Between the realm of Power Core realm and Holy Saint realm was a realm of the Quasi.
The Quasi-Holy Saint realm. A half-step realm that was damned of absolute impasse.
When one strives to achieve the Holy Saint realm, one must obligately let the Heavens attest their Dao to a certain whether the Cultivator was fit to take the next step and become a full-fledged Daoist.
Heavenly Tribulation.
Ever since Heaven and Earth began, Heavens had always been uncaring, complacent, stoic and domineering. It loomed eternally over all thing the earth bears underneath Ethereal Skies.
When life begins, the Heavens would naturally care for it tenderly like a mother for a moment before losing interest in it and moving onto the next life beginning.
When death comes, the Heavens would naturally abide the laws of ending. No one must escape death no matter how much one defies it. Even the Heavens will willingly die when the time comes.
And ever since the beginning, the Heavens never let anyone challenge its authority. And it will smite anyone who dared to impudently climb over its summit to death.
And as for the case of becoming a Holy Saint. It was naturally the very first realm that challenges the authority of the Heavens!
In the Holy Saint realm, one will be able to grasp the principles of Heaven and Earth and control it in their fingertips. And as for what the Heavens had to do anything with, the Heavens is eternally the natural ruler of all principles. So, seeing the case that those beneath it wanted to take hold of the powers which only the Heavens must possess, it naturally deemed those beneath as impudent fools and smite them a Heavenly rain of judgment to what we call now: Heavenly Tribulation.
If a Power Core realm Cultivator was prepared to take the next step and become a Holy Saint Daoist, one would naturally have to survive the Heavenly Tribulation.
If one survives the ordeals of Heavenly Tribulation, then one can become a full-fledged Daoist and possess the powers their cultivated principles in their fingertips.
However, if one fails to survive the ordeals, then the end result would be death. Stricken again and again endlessly by the Heavenly rain of Judgement until they are nothing left but dust.
But the end result doesn't naturally have to be death by smiting. Because throughout the centuries of desperate struggles and trials, Cultivators had finally found a way to survive the Tribulation as a failsafe if ever one wasn't certain of one's own Dao.
That is, to become a Quasi-Holy Saint... Forever.
Whom Ben Li was facing right now was a genuine Quasi-Holy Saint. The powerful aura brimming exuded by the guard felt so ethereal that it seems it could turn corporeal the instant the guard another move. Making the air we breathe compress itself into dense packs of wind. Such unique traits of an aura coming from a Quasi-Holy Saint. A coward who failed to achieve his own Dao.
The Quasi-Holy Saint guard glance at the guard who had fallen for a second before shifting his glance towards Ben Li standing in in front of him. Upon noticing Ben Li's visage, the guards stood erect and saluted before him in respect. """Greetings, Sir Ming."""
"At ease." Ben Li waved his hands before them like a high-ranking officer and immediately began to walk away. But the Quasi-Holy Saint guard called out to him the next instant and asked. "What happened here, sir? How did one of my men got attacked?"
"Oh, what happened to that guy?" Ben Li said coldly as his finger pointed at the guard who had fallen. "I punched him."
Hearing his answer, the eyes of the guard twitched for a second before asking respectfully. "Why, sir?"
"He gave me a heart attack, that's why." said Ben Li nonchalantly. And it seems he wouldn't answer anything else.
"..." the guard was speechless.
You punched him because he gave you a heart attack?!
How did some measly Foundation Formation Cultivator give a Power Core Cultivator such as yourself a heart attack?!
"I'm going now." ignoring the guard's bewilderment, Ben Li then began to walk away once again.
"Yes, thank you so much for your time. Men, bring that Lad to the infirmary..."
After walking for a few hundred meters away from the guards did Ben Li ease up his tension and heave a sigh of relief.
Damn, that was too close for comfort. Luckily though, I'm not Wang Xie. But some other person with a deep, respectable background.
If my acting got any subtly different than who I am personating, then perhaps I won't be able to keep up the facade.
Fortunately, this lass, Ming Jian Ming isn't a lass to be trifled with. Even the palace guards here dare not to show the slightest disrespect to a higher ranked officer.
Ben Li didn't stop walking as he headed towards somewhere the party tonight was being held. He kept greeting back the aristocrats and others who came to greet him all the while reassessing his new identity.
My name now is Ming Jian Ming. Age, 42 years old.
Currently a Power Core Pinnacle Stage Cultivator. Occupation, one of the Empire's 30 Conferred Sword Knights. Ranked 12th.
Background, 2nd disciple of...
"Dozing off again, sir Ming?"
Ben Li was brought back from his contemplation and shifted his attention to the source of that voice. Then, his gaze landed on the young lady wearing a blue dress standing by his left side.
"Xu'er!" Ben Li smiled happily at the young lady whom he was very familiar in his new memories. Fang Bingxu, Ming Jian Ming's secret girlfriend.
"You..." a sharp glint appeared in Fang Bingxu's eyes as she secretly glared at him.
Swift and discreetly, she attacked Ben Li with her foot stomping down on his.
"Ugh?!" Ben Li made a short low cry as he felt his foot flattened into a pancake. It felt like the bones were mushed to crumbs as well. And it made the more painful as his foot never bled.
He tried his best to hide the pained expression on his face as his smile widened. Though, that didn't stop him from trembling in agony.
Fang Bingxu was unconcerned of his pain and spoke to him with a voice akin to a volcabo that was about to erupt. "SIR MING, DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER WHAT WE AGREED ON?"
