Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 330: Testing the core of dominion 2

Sage Raph lifted his hand, and for a brief heartbeat the courtyard fell completely silent. Not a whisper of wind, not a movement of dust.

Then Raph pressed his palm fully over the activated formation.

The effect was instant.

A roaring surge of power erupted outward, though not as sound or force but as sheer gravitational pull, a silent command sent into the world itself. The air thickened. The temperature shifted. The Qi in the courtyard trembled as though recognizing a sovereign’s voice...And then...everything moved.

Qi from the courtyard rushed in first, swirling around Sage Raph like a spiraling storm. The glow climbed the pillars, threaded through the training dummies and constructs, and pulled free every particle of loose energy.

But it did not stop there, Qi from beyond the courtyard came next, then waves after waves.

Lucas felt it before he saw it. His breath hitched sharply, his knees stiffened, and a weight pressed on his chest as though something had stolen the very essence of power from the world around him.

His own energy flickered uselessly.

He whispered to himself, stunned, "This... this is insane."

Tom staggered back, clutching at a pillar. "My lord... the air feels empty."

A deep, hollow emptiness spread across half a mile in every direction, every ounce of ambient Qi uprooted and dragged toward Sage Raph. Even the sky looked slightly pale, as though someone had drained its color.

The Ice Belle’s eyes widened dramatically. "What in all heavens is that? I cannot even drink the air anymore! where is the delicious Qi? Who stole it?"

Lucas pointed wordlessly at Raph.

The Sage stood at the center of it all, calm, unmoved, his robes whipping around him as the Qi storm wrapped tighter and tighter around his body. His aura had expanded to the point that even an ascendant like Lucas could barely find footing.

Raph slowly lowered his hand, controlling the pull with practiced precision. His voice echoed across the courtyard, deepened by the resonance of the artefact.

"This," he said evenly, "is the might of a perfected Core of Dominion."

Lucas’s eyes narrowed with newfound respect.

There was no exaggeration. There was no embellishment.

The artefact was terrifying.

Sage Raph let the Qi gather in a colossal vortex, then compressed it until it became a compact sphere of dense, shimmering energy floating just above his palm.

The world around them remained dry and hollow, as though someone had plucked the heart from the land.

Lucas looked at Sage Raph with a rare grin, proud and exhilarated.

"You did not merely craft a core," he said. "You crafted supremacy."

Sage Raph swallowed, unable to hide his amazement.

"This is beyond what I imagined. Boy... you have no idea how much this changes."

The vortex continued to swirl, obedient to the core’s command.

And Lucas understood fully.

Sage Raph really cooked with this artefact.

Lucas found himself marveling at the sheer elegance of the core of dominion. The sight of Sage Raph effortlessly drawing in every wisp of Qi from half a mile away left him both thrilled and deeply unsettled. He imagined a battlefield thrown into immediate chaos, with enemies staggering in confusion as their Qi evaporated from their meridians, leaving them helpless while the wielder stood empowered beyond reason. The thought alone could shift the balance of entire wars.

He began to pace slowly, trying to piece the implications together. "Sage Raph," Lucas said, his voice steady but reflective, "if someone were to use this in an actual battle, the opposition would be rendered helpless almost instantly. They would have no Qi left to fight, and the wielder would become the only source of overwhelming power. In theory it sounds perfect, but something still feels off to me. Wouldn’t this be impractical for a full-scale battle unless it was a single cultivator facing another single cultivator? Or perhaps a single cultivator confronting an entire army alone?"

Sage Raph folded his hands behind his back as he listened, the faint glimmer of pride in his eyes showing that he appreciated Lucas’s attempt to think beyond the surface. Lucas continued speaking, "If the core of dominion drains everything indiscriminately, then the wielder’s allies would suffer the same fate as the enemy. They would also lose their Qi, leaving them vulnerable. It almost defeats the purpose unless the wielder fights alone. Am I missing something here?"

Tom shifted beside him, clearly trying to understand the gravity of what Lucas had just said, while the Ice Belle remained on her seat near the corner of the courtyard. She had long since grown tired of listening to the two alchemists discuss concepts far beyond her interests, and she absentmindedly tapped her fingers against the air, trying to entertain herself despite having nothing to chew on this time.

Sage Raph watched Lucas for a long moment, then a slow, knowing smile spread across his face. "Your reasoning is sharp," he said with a tone that carried genuine approval. "Most people only see the immediate advantage of such an artefact and fail to consider the consequences for their own forces. You are right to question it."

Lucas waited, sensing the sage’s amusement deepening rather than fading. "So how would it ever work in a large conflict?" he asked.

Sage Raph let out a low chuckle, one filled with the kind of confidence that came from decades of mastery and secrets accumulated through a lifetime of research. "Come with me," he said, turning toward the inner part of the courtyard. "There is something I have not yet shown you, something that will answer your question better than any explanation I could give here."

He gestured for Lucas to follow, the faintest spark of excitement flickering in his aura as if he were about to reveal a long-kept mystery. Lucas exchanged a brief glance with Tom, who nodded firmly, and the Ice Belle hopped off her seat with a small sigh of curiosity.

Without another word, they began walking behind Sage Raph, eager to see what revelation awaited them.