Chapter 77: A Slave Obeys, A Man Chooses

Chapter 77: A Slave Obeys, A Man Chooses

Vice Leader Qiang You, I greeted my senior with a deep bow in his garden. It was time. After all this waiting, I was finally going to breakthrough. Either my life would be ending shortly, or I would be stepping onto a new and unexplored path in cultivation.

One part of me felt relieved it was time, another part of me felt incredibly worried. So much time had passed and this was it. I didnt think my journey would lead me to this point, being in debt to an immortal, and the truth of cultivation society, embodied by the Forever City, but nonetheless I was here.

I had been doing research on breakthroughs and following up with my business. There had been some progress in both directions. But there had been major insights in either direction.

Sit. The final preparations are being finished as we speak for your breakthrough, he said. Since there was no question, I was silent before him. I can sense your curiosity about what I have planned. While many others might choose to keep one such as yourself in ignorance, I will illuminate your mind instead. What do you think of that? There was a teasing and mocking tone in Qiang Yous voice.

You are generous Vice Leader Qiang You, I said and bowed my head once more. It was just one more form of control he could layer upon me.

I sense that you are displeased even if your words say otherwise. Nothing gave you away, it is just the nature of cultivators to hate being oppressed by a stronger cultivator. But that is the curse of those weaker. Even his casual remarks cut through me. There was nothing hidden from this immortal. I had truly grabbed the tail of a tiger and was holding on for dear life.

Your breakthrough will alter fate itself. A small pebble cast into the eddies of the Firmament, creating a nexus of chaos which will in turn draw threats and opportunity. It comes down to luck, the worst of all higher forces, but one I have studied extensively. When you hear that word, luck, what do you think? Qiang You asked.

Probability favoring one direction, I answered, and he slowly nodded at that while stroking his beard.

Probability is but an illusion. Luck is that illusion being stripped away. Qiang You responded with a slight disgust in this tone. After that there was a long stretch of silence in which I dared not speak without invitation. You think yourself clever, like all cultivators do. Then tell me, why has no one tread your path?

The answer wasnt resources. Anyone like Qiang You could marshal the resources that I had done with only a fraction of the effort. That was the power of the Forever City and the factions that resided here. My mind went back to my previous conversation. Something or someone would stop such an event, I replied.

This city is not a battleground. It has existed for countless eons, by remaining discrete. This place wasnt a battleground? The tentacle monster? The countless fighting between factions? The fights you have witnessed are but minor skirmishes that spill over. My original hope was to use you to pull the Forever City into a state of conflict. Cultivator Po has seen fit to stop such a thing. But now there is a new plan I have put togeather.

My mind was spinning, why was I being told this? This was a plot against the Heavenly Alliance! To draw this city and the super organization in control of it into a war with another. How would my breakthrough even cause that?

There are higher forces. Karma. Fate. Luck. Mere words cannot contain their full meaning and scope. But they hold value to cultivators like myself. Bringing conflict to the Forever City would have been devastating, but it would have created opportunities. Qiang You shook his head. Now that will no longer be the case. Speak.

Forgive me, but I dont understand. Why would you want a conflict to occur? Isnt stability and constant improvement the most important thing? And why would you tell me? I asked all of that in a single breath.Updated from n0velb(i)n.c(o)/m

For weak minded fools raised up inside a faction. They are content, like sheep. While they get stronger slowly, that is but crumbs falling from the plates of those stronger. Stability becomes stagnation. The last time the entire Forever City was mobilized was eons ago. I tell you all this, since I can see the resentment within you. Your debt, the favors you owe. I should be the one to complain for how little I will be repaid, Qiang You said while staring down at me. I didnt dare speak up or offer an objection.

After your breakthrough, you will be going on a journey. I have seen your attempts to raise funds to repay the debt you will owe me, but it would take far too long. Instead, if you survive, then you will undertake some tasks for me to repay the favors you owe. You will probably die horribly, but it will be the least you can do. I honestly couldnt tell if Qiang You liked me, hated me, or was just messing with me.

