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  After cheg on Nichos and pig up Aiyana who had been a week inside a jungle, we moved towards our destination, the skies. The Heavens above my Inner Realm were another whole world to explore, one as big as the Inner Realm, and divided into Nine Layers as the Nine Heavens they are.

  Each color represents a as well, and each Heaven has its own unique biomes, floating isnds, or even a solid cloud to stand over. Alongside unique, Martial Beasts of eveer power than down here.

  “John should have goo the White Heaven, so it’s around there,” I said. “ you fly? I’m sure all of you by now e with me.”

  I jumped into the skies and flew higher and higher, propelling myself using my sheer Immortal Aura as the only form of flight, easy enough.

  Meanwhile, I observed that each person had their own uhod of flight. Aiyana summohe Totem of a Hawk, gaining its enormous wings and growing over her shoulders to fly higher and higher.

  Nichos covered his body with a yer of metal, using his Magism to lift himself up through it. And Peperina flew using her fmes, propelling her as she released them through her foot with each step upwards.

  Eventually, we passed through a sea of white clouds. The air in here was thid cold; it was quite refreshing from the heat down below. We stepped into the fluffy white clouds and started moving quickly across the cloudy pins.

  “Over there,” I said.

  I noticed a tall, blonde young man above the skies, floating above the clouds, while rays of light bathed his body. He was stantly strug formations made of light around him.

  His white skin had bee rather tanned after having been bathing irong sunlight all this time, but he looked fine.

  “Hahh…”

  He sighed in frustration as he felt the light enpassing him; he had almost formed a perfect pagoda-shaped stru, but it ended shattering apart.

  “Not yet…”

  I had given him special training; by letting him absorb the purest form of light within my Inner Realm and then wielding it, he had been trying to make shapes with light.

  This was the first step towards learning Photon Esses, although I doubt he’ll be able to use the exa I have, he seems to have some talent.

  His trol was already surprising after just a week, holy.

  “Well done, John,” I said. “It seems you’ve been able to create multiple shapes now, all at the same time too.”

  “B-Bing Xue?!” He gasped, surprised. “I swear I didn’t sense your presence here… Oh, you’re with everyone else?”

  “Yeah, you’ve been here for almost a week; don’t you feel tired? Let’s go down to take a rest,” I expined. “You’ve advanced by leaps and bounds, so it might be about time I give you a raining regime and guide you better.”

  “O-Oh, but I… well, you saw that, right? I was uo create a solid, big stru yet,” he sighed. “I have yet to even prove I’ve progressed enough.”

  “You’ve already done so in my opinion,” I said. “Shaping light is no easy feat either, and you’ve learo do this in a week; it’s surprising. You also seem stronger; your body harbors a rge quantity of the Essence of Light; you have officially begun your jourhrough this Path.”

  “I-Is that so…” he wondered, feeling like nothing much had ged with him whatsoever. “It really doesn’t feel like that to me… Huh.”

  “Well, did you have a dream?” I asked him.

  “No…” he said. “I mean, what dream?”

  “One where you became light maybe?” I asked. “Or something simir.”

  “I haven’t, not that I remember…” he said.

  “I suppose you have yet to attain enlighte…” I said. “But your body already feels radiant, as if you’ve already done so; how iing.”

  It seemed he was a sleeping talent all along; I should have noticed this earlier.

  Could it be that he had already gained enlighte in the past before, without even realizing it?

  Perhaps…

  “Don’t tell me this whole time you’ve been just floating in the air!” said Aiyana. “Wow, talk about being a zy ass.”

  “L-Lazy ass?!” asked John. “I’ve been w really hard, Aiyana! A-And why are you covered in so much blood? What’s gotten into you? And you’re huge!”

  “Heheheh! I got stronger,” Aiyana ughed. “But you’re still just the same; you’re so me, Joh real for once.”

  “I’ve been training diligently this eime; I’ll show you the fruit of my bor eventually,” John sighed. “I holy don’t get the time to be discussing or making a fuss with you, Aiyana.”

  “Heh, always talking like you’re above others. This is why I don’t like this guy,” said Aiyana angrily.

  "Well, you kind of started it,” said Peperina. “Let’s just get along…”

  “I agree, o be fighting like this,” nodded Nichos. “We are all allies here. John and Aiyana, you’re part of the guild masters of New York; you’re my closest allies and friends as well. So I wouldn’t want to see you fighting like this.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” I nodded. “e on, we’re not done here yet. Let’s move to the Bck Heaven now.”

