Ch 6 - Breaking Earth

Rin nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, that sounds like it's worth a shot… Let's give it a try!"

Nayla's expression was clearly troubled but she chose not to voice her concerns any further. It was clear that Rin had already made up his mind and the method she had come up with shouldn't hold too much risk anyways.

"Let's find a place to sit down first." Nayla stopped walking and looked around hopefully as if expecting a beautiful oasis to materialize out of thin air.

They had been walking for many hours on end now. The heat of afternoon was already fading as the sun neared the horizon in the west, highlighting the thin haze that hung in the air.

"Here is as good a place as any," Rin said, as he flopped down on the ash-strewn dirt.

Nayla made a face but said nothing as she sat down cross-legged in front of him. She held out her hands and Rin grasped them in his own. Blushing slightly, Nayla averted her gaze and Rin reflected on how their positions strangely seemed to have reversed in the last two days.

"I'm going to push a thread of my Source Energy into you." Nayla closed her eyes and her expression became calm and still. "This is going to feel strange but whatever you do, don't resist it or else the situation could become dangerous. This little push should be just enough to awaken the Source Energy within you."

Rin nodded silently and closed his eyes as well. Taking a deep breath, he stilled his mind and relaxed his body. Slowly, he felt a faint, static tingle where his fingers touched Nayla's. This sensation grew in strength, dancing up his arms to spread throughout his whole body.

Rin felt electrified. It was an exhilarating sensation but somewhat uncomfortable, bordering on painful. Sweat began to dampen his forehead as the exertion pushed his body to the limits.

"Now focus all of your being into a single point in your stomach," Nayla instructed, "Visualize all the energy in your body, from your feet to your head, coming together and flowing into your core."

Rin gritted his teeth and did as he was told, imagining all the energy in his body flowing and swirling together to form a single point at his center. All of the sudden, Rin felt his stomach muscles violently contract, nearly causing him to vomit. This was accompanied by a sensation of warmth at his core, reminding Rin of the time when he had snuck some of his mother's wine. The heat increased in intensity until it felt as though it would burn a hole through his stomach, at which point it rapidly exploded outwards throughout his body, pushing out and replacing the electric tingle he had felt before.

Rin bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, suppressing the urge to howl in agony. It felt as though the blood in Rin's veins had been set alight and was currently burning away his body from the inside out. However, Nayla had explained that there would likely be some discomfort experienced when breaking through to the Lower Earth Realm, so he knew that if he could endure this he might be able to experience some gains.

Retreating deep within his own mind, Rin sat unmoving in this position for the next two hours. Nayla grew progressively more concerned as twilight faded into night. Now, with a full moon high in the sky, she began to despair that something had gone terribly wrong.

[It shouldn't be like this, I only sent a thread of Source Energy into him! Just enough to help him kickstart the development of his own Source Energy. This is just the first step and should have been pretty easy, but he is clearly under a lot of strain right now...]

Most concerning to Nayla was that she had been unable to withdraw her Source Energy from Rin. An ordinary mortal wouldn't be able to withstand even just a thread of her power for long, so she had only intended to allow Rin to feel its effects briefly.

However, shortly after Rin had begun attempting to consolidate his Source Energy, Nayla's connection had been suddenly cut off, as though her Source Energy thread had been snipped by a pair of shears. This was despite their physical contact remaining unbroken, as Rin was still grasping her hands tightly, so Nayla had no idea what could've caused her to lose control over her Source Energy like that. She tried to probe Rin's body to discover what had become of her Source Energy, but strangely her Spiritual Sense was repelled as though it had bounced off a solid brick wall.

Suddenly Nayla grew tense, sensing some change was about to occur. The air had become charged with energy and her hair stood on end as she stared wide-eyed at Rin.

[It can't be… Source Energy eruption!?]

Source Energy eruption was a phenomenon that occurred when a cultivator broke through to the Lower Earth Realm. Wild and uncontrollable, the newly formed energies in their bodies would flow over and explode forth into the world before being reabsorbed and consolidated into Source Energy. Normally, this would only occur after many weeks or months of secluded introspection.