Thank you senior, I said and bowed my head while wondering where I would be sent and what I would have to do. At least that meant he thought I would survive my breakthrough. I would have to mentally sort through everything else he had told me later on. One thing I had learned was to never underestimate senior cultivators. One does that reach that age and power without an immense amount of cunning.

Come, Qiang You said and stood up. I followed him out of the garden onto a vehicle. If the general use faction vehicle was nice, Qiang Yous personal transportation was the height of luxury. The chairs were impossibly comfortable and I couldnt even feel the vehicle moving in the slightest. Even checking for forces, there was nothing. The hull of the vehicle blocked my sight.

Senior, what exactly is going to happen when I breakthrough? I asked. Qiang You sent me a glare and I felt like I was a moment from death. The pressure vanished as quickly as it came. I was hoping for information and a clear explanation.

A massive conflict. You will focus on stabilizing your cultivation with what time will be given to you. As for what shows up during or after, I do not have enough luck to say. I felt there were unspoken words here. That if it was too much trouble or risk, I would be left behind to be killed. That was more information than I was hoping for, but less explanation than I wanted.

It was tempting to ask another question, but I knew that I had already pushed Qiang Yous forbearance. Asking about stuff I would have no role in, would only annoy him. It was like rushing to the cockpit of an airplane, asking how the plane was flying, what the controls were, and everything else about what was happening. I would just have to take it on faith and my limited knowledge that I would make it safely through my breakthrough.

A few minutes after we had boarded Qiang Yous private vehicle we came to a stop. I followed him off the vehicle onto a cylinder ship. This was not like the lower floor, with lots of chairs for lesser cultivators. We were escorted to a fancy room that had the same level of comfort as the vehicle I had just been in. Qiang You gestured for me to sit, which I did.

Another older looking man entered, and I noted he had the symbol of the TripleX faction on his robes. He had a similar look to Qiang You. I quickly stood up and bowed deeply, and I noted Qiang You stand up and incline his head as well. This person was clearly a bigshot if Qiang You could be made to bow. A hand reached out gripping my hair and lifted up my head. It was the height of rudeness, but I was nothing but a bug to these cultivators. I didnt object or fight the impossibly steely grip.

So, this is your project. I felt a wave of energy pass through me, and the old man sneered. You werent joking when you said his cultivation was a mess.

Indeed Leader Han, it is a mess, Qiang You said. I recognized that name. I had seen it written down in several places. This was the faction leader of TripleX.

A clever idea to stir the pot, but far too shallow. If it had worked, the consequences would have been immense. Now you seek to go fishing, Leader Han let go of my hair and I went back to bowing, not daring to lift my head without his permission.

That wasnt part of the plan. But there was no way I could object or say anything. I didnt fully understand everything that would be happening. And even if I did know, there was nothing I could do. I had to place my trust into Qiang You and Leader Han without hesitation. That was my only chance of surviving.

I would focus on completing your breakthrough as quickly as possible. Once you breakthrough, things will get chaotic, he said with a smile that gave off a sense of unease. How go the preparations?

It will take a little bit longer to sever any possible connection, Qiang You said.

Double check. I will not have some other person snatch away our hard work, Leader Han replied.

All clear, for now. Anything left is beyond me and hiding, Qiang You said and dropped his hand that was giving off light. Now all that was left were the soft blue glowing symbols around the two immortals.

Good. Now for the main act. Break through whenever you are ready, Leader Han said while turning to face me.

Now seniors? I looked at Qiang You.

All our preparations are done. Breakthrough now, Qiang You said clearly indicating he would tolerate no further questions. There was another moment of hesitation, but I had come this far and couldnt back down now. I unequipped my gear and put it away in my spatial ring. The air on this small patch of land in the middle of darkness was somehow breathable.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my mind. Neither of the senior cultivators said anything while I steadied my nerves here at the last moment. I had studied for this moment for a long time. The hardships I had endured had been immense and would only get worse going forward.

