Losing track of time in his blissful pondering of the arcane power presented to him, Alexander felt his control over it deepen each passing moment.

At some point, he felt that his Instinct Core's influence had completely disappeared. It was as if chains had been broken, freeing him from its shackles.

At that point, he felt power course through his veins, like pure, liquefied control itself.

The next step on his list was to reproduce a factice of this Instinct Core. But this task first required him to understand it in details. How did it work? How did it look? What laid inside of it? Could something like even be replicated?

At some point in his research, Alexander opened his hand, leaving his palm facing upward.

On top of it, floating, a small orb formed itself. It was not quite the right color, an orange tint to it.

Not only so, but barely after a few moments, it cracked and exploded, pieces of it flying everywhere before disappearing.

'This dimension is actually quite ruthless. No energy without a proper foundation cannot endure its chaotic properties.'

Like so, with the light of day switching on and off for countless years, Alexander kept failing and failing. Again and again without success on his attempts.

Time flowed without mercy, leaving him behind, only dust for him to catch onto.

After an unknown amount of time, Alexander formed an old-gold colored orb. It was dimly shining and seemed to possess some spirituality despite not having any of it.

Now in control of a fake Instinct Core, that actually managed to survive in the mayhem the dimension was for over ten hours without problems, Alexander waited.

After a month had passed, the orb was still intact. But after three, it started to show weakness.

'Dammit!' Clenching his teeth, Alexander waited another three weeks for it to break apart.

Back to his research, Alexander kept going at it. And after enough time to dim his Life Wheel slightly, Alexander obtained a major success.

A fake Instinct Core had been kept intact above his palm for over a year! Not only so, but it was also devoid of alarming issues.

Hesitating, Alexander decided to simply go for it.

Using his newfound control over this energy, his very own and legitimate Instinct Core had been grasped much more firmly.

And with a sudden movement of this force, it was immediately torn apart from his soul.

Without halt, Alexander filled this spot with the fake one.

Feeling his connection with it, he was surprised at its powers. He could barely tell the difference between the two.

Now done, he needed to destroy the real one. Unfortunately, he could only make it bend slightly, still lacking in might.

And so cultivation resumed. His control over the energy deepened and time flew by.

At some point, he could finally break the real one apart, albeit with some difficulties.

Destroying it had not made any changes, which baffled him.

But with some resolution, Alexander readied himself. After conditioning his mind, he ripped the fake one away from his soul, just like the real one.

And after causing it to crumble to dust on the spot, the Heavens did not sit still.

The Heavenly Tribulation shocked by his accomplishment, it still did its duty, sending a reasonable orange bolt of lightning down.

His palace was not destroyed by it, but Alexander could tell its hidden dangers.

He could tell this lightning bolt to be made from this same energy he used. And as such, it did not impede on the material world he knew of.

Struck, Alexander expected a challenge, but only felt this power to be completely defendable. It barely caused a ripple on a shield he made from this same energy.

Prior, Alexander could not discern this energy properly, appearing somewhat invisible to his eyes. But now, it was clearly a bright orange.

The first three lightning bolts dealt with incredible ease, Alexander prepared himself for the next three. But the same happened. The bolts were stronger, but not strong enough. As for the last three, even with their increased might, they could not contend with his mastery of this energy.

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The only problem Alexander had, was that this energy came from outside. He could not form it himself.

Suddenly receiving an epiphany, Alexander, ignoring the clearing dark and ominous clouds, opened his hand wide. On each finger, a small ball of color formed itself. One was white, another yellowish-orange, one dark green, the next one cobalt with some white and the last sky-blue.

About to merge them, he stopped.

Narrowing his eyes, as if trying to peer into the world's secrets, he opened his eyes wide the next moment.

'Something... there is something inside!'

Each orb of different Qi was small, but inside each was an enormous amount of small dark spots. If not for his newfound powers and senses, he would have never caught them.

Carefully seizing them up, he noticed something incredible.

'It's like a puzzle...' Each dark spot was seemingly part of a bigger picture.

Extracting a part of Qi and True Qi, Alexander made two of their dark parts fuse. The Qi one was the biggest and seemed like a frame. As for the True Qi one, it was slightly smaller, fitting perfectly inside.

Watching the two pieces snuggle without gaps, he immediately proceeded to add each part. The Emperor Qi one was slightly smaller, fitting nicely as well inside the True Qi one. This scene kept on appearing as he added in the Star Qi and Celestial Qi ones.

Once the Celestial Qi one was tightly secured inside, no gaps could be seen. It was like a dark round plate with engravings on them.

