Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

The rise of wild and frantic streams of bubbles blew right past Darcel, Aniela, and Masami. As the streams of bubbles blitz past them, the trio had to grit their teeth and clench their bodies just to not get blown away.

Darcel found this sudden rumbling and streams of bubbles highly curious. 

Almost like this was meant to happen if they were to meet up with each other. It clicked in Darcel's mind then, and his eyes whipped down to the bottom of ice-cold water.

His eyes widened, and a mild shock ran through his veins. 

Despite thinking he saw everything this trial had in store, it still managed to keep on surprising him.

"Aniela, Masami! Look to the bottom; we have something waiting for us." 

Darcel shouted to the girls through his Darkness Soul link aura. 

As much he wanted a loving reunion, it was obviously impossible to achieve now.

Aniela and Masami also wanted a touching, loving reunion. But they know this situation requires their full focus. Following Darcel's voice, the girls zipped their eyes down and were similarly shocked.

Looking no older than seven years old, an actual little girl was trapped at the bottom of the ice-cold ocean! 

From what the trio could spot, the little girl wore long gray robes, had long gray hair, and her eyes were closed.

Wrapped around the waist of the little girl was what appeared to be a water tentacle! The water tentacle had torn through the ocean floor to wrap the little girl up and also unleashed that stream of bubbles before.

"Out of all things, I wasn't expecting to find some hostage situation in a hell trial." Masami shook her head in disbelief. 

Though the gray robe figure didn't say anything about rescuing children, she was suspecting this may be part of their goal.

And Aniela had immediately assumed this was the case. "Hehe~, I miss your snarkiness, little fox. But you two do know what this means, right?" 

Masami and Darcel peered over to Aniela. And Masami felt a wry smile curve up her lips. It was a nickname she didn't like before but now hearing Aniela say 'little fox' gave Masami just that extra burst of warmth in her chest. 

A flash of understanding also ran through Masam's eyes when matching Aniela's gaze, giving her a curt nod.

Darcel also quickly realized what they had to do. Before anything, though, since there wasn't anything trying to attack them now, Darcel asked the girls, 

"Girls, if you're here, then I know you have no cultivation. So how are your injuries holding up? With only Darkness Soul links, we're pretty limited on what we can do."

Hearing Darcel's express his immediate concerns caused beautiful smiles to bloom on Aniela and Masami's faces. 

Though it sounded no different than any other times, he had concerns for them. It was just the fact they've been through hell and back all for each other, and their Darkness Soul links were making their feelings run wild. 

They couldn't hold back, and simultaneously, Aniela and Masami burst right through the streams of bubbles and latched onto Darcel's neck.

"My body is in hell! But I'm feeling much better now that we're back together!" Aniela was mushing her face against Darcel's face with the loveliest of smiles.

"I feel like my body is about to break! But with you two, hmph, it isn't as bad anymore." Masami nuzzled deeply into Darcel's neck, inhaling his familiar fragrance that was now mixed with blood and sweat.

Darcel almost felt watery in the eyes being sandwiched by the girls. 

But he also realizes they are miles deep in the ice-cold ocean. And they truly need to focus back up.

Although, Darcel did indeed see why the girls are saying they're feeling a bit better now that they're back together. He could feel his and the girls' Darkness Soul link rapidly pulsate as their feelings were strengthening and growing.

Even now, Darcel could feel some of his terrible injuries began to slowly heal. 

Still, since they are unknown territories, Darcel gently peeled off Aniela and Masami and stared into their beautiful faces that were stained with blood, sweat, and dirt.

He began to tenderly stroke their bloodied faces, feeling a great shame he wasn't there to help them out. 

Aniela and Masami leaned into Darcel's hands as he told them, 

"As much I would love to continue this, we do have a trial to complete. Luckily, there isn't any wild or vicious beast in the water. So by my estimate, our Darkness Soul link should have provided us with enough energy to grab that little girl. Like I assume you girls were doing previously, we will need to rely on our battle instinct to dodge any unexpected troubles. Now, are you ready, my lovelies?"

Aniela grasps Darcel's rough hand, tenderly stroking it, spouting a confident smile. She proudly said, "Even if it was a Kraken at the bottom, I still would feel assured enough to kill it!"

Masami grasped Darcel's rough hand, guided it to her fox ears so he can briefly stroke it. Feeling a burst of energy run through her body, Masami smirked and boldly stated, "Bet that gray guy didn't expect us to be so powerful together. I'm ready to end this damn trial!"

With their confidence back up high, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami turned their attention back down to the little girl. 

Streams of bubbles still burst through the ocean floor from the water tentacle, but nothing else changed after having their little moment.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami paused for a split second. 

They simultaneously exhaled a long breath and tensed their bodies. And like they were three sonic booms again, the trio blasted down, right towards the little girl.

As they tore to the bottom, the ice-cold temperature increase but was still more manageable to them. While the immense pain and bone penetrating cold weren't all gone, now it was enough for them to focus up for a fight.

And from the bottom of the ocean floor, numerous spider web cracks began to tear there. 

At the center, the little girl spot on the floor was fine, but the water tentacle holding her clenched tighter.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami smirked while the ocean floor cracked. 

They were ready as the cracks burst open, shooting out numerous water tentacles at them!

The water tentacles blitz towards them at swift speeds, quickly traversing the meters distance between them. 

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami found the speed comparable to a being at the late layers of the Qi Foundation realm.

