A portal opened up.
John spoke:
"After you."
"..."
"Shouldn't the immortal be the one to go first?"
"Do you think my portals are unstable? It's safe! Probably..."
"Probably!?"
Li Du looked at the portal which was flickering and glitching as if it was barely holding on.
"Well... When I created this universe. I had to make an infinite energy generator. It is the source of the supernatural. The closer we get to it. The more unstable the rules of physics become. My powers may seem extraordinary on the surface level. But in reality... it is a mix of science."
"I've created a portal that should take us to the layer where the spiritual generator is. But it can't take us directly to it. Something is already interfering with the leap of my spiritual energy. We will have to see for ourselves what is on the other side."
"Even I have no idea what sort of entities have appeared. Or what sort of rules make up this space."
Du looked at the portal...
"Do I really have to go first?"
John started to laugh.
"Alright. Don't be afraid. I'll go first!"
John walked through the portal and found himself surrounded by an infinite void.
"Oops. It looks like it failed partially."
The wormhole collapsed...
John was destroyed.
He then appeared right by Du.
He tapped his nose:
"Boop."
"Alright. I died. You have good intuition!"
"... Are you serious?"
"I'm always serious..."
"This time it'll work!"
Another portal opened up. This one was also glitching and flashing.
Du spoke:
"Are you sure it's safe?"
"Nope."
John jumped in.
He successfully crossed over.
John stuck his head back through the portal looking at Du.
"It's safe!"
Du walked through the portal and breathed a sigh of relief.
He then started to laugh and cry.
John spoke:
"Hmm... weird behavior. Even for you."
"I feel amazing! I feel so happy! Life is so wonderful!"
John changed the program for the cells in his eyes and inspected Du.
"Not good. It seems we've entered a spiritual deadzone."
Although John called this a 'deadzone'. It was anything but.
"Amazing! Incredible!"
"Yea, yea. Hold on a second."
John tapped Du's head.
Du started to feel dizzy... he then fell to the ground.
John looked around.
"The spiritual energy near the infinite generator is too concentrated. If I was a cultivator I might have entered a full manic state. Anything can become poison if concentrated enough."
"No wonder my leap was failing. The spiritual energy with my brand is a lot thinner then the spiritual energy of this area. My brand is becoming assimilated. Losing functionality."
"My first portal was too close. Even now... I'm pushing it!"
John focused on the cells in Du's body and held his hand above Du. He started to isolate the spiritual energy Du had absorbed.
Soon Du had been stripped of the concentrated spiritual energy. John then slapped him until he woke up.
"What happened?"
"Stop absorbing spiritual energy."
"Got it."
After a few seconds Du passed out.
"Idiot..."
John then realized something by switching the state of his eyes.
"Wait... this isn't a mere spiritual deadzone. Even atoms are having a hard time existing here. It has become a spiritual paradise. This is not only toxic to cultivators. But all types of life."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
This baffled John as he was currently surrounded by nature despite this.
"There is no oxygen..."
John held out his hand as he started to create negative spiritual energy. It was harder in this environment. He then created positive spiritual energy and used it to make dioxygen.
John snapped his fingers as a barrier formed around him. Within this barrier he created an environment.
Soon Du was breathing...
He woke up a few seconds later.
"What happened?"
John spoke:
"You are a nascent soul! How do you almost die from a change in environment... that is like the signature benefit to being a nascent soul..."
"Don't absorb the spiritual energy. Also, remember. Circulate the Qi generated from your consciousness in a cycle. If you aren't generating enough to go infinite. Use the reserves in your dantian. Use the Qi to keep your brain alive. We are in a hostile environment. Are you ready?"
"I'm ready..."
The barrier popped... and Du began to hyperventilate.
John watched him.
"Remember your training!"
Du coughed.
"You are right! I've experienced far worse then this."
Soon Du was acting normally.
"Good. Let's go!"
John noticed something weird.
"All of this plant life. There is nothing but spiritual energy here. There are hardly any atoms of any type of element. These plants are made of pure spiritual energy..."
"It seems we have our compass."
John was using his eyes to view spiritual energy.
"The closer we get to the core of the universe. The more concentrated spiritual energy will become."
John was constantly switching the modes of his eyes.
"Follow me."
John started to float.
He then flew off towards the core of the universe.
Du followed.
John calculated the flight path based on the thickness of spiritual energy.
But they ran into a problem.
"Who are you?"
A man in purple daoist robes was meditating in the sky. He spoke with his eyes closed. John had no idea who this guy was. He felt he had nothing to lose by actually being polite.
"I am John Destinatus! This here is my disciple Li Du."
"John Destinatus? What a strange name."
"Wait...!"
The man opened his eyes. They were completely black as if he was some sort of demon. They were switching from white to black.
The man bowed his head towards Du.
"I greet the ancient creator!"
John was a bit speechless...
"Perhaps it is the trace of origin within his soul that is causing the confusion..."
The true immortal frowned.
"The prophecy said you would come later... why have you showed up so soon?"
John interrupted Du before he could even speak.
"We are here for the yin and yang of the universe."
In a instant the peaceful atmosphere vanished.
The true immortal looked at John with a sneer.
