Looking at the breakthrough from the side felt interesting. Qi was still stubbornly escaping the grasp of Rob’s senses, but there were plenty of other signs that were showing the ongoing process. The air movement was visible, creating a whirlpool around the crossed-legged figure of Xu Wong. The latter was fully concentrated on condensing the energy into a sphere, creating his own dantian. His always joyful expression was replaced with a grimace of struggle and pain. If the cultivators could sweat, Rob was sure to see the torrents of them as his apprentice was pushing the ethereal energy with all his will. And it obeyed, creating a real vortex around him. At least that was written in the scrolls of already dead sect members. Instead, Rob was watching multiple other effects that were manifesting in front of him.

The slight redirection of gravity as if a new heavy object started to influence it, residing right where Xu Wong was sitting. Even the light followed its influence, bending and causing weird mirages. Then there was soul pressure that was constantly in motion, jumping in strength only to drop to almost non-existent an instant later. Maybe there was more, but Robert couldn’t notice them with his limited sense. Still, he couldn’t miss the ending when his apprentice made a final long exhale, stabilizing the boiling energy before finally opening his eyes.

“I did it! Master, I did it!” Shining like a tiny sun, Xu Wong was radiating happiness from his achievement. Not everyone around his age could get to the fourth realm of Core Formation, making him a full-fledged cultivator. It was still far from the peak as each next realm demanded much more to reach, but he was no longer an easy target like before, having the ability to summon advanced combat arts on top of other improvements.

“Obviously… You ate so many pills that it would be enough to fill a whole hospital with drug-addicted junkies,” Robert replied, hiding his smile. Somehow, during his mentorship, he took the role of a constantly grumbling teacher. Maybe it was his reaction to feeling old that intensified after comparing his viewpoint on life with Xu Wong. Or maybe it was the cheerful attitude of his apprentice that continued to irritate him. Or perhaps, it was his way of hiding his true feelings as he had limited experience with them. Even now, Rob knew that he was proud both for Xu Wong and himself.

“It’s because your cultivation technique was too complex and required several times more Qi,” Xu Wong replied with a grin.

Yeah, to merge six circulations into one, while adjusting it to his affinities – that wasn’t easy and came with a cost.

“I am lucky not only with the pills but also with this chamber where Qi is so dense that just breathing without any meditation can lead to progress. But the biggest reason for the success was your teachings, Master,” Turning around, Xu Wong suddenly kowtowed, basically bashing his head against the stone floor.

“Stop this nonsense. You know that I don’t like it. Thank you was enough,” Robert sighed, raising his eyes toward the sky. The latter already started to dim, turning another day into the past. Rob lost track of time long ago, but he knew that in terms of cultivation speed Xu Wong’s advancement was insanely fast. Considering that his apprentice at some point basically had to rebuild his foundation, it was even more astonishing.

But nothing lasts forever…

Robert didn’t know if the presence of his apprentice fixed his issues with the people around him. His standing in the absence of desire to communicate with any society was the same. However, now the thought of living between others wasn’t so unacceptable. He still didn’t wish to travel anywhere, enjoying his retirement in this closed realm, but now he wasn’t actively seeking seclusion. He could even greet some guests without threatening to kill them at once because of his overreaction... if they ever managed to get inside. During all this time, he never visited the Ascension Tower even once, giving all daily entries to Xu Wong without ever mentioning this fact. Surprisingly, it appeared he could be perfectly fine without a raise of adrenaline. Overall, Rob got no less than his apprentice, just in another way.

“When do you plan to leave?” Robert asked quietly, turning to Xu Wong.

“In a few days, when I fully stabilize my dantian… I’ve heard that the time pocket dimension might vary from the outside, and I fear a lot could happen during my stay here… Master, are you sure you can’t travel with me?”

“You know the answer… without a direct infusion of Qi, you can’t travel through the portal if you have a soul,” Robert repeated what Xu Wong knew perfectly well. It was the reason why he couldn’t find any animals or their remains in the sect. The place was a hide-out for cultivators and only for them. However, it made a good prison for Rob. The one that he wasn’t aiming to leave for the first time in his life, “Some people called me the Golem, not without a reason,” He smiled lightly, reminding himself of the previous realm. The memories felt distant at this moment as if they weren’t his.

