Chapter 19 - Soul

Alrik tried to process what he had just heard from Conor. From his birth, he believed that by cultivating, people go against heaven, and now he was told that all heavenly tribulation is just a filter for capable ones?

-What? But why is it so? It's impossible! Right...?

The red-haired man stared at the little boy with a questioning look.

-Unfortunately, this is so. The lightning test energy is part of the heavenly revelation. What is given as a reward after a trial is an incomplete version of revelation. To create a complete one, you would need to combine the heavenly revelation with the Qi of the heavenly test.

Conor answered in a calm voice, peering at the symbol hovering in front of him.

-This means...

Alrik had a distant look.

-This means that all these tests are just a sieve for people. Dao either pushes you further to develop or forbids you from moving on. There is no third option.

The tall man's gaze becomes less focused every second. Conor's words upset him greatly, but the reason for his turbulent emotions was unknown, and the young scientist wasn't interested in finding it out right now.

He took his eyes off Alrik and again looked at the symbol in front of him, and finally, he decided to absorb it and move on to the next stage of cultivation.

Taking a deep breath in and out, Conor concentrated as best he could.

"By absorbing it, I can reach the Soul Formation Realm. Let's go!"

With these thoughts, he closed his eyes, stretched out his arms, and with the help of Qi, tried to attract the Heavenly revelation. In turn, as if waiting for this moment, it smoothly flew towards. The revelation only stopped when it touched Conor's forehead.

At that moment, the Qi inside Conor abruptly began to move, quickly gathering near his forehead and as if forcibly pulling the Heavenly Revelation into the body of the young cultivator.

Concentrating on his body, he noticed that the symbol was in the center of his head and emitted a bright light. Suddenly after a moment of observation, the Heavenly Revelation began to spin. Slow at first, not fast. But after a couple of moments, it began to accelerate more and more. It mercilessly picked up the rotation speed, and at one point, all the Qi inside Conor was attracted to this symbol!

It looked as if a tornado had formed inside him, which attracted everything to itself with frantic force! Qi raced with itself, starting from the Dantian, proceeded along the meridians, finally merging into this insanely rotating symbol!

While concentrating on himself, Conor did not notice how he created absolutely the same hurricane outside, one could say that it was, even more, fiercer than the hurricane inside his body! All the Qi that remained in the atmosphere after all the recent events were mercilessly attracted to the young cultivator!

Inside his body, Conor saw how Qi gradually filled the Heavenly frank, and it acquired a purple hue, outside the circulation only intensified! Alrick once again stood nearby in shock, wondering what was happening!

Despite all the storm that was happening outside, Conor felt that at such a pace, he would not have enough energy to fill the symbol inside him! Even such a frenzied influx of Qi did not help, and his energy reserves were gradually emptying. At that moment, his gaze fell to the purple sphere in front of him, which he had previously used to collect the Qi of the heavenly test.

His eyes lit up sharply. He tried to take a step but quickly realized that it would be more difficult than he had imagined! Due to a heavenly revelation, his body was not receiving enough Qi, and he could not move normally!

"A couple of steps! I just need to take a couple of steps!" Conor thought with a maniacal expression on his face.

He made every effort he could. Not only did his body not receive enough Qi, but the flow and circulation itself created an intense pressure that very much complicated his movements! He seemed to be in the center of a tornado, where while you are standing still - everything is fine, but as soon as you take a step, you will have to make a tremendous effort to withstand the forces of natural disaster.

But, the sphere was so close, and Qi was inexorably ending, so Conor had no choice! Gritting his teeth, he took one step. This step felt like a mountain was tied to his feet, but that won't stop him!

Taking the next step, the young scientist realized that the difficulty would only increase with each step, and the pressure would increase too! The fire burned in his eyes, and blood boiled in his veins.

Only two steps separated him from the cherished sphere of energy!

He took one step! This step was already felt at the limit of his body's capabilities! The process of maintaining the energy flow to the symbol was too difficult itself, and it only got worse with each step! And there is almost no Qi left in the dantian. Right now, if he would slow down even for a moment, then all his previous efforts would go to waste!

But, as the passage of time could not break the will of humankind to progress, so this obstacle did not stop Conor. His foot, like a heavenly punishment, landed on the ground.

Last step! He made it! Now he was standing right in front of the sphere! Conor looked at this sphere as a hunter looked at his prey. He finally reached it, and it isn't going anywhere now! A second after the last step, without hesitating a moment, he began to devour it like the most delicious dish in the universe!

Inside his body, the meridians of Conor finally received the so much-needed energy. Like a wild dog, energy headed straight to the Heavenly Revelation, feeding it more and more! This sphere contained almost all the Qi that Conor was able to use during the heavenly tribulation, so the amount was rather big!

It looked like a child swallowing the planet from the outside, an extremely rare sight even for such experienced people as Alrick.

Qi danced and raged inside Conor, Heavenly revelation gained even greater speed than initially, and almost every line in it was purple!

Conor took this as a sign that the process was almost complete. In one gulp, he absorbed all the remaining energy from the sphere and directed it towards the symbol in his head. A fierce storm with a Heavenly revelation in the center eagerly absorbed any energy that it could reach!

Surprisingly, the symbol gradually began to slow down. Qi also didn't rush to his head anymore. Slowly, everything started to return to normal. Heavenly revelation dropped the rotation speed as smoothly as he picked it up at the beginning, and at one point, it stopped moving.

A purple symbol floated peacefully and calmly in Conor's head while emitting a warm light. The boy himself stood motionless, extremely exhausted and unable to think and act appropriately. Right now, even the easiest question from the primary school would be too hard for Connor. The fatigue was too much for him.

At the moment, he just tiredly and calmly watched the Heavenly revelation in his head. After peacefully levitating for some time, the symbol pulsed a little and abruptly began to merge with Conor's brain.

Right now, Its lines were strangely expanded and modified so that they would ideally fit the brain and spinal cord of the young cultivator. After a short time of transformations, the symbol finally took a form that ideally copied Conor's brain and nervous system, after which he felt a massive flow of Qi going into his head.

For a while, he seemed to have lost all sensations. He did not see anything, did not feel the wind on the tower, did not hear sounds, and did not smell anything. The only thing he could clearly feel was the Qi inside himself. He saw how the energy seemed to cleanse his head and nerve endings. After it, Qi transformed his brain and nervous system structure. Strangely, but he noticed how now Qi was traveling through various parts of his head just like through his meridians. His body could conduct violet energy before since he had already gone through the whole Body Refining Realm, but here Qi was moving as if a well-oiled mechanism. It wasn't just the ordinary conductivity of his body.

It looked like Qi itself was now being used instead of neural signals in the head.

It was a rather frightening observation because Conor did not know what the consequences of such a "replacement" of conductors could be, but at the moment, he was too tired to think about it.

When all the transformations were over, and the Qi in his body returned to normal, he slowly closed his eyes.

After that, he fell unconscious.