“Who knows? That spree below the depths was quite the scene.” Bing Xin said. She once again appeared in a swirling black mass.

  From the very first moment Dejiu laid eyes on his Class’s line of text, he knew there was no way he could try telling anyone from the temple about it. Back then, he never revealed it. Even Jiansu and some other senior or warrior monks who asked him weren’t given it. He could only thank his younger self for having the wisdom to withhold that already morbid-sounding information.

  Now, he was even more inclined not to share it. This description is dying with him!

  “Can you explain this?”

  “More of your Class’s nuances will be revealed with each advancement. Take it as the Seekers Accord’s view on your cultivation thus far.”

  Dejiu nodded. Definitely should not reveal his dementedness as the Seekers Accord calls it. Though, it does raise the question, “Is the Seekers Accord always watching?”

  “It sees all and hears all.

  “Is it alive?”

  Bing Xin paused for a while. Her inscrutable shadowy veil hid anything and everything Dejiu hoped to see.

  “I don’t know if omniscient constitutes it as alive, little monk. I believe it is neither sentient nor mindless. Think no more of it. Countless before you have pondered the same answers until madness claimed them before answers did.”

  Dejiu sighed. She’s right. He’ll be running himself to the ground if he thinks of it any longer, besides, he already had one near-omniscient being inside him. What makes another?

  He giddily laughed before he felt Bing Xin constrict his insides and he regained his focus. “Alright, alright. What now? Actually, how many days have passed?” He asked after looking at the frozen filth below him again.

  “Eight. Hold out for another day and they’ll let you out of the Hundred Penance Gaol.”

  “Eight, huh.” He echoed, a little flustered. Cultivating and breaking through for eight consecutive days wasn’t something he could do without Bing Xin. While he did help her, she carried most of the heavy lifting.

  “What could I do in the meantime?”

  “Ponder upon your path to enlightenment. Recall sutras. Immerse in Buddha’s teaching–”

  “Seriously.”

  “There's nothing much. You could work on the Wilted Stem reinforcement technique and try to bring it up to Adept. The first cultivation method technique goes hand-in-hand.”

  Dejiu stood up to train. But it turns out she wasn’t done talking.

  “Or I could tell you of my plans now since you became an Advanced Stage cultivator.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  He sat back down. “Tell me, I’m intrigued. Just how will an almighty daimon manifest to the physical world and how will it improve my strength.”

  “Through soul cultivation.”

  “What’s that?” Dejiu frowned. “Well, I guess you’re already going to explain since you know the extent of my knowledge. Or I guess lack thereof.”

  “Most things weren’t taught to you because of your Class. From cultivation, techniques, Paths, the Seekers Accord, daimons, Pillarshards, the many Hells.” Bing Xin listed. “But some things weren’t taught because the temple doesn’t know of such things.”

  Dejiu’s heart pumped faster. What she was getting at was exciting. Something even the temple doesn’t know!? He’s in!

  “I will train you to open your soulspace earlier. The Seekers Accord makes this innate for cultivators at the Earthly Realm, but I can teach you to do it now.”

  He raised an eyebrow. Honestly, he’s pretty lost without her regardless of her ancient and secretive knowledge, but in general things as well. It was new knowledge that the Seekers Accord even did that.

  “Why should we open it earlier? Actually, no. What is a soulspace? “

  “Exactly as it is. The space inside your soul.” Bing Xin said bluntly. “We’ll open it earlier to begin a long process of soulforging a weapon capable of holding a fragment of myself.”

  “Soulforging?”

  “Using advanced shaper and instiller techniques inside your soulspace. I’ll explain more later when it comes to it but focus first on making the aperture to open the soulspace prematurely with soul cultivation.”

  Dejiu felt like he had a headache. Soul this, soul that. He didn’t even have time to process everything he’s gained from reaching the Advanced Stage!

  “You should already be faintly aware of your soul by now.” She continued without care.

  “The reason I had you compress your core many times before your breakthroughs is so you could feel immense pressure bearing down on your very soul. This overarching pressure forces you to be aware of things you shouldn’t be capable of this early in cultivation. However, being aware isn’t enough — many talented prodigies are capable of such a feat, and perhaps somewhere in this vast world, my knowledge isn’t so secretive as you think.”

  “But this knowledge is useless when the alternative is better, right?” Dejiu grinned. He already understood what she was getting at.

  “Indeed. The Seekers Accord rendered many things futile. But better? It depends on circumstance. For ours, it is best to begin now.”

  He nodded. “Soul cultivation — how do I begin?”

  “You’ve already begun. Soul cultivation is comprised of three parts — strengthening the soul, refining the soul, and pacifying the soul. The overarching pressure of compressing your core’s prana to its utmost limit serves two purposes for you. One, as I have already mentioned, faintly makes you aware of it in time. Two is that you are strengthening your soul. If your soulspace was the size of a grain of rice, then now it is a bean.”

  Dejiu was starting to get a little excited. This all sounded good. A little too good, but hey, Bing Xin never failed to deliver on her promises. “Alright. Is there anything else I could do to strengthen my soul?”

  “No. You can’t.”

  He frowned. “Huh?”

  “The traditional method of long ago would take too long. It would be tens of years of mindlessly scraping your will and senses to find the shape of your soul. No — I will shatter your soul ever so lightly. Soul injuries are nothing to trifle at, but if done right, your soul would only grow larger and stronger to resist. By then, you’ll have no choice but to be aware of its size.”

  “...” Dejiu’s frown tugged lower. “So, uh. Is this going to hurt?”

  “I recall you once said that in order to escape this life, you would consider pain and grit a small price to spite the temple.”

  His face twitched and he rubbed his cold head. “I did. I did say something like that. Multiple times even.”

  “Bite down and close your eyes. Picture something nice. Somewhere beautiful. It's fortunate we’re in an isolated space.”

  Dejiu had a bad feeling well up. He did as told and prayed. “Amitabha.”

  He clenched his teeth so tightly that his jaw ached. The command was easy enough to follow, but his mind struggled to overcome his anticipation. "Somewhere nice. Somewhere beautiful," He repeated internally.

  Then he felt it. The world within him roared to life. It was as if a fissure cracked across the core of his being, exposing something raw and undefended. The rush of suffocating blackness that clawed through him. It wasn’t just pain it was like his insides were being unraveled.

  He nearly bit his tongue as he tried to suppress the sound, but it was impossible. No restraint could cage the agony.

  If anyone had been standing outside his cell, they'd be pounding on the door, convinced he was being flayed alive. For a moment, he wished someone was there. Someone to stop this. Someone to care. But Bing Xin’s earlier words echoed faintly in the back of his writhing mind, “No one oversees your cell.”

  It was a good thing actually. Otherwise, they'd assume he was dying.

  Because he almost was.