Qingfeng Li held the Tree Monarch Growth Ring in his hands. Just as he was enjoying his victory, however, there came an arrogant voice from nearby. 
 
 "I rather like this Tree Monarch Growth Ring. Give it to me," the arrogant voice spoke from behind him.
 
 Qingfeng Li's expression changed in surprise. He hadn't known that there had been someone standing behind him. And just when had they walked up behind him? He hadn't even noticed.
 
 Abruptly, he turned around to look behind him. There, an old man stood. He was dressed in black, his expression bore a cold grimness as he glared at Qingfeng Li greedily.
 
 "Xie Ming, it's you! You haven't gone to the depths of the Sun Emperor's Tomb?" Qingfeng Li asked.
 
 Qingfeng Li knew the man who stood before him. He was the King of the Underworld Supreme Dynasty, Xie Ming. As a master at the eighth level of the spirit monarch realm, he was also very powerful.
 
 Most importantly, this old man was one of Qingfeng Li's enemies. Qingfeng L had once slain the Underworld Dynasty's Chief Advisor and his subordinates. The conflict between them wouldn't be resolved until one of them died.
 
 Xie Ming glared at Qingfeng Li, "Give me the Tree Monarch Growth Ring you're holding," he said, "and I won't mutilate your corpse. Otherwise, there won't be enough left of you to bury once I'm done."
 
 Qingfeng Li didn't reply. Smiling, he placed the Tree Monarch Growth Ring straight into his interspatial ring. 
 
 Qingfeng Li knew enough about the Tree Monarch Growth Ring to know that this was definitely a treasure. It was likely the Dharma treasure left behind by some Ancient saint, which then fell into the hands of the demon tree. That was what allowed it to become a Tree Monarch in the first place.
 
 Although Qingfeng Li didn't have much use for it at the moment, it was still a treasure he could give to someone close to him. Naturally, he wasn't about to give up the Tree Monarch Growth Ring without a fight. Besides, if he gave it to Xie Ming, the old man would become even stronger, and he would become even more of a threat to Qingfeng Li.
 
 Seeing Qingfeng Li tuck the Tree Monarch Growth Ring away, a hint of rage appeared in Xie Ming's eyes.
 
 He took a step forward, the motion creating a fissure in the earth. Powerful energy radiated from his entire body, covering the entire sky. Around them, self-cultivators hurriedly backed away with fear in their eyes.
 
 They had all recognized Xie Ming and knew that this was the King of a supreme level dynasty. This was a truly powerful self-cultivator, ranking among the top ten on the Spirit Monarch Rankings. He wasn't someone they could contend with. If the explosive power released by Xie Ming was to hit them, they would definitely sustain injuries.
 
 Not far from them, Xue Lin, Mengyao Xu, and Ya Yun all wore expressions of worry. They made a run toward Qingfeng Li, wanting to help him. Seeing this, Qingfeng Li waved them off. 
"Don't come over here," he said to them.
 
 Qingfeng Li knew that Xie Ming was definitely a super powerful master. Even if Xue Lin and the others came, they wouldn't be able to help. They would only divide his attention.
 
 Activating his vital essence, Xie Ming abruptly lifted his right hand. His forefinger flicked forward, releasing a beam of black light.
 
 The black light flew with astonishing speed. Like a flash of lightning, it pierced through the void and, with indomitable force, struck toward Qingfeng Li.
 
 Qingfeng Li furrowed his brows. Unfazed, he activated his own Conqueror Spell and used the Conqueror's Finger. A beam of green light shot from his right forefinger.
 
 Piercing through the dimensional barrier, the green light collided with Xie Ming's black light. A thunderous sound rang out, making heaven and earth quake as though they were being blown apart. Dust and stones were hurled in all directions as the dimensional barrier shattered. All around them, self-cultivators backed away.
 
 Qingfeng Li stood his ground, not moving in the slightest. Across from him, Xie Ming also stood motionless. The savage force of the collision, though powerful, was unable to affect the two.
 
 Xie Ming frowned. As he stared at Qingfeng Li, there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. He was rather shaken by Qingfeng Li's strength.
 
 A moment before, he had thought that he would be able to kill Qingfeng Li with ease. He hadn't expected Qingfeng Li to be strong enough to be able to deflect his attack without trouble.
 
 "Now, you try one of my attacks. Seventh Fist, Shatter the Body!" With a roar, Qingfeng Li used the Seventh Fist of the Strangle Hell Fist. This was the strongest fist attack he had learned to date.
 
 As his fist struck out, it flew through the void with indomitable power. The void itself was shattered by the savage force as it flew toward Xie Ming.
 
 Xie Ming's expression changed. He sensed dangerous energy within this strike. Before him, even the void had been parted. He had no doubt that if an ordinary self-cultivator were hit by this fist, their body would be blown apart.
 
 "Underworld Armor!"
 
 Xie Ming roared. Activating his own technique, a suit of armor appeared over his body.
 
 This armor was formed from a kind of Imperial Level Ninth Class Dharma treasure. This was a valuable treasure he'd once obtained within the Mysterious Sun Realm. Now, he called it forth.
 
 Boom!
 
 With a massive boom, Qingfeng Li's fist struck the Underworld Armor. Instantly, the black armor was blown apart, turning into countless pieces that fell to the ground.
Thud!
 
 Xie Ming took a heavy step back, shock appearing in his eyes. He hadn't expected that even a Ninth Class Monarch Realm Dharma Treasure would be blown apart. In addition, he had been forced back a step. Qingfeng Li's fist was unbelievably powerful.
 
 Around them stood many other self-cultivators. By now, they had backed far away. They stared in the direction of the fight with shocked expressions.
 
 "What did I just witness? The King of a Supreme Dynasty, Xie Ming, was forced back a step by Qingfeng Li!"
 
 "Qingfeng Li is unbelievably powerful. That Underworld Armor looked so strong. But he cleaved it straight in half!"
 
 "I have a feeling that Qingfeng Li would be able to challenge even those of a higher level than him. He's very strong."
 
 All around, the people chattered amongst themselves. Their eyes were filled with admiration as they looked to Qingfeng Li.
 
 No matter where they were, the strong received the admiration of those around them. This was especially true for people like Qingfeng Li.
 
 Qingfeng Li was incredibly strong. This was the kind of strength that shocked people around him.
 
 Xie Ming stared ahead at Qingfeng Li. "Looks like I underestimated you," he said. "Let me show you the power of my Scepter of Death!"
 
 Xie Ming lifted the scepter in his hand. It stood two meters tall, taller than him by a few dozen centimeters. Upon the scepter, there were carved masses of talisman scriptures. These carried with them the dark, frigid energy of death, and those who looked at it felt like their souls were being drawn into the weapon.
 
 Around them, some of the self-cultivators recognized the scepter. Their expressions changed, and they drew in a sharp cold breath.
 
 This scepter was called the Scepter of Death. It was a powerful mana Dharma Treasure, famous across the entire world of self-cultivators. Many self-cultivators had been turned into desiccated corpses after their souls were sucked out by the wretched thing.
Qingfeng Li glanced at the Scepter of Death in Xie Ming's hands. He knew that this was a powerful Dharma Treasure. However, he was not worried at all.