  While the White Heaven was a near-endless nd made of white clouds, the Bck Heaven was made of bck clouds. There was barely any light there, and the element of Darkhrived the most within these divine skies.

  We saw storms of purple and bck lighting, tornadoes of abyssal fmes, and tless monstrous creatures that lived in here. Eaore scary-looking and grotesque than the previous one.

  “Is this where Jackes went to?” wondered John. “I thought his punishment had ended already, but did he get reprimanded again?”

  “No, this is not his punishment; it’s the optimal way for him to grow stronger and develop his element,” I expined. “Jackes’ element of darkness and shadows only expand and grow within this enviro and-”

  RUMBLE!

  Interrupting my words, a loud tremor reverberated across the nearby clouds as we looked down, notig a gigantic mass of darkness and shadows, taking the form of some humanoid being, fighting against the creatures that lived in here.

  Its gigantic shadow cws tore through the tentacled abominations that lived here; each time they were killed, particles of darkness would e from their bodies and be absorbed by the titan of shadows.

  “W-What is that thing?!” John gasped, c his mouth in disbelief. “I-Is it some monster?!”

  “No, that’s Jackes,” I smiled. “Looks like he’s doing well.”

  I desded to greet him the moment his giant red eyes gred at me; however, he swung his cws against me, trying to attack me.

  CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

  Explosions of bck thunder erupted as these gigantic cws made of bck clouds attempted to tear me to shreds, but to no avail; it dealt no damage against me.

  But yes, I had they were quite strong.

  “That’s enough, Jackes,” I said. “Don’t let your power trol you.”

  I waved my hand, toug the giant shadow cws and iing Photon Essenside.

  Until the entire beied, with beams of light ing from holes through its body.

  BOOOM!

  As the darkness was defeated and disappeared, the body of Jackes appeared, falling from the skies. I rushed down, grabbing him before he was to fall from the skies.

  His short bck hair had grown a bit longer, and his slender body was as light-weighed as I remember him being.

  “Ugh…!” he groaned, slowly opening his eyes. “W-Wha…? Bing Xue?!”

  He gasped in disbelief as he found me carrying him around like a kitten.

  “Hello Jackes, I see your cultivatio detly well, though you’ve lost yourself in the power of darkness,” I said. “It is a scary thing, isn’t it?”

  “I-I lost myself?” he gasped. “I-I… I’m sorry… I couldn’t fight back… It was so powerful and all-enpassing. I don’t know how long it has been, perhaps a couple of days.”

  “I see, did you achieve enlighte in the Dao of Darkhen?” I wondered.

  “I-I saw a dream where I became a monster born from shadows, and this dream tinued until now,” he sighed.

  “Iing how that went, so you dreamed about being a monster of shadows, and there you were, being one! Haha, alright, we’ll work on helping you out trol that monster inside of you,” I giggled. “You’ve got great potential, heless.”

  “I-I apologize…” He felt rather humiliated. “To think I would dare attack you…”

  “It’s fine,” I shrugged. “I’m s that it doesn’t really matter that much. But don’t do that again, alright? We’ll work on that.”

  “Y-Yes, thank you,” he nodded.

  After that, we regrouped back, and the rest of the disciples started to bark at him.

  “Hey Jackes, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Aiyana cried.

  “This was seriously dangerous; what was happening inside of your head?” John asked.

  “Hm, well, Bing Xue is very strong, so I doubt she went through serious harm or a threat,” said Nichos. “But yes, I agree; you o work on your trol.”

  “I will,” nodded Jackes, feeling slightly annoyed. “I must.”

  I smiled, nodding.

  “Let’s go; almost the st stop now.”

  We move to the Blue Heavens, where id water are trated. But that wasn’t because the disciple there desired such elements.

  No, it was because in the Blue Heavens, there was a huge Heavenly Stoing on, a phenomenon when every Heavenly Layer gathers too muergy and it explodes.

  This explosion gees a storm that unleashes a huge tornado between all nine yers, trating into a beautiful yet lethal rainbow-colored tornado.

  This tornado, taining all nine elemental heavens clouds within them, was the ideal pce for someoo cultivate and absorb its chaotic, elemental energies.

  And it was a young man, Francisco, the stro magi of New York and amongst the stro of North America so far.

  He was only a boy in his te teens, with red brown hair and sharp emerald eyes; he had a childish personality and was obsessed with magic itself.

  Cultivation had also bee one of his new hobbies, and after learning that through it, he could actually make his delicate body stronger, making it possible for him to not get too exhausted from using his extensive quantities of Mana, he had grown obsessed with it.