The first step was breaking the barrier on my mind core shells. To tie my body and soul togeather. The boundary on the outside shattered. The energy in the mind cores had the concept of force tied to them. It was engrained in every aspect. As the energy leaked out, I focused on forcing my body and soul to remain linked.

The energy released from the mind core shells flooded my body. Most of it was dispersed and lost, but some remained and settled down. Linking my body and soul togeather in a way that it hadnt before.

Such waste, Leader Han muttered, but I didnt focus on him. I had to keep my focus on the energy that was spreading out and dissipating inside of my body. As the energy decreased, my soul cores pushed outwards and then broke.

Ahhh! I screamed as my cultivation shattered. All the motes, channels, and meridians were pushed beyond the boundaries of my physical body by the four explosions inside of my soul. My body core in the center of those explosions was compressed inwards.

At that moment everything seemed to slow down, while I was in agony. Leader Han had a single hand pointed at me. I could see a bubble of energy form around me. I couldnt move, and the agony I was in was immense.

The first thing to focus on was drawing the energy from my body core detonation, into my new organ. The pain I was feeling only increased. This was beyond a flesh wound, it felt like my body was being ripped apart at the very seams. I had to focus. Everything was happening in slow motion. Without everything slowing down, I would have had no time to react to do everything I needed to complete.

I didnt like pain or suffering, but I had endured hardships for this long, I could endure a bit more as I felt the implanted organ inside me shifting and growing. Qiang You and Leader Han were talking, but I couldnt pay attention to them at the moment as I focused on trying to direct the maelstrom of energy within me.

It was like trying to fly a kite in a hurricane. I had some control, but the overwhelming amount of energy in my cores was making it vary difficult to direct. As the secondary body core exploded I had to focus on drawing back my soul. I could feel it being pushed outwards. The very foundation that I had carved my cultivation into was being pushed outwards.

Letting go would be too easy. From what I had read, the problem had been not enough force, I had too much. It was hard to focus on what was me. I was everything around me. I looked down at the two immortals who had come for this.

My physical body was breaking apart. I was losing focus. It was a struggle to draw myself back togeather. I needed to focus on myself, pulling my soul back togeather. The boost from the mind cores and the organ gave me an anchor, a center to focus on as my soul slowly came back togeather.

Then there was the third thing during my breakthrough I needed to focus on. Creating the foundation for purifying the energy I drew in. I had studied long and hard in preparation for this, diving into the extensive information the TripleX faction had collected.

I created cylinders from the remnants of my internal cultivation structure. Four of them, each pointed towards the center, where my organ crossed between my soul and my body. I just needed the base structure in place, the internal mechanisms could come later. I just needed to have the foundation there to work off of.

Even with the extra time that I had, it was a struggle. Portions of energy and pieces of my cultivation flew away, and I couldnt sense them anymore. Time stretched out as I kept trying to pull myself back togeather. Every fiber of my body and mind were screaming in protest.

My soul was slowly pulled back togeather. The pieces I wasnt able to keep a mental hold of had dispersed outwards. There had been a lot of waste, but I had not been able to do more. I had given everything I had and held nothing back.

I could feel the steady pulse of the organ linking my body and soul. I could feel every portion of it. In my physical body it was a large lump of energy saturated flesh, pulsing with my heartbeat, unleashing energy into my physical body in a small trickle. For my astral soul, it was the center of my cultivation. What felt weird was that I could feel my soul in a way I couldnt before. Previously it had been a nebulous feeling. Now, I could feel each and every contour with extreme precision.

The gaps and cracks left from trying to bring it back togeather were present as well. Energy seeping into my soul. The cylinder constructs built around the organ to purify the energy sent to my physical body. But the organ was present and overlapping both aspects of myself, which was giving me a headache. The overlaps were close, but there were minute differences. Like two similar pictures slightly offset from each other.

The world spun and shrunk. My entire body felt like it was on fire, and I was being slowly roasted. Time slowly sped back up. Just as I began to get my panic under control, I felt something grab onto my soul and my fear skyrocketed.