A Path After The Struggle
827 Words
200 years…
400 years…
800 years…
Yao lost count of how many years he's spent inside Zicuen Mountain. He stopped counting, just hoping…probably, he'd break the time suppression around him.
The world around him distorted and changed. And suddenly, his vision tilted creating a mesmerising view.
Yao stood frozen for a moment, trying to wonder what he was seeing. He saw the void change along with time, then it compressed into a ball that became the memories of time. And these memories carried by time either had to be absorbed or destroyed and somehow, Yao had observed a memory that sent his brain nerves into a complete shock.
At first, he saw a universe which was overlooked by the starry sky. Everything had been normal for a long three seconds until the stars trembled.
And then merged together, forming what is known as the Starry Fist.
Yao did not know why but just observing the memory caused him to spit out blood and he was yet to break the time suppression around him.
He had even expected the third eye to start spinning but it didn't. This is a technique that Yao was unable to comprehend.
More memory balls were compressed out of the void. Most of these memories did not want to be destroyed. But since they hadn't discovered a way to preserve themselves, they succumbed to eternal destruction. Now that a human had appeared, many of them wanted to be preserved and Yao's little brain became the centre of information.
Yao realized that he wouldn't be able to endure the brutal absorption of these memories. So he decided to try repelling the memories.
It did not work.
More memory balls drifted closer.
Yao saw different lifeforms.
He saw the square inch distance, a deadly place that separated countless universes.
At first Yao did not understand, but when he eventually did, his pupils shrank rapidly.
He started to ponder, but the inflow of these memories did not allow him to focus.
He grabbed his hair, almost pulling it out. The pain was unbearable, but as a cultivator he was built to endure and that was what he did.
Immediately a ball of memory invaded his mind causing his entire body to freeze up.
His eyes immediately lit up.
“Clarity, intention and spirit.”
This memory is from someone who probably had an inkling of the clarity realm of spirit energy control or had successfully completed the cycle and broken through to the next stage.
“It says you study your intention with a clear heart and mind. One's intention behind his or her spirit energy.”
Yao immediately grew excited.
Everyone's intentions are different. One might feel that spirit energy is to power their battle techniques. Others might feel that spirit energy is another form of power. And their own intention, their conclusions can bring about an effect to completing the Clarity stage.
Yao ignored the memory that drifted through him as he tried to discover the intention of his own spirit energy.
Immediately, he dived into his mind's eye, his lips twitching as he saw these violent patterns that streaked across the inkyblack sky of his inner world.
Within his inner world, Yao could stop absorbing memories because within his world, he had maximum control.
And then like the walls of a dam breaking, he unleashed his spirit energy, allowing it to flow through the openings within his meridians.
He slowly continued to direct the movement of his spirit energy.
Miraculously, these violent patterns immediately attached itself to his ocean of spirit energy and the moment it did, his spirit energy expanded dramatically.
Yao's eyes widened.
“Wait…”
These violent patterns had expanded his spirit sea and Yao had just seen a path to cultivate the infinity stage.
Immediately he stood up and released his spirit energy as a terrifying surge manifested itself into reality.
Yao was pushed out of his inner world as he watched the spirit energy manifest. And then, they pressed majestically over the sky, shifting the heavens.
Yao spat out blood and hurriedly dropped the spirit sea upon the void and there was a deafening c***k.
The time suppression shattered. And for the first time after a thousand years or more than that, he saw a pathway that led down the mountain.
Yao wiped his bloodied lip and smiled.
“Clarity, intention and spirit. I have been able to see the intention behind my spirit energy clearly, and that is to shatter the heavens.”
The moment Yao muttered this out of his mouth, the clarity stage of spirit control shifted. Not to the infinity, not the peak of clarity, but at least, in the middle of it and it increased Yao's maximum control over his spirit sea.
The spirit energy above him surged wildly and they slowly dissipated.
With a smirk, he started to descend the new pathway that must have opened when he shattered the time suppression.
- Writer
