A sky-blue bead floating as if ethereal inside an endless void, it was drowned under a gigantic dark cloud.
Suddenly, it shook, growing in size.
Once it reached thrice its initial size, it started to shrink, barely retrieving its original size, and by this time, the cloud seemed to have greatly diminished in volume.
The bead over with its change, kept floating for days.
After a week, it shook again, doing the same process again and again.
Growing, shrinking, growing, shrinking...
Soon, the cloud was completely assimilated by the bead.
After the bead's texture turned smooth, a perfect orb, it was overwhelmed by a red light, its origin unknown, as if spawned from the void.
A decade later, the bead's color changed, going from sky-blue to a pale red. The bead squirming, some intriguing patterns appeared on its surface, as if the drawing of a weird flower.
Seven years later, this same pattern shone a bright red light, the core exploding as if a booming egg hatching, the shell ejected with force everywhere around. The bead's shell residues vaporized into the void, their misty form was soon absorbed by the bead's new shape.
Blooming, the bead's new body appeared, its color a bright red, glowing deep within the void.
The bead's new body turned out to be a flower, a lotus to be precise, now bloomed fully.
Exhaling, his mouth tight, Alexander opened his eyes, soon shining a bright red before returning to their usual silver.
'It took longer than I thought...'
Having taken near 18 years, Alexander had broken through from the Celestial Core Expansion Stage to the Celestial Core Condensation Stage, taking a turn at this point, he refined his Celestial Core with care, replicating somewhat the Saint Embryonic Realm. Once done, he used the Marrahva Crystals to breakthrough to the Flower Core Stage of the Blooming Lotus Realm.
And now, he finally managed to breakthrough once more to the Blooming Core Stage, the second stage out of the four within the Blooming Lotus Realm.
'I lack information about the Primordial Harmonization Realm... I could make it this far because that lady I killed had quite the handful of information regarding the Blooming Lotus Realm, and coupled with my cultivation instincts I honed throughout millions of years, it was not a problem, but I don't want to make useless mistakes.'
Inspecting his replaced Celestial Core, Alexander stared with curiosity at his red lotus.
'Surprisingly, or maybe not, my internal world is still there. Everything inside is fine, just the sky turning red at some spots. I have a bad feeling about this... And I don't like red that much, I hope I can change that soon.' Grumpy about cosmetics, Alexander, standing up, dusted himself.
'I am around twenty folds stronger than when I was at the third stage of the Cloud Immortal Realm.' Sending palm strike to a nearby, small mountain, Alexander's expression was bland.
Only expecting a palm print to form, Alexander was shocked as the small mountain had actually been pulverized.
'Strong! This Blooming Lotus Realm is actually so terrifying? I must increase my strength as much as possible, especially since that Primordial Harmonization Realm cultivator whom I killed the daughter of might search for me.'
'But for that I need so many Marrahva Crystals! Depending on the amount I can gather by myself, I might have to give up on this, especially if circumstances call for it.'
As one of many experts who cultivated without much resources, Alexander knew that, if given enough time, anyone could reach the peak of the cultivation world with nothing but basic energies around.
'I only need Celestial Qi, but I also don't want to waste such an opportunity, this could save me so much time, which would then save me from drastic scenarios...'
Weighting the pros and cons, Alexander decided to put this matter to the back of his head, first focusing on gathering an enormous amount of Marrahva Crystals.
Flying at breakneck speed high up into the clouds, Alexander was truly perplexed by multiple things.
'It says that I need twenty-one thousand and then sixty-three thousand Marrahva Crystals for perfecting the two last stages... It seems... little... especially when compared to the Cloud Immortal Realm. I don't doubt the information I obtained from that lady, since I also agree on it, I can tell that the Blooming Lotus Realm won't take that much resources, but then what about the Primordial Harmonization Realm? Following the patterns of the previous major realm, I wouldn't be surprised if I needed millions of these Crystals...'
Stroking his chin, Alexander inspected his internal world briefly.
'And those red spots in my internal world are really worrying me, even a Golden Core Realm cultivator's instincts would be able to tell that something is seriously wrong.'
Thinking he had possibly skipped something, Alexander searched throughout his flight for a missing piece of the puzzle within the many manuscripts and books he had previously collected.
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'Nothing! There is not a single piece of information about this issue! Is it only a problem for me? Am I overthinking? No! I know for a fact that this is not a good sign!'
Unsure, Alexander only knew one way to deal with problems in the cultivation world.
'I'll just have to cultivate even more! While it could worsen things, I don't care! If one is strong enough, nothing in the world cannot be done!'
Accelerating with a sense of urgency, Alexander rushed north, in direction of a different region, all according to a map he also obtained from the same lady, but also guard captain.
'I should arrive at this 'Demonic Land' soon...'
While the map was clearly lacking information, and not a small amount at that, it still gave Alexander a lot of insights on the Celestial Realm.
Following the map, the continent Alexander was currently in was called the Southern Demonic Continent, the centermost region was the Demonic Land Region where Alexander was currently headed to. From the Demonic Land Region, south was the Region of Tuzim, where Alexander landed post-ascension. West was the Region of Phortar, east was the Ylaf Region and north was the Valgrand Region.
'The so called Delghnar Mansion is situated within the Demonic Land Region, I might have to clash with them depending on their knowledge. As for the strength of this place... the map doesn't say anything, but since it is outlined in silver and gold, when Tuzim is outlined in grey and bronze, I suppose the sects there are something like silver and gold grade.' Opening a book to confirm his guess, Alexander still remembered having read about this. Therefore, finding the book was relatively easy, taking it out, he started to search inside.