Slowly, Rin opened his eyes. They had become completely black, not just the irises but the sclera as well, making them appear like two empty pits. As his hair and clothes rose with crackling energy, Rin bared his teeth in a demonic grin. His appearance at this moment was truly terrifying.

After seeming to build to a peak, the energy in the air suddenly reversed, crashing down on Rin and Nayla like a waterfall. Where previously the air had bestowed a certain feeling of weightlessness, it now felt as though a mountain were pressing down on them. Even Nayla had to steel herself against the onslaught of pressure.

As she gritted her teeth and wrapped her Source Energy around herself as protection, Nayla couldn't help but continue to stare in astonishment at Rin as he bore the onslaught of energy without any protection. Impossibly, his expression still seemed delighted and he released her hands and threw his arms in the air as if bathing in the energy.

With a start, Nayla realized that Rin had actually started to laugh! [What an insane bastard! A true monster!]

Nayla was still unable to recall her own experience breaking through to the Lower Earth Realm, but she felt certain that the energy she had endured had not been even 10% of what Rin was now greedily consuming. And that had certainly been over a period of several weeks or months! To go from being unable to sense your own Source Energy to breaking through the Lower Earth Realm in less than three hours was not only unheard of, it was simply impossible.

And yet, the energy continued to pour down. At this point, the ground underneath them had visibly sunk several centimetres lower and began to crack under the immense pressure.

Finally, the energy storm abated and the darkness slowly faded from Rin's eyes. Staring at his hands, then up at Nayla, Rin smiled. This smile was much warmer than the one he had shown earlier and Nayla felt relieved. It seemed Rin had come through the experience unharmed.

Amazingly, he had actually managed to consolidate his Source Energy on his first attempt. Nayla secretly marvelled as she observed Rin's new aura which had grown significantly stronger. Through her eyes, it now appeared as though a ball of fire burned within Rin's core, a sure sign that he had broken through to the Lower Earth Realm.

"Congratulations on breaking through!" Nayla covered her astonishment with praise.

"That was it?" Rin frowned. "To be honest I thought it would be more difficult than that."

"Ha—" Nayla could only let out a helpless laugh.

[That much energy would have killed any normal Earth Realm cultivator and he says it was too easy… This kid really is unusual.]

"Still, it would be best for you to rest early tonight and consolidate your cultivation in the morning. If you aren't careful, such rapid growth may result in unexpected side effects. You must ensure you take the proper time to allow your body to acclimatize." Nayla urged.

With that, the two of them bedded down for the night. In this desolate landscape, there was nothing that could provide any shelter or comfort, so Rin could only lay down his cloak on the hard earth, wrapping it around both of them as they huddled closely together. Nayla rested her head on his arm as a makeshift pillow and before long she had fallen fast asleep.

Rin reflected on Nayla's words earlier about not needing to eat or sleep. It seemed that while she may not need to, she certainly could still do so if she chose to. As Rin pondered the mysteries of whatever cultivation realms might exist above the Heaven rank, he soon drifted off into a deep sleep as well.

After an unknown length of time, Rin opened his eyes to find himself floating in a dark and empty void. Somehow, he knew that he was sleeping and that the scene before him wasn't real. His current state felt very similar to when he had been consumed by the Oblivion Orb.

Suddenly, Rin noticed a slight variation in the darkness. A certain patch of shadow in front of him separated from the rest until he could make out its true form. While still vague, the shadow was much more well-defined than last time and had taken on a roughly humanoid shape.

There was also one other change. The shadow before had no distinguishing features, but now it was clearly smiling widely at him. A terrifying grin plastered on an otherwise empty face.

The shadow flickered for a moment before appearing directly before him. The last thing Rin saw was that unnatural mouth opening as the shadow flew towards his face. Malevolent laughter echoed in his ears.