Minutes, days, weeks, months and years passed by but Honem had come no closer to revealing the truth behind this mysterious pitch black rock. Including the pitch black rock, the size of the cave was also one of the physiological factors that made Honem feel worse and worse. One could walk from one end to the other in less than 10 seconds.

Loneliness that viscous snake were clinging to the very core of the man’s being and any means to release its clutches were futile. Honem had always been fiercely independent but almost all men are terrified of being alone. There is a difference but only those who had experienced them in their purests of forms could clearly grasp that meaning. Most people would dedicate this time to training and get lost in the process of it but Honem had no cultivation and could therefore just stare into pitch blackness day after day.

“Shit, there has to be some god damn way out of this shit hole” Honem couldn’t help scratching his head as the ongoing headache was getting worse. A deity being getting a headache, an occurrence only happening in these kind of situations..

Honem got to his feet and started inspecting the pitch black stone material looking for any sign of weakness in this underground cave. But as the hours went by he found nothing, this pitch black rock was without any question covering every bit of the caves interior.

“Since I have unlimited time I might as well study them” Honem wasn’t really a rock fanatic but given the profound nature of the material he might as well try to understand its mysterious power.

Inspecting it closely, touching it in oddly manners, listening to the sound of it, placing a palm on it checking for vibration and even profounder ways continued to be develop by Honem. It became an obsession trying to understand the properties behind the material; no one could blame him though. A man stuck for centuries in a cramped space together with only one interesting thing, a mysterious and profound rock; obviously it became the center of his attention.

“So it actually has a rhythm and a vibration sequence happening concurrently, haha, this stone is rather interesting” Honem couldn’t help smiling after finally deciphering a small mystery of this mysterious rock.

“This rhythm and sequence… It’s deeper and heavier than the outside world. The Ki imbedded in these rocks are truly profound” By being a cultivator of utmost genius obviously Honem knew about the rhythm of Ki which like everything had means to move around. The higher cultivation one had the higher that person’s sensitivity to the worlds Ki would develop. It wasn’t until Honem had reached the Heavenly Profound Realm that he could sense the rhythm and vibrations of the world Ki. Honem currently had no cultivation it was therefore hundreds of times harder to even feel the slightest of vibration or rhythm. But by continuously studying the mysterious rock for countless years his effort finally took fruit.

“This rhythm and sequence seem to be the thing that is interfering with my cultivation. Maybe this rhythm can nullify cultivation?” Honem immediately took a meditative position. This was the first time in countless years that he felt that he might have a chance of escape. If he could analyze the rhythm in comparison with the rhythm of the world Ki from where he came from, he might unlock the secret needed to break the formation.

Countless years went by and Honem had not moved from his spot. He sat there like a statue, unmoving. A normal man would call him insane but to the countless expert of the world this amount of concentration and determination could only be admired. One day Honem slowly opened his eyes, relief and a small smile could be caught on his face.

“Not only is the rhythm nullifying my ability to condense any Ki it’s actually absorbing it. What a truly astonishing power.” Honem couldn’t help but being amazed, something this profound actually existed in the world.

“Well I guess it’s time to begin step two” Honem once again took a meditative position and slowly closed his eyes. This time he did not intend to further ponder the mysteries of the stone, he already knew enough to finally escape from this godforsaken prison. To nullify the effect of the black stone he had to change the nature of the Ki to match this mysteries pitch black rocks rhythm. Changing the outside worlds Ki was out of the question, no man could do it and not to mention someone without cultivation. But changing the Ki inside our bodies was very much possible although it required something very precious, time. No living being had made efforts since the amount of time needed was far greater than the average person’s lifetime. Luckily Honem had unlimited time and therefore felt somewhat at ease.

“According to my current progress, transforming all Ki spread across my body into this rhythm and sequence might take forever. Transforming parts of it should be enough to break from this stone prison, I’ll go with that”

The first step was actually to gain godlike control over your inner Ki. Gaining control and condensing it was two entirely different things. Condensing was like setting fire to oil, you only had to light it for it to start burning and once it was burning you would naturally feel your body gain power. Then you would use that burning power to boost both physical strength and to maneuver techniques. The concept was easy and most people could at least comprehend the first step of lighting the fire. Controlling your inner Ki was more like controlling how your blood flows, which in concept was impossible for blood but very plausible for Ki. Controlling inner Ki had long ago been claimed useless because the effort heavily outweighed outcome.

It was by no means useless in itself since it gave more efficient means to “burn” Ki which resulted in slightly higher power boost. But solely concentrating on raising ones cultivation was both faster and provided more result. For example if someone concentrated on absorbing Ki and learning martial techniques while another man concentrated on gaining control over his current Ki the difference in strength would be enormous. By the time the man who tried to gain complete control over his Ki finally succeeded the other man might already have entered more than realm higher in actual Ki cultivation level and was therefore without a doubt superior. Fifty years was the average time it took to gain complete control of ones Ki and the normal person only lived between one hundred to two hundred years depending on race.

Honem completed this training in less than twenty years which spoke for both his talent and dedication. The second step was the hardest, something that would take any man several life times to complete. He had to imprint the sequence and rhythm of the black mysterious stone in his very being, something that no other man had tried before. This might take thousand years or it might take ten thousand years. Nobody knew since nobody had dared to try it. Although this was a daring task Honem did not cover, since time was endless and his being eternal.

