The being exploded into meat chunks and destroyed all the energy inside of themselves. They had been wounded in a fight and saw me approaching so they decided to kill themselves first so I couldn’t get any benefits. That was annoying.

“Yuan Zhou,” a familiar figure said from a distance away. It was Hissk. I hadn’t seen him since he had rescued his fellow lizard.

“Hissk. You have gotten stronger,” I declared.

“So have you. My senior asked me to avenge him. Hissk tastes the energy of his slayer all over you and that sword is familiar,” Hissk said.

“Sword God Feng is dead and I have consumed him. There is nothing for you here,” I declared. I didn’t want to fight him, but I mentally prepared myself. My sense of danger was increasing.

“You inherited his legacy. Hissk swore to his senior to avenge him. We are no longer a team,” Hissk declared and rushed forward. I activated Chicken to retreat. I felt danger from behind. Hissk appeared behind me. I spun the vehicle around to block with my sword, but his target wasn’t me, but Chicken. The metal and arrays inside of it were destroyed.

I transitioned my defensive sword movement to a strike. Something I wouldn’t have been able to do before the Sword God’s instruction. Hissk was cut deeply on his left arm, but I hadn’t been able to put anything behind that attack.

Chicken fell from the sky. I kicked off the wreckage, while spinning midair to face Hissk. It was tempting to go for a ranged weapon in my spatial storage, but Hissk was skilled at spatial techniques. He had easily caught up with my vehicle. Hissk dove towards me, trailing red blood from his left arm, which was quickly healing.

We exchanged three blows, his claws to my sword as I plummeted towards the molten metal, back first. I tried to pull out a device out of my spatial storage. Hissk jabbed a claw in the air between us as I got a bit more distance and the spatial storage broke apart, losing everything inside. Thankfully nothing important had been in there.

I spun about and swung downwards. I knew force and cut off the speed of my descent. I wasn’t strong enough to sever the forces acting on me. I needed more experience, but I knew enough to use the technique the Sword God had taught me to reduce my speed.

Hissk attacked me as he flew past me, I blocked both of his claw attacks and used my leg to deflect his tail that he whipped around. I landed on the molten metal. My boots were smoking slightly and the heat was annoying. I probably wouldn’t have boots for much longer, but that wasn’t a concern at the moment.

I turned to face Hissk who had deftly circled around in front of me. His arm had healed. Chicken slammed into the molten metal, dying a final ignoble death. It had served me well, but its time was over. Hissk didn’t say any more words, but dove at me.

While he was strong, he couldn’t effectively attack with both hands at the same time, without leaving himself exposed. He had to attack just above the ground, or he would leave his legs open. While he had clawed feet, he was clearly better with his hands for combat than his feet. His wings constantly kept twitching slightly, manipulating the energy around him to keep him moving with ease through the air.

His claws were as tough as the Sword God’s sword. But I hadn’t gone all out yet, but he hadn’t either. He was matching me, trying to turn this into a contest of endurance. I had no doubt he would win. He was a purpose-built biological weapon.

It was time to go all out. “One Swing To Accomplish Anything!” I shouted to help my focus. Five different spatial slashes formed and flew towards Hissk as I swung the blade with both hands. I pulled out my Combat Cylinder into the air in front of me, without a hand ready to grab it. Hissk wasn’t prepared to stop me as he was forced back, taking several minor slashes on his scaled body while avoiding taking a slash on directly.

I caught the Combat Cylinder with my off hand, bending down. The molten metal was quite hot and my mask was having trouble now from the heat and the wear and tear it had endured during my time in the Gu Container.

Depressing the button on the Combat Cylinder, it fired higher up and to the left of Hissk. I didn’t hesitate to leap forward into the air at the same time. My blade swung up from the bottom right, putting him in a difficult position.

Hissk took the blast on his shoulder and blocked my sword attack with a clawed hand. His other hand darted out towards my throat. But I hadn’t committed to my sword slash. Something I had learned from the Sword Saint. Never fully commit to an attack unless you are absolutely sure it would kill your opponent before they could kill you.

