"Pinaka?" Yan Zaizen felt the name itself was strange by his world's standards, but thinking about it, an armament's name is determined by its owner. What right did he have to say the name was strange?
"Does this name bother you?" The voice resounded, obviously dissatisfied with Yan Zaizen's tone.
He only chuckled lightly at her question. In truth, it didn't bother him as much as it spiked his curiosity. Regardless, he wasn't going to try to get into it with this spirit. "Do you not have a form?" He responded with a question instead, avoiding hers.
Suddenly, in front of Yan Zaizen, grey misty wisps gathered. They continued gathering until they formulated a humanoid-shape, and then continued to become further defined. The height of this spirit was similar his own, but its shape was womanly. It developed graceful curves, a slender waist, voluptuous breasts, and perk buttocks. It was the image of a woman with all of its extraordinary traits many men dream of.
The spirit kept forming until its appearance solidified into that of a grey-robed woman with jade-like skin, grey eyes, and dull silver hair. Her lips looked semi-full with a soft glisten to it. Surprisingly, Yan Zaizen wasn't filled with sexual desire when he stared at her. Instead, he felt an abundance of curiosity.
It wasn't that he didn't find this gorgeous woman attractive, but his thoughts were focused elsewhere. The time in the Deep Mines shaped him differently, and he didn't treat beauty as his main trait of desire in a woman. A trait he desired, but not one he desperately needed. In his youth, Ya Qinqan was beautiful to him, and yet the him now wouldn't select her as his ideal woman.
Pinaka saw Yan Zaizen's innocent eyes at her form and couldn't help but be surprised. Typically, when she roamed the realms before, any individual who truly saw her form would grow lascivious. Had her charms dwindled due to the time or did she find a man who had different preferences?
"You've let me in for a reason. You're going to explain?" Yan Zaizen patiently asked.
Pinaka realized that this boy seemed to possess a calm mind, this was worthy of her appreciation. "You were right. I'm dying. I need your help. I need your soul energy." She explained.
Soul energy? It seems that Spirit-rank armaments feed off soul energy. If one thought about it, it made sense considering their forms. "Couldn't you simply take it?" Yan Zaizen asked. In truth, he realized he wasn't a match for this woman in terms of the soul. She pulled his soul form into her sea of consciousness almost instantly, and he couldn't do a single thing to fight it off. If she wanted to take his soul energy, it's likely she could just absorb his entire soul.
Pinaka, however, didn't do this. "You think I'm an idiot?" She responded coldly, her eyes containing some hostility for the first time.
Yan Zaizen was dumbfounded. Why would she think he was treating her as such?
Pinaka furrowed her brow, looking at his surprised reaction she doubted herself for a second. After a while, her hostility dissipated and her voice returned to its normal calm. "Your soul is protected. If anyone tries anything, they'll trigger whatever trap that was laid there."
What?
WHAT?!
A trap in my soul?
"What do you mean?" He was honestly stupefied. Yan Zaizen has never been conscious of his eliminating beings of unnatural prowess or sending the heavenly light of annihilation running to the hills. This was the first time he was informed that his soul held a trap.
Pinaka was still calm. "I don't know the details, but your soul has a trigger. Anyone who's foolish enough to attempt to forcefully harm your soul would trigger a mechanism. I don't know what it would do, but I know doing so is suicide. Even if you do not know, that's the case." She was rather patient with her words, explaining in detail, but since she didn't know the specifics, she simply said what she could.
Yan Zaizen fell silent for a long while. He softly touched his glabella. He remembered the black hole in the Meteor Ring. It looked like his soul forms eyes, and his glabella looked like it but swirling continuously. He felt an unnatural connection to this swirling black hole as if it was protecting him. He couldn't explain such a sensation before, but with Pinaka's innocent verification, it seems that's the case. It was protecting him.
But why?
"What will I get if I help you?" Realizing that Pinaka won't take action against him or rather can't, he decided to get straight to the point. In the world of cultivation, if one wanted something they either must take it or exchange for it.
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Pinaka nodded at this. "If you help me recover, I'll allow you to use me until then. Afterward, we'll part ways."
"Use you?" Yan Zaizen was intrigued. "What are you?"
"A bow." Pinaka answered flatly.
"I...don't know how to use a bow."
"I'll give you a cultivation method."
"I don't have arrows."
"You don't need any."
"How long will it take you to recover?"
"With your current soul cultivation, a mere one thousand years." She said it as if one thousand years were an insignificant number. After some thought, she added, "However, if you find cultivation materials suitable for the soul, that can be expedited."
"...Deal, under two conditions." Yan Zaizen wasn't like he was before, jumping at the heels of every good deal. If it wasn't for the fact he knew she couldn't act against him and he wasn't her match, he'd have left and forced this armament to submit somehow. However, due to this impasse, he decided to agree with a few conditions.
Pinaka furrowed her brow. She felt obviously dissatisfied she was being bargained with. Despite this, she let Yan Zaizen continue without interjection.
"One, a soul oath and bond must be established for one thousand years. Total. Even if your recovery is expedited, one thousand years." Yan Zaizen demanded adamantly. A soul oath was an incredibly miraculous occurrence. When sworn, two souls become connected and the agreement of the two are settled, if ever broken, the one who broke the oath would have their soul dragged down by the underworld.
This was different than a heavenly oath, where if one breaks this oath, one's physical body and soul would be continuously punished for a certain duration. Despite it being a certain duration, barely anyone can survive constant heavenly tribulation but its possible. If a soul oath was broken, their souls would literally be dragged down to a situation similar to hell itself, never being able to reincarnate.
Pinaka frowned, but she didn't disagree. In truth, she didn't have any other choice and therefore no leverage. She could continue waiting, but it's been over ten thousand years since she arrived here, the chances of someone else with an Aurora Soul and Dao arriving to meet her conditions would be nigh impossible. She needed someone with their own dao to assimilate as her own. Her original dao originated from another, but he's been killed and his dao abolished from existence. She could no longer draw from it.
Many cultivators in the myriad realms were ignorant of a significant fact about True Spirits. For a Spirit Form to evolve into a True Spirit, a spirit must possess a dao. A dao was a law that existed on its own, one that could theoretically rival and even exceed the heavenly laws. It was the only way an artificial soul that has developed sentience can exist underneath the heavens. Due to the fact that she no longer could draw from a dao, the heavens would smite her with Heavenly Annihilation Light if she ever decided to reveal herself, as she would be classified as an abhorrent existence it could not tolerate.
"Two, don't ever lie to me." He stared at her, his eyes calm.
Pinaka eyes widened a little. She thought about it and then nodded in acquiescence.
"Great! Yan Zaizen, it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we'll be good partners." His mood changed for the better, and when he looked at her there was a little excitement in his eyes.
"Pinaka, the Wayward Bow. Likewise."