Life Begets Life
The next day, Xan and Yahn the Healer climbed in their carriage and prepared to continue on their way to Jambre. At some point, their original carriage driver fled. Ambassador Mountjoy provided a replacement for them. It was a young man around twenty-two named Poole. According to Mountjoy, Poole was trained as a butler in the service of the Imperial house of Korinna. He was in training since a boy and was just now taking up his first post. His training included some martial skills for protecting their master, language skills, cooking, cleaning, etiquette, and professional disposition. They were absolutely loyal to their master and none other.
Even though he was trained to be a servant in the Imperial house, he had not taken the oath of loyalty yet. This oath was reserved for those who had served for at least ten years and was promoted to apprentice butler.
Poole was merely a new graduate and was free to work for others. Given the nature of his relationship with his new master "Elam," Mountjoy gave the young man to him to be his carriage driver and possibly a reliable butler. If he did well, perhaps Xan would keep him around. This would be a greater opportunity for the young man than the limited opportunities the life of fighting and clawing one's way through the rank and file within the royal house would provide him. Poole's father served Mountjoy years ago but unfortunately died during the course of his battle against another immortal.
Poole's father, Clive, asked Mountjoy to take care of his son with his dying breath. He hoped Mountjoy could provide his son a better opportunity. He was happy to finally fulfill the dying wish of one of his most loyal servants. Poole loaded the luggage and prepared all of the necessary supplies. He took up his post as a carriage driver and the trio set off for Jambre.
"All right now, Elam, we are on our way to Jambre. Can you please tell me the answer to the questions I have asked you? I am about to explode from curiosity," Yahn the Healer said. Xan eyed his companion with an amused expression. "Fine, I will answer your questions. Before I do, I need something from you," he said. "What do you need from me?" Yahn the Healer asked. "I need to know what you plan to do after all of this. Will you continue with me after Jambre or return to Mikasa Sukasa?" Xan asked.
Yahn the Healer thought for a little while before responding. "Frankly, I don't know what I should do. I am an old man and my faculties aren't what they once were. Some people think I've gone senile; even I think this about myself sometimes. Even though I was once an unequaled healer throughout the continent, now, I'm just a doddering old man. My obsession with regrowing hair has ruined my reputation and name," Yahn answered honestly. "If it were possible, would you like to continue with me?" Xan asked. "I would," Yahn said without hesitation. "I just don't know why you would want an old man like me with you," he said.
"Although we have not been together long, I have already discovered your good points. A loyal, capable, and courageous man like you is hard to find. You are a doddering old man, but in spite of that, you are still far more reliable than many much younger and healthier men I have met," Xan said. Although his words seemed biting, Yahn felt somewhat proud by the young man's assessment.
"What would you use me for? You have already acquired Ambassador Mountjoy and his wife the Immortal of Rani. Could such a lowly old fellow like me really be of use to you?" he asked. "You make a good point, the current you is a bit old to be of use to me," he said. Yahn the Healer's eyes dimmed a little after hearing this. "What if I had a way to return some of the youth and vigor you miss. What if I could help you have a second go at life and reclaim your good name. Would you be interested in working with me?" he asked. Yahn the Healer looked a little excited, "Work with and not serve under?" he asked. "A man like you wouldn't easily bend his knee to anyone no matter what treasures and opportunities he were offered. This is what makes you so valuable. I would never make "use" of you. I would only hope to collaborate with you," Xan said
"I don't understand, Mountjoy and his wife are certainly more desirable partners than me," Yahn said. "Don't compare yourself to them. They can only be of use once they've been broken and come under me as a servant. Your value is far higher. I need a man loyal to me but not a servant. I need a confidant, a partner if you will," Xan said. "I would be honored to collaborate with a person like you Elam," Yahn said. "Good, at the next inn we come to we'll take a few days and I'll help you regain some of your old vigors," he said. "Very good," Yahn the Healer said with a smile.
"Now, I will answer your questions. If I recall correctly you had two questions, the first concerned the nature of Mountjoy and his wife's immortality. The second question was about why they kidnapped so many women and what his plans were for them. Those are the two questions you had, correct?" Xan asked. "That is correct," Yahn said. Xan nodded his head and took a moment to arrange his thoughts.
"You are already familiar with the manner of immortality achieved through the path of the warrior. What you may not realize is it isn't the only path to immortality. There are actually many different paths. The immortality attainable by warriors is directly related to the level their bodies and minds reach over the course of countless years of mental and physical training. Their path of immortality is the path through blood and suffering, it is called "The Path of War."