Robert never spoke about his past, his traveling through multiple worlds, and his overall experience, keeping it a mystery. Xu Wong, on the other hand, also never raised this topic, remembering Rob’s words about not caring about his sobby story of a hard childhood. Therefore, it only made the memories fade even faster, but simultaneously healed all the traumas Robert got through his life. As always, time was the best medicine.

“I just… I will remember it for the rest of my life!” Xu Wong shouted, deeply bowing again.

“No need. As a cultivator, you will have a very long life, making this particular part of it just a fraction of your experience. No matter what happens to you, you will have more memories to value or wish to forget. Some will give you the strength to follow your path, while an inability to re-experience others may break you. You will fall in love, and maybe not even once. You will find your nemesis, whose death might be your goal number one… only to get another after their defeat. I haven’t been outside the territory of the sect, but my intuition tells me the cultivator world isn’t the nicest place to live in. However, time makes any feeling weaker, be it love, hatred… and even gratitude. So, once again – no need. Everything has an end, so you can move forward,” Robert looked into the eyes of his apprentice, finally getting a nod from Xu Wong.

“Hey, don’t make a long face – you can always visit me. I am not going anywhere. Moreover, I am quite sure I can’t die from old age… Just don’t make your visits too regular – I will need a rest from your foolish persona,” Rob added, changing the mood and returning the smile to his apprentice.

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“You are back in your normal grumbling state, Master… I will miss it deeply.”

“You better not miss the knowledge I gave you. Focus on that and not on my pale persona,” Robert pointed, “You are only at the beginning of the Core Formation realm. There are at least three more.”

“Do you think there is indeed the seventh realm – the Immortal Rebirth? Never heard about it, apart from the legends about immortals from ancient times,” Xu Wong asked with clouded eyes, clearly trying to imagine what powers it might give him if he ever got there.

“Well, I will use your absence in an attempt to figure it out. Maybe I might even find a method for an advancement,” after short pondering, Robert muttered. He was sure that the needed information might be on the last floor of the pavilion, but to get there he had to defeat all five puppets on the sixth stage. The only way to do it was to implement everything he discovered during the past experiments and the final creation of the technique for his apprentice. There was a lot of valuable information about the Qi-filtering system that could help him with the conversion of energy, and now Rob only needed time to finish his grand project.

“I believe in you, Master! With your help, I even might become the strongest cultivator in the world. I am already comparable with a late stage of Core Formation in terms of power, and just after advancing,” an excitement of Xu Wong was visible, emanating from his expression and even posture.

“And yet you can die with ease. Don’t be overconfident about your might – there is always a bigger fish,” pushing aside a new idea of how to rearrange the meridians, Robert returned to his apprentice, “Why do you need to be the strongest? Be the happiest!”

“Because only an overwhelming power can give me real freedom!” This overused motivational goal almost made Robert facepalm. Maybe somewhere in the past, he thought that power was the answer to most problems, but his life again and again showed him how mistaken he was. It was like money that couldn’t solve everything, just lessen some burden at best. There was no universal answer to every question, and the same was true with might – you couldn’t force some events no matter how strong you were. That was what Rob told his apprentice.

“A real freedom doesn’t sound good… and even possible. Just think about this. Any connection to the people, moral principles, or rules in a society – everything can be treated as some kind of a chain that limits your freedom.” He shook his head, “You need to be a hermit for it, and even that wouldn’t be enough.”

“No, I mean freedom to do what I want without looking at others!” Xu Wong tried to explain, barely keeping his emotions in check.

“And what’s stopping you from doing it right now?” Robert asked, smiling lightly.

“Master, you know what I mean!”

“Nope, I don’t,“ Robert shook his head again, before proceeding, “No one stops you from doing anything you want. You aren’t a slave…”

“I was basically one in the sect! There was no equal treatment, and some Elders, like Zhao Bohai’s uncle, who was bending rules to give more resources to his nephew,” Xu Wong pointed out, “And he wasn’t the only one who was doing it.”

