Something invaded Shen, and pain flashed for an eternity that his mind forgot right after the pain disappeared, for he would go crazy if he recalled it as being longer than an instant.
When the pain went away, his mind was left whole behind it. The rest of himself was still shattered. It should be impossible for him to think straight. Yet, there he was.
There, in absolute solitude.
There was no sense of time or space whenever he was. A moment ago, he had been so immersed in the Laws of Reality that he had trouble telling where he ended and where the Axioms began. In a way, he had absorbed insights and grown stronger at the same pace as he was consumed by the Heavens. But now, that connection was so thoroughly cut that he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't even identify the Laws and Concepts of Reality within himself.
He was a speck of himself, an ego, a mind, alone in complete nothingness.
He had trouble forming thoughts, for they require following a progressive logical string, and there was nothing of that around. But they did form. He was still a creature of Space, Change, and Will. He Willed the collection of memories and impulses in himself to Change, and it happened. He was still in Space; he simply couldn't feel it like before.
Two words shook his world before he could think too much about anything.
"True Boundlessness."
They weren't just two words. They weren't just someone identified of a Law. They weren't someone merely pinpointing that True Boundlessness was in his Path.
The words were the very Law of True Boundlessness materialized in sound, and they Changed him.
They forced themselves into him, attaching themselves to his Will. Both his Will and True Boundlessness became the most fundamental part of his existence and his ultimate goal. The thing at the centermost point of his essence.
He became True Boundless as much as he was "Something" Power.
But it wasn't just his own understanding of that Law that was forced upon him. He would be alright with that. Boundlessness had been his first Concept, and he felt okay with it despite having removed it from his Path's Core. This True Boundlessness, however, came with its own meaning.
This True Boundlessness kept him permanently removed from the Heavens' reach.
Shen was set apart from the Heavens. It wasn't a barrier; it was more like being in a different dimension. That connection he had had with the cosmos was beyond him. Forever. Thus, regular cultivation was also barred from him.
He had been Severed from Reality in a way that he could tell should be beyond him to do. His existence should also be unable to sustain it. But his Path of Essence, which had already made him partially refuse the Heavens' rules, allowed the added True Boundlessness in his Will to let him survive.
In other words, he was forced into a new Path: the Path of Isolated Self.
No; he wasn't only forced into it. Shen was Consolidated in it in a way not even eternity could take from him. The Heavens themselves would be hard-pressed to attempt it. There was no changing it. Not ever.
Not unless...
"Absolute Power."
Shen found out his Will. Like anyone, he didn't just have a Will; he was his Will. Therefore, he wasn't just Power.
He was Absolute—or would be one day.
That already became a reality within himself. He was disconnected from the Heavens and, thus, a small-Heaven in himself. In there, he was, indeed, Absolute Power. Unless, of course, external Reality clashed against him; then, he would lose. He was still subjected to its rules despite being unable to touch the Heavens to grow stronger.
But how could Absolute Power accept weakness?
His Will was Essence's Origin and his Ultimate Goal. It was now restored to him. His Will demanded the Heavenly Lightning still inside him to give way. The lightning was confused. It hadn't expected his existence to become like this. But he had taken the next step in this tribulation, and the lightning bolts were supposed to allow some restrictions to disappear.
So, all but a single bolt of Heavenly Lightning faded away into nothingness, and Shen's willpower returned.
His memories were still blocked, but the willpower they had gained him could somehow push through the Heavens' blockade—by the Heavens' determination. That's how this tribulation was supposed to go.
Shen should've died then.
The Heavenly Lightning had been keeping him alive after he overextended his Path. It went to show how dangerous the Path of Essence was when treaded by someone with a compromised mind. Shen had grown too fast over his entire life, though he couldn't recall the specifics. His existence hadn't had time to get used to it, to be adequately nourished by his new level of power.
In the past, he had been dealing with that with the sheer willpower to keep going, but most of his willpower had been locked by the Heavenly Tribulation. So, when he progressed a little too much, he imploded.
In fact, he had grown so much that his unlocked willpower was still not enough to support him. He had been forcibly changed into something that demanded even more solid foundations. This Path of Isolated Self weighed on him. Shen needed to be more in multiple ways to sustain himself.
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For whatever reason, he found out precisely how that worked; the knowledge simply came to his mind.
Shen had already been aware of some ways to improve his foundations.
One, understand himself slowly and thoroughly. Don't rush ahead, leaving hidden weaknesses behind.
Two, strengthen his body, soul, and willpower in different ways to act as supporting pillars.
Three, be self-confident so that not just anyone or anything could make him doubt himself and, thus, weaken his willpower—including added comprehension of Concepts and Laws.
Four, understand precisely why he cultivated the way he did and how cultivation affected him.
Five, be self-aware of everything he went through, always; which meant meditating on his experiences.
Shen had a feeling he had never been a strict follower of such rules, but he had been aware of his strength and how far he could push. He had abused the limits a little, but not too much.
Unfortunately, the Path of Essence made most of those things difficult or impossible. He had been One Self like never before, and any teaching he didn't fully trust or subscribe to was ignored. He hadn't thought too deeply about some things or attempted to change himself because he had been perfectly comfortable with what he had become. Improving that was only natural. Why think twice about any dangers he didn't fully believe?