I was able to bring my blade back quicker to block Hissk’s counter attack than he could strike at me. The force of his blow, pushed me back down towards the molten metal. He swung his tail around to strike me. I brought up a foot to block it and it went slightly numb from the force of the blow.

Landing on one foot, Hissk spun about as I recovered my footing. The molten metal wasn’t solid, but it wasn’t liquid. I had to keep moving my feet so I didn’t sink beneath the surface. This fight was going very badly and it didn’t look like it would get any better.

The first issue was that I had lost all my mobility. Hissk could fly about while I was stuck on the molten metal. That was the second issue, the terrain was against me. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t helpful either. Third, Hissk could block my attacks and had very good battle sense at what attacks were the most dangerous that he absolutely needed to block. Fourth, Hissk could selfheal. If I took heavy damage, then I would soon be dead. Hissk could pull back and recover as needed. Fifth he could counter me accessing my spatial storage.

I was faster and maybe a tad stronger. My technique was incredibly dangerous if I could get a direct blow on him, I would win. But he wouldn’t let me land a blow with my weapon anywhere else other than his claws.

Without Chicken, it would take too long to run towards the war machine, and too dangerous. I wouldn’t be able to dodge easily if it attacked, stuck on the molten metal.

“One Swing To Accomplish Anything!” Hissk took a defensive position, but I swung downwards. The molten metal split beneath me as I fell downwards into the newly formed canyon. I hadn’t down to solid metal, since the layer of molten metal had only grown over time.

Hissk didn’t hesitate to chase after me. I fired the Combat Cylinder again. He swerved out of the blast and kept up his pursuit, rapidly closing in on me. I hadn’t been aiming at him, but at the shifting wall of molten metal that formed this canyon. The stuff was like sludge, liquid, but it moved slowly, unless it was falling down.

Molten metal rained down above us. I landed at the bottom of the canyon, which was rapidly shrinking. “One Swing To Accomplish Anything!” I swung downwards a second time, making the canyon deeper and began falling again. Hissk kept up his pursuit, but the sight of the star above us was quickly disappearing from view as molten metal began to close up the first cut I had made.

The second time I had managed to cut my way to solid metal. “I can survive anything, what about you?” Hissk asked as a spatial bubble formed around him, keeping back the molten metal. My mask was falling apart.

The entire point of dragging the fight down here wasn’t to escape, but to reach a location that Hissk couldn’t dodge as I put everything I had into my next attack. I took a deep breath and then I ripped my mask off. It was time to go all in.

No fancy technique. Just a sword slash that would cut through anything in front of it. “One Swing To Separate Heaven And Earth!” Focusing with everything I had, I channeled energy into my new sword. I wasn’t using a spatial cutting technique, since Hissk was expecting spatial techniques based on my earlier attacks and he was experienced in such things.

This was pure sword energy. I poured everything I could of Sword God Feng into this attack. A blinding white light erupted from my blade, surging upwards. There was no easy way to dodge in this narrow canyon of molten metal.

Hissk didn’t hesitate to bring both arms in front of his head and brought his legs up to project his body. The molten metal was pushed backwards as the slash struck Hissk and went soaring up past him, breaking out through the surface.

He had moved slightly, taking the attack with the side of his body instead of head on. His left arm and wing fell off his body as he began tumbling towards the ground as well. Blood poured out of his wounds. I was breathing heavily as my lungs burned from the scorched atmosphere. I felt exhausted, but I had to end this now. I rushed forward and stabbed out. Hissk brought up his right arm and my blade pierced into it, but not all the way through to his head.

I kept pressing forward as he tried to scramble back. Molten metal was closing in all around us. I fired the Combat Cylinder again, striking him in the head.

“RAAAAAR!” Hissk let out a roar as he went tumbling backwards, falling into molten metal. I rushed forward and stabbed him in the head, killing him. His body shuddered once, but then went still. I twisted and yanked my blade freeing him from the molten metal. I rushed back to his arm and wing. I swung downwards, cutting a hole into the solid metal beneath me.

I fell down with Hissk’s body parts and corpse. I pulled out chunks of metal and placed them above me, sealing the hole I had just made, before the molten metal would entrap me. That had been far too close. While Hissk was a skilled fighter, he didn’t have experience fighting in molten metal. Also, his desire to win and my apparent weakness had led to his death.

