Amon couldn't help but remember his father's words as his father activated the array formation that changed his life. The burning sensation that spread through his whole body, making him feel like he would explode. The splitting headache that numbed his consciousness, the incessant s.h.i.+vering of his muscles, the skin that ruptured and the blood that seeped from every pore in his body.

That day had been the day his eyes and hair had changed from black to golden and gray. That day had been the day his father left him and his mother after betraying the sect. Amon always thought that he would never feel so much pain in his life again, but he was terribly wrong.

As Lya channeled her Qi into his meridians, he felt even more pain. All of that was thanks to the Soulrousing Technique. This is no different than torturing himself, but he still held on.

He held on because he felt he had no choice. He needed strength, he wanted strength, and the moment he plunged Brightmoon into the dying Direwolf he decided he would do everything possible to obtain that strength.

He would endure h.e.l.l again if it meant he would get the power he needed. He knew this pain was necessary. He would not run away from it, he would face it and grown stronger doing so. Because he was weak, unbearably weak, as his father so coldly pointed out to him as he left a broken and crying Amon behind that day.

"ARGH" Amon couldn't help but scream. He felt as if worms made of lava were crawling under his skin, eating away at his flesh and burning what remained. His eyes were completely closed, but he still felt them aching so much that they seemed to be about to burst. He couldn't think clearly, as he felt like someone was stirring the insides of his head with an iron spike.

All he had was pain, and in that pain he steeled his resolve.

Time turned into an indistinct blur to him. It might have been hour, or it might have been seconds. He didn't know. Still, eventually the pain subsided.

He felt his whole body numb as the burning stopped, and all he could hear was a buzz in his head as he started feeling dizzy.

"Don't pa.s.s out!" Lya's urgent voice ringed in his head. "Start channeling the technique so you can recover!"

Hearing that, Amon pulled himself together somewhat and started circulating the Qi in his body following what he had trained all day. The runes of the Divine Language naturally came to mind, and slowly the Qi in his body started moving according to his will.

Even if somewhat clumsily, he managed to complete the first revolution. The effects were immediate. All the pain he felt started to subside and he managed to think more clearly. It was as if a cold stream of water was flowing inside his body, nouris.h.i.+ng his limbs and refres.h.i.+ng him.

Every time he completely a revolution of the Skyreacher Body, his pain subsided a little more, and his head cleared further. Every successful revolution made the next one easier.

When all the pain subsided, all he felt was numbness. He couldn't lift a finger and all he managed to do was open his eyes. What greeted him was a Lya that looked pale as a ghost, her face full of worry and anxiety.

"You will be unable to move for a few hours. I recommend you use the chance to properly rest." She said with a frown.

Amon closed his eyes. The numbness made his body feel incredibly light, as if he was floating. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

As Lya watched him sleep, she wanted to punch herself.

"I overdid it. I should have done the normal thing and slowly temper each part of his body instead of all at once." She thought to herself in regret.

The truth was that tempering each part of the body at a time was the common procedure. When one finally finished this process, they had gone through one round of tempering. The problem with this method was that it was unbearably slow, and the chances of creating an unbalanced body were big, as it was extremely hard to temper each part of the body to the exact same degree if it was divided in sections rather than treated as a whole.

It would also be incredibly hard to temper more sensible parts of the body like the eyes, as the cultivator would most likely pa.s.s on the opportunity.

Lya had never gone through Body Tempering, and when she met Alexei he had been way past that level. All that she knew had been theoretical.

Soul Cultivators also went through Body Tempering, but they paid almost no attention to the inner Qi in their bodies. At most, they would make sure to always keep their dantians and meridians full of Qi in case of emergencies. Their strength came from the outside, not the inside.

The method she chose to use in Amon was a method Alexei and Arthur devised together, but she had never seen its effects. Thankfully, she had a great control over Qi, so she managed to apply the theory she knew perfectly.

Still, the way Amon squirmed in pain had scared her deeply, and she seriously thought that he would pa.s.s out before he finished his tempering.

She spread her divine sense and checked his body. To her surprise, he was healing at a much faster rate than she imagined, even without the help of any medicine. Not only that, his cells were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with energy, and his body seemed to emit a pale glow under her divine sense.

The effects of this first round of tempering had been even stronger than what she expected. This made her even more suspicious of Amon's ident.i.ty. However, there was only one way to confirm it, and she really didn't want to resort to it.

She shook her head, clearing her mind. After that, she floated into Rebecca's room.

As she expected, Rebecca had been waiting for her. She was gripping the edge of the sheets so tight that her knuckles were white, and her face was full of worry.

"How was it?" She asked with a glint in her green eyes. To spare her of worrying too much, Lya had blocked all the sound in Amon's room, as well as Rebecca's divine sense.

"It all went fine. He is already resting" Lya said with a comforting smile. Rebecca let out a breath and her hands loosed the grip a little.

"The results?" Rebecca couldn't hold back her curiosity.

"Better than expected. I think he will be able to reach the middle stages by the end of the year." Lya gave an honest answer. Rebecca's eyes widened hearing her prediction.