"I am Baohu. There is no way a mortal is qualified to be the creators teacher! This must be some sort of trick. Also, here for the yin and yang? That is a myth. There is no source of spiritual energy in the heavens. Everything follows a cycle of birth and deat-"
John spoke:
"Bla bla bla. You believe the rubbish they teach you? I'll tell you a little secret. I am the creator."
"You dare tell me that something I know I created doesn't exist?"
Baohu looked at Du.
Du shook his head and smiled.
"I'm not the person you were thinking of. He is the real deal."
Baohu didn't look convinced.
"But he is a mortal... that's impossible!"
John said:
"I don't have time to waste here. Let's go."
John tried to fly past Baohu. But a wall of formations appeared blocking his way.
"Who said you could go? Mortals aren't meant to exist in the heavens. How did you even get here?"
"A gap in spacetime."
"Spacetime?"
Baohu squinted his eyes.
John felt his bones snap as he was crushed into a ball of flesh and bones.
He was then ignited with a purple flame.
Baohu looked at Du.
"You will come with me."
Du laughed.
"If you want to kill that 'mortal'. You are going to need to do more then that."
"Wha-"
Baohu's head exploded.
His blood was golden. John was covered in blood as he floated in the sky.
Baohu's headless corpse came back to life. It looked nothing like John's regeneration. It looked as if a flower was blooming. Literally, flowers grew from his corpse and reconstructed his head.
His eyes looked like a blackhole.
He stared at John.
"Spiritual energy manipulation?"
John was surprised he recognized his technique.
"Exactly."
John overclocked his brain as he felt danger.
He dodged one of the attacks and began to monologue during this fight.
"As spiritual energy becomes more dense. I find initially found it harder and harder to control i-"
A blackhole appeared in the center of John's body. Consuming a lot of his body. He then vanished and appeared behind Baohu.
"But... I find that it does something a little interesting. Even now. I am doing the calculations to perform an upgrade."
Baohu was starting to get angry. He punched outwards where John was. But John vanished and appeared right behind him.
Back to back.
John continued to talk and regenerate as Baohu tried to hit him.
"As I get closer and closer to the source. It is almost like a..."
John vanished and appeared right in front of Baohu. A fist went through his body as John traded blow for blow.
"Supercharge."
The spiritual energy around John began to boil. It looked at if he was warping reality.
John flicked his finger at Baohu's head.
His head was erased. But it began to regenerate in that weird way.
Baohu created a wall of formations. Forming a cube around John.
John looked around.
"You wish to fight in a battle of formations? I hate to disappoint you. But I am not too bad in this area."
John flicked his finger as a small cut appeared on it.
A single drop of blood flew out of his finger and flew towards the formation.
John continued to talk as if he was teaching his opponent.
"A single drop of my blood has over 4 million independent formations."
The drop of blood touched the golden cube around John. It then started to transform into a black cube.
It was as if John had created a virus.
Soon the cube shattered and John was still standing unharmed.
"I can feel the spiritual energy growing more and more unstable."
Spiritual energy continued to boil as if it was following the whims of John.
Baohu started to go a hundred times faster.
Time froze as he looked at a frozen John.
"You are no match for my dao."
He then noticed as he moved in for the kill.
John's eyes were following him in frozen time!
Right as he sent a punch meant to vaporize john entirely.
John caught the attack in his hands. He then casually looked around.
"That's right... my weakness is my body not being able to keep up with my thoughts. So I used negative spiritual energy to enhance my body. I hadn't been able to pull it off until now. Thank you!"
John crushed Baohu's fist.
"My strength is also enhanced by the way..."
He then tore off his arm. While also punching him thousands of times in an instant.
John disrupted the flow of spiritual energy in the body of Baohu.
Baohu looked at John in shock.
He started to cough up golden blood.
"You!? You are a monster! Who the hell are you?!"
John smiled.
"I am..."
"As you said... just a 'mortal'."
"Bullshi-!"
Baohu was sent flying. Du had attacked.
"I finally got a hit in! You guys were going way too fast earlier..."
"..."
Baohu stood up and dusted the debris off himself.
Right as Du was about to get killed. John went into what he called 'Infinite Speed' mode. Everything in this mode seemed as if time had been frozen.
But in reality. It was just John using the full potential of the brain and speeding up his reaction to an ungodly level.
He then would 'shock' his muscle fibers and pull off something a little new.
Positive spiritual energy when condensed has positive mass. Like most things. Negative spiritual energy on the other hand has negative mass.
Why is this important?
John is in an environment full of saturated spiritual energy. While it is harder to control. He has an almost infinite amount.
So John changed his body making it essentially behave as if it had zero mass.
This was impossible. But he had pulled it off. His body then could operate like a massless particle. He would then shock his muscles and put them into overdrive.
He could almost reach the speed of light.
It did take an almost infinite amount of energy though. If he wasn't in such an environment. He may have never grasped this mode.
Baohu had to use comprehension of a dao just to keep up!
Time for everything except them seemed to have stopped. It hadn't. Their actions were taking place over the span of a millsecond.
Now that John had learned how to enhance his body using spiritual energy. He was only growing stronger and stronger as the fight continued.
Fighting in this 'deadzone' of spiritual energy. For a cultivator would be a death sentence.
But for John.
He was starting to have fun!