Chapter 187 - Progress

Thou shall not kill thy Brother of the Sect.It was one of the foundational rules of the Myriad Beasts Sect. But I guess that didn't apply to Sect-sanctioned killing. I waited patiently for the ritual to finish, not daring to look at how it went. I knew that if something went wrong, I would burst out with rage immediately.It was best if I stayed put, simply waiting.There was no love between us, not really, but the familiarity and time Vilya and I shared formed a bond anyway. It was nearly impossible not to. I was not some heartless bastard even if it sometimes seemed that way.I had a simple life philosophy. My actions were a mirror to the world. If people were nice to me, I would return their kindness. If they were not, then any of my aggressive actions would be their own fault. It wasn't often that I acted differently to that ideal.Suddenly the front doors opened, and I saw Vilya exit. She appeared nervous, looking around, but when she saw me, her worry disappeared and she smiled, running towards me.Another worry rolled off my chest. I scanned her and noticed her Cultivation was gone. She was basically no different than a Mortal in terms of Soul power. What would be impossible to do for her alone in her condition, and what would usually take a few years, going from the middle of Spirit Accumulation Realm to the peak, took me just over six months.That was an impressive result. The thing was that the state of a person's Talent dictated how fast they could Cultivate. There was a limited amount of Soul Essence they could safely absorb each day. Somehow she managed to absorb about five times that amount with my help.Some might think that was impossible, but if the Soul had to manually form the Essence, I guess that took a chunk out of what could be absorbed. Exhaustion and all that.It was just a theory, but it made sense to me.She didn't have to prepare the food, she just had to focus on eating it. Did that analogy make sense? Maybe… Anyway, it worked! Her impurities were greatly diminished, giving her Earth Talent. We didn't yet know how high it was exactly, but that could wait.Vilya came and jumped up and wrapped her hands around my neck and I hugged her back, careful not to squeeze too hard. My arms were already thicker than her thighs, and compared to me, she was like a fragile snowflake. And that was considering she already advanced greatly on her path of Body Cultivation.It was actually quite impressive how quickly she improved with good food and my guidance."We did it!" She exclaimed and laughed.[Congratulations. Now how about we go check out your Talent?]"M-hmm."She nodded and I let her down, after which we went to a special building where the Talent could be measured.It was a small chamber made of glass in the middle of a room-wide Formation and Vilya was told to stand inside. The Elder manning the controls slowly increased the pressure in the room, with lights around the outside wall becoming brighter as time went on.The number quickly crossed the 30 mark and then continued higher. I knew it should be at least 40, but anything more would be a bonus.The lights lit up one by one and while Vilya appeared fine at the beginning, as we neared the 40 mark, her expression began to change and I could see her struggle. After crossing the 41 mark, she began to breathe hard, and I could see her shaking. As the 43rd light lit up, she fell to her knees, and the Formation instantly turned off.[43… Not bad!] I said and helped her stand back up. She was breathing hard and her face was full of sweat, but she smiled despite that.43% was a bit on the low side of Earth Talent, but the ritual never boosted it much more. The test also wasn't completely accurate as she could maybe resist 1% or 2% more, but then that would be dangerous for her health, risking shattering her Soul. At least we knew she stood at a solid 43% or higher. For every Realm she advanced her remaining lifespan would be boosted by that much. She finally had the chance of reaching the Spirit Realm in her life.We returned home after I quickly grabbed a tiny Soul from a Mortal creature to feed to her later. While she could finally begin to Cultivate on her own, the fact that her body still had lingering curse damage, meant the progress would be slow.The main problem was that while we fixed her Soul, it was now too weak to command any significant amount of Qi. Because of it, she couldn't even begin fixing her curse. Her energy was just not strong enough to fix the damage anymore and so she had to rely on me still.Not that I minded. Helping her took no more than an hour each day, and the rest of the time we did other stuff, or I Cultivated. I figured it would take me at least another 10 years before reaching the Third Layer.But that was weird. Something didn't feel right to me. If I needed, say, 50 peak Golden Core Souls to advance, that was nearly 10.000 years of Cultivation combined. Was the difference really that drastic? I knew I could