Going back a few months
Michael was given recognition as an intellectual. This made it easy for him to truly get down to researching the celestial path as well as exploring the law records if the academy. But Michael soon faced a problem that he had never thought about - money. Michael was very rich when he entered the plane. He had the wealth of the devils, sufficient for many years of cultivation. But after coming to Jupyter, his expenses kept piling up. Getting his identity set up required a good deal of his wealth. Increasing his spirit cultivation effortlessly and swiftly almost emptied half his pockets. As he kept on bribing different officials to get clearances, he was already close to broke. But, he was now an intellectual. He had access to all the research material in Federation academy as well as a monthly stipend for working on the golden body project.
But Michael knew that the academy was only a stop on his journey. As soon as he managed to become a celestial, there would no longer be any reason to stop here. He would move on to the Black Lotus Sect. And in his journey, Michael knew the importance of money. A lot of his problems had been solved through wealth. If one had the strength to topple everything, you could do as you want. If he was in Aterna right now, no amount of wealth could move him. As he was the strongest, all of Aterna was his property - including the people living there. This was the cold, brutal truth of the world. But as long as one was suppressed by the heavens, one would have to follow rules. The heavens in super-planes were very high and only divine beings could disregard rules. Michael immediately got down to different ways of making money. But after a long time, he could only find one thing - Offering a course in the academy.
Michael was not extremely skilled in anything to earn a decent amount. He was a powerful warrior but if he tried to rob others, the law enforcement would take him down. And by being a bodyguard or going on expeditions, there was very little income. But the academy was not like this. If you offered a course, you got a share of the fees paid by the students. The charge of different courses could not be kept unreasonably. So, the only way available to him was to offer a course that would attract many students. Of course, Michael had to consider his own qualifications before truly thinking in this direction. Even though Michael had made great progress in his knowledge, he was only a recently passed intellectual. Offering a unique course that could attract many students was not easy. Michael had to think for a long time before he decided to offer a course on survival. Michael was not an expert on surviving techniques, but he had many experiences in his unusual life. Many years ago, he had stayed in the forbidden forest for many years. In his past life, he had survived the battle with devils to the last. His experiences had helped him build the mindset for survival.
Michael thought that this was a good choice for trying to attract students. After all, it was apparent that the life of cultivators below the ascendant realm was quite mundane. They pretty much lived like mortals of Aterna, with daily fixed routines and barely had any contact with danger. They might practise and spar with others but it was barely enough to get their blood rushing. Who did not want a true adventure? Michael's idea was in fact quite revolutionary as it had never been brought up before. After many procedures, Michael was finally granted permission to offer the course.
As for his own research, Michael got better in body and soul amplifying spells. But he could not understand the essence of these spells. He was working with Denise on a grand spell - golden body. It was a powerful spell that could increase the might of warriors by a huge amount but only for a short time. It was a buffing spell in a sense whose weaker versions were used in the army. Michael was in need of a strength amplifying technique. Many years ago, he had been using vitality burning art. It was a suicide method that burned vitality of one's body to give a boost in strength. But, the technique was flawed in the sense that only pure vitality could be burned. After breaking through to the perfect realm, Michael's body and his vitality were attuned to laws. The usefulness of the technique declined rapidly with now becoming unusable. While Michael had gained indomitable dao intent and still had perfect persona blessing, he had no explosive technique. He had been trying to find a solution to this through buffing spells apart from trying to balance his spirit energy with his internal energy. But, his progress was slow to say optimistically. Michael felt like he had underestimated the celestial path.
As for psychic cultivation, he still did not find any mention of it in the countless research manuals of the Federation Academy. His dao cultivation was stagnant as well. While he was constantly accumulating his understanding of laws, it was not increasing his combat power. In fact, one could say that Michael had reached another big bottleneck in his progress - his second wall. In cultivation, irrespective of whichever path one cultivated, there came a time when becoming stronger became terrifyingly difficult. This was referred to as the wall. Michael had faced his first wall just before he became a saint. Now, he was facing his second wall. Each wall once breached, gave a huge boost to power as evident from Michael's previous growth spurt. But breaking through each wall became progressively more and more difficult. It was here that the commoners were separated from the geniuses. One's talent was decided not on the basis of how fast one cultivated or how must battle power one showed at a certain cultivation level, but on the basis of how many walls one could breach in their cultivation. One could say that Michael was now in a situation where only his effort and talent could help him progress.
