‘What if they can come up here?!’ A terrifying thought struck Leo and he hid himself in the crow’s nest holding his breath.

He was too scared to look down and hoped the pups would give up the search and at the same time prayed his father would show up to save him.

For a while Leo only could hear soft rustling sounds coming from below, but then screams of agony once again filled the air. Obviously the beasts found his mothers and sisters, but that was also fine. He had many of those back at home and now beasts were less likely to come after him.

Screams quickly died down and only the sound of wind and waves was left – the closest thing that came to a complete silence at the sea. Leo was still squatting in the crow’s nest, not daring to peek at the situation below and barely breathing afraid to reveal his hiding place. He already lost the track of time how long he sat there when he fell asleep or maybe passed out from the mental exhaustion.

“This is it!” Omar Wui said out loud with a wide smile plastered across his face.

For the last half month he had been preparing for this day and it was finally time to achieve what the most people could only dream of – to step into the Nascent soul cultivation stage. While technically it was just another stage that came after the Core formation, forming the nascent soul was a qualitative change that completely transformed a living being, especially a cultivator with the affinity to earth element like him.

Besides the ‘usual’ perks that came with it – becoming one of the most powerful beings in the world and gaining close to infinite lifespan, an earth element cultivator’s soul after reaching the Nascent stage became almost indestructible. While majority of the experts who had the affinity for the other three elements had much weaker tribulations while stepping into the nascent soul stage and thus a higher chance of success, they didn’t experience such incredible growth and power boost Omar was going to have. In addition, Omar knew this hurdle will make his transition into becoming a true immortal much more realistic.

Indeed, Omar Wui had much higher aspirations than others. From the first step into the cultivation world, his goal was to one day become a true immortal and transcend the world of the common people. He had never revealed this to anyone, even the ancestor of the Soul Crest sect, Ming Wui.

Actually Omar had mixed feelings about the old man. He hated him for basically forcing to take his stupid family name and making him a slave to the sect for the next three centuries. On the other hand Omar was thankful to Ming Wui for sharing his secrets and assisting in stepping into the Nascent soul stage.

Ming Wui was the only known Nascent soul stage cultivator with the affinity to earth element and even though he reached this stage only after the age of hundred, he immediately became the strongest man in the world. He single-handedly transformed the previously unremarkable Soul Crest into a powerhouse that no other sect dared to offend, but at the same time didn’t create any lasting enmities.

Contrary to him, Omar was only in his fifties and at the peak of the Core formation stage already for the last dozen years. He was much more talented and couldn’t wait for the time he was going to dethrone the conceited old man.

By only thinking about it a wide grin spread across Omar’s face. Ming Wui had no clue he was grooming a viper in his own bedroom. Over the years he provided Omar with the best cultivation methods and resources as well as the guidance and practical assistance in order pass the tribulation while stepping into the Nascent soul stage. Probably because both of them had the affinity for the same element the old man viewed Omar as some kind of a successor – thus the condition about the family name change.

Omar, of course, didn’t care about the ethical implications one bit. Ming Wui was destined to become another steppingstone on his road to immortality, just like the rest of this puny world. Indeed, Omar believed he was meant to walk in the realm of immortals, but it’ll take some time to get there.

While according to the legend one could technically go to the sacred realm of immortals at will if they were strong enough, the ‘strong enough’ part was not what Omar was going to settle for. He intended to arrive when he would be at least on an equal level with the powerhouses there, although he didn’t know what that meant or where the passage was located – but that was only for now.

Omar glanced around the cave room he created during the past months and sighed in satisfaction. Not so long ago this place was just a rock in the ocean south of the Black cliff archipelago and was visited only by the waves that splashed over it. Now, several yards below the water level, there was a cave covered in rune formations and he sat in the very center. The weak lighting that came from the hundred and eight moonstones placed around in a particular order made everything look mysterious and peaceful.

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He found this place on accident during travels two decades ago and immediately remembered it when the old man Ming Wui taught him the most important aspects in choosing the spot where he should undergo the tribulation while stepping into the Nascent soul stage.

Cultivators with the earth affinity had it the worst – others couldn’t assist them during the tribulation and even more – they had a higher chance to pass the tribulation if there was no one around, preferably surrounded by plentiful of water. While the wind was the opposite of earth, one could not rely on it during the tribulation. On the other hand the water surrounding cultivator would act as a natural conductor, nicely absorbing and disseminating the tribulation lightning that would flow further into the cliff and through the runes in the cave Omar created and then further into him, but in much milder, controlled form, allowing him not only to ascent into the Nascent soul stage, but also temper his newly created soul at the same time.