I wouldn’t say he was over confident, just that he had misjudged the overall flow of combat. He was good at fighting, but not good at tactics or thinking outside the box. That was why he had teamed up with me in the first place to get this far. I had teamed up with him as well to be fair, but I had been thinking about how I would beat him. He most likely thought to do what he had always done, since it had worked in the past.

That had been his undoing. It had been a very close fight. If he was a bit tougher, or realized what I had been doing, he could have defeated me by outlasting me and wearing me down. I was spent. But I had one way to recover my energy.

Hissk was the first enemy I had killed in a fair fight in a very long time, as fair a fight as a life and death match could get. No outside interference, just us two beings who were equally matched. While there were slight imbalances because I was a cultivator and he was a lizard, it had been remarkably close.

My musings only took a moment as I steadied myself both physically and mentally. I got out the array plate I had used countless times. The corpse of Hissk disappeared and I consumed another meatball. I felt a surge of energy through me.

It began to fight the sword energy that was remaining within me from Sword God Feng. I could only smile slightly, since I was hopeful those two would balance each other out like the Saint’s energy and the demonic cultivator’s environmental energy had. While they would make me feel uncomfortable, I would feel better with such a balance through consumption.

Balance was important, even with demonic consumption. That was something I had learned about cultivation. Extremes would lead to extremes. Energy surged through me. I cut deeper and sealed the passage behind once more. I was ready to collapse and wanted to ensure that I wouldn’t be cooked or surrounded by molten metal while sleeping.

As I lay there in the darkness, in the barrier sphere, inside the Gu Container, my base level of energy continued to grow. While I had spent quite a bit, I had a pool of energy I could use and the energy that strengthened my body and cultivation. The difference between the two wasn’t much. I had used all the energy I had collected, but I hadn’t dug into the energy strengthening my body or soul.

Now it was all being strengthened. It was fitting in a way. My teammate would carry me forward one last time. I said a mental thanks to Hissk for his contribution to my ascent. The first breakthrough, to create a separate soul to draw on energy independently had been fraught with complications. There was no way Chaos could get to me inside the Gu Container. If it could, well that was it.

The safest place from Chaos was one of the most dangerous threats. The ambient energy pressure had also increased a bit, ever since the Chaos attack. While it wasn’t as high as the Astral Plane, it was higher than the regular Firmament.

Checking the devices I had with me, I confirmed that the space was collapsing. It wasn’t at the red liquid yet, but the collapse was picking up speed like I had predicted. As a three dimensional space shrunk, then there would be less surface area. The collapse would only accelerate even more from here on out.

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The table people on the island above the ocean of blood were probably getting close to panicking. Soon the people here at the center of the Gu Container would start panicking as well. Everything would be pushed up towards the star most likely. The edge of this place had gravity pushing inwards. With the outwards gravity being emitted from the Citadel, it would become chaotic, right before everything was crushed.

I had no idea how the end portion of this entire Gu Container was supposed to work, but I had no doubt the demonic cultivator running this place had everything meticulously planned out. But that was a problem for later. I had no idea how I was supposed to separate my mind from my physical body. All I knew was that energy would make the process easier.

A shame that I hadn’t found out before reaching this point. But there was too much chance for someone giving me bad information in order to sabotage me. My body felt like it couldn’t hold any more energy. Immortals hadn’t been tougher than me, so that was probably natural. They just had better control over energy and leverage it more easily.

I pulled out another mask and put it on, so I could breathe easily. While I could survive without breathing for quite a while, it was annoying. Soon, I wouldn’t have to be concerned about even that. I would transition to an immortal. Accomplishing the goal I had set out for long ago.

Everything felt on edge, but I couldn’t take the next step. I was afraid of making a critical mistake and messing everything up. I kept thinking about what I needed to do. Separate my mind from my body into my soul.

My initial foundation into cultivation helped me, here at this critical juncture. I could sense a faint trace of mind focused cultivation in my body. I could sense my soul. I could sense my physical body. Focusing, I focused on moving my mind towards my soul. It was close to my body, but that needed to change.