"Agreed? Gugh?!" fang Bingxu's foot never left his and the instant she heard his response that said: I don't remember, she grinded his already flattened foot like a blunt drill. Forcing him to submit using his Qi to heal the pain.
"Yes, yes. I do remember. I do." he said to fawn and plead her to stop. Only then did she lift her foot back and walked away into the crowd. Acting like nothing even happened.
"Hah~ she's always like this. Now I can't she won't talk to me until she's gone bored again... Huh?! Wait, what am I saying?" Ben Li was instantly bewildered by the comment he made subconsciously. That comment didn't feel like him saying it but instead it same from someone that was not him. Yet, he said it as if he did it in his own volition like he was reading a script.
It was as if he was reading Ming Jian Ming's script for this scene's play. And he played it as if he was Ming Jian Ming herself.
The instant he realized this comment had him held his head in confusion and tried to analyze what was going on.
Then suddenly, a theory popped up inside his head and immediately began to reanalyzed what he had written in his first novel.
After cross-referencing his situation with some of the plots he had written, his eyes lit up and he became agitated in realization.
Yet, he had to first ascertain some things before he could conclude whether this scene playing right now is but an illusion or something more exciting for him to eagerly find out.
The surroundings around him were teeming with people. Instantly filling all the spaces to cross through the crowd. Some who saw Ben Li immediately greeted and fawn over his good books while the majority looked at him with different expressions as they murmur under their breaths.
Ben Li tried his best to evade Ming Jian Ming's fans all the while passing through the crowd to look for a place where Ming Jian Ming herself doesn't remember.
Ben Li had to be astounded honestly by the size of this place. The ceilings of this very building were so high it as as if he was looking at the sky. And this building isn't even where the real party is being held yet the guest invited where teeming to fill the very building with their astounding numbers. Some even had to hover high up in flight to get some space from these crowds.
Ben Li was trying to squeeze through the crowd to get out of the encirclement. But then he came across a wall of people where there were no spaces to pass through.
Ben Li instantly realized that there was no way to cross this barrier unless he asked to be excused. But he didn't want to grab the attention of the people around as that would be a dangerous action according to the theory he believed to be happening right now. Thus, his only choice was to fly through the air to get to the other side.
Ben Li was troubled at the moment as he thought of how was he going to fly in this body.
It wasn't to say that Ben Li had never flown before. In fact, Ben Li had tread through the open-air dozens of times back in the realm of Hell and his mindscape because his subconscious-constructed body wasn't even human to begin with. Thus, not being human, he was able to do feats which no human can possibly do. Like breakdancing in midair.
But what about right now in this body?
Right now, he could feel his Cultivation base residing in his body. Which means this was a real body instead of a body constructed by the subconsciousness. Being in a real body, is he able to fly with a thought like what he did back in Hell?
To answer that question, Ben Li found out that he couldn't fly with a thought like he used to but he can tread in the air like a real Power Core Cultivator.
Once entering in the Power Core realm, one can now step their feet in the air and trod the skies as if walking on solid ground. Although it wasn't true flight like flapping one's wings, humans never had wings to begin with so they started walking in the air after their evolution.
Ben Li thought this was how he was going to fly in the air from now on since he was Ming Jian Ming right now, a Power Core realm Sword Cultivator.
Reanalyzing the memories of Ming Jian Ming in his mind as he recalls her first try of flight without using any of her equipment until how she got here by flight, he immediately assimilated those memories into his own. All the while careful of keeping his identity as Ben Li lest he mistook himself as Ming Jian Ming.
A while later, Ben Li finished assimilating her memories. And as he realizes that he still remembers that he is Ben Li, the author of this world, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Others may not worry much but there was something really dangerous about keeping someone else's memories and assimilating them as their own. It wasn't like the infamous techniques of Soul-searching where one studies someone's memories as a third party uninvolved but it was purely keeping the memories as the person herself as if you had lived as the person herself.
If one tries to even recall these memories of a different life so carelessly, one might even lose his own identity and live as if he had lived this different life since the very beginning.
It wasn't as if Ben Li hasn't experienced almost losing his identity as the author before and assumed many times that he was Wang Xie until certain memories of his life flashed in his mind to remind him he was Ben Li.
Now, Ben Li was being careful not to lose his identity. Lest he'll have a major identity crisis of himself and awkwardly remember a time he thought he was a girl.
He shivering from those displeasing thoughts for a second before shaking his head.
Preparing himself, he then concentrates his Qi to manifest outside his body below his feet all the while channeling his Qi at certain Acupoints in his body. That only took him a split-second to do so and then, he slowly his foot on the air and started ascending.
One foot after another, Ben Li rose into the air as he walked upwards towards the sky. Feeling as if he was walking an invisible flight of stairs and then stopped in place to hover in midair.
He was losing balance many times and almost tripped over. But he managed to get used to his new method of flight. After a few rounds of practice, Ben Li began to walk in midair naturally and easily without any trouble at all.
Ben Li managed to bypass through the barricade of people and immediately found a place where Ming Jian Ming herself doesn't remember.
Descending down carefully, he arrived on the floor and stood before a closed door designed with regal fashion.
Ben Li gulped as he anticipated his theories coming true. Slowly and carefully, he pulled the doorknob and opened the door. And after which, Ben Li's eyes were bedazzled by pure white.
"I knew it! I knew I was experiencing 'The Memory Lane of Glorious Vicissitudes'!" Ben Li trembled excitedly in agitation.