And like Darcel said previously, they relied on their natural battle instinct to dodge. 

Several tentacles shot at each of them simultaneously, and Darcel, Aniela, and Masami just barely managed to nimbly shift their bodies.

Blood still spurted out of them as the water tentacles tore right through their Darkness glow aura and grazed their bodies. However, the pain that flared up didn't even register in their minds.

They already were in great pain; the water tentacle grazes were like a bad sting to them. 

Once they were within twenty meters from the little girl, Darcel suddenly gained an idea. He forcefully burst his speed, going several meters ahead of the girls.

"Girls! Kick my back towards her!" Darcel shouted to them while continuing to narrowly avoid water tentacles. 

Aniela and Masami briefly looked at each other, and they only needed a second to understand why.

As Darcel was in front of them, Aniela and Masami nimbly got close to each other, still avoiding water tentacles. When they within an inch apart, they clasped their hands together. 

Immediately, their Darkness Soul link increases in power!

Their Darkness glow aura intensifies, and their speeds shortly burst. Together, hand in hand, the girls tanked water tentacles to the face, tearing straight through them with their burst of speed and power.

They quickly got right to Darcel's back, gently planted their feet there, and firmly kicked off him. 

Amazingly enough, despite their severely weakened state, Aniela and Masami heavily concentrated to not cause further pain to Darcel and hasten his descent. 

Darcel shot off like a torpedo from Aniela and Masami's kicks. 

He felt his Darkness Soul link powers increase from their concentrated touches, and Darcel blazed by every water tentacles.

His speeds managed to explosively increase that much to the point the water tentacles shooting from the ocean floor couldn't keep up with him. 

At this speed, Darcel quickly traversed the short distance left and landed right by the little girl.

Darcel curiously raised his eyebrows as the little girl still had her eyes closed. He either assumed she was knocked out or….dead.

But when Darcel touched her neck, he did feel a pulse of life from her.

Focusing up, Darcel grabbed on to the water tentacle covering the little girl and burst it into tiny droplets through the sheer power of his soul. Once she was free, Darcel picked up the little girl, placing her under his arm.

Darcel was a bit surprised about the little girl's weight as it was like she had none at all. But Darcel wasn't going to question it since it made his job that much easier.

Darcel turned back up, seeing Aniela and Masami rapidly approach him. 

He was about to swim back up to them, but he suddenly felt the whole ocean floor intensely rumble again!

Darcel felt his world shook. From under him, now the whole ocean floor began to crack everywhere! 

And in just a mere split second, the entire ocean floor cracked open and crumbled to dust.

Darcel didn't even bother looking down, and he held the little girl tight. 

When attempting to dive back up, Darcel felt his pupil dilate. An immense suction force pulled on him, threatening to drag him to the abyss of darkness.

"AHH!! NO!!" Aniela and Masami's panic shouts blared out in the ice-cold ocean. 

They felt their Darkness Soul link tremendously explode as their feelings to save Darcel override their minds.

Like two rockets, Aniela and Masami's speed massively burst! They used only a split second to appear right above Darcel. 

Darcel couldn't even react as the girls firmly grabbed his shoulders and began to swim back up.

The abyss' suction force got stronger, yet it really didn't affect Aniela or Masami much. When grabbing on to Darcel, all three of their Darkness Soul links explosively risen.

They tore right through the abyss whirlpool suction, blasting towards the top of the ice-cold ocean like three black missiles. 

As they quickly near the surface, the temperature once again dramatically dropped.

Now they felt freezing temperature brutally penetrate back into their bones. But besides a slight shiver, neither Aniela, Masami, or Darcel dared to stop. 

Hope began to swirl in the trio's eyes when they were several feet away from the surface.

But before they could break through, all three of them abruptly stopped. The whirlpool abyss suction force suddenly shot up and could now hold all four of them!

"Ah! We're so close!!" Aniela was grinding her teeth, desperately trying to break the powerful suction force. 

"This-this dammit! Can we even make it?!" Masami cursed out loud as she too, put forth all her efforts to break out.

Darcel, however, fell into a calm state of mind. He used his right hand to tighten the little girl's hold under his arms and, with his other hand, grabbed both Aniela and Masami's hand on his shoulder.

They whipped their heads back at him, and Darcel confidently smiled at them. During the trial, he carved his will to always protect the girls, and Darcel wasn't about to fail that now! 

His extreme protective desire and love for his girls awoke something from the depths of Darcel's soul core. A frantic rumbling of power was quickly rising from the depths of his soul. 

A power that's even greater than his Darkness Soul link!

"Don't worry, girls. We're leaving now!!" Darcel's eyes turned a deep black glow, and a tremendous power surged out of him! 

'Chi!' 

Holding on to the girls, Darcel broke out of the suction force and blasted right through the ice-cold water surface.

Once they shot out of the water Darcel, Aniela and Masami got suspended in mid-air. 

Their surroundings immediately changed, and they were suddenly back in the gray space! The trio was let go, and they crash-landed onto the gray ground, wholly taken by surprise at the sudden shift in scenery.

Darcel didn't even feel the little girl in his arm anymore. But he did feel an incredible wave of exhaustion wash over him. 

"Oooh….shit….that was too abrupt." Masami groaned while rubbing her head.

While lying on the gray ground, she, Aniela, and Darcel wearily looked up, and not a half-second later, the gray robe figure popped up to greet them.