There are other paths leading to immortality, the path of immortality Mountjoy and his wife tread upon is called the Path of Life," he said. "The Path of Life?" Yahn the Healer asked. "Yes, it's a rather unique path. It's not a path that just anyone can choose, it's a kind of potential you must be born with. There are teachers who can teach their students to maximize their potential. They can even teach them how to grow their powers and use them effectively. However, before they can teach them this ability must be activated by the person in question. They must activate their "Gate of Life," Xan said.
"The Gate of Life," isn't that an acupoint called the Dan Tian?" Yahn the Healer asked. "For those on the Path of War the Dan Tian is the Gate of Life. However, Those on the Path of Life, it is something different. For the immortal practitioners of the Path of Life, their Gate of Life or Life Gate can appear anywhere in their body. It is the point in the body where the earth and wood elements fuse as dominant essences. These two elements are supplemented by the elements of water, fire, and metal.
In every immortal on this path wherever their fusion of earth and wood essences mix together an Immortal Stone Core will eventually form. The stone core makes the immortal as long living as the earth beneath our feet. Within the core, the wood element increases and diversifies life energies. These essences are nourished by the other supplementary essences. As long as the Immortal Stone Core goes undamaged, an immortal on this path can heal from any wound. Even if their head is cut off and obliterated, they are able to grow a new head. The more advanced an immortal on this path becomes, the harder it is to find their immortal stone core.
By contrast, the immortal core created by an immortal on the Path of War, let's just call them War Immortals, is always located at the Dan Tian acupoint. Another difference is if the immortal core of a war immortal is destroyed, the person will completely lose his martial foundation returning him to a regular mortal. In some cases, the Dan Tian can be restored and the War Immortal can reattain his lost cultivation. For a Life Immortal, it's different. When a life immortal's immortal core is destroyed, they will immediately die. All of their vitality is within their core. This makes them much harder to kill but their end is final once their core is damaged," Xan said.
"This is amazing, I've never heard of such things. War immortals, Life immortals, and from the way you talk I understand there are even other types of immortal paths. It's no wonder Mountjoy and his wife were so threatened when you revealed you knew the location of Mountjoy's immortal stone core," Yahn the healer said.
"It's true, I do pose a great threat to them. It is why they chose to make peace with me with the slightest hint of benefits. Under normal circumstances, old foxes such as them would never accept my terms. If they did, they would just wait for an opportunity to betray me," Xan said. "Which is why you tricked them into signing the contract!" Yahn said in realization. "Indeed, the contract actually solved a number of problems for them. They knew I was serious about collaborating and was interested in their help and was unlikely to betray them. They also had an excuse to bend their knee to me, they were tricked. Their pride would never allow them to openly serve a mortal such as me," Xan said.
"Incredible, Elam, you bring me more and more surprises!" Yahn said with admiration. "But, there's something I don't understand," Yahn the healer said. "What's that?" Xan asked. "You have mentioned repeatedly there are levels to their immortality. This implies there are ways to increase their powers. Is this accomplished by killing other immortals?" Yahn the Healer asked. "An excellent question my friend. Killing other immortals can increase their power but this is more of a short cut. usually, the immortals on the path of life prefer not to kill one another. Their path is one of life and not death," he said. "A short cut, then is there a preferred way to increase their power that doesn't involve killing?" Yahn asked.
"Yes, the primary way an immortal on the Path of Life increases their power is through procreation," Xan said. "Procreation? What does having children have to do with increasing their power?" Yahn asked. "Life begets life, my dear Yahn. When a Life Immortal has a child their Life Gates are linked. This is why the child of a Life Immortal will never be able to become a Life Immortal. If they wish to attain immortality, they will need to choose a different path," Xan explained. "If their children can never become Life Immortals then where do new life immortals come from?" Yahn the Healer asked. "This is a little off topic but I can answer it quickly.
When two Life Immortals have a child together, their child automatically becomes a Life Immortal. However, every Life Immortal is only able to have one such child. The child of the union is unique because it possesses both a Life Gate and a Pseudo Life Gate. The Pseudo Life Gate links with their parents and each parent receive fifty percent of the life energy from their child. The total life energy they receive is a portion of the energy their child accrues from all of his or her descendants. It might seem like a small amount of power but in reality, it amounts to a great increase in their strength.
