Deep inside a cave within the same world of Phanla, near the edge of the Tenma Desert, a familiar cross-legged Alexander.
The shades covering him, he did not move, focused on one thing.
Cultivation!
'Four months to breakthrough to the Primordial Spirit Realm... This is too long for me... I need to go faster and become stronger! Lu Shu... the Greater Primordial Deity... these two fuckers are beyond my league now... and were even when at my peak... I need to find more information about the Empyrean Realm... no... I don't.'
Casually breaking through the Perfected Divine Dao Union Realm mid-thought, Alexander gritted his teeth.
'Even if I have to risk it all!! Even if I have to cultivate such to a high realm with only my instincts!!'
His maddened face scrunched from wrath and determination, Alexander's rampaging aura surged to his current realm's peak.
'Then I will do so!'
'Offending me... Alexander... is a sin... deserving of punishment... a punishment none can ever escape from!'
'You're a saint?! So what!?'
'You were one of the strongest beings in history, shaking the Realms with only your gaze?! So fucking what!?!'
Clenching his veiny fists in anger, Alexander caused the continent to quake.
'You will all die! Your past actions turning into regrets... haunting you for the rest of your stay in hell!!'
Stopping his rage, halting his cultivation, Alexander changed attitude as one would change clothes. A peaceful man of wisdom left behind.
'My soul is already half fixed. When I recover to the peak... '
His face turning sour all of a sudden, Alexander inspected his own body with denial.
'No, probably my distorted vision. Nothing to worry about.' Hoping to calm his unease, he waited for his soul to heal.
.
.
.
After only a short few decades, Alexander's soul had already healed fully.
A smile stretching from one ear to the other, he waved his hand.
His body left behind like a piece of waste, his soul was elevated higher, soon leaving the cave.
Standing mid-air, he gazed down with thrill.
'Let's see how much I can recover!' A single wave of his arm swarming the world with power, silver lights converged just below.
A body perfectly matched for his soul, Alexander occupied it on the spot.
Clenching his fist, he frowned.
'No... you have to be kidding me!!' Almost breaking his teeth as he gritted them, Alexander could not believe it.
'Why is the body so weak!? This wasn't supposed to be!' A frail, empty body was born. A vessel at the Earth Transcending Realm... only in composition.
The body was only a replica of a cultivator's own. A mere fake.
The only thing worthy was its raw material of condensed Origin Energy. It lacked refined meridians, a worthy Dantian or even actual durability.
'But... it's made with so much Origin Energy! Even if it couldn't come out perfect due to the amount I gathered from this part of Limbo... is that why?'
'Is that the reason I felt something to be wrong a few times?'
'...'
'I...'
Sigh
'So I have to cultivate again! So annoying!' Destroying his body, he flew around, exploring the world while a body began to cover his exposed soul.
In only a few minutes, a new body had been born. However, this one was a mortal one made from Qi.
While Origin Energy was powerful and incredible, the goal was just to create a proper foundation. For this, it was best to start from scratch. With the use of his domain, even if this body stood in the Inner Territory, it would not be attacked by wild energies.
Focusing slightly, some wild Qi around the air swirled near his flesh, soon forming a bead inside his abdomen.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
It was an immediate breakthrough to the Qi Sensing Realm's peak.
His faint traces of Qi perfectly controlled, they rampaged with ultimate precision his still blocked meridians.
Revolutions being completed faster than one could think of a sentence, Alexander reached the hundredth revolution in mere seconds.
His aura surging, it only took him a few minutes to crack open the next stage's peak, reforming his meridians, attaining the Foundation Establishment Realm's summit.
Having attained mastery over multiple energies some could never fathom in a hundred lifetimes, his cultivation was not impeded, his battle prowess surging steadily. Both the Qi Master and Profound Realms were achieved in one moment.
'Troublesome!' Forcing the surrounding Qi to assault his flesh, he entered the Earth Realm.
A month and a half flying by as if a mere passing thought, Alexander was now at the Earth Realm's peak, his body at the Earth-Tier's peak.
Gathering Qi, Alexander needed three months to walk above the Sky Realm, six months to surpass the Heavenly Realm and a year to crush the Star Realm's requirements.
Without a need to ascend, Alexander changed energies, controlling the True Qi nearby.
'This is too long!' Wild, orange Origin Energy suddenly tainted silver, this energy was swiftly deconstructed into different Qi types.
Filtering only the True Qi, Alexander formed his Essence Core.
In a month, his cultivation soared to the Golden Core Realm's peak.
'The next ones won't be hard.' A faint smile showing, his soul and its Daos could now shine to the fullest.
His body tempered and ready, it slowly began to accommodate the soul, its power erupting like a volcano.
Nascent Soul Realm!
Dao Heart Realm!
Dao Fusion Realm!
Saint Embryonic Realm!