After a couple of minutes, Alexander narrowed his eyes.
'Let me see... Silver Sects are often led by a Blooming Lotus Realm master. That's already a problem... or an opportunity...' Reading further below, he soon found the rest.
'Ah, found the other one. Gold Sects are rare existences, less than a hundred have appeared in the last thousand years, each of their sect master a peerless Primordial Harmonization Realm expert. Legend has it that the current sect leaders of the Byluar Sect, Lunar Sect and Obliteration Sect are not real sect masters, simply placeholders for the former sect masters, now ancestors, rumored to have each disappeared at the same time after they managed to reach the peak of the Primordial Harmonization Realm. Well that's an even bigger problem... I'm not sure about this rumor, but if it was written in such a serious and high quality book, I would be stupid to not even take it into consideration. After all, that kind of thing was very popular back in the Universe, every time a sect was in danger, suddenly a stupidly powerful ancestor rumored to be dead would show up.'
The book he just read fairly recent, Alexander could not simply ignore the so called legend. Hoping for the best, he kept flying north, a long journey ahead.
'It might take me a few years, if not decades, since even with my newfound power I'm just not fast enough... I've already travelled for quadrillions upon quadrillions of kilometers, but according to the map I have barely made a dent, I would need ten times that distance to make one thousandth.'
Now a month gone, Alexander, who had just resumed his flight after a nice break, had to stop once again.
Perking his ear, he heard two voices, from a male and female.
"Please stop! I am the daughter of Great Marshall Velzus! Do you dare rape me?!!"
"Hehe! Young lady, don't think that a little first stage Cloud Immortal Realm trash's name will scare me! There are powers in Tuzim that you cannot afford to offend!!"
'Daughter of a 'Great Marshall'... But the man said he was just a Cloud Immortal Realm trash... yeah, not worth the effort, I doubt that Great Marshall has any Marrahva Crystals, let alone his daughter.' Ignoring the cries of help, Alexander left the woman to her plight.
Expecting nothing much to happen anytime soon, Alexander was surprised by multiple voices.
"Give me everything you got!!"
"Sir! Please let me go! I don't have anything left, I will even lick your shoes!"
Spreading his Divine Sense to the best of his ability, Alexander frowned.
'There are actually so many people in such a small radius, my Divine Sense can only cover fifty meters around me, which should correspond to around 250 million kilometers... This place is dangerous.' Not wanting to attract attention, Alexander had kept his altitude fairly low, sometimes even passing through forests, but since danger was lurking, he preferred to take the risk, slowly flying higher and higher.
As such, he only had to descend every few weeks to recover.
Three moons looming over, Alexander was seated cross-legged under a random tree.
Time flying by, as Alexander had recovered half of his Celestial Qi, a woman approached discreetly.
His Divine Sense already present, he had caught onto her since a minute or so ago.
Stepping on a twig, the woman was startled, and as she was about to take a step back, she heard a voice.
"You kept sneaking on me for the last day or so, yet you, a Grand Gravitational Realm cultivator, actually failed to walk ten steps stealthily. Is this supposed to be a joke? Because I am not in the mood to laugh." Grumpy from the long journey ahead, that not only would waste his time, but also not procure him any major assets, Alexander was definitely not lying.
"Ah ah... This sir, could you lend me a bit of food? I have been starving for the past few days." The woman's dirty appearance seemed insignificant in front of her beauty, her red hair like a living flame, her eyes scarlet. But no beauty had ever made Alexander falter since a very long time.
"Do I look like I have food to spare? I don't even eat, why would I have useless food? To feed the wildlife? Let me make this clear, I don't feed the wildlife, I butcher it!"
Embarrassed by her failure of a seduction, the woman sat some distance away.
"Sir, why are you being so mean? I have no ill intention toward sir." Trying her best to gain some of Alexander's attention, she was soon shut down.
"I'm mean? Aren't you alive? Do you want me to actually be mean?" His cultivation base flaring up, Alexander controlled his [Qi Pressure] to only target the woman, as to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Ugh!" Almost smacked to the ground under the heavy mountain of a pressure crushing her, the woman almost suffocated, groaning in pain.
"Sir! Let's talk! I have a proposal!"
Sigh
"You have a single minute to plead your case, if it doesn't interest me, then leaving with your life will be your greatest fortune!"
Shivering, the woman felt terrified, Alexander's powerful gaze impaling her resolve.
'This man is so strong! Since when did Tuzim have anyone like this? Even a powerful man like the Rising Cloud Sect's sect master wasn't able to make me feel this small. I know that the Rising Cloud Sect was a peak Iron Sect, meaning that the sect master was probably a peak Cloud Immortal Realm expert, if this is the case, could this young man be at an even higher realm? Wasn't the Cloud Immortal Realm legendary, what could be beyond? If this man knows, and that I somehow manage to curry his favor, wouldn't this be a jackpot?!'
Scheming, the woman suddenly remembered the time limit, her newfound excitement extinguished under the pressure.
"S-Sir... A few kilometers from here is an inheritance ground left by a peerless master from the past! I heard that he had ascended beyond the legendary Cloud Immortal Realm, becoming a true powerhouse of the world."
Listening, Alexander was getting curious.
'Beyond the Cloud Immortal Realm? Even if he was just a Blooming Lotus Realm cultivator, he must have some leftover Marrahva Crystals. Since I have nothing better to do, I should check it out!' Raising his hand, Alexander indicated for the woman to stop.
"After I'm done recovering my Celestial Qi, you will lead me to that place."
Shutting up, the woman sat on the grass meekly.