Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 131 part1! Let me tell you, this breakthrough will trigger some extremely important events. But I won't say more.
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
With each of his breaths, Demian's Aura leaked out from his body before retracting into his body in a strange cycle.
Though faint at first, as time passed, it spread further and further throughout the entire shop, startling everyone present, from the clients browsing the wares to the saleswomen helping them decide on what to buy.
Even the shop's manager was alerted and came to check on the situation, not because there was any danger from the young man's sudden breakthrough, but instead because of its peculiarity.
Fortunately, with Ling's current status and strength as an Alchemist Queen, no one bothered them. Instead, the manager, after understanding the circumstances, even used her authority to separate that part of the Void from the rest of the shop to avoid any outside interference by other parties.
While all of that was happening, in Demian's Soul Space, right in the middle of the raging Soul Great River flowing from the Crown Aperture at the top of the space was a mysterious reddish fog, both untouched by but also nurtured by the Soul Energy flowing around it.
Previously, that reddish cloud was drifting aimlessly around the Soul Space's Core, but as soon as the young man experienced the sudden enlightenment, its behavior shifted completely.
Instantly, its form moved to anchor itself at the exact center of the Soul Space, its previously shapeless outline beginning to visibly contract and expand in turn, progressively reshaping the fog into a regular spherical shape.
With each cycle of expansion and condensation, matching Demian's external breathing cycle, the red-colored fog not only reduced in size but also grew more tangible, while the rust-like color marring the fog lightened very slowly.
The changes were barely noticeable at first, but as minutes and even hours passed by, they grew more and more obvious, though the young man's barely conscious mind was incapable of paying much attention to those growing alterations.
'Is that my consciousness?'
A brief thought appeared in his mind when realizing what the strange red fog actually was, before his mind was suddenly silenced by another cycle of transformation, leaving him in a state where, though he was able to sense what was happening, he was, however, incapable of formulating more than a simple thought each time his conscious mind left its state of pseudo-dormancy for an extremely brief amount of time.
The situation was completely unlike any other breakthrough he experienced before, and indeed, each major step made between Heart Cultivation levels was a very thorough transformation of one's essence.
Transcending the mundane to take the first step on the path to Immortality. That sentence was no exaggeration, instead showcasing the significance of that step.
If one divided the different cultivation systems into different layers of importance, then professional cultivation, such as Alchemy, would be considered external, Mana, Physique, and Soul cultivation would be the Inner Layer, and finally, Heart Cultivation would be the Core Layer of a being.
The External inspired the Inner, the Inner nourished the Core, and the Core sublimated everything else.
The External was optional, the Inner important, but the Core was essential, and any transformation of the latter was not only much harder but also much more dangerous, with any problem occurring during said transformation resulting in dire consequences for the cultivator.
That was especially the case in Demian's current circumstances, as not only was he having his breakthrough two full Ranks below 'normal', but he was also skipping the entire transition level that the overwhelming majority of cultivators went through, moving from the Peak Red Dust level to the Entry Refining Seed Level 'directly'.
Normally, a cultivator would wait until the Peak Core Formation Rank before working on that breakthrough, making their consciousness much stronger, which resulted in having a relatively easier time when seeking to break through the Heart's bottleneck.
Mind you, it only increased the chances slightly, not guaranteed it, and even if they found that breakthrough opportunity, they still had to go through the whole consciousness transformation, with any slip-up resulting in serious or even fatal mind injuries.
Thus came into existence the Red Dust-Refining Seed transitional level, which was not a proper cultivation level, but more of a 'tool' to help increase the odds of successful breakthrough by lengthening the process itself.
The consciousness transformation itself was the same, but with more time, it was easier to avoid mistakes.
Again, it only made it easier, but it was actually nothing but difficult, as many failed in their breakthrough, which resulted in having their consciousness crippled for those who survived, either becoming incapable of further breakthrough for the lightest consequence, or ending up completely mad at the worst.
Some also became brain-dead, but was that really considered as having survived?
If Demian were aware of that information, would he have gone through the breakthrough?
Maybe.
After all, if he did succeed, it would save him decades, or even centuries, of practice.
So, the risk was worth it, no matter how unprepared he was.
And in his case, was the risk truly as serious as it seemed?
No matter how his chances were, what was certain was that the speed of his breakthrough was incredibly slow, much slower than if he had reached the Peak Core Formation.
Though the young man was not aware of the time, outside, three days had already passed, while inside the Soul Space, the Red Fog's size had only reduced by one third, its red color fading in the same proportion.
The good news was that no problems had occurred so far.
The bad news, however, was that, as soon as the transformation had progressed to one third of the way, its already slow speed grew even more sluggish, to the point that to achieve another third of the progress would most likely demand ten times the duration he spent on the first third, twenty if the last third was included.
And that was assuming that the speed stayed the same for the rest of the breakthrough, which seemed doubtful considering what had just happened.
In the outside world, as those three days had already come and gone, the rest of the group had not moved from the piece of Void separated by the shop's manager, serving as guardians for Demian in case someone wished to disrupt his breakthrough.
Well, to be fair, Ling and Sergei—The latter having joined them when he heard of the urgent situation—were the main protectors.
As for the guard team, they were mostly there to deal with miscellaneous matters due to their 'low' cultivation.
When it came to the three Mikhailov women, they also opted to stay by his side for no other reason than they were worried about him, and, though they could not really provide any help, just being close by helped them feel calmer about the situation.
Seeing no end to her man's breakthrough, Seraphine let out a sigh before asking the two experienced Peak Core Formation cultivators the same question she had asked them umpteenth time.