"The Skyreacher Body is really as tyrannical as the rumors describe." She couldn't help but mutter. Rebecca had started in the Outer Sect. As such, the best Body Tempering manual she managed to get her hands on had been mediocre at best. It was only when she stepped into Elemental Purification and gained entrance into the Inner Sect that her talent bloomed.

With that mediocre Body Tempering technique, even with all her willpower and dedication she took two whole years to reach the middle stages of Body Tempering.

"I am happy for him." She said with a genuine smile.

"He deserves it. The effort he has been putting into it is second to none." Lya evaluated Amon.

Rebecca's smile grew wider hearing that. "That is good to hear."

"Well, he will probably spend the next day recovering, but I'll try to get him to speak with you." Lya smiled.

"I would be grateful if you managed to do that." Rebecca nodded thankfully. Lya smiled again and dispersed in the air.

The way Rebecca cared deeply for her son and her intelligence made Lya have a deep respect for her. It was one of the reasons Lya gave herself the trouble to reveal her presence and ease Rebecca's worries giving reports from time to time.

More than that, the sheer willpower she showed of not giving up and doing her best to raise her son in the condition she was in moved Lya. It was naturally hard for Rebecca to do anything more than to talk to him and give him advice from time to time, but Lya could she how much she regretted being able to just do that much. Nevertheless, just the fact alone that she got herself in that state to defend her son was worthy of Lya's admiration.

That being the case, Lya decided she would do her best to help Rebecca. It was also a good way to get to know Amon, and help him to make up for his flaws. Even if some of these flaws were glaring, the real danger was in the ones he hid. He never spoke of his father, for instance, and Lya could see that there was something more to it than he and Rebecca showed.

She would do everything she could to make sure Amon would not stray from the correct path. She would prove to herself that she could do it. Because even if it was just a mere fragment, a shadow of him, Alexei had returned to her, and she would never let him make the same mistakes again.

---

When Amon woke up, his body was still numb. He managed to make small movements, but his limbs felt heavy and lethargic.

"You should use the second line of the Soulrousing Technique to absorb all of the Nebula you generated yesterday." Lya materialized by his side and gave him a careful look.

Amon closed his eyes and focused. As the runes of the Divine Language started spinning in his mind, his weary body was once again overtaken by the alternating feelings of heat and cold, making him s.h.i.+ver and sweat.

The process this time was much faster than the last one. Even if he had generated a great amount of Nebula, it couldn't compare to the amount he had acc.u.mulated over the years. The results were also not obvious, but Amon did feel he could perceive things with a bit more precision when he spread his divine sense.

"Cultivation is a long process that takes time. You can't expect to have immediate results." It was as if Lya could read his thoughts as she spoke. Amon forced himself to nod hearing that.

"You should start using the Skyreacher Body again; it will help you recover faster. When you manage to get up you will be done." She advised him.

He didn't waste time as he closed his eyes and started circulating the Skyreacher Body. Slowly, the numbness in his body subsided and his weariness disappeared. After what seemed to be a few hours, he managed to sit on the bed.

His body felt light and somewhat clumsy, as if it didn't belong to him. Amon discovered it was very hard to move as he wished. He couldn't apply the right amount of force in any of his limbs and his balance was off, making him barely be able to sit straight.

"This is all very common. You have to get used to your new strength." Lya explained to him as she watched his struggle. "The first time is the worse, by far. You will realize every new round of tempering will have a smaller impact in your body and you won't need to go through this every time."

"Lya, this is strange but… I feel amazing." He said with a strange voice. His tone seemed to change at every word, as if he couldn't properly control his voice.

Even if his body was clumsy, his senses were not. He felt as if he was seeing the world for the first time. He could feel the weakest current of air grazing his skin. He could see the smallest imperfections in the walls of his room, and he could clearly hear and pinpoint the locations of the chirping of birds coming from trees dozens of meters away from his house.

Most of all, his mind was clear. It was as if a gauze that had been covering his mind this whole time without him realizing had been lifted. He was slowly starting to feel inebriated in this strange feeling of discovery.

"About that… Let's not do it again. Maybe we should use the normal way and temper each part of your body at a time." She said full of regret. Hearing that, Amon's face fell.

"No." He said, looking straight into her. His eyes seemed to be blazing, a gaze so intense Lya actually looked away for a moment. This made her surprised. What had gotten into him?

"I think the pain is too much for you to handle." She glanced at him back.

"The pain is something I can take. I know the results will be far less impressive if we do it any other way." Amon didn't avert his gaze from hers. His eyes were as hard as steel, making Lya feel uncomfortable. Suddenly seeing he being so a.s.sertive made her feel strange.

"I want to keep doing it this way." He said as his expression loosed somewhat. "Please help me with that."

Lya was taken aback. In the end, she could only accept. It was his choice, and the results were indeed far better.

"Fine, we can do it that way." She nodded, making Amon happy. She thought for a moment before adding "But only if you speak to your mother right away."

It was a test to see what Amon would truly say to her. He was sure Rebecca would corner him with a ton of questions. She wanted to see how far he would go to hide the truth in his attempt to protect her.