Qingfeng was known as the Wolf King, a legendary mercenary that had mastered peerless martial arts and the sophisticated art of medicine. He originally wanted to just live a peaceful life, but his arranged wife, who is a CEO, thinks he is a loser and wants a divorce. The cold war between husband and wife began.
Translated by: Noodletown - Turbo Turtle Division
(We fast as fuc boooiiii) 
Current Release Speed Tier - Basic Turtle (2 chapters/day + mass release on Saturday), Release Speed Tier is upgradeable through Patreon 

As soon as System's blood cooled down, he lost all sense of the outside world.
He was unable to see as if his compound eyes had lost their function. His vision, which was still clear due to the mushroom's fluorescence a moment ago, was suddenly lost. It was as if the lights had been turned off out of a sudden.
System could not hear nor smell while his antennae seemed to have lost their function. Previously, he could smell the cave's fishy odor and sense the gentle breeze, but they were undetectable now.
System could not feel touching the ground, the flow of his blood, or the beating of his heart. He had even lost the sense of temperature, gravity, and direction. He perceived that his body should be up but suddenly realized that he could not discern which direction was up.
He was also unable to use [Self-Information Generation], which he had been using with ease.
System could only feel the presence of his spirit and the time passing by.
…
As if in the midst of chaos, System thought to himself, 'How's Shava…
Suddenly, his spirit detected a very violent tremor. It was not the first time, as it pervaded him on a regular basis three or four times per second.
"Is this my… heartbeat?"
After becoming aware of this, System could feel his body again.
Although he was still cut off from the outside world, he had a clear grasp of his body. He could sense his blood flowing through his body and the movement of his flesh.
System had regained his body's consciousness, meaning he could use [Self-Information Generation] now. 
Thus, he activated [Self-Information Generation], and it displayed the progress of [Molting Growth] on it.
He was undergoing his third molting successfully, and soon, a familiar rhythm came from his bloodline, urging him to make a choice.
[Choose!]
System did not hesitate and channeled the strengthening power the [Molting Growth] generated to [Digital Code].
Soon, System appeared in the ocean of numbers once again. He turned into a giant ball of light, with several planets made of numbers surrounding him in a fixed orbit.
This time, System was under the impression that the sea of numbers around him was different. Many numbers gathered randomly and aggregated to form different solid-shaped blocks, floating freely in the sea of numbers.
After observing for a while and not finding anything strange, System began to channel the power of [Molting Growth] to enhance the sea of numbers.
Perhaps due to this being his third molting, the power generated by [Molting Growth] was potent.
The giant number-formed planet that had ultimately failed to aggregate in the sea of numbers the last time succeeded easily this time. Then, that planet started to orbit around System, and countless numbers gushed out of it, gradually forming a brand new satellite around it.
System could tell the [Molting Growth]'s power was gradually decreasing while strengthening the sea of numbers. Due to the previous two molting experiences, System had learned his lesson. Thus, he voluntarily withdrew from the sea of numbers, avoiding the possibility of falling in a coma. 
After exiting, System observed and perceived his molting body's changes. His flesh and blood were moving regularly, albeit slowly. The molting process was progressing smoothly, and just like the previous two times, he did not need to control anything by himself.
However, at that rate, it seemed that his third molting would take a considerable amount of time before completion.
System checked the [Self-Information Generation] and realized that his talent [Digital Code] had increased by two levels.
[Digital Code] (3/3) → [Digital Code] (5/5)
Many of the abilities associated with [Digital Code] were also improved. At the same time, he had acquired an extraordinary ability, [Data Compilation], and its derived ability, [Ability Enhancement]. They were the newly-formed giant planet and its satellite in the sea of numbers.
…
[Data Compilation] (3/5): A special talent acquired from [Digital Code] and [Molting Growth]. Has the ability to compile and process data. System's unique talent.
[Ability Enhancement] (3/5): A derived ability from [Data Compilation]. Allows you to strengthen the ability of yourself or other targets. System's unique ability.
…
System did not know much about his talent [Data Compilation] and had the feeling that he could only use some basic features of this strange ability.
Surprisingly, even its basic features were very special.
System could use that special ability and create a brand new interface by slightly altering the [Self-Information Generation]'s interface.
He could easily add some functions to it, such as a timer, measure, compass, calculator, video recording, and camera.
System was not a programmer in his previous life and had not worked with anything related to program compilation, but he easily created a menu interface now.
Unexpectedly, at the moment when the menu interface was created, System acquired a new ability.
…
[Information Menu] (2/5): A derived ability created by System using [Data Compilation]. Has the unique ability to measure time, identify direction, calculation, photo-taking, etc. System's unique ability.
…
System designed the [Information Menu]'s interface somewhat similar to the computer desktops and smartphones in his previous life.
System discovered that the [Information Menu] he had casually created could also be integrated with some other abilities.
He easily integrated three derived abilities, [Self-information Generation], [Information Entry], and [Information Reading] into the [Information Menu].
Immediately after the integration, these four abilities combined into one and became a new ability.
…
[Tools Menu] (5/12): Special ability created by System by the integration of [Information Menu]. Has many unique abilities, such as viewing self-information, information entry, reading, and analyzing. System's unique ability.
…
System played with his [Tools Menu]. He was a bit curious about his [Tools Menu]'s form in [Digital Code]'s sea of numbers. If he were to enter it now, how would it look like? 
Would it be a planet? Satellite? Or… a comet?
System continued manipulating the [Tools Menu] and tried to incorporate [Data Compilation]'s derived ability, [Ability Enhancement] as well.
However, after several attempts, he found that it could not be integrated.
Although [Ability Enhancement] was a derived ability of [Data Compilation], it was a complex ability that System had yet to understand. That's why he was unable to integrate it.
Although he could not understand, System could still use this ability freely.
[Ability Enhancement] was special and gave System the feeling that he was playing an RPG game. Because of that ability, he could now control the EXP bar in his body and distribute the points at will.
Actually, it was not an EXP bar. After he had mastered [Ability Enhancement], System found that the EXP bar could raise his rank and was actually more like his potential stored in his body.
[Ability Enhancement] allowed System to use this potential and strengthen his various abilities.
In the past, during the leveling process, his body's instinct and [Insect Adaptability] effect had been responsible for automatically strengthening his abilities.
It was just like the stats and skill points that could be freely assigned when a game character leveled up. The only difference was that the only thing System could assign his EXP bar.
Not only that, but System also discovered that he could even use this ability to strengthen other targets…


He cannot remember his name, but now, he is a little grasshopper named System. Soon, he gets used to his new body and enjoys the life of jumping around in the forest freely... He is amazed that his little body can jump a few meters with a casual leap. One day, when System is having fun in the forest, a leaf falls from its branch. Autumn has come, and System's time is ticking away. 
System needs to lengthen his short lifespan and survive in the Forest of Leyte. Luckily, he finds a way to manipulate an army of ants and now they are at his disposal... to fight bigger prey.