This was the partial ancient technique Ming Wui discovered during his early days and it took him almost a century to refine it. Of course, most likely it turned out completely different from what the initial creator intended it to be, but Ming Wui turned it into a ticket to the Nascent soul stage for an earth affinity cultivator like him and it was all that mattered.

Following the old man’s instructions, Omar not only set up multiple rune formations inside the cave room, even the rock itself above the water was chiseled into a nice shape of a small pyramid and covered with runes. The whole endeavor took almost two years to complete, but now Omar’s success was basically guaranteed.

After glancing at the surrounding walls of the cave room one last time, Omar sighed to himself in satisfaction. Indeed, everything was set up in proper order and he only needed to wait for a little while longer for the auspicious full moon to rise and then the tribulation could begin.

When Leo woke up it was dark and it took him some time to register what happened and where he was. He stared at the stars above, feeling completely lost while the ship swayed in the gentle ocean waves. He did his best to swallow the bitter lump that for some reason appeared in his throat, but of course, he was not going to cry – the Renaud family men never did.

Since he was still alone in the crow’s nest, most likely his father was not coming to save him. Also he couldn’t hear any signs of the beasts below on the deck and that probably meant he was the only alive being around.

Leo’s thoughts were disturbed by loud grumbling sounds that came from his belly and he realized he was not only very hungry, but thirsty as well. He got up on his feet and looked down at the deck, but all he could see was darkness.

When he climbed up the main mast, Leo didn’t consider the possibility his father would not be there to carry him down and now was faced with an unsolvable problem. I was impossible to get through the gaps in the nest’s walls because of his size, but to climb over the side was too scary because he didn’t have a good way of supporting himself.

‘Getting down is much harder than going up.’ Leo though scratching his head.

Suddenly the night turned bright as if someone had turned on a big lamp. Leo looked at the horizon and saw the huge round moon that had crawled over the horizon and now brightly illuminated the ocean waves and the ship he was on.

For a while Leo stared at the beautiful sight until the grumbling belly brought him back to reality. But before he could go back to solving his problem he noticed a pack of clouds suddenly gathering in the distance. They were kind of dark, but at the same time of a purplish color and looked incredibly captivating. At some point even bolts of lightning glittered in those clouds and it felt so unrealistic Leo thought it was a dream.

Right! A dream! There was no way his father would’ve fallen from the hands of the treacherous captain and his first mate! All Leo had to do was to wake up and everything would go back to normal. But first, he would enjoy the beautiful sight in front of him. Not every day or rather – night he had a chance of seeing something so incredible. Even the ship turned towards the clouds as if heeding Leo’s command and rapidly approached them.

Under the bright light of the full moon Leo noticed a large vortex forming in the distance and in the middle of it seemed to be a small island of conical shape. The ship went faster and faster towards it as if it was about to enter a gate to another world.

“Yes! Let’s go!” Leo shouted in excitement.

Since this was a dream, there was nothing to be scared of and he was expectant to see what was on the other side of the vortex. Even though he had few exciting dreams in the past, none were so realistic and, to be honest, he didn’t remember any really well.

But then the beautiful dream turned into a nightmare very quickly. In a span of dozen or so breaths the ship got sucked in the vortex, but for some reason it didn’t ‘cross the worlds’ or go to another realm as Leo expected, but at ever increasing speed began to spin around the little conical rock making the only passenger lightheaded and nauseated.

It all would’ve been bearable if not for the sudden bolts of lightning that began to rain down towards the rock as if trying to annihilate it. The problem was that while going up and down in waves the main mast of the ship from time to time was at much higher point above the sea level than the top of the rock and it didn’t take long until the first lightning bolt struck it. Lucky for Leo it only hit the foremast that disintegrated in splinters, but the shock wave blasted the damaged crow’s nest, that was on top of the main mast, apart.

Deafened and dizzy Leo fell down, but got entangled in rigging somewhere half way like a fly caught in a spider’s web. For a split moment he lost consciousness and after regaining it he instinctively began to struggle trying to get out, but only got entangled more.

The next lightning bolt struck the ship not long after and this time hit the main mast. Once again luck was on Leo’s side as it had started to rain few moments ago and the lightning current didn’t destroy the mast or roast the panicked boy, but flowed through everything finally dispersing on the surface of the water.

It didn’t mean Leo didn’t notice or feel anything, of course. While all he could see was purple sparks, his body was twitching in an uncontrollable agony. From the unbearable pain he instantly lost consciousness again, this time to not wake up for a long, long time.