Most who walked the Path of Essence weren't at risk of dying the way he almost had. They could usually survive any sudden influx of power. Shen was different because such a Path wasn't supposed to be stepped on so soon in one's journey.
The teachings he had learned and promptly ignored weren't empty words. They also weren't the whole truth. In between the lines were some truths that were now unveiled to Shen. And some came from a few common grounds he had never known about.
First, age mattered. The older one became, the longer their very existence would've been written in Reality. In a way, they became more permanent in Reality and how it saw itself. That made it harder to bend under more Reality.
It taught Shen that there was more to pursuing immortality than mere greed.
Second, actions also mattered. The more one affected the world around them, the more Reality also saw one as part of it. That was doubly true for people. The Heavens were a shared pool of desires in a way, and it was affected when a single being affected others more and more. Succumbing to one's own ambitions became harder because one's own self-image was strengthened in the Weave of Existence itself.
It taught Shen that there was more to "experiencing the world"—as opposed to closed-door cultivation—than getting insights for your Path.
Third, focus was also important. By improving seven Laws at once, Shen had been spreading himself thin. A counterforce was applied to one's Path when they increased their understanding of any Law; the Axioms didn't like lending their power, and it took some time for them to accept it after someone did. Taking too much too fast from too many sources had strained him. Shen should've mastered a single Law first to act as a support pillar; that would've been enough.
It taught Shen that there was more to taking time walking a Path—to cultivation itself—than just adding bits of power to oneself.
Fourth and foremost, essence mattered more than anything else. Despite Shen's current sudden bout of information, he wasn't made privy to how or why that worked. He only became aware that he had temporarily weakened his essence when he added all parts of himself to it. If he hadn't done that and had had all his willpower intact, he would've been able to withstand his sudden growth.
It taught Shen that there was more to his essence than merely being a strange mystical expression of his being.
Shen's essence was still weakened. In fact, it was even weaker than before. Yet, Shen's body and soul started healing.
He was surviving right now because he had been Severed from the Heavens. The counterforce wasn't affecting him because the Axioms suddenly couldn't locate him. He still had his power and could use it. He also became able to feel the Laws in himself again. But he was safe as long as he didn't do anything to pull the Axioms' attention upon himself.
It felt like a paradox; there was Heavenly Lightning inside him! How could the Heavens not know where he was? How could he be cut from them?
But this was on the essence level. More profound than he could touch. It was a matter of existence, of hierarchy and authority, of tangibility status.
He was Severed.
That was it
Such a Severance was unconditional; he couldn't refuse it. He had been changed for good. Only achieving his Absolute Power over all of Reality—or close enough—would allow him to change himself.
But he could try to refuse it. It would be suicide—or so his new knowledge insisted. If he tried to connect to the Heavens to cultivate—which wouldn't work—he would die. The Heavens would locate him, and the Axioms' counterforce would come and crush him. Instantly mastering a Law would add a supporting pillar to his One Self, but it wouldn't be enough with his essence weakened as it was.
Shen would need to wait a few years before attempting to improve even a little. He had to let his essence heal first. And, well, considering how one's foundations worked, he could use that time to do many things that affected many people.
He chuckled to himself; alchemy could do that, couldn't it?
His original goal with alchemy was to better understand himself for this tribulation. He had no idea what the tribulation's current step entailed, but the tribulation wasn't over after "figuring out" his Will. He felt this was the last step, though.
Getting to know himself better would still be good for him. It was the standard way of improving one's foundations, too. And it would allow his actions to matter to other people. It was perfect.
Shen's One Self finished healing, and he opened his eyes.
He couldn't passively feel the Laws of the world anymore. He would need to deploy his aura or domain to feel the Laws within them. Fortunately, the added willpower would allow him to use his domain even in his essence's weakened state.
Even more fortunately, his Allvision remained, and his physical senses were as good as before.
But most fortunate of all, his Severance also allowed him to think better than ever. The Path of Essence he had been walking was hated by the Heavens. The Heavens permitted people to walk it but also twisted it to make it harder. The Heavens actively made Essence Walkers' reasoning even more muddled than it should be.
Shen's actual state was still one in which he strongly believed himself —he could still make stupid mistakes for not believing what he should—but he could think things through better than before. He wasn't less or more reasonable, though.
He was simply more himself with less Heavenly meddling.
Shen's mind also felt fundamentally different for a different reason. His thoughts were less... pulled, in a way. It was almost like something had been guiding him before, but now that influence was entirely gone. He could tell that pull had been a double-edged sword. He was free from it now, true, but advancing in his Path would be incredibly more challenging in the future.
He felt it was worth it. Evidently, the Heavens had been pushing him somewhere. It pissed him, but he was more curious about where he was than a wave of anger he couldn't satiate.
Shen checked his surroundings. He was currently floating on an endless and peaceful ocean. The night sky was filled with stars that crowned the majesty of seven moons of different sizes and shades. Three were white, two were red, and two were yellow.
E'livia was sitting on the water beside him, but he could only see her disguise. Their connection had been Severed, too.
Her illusion did nothing to hide the soul-wenching sadness visible in the bloody tears running down her face as she vacantly stared at the stars.