physique Purge - Heaven." As he said this, his grandpa looked at him with some shock. Although Celius was going to break through soon, he didn't expect it to be so soon. He was expecting another day or two. Plus, that was only if Celius was cultivating diligently, but he never did. All Celius was doing was work.
With his eyes wide open, he couldn't help but stutter in his speech. "H-how? W-when did you even cultivate?"
Shrugging his shoulder, Celius shook his head. "I don't know how it happened. It just did when my eyes started to hurt. Maybe it was all the physical work I have been doing for the past three years." Although he said this, he didn't believe it much. Physical work would have been beneficial in the early stages of Physique Purge and Physique Purge - Heaven, because they focused on the overall body and organs, but not for Physique Purge - Hell. This realm only worked on facial orifices.
Then, putting his hand in his chin, Celius' face became a little graver. "There is also something else."
"Something else? Don't tell me you already cleared some of your organs of impurities?!" The old man took a step back in shock.
"That isn't it." Celius couldn't help but become flabbergasted at his grandpa's wild imaginations. It wasn't so easy to clear one's organs. "After breaking through, I began to feel something weird, but comfortable in my chest. Not only that, it seems to be strengthening my body little by little."
"C-could it be essence? Did you form your orb already?! You skipped one whole realm?!" His grandpa became even more shocked and frightened. "S-such tale--"
"Stop grandpa, I didn't clear all my organs and I especially didn't form my orb. I have barely cultivated at all in the past few years, when would I do all of this?" Celius held his forehead and massaged it slightly. "Honestly, Grandpa, you know what I have been doing in the past few years better than anyone else."
Grandpa Amlenor's face became slightly red. He gave a dry cough before looking a little more serious, but it only seemed out of place now. "Then what is it?"
Lifting his hands beside his shoulders, he shrugged. "I don't know. Have you ever heard of such a thing happening to anyone before Essence Engulfing? You have traveled a lot in the past." Listening to his grandson, Grandpa Amlenor nodded his head and began to think. His face slowly turned into a deep frown when he finally sighed.
"No clue. I have only heard of people accidentally consuming rare herbs which hold lots of essence and having someone else help them turn that essence into physical strength. Never of a weird sensation inside the chest which increases one's strength. Let me see if I can use my own essence to see what it is." Celius nodded his head and allowed his grandpa to touch his chest with his palm.
When one reached Essence Engulfing, they would be able to absorb essence from the world. If one mastered their essence control to a certain level, they could use it to sense their surroundings and even inspect the inner body. It was like placing their eyes into the body, but without any obstructions such as blood and bones.
His grandpa was doing exactly that. With his essence, he was examining his inner body to see if there was something new inside.
Celius silently watched his grandpa who had his eyes closed tightly. During his prime, Celius' grandpa was very strong, maybe even equal to the old clan leader, however, after getting injured, he began to lose his strength and power. He was still stronger than an Essence Engulfing - Heaven cultivator, but only for now. With the speed he was losing his strength, it would be maybe a year or so before he dropped another realm and entered Essence Engulfing. Truly a pity.
"W-what the hell?!" Suddenly he heard his grandpa yelled out and then look at his face gravely. "Tell me seriously, alright, and when you answer me, think hard and long, do not speak carelessly."
Seeing his grandpa show such a serious face, Celius nodded his head up and down. "A-alright."
"In these past few days, have you ever entered into a long daze or sat down and began to daydream for longer than usual? Did you then, after that, feel your mind clear or slightly different. It doesn't even have to be a daze or daydream, this could be a during normal activity, or even during your sleep, but they all lead up to you having a clearer mind and feel a little more… enlightened." He asked this very seriously and emphasized every word.
Closing his eyes, Celius began to ponder such events. He would sometimes go into a daydream and have weird thoughts about the future for himself and his family, but never anything out of the ordinary. The only thing he could think of was, "That's it."
"Quick, tell me. Don't miss out on any details. Only then can I perfectly explain what is going on with your body." His grandpa's eyes brightened as he shook Celius with his might impatiently.
"Grandpa, stop… stop shaking… me." His mind felt dizzy really quickly under his grandfather's onslaught. Once his grandpa retracted his hand with an embarrassed look, Celius began to explain. "Last night I had a very weird dream, or rather a terrifying yet real nightmare." He then began to explain every detail that transpired in his nightmare. From the clouds to the voices he heard just before he got up. The more he spoke, the graver his grandpa's face got, but at times it would show some happiness and sometimes sorrow. "... and in the end, I woke up frightened." He spoke with a heavy voice. Normally, he would have kept all of this to himself in order not to worry his grandpa but seeing that his grandpa was taking the matter seriously, he decided not to hide a thing.