Suddenly, a gust of power emerged from it, and an orange glow formed around it. If one compared it with the other energies, it would fool all who did not know of their identity. It was like another form of Qi had been created.

'So that's indeed it... five turns into one, the continuous birth of the Origin! I made the Origin!'

Trying to absorb it with haste in a moment of joy, Alexander froze, pushing it away in the next moment.

'I almost killed myself!!' Shivering, Alexander thanked his quick reaction time. If not for it, he would have not managed to stop himself from assimilating this Origin. What scared him was the alarms ringing in his mind the moment it got too close. This power was clearly beyond his body!

'What do I do then? Did I go too fast and skipped a cultivation realm?'

Feeling the power he had now, it was once again incomparable to his former one. The Instinct Liberating Realm was another beast of its own!

'Why not go ask Hophe then.'

Exiting his palace, Alexander was greeted by a sea of seated cultivators filling the horizon.

Most were standing thousands of kilometers away while some managed to stay a mere hundred kilometers away. His palace was surrounded by experts, and the closer the cultivator, the stronger they were.

He even saw Immortal Sky Realm masters and three Greater Existence Realm grandmasters.

"What is it now..." Massaging his forehead, Alexander retracted his aura, letting the three grandmasters approach him.

Cupping their fists with awe, they introduced themselves.

"This one is Hermos, sect master of the Hyvarus Sect! I greet senior!"

"Louis Gelmon greet the senior!"

"Natasha Ghylar, ruler of the Dragon Mansion, greet senior!"

Looking to his right, Alexander did recognize the pink haired woman. She clearly resembled Natasha from back then, but she now was clearly much older. Her usual carefree attitude had almost completely disappeared, replaced with solemnity, while her figure did grow as it should.

To his left was the rumored sect master of the Hyvarus Sect, known as the strongest sect under the Heavens. And right in front of him was an unknown man.

"This Alexander is curious about your appearances here. But I suppose it is welcomed, I wanted to visit Hophe, now that his daughter is here, is Hophe present as well?"

Trembling, Natasha took another look at Alexander. The white robed man seemed completely different from before, his aura was much more profound, as if a single thought would make all of his enemies perish. His face was covered by a snow-white beard, impairing her judgment at first.

After taking a second and third look, her expression brightened on the spot. And as she parted her lips, her attitude took a brutal turn.

"Ah! Brother Alexander!!" Hugging Alexander like a long-lost friend, she soon understood herself to be rude, regaining the distance between them.

In the meantime, Alexander was confused.

'We do know each other, but all be did was travel for some years together... It's not like I'm your best friend or something...' But considering her behavior back then, he did not care to investigate.

"Alright, alright. I don't know why all of you are here, but I need to go see Hophe for some clarifications. So if you have any questions, just don't."

Exchanging glances, Louis and Hermos were dumbfounded. Someone actually dared to ignore them both! But sensing Alexander's aura, they did not wish to make their thoughts known either.

Meanwhile, Natasha had reddened eyes.

"Brother Alexander, there is no point! Daddy died a few millions years ago..."

Narrowing his eyes, Alexander asked nonchalantly.

"Tell me, how long ago was the Devouring Sect I made founded? Cultivation is starting to affect my sense of time, so I just wanted to know. Last time I exited seclusion, it was four million years, but what about now?"

Hesitating, Natasha still answered.

"I think... about eighty million years ago?"

'The fuck? I'm already passed the hundred million years old mark? But now I understand why Hophe died... even with a peak Greater Existence Realm cultivation base, his lifespan is only about few hundred million years. I don't know how old he was, but he certainly was not young!'

"Well, I must congratulate you on your cultivation base, your peak Greater Existence Realm cultivation is worthy of your inheritance! Your father must be proud!"

It was no wonder her cultivation had improved so 'fast', she was already eighty million years old! As for Alexander himself, he did not care to remember anymore. He was almost 150 million years old, that he knew.

Nodding slowly, Natasha had still red eyes, but kept on.

"Brother Alexander, why not come with me to the Dragon Mansion and discuss about both business and memories? I have lot I want to ask, and you probably have a lot you want to ask of me." Curiously staring at Alexander's life wheel, Natasha still held a professional attitude.

Nodding, Alexander enveloped her in his Celestial Qi before shooting into the distance, the void shivering at his every move.

Left behind, the two grandmasters were at a loss. As for the palace below, what could they do? They did not even dare to breathe loudly in front of Alexander, so what about daring to search his palace? They did not have a death wish. They held onto their lives dearly!