Another two weeks had passed.

  The good news was that I hadn’t seen Wu Lihua even once.

  That should have brought me some comfort, but it left me feeling uneasy.

  Beautiful Core Disciples didn’t forget about someone they’d shown an interest in; they’re either busy or making plans. I hoped it was the former, but my reading experience told me it would likely be the latter.

  As for her ex-fiance, Wu Kangming, the news about him spread all over the Outer Sect. He’d been demoted from being an Outer Disciple to the lowest rung of the servant’s quarters.

  Apparently, when your cultivation base gets damaged and you can’t improve any longer, the sect has no reason to waste resources on you.

  Meritocracy was the only way a cultivation sect operated. No merit equalled no resources, which equalled no future.

  I felt sorry for the guy, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

  The more involved I was in others’ issues, the more complicated my own would become.

  I spent nearly all of my waking hours over the past two weeks cultivating in my room. I rarely saw Wei Lin or Lin Mei except during mandatory classes.

  Whenever they asked if I was okay, I told them I was good, just really focusing on my cultivation.

  They seemed to understand. Everyone was focused on their own progress.

  Though I did notice that the two were spending more time with each other.

  When I had asked Wei Lin about it, he had mentioned he developed an interest in herbs.

  Yeah, I didn't believe him for one second.

  He was probably still trying to sell poor Lin Mei spiritual herbs on a 'discount'.

  But I couldn't spend time thinking about what others were getting on with, I needed to breakthrough to Stage 3 as soon as possible so I could finally start properly cultivating the World Tree Sutra, or picking a new cultivation method if that one didn’t work.

  “Master,” Azure said as I sat cross-legged on the floor of my cell. “I’m finished with the technique.”

  I opened my eyes. “Are you certain it works?”

  “As sure as I can be without testing it,” Azure replied. “I’ve studied the underlying principles of the Soul Shattering Palm, the Soul Refining Arts, and the Soul Resonance Breathing. The technique I developed uses elements from each to create a single technique.”

  “What’s it called?”

  “The Tri-Essence Harmony Technique,” Azure said with pride in his voice. “It’s named after its purpose. The technique produces a short-lived harmony among your Soul Essence, Spiritual Essence, and Physical Essence. Using the technique allows you to transfer a portion of your Soul Essence into either spiritual power or physical strength for a short period of time.”

  I thought about that for a moment. “How much of my Soul Essence can I convert?”

  “That depends on how much of your Soul Essence you’re willing to use,” Azure explained. “The conversion rate is around seventy percent. So if you convert ten units of Soul Essence, you’ll receive seven units of either Spiritual Essence or Physical Essence. And it will last around an hour, then the converted essence will dissipate, and your Soul Essence will gradually recover.”

  Seventy percent conversion wasn’t bad at all.

  With my Soul Essence at 100, I could theoretically increase my Physical Essence from 12 to 82 for an hour, making me far stronger than any ordinary person in a non-cultivation world. But using up all my Soul Essence seemed like a very bad idea. I didn’t know if a Soul Essence of 0 was basically a death sentence.

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  “What’s the cost?” I asked.

  There always was always a cost.

  “The technique strains your soul,” Azure admitted. “Converting too many units of Soul Essence at one time risks damaging your soul’s foundation. I suggest you limit your conversions to no more than twenty units at a time, at least until we learn more about the technique.”

  Adding twenty units to my physical essence should hopefully be enough to survive most situations.

  “Will I be able to use it in a different world like the Two Suns world?”

  “That’s the whole point of the technique,” Azure replied. “The technique doesn’t rely on spiritual energy from the environment. It derives from your internal stores. So long as your soul exists, you can use it.”

  Exactly what I needed.

  “Thanks, great job, Azure,” I said. “Now, I just need to breakthrough to Stage 3.”

  I had been close to a breakthrough for the past couple of days. My inner world was saturated with spiritual energy. I just needed to give myself that final push, a moment of clarity, and I would break through to the next stage.

  I settled back into a more relaxed position on the floor and closed my eyes.