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This was the difficulty in the path of cultivation, the path of immortality.
Michael was on his way to Denise's lab. Two days later, the classes would commence and he would have to take a huge group and teach them some tricks to survive against fierce beasts and the like. Michael had not expected to truly gain so many students! In fact, the number of female as well as male students was staggeringly high. It wasn't like Michael did not understand what was going on. On the first day, more than two hundred students applied to his class, more than 180 of them were girls. But the next day, hundreds of boys applied to balance it out. Michael had been handsome from childhood and he knew so. But after his conscient was healed, he had a certain aura around him that attracted other's attention. Michael knew this from the looks all his female colleagues gave him. Michael was not happy with this, of course as it created many distractions. But, he had no way to restrain this aura! After all, Michael was not proficient in psychic energy and his huge psychic energy kept leaking around him. It made others overwhelmed. Even ascendants would find it difficult to concentrate!
The attention that he was receiving was another difficulty in his path. Though he was not sure if it was truly a good or a bad thing. While excessive attention was troublesome, it helped in making connections. And connections was something that he needed very much. Thinking all this stuff, he entered the lab. There were only a few intellectuals who were working in different isolated chambers. They were trying to stabilize the spell structure while increasing its power. As all people were invested in their experiments, a slap landed on Michael's butt!
> Denise : Hey handsome! You are late today!
>
> Michael : Don't casually touch me! This is workplace harrasment! I will complain to the authorities.
>
> Denise : And? I am a scholar. I can behave even more wildly and they won't even pursue the matter. If I rape you here on this table, do you dare to bet that no action would be taken?
Michael was left speechless at this woman's forthrightness. Denise was not a simple scholar but an extremely renowned one. Her mastery in buffing spells was cream of the crop. She was very popular and had many connections to major forces. After all, someone who could buff an entire army could change the entire flow of a large scale war. No one dared to cross her! Also, she was a powerful cultivator, having gone through two transformations. She was so strong that even if Michael used all the powers at his disposal, he would not be able to draw blood. Michael had never been one to be passive in a relationship with the other gender. He was the emperor of Aterna. He chose his partners on his own choice. He was the dominant one in any of his relationships - be it Ashley, Maria or even Madeline. This was the first time he was being suppressed by a woman. And he did not like it!
> Michael : Old hag! Don't try to push your boundaries. I am not interested in grannys.
Michael's comment brought out a frown on Denise's face. Denise was actually quite young for her achievements in spells and cultivation. She was even younger than Astang and the rest. It clearly showed how superior her talent was. In fact, even on super-planes, there were not many who could match her talent - perhaps not even Michael. But, Michael was indeed extremely young. For his cultivation level, where he could live beyond a thousand years, being 37 was like a four-year child among mortals. This was so even if one did not take into account that Michael's command of life laws meant he could probably live as long as demi-ascendants even if his cultivation remained stuck. But, the jab did not produce the desired effect. Denise just smiled looking at Michael as one would look at a harmless prey. Michael knew the look all too well. She was trying to conquer Michael in a way that he willingly accepts it. If not for this, she could easily have carried her threat out. After all, strength remained paramount, no matter the world.
> Denise : Don't worry darling! Due to my age, I have much more experience than anyone you've been with. I have ways that will truly bring you to heavens. You should know that I can buff many attributes of a person - including their sense of pleasure, stamina or even arousal. Trust me, once you give yourself to me, you will be hooked to this old lady like many before you.
>
> Michael : There is no need to brag, old lady! All the women that I have been with don't loose to you in terms of looks. And you should try to hold your horses. If word gets out that you are misusing your spells this way, your reputation may take a hit.
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> Denise : So you do worry about my reputation! I knew that you care about me! Don't worry baby, come here. There is no need to be shy, I will make you feel good!
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> Michael : Get away, old hag! I have work to do. I don't have time on my hands!
Michael stormed off to an isolated room to carry on with his research on the spell. He was already accustomed to Denise's harassment. Unfortunately, there was no committee to manage workplace sexual harassment. Even if there would have been one, Michael doubted that they would help. As he got to focus on his research, his cock suddenly went hard! Michael felt anger surge to his brain!
> DENISE!
Michael could deal with his cultivation-wall, finance crunch and unwanted attention with some troubles. But the greatest difficulty in his path was his supervisor - Denise.