Less than a few milliseconds passing by, his cultivation broke through four major realms as if a blade slicing through paper.
Having to deal with the Saint Embryo, Alexander only needed a mere two months to get it done.
A white aura blessing his body, Alexander regained his former body's sainthood.
'Saint Realm already...'
'Even if my clone art is incapable of bridging the gap between a main body and a cloned one...'
'My cultivation speed is still nothing to scoff at. I am a god and I don't need to actually get back up from scratch. I still have my soul, my mind, my self!'
'My revenge will not take so long... I only need to crush Limbo under my boots... then I will be able to teach them the meaning of regret!'
Taking care of his Saint Core for a bit, it soon turned into a Crystal Core. Perfecting it for five months, he soon began to empower it.
Mysterious crystal marks carving themselves, they overtook his Crystal Core. Unfortunately, he could not use his own strength to forcefully copy them. Therefore, he had to redo everything from nothing. Spending a year and a half turning Crystal Saint Marks into Major Crystal Saint Marks, themselves into Grand Crystal Saint Marks and finally getting 108 Supreme Crystal Saint Marks. With them, he instantaneously broke through the Saint Emperor Realm's peak.
Carefully reinforcing his marks, he used four months to do so.
Eight months later, mostly spent refining his vessel, he attained the Divine Realm's peak. However, no Divine Root was born this time.
'So this stage was actually not about the body, but the soul instead. I wasn't sure... Now I am.'
Spreading his own Divine Sense, he forcefully enslaved the surroundings. Using a surefire way, he gathered his own existence and spread it thanks to his soul's power.
Drowning the void of Limbo, completely covering the world he was on, his cultivation became one with it.
God Realm!
True God Realm!
Removing his organs, his cultivation did not slow down.
Grand Harmonization Realm!
Ethereal Spirit Realm!
Primordial Spirit Realm!
Perfected Divine Dao Union Realm!
Bloody lightning bolts falling down on him, he brushed them off without opening his eyes. In less than one second, he crossed the True Star Realm's gates. And after a few weeks, he was already shooting past the Star Emperor Realm.
'Another stupid realm...' Sighing heavily, he birthed and refined a new internal world.
'I need to figure out a way to shackle my Dantian with my own soul. But... it's easier said than done.'
Using his powerful comprehension of time, he accelerated the time inside his inner world, only taking ten years to properly deal with it.
'Scratch that!' Forcing Celestial Qi inside him, he scraped his internal world, regressing from the World Founder Realm back to the Star Emperor Realm.
'This is going nowhere! I'll just skip everything useless to me!'
His body soon ascending from the Ethereal Tier, approaching the Celestial Tier, it did not stop.
Celestial Qi and Origin Energy dancing around him, but more so within him.
His skin tore, his flesh melted and his bones broke apart.
His vessel was being refined through multiple tiers without halt.
Celestial Body!
His soul flashing a silver light, a silver whip as if a giant snake shot across the world, covering half of it in a mere moment.
Soon detecting certain cultivators, it impaled their stomach, swallowing Universal Cores one after the other.
Like a piece of machinery, the caught Universal Cores were sent through the snake's body, arriving in Alexander's hands, still extremely far away.
Crushing a core without mercy, dooming the cultivation base contained in itself, he broke through the Half-Universe Realm.
His body covered in sparkly dust, he tempered himself. His skeleton, marrow, eyes, muscles, skin. Everything. Even his empty internal world.
Clutching his fists, he did not look amused. If it was not for his current attempt at getting past the Half-Universe Realm, he would have not realized his belongings to have disappeared.
'I completely forgot about my space rings and stuff from my Multiverse... I'm reduced to gathering measly Universal Cores by hand!'
Taking over the surrounding worlds, his silver existence mercilessly harvested Universal Cores by the thousands.
After ten thousand were in a pile facing him, he stopped. Crushing them one by one, his body began reshaping itself, tainted from powerful dimensions.
Only when his vessel was completely soaked in Universes for the second time did he stop crushing them to dust. Instead, he broke them into fragments.
Already used to it, he could temper his internal world without mistake. Only spending a few centuries on it.
'So much faster... so much easier! Cultivation not only rewards the strong with some power... but with definitive advantages! Even if one became crippled, getting back up wouldn't be too difficult if said person used to be strong enough.'
His internal world metamorphosed, he could break his resources into Universal Crystals. His Time Dao saving him millions of years, he could accelerate the process, completing two more minor realms in one fell swoop.
Not breaking any more cores further, he directly used them as is. And with a soft sound a couple of years later, his internal world was good enough.
His inner world expanding greatly, it was stretched and reinforced, spatial manipulation as if a layer of paint coating his Dantian's walls. A new Infinite Chasing Boundary constructed.
Universe Realm's peak!
'Now comes the worst one!' Gritting his teeth, he felt a small trauma resurface.
The Origin Tribulation was near.