Profound Ascension

Yaan found himself going in and out of the Punishment Hall and descending to the first layer dungeon quite often. After passing through the main hall above ground on a near-daily basis, he ended up getting to know some of the regulars in this place.

The Punishment Hall elder was called Great Elder Tajin, a dark skinned man from a far away land. He mostly kept to himself and never spoke a word to Yaan, but he would sometimes nod to Yaan as he passed him by in the upper hall.

Yaan had more contact with the core disciples who worked for the Punishment Hall. This was considered a prestigious role in the sect, as they were given special permission to enforce the sect laws fairly, as they saw fit.

These people actually developed quite a good impression of Yaan. He kept to himself, obeyed the rules and was always polite. The ideal disciple.

Yaan going in and out of the first layer dungeon prison couldn't be hidden, so Great Elder Wan made up the excuse that Yaan was cultivating a technique which required him to develop a firm and unshakeable mind. This explained why he killed a prisoner every three days, then went on to spend hours standing beside the deceased body.

There were many strange techniques in this world, so nobody doubted Great Elder Wan's explanation.

Each time Yaan entered the execution chamber, he would find an adult prisoner, starved and tortured, awaiting his hand of death. After his experience with the first prisoner, Yaan no longer asked questions, or even spoke a word throughout.

He found that despite saying nothing, the prisoners with the dead and hopeless eyes would always become quite talkative as soon as he walked across to them with the sword. They would beg him for mercy, try to appeal to his sense of empathy, or attempt to lie their way out of the situation.

Yaan never hesitated in his footsteps, walking directly across to the prisoners and beheading them swiftly. He hoped that by making the process fast and painless, he was able to minimise the suffering that he inflicted upon these pitiful people.

In Zong Village, he killed 88 people. In just over a month, Yaan executed 11 prisoners, bringing his total up to 99 kills, wherein he absorbed 99 strands of Slaughter Aura in the process.

Towards the end, each new strand of Slaughter Aura placed a significantly heavier burden on his mind than the last. The 99th strand of Slaughter Aura forced Yaan to hole himself up in the execution chamber for a full day afterwards. He spent this day sitting in the corner of the room, gritting his teeth and enduring the bloodthirsty desires as they continuously welled up within his heart.

He managed to resist the desire to let go of his inhibitions and rampage crazily, meaning that he was now just a single step away from achieving success with the Fiend Transformation Technique!

By killing a single human, his Fiend Foundation would evolve, allowing him to break through with both his Innate Qi and his body.

Yaan was now much more clear regarding the Fiend Transformation Technique compared to before. The information regarding this technique in his mind was incomplete, probably owing to the mysterious woman's rushed transfer, but Great Elder Wan was able to fill in some of the gaps for him, based on his own incomplete knowledge of this technique.

He would breakthrough with both his Innate Qi and his body simultaneously, meaning that he would reach the Qi Gathering Realm and develop a 1-Star demonic body at the same time.

There was more than one path of cultivation in this world. Humans were most suited towards Qi refining, hence the Qi refining system had been developed and improved throughout the ages. Beasts would develop their bodies and other unique abilities, following the natural path of progression within their bloodline. Because beasts did not possess the intelligence to name their own realms, they were designated the universal numerical rank system.

Demonic races varied from race to race. To pursue two paths simultaneously though…this was unique to the fiend race. It was also unusual for a race with a similar physique and size to humans to be able to cultivate the body.

Of course, there was no such thing as a perfect technique in this world. The cost for this ability to cultivate two paths simultaneously was an extremely demonic and arduous method of cultivation, where there was a chance that he could completely lose his mind and devolve into a demonic monster during the breakthrough.

If that were to happen, even Great Elder Wan wouldn't be able to save him.

For this reason, Yaan rested for a full week, spending this time alone as he meditated and calmed his mind. But despite all this, Yaan couldn't help but feel uneasy about what was to come…

When Great Elder Wan noticed Yaan's suppressed anxiety, he pondered this issue for some time, before suggesting that Yaan could try painting.

"Even the most diligent of cultivators needs a hobby to help relax their mind and heart, Yaan." The great elder explained to him patiently.

"Is that why you paint, teacher?" Yaan asked curiously. He had been wondering this for some time now.

"Mm. Come, give it a try."

For the first time in his life, Yaan took up the brush and swiped paint across a white canvas. There were few people who painted, or even had access to paint, back in Lightstone Village, but Yaan had watched his teacher enough times to understand the basics.

Still, seeing and doing were two different things; his skill was clearly lacking. He attempted to paint the landscape outside of the elder's temple abode, but it ended up looking like a mess of colours which didn't really resemble much of anything.

Even so, the process of painting was relaxing, enjoyable even. Just focussing on something simple like art, whilst relaxing his mind for the first time in months, really did help Yaan to calm his heart and mind.

Countless canvases stacked up, and even though he was yet to produce anything that even remotely resembled what he was trying to paint, Yaan could feel that he had improved. He didn't expect to feel so accomplished after doing something like this, but he really did.

After painting without worrying about anything else for a full week, he had mentally prepared himself for the coming trial. He accepted that this was something that he needed to do, and that he wouldn't have any regrets, no matter what.

Enduring those days of bloodthirsty desires whilst forcefully controlling himself caused Yaan to develop further mentally than any ordinary seven year old child. He was beginning to grow up, understanding that this world wasn't perfect, and that if he wanted something, then he would need to pay the price.

His resolve towards his revenge grew deeper, motivating him to finally enter the execution chamber after spending one full week in solitude.

The time, Great Elder Wan insisted on joining him.

