Hmm.

  I think that’s breakthrough complete.

  For the first time in…well I don’t know how much time has passed, but I feel like its been a while. Anyway, I’ve finally opened my eyes again after all that time. I’m now officially a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator.

  It truly does feel like I’ve entered a whole new realm altogether when compared to previous three.

  Body Tempering gave me a stronger body at each advancement in an effort to make it strong enough to withstand actually holding Qi within. Qi Refinement gave me the ability to make use of Qi in various ways, while also refinement my body to the point I could attempt to hold enough Qi to form a Core.

  Thus beginning the Core Formation Realm. This is the first time I’ve felt like there was a real difference between the realms and I was without a doubt something ‘else’. While in the Core Formation Realm I could do everything someone in the Qi Refinement Realm could do, but instead of relying only on the Qi I was able to grab, I now had my own storage system.

  A storage system that could be refined even further, to the point right before the Nascent Soul Realm.

  Body Tempering a stronger body, Qi Refinement allowed me to interact with Qi, Core Formation allowed me to store and use Qi far more freely, but Nascent Soul? This is way different than the previous three.

  For one…that soul in the name wasn’t there for show. I’ve always had a soul, but this is the first time in my life that I could ‘see’ it. Where my core used to sit there is now a small flame as black as the darkest night.

  It shrank and grew without seemingly any reason, and the flames themselves felt…chaotic. It moved like you would expect a small flame to move, but as I focus my attention on it, the only feeling that comes to me is one of chaos.

  The funny thing about it though, is that the feeling of chaos feels natural. As if the feeling of being orderly would be entirely repulsive to all that I am and will be. Fair enough, I guess. Secondly, I can feel just how different I interact with the world now.

  I’m the fact my soul now has form has changed that interaction significantly. Where before I simply used some of the Qi I was strong enough to pull into my body to whatever it was I wished…now I imposed myself and the Qi in body on the world around me.

  If before what I did could be described as me ‘asking’ the Qi to do my bidding, now I was literally imposing myself on the Qi and with that I could ‘command’ vastly more amounts of it and do things I otherwise wasn’t able to do…like flying.

  It is also why killing someone in the Nascent Soul Realm wasn’t as easy as before. Because in the lower realms, cutting someone’s head off would usually be all it would take, but now? With a soul that could technically be ‘moved’, ‘stored’ and whatever else you could do to physical elements, one would have to make sure that their opponent’s soul is thoroughly destroyed when killing them.

  Burning them with the Eternal Flame would suffice in my case though.

  There was one more interesting thing about this realm though. For all intents and purposes, it was the peak of what a man could ever hope to become. Reaching the Core Formation Realm was already considering become something ‘more’ than a human, and it all cumulated in reaching Nascent Soul.

  There were no more minor realms to advance past in an effort to reach the next realm. This was it…the peak of the mortal realms.

  From here onwards was the path of the Immortal. It might as well have been a whole different power structure altogether. The comprehension of laws was a whole different thing to consider and worry about than just making one’s body stronger or interacting with Qi better.

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  In fact, there is actually nothing stopping me or anyone else in the Nascent Soul Realm from being able to immediately break through to the Immortal Realm apart from one’s own comprehension.

  If I comprehended a law to the point, I could bind myself to it in a way, I could become an Immortal right now if I so wished. Or at least begin the breakthrough process that would likely take centuries if not thousands of years to do.

  It’s hard to even grasp that much time passing in just silent meditation when I haven’t even been alive for 100 years yet. Since I haven’t tried to comprehend a law at all, I don’t understand fully why it takes as long as it does, but I’ll put that off for now.

  I’ve only just broken through, I need some time to consolidate, and check in on the clan, who knows what they’ve been up to this whole time.

  I stood up slowly since I was partly worried that my bones and muscles would feel creaky from not being used like rusty metal, but the worry was unfounded. There was a little bit of stiffness, but my body was brimming with power…I wasn’t even hungry, well at least not physically, but I think a feast would make me feel a whole lot better even though my body is being sustained by the world itself at the moment.

  Hm…a nice fight would feel good too. I wonder if Vrusha is up for a spar. A feast and a fight it is then.

  …Do we have good cooks in the clan?

  That was the thought on my mind as I finally left the meditation room. Oh its nighttime. That thought barely flashed in my mind for a second before a whole bunch of people appeared around me.

  Now that I think about…I spread my senses out…far further than I could before and the entire stronghold was blanketed in my Qi and even quite some distance beyond the stronghold and a good amount of the Ember Fields were covered too.

  Practically the entire clan …wait nope that’s the entire clan, was concentrated around my courtyard and meditation room, with Vrusha, the rest of the guard, Lidaz, Lirian and Frian being directly in front of me.

  Hm?

  Who the hell is that?

  I could sense someone else in the stronghold.

  Another Infernal…strong…not of my clan…did we get visitors?

  Pushing that thought to the back of my mind for a second, I looked out at the group of people all kneeling in front of me. Who the heck even told them to kneel. No use in fighting them on that though, I know how they get. My precious clan members.

  I waved at them.

  “Yo.”

  “WE GREET THE PATRIARCH!”

  The loud greeting of over 6000 Infernals shook the ground and walls of every building in the area. I should have seen that one coming, I think.

  “You all can stop kneeling now, and it’s nice to see everyone too. Now whoever the best cook or cooks in the clan is, I would like a feast with the members of my clan sooner rather than later. If none of you are confident in your cooking skills, then go buy enough cooked food to feed everyone.

  “I want a proper feast!

  “While that’s going on, I need a report on everything I’ve missed. Dismissed.”

  …

  A bit later while the members of the clan were moving about to prepare a feast, I learned that Sendoira was on something of a journey trying to research ways for her people to progress through the ranks.

  I also learned about our guest, Rellia and who she was…most of all I learned of her involvement in something that happened while I was busy breaking through.

  My people were kidnapped…and held hostage.

  When Lidaz got to that part in the report, the room began to crack under the pressure of my anger. It likely would’ve exploded into something unimaginable if not for the fact that Lidaz quickly explained that the man responsible was killed by our guest.

  It kept me from storming over there and calling down Chaos itself and using everything I had to wipe that Kingdom off the face of the planet, but I was still angry.

  “His son? Was he killed as well?”

  My voice came out icier than I wanted it to, but I was truly pissed off.

  “To my knowledge, yes Patriarch. Though his cultivation was crippled, and he is being forced to spend the rest of his life in prison in their Kingdom.”

  “No. Bring me his head. Now. Tell their King that the Infernal Patriarch Raizen demands it.”

  “By your will Patriarch.”

  Lidaz disappeared and not even two minutes passed before the man was kneeling before me with a head that was clearly attached to a weak and dying body.

  “The King sends his regards and hopes for this matter to be complete with this.”

  I looked at the head before burning it to nothingness.

  “Fine. Consider the matter complete, you did well Lidaz.”

  I would’ve said the same to Lirian and Frian, but after passing along more personal greetings, they asked me for leave to go train. I didn’t think anything of at the time, but now I know why.

  “Thank you Patriarch.”

  “Bring me our guest, she didn’t have to help us but she did of her own free will. I won’t forget that.”