The first thing I checked when I woke was to determine the health of my spirit root and Dantian. If I had destroyed my cultivation, everything that I had done, everything that I had worked for would have been for nothing.

I was relieved to find everything still working. What was surprising was that everything was working with an efficiency I’d never possessed before. A quick trip into my inner sea explained the reason. The island I had formed had grown, the ocean of Qi that lapped at the edges more turbulent and deeper. My inner sea had expanded exponentially.

I moved to sit in the lotus position beneath my [Dao of Movement] pillar and began to circulate my Qi. I focused intently on my channels, meridians, Dantian, and inner sea as I cycled one instance of [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath].

Everything was so much easier. Micro blockages that I hadn’t even realized existed had been cleansed, and the amount of Qi I cycled was staggering. I continued cultivating one cycle of [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath] after another, following the gathered Qi as it traversed my meridian channels and my inner sea until I believed I understood what was different.

I was filtering and absorbing Qi at a rate that was at least a hundred times more effective than I had been. The only explanation I could come up with to explain this jump in cultivation capability was that I had progressed my Realm.

And by a significant amount.

I didn’t remember anything hinting at the chance of the Kingdom claiming ritual transforming into a tribulation, but it must have at some point. I was firmly in the Nascent Soul Realm. Not only was I safely ensconced in that Realm, but I was also at the mid-tier.

The only way to advance Realms was to defy Heaven. I must have undergone a tribulation. It bothered me that I couldn’t remember, but my memories were disjointed.

‘Sister?’ Storm said, having waited until it was safe to interrupt my cultivation.

‘I’m fine,’ I promised her, watching as she unwrapped her wings that had been protecting me.

I was not the only one to change. Storm had also evolved. She was larger and brimming with the raw energy of a newly evolved beast. She had tiered up, her evolution only confirming my belief that I had advanced.

‘Big walrus people helped Sister. Lots and lots of voices swallowed the lightning. More voices than ancestor voices. Storm didn't like it and asked ancestors to block the voices. The ancestor said not to block voices for Sister. Sister would have to learn to block.’

I always got a chuckle out of how Storm referred to the Alpha and the Hindel. She knew they were people but still insisted on identifying them by focusing on the walrus part of their bodies.

‘Storm is sorry could not protect Sister.’

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The feelings of fear, helplessness, and worry that Storm was transmitting across our bond were heartfelt and honest. Her emotions brought me to tears, and I moved to embrace her. She had been more worried about losing me, about our bond being broken if I lost my cultivation, than she had been about surviving her own rank up.

Finding a way to hug her was harder than it had been. Storm had grown large enough that she stood taller than me, and I had to levitate a few feet off the ground in order to wrap my arms around her neck. At least my arms were able to still reach around her neck completely, allowing me to bury my nose in her ruff and breathe in the scent of rain and ozone that was her signature fragrance.

“Voice?” Alpha said, her words reverberating within my inner sea. A faint echo was created, a harmonic resonance that I had to concentrate on as I matched the sound of her voice with the mental impression that existed within the gestalt of minds that the Hindel controlled.

“Can you continue?”

I was confused by what she meant for a second before I realized that placing the Kingdom stone was only part of what I had planned to accomplish this day. It seemed I had already joined the Hindel mind collective, how or when I would have to meditate on later, but there was still one last task. I still needed to bond and form a [Dao Partnership].

That might be problematic now.

The Hindel I had selected before my advancement was at the Qi Gathering Realm. With my advancement to the Nascent Soul Realm, it would no longer be possible to establish a [Dao] link with that person. We would need to search for someone new, someone at the Nascent Soul Realm, if I wanted to establish a partnership between equals.

“I can,” I assured Alpha. My words gave comfort to the other people gathered, those of my House I had asked to witness the founding of Onkei. “But we may have a problem.

“I have progressed into the next Realm. I don’t believe it would be wise or fair to form a [Dao Partnership] with any Hindel we interviewed and screened. How fast can a fresh batch of perspective companions be gathered?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Alpha replied with satisfaction. “As part of the mind hive of our people, we were able to share and siphon some of the power from your tribulation across the collective.

“A number of Hindel were able to take advantage of this influx of energies to deny the Heavens their attack against you while increasing their rank. When I noticed what was happening, I focused a part of that energy on Cien."

It had taken some time to find Cien. The Hindel didn’t have great diversity when it came to Qi affinities, 99 percent of them aligned with water. I wanted a companion that would offer something that might elevate or expand my own affinities.

Her affinity for life Qi had been perfect, and I would have regretted losing this chance because I had out-leveled her by accident.

“Do Hindel always share their tribulation across the mind gestalt?” I wondered.

“Hindel do not need to endure a tribulation,” Alpha replied. “We are able to cross Realms without defying the Heavens. Our cultivation is structured around our cores, much in the same manner as Storm ranked up.

“Your experience and the ability to spread Heaven’s wrath across the gestalt was the first time for either of our people. It was an enlightening experience, one that we will study.”

“If there are no side effects from absorbing the lightning’s energies, then maybe we can add more Elves to the gestalt? At least long enough for them to survive a tribulation?” I suggested.

“Can a person join the hive mind and then be removed?”

If the Hindel were able to offer this benefit to my people, it would be a game changer. If every Cultivator that attempted an advance were guaranteed to succeed, it wouldn’t be long until my island nation could stand against even the Empire.

It might take centuries, even thousands of years, for that to happen, but as the life expectancy of Elven Cultivators grew with each breakthrough, a thousand years was a blink of an eye in the passage of each individual’s life.