While everyone else is battling the heat, John is suffering even more. He feels like a pot that is about to boil over. Yin energy continues to become steam threatening to break him apart. ‘This is bad! I can’t create yin energy fast enough,’ John worries.

  At this point, he is committed. All he can do is frantically turn water into yin energy and throw it at his core. If he can cool his fractured seed core down enough, he may be able to stabilize his cultivation. If he can’t, the damage will remain forever, or he may even die as his core slowly shatters.

  He can feel his body drying up and his bark and wood expanding and cracking. It feels like he is being skinned alive. ‘If I can’t replenish the water, I won’t be able to make more Yin energy.’ At that moment, he feels just the slightest bit of relief. He greedily sucks up the water.

  ‘I don’t know where this is coming from, but it’s just what I need.’ John tries to ignore the pain and convert everything into yin energy, but he’s never been skilled at the fourth expertise finesse. ‘Damnit, is there nothing I can do?’

  ‘There’s just too much sun and earth energy built up! If only I could get rid of it. Wait, my technique. If I just fire it all out without the yin energy, I should be able to change the balance. I’m a genius!’ John plans in his mind.

  John begins to fire off his technique indiscriminately. Explosions start happening all around him. Joe, who is still dumping water on him long after the humans collapsed, balks at this sudden assault. He jumps away with ridiculous speed. His gut follows just a moment later as the area he was just standing in blows up.

  “Mooo moo moo moo!” the demonic beast unleashes an onslaught of expletives.

  Still, even through the deadly explosions and searing heat, Joe continues to throw water on his hill mate. Even when hit, he ignores the pain. His cultivation of the Contaminated stage can’t be seriously hurt by anything a fractured seed plant cultivator can produce. It’s still not a pleasant feeling to be hit by explosions.

  John can see his core slowly cooling down. The Yin energy finally counters some of the yang sun energy and earth energy. ‘The battle will continue for a little while longer, but I managed somehow,’ John sighs. ‘Still, this is pretty terrible. How long will it take me to rebuild my core? Not only that, but most of the energy I built up has been thrown away. It’s worse than going back to square one.’

  John forces more Yin energy into his twirling energy. By morning things settle down, and Joe lays down on the well-scorched hill. “Moo?”

  “I survived,” John weakly reports to his hill mate.

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  “Moo!” Joe says angrily.

  John tries to shake his branches like shaking his head, but he doesn’t have the strength to. “Sorry, It’ll be a while before I can get the plants to grow back.”

  Joe points his horn at where the other bush was and states, “muuo moou.”

  “I guess you’re right. I’m no better than that dead bush,” John responds in defeat.

  “Moo,” Joe responds, unsatisfied.

  “I’ll do my best. I can only hope the yin energy will be worth the pain.”

  A very red Gregory reaches the top of the hill at this point. “John, are you alright?”

  “Gregory?” John asks in almost a whisper causing Gregory to frown.

  Gregory heads closer to the bush with caution. He kneels down and speaks, “Yes, it’s Gregory.”

  “Good, I don’t have the leeway to send out my perception right now. I really messed up even though I always talk big. My inability to cultivate has followed me to my next life.”

  Gregory solemnly touches a leaf. It feels like it’s been roasted for too long. “Even if you aren’t any good to us, you’re too far above.”

  “Ha, Of course, I at least know the bottom six expertise!” John boasts but even through his attempt to be strong. His voice fades near the end. “ugh, I’ve overdone it more than I thought. I won’t be able to aid you guys for a while. Stay strong!”

  Gregory leans forward with worry in his eyes, “How long will you be incapacitated?” But no response came. Gregory hesitates before standing up. He bows to their Guardian spirit with respect. “Thank you. Again you’ve done all you can for those that live here.” He then returns to the village to rest.

  After informing Gregory that he’d be focusing on cultivation for a while, closing up, as some might say, John, begins to focus on his core once again. ‘It’s diminished quite a lot. The tiny sprout looks dried up and weak. The cracks seem pretty deep too. Can I recover from this?’ John worries.

  Next, John views the energy within. The earth and sun energy has become more manageable now. All he needs to do is pour a bit of yin energy in. He once again creates more yin energy and puts it into the spinning energy. There is steam once again, but it’s not a dangerous amount this time.

  The three energies bounce off each other, mix, and then reject each other. In this battle, even more earth and sun energy is lost. But after a long time of managing the three problem children, they solidify.

  ‘I would have never guessed this is how it would settle!’ John exclaims to himself. ‘Based on how the earth and sun energy fought, this is truly surprising.’ The earth energy has solidified in the center while the sun energy and the yin energy spin around it.

  A few months after John closed up, he returns to the world. The hill is still torched, but a few sprouts are fighting their way out of the ground. “I see the flag’s inscriptions have managed to keep the ecosystem going while I was unconscious. How are you doing, Joe?”

  “Moo!” Joe instantly complains while looking at his stomach.

  “Ha, you lost weight? I can’t tell, are you sure?”

  “Snort, muuo.”

  “Alright, I’ll get to work on bringing the grass back!” John says happy to at least be able to interact with people again.

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  A few hundred men cut their way through the Unbroken Region. They carry a large circular object it is on a plank with four poles. Two men are carrying each pole. “The map I stole from a drunk officer says we should be getting close!” A man up front yells.

  “You’ve been saying that for weeks now. Are you sure it’s right?”

  “I hope it is, or I have no idea where we are.”

  “Even if the map is real, I think you don’t know where we are.” The men laugh as they continue. Then, they see the light start to shine in between the trees in the distance.