Chapter 8: Breakthrough (2)

Chapter 8: Breakthrough (2)

The monkeys walked up to the sacrificial altar though that was not its official designation just yet and placed their comrade on top of it. Their comrade did not resist this even knowing fully well what would happen. He had seen it happen time and time again as I was fed their precious life force.

I am still unsure as to why they acquiesced to such a thing, but I do not pretend to understand the limited minds of primitive creatures. Perhaps they think I am their God or Master, or any number of things. Unfortunately, their opinion of me does not change my opinion of them. My place is not in the hands of primitive creatures and though I harbor no malevolent will toward them, the nature of our hierarchy is set in stone.

At the very least, I can exalt their legacy by living up to my potential.

It becomes very clear when the monkey is laid on top of the altar that he is seriously wounded. Perhaps that is also why it does not resist.

I study the monkey with my spiritual senses and immediately find the culprit of his state. A broken dantian. I know that even if the monkey were to survive, that he would lose his will to live. A cultivator even a demonic beast cannot live with the thought of being unable to cultivate.

As Wukong raises me over the monkeys chest, I uncharacteristically feel a pang of pity. The thought occurs to me of a future where the demonic ape society and I live side-by-side naturally, not as equals braving the challenges of the future together.

For a moment, I imagine bestowing them with the spoils and cultivation manuals of the many immortals we would slaughter on our path to the Heavens, and raising their foundations to the levels of Nascent Soul or even beyond perhaps even true immortality.

I feel the heat in my core; a warm feeling of hope and determination to attempt this path.

I imagine us developing a language and an efficient system of coexistence again, not as equals.

But such dreams and such heat is immediately crushed when Wukong plows me through the monkeys chest, and I devour its life.

There can be no coexistence and no future. To begin with, the demonic ape society lacks the intelligence to even comprehend such a thing as coexistence or harmony. Their basic animal instincts should not be misinterpreted as some divine inspiration and desire for evolution. They do not kill to become stronger; they kill because that is all they know how to do.

We are not the same. We are not even similar.

There is no grounds to even consider coexistence.

Five revolutions.

This time the blood impacts so hard that it knocks the gems out of my vessel, scattering them onto the ground so hard that they bounce off and fly off into the forest.

Six revolutions.

For the first time in my existence both of them I feel pain. It is not a physical sensation, but one I feel within my soul. I feel like I am being torn apart and split open.

[ Mid Vessel Refining Progress: 66% ]

I do not understand what is happening to me. I thought I understood the principles of cultivation, but this is completely beyond the reach of the understanding of my Dao. What should have happened is that I would break through to the Vessel Hardening stage and began to cultivate my body from the beginning. But now my body cultivation base keeps increasing so fast that it is killing me faster than I can heal.

And I cannot stop it.

Seven revolutions.

Eight revolutions.

The latest impact crushes me so hard that my blade snaps in half. At the fracture line where my blade breaks, the metal explodes into a thousand little fragments that are so small they look like particles of glitter hovering in the air.

The monkeys howl triumphantly and cheer for me.

I realize that they really are stupid.

I am not going to survive this.