Ickapoo can trancend his loneliness through true love, compassion for the Other, transcending Self.
Many recent readings of the Tempest have emphasized the postcolonial aspects to the play, a reading that I find more fitting is a reading of Prospero as a God-like figure who might appear tyrannical on the surface but has in mind the redemption and betterment of those he disciplines. It is after all, Alonso who had displaced Prospero from Naples in collaboration with Sebastian and the enacting of the tempest to bring them to the shores of the island which Prospero and Miranda inhabit is the attempt to bring these sinners to repentance for their wronging of him by bringing them through a moral journey of recognizing their sin and advancing towards repentance. Prospero’s seemingly cruel treatment of his subjects, Ferdinand and Caliban, might also arguably be the stance of discipline in hopes of improving them. Prospero allows Ferdinand to experience hardship in transporting firewood in order that he might see that his struggles are toward an end and goal of being united with Miranda. While Caliban is resentful of Prospero’s control of him, it is Prospero who taught him language while Caliban, a beast of nature from which nurture could never stick, rejects these civilizing processes by claiming language is a curse to him and makes a **** attempt on Miranda, which he does not deny and in fact wishes he had peopled the island with Calibans.
	The problem with a purely postcolonial reading is that it denies the redemptive gestures that Prospero makes towards his subjects. Indeed, Prospero might seem a tyrant on the surface but it is not mere subjugation and power he seeks but the restoration of justice and the moral growth of his subjects, something analogous to God’s control of us humans as subjects. Indeed Caliban is the descendant of the evil witch Sycorax and as such has a pure inclination towards sin and depravity, which is why he makes a **** attempt on Miranda and Prospero’s disciplining of him has moral overtones towards it just as God disciplines those sinners whom he loves and desires the moral growth and betterment of.The problem with viewing Prospero as a mere tyrant is that it overlooks the fact that it was Prospero who was wronged in the first place by Alonso through the illegal and scheming usurpation of his position as head of Naples and Prospero, by orchestrating the events leading to the ship wreck on the island, is seeking to restore justice for a wrong he had suffered and bring moral growth to those he disciplines by bringing them to acknowledge it was evil to usurp his position and wrongly overthrow him as the Duke of Naples.
	A postcolonial reading also ignores the discipline and fortitude Prospero desires to cultivate in Ferdinand, who willingly suffers the hardship of transporting firewood in order to survive the trial to win the prize and hand of Miranda. Indeed the problem with a purely postcolonial reading is that it merely reads from the point of the necessity of resistance to Prospero’s tyrannical power, without recognizing the fact that Prospero’s gestures are civilizing and redemptive with the end of restoring justice and profiting his subjects through their moral growth brought about by his discipline. The emphasis in a postcolonial reading is colonial rule as an evil, while ignoring the civilizing and cultivating effects towards moral growth that Prospero’s rule has on its subjects. It would not be rational to defend Caliban’s **** of Miranda as something that is a right of Caliban, or Caliban’s purported revolt against Prospero after all hehas done to feed, teach and civilize him. Indeed post colonialists argue that the very act of trying to impose civilization on a subject is an act of violence, but as I have argued in a reading of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart not all subjects of colonialism experience the civilizing process as violence, indeed some from the Igbo tribe profit from the adoption of Christian religion as a new structure and order to their lives.
	There are also Christian overtones to the trials that Prospero puts his subjects through. Prospero lets Ferdinand endure hardship in order to earn his prize of the hand of Miranda as well as experience the refining nature of suffering. The masque that Prospero stages with Ariel appearing as a harpy to chastise the usurpers Alonso and Sebastian has also the refining nature of suffering in mind, first to bring them through travails on the island to come to recognition of the sin that has landed them in the trial and bring them towards repentance of their immoral usurpation of Prospero’s title in Naples.
	There is also an analogy for magic as a creative process which Prospero relinquishes by the end of the play, perhaps an echo of Shakespeare’s relinquishing his craft of creative writing, and a suggestion that the creative act itself is a God like process an act which seeks the betterment and moral growth of his subjects, us, his readers. Indeed Shakespeare’s plays have always been highly didactic, with his tragedies exposing the necessary punishment of sin and moral transgression such as Goneril and Regan’s fall towards ruin after ruthlessly usurping Lear’s property and Macbeth’s descent into madness and destruction after murdering Duncan the king.
	Hence Prospero’s magical powers are that of a God like creator who seeks not to imprison and merely subjugate his subjects to bend them to his will but to redeem them and lead to their moral betterment and growth, as was seen in his attempt to give Caliban an education, his attempt to discipline Ferdinand through hardship, and his attempt to bring Alonso and Sebastian towards repentance. A postcolonial reading merely highlights colonialism as violence without acknowledging the redemptive nature of civilization as Alonso and Sebastian learn that sin has consequences, as does Caliban when he is punished by Prospero after his attempted **** of Miranda. Indeed it is true that Prospero tyrannically subjects all his subjects on the island to hardship but it is for their betterment and moral growth, like God desires towards sinners, that Prospero also desires and hence Prospero is not a mere tyrant but like God, a teacher of lessons through the suffering that he brings about in order to instil discipline, repentance and moral growth in his subjects. 
	In Shakespeare’s sonnets, an apollonian love and platonic admiration for a faith youth or fair friend is contrasted with a Dionysian love and lust for the poet’s dark mistress. The platonic love for the fair youth is described as a love which enriches and inspires him, love being a ladder which he ascends in improvement by meditating on the youth’s beauty, while the lust he experiences for the dark mistress is a degrading passion which exhausts him and leaves him bereft of dignity and steeped in shame. Hence sonnet 144:
                               Two loves I have, of comfort and despair
                                Which, like two spirits, do suggest me still
                               The better angel is a man right fair
                               The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
                               To win me soon to hell my female evil
                               Tempteth my better angel from my side,
                               And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
                               Wooing his purity with her foul pride,
                                And whether that my angel be turned fiend
                               Suspect I may, yet not directly tell
                               But being both from me both to each friend
                             I guess one angel in another’s hell
                              Yet this shall I ne’er know, but live in doubt
                             Till my bad angel fire my good one out
The Dionysian love for the dark mistress is described as an evil and she is described as ‘foul’ and wanton, tempting the better angel, the fair youth from his side. Her female private parts are described pejoratively as a hell ( I guess one angel in another’s hell) and their lustful sensuous relations between Shakespeare as a hell (To win me soon to hell my female evil) and hence the relations with this dark mistress are described as sinful, degrading and shaming. This is seen in another sonnet 129:
                                Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame
                                 Is lust in action, and till action, lust
                                Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame
                                Savage, extreme, rude, cruel not to trust
                             Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight
                             Past reason hunted, and no sooner had,
                              Past reason hated as a swallowed bait,
                             On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
                            Mad in pursuit, and in possession so
                           Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme
                            A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe
                           Before, a joy proposed; behind a dream
                          All this the world well knows, yet none knows well
                            To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell
The passion and lust for the dark mistress are thus described in degrading and negative terms as lust, perjured, murd’rous, bloody, full of flame, and described as an expense of spirit in a waste of shame, the opposite of the improving, spiritual, inspiring Platonic love that Shakespeare experiences for the fair youth. Again a woman’s private parts are described pejoratively as a hell that shuns heaven and an entrapment, the love for the dark mistress are thus described as degrading, foul, lust, destined for hell as opposed to the heaven he experiences with the fair youth. The lust he experiences for the dark mistress is thus a damning one in which he does not experience spiritual edification as he does with the youth but damnation and degradation. The lustful and degrading nature of the sensual relations between Shakespeare and the dark mistress are contrasted with the improving, Platonic love for the fair youth in in sonnet 116:
                                Let me not to the marriage of true minds
                                Admit impediments; love is not love
                                 Which alters when it alteration finds,
                                Or bends with the remover to remove,
                              O no, it is an ever-fixed mark, 
                              That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
                               It is the star to every wand’ring bark
                             Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
                              Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
                            Within his bending sickle’s compass come
                             Love alters not with his brief hour and weeks
                             But bears it out even to the edge of doom
                               If this be error and upon me proved
                                 I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
The Platonic love with the fair youth is thus described as a marriage of true minds, a mental and spiritual connections and a marriage of intellect and soul rather than bodily degradation, a foul and degrading lust with the dark mistress, it is abiding as an ever fixed mark and thus lasts much longer than the temporal satiation of lust Shakespeare experiences with the dark mistress and this is seen again when he states that Love is not time’s fool though rosy lips and cheeks within Time’s sickle come, the love for the fair youth is thus depicted as Platonic and eternal contrasted with the  temporary satiation of degrading lust as rosy lips and cheeks Shakespeare experiences with the dark mistress. The love for the fair youth is thus Platonic, eternal, unshakeable and somewhat immortal as well as  pure compared with the degrading lust and sensual passion Shakespeare experiences with the dark mistress.The love for the fair youth is also described as a form of self-love in sonnet 62
                                  Sin of self- love possesseth all mine eye
                                   And all my soul, and all my every part
                                 And for this sin there is no remedy
                                   It is grounded inward in my heart
                                     Methinks no face so gracious as mine
                                 No shape so true, no truth of such account,
                                  And for myself mine own worth do define
                                 As I all other in all worth’s surmount
                                  But when my glass shows me myself indeed,
                                  Beated and chopped with tanned antiquity
                               Mine own self-love quite contrary I read
                                   Self, so self-loving, were iniquity
                                     ‘Tis thee (myself) that for myself I praise
                                    Painting my age with the beauty of thy days
The love for the fair youth is thus described as a self-love, an idealization of the youth as a younger version of himself as Shakespeare ‘paints’ his ‘age with the beauty of thy days’. Again, we see that the love for the fair youth is an idealized one in which he identifies a younger version of himself in the youth and thus experiences a self-love which he transfers as affection to the youth.Indeed, Shakespeare’s ideal love is a form of self-love since he loves none better than himself, in contrast the sexual difference with the dark mistress proves to be not love but lust in an expense of spirit that degrades him sensually rather than improving him and inspiring him spiritually. In contrast to this Platonic, idealized and improving love the love for the dark mistress is not idealized at all but experienced as ordinary and mundane in sonnet 130:
                                           My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
                                            Coral is far more red than her lip’s red,
                                             If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun
                                            If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head
                                              I have seen roses damasked, red and white
                                             But no roses see I in her cheeks;
                                            Again in some perfumes is there more delight
                                          Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks
                                         I love to hear her speak yet well I know
                                        That music hath a far more pleasing sound,
                                        I grant I never saw a goddess go,
                                       My mistress when she walks treads on the ground
                                      And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
                                     As any she belied with false compare
Shakespeare does not idealize the mistress hence or put her on a pedestal, he recognizes that she is of no spectacular or extraordinary beauty, her eyes are nothing like the sun and her lips are not bright red, her hairs are stiff like wires and her cheeks are pale rather than rosy, aside from that she has body odour and her voice is not in the least musical, she is no goddess and she is a mere mortal who treads the ground. And yet Shakespeare experiences a love that is rarer than any belied with false compare, his love for her is exquisite and unique rather than tainted with false glamorizing and glorification of her, it is a love for the very ordinary and mundane nature of his mistress that he experiences rather than the idealized immortal love he experiences for the fair youth.
	Two loves are thus contrasted in the sonnets, a Platonic, idealized, immortal and inspiring love Shakespeare experiences for the fair youth and a degrading, sensual, sinful and debaucherous love he experiences for the dark mistress in which Shakespeare does not idealize her or put her on a pedestal and recognizes that she is mortal and no goddess but nonetheless he appreciates her fully with all her deficiencies and defects. Shakespeare thus makes an unusual ode to love in its multifaceted and varied forms, platonic and sensual, idealized and mundane.
 







