Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

They both nodded despite their own differing opinions and made their move to sweep the entirety of the slumbering Soaring Cloud Sect clean. Every last piece of wealth it had, all spatial possessions on everyone’s waist, finger or wrist was taken.

"The Water Veil Sect..." Yan Zaizen silently mumbled, his thoughts conflicted. He couldn’t help but think about Ya Qinqan and her current status within the sect. If the Yan Clan was eradicated by her, should he get revenge?

This may seem like an easy question considering all Ya Qinqan had done to him, but in truth, it was anything but. She was his first love, for nearly a decade he desired her, helped her, and wanted to see her dreams fulfilled. Now, her dreams were fulfilled, her marriage to Yan Jinzen was cut off, and she was obviously an unwilling participant in it all.

"If she was pressured by the Yan Clan to marry Yan Jinzen, then...should I truly hate her? If she was never truly with him, should I forget her or try again? Then...the Yan Clan...I..." Earlier in the Deep Mines, he made his peace with her actions, but this new piece of information illuminated an entirely different path that he thought was impossible. He felt so conflicted with his choices. The motes of white light signifying his dao started dim with these thoughts.

"Fool." Pinaka’s soft voice filled with a tyrannical flare resounded in his soul. Yan Zaizen eyes widened with surprise at this insult. For the past month, Pinaka had remained silent, leaving him with only the cultivation art and some understandings of her. Besides that, she never really spoke unless necessary.

He closed his eyes, entering his sea of consciousness. Within this sea, a white-robed, silver-haired beauty looked at him with disdain prevalent within her gaze. If one looked closely, they could even see contempt.

"Pinaka..."

"You’re a fool," Pinaka stated once more, but her voice a lot colder than before. She snorted and continued despite Yan Zaizen’s solemn expression, "You’re a cultivator, you fight to rival the heavens, to exceed the heavens, and to become an existence that signifies immortality! Yet, despite developing such a tyrannical dao, you have the mindset of a child." She couldn’t help but berate him.

Earlier, while she was resting, she could feel his dao fluctuating with a hint of instability. This was very dangerous for many people, especially her who relied on his dao to exist beneath the current heavens. How could she tolerate something that threatened her existence? How could she stay silent?

"Your emotions are far too unstable. Whatever you’re thinking of, I’ll ask you one question: Do you truly desire it?" She spoke, her words straightforward and blunt.

Yan Zaizen’s eyes widened in shock. She was right...did he truly desire Ya Qinqan to be his? If so, what will he do if he had to face her, to kill her or try to make her his?

Pinaka didn’t wait for him to continue this line of thought, "As a cultivator, we fight for what we want, and even the heavens stand against us. Yet, we fight it with all we are. If you desire it, THEN TAKE IT! With your dao, questioning what you want is the same as shattering who you are!"

For a long moment, silence fell. Yan Zaizen felt a trace of himself become further refined and polished.

After a while, he smiled softly, "The person I am, the one I wish to be, isn’t one who begs a woman to be with him or force them to do so. The person I am, the one I shall be, wants love, beauty, talent, and willingness. One that can match my own, one that can exceed my own. That’s who I am. That’s what I desire." His words contained a strange force as the motes of light slowly started to radiate with brilliance. One could see that his dao was strengthened, and his soul resonating to completion.

Ya Qinqan may have been his first love, but if she truly loved him, she would’ve said so. She would’ve actively fought to be with him. With his Grandfather as the Clan Leader, if she was adamant about being with him, no one would say a single thing, who could?

But she didn’t. Just like him, Yan Jinzen was given the same treatment. When she reached a higher sky, she abandoned them. He truly was a fool for thinking otherwise.

He looked at his soul form and couldn’t help but be surprised. The aurora condensed within him was becoming more and more brilliant, but its size remained the same. It continued to shine to the point that it overshadowed even his laws.

"This..." He was shocked at this new development.

Pinaka’s brows furrowed in contemplation. After a long while of analyzing the situation, "Your soul is peculiar. Your progression isn’t shocking, those with their own dao typically find enlightenment regarding the soul easier than those without. However, your soul form truly is odd."

"What do you mean?" Yan Zaizen couldn’t help but ask. This entire situation felt odd, and he’d never personally experienced it before.

Pinaka could see from his ignorant expression that he truly didn’t know what was happening. She found this even more peculiar. Typically, enlightenment is required to progress through soul cultivation, and this feeling should be incredibly familiar with any Advanced Aurora Soul Realm cultivator. This only made her more curious as to why he looked ignorant.

