Chapter 507 - The One Path (I)

Chapter 507

The One Path (I)

The insides of the giant boulder of fire were... cozy.

I honestly thought I'd have to burn all the Qi I had just to endure the heat, but it was a perfectly lukewarm temperature, the kind that indicated late spring at most.

In fact, it didn't even look like I was inside a giant ball of fire; the floor was flat and white, and though the foggy haze covered practically everything beyond ten feet of me, there were no fiery embers flying overhead like sparrows.

There was nothing else, however--not a chair or a bird in sight--and I was completely cut off from the world outside.

[--a suitable environment discovered]

The system rang out.

[Host may begin preparations for ascending into the Void Transformation Realm]

[Note: Though the prepared materials will alleviate the risks, Path of the Ancients is still remarkably dangerous. Host must soak in the very essence of the Dao of Space until the latter accepts you. Stopping halfway, even if not deadly, will likely leave Host permanently crippled]

Welp, that didn't bring about any reassurances.

Sighing, I slowly took out all the pills I had on me related to the breakthrough. I already had the general sense of order of things and which to take when, so I simply counted them as a sanity check.

I sat down cross-legged and took a deep breath. For the most part, I'd left my core to roar on its own, barely ever 'urging' it ever since I reached the Sixth Cycle. Now, stirring it, I realized just how impressive it was; all Qi around me was sucked up as though I were a bottomless pit, though it was just as quickly replenished.

Nonetheless, none of the excess Qi got stored in my dantian since there really wasn't any 'room' there and simply radiated out through my skin. Once I did a few revolutions to warm up, I closed my eyes fully and started the process, hands at a ready to pop pills like mad.

Ordinarily, people breaking through into the Void Transformation Realm really only had two requirements: reach the Six Cycles and touch the Dao of Space. That was the most ordinary--and the most common, here--way to break through. There were many tools to help them, such as tiny Spatial Rocks that contained traces of Dao of Space, and some would even have their Elders outright feed them a touch of Space to speedrun the entire thing.

None of that would work here, however.

"I'm ready," I voiced out, and a moment later, I could feel the environment shift even though I didn't open my eyes. Without hesitation, I immediately popped a Void-Nullifying Pill and an Eternal Regeneration Pill. Just as I did, I felt the skin of my flesh tear away as though someone started peeling it, but before it could expose the bones underneath, it got patched back up.

Qi in me roared like a thunderous bolt, scattering through my meridians in the form of countless tidal waves. The core began to spin even faster, generating a literal hum within me.

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Pain was quick to come and just as quick to go away--there was an ebb and flow to it, sort of like a dulling toothache.

But I knew it was just the beginning. This wasn't even part of Dao, just a basic spatial storm.

Concentrating best I could, I endured and waited; the bird had promised an exact replica of the perfect spot, and that included this 'getting accustomed to it' period. The storm slowly began to intensify as minutes began to tick by; before long, I had to pop the second Void-Nullifying Pill as I felt myself being rattled from within.

It was at a ten-minute mark that everything suddenly ceased. But I didn't even have the moment to process it before I felt it.

I can't even quite find the words to describe it; the tip of my tongue wants to say it was akin to having razor-sharp winds skin you over and over, but there were no winds here. There was nothing 'sharp'. It was 'simply' space folding unto itself repeatedly while I endured its shifting form. And sometimes, something in the fold would linger on me just a touch too long...

Any time part would bend or twist in a strange way, part of my body would be caught up in it and twist in the same manner; the pain was beyond excruciating, so much so that I wanted to give up almost instantly...

... but I endured.

Rather than focusing on the pain, I tried to capture it--the trace of Dao. But it was as elusive as a clean face was to my teenage self. The sensation was drifting and changing by a minute; at one moment, I felt like I was floating in a well of gravity, the next it was as though I was in a far orbit, weightless, and the next it felt as though there was a mountain pressing me down.

However, a moment later things began to settle down; even so, I hardly felt at ease since this signaled that it was actually beginning. Not a breath later, I felt external force push through my meridians like a violent torrent of fire, tearing them up from within.

I paired up the scream from the depths of my soul with popping the one Enduring Qi Pill I had. It immediately melted and dispersed throughout my body, latching onto the meridians that had started cracking as though made of porcelain and keeping them whole. All the while, the alien energy absolutely ravaged me from within; it began to spill out of the meridians and into my body, tearing it up.

That was when the Immortal Tortoise Physique started kicking in; a warm current of Qi shot out of my dantian and started tangling up, healing the rapidly deteriorating body.

... I'm scared. Honestly, this might be the most terrified I've ever been in this world. I can't open my eyes, I can't move a single muscle in my body, and I can't even pretend any longer that I'm trying to capture the elusive 'Dao of Space'. All I'm doing is hanging on by a thread; my consciousness keeps slipping back and forth with each burst of pain, and rather than getting used to them, it was progressively getting worse.

Before long, I felt myself being crunched.

Rather than space folding around me and testing parts of me, it had now folded me with itself. But beyond the physical parts, it was as though the pain was radiating from my own thoughts, as though there was something inside of me that was ripping me apart in order to get out. Unable to endure any longer, I opened my eyes.

At first, everything was pitch black, but soon enough I could just barely make out the twisting edges of... something. Another moment later and I realized what it was--it was me. The space had somehow folded in such a manner that I was staring into my own eyes. They were pitch-black from blood having pooled in them, as was the rest of me; I couldn't see an inch of skin that wasn't covered in dried red.

The world twisted further, and I was no longer looking into my own eyes but into a moment--I was in a doctor's office, tightly grabbing Yas' hand while the doctor told us her prognosis.

This isn't a memory--I, I don't think it is, anyway. It feels too real, too perverse, too impossible not to be real. It didn't last long, perhaps a fraction of a second, before it twisted further, and I was now staring at the twisting mirrors of reality; parts of me were in every 'reflection', yet none were whole. I wasn't even sure which one of them was me anymore.

I was falling apart, just barely remembering to pop the second Eternal Regeneration Pill and the remaining three Void-Nullifying Pills. This had to be the last stretch, not because it felt like an end, but because there would be nothing left of me if it weren't.

Just ashes and an uncertain memory that would fade.