It was the year 2046. In the distant and faraway planet or Yr lived a lonely alien named Ickapoo. It had no friends as all its species had been vanquished from a meteor storm. In its solitude and misery it pined for a companion.
Yr was a bare and inhospitable planet. With winds blowing at 150 km an hour, it was virtually impossible to see past the blizzard and storm. Ickapoo yearned for friends and company. Many a time he fiddled with his transistor radio, sending out messages and hoping for a response. He sent fire launchers and rockets into space, hoping that some space traveler would find out about his existence. Ickapoo was an alienated alien. In the same way humans wondered whether we were the only species to inhabit the universe, Ickapoo felt estranged and isolated from the rest of the cosmos.  Join Ickapoo on his escapades across galaxies and worlds in search of company.
Ickapoo the lonely Alien, 2046 is created by Chung Chin-Yi , an eGlobal Creative Publishing Signed Author

After trying very hard I could finally open my eyes. Though I could only see very blurry figure is better than full on darkness. 
After opening my eyes I started to think about  the best way to survive in a magical world and it's having very strong personal power but also having a strong faction that's completely loyal to you but in Harry Potter the magical faction already have strong power so at first I need to work my personal strength. 
No better moment to start then the present " growth what do you think it's the best way to train my body and magic and what cultivation technique do you recommend"
"For host first question host should keep absorbing and storing energy till your at least 4 year old because right now you can't control your body the best way possible so host need to improve his body control." Said growth 
I do think the make sense because I really can't control my body so I'm gonna do as growth says and just keep absorbing and storing energy. 
"Host I have some good techniques that would fit host race and limitless growth ability but they come with high prices their also techniques with low prices but the energy it would refine it's not pure and it would be much more difficult to be able to improve later on because it creates a bad foundation."
I'm not gonna buy something of low quality just because it's easier so I better work my ass for the points to be able to get the best technique possible.
"Growth is their any way to make the energy I absorb more pure without a technique" 
"Host could use the technique from the blue Phoenix novel to make the energy more pure its very good because it also help you gain more control of your body better so host may be able to start cultivating earlier then expected And the energy refine  it's so pure that it will help your foundation in the future by a very big margin compare to others ." Said growth 
"So what's the technique" I ask 
" to use this technique you need to start by entering your body  and search for your lower dantian. To get inside your body Flow your energy through your veins until you reach the area below your navel"  said growth 
I did  as i was told, and i was consumed by the sound of my own blood flowing through my veins. Shock filed my mind as i noticed that a mental projection of my old self was standing in the middle of a tunnel like structure within my  body. After losing focus for a couple of second I regained control and focus.
"Next imagine your mental projection sitting down, crossing his leg and making a bird like symbol with his hand" said  growth I quickly imagine my old self sitting down, crossing my Iegs mean our legs and did the hand symbol 
  
"Steady your breath and follow the blood out towards your skin. When you reach the outer layer of your body open up a suction force and keep moving at a steady pace until you have gone a whole circle through your body then returned here to your dantian" explained growth
It took me around 10 minutes to be able to complete a whole circulation around my body while it took the original around half in hour probably do to my higher connection with mana do to my elven race.and when the energy finally returned to my dantian it was a small mist of essence that was hanging around my consciousness.
"Keep breathing steadily. With each breath inhale some of the essence around you. Let it spin in a cyclone inside of you until it has turned as white as newly fallen snow. The whiter it is, the purer the quality" said growth 
I follow the system's instructions and kept gathering essence for a long time then returning it toward my dantian.
After I was finish gathering energy I started to think where I can be right now. The air it's so fresh here with little ascents lavender here and their and from the little I can see  I'm in a high place with a view towards a beautiful forest. With beautiful green leaves that couldn't possibly grow in my old world. The fruit growing from the trees are a beautiful red that seem so appetizing that I can't wait to just eat one. But why can I see so well 
It seems that the  energy I circulated trough my body did improve my body control and really help with my eyesight now just to wait till my mom come to pick me up. After I was born I felt me being taken to another place but I was just so focused on gathering energy that I didn't pay enough attention. Something that I need to fix you always need constant vigilance in a world of magic.but still I can't wait to see how she looks.