  To bine Ki with his boundless Mana together into something stronger, and he had been growing by leaps and bounds.

  I might sound a bit biased here, but amongst my disciples, he’s the most promising of the bunch due to his incredible potential.

  A master of magic capable of mastering any element; for example, he is able to create magic circles out of thin air through his Skills, modify them, transform them, and bihem.

  This, fused with Cultivation, Dao Marks, and the power of Martial Arts, Spiritual Arts, and Ki, has been rapidly growing him into something not even I predict he could bee.

  He’s my biggest wild card, the oh a future that might be the brightest amongst my disciples.

  And right now, in front of everyone, he roving why he was so unique and talented.

  FLUOSH!

  In the middle of this elemental tornado of destru, which could easily crush everyone here within a matter of minutes.

  He was there, floating in midair.

  He was sitting cross-legged, floating amidst the skies.

  The elements, instead of harming him, beo his Are Arts, ing around his body.

  Slowly, his Aura of Mana and Ki grew bigger, exuding the brilliance of the nine heavens as he absorbed their elements directly.

  Around his body, there were dozens of enormous Magic Circles with rainbow colors and thousands of tiny runes inscribed in them.

  His eyes were glowing; we couldn’t eveheir pupils anymore.

  “There, this, and that too… Ah! I think I made a breakthrough again!”

  He smiled childishly, giggling as he waved his fingers, modifying the magic circles and making them even more effit at ing elemental energies and assimiting them.

  I noticed that he was now using Spiritual Arts, specifically Feng Shui, into his Magic Circles, adding its unique marks and runes into them.

  Teically, despite looking so small, each magic circle was actually a formation of its own with several yers stacked together through runes.

  Their polified his growth, development, and thought process; he was stantly breaking through many walls at the same time as he learned more about the elements, his powers, magid cultivation.

  Even his Martial Core was different from the rest—a powerful crystallization of Mana, he created a uhod of Mana Cultivation, a Mana Core.

  He didn’t have just ohough; he had already figured out how to add more, so his body currently had three of them.

  The first one was in his chest, the sed inside his head, and the third was in his stomach; eae enhanced his body’s groowers.

  I have given him guidand training regimes, but all of this? He figured it out on his own.

  He had been mostly overlooked by everyone else, so I tell they were very surprised.

  “I-Is that Francisco?!” Nichos gasped.

  “W-What in the world is going on…” John muttered.

  “Hahaha! That kid’s pretty strong, isn’t he?! I think we’ve been sleeping on him!” Aiyana ughed.

  “S-So many Elemental Apertures,” said Peperina. “He’s abs all of that?! How is he not dying…?”

  “He’s an Are Cultivator,” I expined. “Perhaps the first of his kind, he has discovered a new Path, the Path of the Arist, and even a new Dao, the Are Dao.”

  “Hmm… Oh? Ah! Master!”

  With a cute giggle, Francisco greeted me.

  He waved his hands as his magic circles exploded into pieces, and the eornado suddenly dissipated.

  Oh, so he was keeping the tornado in pce? Iing!

  “Francisco! It seems you’ve grown a lot in just a week!” I said. “I am quite proud of you.”

  “You praise me too much; I am barely scratg the surface so far!” he desded, greeting everyone. “Oh wow! Everyone looks s now, I ’t pare, haha!”

  As he acted humbly, everyone else gred at him with faces full of disbelief.

  “This guy…” John muttered.

  “That humility only hurts me more…” Jackes sighed.

  “A-Ahaha, o meet you again, Franuttered Nichos. “W-Well done!”

  “Now let’s get going,” I said. “We have to quickly. ht, Yanisse! She must be… even higher than this. Let’s go!”

  I flew into the skies as everyone followed.

  Although they rapidly started to get nervous the more cloud yers we pierced.

  Yes, Yanisse was all the iars.

  “Um, where’s Ya?” asked Peperina. “This is already… We’re going to outer space! I didn’t know your Inner Realm had such a thing!”

  “She’s iarry Sky,” I expined. “It’s not pletely an Outer Space like everyone knows it, but it's an incredibly expansive, empty space of pure darkness, where stars of all colors, meteors, and asteroids exist. Of course, there’s also lots of Spatial and Void Singurities! This is an imitation of the “Starry O” that Murim had!”

  “WHAT?!”

  My entire group of disciples was shocked for some reason! Well, they get shocked all the time anyways, so I moved on.

  “Hmm… She should’ve been around there, oh!”

  I looked into the very far distance. A beautiful blonde Russian girl was floating in front of a spiraling Void Singurity, abs its all-destructive essence.

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  Pach