Things were in motion all over the world as small and middle sized troubles occurred everywhere.

Past allies became ennemies, sects were destroyed and plundered, people disappeared suddenly...

Yet, throughout all this, he remained unaware as he continued to repeat an endless cycle of drowning within his own mind.

Twenty days already went by since Jin began his attempt at reaching the 40th stage. Ness was blocked by Nangua in front of Jin's room.

Nangua was smoking a giant cigar while glaring at Ness.

Ness glared at him: "Don't make me do something you will regret, Nangua"

Nangua chuckled and coughed some smoke before he responded: "Leave it. He does not need to be awakened."

Ness explained: "What are you talking about? You should very well know the dangers of exposure to the secret treasures!"

Nangua laughed: "And you should be aware that the longer he perseveres, the stronger his understanding will be. Leave it to him, have some trust."

Ness frowned: "This has nothing to do with trust. If left alone, he will lose himself to the element! You know very well how dangerous it is!"

Nangua breathed in the smoke before releasing it upwards. Then, he pointed behind himself towards Jin: "This guy never had anyone wake him up."

This surprised Ness immensely. The whole reason behind having master-disciple relationships was to make sure that every attempt at critical breakthroughs ended quickly without risks. The longer someone took to breakthrough, the higher his comprehension but, at the same time, the greater the dangers.

One would be exposed to the purity of the element they were trying to absorb. It would mean to face that existence itself.

In most cases, the master would wake up forcefully the disciple after a specific amount of time determined ahead of time. It would enable the disciple to safely accumulate some understanding of an element while breaking through.

Jin's case had been different since the beginning.

He never had anyone to rely on and always experienced the full brunt of the element. Or did he? Nangua believed that he did but Nangua was in fact wrong.

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Every time, Jin absorbed the element of Fear and while not there physically, that element was minutely controlled by The Nightmare.

It was not the case this time.

Jin was experiencing the entirety of the element without anyone's help and he was completely at risk yet, because of Nangua's misunderstanding, he was not going to receive any help for his breakthrough.

Ness was convinced after a few more minutes of debate with Nangua which sealed Jin's fate. He was going to be alone in front of the element.

...

Meanwhile, far away on that same continent, Chunso and the Crow landed.

Chunso asked: "Is this the place?"

The Crow who turned into a humanoid form cackled: "We should get there in a week if they don't move"

They both began to walk towards Jin.

...

Not long later, the 9th and 15th Hours crashed down onto a gigantic flying boat.

This boat belonged to the pirate king, a lobster monster, and the candidate named by The Seagull.

The lobster humanoid quickly realized that two Saints boarded his boat uninvited and moved forward to welcome them: "Dear Seniors, I wonder what might have brought you here onto this junior's boat?"

The 9th Hour asked: "Are you the one named by Seagull?"

As soon as those words were uttered, every single subordinate of the lobster took out a weapon and started circulating their energy. There were thousands solely on that admiral boat and hundreds more on the other twelve ships that surrounded it.

The two men from the Sun Empire could feel more than a dozen powerful presences at the 69th stage.

This was a force strong enough to rival a great kingdom and it was an ever-moving one. The lobster was definitely in a position worthy of being named as a candidate for a Throne.

However, none of it mattered in front of one Saint, let alone two of them.

The lobster stated: "It is me indeed, I am under the wing of the Seagull himself. I wonder why the two Seniors have come looking for me today?"

The lobster remained calm on the surface but he was sweating on the inside. He knew very well the power of a Saint for he was close enough to Seagull to have been named by him. That being said, he only signed up to face others at the same stage as him, the 69th stage. Fighting against Saints? While not being one himself? Impossible.

Even his entire fleet was nothing in front of one of those men.

The 15th Hour cracked his fingers: "Let's end it quickly so that we can go enjoy some time at the casino, brother."

The 9th Hour stated: "Lobsters are supposed to taste heavenly when perfectly cooked but horrible when prepared badly. Do not ruin our dinner, brother."

At that very moment, the lobster screamed: "Everyone, attack!"

However no one moved.

Aside from the few at the 69th stage, every other was sprawled down on the deck unable to get up. The sheer power emanating from the two Saints was pushing them down as if gravity itself.

The 15th Hour called out to the other decent cultivators on board: "You guys can either stay out of this or die, get on your knees if you wish to leave this place alive."

The 9th hour added: "We are only after the lobster and we do not kill meaninglessly."

Killing meaninglessly would add to their karma which was something they rejected firmly contrary to some other Saints who desired for additional evil karma. At the very least, while those of the Empire remained Neutral, they were not fondamentally evil in their ways.

In any case, after their words, all the cultivators kneeled.

The lobster's knees fell under him as he began to laugh sadly before being engulfed within the flames.

A few moment later, two men flew away while holding fried lobster claws and nibbing on them.

They were tasty.