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The snow of winter laid their first sprinkles on the Sun continent and the snow gradually melted away. The sun once again appeared on the seventh of skies and together came life and nourishment, as the flowers progressively increased so did the strength of the mighty sun. As the sun reached its peak temperature the process reversed. Cold clustered the air and the nourishment of the flowers modestly disappeared to once again face the chills of snow. This everlasting cycle continued for countless decades but Honem did never move, no, he held the same position for what could only be described as an eternity in the eyes of the common man. Dust and mold was continuously accumulating on his unmoving body as time continued to pass.

But one day the dust suddenly just shattered in every direction. Honem now didn’t have a single strain of dust left on his body.

“Huh, that took way to long. I wonder how many years have passed. It has to be at least a thousand!” Honem couldn’t help but to convey an expression of pure determination and happiness. It was finally without any doubt time to escape from this hell hole. It was finally time to have that beautiful sun shine its divine light up his body.

“But damn the amount of absorbed Ki is just too much” Nobody could go against this reasoning though. The pitch black stone had for over thousand years absorbed small parts of his Ki which obviously had accumulated over time.

“My current cultivation should only be around the third level of the Spirit Profound Realm, Is this even enough to break the black stone?” As soon as Honem thought that he decided to test out his strength. Since he currently had parts of his Ki in the stone sequence and rhythm he no longer had to worry about it absorbing anymore.

By utilizing godly Ki control into his hand and “burning” it Honem struck out at the pitch black rock material. To his surprise the stone quite easily crumbled to pieces. It was actually easier then breaking through regular stone which people that didn’t have godly inner Ki control definitely could manage at about the fifth level of the Spirit Profound Realm.

“The material itself was actually this weak?” Honem obviously couldn’t believe that such a weak material could keep him, once a god stuck here for over a thousand years.

“Hmm so where should I dig up or down?”

“I’ll go with up then since I am obviously in some type of cave”

By continuously digging through the black material at one point he finally managed to hit stone. Honem had without any doubt finally escaped the black stone prison. Now the question was only how long would he have to dig to see the mighty and beautiful sun?

Time flew by rapidly as Honem vigorously continued to dig. With each might of his palm stone forcefully crumbled, this cycle progressed for many scorching summers and icy winters. Even if earnest progress was made, Honem felt that he never would lay his eyes on the sun again. As stone crumbled it made life for a new, endlessly and eternally much as Honem’s very being.

“I can’t give up; I can’t tolerate any more loneliness. For some reason I don’t crave any food or water anymore so I should be fine with just continuous digging” Honem couldn’t help feeling a bit puzzled. There were no food and no water in that cave. At first he thought that it was his Heavenly Profound Realm Ki that kept him full but usually expert at this level could only sustain without food for so long until they would face consequences. The weirdest thing of all was that he was currently not in the Heavenly Profound Realm anymore and should by all means be hungry by now. Even stranger is that he hadn’t aged. Heavenly Profound Realm experts could without any doubt live to be a thousand but would after a while wither away like any normal man…

“Strange, strange indeed”

As the stone continued to crumble before the might of Honem’s hands, time once again flew along its path. But suddenly the hard stone that once was in the way of the sun became softer, softer and softer.

“I am getting close, any moment now…”

“Finally I’ll be free of this darkness”

As the hope that he once accumulated was starting to change into doubt, Honem’s hand finally broke through. Even if only his hand could feel the breeze of the wind, Honem exploded with happiness. As he finally climbed out from the darkness, he saw it, that beautiful and mighty, sun. Honem couldn’t help but acting ecstatic. Jumping up and down like a regular mad man. If any man laid their eyes on this spectacle the natural response would have been to laugh, laugh hard.

“Yes!! Freaking finally. The sun, the grass, the warmth even this freaking tree. I love you all”

It was only until minutes later that he had calmed down that he could view the surrounding area. Honem was currently on a wide open grass plane stretching as far the eye could reach. Even if it was a plane plenty of trees could be seen sprinkled around in rather unconventional clusters.

“Based on the amount of trees around here I should currently be around the south or in the central region of the continent. Therefore probably in Kurat Empire”

Even if the empire of Bhazi had conquered wide and far across the land, the south was at least in Honem’s time still firmly held by the Kurat Empire. Obviously Honem had been imprisoned for a long time… Things might have changed.

“Hmm, the first step should be to find the nearest town and gather some information. Then off the reclaim my empire. Well at my current level that might be a little out of reach…”

“I guess I have to retrain myself…” Just thinking about it Honem couldn’t help getting exhausted. He had been imprisoned for a very long time and training was not the first thing that most people would like to do after such a long prison sentence..

“So north, east, west or south? I guess north should be the right way towards Bhazi empire”

Even if he was just walking he couldn’t help but stopping every once in a while. The beauty of the outside world was without any doubt mesmerizing to a dangerous degree. The flowers were in full bloom and summer just seemed to have arrived. Getting out of prison at this time of the year was a blessing given by the god. As Honem continued to walk the planes a village came into sight. Although the size seemed bigger than the norm for a farming village I couldn’t be considered a town. As Honem got closer he couldn’t help getting further excited. The architectural style was rather rigid, with white pale stones holding up the well-worn hay roofs. The town was protected by a small wooden fence about the size of a well grown man. But even this town was by no means a spectacle to the common man

“This beauty, I love this town” Honem couldn’t help putting on his brightest of smiles.