16 9th Step

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'Cultivators have three eyes right?'

It was a mere fleeting thought, yet it rang like a huge church bell beside his ears. His closed eyes snapped wide open, his body trembled for a bit. He totally forgot about his aching body and his fatigued mind. All that's on his mind right now is this one, simple question.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Sieg roared in laughter, there was also some tears included in those laughs as well, it was like he descended into madness but it's actually quite the opposite.

"How could I forget! Cultivators are no longer mortals so they absolutely can't be judged according to common sense! Mortals have a pair of eyes but cultivators have three! We have a third eye! It isn't there because the creator felt like including it! It has a purpose! Third Eye is the seat of the soul! It can also be called the Niwan Palace since this is where the soul can go out of the body and enter it! I'm so dumb to forget about that!"

"And then finally, as I opened my eyes, my light finally showed itself. This isn't reffering to the naked eye! It was reffering to the Third Eye. The reason why my forhead hurts so bad was because the light is getting rid of the blockage within my Third Eye! If I just gritted my teeth before and persisted, I might've done it during my first try."

"Well, going about it this way isn't bad either. Since I got an understanding of 1st chapter for the 'Ancient Heart Mantra' then the process should be smoother and my absorption should be greater. The failure before opened an opportunity for me now. I should prepare myself for my second try."

Sieg was ecstatic, it only took one random thought and the answer appeared before him. He rested his body and recovered his exhausted mental fatigue, he also did a last minute review of the instructions and commited them in mind so that these sort of things won't happen to him again.

After another hour of recovering, he sat like a bhuddist, made his thumb and pointing finger touch tips, and lifted his tongue to touch the roof of his mouth just like before. He also breathed in deeply this time and fully concentrated so that he will be aware if there would be something wrong that's going to happen or if he can realize new more things during the process.

And then, he finally began chanting the first line.

As soon as he did, the surrounding Spiritual Energies trembled. Someone was calling for them and this calling was insatiable, it was like the calling was deeply ingrained in their memories but the voice of the caller wasn't.

Sieg was following this so he was completely aware, and he was inwardly shocked, he didn't expect that the Spiritual Energies would tremble because of his realization, the fluctuation he released earlier was like a whisper compared to this.

Then he followed with the second chant. The Spiritual Energies in a 9 meter radius around him started billowing towards him. Sieg's wasn't harmed, in fact he was actually enjoying this sensation. He was like floating in air, his mental exhaustion was completely erased and his whole being felt like it was cradled in the arms of a mother.

Once he felt like his body couldn't absorb more, he started chanting the third line. As he did, the Spiritual Energies he absorbed madly rotated, it condensed smaller and smaller until it's like a size of thread. This Spriritual Energy thread might seem small and weak but if Sieg used this to an enemy at his same level, it would cause a massive disruption abd there's even a chance of them becoming an idiot.

He chanted the fourth line, the Spiritual Energy thread dissipated into smoke that circulated throughout his whole body. He felt like he was floating in the clouds. This sensation isn't comparable to when he experienced a success in Ki Refining for the first time.

Then he felt that the thread reformed itself waiting for the next chant. Sieg then chanted the last line for the first chapter of 'Ancient Heart Mantra'.

'And then finally, as I opened my eyes, my light finally showed itself.'

The thread went out of Sieg's body and charged to his forhead. Sieg was already anticipating this so he prepared himself and gritted his teeth immediately. The pain that he anticipated came, but on contrary to his expectations, it wasn't as painful as before. It was more of a sting instead of pain, which is totaly bearable for him.

Minutes passed and the sting was also fading away, he heard some few cracking sounds in his head. It was like some membrane or blockage was being cleared out from his forhead, this process wasn't painful for him anymore it was actually quite comforting for him since he was getting rid of some sort of a shackle.

And then finally, the Spritual Energy thread made it through and went to the depths of his mind. And there it saw a dim shadow, seemingly craving for some light. It charged without any remorse and infused with the shadow.

Of course this was Sieg's Soul, as the Spiritual Energy thread touched his soul, it trembled in delight. It was now covered in a faint and supple light which formed a layer of protection for his soul.

Unknown to Sieg, a faint outline of what looks like a drop of water appeared in the his forhead. It was also placed exactly at the center where the insignia of the black rock was etched in his forhead as well.

Sieg opened his eyes and the outlines disappeared from his forhead. His eyes were sparkling and he muttered under his breath:

"So this is the 'Light' he was reffering to." Sieg was moved, for the third time, the image of the Incription Lands changed itself for him and he thought that this was it's true image.

The sky was no longer dark, it was now shining with a brilliant yet calming light. The air around him carried a huge amount of Spiritual Energies that swam mindlessly. The ground is now littered with Incriptions each step, waiting in line so that Sieg can brought them back to life as well.