There were two reasons for this. Firstly, he was going to provide Yaan with a material called Profound Water, a precious medicinal ingredient which could be used to quickly refine and accumulate Innate Qi. The reason for him giving this to Yaan, was because Yaan's breakthrough this time would likely cause a disturbance beyond any typical Qi Gathering Realm breakthrough. This was due to Yaan's body, which would absorb a massive amount of the Spiritual Energy from the surroundings when he broke through to the 1-Star Realm.

By absorbing the required energy from Profound Water, Yaan's breakthrough wouldn't create such a big scene.

The Great Elder set up a stove within the room, filling the sealed room with evaporated Profound Water mist.

The second reason for the elder staying went unspoken between Yaan and his teacher, but Yaan understood it all too well…Great Elder Wan needed to remain nearby, incase Yaan failed his ascension and lost his sanity. If that really did happen, Great Elder Wan would be forced to kill him. He didn't say this directly, but Yaan understood this point, and honestly…he didn't disagree with it.

He didn't want to become a mindless monster, he would rather die. At least, he thought this way right now, but he probably wouldn't feel the same way after losing his sanity.

Yaan shook his head and dispelled all of these useless thoughts from his mind as he entered the familiar chamber. The door was quickly shut behind him with a clank, so as to not let out any of the precious Profound Water mist.

The room was filled with a faint white mist, which left him feeling invigorated with every breath. Through the mist, he could see a female prisoner, left confused by this fog which was somehow replenishing her energy and healing her wounds.

The gender of the prisoners was inconsequential to Yaan, he had killed both males and females indiscriminately.

Once again, Yaan placed his hand onto the handle of the short sword. The blade was sharp. Clearly, someone had been sharpening it between each of his visits to the execution chamber.

The sound of a sword being drawn echoed through the room, causing the woman to tense up.

"I-Is someone there? I, please listen to me, I-"

Ching!

Yaan didn't spend long letting her stew in worry. His footsteps were light but fast, soon reaching the woman and removing her head from behind in one clean motion. The sword cut through her neck like butter, leaving the still pleading expression on her face, even after her body fell into two parts.

Yaan quickly tossed the sword to the side, then sat down at the back of the room. He could already feel the Slaughter Aura storming into his body, invisible but very clear in its effect.

He began breathing heavily within seconds, his thoughts quickly becoming engrossed with thoughts of killing, death, blood and slaughter. Yaan pushed these thoughts out of his mind, instead focussing on the serene nothingness that came from emptying his mind.

His practice of daily meditation began to show its effect, as did his training to resist these types of bloody thoughts. Despite the amplified stench of blood flowing into his nostrils and filling his body with the desire to stand up and kill more, he stayed sitting and only grimaced through this suffering.

As the bloodthirsty emotions increased further within his body and mind, some other changes were also taking place. The white mist inside the chamber began to move, spiralling awkwardly with Yaan as the centre at the back of the room. The mist span faster and faster, until it started flowing towards his body, as if being channelled through an invisible funnel.

Each breath he took absorbed the Profound Water mist. After the mist entered his body, it was channelled into his bloodstream, where it was circulated around his body, towards his muscles, his organs, bones, tendons, skin, and back into his bloodstream.

The Spiritual Energy was also dragged from the surrounding atmosphere towards a certain point below his navel. It formed a spiralling vortex around his navel, but for a moment, it was unable to progress any further.

At the same time, the energy being circulated through his body also pervaded his meridians and Qi channels. When Yaan sensed this, he quickly urged the energy, pushing it deeper into his meridians, causing it to enter a strange, non-physical circuit within his body, flowing through this intricate circuit until finally…

BANG!

An explosive sound heard only to Yaan rang out through his mind. This caused him a great deal of shock, making him to almost lose control over his mental state. He just about managed to hold on, suppressing all thoughts and emotions once again as he searched through his body in amazement.

Yaan immediately discovered, to his marvel, that a strange energy was circulating through his body. It passed through multiple gateways, accumulating en mass as a faint gas in an area in his lower abdomen.

He knew from Great Elder Wan's teachings that these gateways were his meridians and the dense area just below his navel should be his dantian. Yaan focussed intently on his dantian, mesmerised by this strange aperture, where his Innate Qi was continuing to accumulate.

Not only that, but Yaan could feel his body rapidly strengthening, absorbing energy and filling him with a feeling of immense power and livelihood!

This feeling was intoxicating, almost causing him to lose his focus on suppressing the evil desires. When Yaan realised that he was slipping, he quickly returned his attention to keeping himself sane.

The simultaneous feeling of pleasure and pain was unusual, leaving Yaan feeling uncomfortable in the strangest way imaginable. It was an itch that could not be scratched, and all he could do was endure it. He was only holding on by a hair's end, he could easily lose control at any given moment.

Luckily, this process didn't last for too long. Ten minutes later, the disturbance to the white mist finally stopped. The mist thinned out dramatically, but the stove continued to replenish it. Remembering what Great Elder Wan mentioned, Yaan quickly turned off the stove and placed a lid on the pot. He could feel that his breakthrough was over and that he no longer needed this thick Profound Water mist, there was no need to waste anymore of this precious material.

As Yaan's breakthrough reached the finale, an explosive black light flashed out from an unknown place, tens of miles up in the sky. The light was pitch black, devoid of any colour, whilst the sound was so deep that human ears would not hear it, only feel it. Despite the extremity of this occurrence, it was so far away and so brief that it went unnoticed by all those below.

Slowly, Yaan looked down at his hands. He clenched his fist a few times, feeling the power flowing through his body. Whether it was his physical flesh or his Innate Qi, both exuded a feeling of strength like nothing Yaan had experienced before until this very moment. Unknowingly, a smile spread across his face.

Finally, he had stepped onto the path of cultivation!