Back to the main point. The reason Mountjoy and Diamond Mustache were fighting over those women should be obvious," Xan said. "They need women to procreate with in order to increase their power!" Yahn the Healer marveled. "Yes," Xan nodded. "But this is terrible, those poor girls are being forced against their will to become baby factories for these men, and how could Jhansi be okay with her husband having so many women?
"You have misunderstood a couple of things. Do you think these girls from small towns and villages are losing much when it comes to being with Mountjoy? Their status is immediately elevated to that of nobles. Their families will receive benefits from their union with these men. Their children will be nobles and they will be the mothers of nobles. Everyone is happy.
Regarding Jhansi, do you think she isn't getting something out of this? The path of Life for female Life Immortals is different than the men. The females attain their increase in power through their husband whether those children are hers or not. They share their Life Gate with their husband," Xan said. "Good Lord man! No wonder she's helping him," Yahn the Healer realized.
"Correct, not only is she the head of the Harem but she is also the keeper of genealogies. You see, Life Immortals cannot engage in incest. If a Life Immortal has relations with one of his Descendents not only will it not add to his power it will take away from it. For a Life Immortal to have relations with one of his descendants there must be a span of one thousand generations," Xan said. "This limits their ability to increase their power, but you said killing other Life immortals is a short cut," Yahn the Healer said. "Good memory, when you kill another Life Immortal not only do you acquire all of their knowledge, skills, and power, which are all stored in their immortal stone core, you also acquire a connection to their descendants Life Gates. I assume the lizard man, Diamond Mustache, and Mountjoy were all about the same age or had an equivalent number of descendants and power. When Diamond Mustache absorbed the blue energy smoke from the lizard man he suddenly became much stronger than Mountjoy," Xan said.
"Resonance! Didn't he keep saying he reached resonance?" Yahn the Healer asked. "Correct, at that point, his Life Gate resonated with all of the Life Gates of the lizard man's descendants. He more or less doubled his power making him far stronger than Mountjoy. "Amazing, simply amazing," Yahn the Healer said. "Yes, but you must keep in mind one thing, Diamond Mustache made resonance with the descendants of the lizard man. This means the restrictions of mixing with the descendants of the immortal you killed now applies to you. Additionally, you don't know exactly who their descendants are and this could prove a fatal problem. If you procreate with a descendant you have resonance with from another immortal it will create a backlash.
Some Life Immortals try to solve this by finding the head of the Harem, the Life Immortal's wife. However, most women won't agree to help the enemy of their husbands. Even if they do help them there isn't any benefit for them. They are still only receiving whatever power they received previously through the children she had with their husband. Until she is able to marry again she is unable to grow her power anymore. At that point, she's reached the end of her immortal journey. She is only as strong as she is ever going to be. She could find a young Life Immortal to join with but unless her child with her previous husband dies she'll never be able to have another Life Immortal child with her new husband.
"My goodness, man, how terrible. Wait, given everything you've said, now that I think about it I don't think the Life Immortal path is such a good path to take," Yahn the Healer said. "Why's that?" Xan asked with a gleam in his eye. "Isn't their growth in power limited? No matter what they do, if they live long enough they'll eventually saturate the planet with their descendants. No matter what, they'll all get stuck.
"Why do you think I revealed my plan to take over other worlds?" Xan asked laughingly. "New worlds mean new planets to plant their seed which means an increase in power!" Yahn the Healer exclaimed. "Correct, and adding to this, when they set foot on another world, they will be able to have another Life Immortal child with their partner. The limitation is one Life Immortal Child per planet," Xan said. "Oh my, if those two are as ambitious as they seem, they'll stop at nothing to make sure you succeed with your plans," Yahn said in realization.
"Exactly right, you see, how many others could follow my line of thought like you. My intellect is vastly superior to yours, but your clever application and sharp thinking make you a worthy companion," Xan said. Yahn the Healer smiled awkwardly. He understood he was being praised but from his standpoint, it seemed like the praise was backhanded.
"Have I finally satisfied your questions?" Xan asked Yahn. "Yes, for now, you've given me a great deal to ponder," he said. "Ponder it quietly while we travel," Xan said.
"Elam, do you really want to take me on adventures with you?" Yahn the Healer asked. "Yes, but we both need to get stronger before we get to Jambre, otherwise all that's waiting for us there is death," Xan said before closing his eyes.