"You’ve reached a breakthrough point. All you lack is the proper soul essence to enlarge your Aurora, and you’ll step into the Perfect Aurora Soul Realm." She stated, however, she frowned even deeper this time. "However, I suggest you wait."

"What? Why?" Yan Zaizen felt excited to know his soul cultivation was progressing but felt confused at her words. Why wait? Wasn’t it great if he broke through quickly?

"Do you know why soul cultivation is considered an auxiliary form of cultivation?" She asked, but seeing his obvious ignorance, she continued, "You’re currently within a small insignificant realm where the cultivators are essentially trash. However, despite this, when you attacked the initial-True Essence cultivator with twelve consecutive strikes of your soul art, he was left alive with minor injuries. Your soul cultivation with your dao infused could rival the mid-True Essence Realm, and yet...." Her voice was filled with disdain.

"..."

Now, Yan Zaizen realized the circumstance. Indeed, despite his soul cultivation being incredibly strong, it couldn’t finish off the Xiāo City Lord. Of course, a majority of the reason was his lack of soul art mastery, but if a true mid-True Essence Cultivator were to attack with the same ferocity, the Xiāo City Lord would be brought to an inch of his life.

"Your comprehension into arts is horrendous. It isn’t related to your soul but your mentality. Unless you’ve found and master a proper mental cultivation art to develop your cognitive talent, you’ll take thousands of years to reach the major success stage of a superior-grade art." Her words were harsh but true.

Yan Zaizen couldn’t help but grimace at those words. He may be incredibly talented into laws, but he was absolute trash at comprehending arts. He spent eight years practicing the Great Yan Fist to the minor success stage, and that was a low-grade art. The only reason he could be said to have reached the peak initial-stage mastery in his soul arts had heavily to do with his profound soul cultivation base.

"Soul cultivation is labeled auxiliary because it is a supporting cultivation path, but the main path, the path that allows one to rival the heavens, to exceed the heavens, has to do with the Qi path." She explained. The Qi path allowed one to absorb the essence of the heavens, turn it into your own, and then comprehend the myriad laws to draw power from it. By developing your own conceptual law, you could, theoretically, have such concept exceed the very heavens themselves.

This was why it was called a concept. An idea of your own taken from the laws under the heavens.

"Your lack of Qi proficiency will cause you to stagnate, and even now, you can’t even find your origin source because you’ve relied too heavily on soul cultivation. You haven’t even gained the slightest bit of comprehension into your origin source, your bloodline, or even used it in battle. All this time, you’ve used nothing but soul cultivation, despite comprehending four world laws and a mortal law." She snorted, her voice obviously filled with discontent.

"..."

He didn’t know how to respond. Soul cultivation placed him at the highest of the cultivation ladder within the Fallen Stars Continent, but if what she said is true, then soul cultivation isn’t the path one takes to reach the peak. Her words enlightened him but left him without a way forward.

Initially, he was planning to focus heavily on his soul cultivation, but now it felt silly. If his arts took several thousand years to reach major proficiency, then how long would it take for three? Ten thousand of years? What about to perfect them? Tens of thousands of years? Hundreds?

Would he live that long?

"Then, what should I do?" He asked, his eyes went dim.

"Simple. Allow me to absorb your soul energy to about ninety-five percent. With that, you’ll have enough to use your spiritual sense, but not enough to rely on it heavily in battle. Focus on your conceptual laws, your qi cultivation, your body cultivation, and qi arts. Only when you must, should you use your soul arts to deal with your enemies. When you’ve broken through the Origin Core Realm, then breakthrough to the Perfect Aurora Soul Realm. The benefits will be greater." She stated.

Yan Zaizen was a little skeptical towards her intentions with this offer, but he felt that what she was saying was correct, and she couldn’t lie to him due to their soul oath.

He has yet to find his origin source nor has he felt his bloodline. Tao and Bai Lufeng informed him that to reach the peak of the Qi Unification Realm, one must locate and excavate their origin source. Nothing could help one uncover it, no alchemy or support of others, but yourself.

This was why the Origin Core Realm could be considered an impossible step for the majority of cultivators who could proceed to the Qi Unification Realm.

Taking a deep breath, he thought for a moment and nodded. "Let’s do this." He truly wished to find out his bloodline, but if soul cultivation would limit his ability to do so, then this was all he could do.