  The breathing techniques were becoming automatic. Slowly inhale through the nose, absorbing spiritual energy from the air into my body. Hold for five seconds, allowing the energy to flow through my meridians. Slowly exhale through the mouth, directing the energy into my inner world.

  Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Continue.

  Outside the world began to fade. Sounds of other cultivators walking around the dormitory, calls of birds flying in the courtyard, soft whistling of wind through the window. All of it faded as I drifted into my inner world.

  I was floating in pure blackness.

  Then I was there in my inner world.

  The tiny, round area of my cultivation foundation.

  Now four meters in radius, twice what it had been when I first realized I had an inner world.

  Azure was standing in the center.

  “Ready, Master?” he asked.

  “As ready as I will ever be.”

  I began to draw more spiritual energy into my inner world. But instead of the slow, steady absorption I’d done for the past two weeks, I was drawing it in rapidly and intensely. The energy reacted, flooding into my inner world in thick bands of glowing white light.

  The space began to feel full. Thick.

  The spiritual energy was compacting due to the sheer amount of energy flowing in.

  This was it. This was my breakthrough moment.

  I pulled in more energy, trying to force it into my inner world. The compression continued. My inner world shook, the invisible boundaries that defined its dimensions straining against the weight of the pressure.

  “Master, the boundaries are stretching,” Azure yelled out.

  I could feel it. The walls of my inner world were expanding.

  At first, very slowly, then faster and faster.

  My inner world expanded from four meters in radius to eight meters.

  The rapid expansion caused dizziness, disorientation. It was as if I was in a small room that instantly grew into a cathedral.

  “Breakthrough achieved,” Azure exclaimed, with excitement in his voice. “You’ve reached Qi Condensation Stage 3!”

  Cultivation: Qi Condensation Stage 3

  Inner World: Radius of 8 meters

  Soul Essence: 102

  Spiritual Essence: 20

  Physical Essence: 16

  I looked around at my newly expanded space. Eight meters of empty blackness, waiting to be populated with various forms of energy and materials that would eventually turn it into a real world.

  But I didn’t have time to enjoy the victory.

  I felt it. The same feeling I experienced the last time. A light touch, barely perceptible. Then stronger. Much stronger.

  “Azure,” I said calmly. “It’s happening.”

  “I know, Master,” Azure replied tensely. “I’m feeling it too.”

  The tug turned to a pull. The pull turned to a yank. Invisible hands wrapped themselves around my soul and started pulling it away from my body.

  When this happened last time, I had panicked and fought it. Struggled to remain connected to Ke Yin’s body. It hadn’t worked. The pull had been too powerful.

  This time, I didn’t fight it.

  This time, I welcomed it.

  Whether I was being pulled to the Two Suns world or a different world, it didn’t matter. I had to locate some type of otherworldly energy to form my Genesis Seed. Without that, the World Tree Sutra would be nothing more than a useless piece of paper.

  The pull grew stronger. My soul was ripped from Ke Yin’s body.

  Just like last time, everything went black.

  I floated there, formless and lost.

  Then, without warning, the blackness dissipated.

  Reality burst forth once more with clashing metal on metal and pounding of hooves.

  The metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth, and my ears echoed with battle cries and screams.

  “Tomas! Stop just standing there, looking like a sheep, and come help us with the barricade!”

  I opened my eyes to see a burly man wielding a woodcutter’s axe wildly at me from behind a hastily built wooden barricade.

  Oh no.

  No, no, no.

  I recognized this scene. I’d lived this scene. This was the exact moment I arrived last time.

  "Wow. You've really got to be kidding me," I whispered to myself.

  Henrik. The man wielding the woodcutter's axe was Henrik. I remembered him. He had survived the first wave of the raiders but was killed when the wooden barricade he was defending collapsed on top of him. And there, charging toward the village with a pitchfork, was Maya. Maya who would be killed by a Sun-Touched raider and tossed aside like trash.

  This was the same battle. The same village. The same moment.

  I was in a time loop.