Under the dim magic light, two honest giant dragons were lying on their stomachs on the ground. Their dragon scales were round in shape and not sharp at all. Both of them were in a state between waking and sleeping.
"Are they okay?" Sui Xiong had thought that Frost and Graupel would be meditating like old, calm, and silent monks, but he had never expected to see them so sleepy shortly after getting there, so he was a bit worried.
Snow looked carefully at the two dragons for a while, then shook her head with a smile.
"Don't worry. They're fine. Since their bodies have entered a stage of super-fast growth, they have to sleep a lot to reduce their mental consumption. Thus, they can completely control the power of their blood, as well as the new knowledge brought by the growth." After several seconds of thought, she turned her magic into a blackboard made of ice and drew an oval-shaped ball in the snow on it. Then she added a little snoring dragon huddled in the ball.
"In fact, it's similar to getting back to the state we're in before we're born. For our dragons, we're in a state of super-fast growth before we break the shell. All kinds of knowledge appears constantly in our blood, and our power also increases from nothing to a certain amount. For Superior dragons like me, the growth hasn't been as obvious, but for the Inferior ones, let's say a Rock Dragon, the growth is quite obvious."
Sui Xiong was surprised at that and asked curiously, "Isn't it an excellent way of growing? Why don't the Superiors do the same thing?"
Snow smiled and answered, "This is the result of natural development—you see, in fact, the weaker a creatures is, the stronger they are at birth; on the contrary, stronger creatures are much weaker when they're born. Do you know why?"
Sui Xiong pondered for a while and recalled a TV show on earth, The Animal World. Then he understood.
"I see. With weak creatures, the parents don't have the ability to protect their children, so the children should be born with stronger abilities. Thus, it'll be easier for them to escape from danger. And for powerful creatures, the parents can protect their children very well. Thus, it doesn't matter whether their child is weak or not at birth. After giving birth to a child, the only thing for powerful parents to do is to wait for their children to grow up slowly. However, the parents will be at risk if they're pregnant for a long time, so it's better to have the children as soon as possible so that the parents can recover their full fighting power quickly."
Snow was surprised at that. She hadn't expected Sui Xiong to make such a clear statement. In her impression, this Jellyfish God was slow and careless towards everything; he thought a lot, but had only learned little and had many strange ideas. But that day, he was different.
After thinking it over several times, she understood.
No matter what, this guy is a God! A powerful God! So it's normal for him to know that.
Thinking that, she couldn't help laughing and wasn't surprised at Sui Xiong's statement anymore.
"When Frost and Graupel grow up, will they step into the Legendary Realm?" Sui Xiong asked again.
Snow hesitated for a moment and answered, "To be honest, I'm not sure. After all, Rock Dragon was an Inferior. Even if they become adults, they still may not be able to enter the Legendary Realm."
"But Frost said he would with great confidence."
"That might have been his prediction," Snow said with a smile. "Both of them have been with me all these years. Compared to the lazy Graupel who sleeps a lot, Frost has been more active, and he's more excellent than Graupel, both in study and exercise. If there is one of them that can step into the Legendary Realm after growing up, it will most likely be him."
Sui Xiong understood and nodded.
Generally speaking, even if the Rock Dragon reached an adult age, it probably couldn't become a Legendary Master directly. It had to exercise more and grow up, too. However, Frost had been following Snow over the years, so he had gone through a lot of practice and growth. Besides, with the added help of his improved blood after becoming an adult, he could directly enter the Legendary Realm.
Correspondingly, it would be hard for Graupel.
"If that's the case, it will be a pity!" Sui Xiong couldn't help sighing. "It would be perfect if Graupel can enter the Legendary Realm, too."
"Our dragons are legendary creatures, so it's not as difficult for us to enter the Legendary Realm. She just needs to wait for a period of time." Snow disagreed with Sui Xiong. "Compared to pure growth of power, learning how to control and use that power is more important.
"Suppose that Frost and Graupel had the same power, if they fought with each other, Frost would enjoy a complete victory, no matter how many times they fought. Even if Graupel is more powerful, she still won't win," Snow said with a slight huff. "Among the races that have a weaker foundation than us at birth, there are usually high-level dragon-killers. Although the gap between high-level and legendary is extremely huge, the dragons at the legendary level are usually defeated and killed by the high-level dragon-killers. Why? Because these legendary dragons don't know how to control and use their power. They just fight with their instinct and the knowledge they inherited from their blood. Thus, no matter how strong they are, others aren't scared of them."
Sui Xiong kept nodding at that. The fundamental element of being a master was control over their power. If they couldn't learn how to control their power, they would be no better than the Reserve Army of Self-Explosion.
What did that mean? During the three stages—from mortal to Legendary Master, from Legendary Master to demigod, and from demigod to real God—if one couldn't control and use their power appropriately, they would be out of control when their strength surged. That would mostly likely lead to self-destruction.
Thus, Sui Xiong had named this type of person after the army in his favorite online game, calling them the "Reserve Army of Self-Explosion." He always waited happily to see them run into trouble.
Of course, if it was his own partner or someone he felt was worth saving, he would give them special guidance and teach them how to take control of their power.
For example, he was now planning training programs for Graupel when she grew up. He wanted her to learn how to control her strength skillfully as soon as possible.
Although it seemed that legendary creatures would never encounter a problem like self-destruction, it would still be beneficial for her to have better control of her own power.
After thinking for a while, he thought of another issue and asked if Snow was interested in meditating there for period of time to improve her own strength.
Snow was already a Legendary Master; if she could improve herself to a higher stage, she would surely be even stronger!
"I'm fine." Snow smiled and shook her head. "For the Void City, and even for the Republic of Northwest, my strength is enough. As long as you're here, there's no need to worry about a lack of strength, so it's better for me to continue to be a government official rather than a stronger master. What's more, I'm different from ordinary dragons. I prefer to do more meaningful things than count gold coins in my nest. It would be even more perfect if I could make money from my job."
Sui Xiong kept nodding at that. However, he felt that Snow seemed to have something to say, so he couldn't help asking what else there was.
Snow nodded honestly. "You're right. I mean, boss, I've worked for you for so many years that you should increase my salary!"


In the world, there were gods who obeyed the rules, whether good or evil. But there were also evil gods who defied the rules. 
When a traverser was confronted by the rules that he could never conform to, the resulting collision marks the beginning of the story of an evil god…
This is the story of a good man who transformed into a great jellyfish, then traversed his world to arrive at a world of swords and magic. His journey of searching and exploring eventually led to him remaking nature and changing the world. 

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  "Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a type of death." – Anais Nin
Our Self Help, Self Improvement, and Inspirational Articles include a variety of authors who'd love to help you get the most out of life and the most out of yourself.
Self Help Articles by Joi Sigers, Self Help Daily
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The Self Help industry has reached such monstrous proportions that it's a wonder the world can even contain it. The public is ravenous for information, so book publishers turn the books out by the thousands. Personally, I think this says a lot of positive things about our society… (Continue reading Different Paths in the Self Help Industry)
"How to Blow the Blues Away"
Around this time of year, you can find endless charts and articles comparing colds and flu. Is it a cold or is it the Flu? The symptoms of each are then compared, with the hope that the reader will pinpoint what's making them sick, then be able to brag to their family that they either have the "worst cold ever" or the "most severe flu known to man…"  (Continue reading How to Blow the Blues Away)
"Reasons are the Building Blocks to a Better Life"
They say that if you have enough reasons you can do anything. So, unless I miss my guess, if we want to build a better life for ourselves, that makes REASONS the building blocks we'll need for our project. Even those of us without any architectural expertise know there's no such thing as building from the top/down, we have to start at the bottom with our blocks. More to the point – with our reasons…  (Continue reading this Reasons are the Building Blocks to a Better Life)


Marguerite is oblivious as she folds Arthmael's body into beautiful silhouettes. Following the familiar choreography, she dances relentlessly.

Grand Jete! Penche! followed by a series of graceful pas de chats. All concatenated in front of the enthralled emperor.

When the music reaches the outro in a full stop, Marguerite falls gracefully on the floor in a pose. She stays there and waits for the king to tell her she can leave.

She stays on the ground for a long time but hears nothing from him. Wondering if she did anything wrong, she wants to lift her head to look at the king's face, but quickly remembers the warning he gave her. If she disrespects him any further, who knows what he might do to her.

She suddenly feels her chin being lifted, her eyes meet the hazels of Demian. She forgets to breathe and falls from her pose onto the floor. She doesn't have time to regain her senses before two strong arms lift her off the floor.

She is about to question him on his weird behaviour when her mouth is suddenly covered by his in a kiss.

-------------------------------------------------
Marguerite is very talented. She has a beautiful voice, a great passion for music and various talents in the arts. Unfortunately, her bright future gets compromised when she is forced to leave her world to fulfill the wish of someone else. Marguerite wanting to go home as soon as possible, accepts. However things turn out quite unexpected for her.