"This… fine, I'll talk to her." Amon said, trying to sound uninterested, but his shoulders drooped. His uncontrolled voice and the uneven drooping of the shoulders made Lya laugh and his ears turn red.

He managed to stand up from the bed, but fell to the ground. He tried to stand up again, but his balance was terrible. Lya couldn't hide her laughs as she saw Amon struggling to stand up.

"A little help, please?" He asked, his face as red as a tomato.

"Sorry, but you need to adapt to the changes." Lya said with a serious face, but the corner of her mouth were twitching. "Plus, there is no way I will spoil the fun." She said, disappearing.

Amon cursed at her, but could only fight his body for control. It took him a few minutes before he barely managed to stand up and take a few steps. Supporting his upper body in the wall, he slowly walked to his mother's room.

"BAM, BAM!"

As he tried knocking, the sound he produced was way louder than what he intended. The door shook and seemed to be about to crack. His face paled, but his mother's voice showed no surprise as she asked him to enter.

"Hi mom." He managed to say before he fell to the ground. His mother raised a brow seeing the scene.

"Is this… Body Tempering?" Rebecca asked in a surprised voice. Her face was full of shock as she looked at Amon.

Amon could only give a wry smile. "Yes, it is." He said in his uneven tone.

"How..." Rebecca was still shocked. From the ring, Lya secretly complimented her acting skills. However, Rebecca was truly shocked. She was probing her son with her divine sense, and saw that there was no inch of his body that was not glowing with Qi. All of his organs, muscles and bones were filled with a densely packed Qi.

Even if the glow was still weak, she had never seen such a uniform and complete tempering. No wonder even her son's voice had been affected.

"Mom, to tell the truth… I hid a few things from you." Amon said, doing his best to stand up. "In the Scavenging I did not find just that sword."

Rebecca's eyes shone with expectation hearing that. Still, she put a serious expression and asked in an angry voice. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I… also found a pair of daggers." He said sheepishly, averting his eyes from his mother's gaze.

"And?" She asked, still angry.

"And… a bottle of medicine." Amon still didn't look at her. Because of that, he didn't see Rebecca rolling her eyes and the disappointment that she showed.

"Let me guess, you just took the medicine?" She got even angrier. This time, it was for real.

"Well, in the expert's Bottomless Pouch there was a brief explanation on how the medicine worked…" Amon's face started growing red as he lied.

"What kind of person wouldn't know the use of a medicine they carry around?" Rebecca was ruthless in her reb.u.t.tal, making Amon flinch.

"I have no idea. Truth be told, I thought it was a trap, but something told me it was a chance." He still didn't look at her. It was like the feet of her bed were incredibly interesting as he simply focused his gaze there. "So I decided to risk it."

Rebecca sighed. At the very least her son was a terrible liar. She put her hand in her forehead, unsure if she should laugh or cry.

"And the medicine worked?" Rebecca asked as she raised her brow.

"Yes. I felt something strange. My body started feeling hot and cold and I couldn't move. When it finally stopped, I felt my mind incredibly clear. When I spread my divine sense, I realized I could move Qi." Amon described the effects of his first use of the Soulrousing Technique in an attempt to hide the lie with some truth.

"What else?" Her tone was turning impatient.

"Well, the other day I sold the daggers for a fortune. It allowed me to buy the best Body Tempering manual in the sect and there is still enough to sustain us for years." He said, looking at her with puppy eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me any of that? Body Tempering is incredibly dangerous! You could have ruined your own body!" She scolded him.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to make a surprise." He looked at her pitifully.

"Come here." Rebecca beckoned to him. Her green eyes were full of conflict as she looked at him.

Amon slowly approached her bed. Rebecca hug him tightly, almost suffocating him. Her thin arms were surprisingly strong.

"Never do anything like that again!" She said in a worried voice.

"I promise I won't." Amon tried to rea.s.sure her. "I know it was a risk."

"I hope you truly do." She had a sad smile on her face that Amon couldn't see.

Amon hugged her back, his tension loosening.

"Is there anything else you've been keeping from me?" She asked that question in a cold told. Almost as if she was giving him an ultimatum, making Amon s.h.i.+ver.

"No. It was just that." He said slowly.

"Alright them." Rebecca sighed. She let him go form her arms.

"Don't lie to me like that again." She pointed her finger at her and reprimanded him in a harsh tone.

"I promise." Amon said looking at her seriously. Rebecca's face fell hearing that.

"Promises are to be kept Amon." She looked at him full of resentment. "Can you truly keep this one?"

Amon felt his chest tighten. There was something different in her tone as she said that. It was a seriousness he hadn't felt in the conversation before. Guilt was starting to take over him. All of the happiness he still had of his first tempering was gone just like that. He looked at his mother, gazing intently at her green eyes.

"I can." He said with his golden eyes full of resolve. Rebecca nodded hearing that, and Amon left the room, barely able to walk. He didn't look back, as he knew his resolve would crumble if he did so.

Rebecca was left in the room, looking at her son's back as he left. She couldn't help but remember Lloyd. The thought ripped her heart.

"He lied again." She started sobbing as clear tears started spilling from her eyes.