The time in the reclusive isolation kept flowing and flowing. Kai had even gotten used to being alone by now. He continuously cultivated and repeated his training cycle.
At some point, he even stopped counting the time spent in the Astral City. This, he no longer cared at all.
Kai decided that it was useless to worry and think about it. He might not even be able to leave this place, so why worry about how long he had been here?
Right now, he had already adjusted the rhythm of his training a bit. Since, in Asura's Hell, he could sit for more than half a day.
He decided that he would just fight the Torture Kings until he felt a sufficient increase in all of his stats, and only then would he go to the cube to train the Array Mastery.
During this time, he had clashed with the Torture Kings countless times. Now he could give a decent fight to each of them, though he still couldn't kill them.
He had greatly improved himself in every aspect. His physical strength and regeneration speed had risen to a new level. His heart and emotion control became even stronger, and his reflexes became incredibly sharp. It seemed like he could now see even a speck of dust in the darkness.
But most importantly, it was his mind! The Torture of the Terror King, was truly amazing. Kai only realized how much he was improving his mental abilities after practicing the Array Mastery.
Every time after a cycle in Asura's Hell, he went to practice with the cube. The first times, he was dumbfounded as he now noticed more and more details. And the connections between them becoming a little clearer to him. He even wondered at first how he could not have noticed it before. But then, Kai realized that it was because his brain had become stronger on a physical level, thus improving his thinking abilities.
Realizing this pattern, he spent much more time in Asura's Hell than before. And only when he realized that he had strengthened himself enough, he went to put it all into practice. He could continuously draw array elements copied from the cube. Kai would do this, until he felt that he lacked understanding again.
The dance of the Shadow Marks, he began practicing at all during breaks. Even when he went to wash himself in the lake, he was constantly trying to create seals. Right now, his limit was around ninety meters. Just a little more and he would finally enter the second level of his movement technique.
While Kai was endlessly evolving in the Astral Grade, he really didn't know how much time had passed. In fact, he had been deep within the bowels of the earth for over a year now. He was about to turn thirteen years old.
At the time of entering the wasteland, he was already almost twelve years old. And after spending some more time here, he would reach his thirteenth birthday.
Right now, Kai had grown even taller. It seemed that through cultivating the Invisible Kings Torture Technique, which changed him on a physical level, Kai's body had developed much faster. Right now, he really did look like a boy of sixteen to seventeen years old.
His facial features had become much sharper, and his hair had already grown almost to his waist. After continuously strengthening his mind, Kai's eyes had become much deeper. He seemed to be a bearer of truth beyond the control of others. If he wore the robe of a scholar, everyone would think that he was some kind of sage disciple.
But if you put daggers in his hands, the situation would change dramatically... If he were to unleash his strange energy and lust for killing now, a mere mortal could die just from the aura alone. Even masters at the Cultivator level would be suppressed by this power.
Such a strange symbiosis of an aura of holiness and wisdom, with an aura of terror and fear, made Kai very attractive.
Also, Kai had advanced very well in Array Mastery. By now, he was already controlling quite a lot of 'lint'. After practicing various complex and subtle cube elements, he had improved his technique to an incredible level. Kai had even managed to copy the array located on his identification plate!
Although now this array, didn't seem complicated to Kai compared to the one on the cube. But here in the Border Beast City, with his current abilities, he would be able to earn a lot! Masters of martial arts that also knew one of the crafts were valued much more than ordinary warriors.
Kai felt that his development was slowly starting to slow down, and soon the time would come when he would have to try to break out of Astral Grad.
Right now, he was very close to a high level Cultivator. He felt that there was literally a little bit missing. Kai decided to enter Asura's Hell, and fight there time after time until he reached the high level. He was willing to spend as much time as it would take.
When he completed his goal, it would be time to get out!
"Alright, let's go... I hope it's enough to not die from the legacy of the Astral Alchemy Emperor... Alright, we'll think about it later, we need to climb to the high Cultivator stage first" - Thinking about it, Kai sat down in a lotus pose, near a pond, while many fruits were lying around him.
...
Two months later, an explosion was heard in the garden!
"Duum!" - A ring of black energy exploded all around.
At the epicenter of this surge, Kai was sitting in the middle of it.
At this moment, there was a guy with snow-white hair sitting in the garden who was bathed in black frightening energy. He was like some kind of demon burning in hell. His aura was incredibly frightening. Even the grass within a small radius of him began to wither and die.
The energy slowly began to calm down and return to Kai's body.
He was now sitting, and watching his Energy Vortex. As he had expected, it was now completely black, similar to what Kai's energy looked like. This vortex was definitely very large. It was sixty percent larger than other martial artists.
Opening his eyes, Kai released the energy into his hand and began to observe.
"It seems that last time, my attribute though awakened but not completely... It feels even more dangerous now..." - Thinking about it, Kai used the Eyes of Essence.
"Hmm, now there are even more strange writings... And all of them, just as strange as before... Where do you come from?" - Pondered Kai about his technique.
"Okay, that's not important. The most important thing is that you're a very good match for me, hehe." - Smiling thought Kai and started to slowly rise up.
Picking up one of the fruits from the ground, Kai started eating it, and creating a Shadow Seal at the same time.
"Just as I thought, having raised the power, things got a lot easier" - Kai thought, looking at the mark a hundred meters away from him.
He had now finally finally advanced to the high Cultivator stage and had achieved the second level of the Shadow Seal Dance.
After finishing the fruit, Cai began to gather a lot of fruit into his ring. He wasn't greedy, but he would soon go to receive the Astral Alchemy Emperor's legacy, and if he still didn't die. It would be a shame not to bring enough of these fruits with him. Especially with a spatial ring with such a large capacity inside.
Gathering a lot of fruits and vegetables imbued with energy. Kai adjusted his clothes and said:
- Well, the time has come. I'm in my peak form now, and I can't accomplish much more in reclusiveness. Now there is only one single way out of this situation left... - Saying that, Kai started moving towards the Emperor's Palace.
After a while, Kai was walking down the stairs in a dark corridor. Coming out from around the corner, he saw a huge cave in front of him and black and purple flames in the distance.
- Shall we get started? - Said Kai, asking a question to himself.