The cover belongs to the rightful owner. If you are the owner of the art and want me to take it down, DM me on discord burlesque_dancer#2837

'Before I set out, I should probably deal with my equipment. All I have right now are the clothes I was wearing before being sent here, baggy trousers and a loose oversized dress shirt. They don't provide any bonus other than being comfortable but I think I saw some other clothes in a cabinet on the first floor, I should check those out,' Astur thought as she stored away the eight Blast Balls.
As she opened the cabinet, Astur found a set of clothes that are more suitable for going outside, although compared to her current clothes, pretty much anything would be better as her current wear is purely cosmetic and doesn't affect her stats or provide any bonuses.
In the cabinet is a full six-piece equipment set, consisting of a black dress shirt called Shirt of the Alchemist Pioneer. Black combat trousers that provide multiple quick inventory slots that are named Trousers of the Alchemist Pioneer. Black leather boots that go up to the knee that is named Boots of the Alchemist Pioneer. A pair of black and white fingerless cloth gloves called the Gloves of the Alchemist Pioneer. A white overcoat named Coat of the Alchemist Pioneer. And finishing the set is a white mantle called the Mantle of the Alchemist Pioneer. Together these six make up the Alchemist Pioneer Set.
[Shirt of the Alchemist Pioneer (Legendary)]
 [Self Cleaning and Repair]: Will automatically clean itself after a certain amount of time and any damage sustained will be mended when out of combat.
 [Growth]: Bonus stats increase after Class Advancement Quests.
 [VIT]: +5
 [MND]: +10
[Trousers of the Alchemist Pioneer (Legendary)]
 [Self Cleaning and Repair]: Will automatically clean itself after a certain amount of time and any damage sustained will be mended when out of combat.
 [Growth]: Bonus stats increase after Class Advancement Quests.
 [VIT]: +10
 [END] +5
[Boots of the Alchemist Pioneer (Legendary)]
 [Self Cleaning and Repair]: Will automatically clean itself after a certain amount of time and any damage sustained will be mended when out of combat.
 [Growth]: Bonus stats increase after Class Advancement Quests.
 [END]: +5
 [AGI]: +10
[Gloves of the Alchemist Pioneer (Legendary)]
 [Self Cleaning and Repair]: Will automatically clean itself after a certain amount of time and any damage sustained will be mended when out of combat.
 [Growth]: Bonus stats increase after Class Advancement Quests.
 [STR]: +5
 [MND] +10
[Coat of the Alchemist Pioneer (Legendary)]
 [Self Cleaning and Repair]: Will automatically clean itself after a certain amount of time and any damage sustained will be mended when out of combat.
 [Growth]: Bonus stats increase after Class Advancement Quests.
 [VIT]: +5
 [INT]: +10
[Mantle of the Alchemist Pioneer (Legendary)]
 [Self Cleaning and Repair]: Will automatically clean itself after a certain amount of time and any damage sustained will be mended when out of combat.
 [Growth]: Bonus stats increase after Class Advancement Quests.
 [INT]: +5
 [MND]: +10
[Alchemist Pioneer Set]
 [4]
  [Synthesis Reduction]: Cost of all Synthesis related skills is reduced by 50%.
 [6]
  [Legendary Alchemist]: All consumable items used by you are 50% more effective (Increases with Class Advancement). 
  [Pioneer]: Cost of learning Skills related to your Main Class is reduced by 50%.
 [Description]: Special clothing usable only by Astur Kojuuin. As the foremost Alchemist in the universe (and only one), Astur is the one who pushes the boundaries of the Class and reveals the secrets of Alchemy.
Looking over her new equipment, Astur found it to be surprisingly comfortable, contrary to its somewhat formal appearance, yet when reading the description there was one thought in her mind, 'why the fuck am I the only Alchemist?'
If she tried hard enough, Astur could probably pry some answers from her Grandfather, but she doesn't want to put in the effort required of such a task and she still has to go out and grind or risk getting beat up by her relatives.
"What a pain, I really don't want to go outside, but I don't want to get beat by the others, in both the physical sense and because my gamer pride won't let that retired priest and money-obsessed dragon beat me in a game world, even if in our case its real life. I guess the last thing to check would be weapons, for everyone but me that is. In EUO there are two Classes that don't use traditional weapons, the Mechanic and the Alchemist. I didn't bother looking too deep into the Mechanic Class, but the weapon used by Alchemists are special alchemy made rings that also take up accessory slots. This is probably why a weapon wasn't included in the equipment set I received. I do have a basic recipe but I lack the materials right now. I really am regretting my choice of Class right now, if I'm not mistaken, since I'm the only Alchemist, the only way to get new recipes is to experiment and make them myself. I might be able to get some as a quest or achievement reward, and the same goes for other Class Skills I don't have a Skill Book for, but I probably shouldn't count on it too much," Astur says as she wishes she could go back in time to slap her previous self.
'For now, I guess I'll just gather my things and head out…'
Having resigned herself to leaving the house, Astur finally takes her true first step in this new world as she begins to explore the forest. After stepping around 50 metres away from her house, Astur notices that she passed through some kind of invisible field, quickly coming to the conclusion that it likely surrounds her house to keep monsters away.
After leaving the safe area around her house, it doesn't take long for Astur to find her first enemy. A large cat, resting in the treetops.
[Vorpal Forest Leopard, Lv:3]
 [HP]: 240/240
 [ST]: 220/220
'This helps confirm my suspicion that I'm probably pretty close to where new players will start. A pretty low-level monster means this forest meant to be an area where new players will grind out their first couple of levels. I don't really want people intruding on my home too much, I wonder if I can do something to increase the strength of the monsters here. Well, I can worry about this later, right now is the Blast Ball testing.'
Bringing the Blast Ball out from her storage ring, Astur uses Draw Potential to increase the item effectiveness by another 5% and throws it at the unsuspecting leopard.
*boom*
Upon contact with the cat, the dark ball is destroyed in a small explosion, dealing 103 damage, it was even a critical hit due to the surprise attack. Having fallen from the tree branch from the explosion, the leopard falls to the ground, landing on its feet, but just as it makes contact with the ground, three more Blast Balls collide with its face, for a total of 149 damage. Combined with the damage from the first hit, the four Blast Balls are enough to kill the leopard.
"That explosion was incredibly underwhelming, not to mention it took half of the Blast Balls I had to kill a single low-level enemy. I call foul! I thought this Class was supposed to be strong but it took so many resources to kill one low-level enemy! Hell, it would have taken more if I didn't get the critical hit! It'll take forever for me to level up at this rate and since the Alchemist is a hybrid class that doubles as a Life Profession, as well as being a Hidden Class, the EXP I need to level it up is much higher than others. I really wish I could stop the me from a few hours ago…"
Since she has no idea how to dismantle and extract materials from the corpse of the leopard, Astur just puts it into her storage and decides to head back to her house as she's filled with regrets. But during her return trip, she spots something in the corner of her eye that raises her spirits, shrooms.
[Psychedelic Mushroom]
 [Desc]: Consumption not recommended. Is often used as an ingredient when making poisons. Can cause feelings of euphoria when consumed, but also causes hallucinations and diarrhoea.
"This is just what I needed," Asturs mutters as she immediately takes a few dozen mushrooms into her inventory.
As she returns home, rather than dealing with the monster corpse, the first the Astur does is find her old clothes and take out one of the cigars she had in her pocket along with a bag of weed and dumps the content of both into a bowl and then grinds down her new mushrooms along with the tobacco and cannabis, mixing the three together before rolling it back up into the cigar to make a blunt. Her next action is the most natural one, getting high.
Letting out a puff of smoke, Astur's eyes look dazed as her mind is cleared of all her worries and new ideas come streaming into her head.
---
Astur ended up spending the next two days high as she ran around, gathering who knows what from the forest, writing down all sorts of crazy recipes. If there were any onlookers, they'd think she was crazy, and they'd be right, but people from the Kojuuin family typically are somewhat mad or off in the head.
It was during this time, Astur found a Blast Tree, the source of Blast Seeds, behind her house. And instead of harvesting the seeds as most people would, she made more Blast Balls to blow the tree out from the ground and broke it down to use in her Synthesis. Surprisingly, this worked, although Astur thought it would from the beginning, and she made a batch of significantly more potent Blast Balls.
It should be noted that regular Blast Balls made by normal artisans have a base damage of 20, but when Astur makes it, her finished product has a base damage of 31. But her improved Blast Ball using the entire tree instead of the seed produced a new item she called Big Blast Ball, as the name suggests, its size is larger and the base damage was improved to 60, but with her Alchemist bonuses this went up to 95. Of course, this method isn't something that can be done often since it uses chunks of an entire Blast Tree as a core ingredient, so Astur only has 40 Big Blast Balls.
But all good things must come to an end, as Astur finally comes down from her high after two days. As she regains her clarity, everything she's done over the past two days comes rushing into her head, giving her a large headache for an hour while she organises her memories and looks through the recipes she made.
"Figures most of these don't result in anything, rather, I'm amazed I even got one of these to work. How in the world did I think using an entire tree would be a good idea? What the hell am I supposed to do now once I run out of bombs? I guess I got a ton of EXP from all the Synthesis I had been doing, although half of it comes from successfully creating a new item. I won't say no to it though, I need all the EXP I can get. 4,325 EXP stored, just how should I allocate this?"