Taking a deep breath his grandpa nodded his head. "From my understanding, this dream of yours is a form of enlightenment towards your future."
"Enlightenment towards my future? Why would I need enlightenment when I am sure about what I want to do and what I will have to do?" He was confused by his grandpa's words. He had most things figured out already. There was little to no confusion. He even planned out what he would do if there was no money, they had no home, and so on. All situations were thought of and planned for.
"What I mean is, the future of your cultivation." Celius still showed a confused expression but he maintained his silence and waited for his grandpa to explain. "As you know, when people enter Essence Engulfing, they are considered to be taking their first step into the cultivating world." Already knowing this much, Celius nodded his head. "What you don't know is that after a cultivator breakthroughs Essence Engulfing and enters the Self Realization stage, they would begin to understand and manifest their own unique powers."
"Unique powers? What do you mean? Is it similar to my eyes?" His finger pointed to his eyes as he asked this question.
"Exactly. Just like how your eyes have unique powers that only you will have and no others, the Self Realization realm will allow others to cultivate and manifest their own unique abilities. These abilities come into one through the form of enlightenment and intense training." Grandpa Amlenor slowly explained the details of this new realm.
"Wait, does that mean that nightmare of mine was a form of enlightenment?" A smile of approval appeared on his grandpa's face towards his wits.
"Yes. That dream of yours was enlightenment that you got. Maybe you have been thinking about something too long lately and that triggered it, or possibly it occurred randomly, but the main point is that it happened. Normally, one would only begin to get enlightenment's after entering the Self Realization realm, and rare geniuses would even start at the Essence Engulfing stage, but as for you…" He looked at his grandson in happiness and pride. "You can be considered a genius amongst geniuses. Not only do you have a unique eye ability, you even had an enlightenment of your powers at such an early stage. Not only is this rare and amazing, but it is also extremely beneficial to you much later on."
"Then what is happening in my body? Sure, I understand the enlightenment, but what is this weird sensation which is strengthening my body? Shouldn't enlightenments just make me more thoughtful and clear-headed?" Celius looked at his grandpa's smile, which began to widen weirdly but continued to ask questions.
"That is the most amazing part. You're right, normally enlightenment would only help one's thoughts and mind become clear, making it easier to understand certain things, but certain enlightenments can cause some changes to the body. What's happening to you is just that. Your body is preparing for the orb early, and not just any orb, it is going to be tailored for your future powers and abilities. Normally, you would have an orb in your body before getting such enlightenment, and when you do begin to understand yourself, that orb would begin to slowly adapt to that power. This would be a long and arduous process; however, you are different. Your body already knows what kind of power you will be wielding in the future, so you will be ahead of others, plus the Self Realization stage will be a breeze for you." He couldn't help but laugh out loud as he spoke. Pride filled his face, while Celius only became a little awkward.
"Grandpa, it's good and all that such a thing happened, but honestly, I still don't even fully understand what I got enlightened on." His face showed a bit of embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.
Grandpa Amlenor shook his head. "You don't understand it because you haven't even collected your thoughts yet. Did you have time to silently sit down and contemplate your dream and collect your thoughts recently? No! So, you go to your room and do just that. Leave the rest to me. This is much more important." He then began to shove Celius into his room. "Just silently think and contemplate. Don't be impatient, just take it slow. Grandpa knows you can do it."
Celius couldn't struggle under his grandpa's strength so he just allowed it to happen. He didn't worry too much about the other things since his grandpa was more than capable of handling it. He was also very well versed in cooking too, so nothing would go wrong.
Sitting down on his bed, he began to collect and recall everything about the dream. 'It is pretty obvious that the enlightenment was related to clouds in one way or another, but what exactly about clouds? Recently I have been thinking about clouds more often. Let's see, in the dream, some clouds were heavy and wet, some were light and fluffy, some…" As he slowly remembered all the different sensations he got from the various clouds, he noticed that he also got the same sensation from his chest, plus he would feel that his body becoming stronger. A smile appeared on his face as he continued.
"Eugh!" Just when he thought about the final large cloud in his dream, which consisted of all the other types, he suddenly vomited. Quickly, he snapped his eyes open and looked at the sheets in front of him which were stained with black and even some red. "Impurities!" A radiant smile appeared on his face.