“If it wasn’t a violation of rules, then I don’t see any problem here. You entered it for the sake of knowledge and power, exchanging your freedom for it. Moreover, life isn’t fair. No one is born equal in reality – different backgrounds set different starting points, but it’s up to you how you will use your opportunity. Once again – don’t make excuses, better focus on dealing with the problems. Moreover, I don’t see any connection to the desire for freedom.”

“It’s about freedom to punish those who mistreat me, Master!” Quite agitated, Xu Wong shouted aggressively,” To have the power to change this unfairness, so someone like me won’t be killed during the mission just on a whip of his sect brothers just because a girl spoke with him several times! To return everything tenfold to those who enjoy harming the weak, not facing any consequences of their deeds! To cut out the rotting system that works only for elites! To give hope to those, who are now living in constant darkness because of fear!”

“Well, it’s you who decides what you want,” seeing the strong and emotional reaction, Robert decided against pushing further the matter, “Just remember that a simple solution often doesn’t work and may lead to an even worse outcome in the end… Let’s return to important things. What do you want to take with you? You need to think carefully.”

Dropping up this sensitive topic, Rob spent the rest of the day speaking about other things, mainly asking about life beyond the pocket dimension. Surprisingly, it was one of their rare long conversations that had nothing to do with techniques or circulations, concentrating on something entirely different. As if they both felt it was their last chance to have a heart-to-heart talk about non-essential things. Previously, spending most of the time in prolonged meditations, Xu Wong could dedicate many days to such activity without a single motion of his body. Now, after achieving his goal, he finally relaxed, which in turn eased his mind from the pressure of a potential failure.

At this point, Xu Wong knew that Robert never left this place. Therefore, his apprentice tried to describe as much as he could, considering his own limited knowledge and experience. It still managed to form a picture of a classic cultivator’s world. Vast to the point of being much bigger than any planet, it was divided into the regions under the sect’s control. The territory in-between was often empty wild with no settlements as it was hard to live under the threat of beast tide. Ordinary humans had no chance against empowered animals with abilities. It was the reason why the most frequent type of mission was the elimination of beasts in a specific area. It helped to control the population of the animals while providing some natural resources. The only reason why cultivators had solved the problem of safety for “mortals” was an absence of wish to lose their hunting grounds.

There were more details that with an addition of information from the Pavillion of Techniques had helped Robert to understand how this realm was living… And he didn’t like it in the slightest, thanking the set restrictions that prevented him from entering this world, filled with meaningless violence, vindictiveness, and arrogance. Rob was sure that he wouldn’t have become prey as the Tower of Ascension showed him that he was worth at least three average cultivators of the Spirit Unity realm, which was the current peak in the outside world. However, by this point, he had no wish to kill, while it would be a necessity there. This was the reason why Rob carefully checked his storage to equip his apprentice as much as he could, simultaneously avoiding giving him something too eye-catching not to attract unwanted attention.

“The plainest storage ring with the biggest space. Three cauldrons with a stock of alchemical plants. One flying sword for the Core Formation realm, and another one for the Nascent Soul. Five sets of different weapons for each realm. Several copies of basic cultivation techniques. Helpful notes with tips about your future advancements. Stock of pills, enough to…”

“Please, Master, stop recounting all items. Don’t worry, I will be fine. We’ve already checked everything twice,” Xu Wong made a forceful smile, hiding his sadness, “Everything will be fine, I promise. With your teachings, no one can pose me a threat among Core Formation cultivators.”

“But there are others… Okay, fine. Just get lost already then and don’t drag our parting!” Robert turned around and started to walk away, not bothering to look at the figure of his apprentice, who was standing near the arc that was already filled with energy from qi-stones. Still, Xu Wong’s loud shout caught him up in a few moments.

“I will miss you, Master. Thank you for everything you’ve done!”

“Be gone already, fool,” He muttered quietly only to see the white flash that illuminated the surroundings for a fraction of a second, almost creating an artificial sun behind his back, “Surprisingly, me too, Xu Wong, me too…”.