Astur Kojuuin, along with five others have been chosen by their family's ancestor, Akkre, to live in the world on a new game, Eternal Universe Online, or EUO, as a way to break their shut-in NEET status. Astur and the others are given NPC status and are tasked to pave the way for the game's story.

Join Astur on her journey in this new world as she makes a name for herself and breaks out from her old shut-in lifestyle... at least that's how it should have gone if she weren't entirely motivated by her drive to live a lazy life.
________________________________

I will generally update with new chapters every other day and what is defined as a day is whenever I sleep and wake up.

Gravis sat down before the gate and concentrated on his Spirit Space. His figure reappeared in the Spirit Space and looked at his Spirit Seed. "Let's see what happens," he said. His wealth was already thrown out of the Spirit Space.
BANG!
Gravis pushed a bit of his lightning into his Spirit Seed, and his whole Spirit Space started shaking. The breakthrough was about to start.
The Spirit Seed started to pulse, becoming bigger with every pulse. By now, Gravis felt incredible pain coursing through his mind, but that pain was nothing to him. He only needed to gnash his teeth to resist the pain.
The pain continued as the Seed grew. When it reached double its size, something happened.
Psssh!
Something like a root tore out of the Spirit Seed. It came out violently like it had been pressed out. When Gravis saw that, he smiled in interest. "Is that the Sapling?" he asked himself.
Psssh!
Another root-like thing tore out of the Seed. When Gravis saw that, he raised an eyebrow. "Well, that couldn't be a Sapling too, could it? Well, everyone else cultivates Energy in their Spirit while I cultivate lightning. My Sapling Stage probably won't look like a Sapling.
Psssh! Psssh!
Another two roots came out. By now, the Seed didn't look like a Seed anymore. The roots came out of the Seed without any pattern, and his Seed looked rather weird. It looked more like a growth than a Seed or a Sapling.
Psssh! Psssh! Psssh! Psssh! Psssh! Psssh!
More of these roots broke out from all over the Seed, and they didn't seem to stop. The Seed itself became smaller and looked a bit deflated like it had lost its insides and started collapsing into itself.
After around two minutes, a great number of roots appeared. By now, the Seed wasn't even visible anymore. These growth-like roots covered everything. His Spirit Space also stopped pulsing as everything calmed down. The growth was kind of spherical and had a diameter of two meters.
Whoom!
Gravis felt his Spirit expand. He couldn't test its actual range since all the walls and corridors blocked it. The only thing that Gravis felt was that his Spirit became more powerful. The "Seed" had also completely calmed down. During the breakthrough, Gravis' Spirit Space had also grown to about double the radius, which increased its volume manifold.
Gravis looked at this new thing from all angles. "Well, I can't call it a Seed anymore," he said.
The thing looked like a growth that mortals would have inside them when they got incredibly sick. If it weren't whitish-silver in color, one would think that this thing looked disgusting. It was just a mass of random tubes, roots, growths, or whatever you want to call it.
Gravis rubbed his chin in thought. "Alright, I'll call you Growth from now on!" Gravis said to the Growth. "You really don't look like a Sapling. You look more like a root network or something. Growth is an appropriate name."
Then, Gravis walked closer and started touching the roots.
Squish!
They felt squishy to the touch, and he could move them around however he wanted. They kind of felt like the tentacles of a dead squid. "Ew," he said. "Man, if you weren't made of lightning, you would be really disgusting." Gravis moved the roots around a little bit more, and when he let go, they would slowly move back to their previous positions.
Of course, it was only Gravis who could touch this thing. If anyone else touched it, they would be incinerated. Only lightning could touch lightning without being attacked. "Anyways, that should be it for my breakthrough. Now, time to compress my lightning!"
Gravis left his Spirit Space and opened his eyes again. Then, he used his Spirit and will to compress the lightning in his chest. After every breakthrough, Gravis could compress his lightning more. This time, it should be enough to compress his lightning to a state where it wouldn't constantly poke out of his body anymore.
Gravis hadn't had a full lightning storage in a while. After all, if he didn't unload it from time to time, all the people and objects touching him would be incinerated. Walking around his group or the Freya Clan with that was troublesome and dangerous.
Condensing his lightning didn't take much time, only a couple of seconds. After he was finished, he waited until he got back all his lightning. Just as expected, the lightning didn't come out of his chest anymore. When he saw that, he released a sigh of relief. "Finally, I don't have to check on my lightning anymore. One less thing to worry about."
When Gravis' lightning storage was full again, he summoned a small will-sphere with 5% of his Spirit. Then, he moved some lightning into it, and it absorbed a little over 5% of his lightning storage. After that, it exploded.
The walls and gates shook, but they weren't damaged in the slightest. After all, the walls had to be incredibly sturdy to even allow Sapling Stage cultivators to fight here. If any random attack from such a powerful cultivator could destroy the walls, then what was the point of having different trials? Couldn't they just dig through the mountain and walls?
"Alright, so my Spirit and lightning are back to a ratio of one-to-one. That also makes it less troublesome to calculate my Lightning Crescent," Gravis said with satisfaction. "So, I guess I could say that my Spirit and Lightning are at the same level now. That only leaves the body."
Gravis retrieved all his wealth, except for one thing. A small hill of medicinal pills remained beside Gravis. All of these were body tempering pills. "Heh, for once, I could be considered lucky," he said with a smirk.
Where did Gravis get so many body tempering pills from? Had he readied them before the journey?
No. Where would he have even gotten the money to get so many of those?
So, where did these pills come from? Funnily enough, these pills all came from the dead group of disciples from the Earth Sect. They had been at the peak of the Seed Stage and would have reached the Sapling Stage by now if they hadn't died.
Of course, the Sects took the Heaven's Trial very seriously, so every disciple carried enough body tempering pills to reach the Sapling Stage with their bodies. After reaching the Sapling Stage, they would only need to eat all these pills, and their body would advance. Sadly, since they had attacked Gravis, all their pills now belonged to him together with all their other wealth.
"Father once said that having no luck doesn't mean that I won't get wealth. Others will get their lucky chances, and I only have to kill them to get their lucky chances and wealth. And sure enough, he was right," Gravis said with a chuckle.
After saying that, Gravis started shoveling pills into his mouth like a starving ape. Yet, there were just so incredibly many pills. It took him several hours of nonstop eating to finally make his body advance.
Green smoke shot out of Gravis' mouth as he burped. This concentrated smoke had as much medicinal energy as a whole pill. Yet, Gravis didn't mind. He just had too many pills to care about such a minuscule amount of medicinal energy.
"Feels good, man," Gravis said to himself as he lay on top of the still considerable mound of pills. "Now, my body, Spirit, and lightning are at the same level. There is no imbalance anymore," he said.
But then, he started smirking, "but what's so good about balance? Other people have issues with their elements if their body is more powerful than their Energy or Spirit, but not me. My body ignores lightning, so why stop now?" Then, he looked at his bed of body tempering pills with a smirk. "Imma eat all of that."
And like this, Gravis ate more pills. He had only eaten a little less than a fifth of the pills previously. There was still a lot to go through!
After a full day passed, Gravis patted his tummy as he ate the last one. His lightning easily cleaned the outside of the pills. After all, many of them had been lying on the ground for a day, and Gravis was not interested in eating dust.
After he finished eating, he stood up and stretched himself. Then, he did some practice punches and kicks. "Yep, my body should be around the Tree Stage right now. Man, it took four times the amount of pills to reach the Tree Stage compared to the Sapling Stage. Expensive, expensive…"
Then, Gravis moved his lightning throughout his body. "Yep, no resistance. Everything checks out," he said. "My Spirit and Lightning are equal to the Sapling Stage, while my body is equal to the Tree Stage. Compared to my current Stage, I am even more powerful than when I was at the Seed Stage."
"With just my Will-Aura and physical strength, killing people at the Tree Stage shouldn't be an issue. I don't even need my lightning for that," Gravis said but then frowned. "But the Self Stage is different. Everyone I have ever fought against in the Core-Continent only went through the ninth Stage of Energy Gathering. If someone is at the Self Stage, it means that they have gone through the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering. This means that they don't only have a higher Realm, but also double the amount of Energy."
"Every Stage quadruples the power of the cultivator. That has been true until now, but the Self Stage is different. Since they all went through the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering, a Self Stage cultivator is not 16 times more powerful than someone at the Sapling Stage, but probably around 24 times. Double the Energy is not completely double the strength, but it goes a long way. If going through the tenth Stage also increased the body's power, it would probably be a proper 32 fold increase."
"Luckily, my more powerful body takes this advantage away. So, all in all, someone at the Self Stage should be as powerful to me now as someone at the Tree Stage when I was at the Seed Stage. So, the power dynamic didn't change. Interesting," Gravis narrated to himself with interest.
"Well, time to go!" Gravis said and then opened the door to his trial without hesitation.
"I know Heaven is smart, and I am pretty sure that it only has a maximum of three chances to properly kill me. There are not that many things that it can use to threaten me. I am about 95% sure what the first trial is going to be. After all, currently, I am at my weakest. Heaven will probably throw an incredibly dangerous trial to me right at the beginning," Gravis said as he charged down the hallway.
After a while, the hallway widened into a one-kilometer wide arena. When Gravis looked at the middle of the arena, he smirked.
"Called it!"


With a father as strong as the highest heavens themselves, Gravis wasn't required to step into the cold and ruthless world of cultivation.

But when Heaven used him in a scheme to get back at his father, Gravis realized that he needed strength to gain true freedom.

As long as he remained his weak self, he would always remain beneath Heaven’s oppression. Only true power brings true freedom.

To gain strength, Gravis ventured into the lower worlds to start his cultivation under true life and death tempering. 

Only a strong will, which had been forged in striving for every resource available, would allow him to reach the peak.

Heaven’s strongest weapon was Lightning of Divine Punishment, and only if he made this weapon his, would he have a chance.

So, to overthrow Heaven,

Lightning Is the Only Way!

Yet, the path to power is painful. 

Not everyone reaches the peak.

But Gravis will!

No matter how much pain he feels along the way!

-- There will be 2 chapters a day --

Thanks go to Noel, Raikyodeus and Chaotic_Luck for Proofreading!

Cover by: digitalrowye

As soon as Rider had left, Shuhang trekked towards Ophis with much difficulty. No surprise there seeing as there's a hand shoved in and prodding around inside his soul. Well... Its his nascent soul, but it has a close enough link between it and his 'True Soul' that affecting one would do the same to the other. No... They are one and the same at this point.

Of course, it's actually not supposed to be like this, and it wasn't. The nascent soul is only the materialized form of one's cultivation. The true soul on the other hand... well, the 'True' part is self explanatory. 

Shuhang's nascent soul and true soul only became.... Linked after he had acquired the 3rd true magic, Heavens Feel. After the flaws were removed, Heavens Feel not only made his soul a 'perpetual motion machine', essentially making his power 'Infinite', it had connected his mind, spiritual senses and soul all into one 'impenetrable' and inseparable package.

In other words, the current nascent soul is actually Shuhang's true self while his physical body now became only a mere container. In a sense, Shuhang is already truly 'immortal'. The impenetrable part wasn't actually just a saying either, but a fact. At least it's supposed to be. Despite that however... How in the world is Ophis just casually shoving her hand in his supposed 'impenetrable' soul defense? As expected of one of the strongest being in existence and is comparable to the Holder of the Heavens Mandate... How scary.

Shuhang: "Phew. Uh.... Ophis? What are you --"

Once Shuhang made it to a close enough distance, he made to ask the mini dragon god what was happening. He didn't even finish his question when suddenly, Ophis made a jerking motion and pulled her hand out. Along with that, a strong shock wave was released and sent his inner world shaking once more. It's almost like high pressure water bursting fourth from a broken container. Ddraig who at one point resurfaced from the [Spirit Lake], let out an almost imperceptible grunt.

On the outside world, a similar event was playing out as well as an intense pressure was released from Shuhang's body. Along with it, another globul of black blood was coughed 
out from Shuhang's body. Venerable White whom had a feeling 'something' might happen, sent everyone out of the room and put up a barrier beforehand, and had to work over time as this pressure had exceeded his estimation and almost leaked through. Had he not done this, everyone else aside from White himself would have been utterly crushed by the pressure... literally. It is especially true for the 'Fate' girls who were still for the most part just regular mortals. 

Back inside, a great change was rapidly taking place. With Ophis' hand no longer in places where it shouldn't be, Shuhang felt as if he was suddenly relieved of a great burden. The toddler looking nascent soul was undergoing rapid growth and in no time at all... it grew to the age of a middle schooler with features that are reminiscent of a younger Shuhang. From the look of it, the nascent soul seemed like it hadn't finished its growth yet and only slowed down as it was still 'missing' something.

Along with the growth of his nascent soul, Shuhang's cultivation also had a tremendous growth as well albeit still technically in the 7th Stage Venerable realm. His new power output however is infinitely close to the peak of the profound sage realm even in just his base form alone. Should there ever be a need for Shuhang to fight an Eternal Life Being, there is a possibility of him capable of fighting one to a draw depending on the quality of their [Way]... Or as it is better known as Dao. As for winning...? That's not possible for now as even if he could [Boost] himself all the way to Jupiter and back, his current physical body wouldn't be able to handle the strain and might actually self implode. Not to mention the lack of 'experience' compared to those that lived for millions of years. In said case, he might as well just use Juggernaut Drive which didn't lessen the side effect at all. Rather, it would actually be worse than compared to overloading himself with an ungodly amount of Boosts.

Unsurprisingly, none of these new and unexpected growth were being noticed by Shuhang though. Currently, he was staring intently at the... 'Thing' being held in Ophis' hand. In it, there was a red, hazy, ephemeral aura covering a ghostly looking face that seemed to be wailing in anguish as it tries to escape both from the red aura and Ophis' clutch... and failing miserably as it only encouraged Ophis to increase her grip.

That is not the most important thing that Shuhang observed however as he actually faintly recognized the 'feeling' of this... thing that came out of nascent soul. Although faint, it managed to produce the same feeling as that monstrosity that devoured his clone back in the zombie world! The mere thought of this sent Shuhang's mind into a turmoil. Off to the side, Ddraig was growling and openly showing great hostility almost like a canine when they perceived some sort of threat. Again, Shuhang took no notice of this as he was to busy swimming in his own chaotic thoughts.

Shuhang: "I... Huh?!"

Misinterpreting Shuhang's confusion, Ophis responded in her customary broken sentences and emotionless tone.

Ophis: "This, is Baka-Red's, power."

Even though she's supposed to be 'emotionless', for some reason Shuhang felt as if Ophis is pouting at the mention of Great Red's name. Cute. Uh... That's not important right now! There is a more pressing issue at hand here...

At Ophis' answer, Shuhang couldn't help but come to a sudden pause... only to become confused even more than before.

(What the shit? Great Red? Why on earth...?!)

After what felt like forever, or maybe  it was only a mere moment, Shuhang finally calmed down a little. At this point, only two questions remained at the forefront of his thought. 1- Why  or when was there a piece of that abomination's soul inside of him? 2-How in the blazing hell did Great Red of all thing come to being involved in all this?

(Disclaimer: I don't own CCG or any of the characters except my Original!)

***Warning***
If you're looking slice of life pace and the characters completely the same with no change whatsoever... then gtfo and go read the original, this novel isn't for you.



***Crappy Synopsis***
In my previous life... I was a nobody! My name is... no, was Fang Lin and in this 2nd life, my name is Song Shuhang... and I shall reign supreme as the strongest immortal!

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