During the Heaven minor realm of Physique Purge, one would begin to purge the organs, specifically vital organs, of impurities. Of course, this excluded the brain. The other organs would clear at random times during this period, but the priority was to clear all vital organs. The first one to get cleared was the liver, followed by the kidneys, lungs, and heart. Once all of these were cleared, only then would the person start to create the orb, eventually reaching the Essence Engulfing realm if they were successful.
The impurities he just cleared were of the liver, the very first vital organ. There were even some other organs that were cleared with the liver, which was why there was even some blood that was vomited out.
'I can't believe that just that enlightenment helped me so much. Not only did I gain new understandings towards my future powers and broke through into Physique Purge - Heaven, I even purged my liver of impurities. Isn't this just too crazy?' He felt pleasantly shocked, plus an old feeling of excitement filled his heart. Just like most, cultivation was something he pursued in the past. His responsibilities burdened him over the years making him bury his feelings towards cultivation, but with this new development, he couldn't help but feel excited.
'Now, if I piece everything together…' He then made sure to note down everything about his powers in his head. "... then I have comprehended the different powers of the clouds. Not only do they have abilities related to the wind and rain, but they can also use lightning/thunder, illusions, poison, darkness, and even physical attacks.' It had so much potential that Celius found it shocking. 'This is my future path? I somehow find this extremely… comfortable.' Celius was happy about the potential, but what made him happy and excited was that it was the clouds he longed for. To him, clouds had a very deep connection. Not only were they what he was jealous of, but they were also what he talked to whenever he was alone. They acted like his mother, father, uncle, and really just family. They made him feel comfortable and at ease. Having the ability to work with clouds made him extremely joyful, not even the strongest things such as time and space would have made him as happy.
"Mom, Dad, your son is lucky to have such powers." A small teardrop fell down his cheek as he smiled in elation and longing. He lifted his hand and stroked his chest where he continued to feel a comforting sensation.
He then got off the bed and walked out of his room. Judging by the orange sky, he had been in his room for a few hours. His dish still needed work, plus his siblings were probably getting anxious and worried, especially Rislia.
Opening the door, the first thing he saw was a sad Rislia sitting on the ground in front of his room. She had a dejected look on her face as she drew circles on the ground.
"Rislia." Celius looked down at her and called out lovingly while crouching at the same time.
"Brother!" When she heard his voice, her eyes brightened as she looked up happily. She extended her arms and quickly wrapped them around his neck while giggling. Celius also laughed as he fell onto his buttocks because of his sister's sudden lunge. "Why were you sleeping for so long?" She looked deeply into Celius' eyes as she asked.
"Sorry Rislia, brother got tired." Rislia nodded her head.
"But, when brother sleeps, so do I. Ok!" Rislia looked at Celius with a pout. Celius laughed helplessly before nodding his head.
"Alright. When I sleep, you sleep with me, ok? I won't forget." He then got up with Rislia in his arms. He walked into the kitchen and saw his grandpa and Alura sitting down and drinking some water. Elrith, on the other hand, was swinging his stick sword in one corner with a serious look on his face.
"Celius!" Grandpa Amlenor saw Celius walking in and smiled at him with a mysterious smile. "How did it go?"
"Great. Liver, check!" He check marked the air as he laughed. When his grandpa heard that, he spat his water on the table.
"Grandpa, Eww!" Alura who was in the radius of the splash attack frowned as she wiped her cheek in anger and disgust. She got up and walked to Celius and used his shirt to wipe her face.
"You purged the liver?!" Grandpa Amlenor didn't even react to Alura as he looked at Celius in astonishment.
"Great, right? With this speed, I may be able breakthrough Physique Purge - Heaven soon. Plus, since an orb is already forming inside of me slowly, I should be able to breakthrough into Essence Engulfing - Earth soon after purging the rest of my organs." Celius nodded his head continuously as he spoke. "I can most likely meet uncles' expectations very soon."
Grandpa Amlenor pulled himself together before showing a radiant smile. "That's right. Haha, your parents and uncle would be filled with so much pride if they saw you right now. Haha, my grandson is a genius. Tell you what, I will try and procure some resources for you to speed up the progress in Physique Purge - Heaven for you. I usually use my extra money for things like wine, but with you soon making lots of money, I will just depend on you for that, while I get you the resources. Haha, this is great, my grandson's a real genius, a genius!" A prideful look appeared on grandpa's Amlenors face as he leaned on his chair and laughed loudly.
Seeing his grandpa in such a state made Celius embarrassed but also confident. He then sat Rislia onto her highchair and began to work on the dish he was making before. He had little time, but luckily he finished most of the dish before the incident happened. All that was left was to add the meat into the metal plate and let it cook under the fire for a bit.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone