Cultivation was dangerous. It was a path

  toward divinity and immortality through personal effort and

  determination, an act of defiance against heaven itself. An endeavor

  that could easily end in your untimely death.

  The [Demonic Oasis Art] was especially dangerous, but

  even the [Earthen Cultivation Art] could kill you if something went

  wrong. Sebastian’s own body had been broken to near death during his

  last breakthrough. If his willpower had faltered, he would in fact have

  died.

  The impurities of demonic essence made cultivation even more volatile. For the future, he realized he would have to develop more cultivation methods for the cult that were safer and also refine the training methods used in the Cave of Latent Demons to mitigate the dangers. But the pressure of having to progress the cult quickly, to grow exponentially stronger to face the wars to come, meant that there was no other choice than to push through and accept some collateral damage. Thankfully, since it was still early in the cult's development, many of the initial issues and dangers could be smoothed out.

  When you solve one problem, however, others tend to crop up.

  Five years after the first generation of candidates began their training, a

  new issue with the cultivation method Sebastian created revealed itself.

  Besides the risk of a violent death if you made mistakes, it became

  clear that if you failed to reach [Essence Consolidation] within about

  five years, you would begin to lose your mind.

  Living in a cave in near isolation, and training in a

  frustrating cultivation method certainly didn’t help your sanity, but it

  was more than that.

  When Sebastian broke through to [Core Formation], he

  expelled impurities that had accumulated in him in the form of a dark

  oozing substance. Those were physical impurities accumulated throughout

  his life, but demonic essence introduced an entirely new type of

  impurity. The longer they gathered demonic essence, saturating their

  Spirit Bodies without a fully functioning meridian system, the

  more those impurities affected them.

  It began with an increase in frustration, a lack of

  patience. That was easy enough to explain away at first, but then it evolved

  into bursts of pure anger. A demonic mania.

  They were fine one moment, perfectly lucid, and then the next, they could fly into a blind rage.

  Out of the original 32 of the first generation, only 13

  survived. Of those, only 5 broke through to [Essence Consolidation] and

  could avoid the symptoms of demonic mania by circulating their demonic

  essence. The improved physical cultivation also helped since much of the

  damage caused by the impurities would be prevented, and somewhat healed

  when it did happen.

  The 5 who made it would graduate from the Cave of Latent

  Demons after 6 years. Those who didn’t were sequestered to a different

  location in the cave system, and a new plan was formed for them.

  Sebastian created a new method for them, based on everything he

  had learned about demonic essence.

  They would cultivate the [Aberrant

  Demon Path].

  Rather than sculpting an entire complex meridian system,

  with the [Aberrant Demon Path] you sculpted three chambers—an Essence

  Heart, a Sea of Essence at your center of gravity, and a Clarity Gate in

  your head. The three chambers were connected together as an infinity

  symbol. The Essence heart in the middle had simple ventricles to ensure a

  smooth circulation of essence.

  Because of the simpler pathways, all eight of those who

  struggled with sculpting a complex meridian system managed to follow the

  [Aberrant Demon Path] and sculpt their simplified paths. By circulating

  their demonic essence through this path, they could alleviate some of

  their issues, especially with the addition of the Clarity Gate which

  strengthened their minds.

  For future generations, Sebastian decided the candidates

  would have a deadline. If they failed to sculpt the meridian system of

  the [Demonic Oasis Art] within a certain amount of time, they would

  promptly and without negotiation be sequestered with the others who

  cultivated the [Aberrant Demon Path].

  That said, though that decision essentially established

  two schools of cultivation within the cult, neither was to be considered

  lesser or superior.

  What those who cultivated the [Aberrant Demon Path]

  lacked in flexibility of essence usage and Techniques, they made up for

  in pure power. The cultivation method pushed their physical prowess to

  unrivaled levels.

  The five demonic cultivators who had successfully reached

  [Essence Consolidation] were finally ready to graduate from the Cave of

  Latent Demons.

  Rather than some traditional graduation, Sebastian

  arranged a martial competition. It was ceremonial, in a way, but it also

  served as a means of choosing a leader for the first squad of demonic

  cultivators of the cult.

  ***

  Sebastian and the first five [Essence

  Consolidation] stage demonic cultivators stood in one of the more recent

  additions to the cave system—which was constantly being expanded and

  improved, a sparring hall. The hall would be improved in the future, but

  for the moment, it was a simple chamber with a central sparring

  platform and a handful of other sparring platforms surrounding it. The

  flooring of the chamber at large were smooth mats of hand-weaved straw

  placed in alternating patterns whereas the sparring platforms themselves

  were made of hardened stone tiles. Stalactites with glow rocks embedded

  in them hung from the ceiling of the cave, illuminating the chamber.

  The sparring hall usually served as a place where the disciples

  could train in combat, resolve conflicts, and vent their frustrations

  from tedious cultivation.

  For this graduation competition, the hall had been closed down. No one other than the six of them were permitted inside.

  The competition was a simple elimination tournament.

  Since there were only five participating, one would have to fight an

  extra round. To determine who fought who, Sebastian held up five straws,

  two of which were shorter than the others. He infused his hand with a

  great deal of essence to prevent them from cheating using the [Spirit

  Union] Technique.

  One by one, all five picked a straw.

  Haru, the girl who reached [Essence Consolidation] first

  out of all of them, drew the first short straw. She was among the

  younger disciples, though whatever youth she had brought with her when

  she walked into the Cave of Latent Demons was long gone. Years of harsh

  training in a cave had left her hardened. Shoulder-length black hair

  tied in a ponytail contrasted the basic grey clothes they all wore.

  Strips of that same grey fabric were tightly wrapped around her knuckles

  and wrists.

  Her opponent was a few years older than her, and tall,

  really tall. He stood almost twice her height, but he was thin, almost

  sickly thin. A wooden sword was his weapon of choice. His breathing,

  quick and shallow, suggested a nervousness which his eyes seemed to

  reject.

  “Give it your all, Shik. I certainly will,” Haru said, oozing with confidence.

  She didn’t get a response.

  The moment the fight began, Shik swung his wooden sword straight down with no hesitation, aiming for Haru’s head.

  Her fist met it head on, and won. Splinters flew out like

  shrapnel as the wood shattered. While he instinctively protected his

  eyes, she darted up and delivered a blow to his stomach.

  He doubled over, and immediately caught another punch,

  this time to the side of the face which was now in reach. It sent him rolling off

  the platform, defeated.

  In the second match, the boy who had reached [Essence

  Consolidation] shortly after Haru, called Chul, stepped up. He too

  wielded a sword. Though, unlike Shik, he did so with a level of finesse

  which allowed him to gain the upper hand in his fight without much

  issue.

  Haru won her second bout as well, with a bit more effort than her first, to be fair.

  The final match, between Haru and Chul, began gracefully,

  with both of them displaying their respective combat prowess. However,

  it quickly devolved into an all out brawl.

  In the end, Chul’s adherence to some measure of

  respectability and desire to fight with technique over brutal efficiency

  lost him the match.

  The girl who had maintained her number one spot since the very beginning, won the first generation graduation competition.

  ***

  As more and more cultivators would graduate, the cult’s forces would grow. A hierarchy had to be established.

  Because they were now a cult, Sebastian did away with his

  previous ideas of inner and outer elders. Instead, he went with a

  simpler structure, one which in his mind honored the Wandering Wolves

  Corps by using simple ranks: Disciple Candidate, Demonic Disciple,

  Demonic Soldier, Demonic Captain, Demonic General, Demonic King, Demonic

  Master, and finally Demon Lord—the rank held by Sebastian himself.

  He had considered not including the word Demonic for every rank, but ultimately decided that it was important for… reasons—some things transcended logic.

  Disciple Candidates remained those chosen to train in the

  Cave of Latent Demons. Once they succeeded in being acknowledged as

  demonic cultivators by the [System], they officially became Demonic

  Disciples. Still, the disciples remained in the caves until they

  graduated, at which point they would become Demonic Soldiers.

  The victors of each ceremonial martial competition for every generation would directly become Demonic Captains.

  It would be years until anyone could reach the higher

  ranks, mainly because there simply weren’t enough demonic cultivators to

  warrant the higher ranks at the time. Also, while the ranks would

  mainly be dependent on contributions and positions, they were also a

  matter of cultivation. Until the demonic cultivators reached higher

  stages of cultivation, they would remain in the lower ranks. The higher

  ranks were merely established in advance as preparation for when that

  happened.

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  Haru, the first Demonic Captain, and the first generation of demonic soldiers were sent to Mujin to serve under

  Marion. Altogether, there were only four of them, though. The fifth, Chul, was enchanted by the process of

  cultivation itself, and with training in general. Sebastian decided to

  honor his wishes and allowed him to remain in the caves and help raise the new disciples.

  Each year, a new generation of Disciple Candidates were

  brought to the Cave of Latent Demons, each generation slightly bigger

  than the previous as the cult grew and more candidates were recruited.

  The first was 32.

  The second, over 50.

  The third was closer to a hundred.

  By this point, over six years since the opening of the

  Cave of Latent Demons, there were roughly 500 Demonic Disciples in the

  caves, across all active generations.

  All the while, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult continued

  its development and expansion. Any trouble which arose, either from

  dissidents within the city of Mujin or criminals who sought to test the

  validity of the rumors about the cult by attempting to raid them, was

  dealt with by Marion and the others.

  Sebastian spent less and less time in Mujin.

  Most of his time was spent in isolated cultivation, as

  much as he could spare. He made sure to dedicate at least a few months

  out of the year to teach and guide new generations of candidates. Once

  they had become true Demonic Disciples, they typically didn’t need his

  attention quite as much. He helped them with their sculpting from time

  to time, but he couldn’t cultivate for them.

  A temple was constructed atop a neighboring mountain

  peak. It was both a symbol of reverence and worship for the cult, and a

  training ground for Sebastian. He couldn’t cultivate anywhere near the

  Cave of Latent Demons, after all. The disciples wouldn’t have any

  natural essence left for them if he did.

  The Temple of the Heavens was

  rather small, like a countryside chapel. Not because the people of Mujin

  weren’t willing to build a grander temple in his name but mainly

  because the conditions at the mountain peak were quite hostile. The

  cult’s construction workers weren’t at a level yet where they could

  build the temple they wanted. Sebastian didn’t mind. He sent most of the

  cult’s workers to the caves. Building up their forces was the cult’s

  number one priority.

  Unlike most of the buildings in Mujin, the temple had a

  foundation of high quality wood with walls of stone bricks. Its roof,

  especially the eaves, were made with glazed tiles rather than mass

  produced wood. On the inside, they had decorated marble slabs for

  flooring with various jade features decorating the walls.

  Sebastian sat on the floor in the middle of the room on his usual mat that he had come to prefer when he cultivated.

  Time continued to fly by as the cult grew.

  Ten years after he founded the Heavenly Demon

  Divine Cult, his Core had grown immensely. It was almost the size

  of a closed fist, his Sea of Essence nearly filled.

  While the rest of the cult continued to develop, he pushed for a breakthrough to [Nascent Soul].

  Although he had the entire manual memorized, he still read it through once more before he began his attempt.

  [Nascent Soul] isn’t about cultivating essence anymore, instead it’s the first step to cultivating your soul.

  So, once the Essence Core is

  complete, the next step is to compress it further, like coal compressed

  into diamond. At that point it will turn golden. That Golden Core

  becomes the egg—or the cocoon—in which a Soul Seed is formed. With the Soul Seed formed, the Golden Core is shattered and the Soul Seed takes its place.

  One final Essence Baptism is then

  performed to push the Soul Seed into the barrier between the physical

  and the spirit, creating a permanent bridge between the two.

  No longer fully separate or independent,

  the physical body and the spirit body become connected to an

  unprecedented degree.

  The Soul Seed exists in both at once, or rather it

  becomes the bridge connecting them in place of the veil. It takes the

  place of the Core within the Sea of

  Essence in the spirit body—where it produces practically infinite Essence—and also

  exists within the physical body as a semi-corporeal catalyst for that

  essence and its effects on the physical world.

  During his previous breakthrough, he was in a precarious

  situation. Now he had all the time in the world. Which was a good thing

  because this one took longer, much longer. He had already been deep in

  the Spirit Realm for months on end.

  Torrents of natural essence constantly flowed into

  Sebastian from the entire mountain peak. His Core grew ever so slightly

  with every passing second.

  When it finally filled completely, and the Core couldn’t

  take in another wisp of essence, the powerful flow of natural essence

  suddenly halted. It was like hurricane winds turned to a perfect calm in

  an instant.

  Minor stage increased

  The next step was to compress his Core.

  As he was about to hone his usual intent and simply

  follow the method of the [Earthen Cultivation Art], he paused to

  consider the approach of his cultivation method and how well his own

  intent matched it.

  Ever since my first true attempt at

  cultivation, I have always used the image of a black hole as the basis

  of my intent. So far I’ve only really used it because it’s an image of

  something with a powerful attractive force. But is that really the right

  approach? At least for [Nascent Soul] and going forward, it’s pretty

  clear that I’ll be focusing on cultivating the soul, which means that

  just some generic image to draw in loads of essence isn’t really

  appropriate anymore.

  I should really think things through first.

  Creating both the [Demonic Oasis Art] and the [Aberrant Demon Path] has really opened my eyes.

  I only ever followed the basic path

  set up by the [Earthen Cultivation Art] if I’m being honest with myself.

  I reshaped the intent based on my own experiences. That’s what I need

  to do here. If this Soul Seed is going to be created by my intent, then

  my intent and my path forward needs to be clear.

  The manual says to compress your

  Core to into a Golden Core and then shatter that Golden Core once the

  pressure inside has formed a Soul Seed. Shattering my Core seems

  wasteful. Also, what does a black hole have to do with any of that?

  Sure, it would provide an inward pressure to compress the Core, but is

  that enough?

  No, I don’t think it is.

  When I reached [Essence

  Consolidation] I know I skipped some steps. The manual said to do things

  in order—first absorb, then filter, then condense. I combined them all

  by drawing the natural essence in and filtering as it went. If I’m

  staying true to myself—which I should always do—then I need to do

  something similar here. Not out of laziness but for integrity and honesty

  with myself.

  A black hole isn’t just some random

  thing that sucks stuff into something else like how I used it during

  [Essence Gathering], and [Essence Consolidation] for that matter. It

  isn’t something that draws things in and grows something else like how I

  have used it during [Core Formation] either. It is a collapsing star

  that makes the universe around it bend to its will.

  That’s what I need to do.

  Rather than forming a Golden Core, I

  compress my Core into a Golden Star. Instead of shattering it, I

  collapse it. Not a wisp of essence wasted. I push it all into itself and

  form a Soul Seed as a singularity.

  With his ideas clear and his plan made, he began.

  Sebastian took a deep breath and honed his new intent.

  As he focused his mind, the spirit body faded away—tuned

  out from his spiritual sense as he concentrated on his Essence Core

  which appeared as if floating in an endless void.

  He pushed his focus onto the absolute center of the dark sphere filled with swirls of dark purple and blood red.

  Instead of conjuring his usual image of a black hole for pressure, he made the Core heavy. Impossibly heavy.

  So heavy that it couldn’t maintain its size.

  Gradually, it shrunk.

  From the size of a fist to a small apple. As it shrunk

  more and more, it turned golden. At first it was a faded matte yellow

  that overtook the darkness, but as it got smaller, it got brighter. When

  it was the size of a ping-pong ball, it was like a sun in the abyss.

  He kept pushing and pushing, making the Core smaller and smaller.

  The smaller it got, the harder it was to control.

  If someone saw him sitting in the temple, they would see

  his entire body taking on some of that golden glow, radiating heat like a

  fire.

  Sebastian didn’t yield.

  As he continued to shrink the Core, his mind sunk deeper

  and deeper into its depth. Eventually he reached the veil between the

  physical and the spirit. In that endless abyss in front of the veil,

  there was no ocean of essence. No rivers or mists to wield. Instead, he

  held a bright scorching star in the tightest grip his mind could muster.

  He carefully moved it closer to the veil as he compressed it further.

  By the time it was almost touching the veil, it was infinitesimally small.

  In the Physical Realm, his entire body was breaking under

  the heat and pressure. The marble tiles beneath him cracked. His body

  was melting from the inside.

  Still, he didn’t yield.

  With a final push, the Golden Star collapsed as it touched the veil, which vaporized. The powerful wall that had separated the

  two aspects of reality all this time disintegrated from the might of the

  Golden Star.

  A singularity formed. A black hole collapsed the space around it, in both the Spirit Realm and the Physical Realm.

  Sebastian’s physical body crumpled, collapsing in toward his center of gravity. His back broke. His organs liquefied.

  His mind almost shattered from the pain.

  The awaited healing of his essence coursing through his body didn’t come.

  There was no essence left, it was all collapsed into the singularity.

  As his mind, body, and spirit were all about to break

  down, he pushed his consciousness into the singularity itself. To an

  infinitesimal point within the center of the very black hole that threatened

  to erase his very existence.

  Inside the singularity was a chaotic jumble of energy. His entire accumulation of essence compressed into a primordial soup.

  He pushed his last remaining willpower and intent into it.

  Gradually, yet quickly, the primordial soup of essence was shaped. Molded.

  When it finally combined into a single, cohesive blob,

  which vaguely resembled a bean for whatever reason, infinite amounts of essence exploded out

  and into both his spirit body and physical body alike.

  His physical body had been reduced to a solid sphere of bone,

  flesh, and blood, the size of a basket ball. A few temporary threads of

  life and consciousness, retained only within the Soul Seed that formed,

  was all that remained of Sebastian.

  With the Soul Seed in place, the immense gravity of the

  black hole receded in a blink. It was fully within his control. The

  essence that poured out rebuilt his body, stronger than ever.

  Unlike previous breakthroughs where the essence merely healed him, this time it fully reconstructed his entire body.

  The spirit body wasn’t as susceptible to the forces of

  gravity as the physical so it retained its shape, but cracks threatened

  to shatter it completely.

  Fortunately, the restoration of his physical body also

  restored his spirit body, and it fused back together, more solid and

  robust than before.

  When the veil finally reformed, Sebastian’s Soul Seed was

  placed firmly within the center of the veil and formed a permanent

  bridge through it.

  In his Sea of Essence was a white swirling portal of

  sorts, directly connected to the Soul Seed in the veil. An identical

  white swirl was in his physical body as well, real enough that it could

  be seen with the naked eye—if you could cut through his impervious

  skin—yet not corporeal enough that it could be touched.

  When he opened his eyes again, he was met by a silent calm. Only a single [System] alert awaited him.

  Heavenly Tribulation initiated: 1 minute remaining

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