He saw the six Inscriptions that he filled earlier. His face showed a smile as he saw them swimming through the air and playing like children. He didn't stood up though, since he was already here might as well let his soul be awakened.

He planned on entering the 1st step of Awakening for his Spirit Cultivation as well. He then performed the necessary ceremonies and started chanting once again.

***

1 week passed in a blink of an eye yet Sieg was still sitting in there cultivating his spirit. He managed to reach the 6th step of Awakening. So far, he already activated his soul, head, limbs, eyes, ears and nose for his Spirit Cultivation. He was not shocked of this speed because the details of the 'Ancient Heart Mantra' told him that since Spirit Cultivation shares the same path as Ki Refiners (they both have 9 steps of awakening), if one decided to cultivate both of them, they would automatically wait for each other but strictly in this realm only.

Meaning that he will not breakthrough to 9th step of Awakening on Ki Refining until he reaches 9th step of awakening for Spirit Cultivation. And since he was already at the peak of the 8th step for Ki Refining he needed to reach the peak of the 8th step for Spirit Cultivation as well.

Time flew by again and another week passed, he was still sitting there cultivating his spirit. Now however he was breaking through the peak of 8th step.

Sieg didn't know when but he fell into a strange trance. Maybe it was because of his desire, loneliness or peace that his mind forgotten everything else. The amount of time he spent cultivating inside the Inscription Lands, the purpose of him coming in the Great Blue Carp City, the mission his master gave him, even his own name was already forgotten by him already.

His was entirely focused on one word. Cultivation. His trance didn't ended upon reaching the peak of the 8th step though. He continued absorbing Spritual Energies, as for how long? Nobody knows.

It came to the point that he already memorized the first chapter of 'Ancient Heart Mantra' by heart. Nevertheless he still found out some more realizations for the first chapter.

The first chapter of 'Ancient Heart Mantra' can be translated into five words and those are 'Sensing', 'Absorbing', 'Rotation', 'Circulation', and 'Infusion'.

'Sensing' is the result of uttering the first mantra, he noticed this since he already chanted the first line for tons of times already. 'Absorbtion' for the next chant and so on.

***

Another week passed and Sieg entered a critical moment, if one could see Sieg's soul right now they would see an ethereal version of Sieg. His soul was pulsing with blue light, and even though Sieg's naked eyes are closed, if the eyes of his soul is open then he can still see things normally. What more is that even though the soul was seeming small in stature, it was brimming with power. Sieg's soul is just merely waiting for him to delve into it's abilities.

There was also a something that was forming in the soul's head. It was like there's some sort of 'crown outline' forming from it but it was barely noticeable.

Few hours passed and Sieg's soul suddenly trembled, the outline of the 'crown' became even more clearer and then a pulsing blue light was emitted on his entire body.

Sieg's trance also ended. He felt that a foreign power was awakened inside of him but he knew that he can't still use it just yet. Also felt that his thought were running much faster unlike before. Now he can really tell that he sucessfully stepped to the 9th step of Awakening in Spirit Cultivation.

But an unexpected thing happened.

As this foreign energy emerged inside Sieg, his Ki suddenly went into a frenzy, it circulated on it's own madly and going on the verge of chaos.

Instead of panicking, Sieg actually crossed his eyes for another time and observed what was happening inside of his body using the vision granted by the eyes of his soul. He can see that his cultivation base was going up, maybe it was because he was not 'actively' cultivating his Ki that this reaction surprised him. Sieg was ecstatic nontheless, it seems like 'Lady Luck is smiling at him'.

He was actually making another breakthrough. Finally, he can activate his spiritual sea!

Threads upon threads of Ki rushed through his mind, they charged into the membrane that was locking his spiritual sea on thier own volition. Each time they make an impact, Sieg would inwardly tremble, he felt like his insides are turning inside out but he supressed it. He observed with carefully as his Ki bombared the membrane for the spiritual sea.

And after a few moments of barging, his Ki Reserves were actually weakening because of the continuous charging towards the membrane, it was like a warning that the breakthrough might fail. Sieg didn't want this to happen so he took intiative, he condensed the remaining Ki inside of his body into a sharp blade and slashed it towards the membrane.

Sieg's body felt like it was hit by a collosal hammer as it visibly flew back a few meters. He also coughed out few mouthfuls of black blood. Despite being injured however, his eyes were exceptionally bright.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Who dares to call me cursed anymore! This Young Master made two breakthroughs in just a day! Suck it you b*tches! NYAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

Sieg roared in laughter, he was incredibly elated. He felt strength practically gushing out from his body, he felt that if he enter the 1000 Beast Killing Array again he would massacre the entire thing and still won't be exhausted after. And this is without him learning how to incorporate spiritual energy in his attacks. What would happen if he did?

The idea was very scary even for Sieg himself.