Chapter 3

The forest was unnaturally quiet.

The air was heavy with an unknown force.

In a small corner of nature time seemed to have come to a halt. The leaves on their branches were motionless, undisturbed by the icy breeze that was supposed to rustle them.

The sun-speckled ground was unchanging. The scene felt as if it was a painting rather than real life.

It was missing the spark and vitality of living things.

This was the effect of the formation taught to me in The Great Devil Scripture. It was called the spell of silence, it could temporarily cut off an area from external influences.

The spell would be broken by the slightest disturbance, it was only suitable for disguising a small area.

This perfectly suited my needs.

Breaking through to the Foundation-Establishment realm would create a small scale phenomenon. The spell of silence could isolate most of this phenomenon from the outside world.

Until I had the strength to protect myself I had to act cautiously.

The Quileutes roamed the forests freely. I was forced to rely on several enchanted objects and spells to hide my presence from their sharp senses.

Even worse were the Cullen's, they moved at such high speeds that I had no choice but to completely erase my presence until they left. I could stay mostly out of their way by choosing areas with low availability of prey but this did not diminish the threat they posed to me.

'I have to break through.'

For weeks my gut had been warning me that I was running out of time. If I couldn't break through today I would not return to the forest.

Environment was extremely important to cultivation. A Great Devil was supposed to be free-spirited and fearless, hiding away in my attic bedroom would slow my cultivation to a crawl.

Without the self-protection provided by the Foundation-Establishment realm I would have no choice but to delay my interaction with the plot.

Alexander Theodore would remain as he was meant to be, in the background.

Anger rose within me.

Bowing my head to a bunch of pasty ageless boys and girls, how could that become me?

'No.'

I felt my body begin to heat up. Flames smouldered in my chest.

'I won't allow it.'

'I won't fade into the background.'

The temperature started to rise.

'I am Alexander Theodore. I have seen death with my own eyes!'

An uncontrollable fire coursed through my body and my emotions surged. Anger, hubris, refusal: all of them clawed desperately at the stability of the mentality I had tempered.

'I won't slow down! I won't stop!'

'If there's something in my way...I'll simply go through it!'

Then it happened. Something within me snapped.

The air curled and twisted as if next to a raging flame and the scorched earth formed a strange and enchanting symbol on the ground.

Boundless strength poured into my body. The vast Qi Sea I had meticulously cultivated shrank continuously to become a vortex that rotated slowly within my daintain.

Although it's size had been reduced to a thousandth of what it had once been, huge amounts of Qi were constantly sucked into the vortex.

Spells that would've exhausted me now became effortless. The change of state from gaseous to liquid Qi had also tremendously increased the potency of my spells.

I concentrated, "Fireball."

The fireball spell was simple and highly useful. It produced a first sized cluster of flames that could be thrown in any direction and travel for several meters.

At the tenth level of Qi-Refinement I could melt steel and turn wood to ash in seconds.

"This gap...it's just too great." I said to myself in astonishment.

I had cast the spell successfully. Out of habit I conjured the flames in my palm, they would not harm me.

The flames roared into existence, a mighty whooshing noise announced their presence to the world. They were several meters tall and burned blue and yellow and red with an intensity that I could control with a single thought.

Curiosity overcame me and I chose to unleash them on a broad and tall tree in the forest.

Only a few grey ashes proved the tree had ever existed.

'What army can kill me now? No weapon can withstand fire or lighting.'

Vampires possessed terrifying strength and speed, they could crush a tank with their bare hands and waltz through a hailstorm of bullets.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind.

There it was, intangible but ever present. Stepping forwards I grasped hold tightly on the feeling.

"I did it." I declared quietly.

My feet no longer touched the ground.

It wasn't flight, not truly, but I was no longer bound by the earth. I could stand on the void itself.

Delight washed over me.

I had elevated myself to a higher level of being. My lifespan had doubled and my perspective had entirely changed. The world was different now in a way I could not explain.

Instinctively I now had a vague understanding of a vampire's strength. This was communicated to me as a feeling by the will of the world around me. The forests knew the vampires and thus so did I.

This was the advantage of cultivation. Vampires relied solely upon their powerful bodies and gifts to fight but I?

I could reshape the world as I desired.

I lowered my head, "But I'm not invincible."

Vampires and Shapeshifters were magic born of this world. My existence went against what was meant to be.

The spells I prided myself upon could devastate the earth. I could summon downpours without end over the entire town.

But the magic of this world repelled my own.

A fire that could liquefy iron might barely single the hair on a Vampire's head.

'I have to get stronger.'

As I was currently no vampire could kill me. I could escape to caverns under the earth with the spell of tunneling or hide in the endless oceans with the spell of turtle-breathing.

The focus of cultivation was the spirit, the body was considered secondary. After all nothing in the material world could exist forever, only by transcending physical form could a cultivator continue to extend their lifespan.

Unfortunately this left me in a somewhat awkward position.

Until my strength broke free of certain shackles the laws of this world would restrain my spells.

Against magical beings such as Vampires I had no choice but to fight with my body if I wanted to deal lethal blows.

This did not mean my spells were useless, far from it.

But.

'I still need to get stronger."