It wasn’t painful, but it was uncomfortable. I felt like I was floating as I adjusted my cultivation. My soul was strong enough to support my mind. My body was strong enough to endure the entire process. Normally I would have built complicated structures, but I wasn’t a normal cultivator. The amount of energy I was using was at least ten times what I would have needed if I had broken through using the method of the Heavenly Alliance or another super organization.

But that was a path I had cast aside. While I had harbored thoughts about taking such a path as a last resort, I wanted my independence. That was why I had started in the first place. There were more regions, such as continuing on forever, the challenge of cultivation, and triumphing in this second life.

As mind moved over to my soul, I couldn’t help but wonder, how I had reincarnated in the first place. That was something I would have to find out. I had always wondered, but it was never a priority compared to reaching immortality. Well I would have to escape the Gu Container first.

Energy surged into my body. I was in my body, but at the same time I wasn’t. My senses were slowly expanding outwards as my mind settled into my soul. My body was still a part of me, but it felt different, far away. I could feel the flow of energy both in me and around me.

The demonic cultivator’s energy stood out the most, but there were other subtle nuances. My sense of the forces acting around me had increased slightly as well. I felt the movement of molten metal above me. It was slight, but it was moving about from the various disturbances that had occurred and were currently ongoing.

It wasn’t just sight, but it was a feeling. I couldn’t leave my body, but my awareness had expanded around it. My control felt much finer. I moved my hands slowly and every motion was perfectly controlled. It was like I was piloting my body with my mind, rather than being in my body.

I could still feel everything, but my bodily senses were a bit more muted compared to before. The energy in my body was locked into a static state. Like a cup that was filled up to the very brim. There was nowhere else for the energy to go.

Now I could fully understand how difficult it was for immortals to advance. They would have to find a way to strengthen their soul. But the process wouldn’t be simple or easy. But I had time to learn. I had all the time I needed. My body was unchanging and with my mind attached to my soul, it wouldn’t decay over time.

The soul was a part of myself that would persist. I had seen cultivators like Bones, a spirit but no body in the past. Losing one’s body would be crippling but it was no longer the end, since the soul was now the repository of my mind. Going further than this, I could not imagine how difficult it would be.

But there were further steps. This was just the beginning, or the end of the beginning as it were. I had stepped into another level. A focused thought and my energy spread out around me. Giving me a better understanding of anything in that area. With another thought, I concentrated the energy in my body fully, strengthening it to its peak.

The power of an immortal. A goal countless people and beings had fallen short of. Of those that had made it this far, only a small number would reach this point without being forced to serve a super organization. But I had done it. With help of course, lots and lots of help.

I would not discount all the lives and destruction I had left in my wake, but it had paid off. I was an immortal.

I removed the mask on my face. The air my body took in was immediately processed by the energy throughout my body. My body ran on energy, my energy, which conveyed my thoughts. If my body was stripped of its energy, then I would no longer be able to control it. I would become a homeless soul.

My soul overlapped my body. I couldn’t move it away. Such an action was probably risky and dangerous. While my body was no longer required, it allowed me to interact with the physical objects around me. If I lost it, then I would be as good as dead. Perhaps a stronger immortal might soldier on, but from what I had seen, just being a soul was like being naked in a rainstorm.

The body provided the well of energy I could draw upon. It was a shelter I needed to reside in. Losing that shelter would be incredibly dangerous. I slowly sat up. The energy around me was interesting. It was like I had an extra sense that extended around me in a bubble.

I could see the small ripples of energy triggering my danger sense. When I moved or thought, my energy would cause a miniscule ripple outwards that was quickly lost in the rest of the noise. The demonic cultivator’s energy was dominant, but there was other sources of energy mixed in as well.

That was when everything shuddered, my soul, my energy, and my body. My energy was turbulent. Focusing inwards, I could only wince. I might have reached the rank of immortal, but my recent progression was troubling.

I could easily see the hidden structures inside my body and soul, supporting everything. If my cultivation was a house, then I had built a solid concrete pad, frame, and roof. Even the interior walls and bracing was decent. But then everything after that was a complete mess.

Demonic cultivation and consumption had seen me shoving energy into my body to advance. It was messy, very messy. I could see conflicting energy, disrupting my control. I might have reached the rank of immortal and my body might be able to run, but there were misfires.

