Retake *Discontinued*

Chapter Thirty-Nine: First Demon-Spirit

The air was crisp and cool as the twins calmly prepared themselves for using Miracle Meridian Hands. In sync, their eyes opened and palms rushed forward. A series of thuds rang out as thirty-six acupuncture points on each were struck, closing them.

Quickly, Nie Tai swallowed a handful of the pills that were received from the Alchemist Association. This caused her already swirling soul force to become denser, more chaotic. She could feel her meridians stretching as the soul force rushed around, looking for an exit. The tumultuous energy pooled around the acupuncture points, as if trying to break them, while growing more and more energetic. The calm lake that was Nie Tai's soul realm almost resembled a raging sea that wanted nothing more than to spill out of its container. As one of her meridians started to tear, the acupuncture points broke and the soul was cascaded throughout her body.

A dragon's roar was heard as Nie Tai screamed from the pain; however, her mind was racing as her arms were twitching for she broke through to Silver-Rank! Hearing a roar that mimicked hers, she opened her eyes, which flashed with a bright light, to look at her brother. Without even opening his eyes, he started laughing giddily. Nie Tai joined him as she popped a healing pill in her mouth. Their laughter grew until the boisterous pair's sides hurt.

"Sister!" Said Nie Li, his happiness and confidence dragging her out of her hysteria, "We can do it!"

Nie Tai smiled and agreed with her brother. This step, so small and seemingly inconsequential, would determine their futures. Becoming serious, , Nie Tai nodded and pulled out the pair of spiritual lamps and handed one to her brother. Grinning, he motioned for her to go first. Taking a deep breathe, Nie Tai calmed her excited heart and proceeded to reach for the Shadow Devil that lied in wait inside the lamp. Doing so, the layer that was preventing the demon-spirit from escaping was broken and the Shadow Devil tried to flee. Reacting quickly, Nie Tai grabbed the Shadow Devil with her soul force and pulled it towards her. It fought for a minute only to realize that it had no chance against Nie Tai, even less so if Nie Li were to jump in and help.

Closing her eyes, Nie Tai entered her soul realm. She could feel Nie Li's excitement through their bond but paid him no heed. The Shadow Devil was being wrapped, layer by layer, in a protective sphere of soul force. This would serve as the housing for the demon-spirit and, should the demon-spirit become too powerful in the future due to its God-level growth-rate, would strengthen the defenses holding it in check. Inside the sphere, a black fog formed into a humanoid shape that floated around its container aimlessly.

Opening her eyes, she met Nie Li's excited gaze and told him go ahead. Readying himself, her brother first surrounded the entire lamp with his soul force. This would prevent the demon-spirit from escaping. Breaking the seal, the Shadow Devil rushed out and rammed into the soul force, stopping it. The demon-spirit fought viciously as Nie Li dragged it into his soul realm. It seemed to know that, as soon as it was inside the soul realm, it would never be able to escape and would forever be a prisoner. As soon as the demon-disappeared, Nie Tai grinned and merged with her Shadow Devil. Her aquamarine eyes turned black and her face grew expressionless.

When merged, she instantly learned of its abilities. She quickly activated one and disappeared into thin air: Void-Form. She couldn't attack in this form or move very quickly, but was nearly undetectable. She silently waited for her brother to finish integrating with his Shadow Devil so that she could test her strength. Opening his eyes, Nie Li looked for his sister but was unable to find her. Smirking, he merged with his Shadow Devil just in time for a Bone Sickle, one of the other abilities of the Shadow Devil, to slice towards his head with deadly accuracy.

With an amazing speed, he rose his arm and summoned another Bone Sickle to meet the blow. The Bone Sickles for the twins were different shapes even though the twins theorized that the demon-spirits would be copies of each other. Nie Li's was the shape of a scythe and was a single blade. Nie Tai's Bone Sickles were three long blades that jutted out of her knuckles. With matching grins, the twins disappeared into the night as they continued their bout. If one were to be observing, all that they would see would be dark flashes and sparks that occasionally erupted at all heights in the air. Sometimes, the branches shook; others, a rock on the ground was crushed as if something crashed into it.

About half an hour later, the two appeared in the clearing and were panting slightly. Dust covered their shoes and a few leaves were in Nie Li's hair; as Nie Tai opened her mouth to speak, she turned to the sound of bare feet running the forest. She was surprised to see Nie Yu run up to them. When noticing the little girl's serious face, the female twin asked, "Xiao Yu, why are you out so late? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping at home?"

"I wanted to practice with you two 'cause I wanna be just like Big Brother Li and Big Sister Tai!" Shouted the little girl with a determined glint in her eyes.

"Before becoming a Silver-Rank, it is safe to practice at night. The excess energy would do too much harm to the body," warned Nie Li, instantly disagreeing with Nie Yu.

"Then why are you two practicing?" Questioned Nie Yu, tilting her head to the side.

"We are older than you, so our bodies are stronger," answered Nie Tai quickly without missing a beat.

Narrowing her eyes at the twins, the little girl huffed, "I don't believe you!"

"Ha... Anyway, we'll teach you a good cultivation technique now that we are here," chuckled Nie Li, easily accepting Nie Yu's stubbornness and offering something to distract her. He was use to using that tactic with his sister.

"Really! Thank you Big Brother and Big Sister!" Cheered Nie Yu with her arms waving about at an intense speed.

"Here's a soul crystal; insert your soul force into it," ordered Nie Tai, kneeling by the little girl. Her face showed pride with a slight hint of jealousy as the crystal grew brighter and brighter. When Nie Yu was finished, Nie Tai took the crystal and stood by Nie Li to inspect it, "She already has a soul force of thirty-two! Amazing."

"She has the Physique of Heavenly Marks!" Whisper-shouted Nie Li, his excitement getting the best of him.

"What's that?" Questioned Nie Yu curiously.

"The Physique of Heavenly Marks is what made the Heavenly Marks Family strong in the past. Our family can be traced back to the Snow-Wind Empire. The strongest warriors of our family have this physique and it has an appearance rate of about one percent."

"Too bad the technique was lost in the Dark Ages..." muttered Nie Li.

Before Nie Yu could show disappointment, Nie Tai said, "Don't worry, I have it, but,"

Hearing Nie Tai pause, Nie Yu watched the older girl closely, "You must keep this a secret Nie Yu; this matter must not be made known to anyone. Do you understand?" Seeing the little girl nod, Nie Tai said, "Can you promise Big Sister and Brother?"

Nodding her head excitedly, Nie Yu seriously swore to never tell anyone of this; although the Heavenly Marks Family was in decline, they were not united and many divisions ran through the clan. To ensure that the cultivation would remain a secret, the twins only passed on a single chapter onto Nie Yu. It would be able to sustain her for a while and prevent others from forcefully gaining the entire cultivation technique.

Heyo everyone!

Do you prefer longer or shorter chapters? Longer would be at least two thousand words were shorter would be from one thousand to fifteen hundred.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the irregular uploads. The storm has come to the midwest and winter now rules XD.

Hopefully you've enjoyed the chapter. Please, tell me what you thought. Have a nice day!