Cultivate much faster than other people since my Soul never felt tired from it, but…To fully recover my Qi in the wild, I needed around 37 hours. But that was passive recovery. If I did it manually, the time needed was much less, though then I created voids in the ambient energy. In the Inner Sect, that time was cut in half, thanks to the higher concentration of Qi.Inside the Core Sect, I barely needed 6 hours to fully regenerate my energy, which was already great, but with the newly constructed Cultivation chamber, not even 2 hours were needed.I could theoretically do about 12 cycles every day, but I usually did only 9 or 10. Still, I felt like a decade would be enough to advance another Layer judging by the speed I was going. Which was crazy. A decade from me meant 10.000 years from others? What kind of stupidly overpowered…I sighed.Even if it was half of that, the disparity between the two was still humongous. I licked my dry lips and rubbed my chin. Having tested the Beast Slaughtering Formation weeks after merging with the two new bloodlines, I realized it was already useless. It couldn't hurt me anymore.Despite the fact its blades were made of Spirit Qi, the sheer density of Essence inside my flesh was enough to counter its destructive power. I had actually done it. Countering Spirit Qi with Golden Qi. On the day I found that out I laughed. I laughed because it was so stupid, and I laughed because my dumb idea of focusing on defense actually did something incredible.Countering a higher form with a lower form. Unheard of in the Cultivation world.[Haha…] I quietly chuckled."What's so funny?" Vilya asked.[Oh, I just remembered something that happened…] I dodged the question. [Anyway, should we continue? I reckon it should take us about 8 months to get you to the Nascent Soul Realm.]"I still can't believe this is happening…" She murmured.[Are you excited?]She blushed. "My heart has been beating like crazy for some time now. It's like I'm in a dream."[Yeah… I feel like it sometimes too.] I said and placed my hand on her back, sending a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of Soul Essence into her. Slowly, careful not to accidentally blow her up. It was so much harder doing it when she was basically a Mortal. Before the ritual, it was much easier."How are you doing this? You still haven't told me. None of the books here mention this technique."[Secret.] I smiled. [Now hush. I need to concentrate.] I closed my eyes and continued feeding her while she carefully Cultivated, taking the grains of sand I provided and using them to build her temple.***The day was like any other when we experienced it. A blast of Soul power so gargantuan, I thought a god was descending for a moment. It disrupted my Cultivation and crushed my mind, leaving me in a daze. The oppressive force blasted from the depths of the mountain toward the sky, yet it was not some focused mind attack, but more like a natural phenomenon.I felt the Sect stir into action. Thousands, tens of thousands of eyes opened at once, beasts and monsters awakening from their slumber, the gazes of which scanned every corner of the Sect with blatant impunity.I shrank down, hiding from the many all-seeing eyes, yet it was futile. I was detected despite my best efforts at hiding. But it didn't matter, since they weren't there for me. Gradually the fervor of action died down as the powerful blast of energy receded and disappeared, and the Sect returned to tranquility.I saw Elder Li quickly approaching and stood up, exiting my room. I noticed Vilya on the ground, unconscious, but after checking on her I realized she was fine. No damage to either her body or Soul. Whatever that was, didn't seem to target anyone particularly.[Master.] I greeted the Elder."Hmm. I see you are alright." He said.[Yes… Master, what was that, that wave of power?]I watched as expressions changed on Elder Li's face, but one emotion was clear, as he stared at the ground, his eyes piercing through the stone. Concern. He was worried about something."It seems…" He began and I kept quiet, waiting for him to speak. "Things are going to change. No need to concern yourself with that." He eventually said.He then gave me and Vilya a look. "I see your Cultivation is progressing well. Keep up the good work."[Thank you, Master.] I bowed. [But what about the-]"Enough!" Elder Li barked. "The incident does not concern you. Continue your training."He waved his hand and I saw Vilya stir, before slowly opening her eyes and rubbing them. She yawned and slowly turned, looking at me."Oh, Gerald… What's going on?"I shook my head and turned back to the Elder, but the man already walked away. I frowned and looked down, scanning the infinite depths of the mountain. I saw nothing. That was the thing that scared me. Something was happening, and I was too weak to even see it.I sighed and returned to my chamber. There was only one thing I could do. Get stronger, fast. Cultivation was key. I just hoped I had enough time.