Xuan Luhei began cultivating as soon as he heard his matriarch's mand. Alex kept his senses on the snake's body, but it became harder during cultivation. He still persisted, continuing to monitor each change he saw.
"You too, child. It will help your brother."
Alex turned toward the matriarch when she spoke again and turned to look at the tortoise Xuan Luhei, who closed his eyes and began cultivating as well. Almost immediately, he felt the changes in the snake's body. It was quite subtle, but since Alex had his attention kept for any and all changes, he noticed it.
His eyes narrowed as he understood what was happening.
'It's just like me and Whisker,' he thought. Their bond helped each other cultivate even if just one of them was. Only, because they were bonded the way they were, their improvement went both ways.
It was quite the fascinating thing he had found.
He kept his focus on the snake still, watching the changes closely. It would take a while before he could tell if any detectable changes were made to his blood.
Xuan Luhei already had the bloodline, so what Alex was really testing was to see whether or not just giving him blood with a concentrated bloodline would help him recover what he would have naturally done in a few centuries without any pills or elixirs.
This was, in a way, Alex's attempt to see if there could be any progress made on the side of the bloodline if it was weaker than the soul. It could also be a great opportunity to test if the soul itself could be improved to hold a stronger bloodline.
Whatever the result, it would help Alex decide how he had to proceed with helping Pearl.
The matriarch glided on the obsidian floor, arriving next to Alex. "Can you sense it?" she asked. "His bone marrow is beginning to create blood with a stronger bloodline."
"Really?" Alex asked as he concentrated, but he could barely sense any difference.
"I have a Celestial's Divine Sense, and I'm acutely familiar with the Black Tortoise bloodline. So yes, I'm certain," she said. "If he continues cultivating, it will continue to improve."
Alex trusted the matriarch's words, so he smiled a little. This was a positive result. He remained silent for a bit, but the silence felt unfortable. And he had something to ask anyway, so he spoke.
"What did you mean earlier about body and soul unity?"
"Hmm? Do you not know about it?" she asked. "During cultivation, the Qi connects the body to one's soul, forming a unity that allows the two halves of yourself to grow closer to one another."
Alex's eyes narrowed. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe cultivation in this way," he said. "At least, I've never heard of it being referred to as unity."
"Perhaps it's just how I was taught, or maybe humans don't use this sort of language. Cultivation allows you to reflect the changes that are present in your body to reflect in your soul, or the other way around, until both body and soul are the same. It's a powerful idea to make your changes more permanent."
Alex nodded a few times, taking in the information.
"You are a body cultivator, aren't you? Have you ever improved your body cultivation for a long time without ever cultivating Qi? Should you lose your arm during that time, the next time your arm regrows, it does not have the same strength, you see."
Alex hadn't ever done that as far as he could tell. But there was something similar.
The 'Elixir' he got from Hell worked on a similar concept. Until he cultivated, his improved strength would never be his.
"Body and soul unity," Alex said with an enlightened look on his face. 'Cultivation allows the body to create new connections. Something that would take a long time without it!
The matriarch looked at Xuan Luhei. "If this child's Unity was stronger, the changes could happen even faster."
"Stronger? Is there a level to this?" Alex asked.
"Of course," the matriarch said. "Some have a weaker Unity, some have a stronger one. It is unclear what determines this, although there are guesses that it has to do with a person's Qi and how closely it works as the conduit between the body and soul. In a way, this level of Unity could be what you consider to be talent in cultivation itself. The stronger the Unity, the faster your body and soul change, and the faster you cultivate."
Alex scratched his chin as he took it in. He knew about all of these things from one perspective, but now he was getting to see it all from an entirely different one.
"What does the strongest Unity look like?" Alex asked.
"What you speak of is known as the Perfect Unity. In simple words, it doesn't exist. It's just not possible," she said. "You can reach near perfection though, and at that point, your body and soul bee so connected that while you're cultivating, you cannot be separated." "I've heard tales of someone who fought a mind-stealer and lost. The mind-stealer took control of the body until he began cultivating, only to lose the body back to the soul as their Unity kicked in."
Alex's eyes slowly widened as he heard her tale, mostly zoning out as he fixated on his own self. That was no different from what had happened to him too, but never was it from an enemy.
Back when this was all a game to the clone Alex, whenever he cultivated, Alex would gain consciousness. It would last until the
cultivation session was over, at which point he would relinquish his body to the clone.
"That means I have a very high Unity too,' he thought, before frowning
slightly.
"What's wrong?" the matriarch asked upon noticing his expression.
Alex thought for a moment, wondering how he could word this question. "Do you think there is any chance that Unity is in some way related to how many spirit roots you have?"
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