15 years later.
After the Zishan clan's exile, things seemed to have gone into a complete state of peace. The Immortal Lord had waited and waited and of course, the little Yao showed no sign of returning. Normally, an immortàl could even wait patiently for ten thousand years or even a hundred thousand years, to tell how long they can live on earth; however, in the eighth year, the Immortal Lord stepped out of the six universes.
He had other territories under his control and something must have gone haywire telling the severity of the situation which is enough to make him take direct action.
A year later, the Immortal Lord returned and left with most of his powerhouses leaving just a few hidden somewhere. And then in seventh year, there were no more powerhouses of the immortàl Lord except a few spies.
Then, the six universes returned into a state of balance without the rulership of the Immortal Lord. Some powerhouses were able to start up an academy in the ninth year and in the eleventh year, the popularity of these Academies exploded exponentially. Students flocked in to be taught—
Clans were being created, organizations and alliances were being reinstated. And the six universes became lively, bustling with activities, no longer living under the oppressive aura of the Immortal Lord.
Finally it completed fifteen years, and the moment it did, the stars trembled.
At this point, it was as if the stars around were about to conform into elements. Naturally, after the hydrogen in a star's core is exhausted, the star fuses helium to form progressively heavier elements, such as carbon and iron. As this fuel runs out, the star either explodes into a supernova, seeding the universe with those elements, or violently collapses, creating neutron stars and black holes.
This only happens when the stars in the universe wanted to multiply in number, so cultivators around did not feel like anything special was happening. But then, the trembling increased dramatically causing a few attention to be dragged.
The trembling and rumbling specifically came from a position… underneath the epicenter of the universe and—
A particular star shattered.
It is in the same way that a star naturally increases its number, exploding elements into a supernova.
However the strangest thing is that, only one star was exhibiting the phenomenon, something realized by others to be an abnormal occurrence, especially since the stars were aligned together in constellations which means that if a star is supposed to explode, numerous more would explode too. However it is just one!
People watched the center of the universe with curiosity, powerhouses started to drift above the clouds.
This audacity would have been impossible if the Immortal Lord had been present, but now that he had been gone for seven years, people were starting to come out, become brazen or even act presumptuously.
Inside the epicenter, somewhere designed and structured by the universe itself, the frozen sculpture of a young man floated in space.
The sculpture cracked slowly, running from the very base— his feet, to the top— his head.
Then the sculpture shattered, revealing the stunning figure of an eighteen years old young man.
Zishan Yao had been unsealed.
After being sealed away by Zishan Sheng, fifteen years ago when he had only been three years— by now, many years of experiencing emptiness must have numbed his emotions.
Being trapped in a sculpture did not stop him from growing naturally. He learnt how to talk, he learnt about his inner world, he discovered how to absorb spirit energy. It was just him and that dark, endless expanse and his energy for fifteen long years.
Finally, he was free.
However the moment he escaped into the universe, he saw a strange orb floating in front of him.
His brows furrowed.
"Huh?"
His hands stretched out, mostly because the vast power of the orb attracted him— maybe because he sensed his blood on it.
And again, the orb held a vast amount of spiritual energy, the moment he grabbed the orb, his entire vision tilted and he was transported unwillingly into his own Inner World.
"What?"
He looked at the vast sea before him. His inner world had actually been tempered by him for fifteen long years. And despite being sealed, he had been able to absorb spirit energy into the frozen sculpture and accumulated a vast amount. However, he witnessed a shocking scene.
The orb he had grabbed from the outside drifted about the lightless sky of his inner world and then opened up like a dam.
The next minute, his eyes widened.
Spirit energy flooded into him like a tide, and just when he thought he wouldn't be able to accommodate such an amount of spiritual energy, another inner world, so vast, so complex— very broad escaped the confines of the strange orb and merged with his own inner world.
"Whoa!"
He noticed the lightless sky in his inner world spark, it turned complex, starless, dark — then a bright halogen— the Orb hovered above, as the only source of light, pouring in a flood of spirit energy into his soul.
His soul swelled, divided into different counterparts. Yao did not even know how to feel plus, the immense power he felt was tremendous.
"I can't believe spirit energy packed so much power."
He stared at his inner world as it continued to change.
This transformation could be considered as explosive and Yao had never experienced anything like it in his fifteen years.
It took two years again for his inner world to completely fuse with the strange inner world. At this moment, the spirit energy in the orb continued to flood his soul while Yao sat mid air channeling his meridians and circulating his spirit energy into complete sync.
Then sporadic arcs ran from the nerves on his feet, to the top of his head, spirit energy spinning above him like a tornado and he mastered its control fluidly.
Spirit energy has five control stages, which is; Purity, Clarity, Infinity, Creation and God.
The Purity stage requires spirit energy to be pure, be rid of all impurities. Only when all impure elements have been eradicated can one ascend to the next stage.
Then clarity requires a control that has to do with the mind. A steady and clear mind can fluidly control spirit energy without doubt. Normally, doubt can influence the performance of spiritual energy negatively so it still has to do with faith, belief and clarity.
The infinity stage can help cultivators increase the level of their spirit energy. This particular stage is quite tricky and complicated and of course, anyone who overcomes this stage is likely to touch the God realm of spirit control, the infinity stage requires maximum concentration that allows a single strand of spirit energy to multiply into ten strands. The concept of infinity is not the real deal, but it actually takes on the effect of spirit energy.
Then the creation stage allows the use of spirit energy to create life, objects etc— the higher the person's cultivation realm, the deeper his or her creation becomes, for example— someone like the Immortal Lord can create life, but a Dú ké hán is restricted beyond that level.
Then lastly, the God stage— this one is only for someone at the level of the immortàl Lord.
So technically, Yao is trying to clear the very first stage of his spirit energy control, however it wasn't as easy as it seemed.
Then, Yao opened his eyes and looked at the orb above him and the spiritual energy was yet to stop flooding into his soul core.
He sighed.
"I might have to wait a few more years."
Yao had already explored his newly transformed inner world, and discovered that after fusion, it had become boundless, almost endless, that it can contain a frightening amount of spirit energy and with the amount entering his soul, it would take a very long, long time to ascend to the second stage of spirit energy control.