The next layer of cultivation was the Cloud of Fire, though most cultivators didn't consider this an actual stage, rather an intermediary stage between Aperture Opening and Inner Heaven.
At this layer, one had to take their 'soul fire' as it was called given its appearance, and fuse it directly with their Inner Heaven.
With the Inner Heaven as the soil and the soul as the seed, one feeds and nurtures their soul, allowing it to evolve into a Natal Spirit.
With a Natal Spirit, one would finally gain access to the legendary ability of Divine Sense, which truly separated the mundane from the immortal.
Of course the process of turning one's soul into a Natal Spirit was not a safe one, quite the opposite.
The soul was incredibly fragile in the early stages, hence if one wasn't delicate during their evolution, they could easily damage or even destroy their soul fire, which would kill them instantly.
But Minos didn't have to worry about that, after all not only was his soul incredibly durable, but more importantly, his Eternal Flame Aptus made such an event impossible.
Hence, with absolute confidence, Minos descended down to his Inner Heaven, which appeared in his body like a huge white star.
Looking up at the grand sight, Minos didn't even pause for a moment, just propelling directly into the core of this massive star.
As he reached the center, he sat cross-legged, breathing deeply as he ignited his Inner Heaven, causing its energy to blast down on his soul with tremendous force.
For other cultivators, this would be suicidal, their souls likely reduced to dust after only a few moments, but Minos's soul bore the energy with no problems.
Instead he absorbed it all in relish, his powerful soul becoming even stronger as took in the power of the Inner Heaven and made it its own.
With each passing moment, Minos's soul becomes even more solid, allowing it to reach higher levels.
Despite not being an actual Natal Spirit itself, Minos's soul was already stronger than other early stage Natal Spirit's, hence this process allowed him to reach an unknown level.
Even Minos wasn't aware that his soul was evolving in a completely unknown direction, just absorbing the vast energy with relish.
As the energy finally reached some sort of critical point, Minos suddenly felt a strange twinge on his forehead.
Ignoring it at first, Minos went back to absorbing, but soon enough he felt the twinge again, this time even stronger.
It was as if there was something hidden behind the flesh of his forehead, trying to make its way out.
Minos was a bit worried at first, not sure what the sensation meant, but he couldn't stop the process now that he had begun, or else he'd risk losing everything.
Hence, even though he was a little worried, he could only keep absorbing the energy, which in turn made the strange thing in the center of his forehead even more excited, happy to receive this energy.
'What the hell is happening?' Minos questioned internally, one hand clenching his forehead, trying to understand the situation.
But his hand did nothing to help slow things down, the process continuing with or without his consent.
Finally, as the twitching reached an extreme, it felt like that strange thing finally broke through, Minos in shock as he finally realized what it was.
There, in the center of his forehead was a vertical third eye, the golden pupil within it looking out towards the world with infinite eminence.
Its appearance seemed to attract others towards it, and without Minos's control, he felt the power of the Cat-Eyed Gem within his right eye being forcefully pulled out, absorbed by the golden pupil.
As if that wasn't enough, the Jiphrox blood he had tightly sealed within its vial similarly responded to the eye's call, the vial's plug unable to stop it as the blood made its way through regardless.
From outside his body, the blood somehow traveled into his internal world, quickly slurped up by the golden eye.
Not yet done, Minos felt his two Aptus's also react, though rather than being absorbed, it was more like they seemed to mutually agree to combine with the golden eye and become one.
In a process even he didn't understand, his two Aptus's fused with the golden third-eye, causing it to shine with such a brilliance that it blinded him.
Despite being blinded, Minos could still feel what was happening around him, quickly regaining control of his absorption process, not wanting to fail his breakthrough now.
But it was soon clear he was thinking too much, because even without him, the golden eye rapidly absorbed what was left of his Inner Heaven, allowing it to finally complete its evolution.
As the Inner Heaven was finally devoured in full, the golden eye finally settled down, the light from before vanishing.
Before Minos could even question what happened, he felt his vision suddenly snap, the world of the third-eye suddenly becoming clear to him.
At the same time, the third-eye's true nature immediately became clear to him, after all it was just an extension of everything he was.
'Amazing…' Minos could only think after fully digesting the third-eye's incredible abilities.
He had initially thought that attaining his Divine Sense would be the most important part of this breakthrough, but he was wrong, very wrong!
Opening his eyes back up to the real world, Minos looked around his room for a moment before activating his Divine Sense, wanting to test it first before he moved onto his third-eye.
With a sweep, his incredibly powerful Divine Sense immediately took the entire mansion within its fold, allowing Minos to completely master all the information within this sphere.
The Divine Sense could be seen as the ultimate evolution of one's senses, not only combining the obvious one's such as sight and smell, but even the more obscure one's such as pressure or temperature sensitivity.
In short, just lightly touching an area with his Divine Sense was akin to experiencing it with all his senses, giving one an incredible understanding of their environments.
And this sense was incredibly powerful, even capable of picking up the smallest particles within the air.
With the envelope of Minos's Divine Sense, he could feel everything, every insect, every grain, every fiber, nothing was hidden from him anymore.
Of course he naturally restrained his Divine Sense from covering Tylia's room, not only because he wasn't interested in spying on her, but also because other's with Divine Sense could feel when it was used against them.
Satisfied with this amazing ability, Minos restrained his Divine Sense back within himself, ready to move on to the real reward of his breakthrough.
With a single thought, a slit opened up on his forehead, revealing a vertical third-eye with a golden pupil.
As the eye opened, Minos's vision suddenly underwent a change, the entire world becoming much more vibrant and clear.
At the same time, flames started appearing all over his vision, some far, others close, some weak, others strong.
This was everyone's souls, which Minos now had an ability to see directly thanks to his third-eye.
Turning towards an incredibly small flame nearby him, Minos reached out his finger and gently clasped the small bug crawling on the floor.
All living things had souls, whether it be insects or even trees, and it was through these souls that all beings could aspire for the heaven's.
Of course souls as weak as those that belonged to insects were unable to do anything, but if such an insect was lucky enough, their soul could be enlightened, turning them into demon beasts.
Hence, in a twisted way, the heavens were equal, providing everyone the chance to move upwards.
But if the insect in Minos's hand was smart enough to know such a thing, it would still complain about the unfairness, after all why should some beings be born enlightened and others not?
There was no answer to such a question, but little did this insect know it would soon be able to ask it itself.
With a gesture of his finger, Minos manipulated the little ant's soul, pulling it into the palm of his hand.
At the same time, his third-eye activated in full, a golden light shining down from it and onto the ant's soul.
As the light baptized the ant's soul, it rapidly expanded in size, becoming stronger and tougher.
At the same time, the soul turned completely golden, having turned into an extension of Minos himself.
If he desired to do so, Minos could devour this soul and strengthen his own, but what help could a small ant's soul provide to his own?
Instead, Minos deposited the soul back into the ant's body, its little eyes seeming to shine a little brighter as its newly evolved soul re-entered it.
While it was still limited due to its lack of a brain, its newly enlightened soul would allow the ant to passively absorb Nux, slowly getting stronger without having to do anything.
While this process was slow, if the ant managed to have a few children, some of them may inherit this enlightened soul, and those with better talent could go even further, having more children, which in turn would create even more talented ants.