Chương 204: Ancestor Statue

We made our way through the village, the sounds of celebration fading behind us.

"I've left water in your room," Mother told me as we reached the door.

"And there are clean clothes laid out for tomorrow."

"Thank you," I smiled. Cultivators worried about spiritual resources and breakthrough bottlenecks; my mother worried about whether I had clean clothes and enough water to wash.

"Sleep well," Father said, giving my shoulder a final squeeze before following Mother inside. I lingered in the courtyard for a moment, looking up at the stars. They seemed brighter here than at the sect, perhaps because there were fewer buildings and spiritual lights to compete with their glow. Or perhaps I simply took more time to notice them here. My room was exactly as I'd left it earlier, small but comfortable.

I settled onto the small meditation mat in the corner, arranging myself in a comfortable lotus position. Closing my eyes, I regulated my breath, feeling my heartbeat slow and steady. The world around me faded, replaced by the familiar landscape of my inner realm. Where once it had been a modest space of 400 meters radius, it now stretched far into the distance, a full eight hundred meters in radius.

The landscape had grown more defined, the mountains in the northwest quadrant now featuring detailed rock formations and more complex cave systems, while the meditation plateaus in the southwest had developed distinct levels connected by graceful stone steps. Perhaps one day, it will be similar to the meditation room back in the Skybound Academy. At the center, the Genesis Seed stood, its roots spreading deeper and wider than before, creating an intricate network that connected all four quadrants.

The dual suns, red and blue, maintained their perfect orbit overhead, while the tiny stellar fragment that had nearly killed me yesterday now traced its own path, keeping a respectful distance from the larger celestial bodies. And there, just beside the Genesis Seed, stood the blood statue. I approached cautiously, my spiritual will manifesting as a translucent version of my physical body.

The statue remained as I'd last seen it, it was a life-sized representation of Ke Jun seated in meditation, crafted from what appeared to be solidified blood essence. Parts of it remained unformed, giving it an unfinished, almost skeletal appearance in places.

"What do you make of it?" I asked, not needing to look for Azure. In my inner world, his presence was everywhere, part of the very fabric of this reality. He materialized beside me, "the Genesis Seed appears to have created it using the blood essence it absorbed from Ke Jun."

"But why? What purpose does it serve?" I asked, voicing the question that had been bothering me since its appearance.

"That's difficult to determine without more information," Azure replied, peering closely at the statue's face.

"It doesn't appear to contain any of Ke Jun's consciousness, if that's what you're worried about. I detect no spiritual activity beyond the passive energy of the blood essence itself."

"So, it's not going to suddenly come to life and attack me?" I only half-joked. In a cultivation world, such things weren't exactly uncommon.

"I don't believe so," Azure said, though he sounded less certain than I would have liked.

"But even if it did manifest some form of consciousness, it would be at a significant disadvantage here."

"Why do you say that?"

"This is your inner world," Azure explained, gesturing to our surroundings.

"The very foundations of this realm are tied to your spiritual essence. Any foreign entity attempting to exert power here would be fighting against the fundamental nature of this space." He paused, adding, "Unless, of course, it was a full Civilization Realm expert operating at peak capacity, but I sense nothing of that magnitude here." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. That was somewhat reassuring, though not entirely.

"Still, I'd like to understand its purpose. The Genesis Seed doesn't create things arbitrarily, does it?"

"No," Azure agreed.

"Everything it does serves a function, even if that function isn't immediately apparent to us." I reached out, tentatively touching the statue's shoulder. The material felt strange, not quite solid, not quite liquid, with a warmth that suggested it wasn't entirely inert. Yet nothing happened at my touch. No reaction, no activation, no mysterious transfer of knowledge or power.

"Let me try something," I said, channeling a small amount of my qi into the statue. Again, nothing happened. The blood essence absorbed the energy without reaction, like water soaking into sand.

"Perhaps it requires a specific type of energy?" Azure suggested. I tried channeling red sun energy next, then blue, then a combination of both. Each attempt yielded the same result: absorption without reaction.

"Well, that's disappointing," I sighed, stepping back.

"I was hoping I might be able to learn some of those blood techniques Ke Jun used. They were devastating, if morally questionable."

"The lack of function could be related to its incomplete state," Azure observed.

"Notice how the statue is missing portions of its right side and back? Perhaps it requires more blood essence to reach functionality." That raised a disturbing possibility.

"You don't think... Ke Jun might still exist in some form, do you? That the incomplete statue means he wasn't completely destroyed?"

"It's a possibility we should consider," Azure said, his expression grave.

"In the cultivation world, particularly at higher realms, death can be... complicated. Civilization Realm cultivators have been known to employ various methods to preserve their consciousness or essence beyond the destruction of their physical forms." I rubbed my spiritual temples, feeling a headache forming.

"Great. Just what I need, an undead ancestor with a grudge holding on by his spiritual fingernails." The implications were troubling on multiple levels. If Ke Jun had somehow preserved his soul, through a backup plan, a hidden technique, or simple tenacity, he could potentially return. And given his willingness to sacrifice others for his revival, that posed a danger not just to me but to everyone around me.

"It wouldn't surprise me," I said, pacing around the statue.

"This is a cultivation world after all. How many times in the stories does the supposedly defeated villain come back for round two? Or three? Or seventeen?"

"True, though such narratives tend to exaggerate for dramatic effect."

"Still," I continued, "a former Civilization Realm cultivator would have countless methods to escape true death. Soul contracts, reincarnation arrangements, hidden clone bodies, the possibilities are endless."

"If he does still exist in some form," Azure said thoughtfully, "this statue might actually be beneficial to us."

"How so?"

"Consider its composition being blood essence that the Genesis Seed purified and refined from Ke Jun himself. If there is a connection between this statue and whatever might remain of Ke Jun, it could potentially serve as a means of control or influence." I raised my eyebrows at that.

"Control over a former Civilization Realm cultivator? That would be... quite the advantage." The possibilities were both tantalizing and terrifying.

"Though it seems equally likely that any connection could work both ways, giving him influence over me."

"A valid concern," Azure acknowledged.

"Though, the Genesis Seed has already demonstrated the ability to protect you against outside influence but we should still proceed with caution. For now, I suggest we observe the statue closely but avoid further attempts to activate it until we better understand its nature."

"Agreed," I said, taking one last look at the eerily peaceful face of my ancestor.

"Though I wish I knew what the Genesis Seed was thinking when it created this. Some kind of instruction manual would be helpful."

"The actions of the Genesis Seed isn't always comprehensible to beings like us," Azure said with a slight smile.

"Perhaps in time, its purpose will become clear."

"Time to return," I said.

"We have a long journey tomorrow." Azure nodded.

"Shall I continue monitoring the statue while you're away?"

"Please. If anything changes, even subtly, I want to know immediately." With that, I began the process of withdrawing my consciousness, preparing to return to the physical world. Just as my perception started to shift, I felt... something. A subtle change in the atmosphere, like a barely perceptible shift in atmospheric pressure before a storm. I turned back, my attention drawn to the blood statue once more. For a heart-stopping moment, I thought I saw the statue's eyelids flicker.

Just a tiny movement, so slight it might have been a trick of the mind. I held my breath, watching intently, but the statue remained perfectly still, its features as immobile as true stone.

"Did you see—" I began. Before I could finish the question, an overwhelming pressure slammed into me. The presence was ancient, vast, and terrifyingly familiar, it was the unmistakable aura of a Civilization Realm expert. It crashed against my spiritual sense like a tidal wave, threatening to drown my consciousness in its sheer enormity. The statue's eyes snapped open.