"Teacher and Uncle, how much longer do you think he'll need to finish his breakthrough?"
Indeed, with the two there, it was not long before the three Mikhailov women learned about Demian's exact situation of stepping from the Peak Red Dust level to the Entry Refining Seed level, something that was normally unheard of for cultivators at his level.
At least, in the Federation.
Though the Main Continent may have a few of them, it was too far for them to know about it, and it was not something the Forces behind those cultivators would advertise anyway.
After all, Peak Chi Gathering may sound powerful for Mortals, but in the Federation, it did not amount to anything, barely better than Body Strengthening.
At best, you could achieve a soldier position, but to reach the lowest officer position, one had to achieve Foundation Building.
And that was in their Low Tier 5 Power, let alone in those Tier 6 Forces in the Main Continent.
So, being talented was fine, but too much talent could become a curse if one became careless. Of course, lacking talent was not exactly a good thing either, so a 'perfect' situation did not exist.
It was just a matter of doing the best of what you were given.
That's why, instead of being overly worried for Demian's safety because of his showing off such a ridiculously high potential, Sergei was thinking of what he could do to boost the young man's cultivation speed.
After all, having potential could threaten your life only as long as that same potential was not realized.
Once the young man's cultivation reached a certain level, even if he revealed his talent, his safety would be somewhat assured.
Noting how his wife seemed to have a growing urge to kick the young elven woman's butt for asking the same question she had asked more or less every hour since the breakthrough started, Sergei was contemplating the best way to maximize the Mikhailovs' talent after they all broke through to the Foundation Building Rank.
Though there were many options, with what happened three days prior at the Wisdome Tide Library, and now with an even more exaggerated event, those four had clearly been pushed into the limelight.
Don't think that just because the Fairy Dust manager separated a piece of Void for the young man's breakthrough that those King Grade and above Families were not aware of what was happening.
After all, that kind of breakthrough was too peculiar to be hidden, at least not when it happened outside of their Mansion.
And if those people knew, every other Force with spies planted in the Federation would learn of it in the coming days, or at most weeks, Frost Beast Palace included.
'Lad, you could have picked a better place for your breakthrough.'
He exclaimed inwardly before letting out a light sigh and adding.
'Well, lingering on the past won't change the current situation, I guess. Instead, it's better to find a solution to deal with the coming dangers... Thinking about it, I only see one way that would give them the least dangerous environment to grow as quickly as possible. I wanted to give them the choice before, maybe waiting until they reached the Late Foundation Building level, so they'd be safer. But now... They don't really have much choice, not unless they choose to never leave the Mansion until they reach the Void Sapling Rank. Even the Void Seed Rank may not stop those people from acting against them. Extinguishing Hall it is, then.'
While Sergei was absentmindedly planning for the Mikhailovs' future, Ling was starting to lose patience with the young elf, exclaiming in an irritated tone.
"Xiao Zi, I told you a million times already. I. Don't. Know. Just wait, and he'll be done at some point. You're still so young, but can't even wait for a few days?"
Honestly, she really liked the little dark elf, but there were some moments when she had the urge to kick her ass just to make her stop talking.
After all, it was not as if Sera, Bryn, and Liya were the only ones worried about that likable brat.
She knew logically that the odds favored him.
Whether it was his illogically deep foundation or the unknown secrets that helped Seraphine and him reach their current level in so little time, it was a fact that the 'life and death struggle' others experienced may just end up being a walk in the park for him.
That was further confirmed during the three days they spent guarding him, as she noticed how abnormally stable the transformation was, completely different from what she knew and experienced in her own ongoing transition level.
But still, logic and emotions were two completely different Pill Cauldrons.
And even if she ignored her emotions and assumed that there would not be any problem on the young man's side, it was a fact that external dangers could appear to disrupt Demian's breakthrough, from Frost Demon Palace's hidden Demon Beasts or human spies.
Even other Forces from the Main Continent could be acting to avoid having their Federation grow too powerful.
After all, though it was true that Tier 6 Forces did not care about those cultivators from Tier 5 and lower Forces, it was only true as long as the cultivator in question did not reach a transcendent level of potential, hinting at a Tier 6 future achievement.
And to her knowledge, breaking through the Peak Red Dust Rank to the Entry Refining Seed not only at the Peak Chi Gathering Rank, but also in one go, was the exact definition of a transcendent level of talent.
Acupoints could be opened with resources, Energy could be accumulated and purified with resources, and even the Physique could be refined and tempered with resources.
The only thing that was impossible to improve with resources was Heart Cultivation, and that was also the most essential factor for determining one's upper limit.
Did Demian's breakthrough mean that he would reach the Tribulation Transcending Rank, or even the Peak of that Rank?
Of course, not.
However, unless killed or crippled, it was a fact that the lower the cultivation when one broke through to reach that step, the higher the cultivation achievements the cultivator would attain.
It was not an absolute rule, mind you, but it was sufficiently common that unless the cultivator came from a strong enough Force, they would hide it from the world.
Those who did not usually ended up as part of those 'unless killed or crippled' mentioned previously.
As the saying goes, 'Potential is either a curse or a blessing, the difference being the degree of realization.'
Letting out a small sigh as her gaze fell on the young man's tranquil expression, she noted how his Aura had grown a lot more substantial compared to three days ago.
'Well, since we contacted the higher-ups, unless someone at the Void Sapling Rank comes, there shouldn't be any major problems. But still, the sooner he's done, the safer he'll be. I wonder how long it will take for him to finish...'
If only they could access Heart Cultivation methods, it would make things so much easier. That was if those existed in the first place...