It was like another fluid was mixed in with the gas. I couldn’t exactly purge the tank. That meant it would take time to fix. And all the energy I was drawing on from the lower layers of reality was being impacted by the Gu Container. There was a barrier over everything, inputting the demonic cultivator’s energy. If it was just that energy, I could handle it. My body, soul, and mind had been tempered against that energy.

It wasn’t mine, so there were minor issues, but it wasn’t life ending. The problem was all the energy I had gained through demonic consumption. There was a reason demonic cultivators prepared their meals, rather than just creating meatballs. The energy of the demonic cultivator helped, but it was acting like a bridge. Processing the energy of others, while my energy, with my sense of self was struggling.

I needed to leave this Gu Container and work at fixing my energy, but that would be a long term process. The house had been built and everything moved inside. Cleaning up the mess would be much more difficult than putting everything inside properly, but there was no other way.

At least the foundation and structure were sound. If I had just piled in energy from when I was a child, it would be like creating a house out of trash. I would be a trash immortal and everything would likely collapse, killing me. Everything was solidly built, so my cultivation wouldn’t fail. If it did fail, since my mind was now in my soul, I would die.

“I have come so far. Thank you everyone,” I quietly said. I didn’t have any tea with me, but I had done it. I had become an immortal, crossing past the second bottleneck with brute force. It had messed things up a bit, but they could be corrected in time.

While I should focus on my next move inside the Gu Container, I just sat there quietly in the dark underground chamber. I was happy and proud of myself for accomplishing something so many others had failed at.

Now the future seemed so much brighter, even if I was sitting in darkness. I let myself slowly get used to my new circumstances, savoring this moment. I would etch this into my mind. I didn’t know how old I was anymore. Over a millennia at least and under twenty.

But there was a vast range between that. Before I used to count out every moment, trying to squeeze out progress. It really was easier with brute force, but unstable. My smile diminished a little bit as my energy rampaged in my body and soul once more.

In time that would be fixed, I repeated to myself once again. I brought up my sword and saw the flow of energy through it. I gave a small slash and the far wall was easily cut. I swung the blade again, using a spatial slash instead of a pure energy one. My control had greatly increased as well as my understanding of how these techniques worked.

“Genius,” I said quietly. The movement of the blade, the blade itself, and my focus all came togeather in the energy to create the desired effect. I hesitated before bringing up the blade once more. To sever my connection between my body and the forces acting upon it.

I focused carefully. If I screwed this up, there would dangerous repercussions. But I wasn’t going to screw up. The confrontation against the effects of Chaos and during the fight with Hissk had given me insight into this technique. It had only increased with my ascension.

“One Swing To Accomplish Anything,” I said calmly and swung upwards across the front of my body. Some of the physical forces traveling through the energy were cut off. I floated off the ground with a thought. The effect wouldn’t last that long, only a couple of days at most. Already the sword energy I had created was being worn down by outside forces. The stronger the effect, the quicker my flight would be impacted. If something strong enough affected me, then I would be subject to the forces of the ambient energy.

Before I was just creating a temporary layer. But now I had control to influence my energy much more in depth. The sword energy was also my energy. The sword was but a brush to leave a brief impression. In time I might be able to sustain the effect near permanently or have my energy do it without having to swing a sword.

But for now, I was beginner, even if I was an immortal. The path to the top was never ending. Floating off the ground I got used to the experience of floating. My experience with force was quite helpful. I adjusted the energy around me and I easily moved. A bit of focus and I generated force from energy, impacting a nearby wall.

Such a technique wouldn’t do anything against an immortal, but to those weaker than me, with less sensory abilities, it would be a powerful surprise attack. A shame I hadn’t gotten a more esoteric Dao instead of force. Time, space, fate, luck, or something else with crazy possibilities. Still, force was not that bad.

If I had been stuck with water or earth, I would have probably cried. Being able to control force around me, used up my energy quite a bit. It would work best as a surprise technique or a lesson for juniors that needed a lesson. I was the senior now.

A shame there were no lesser cultivators to congratulate me. But that was a minor price to pay for being completely independent. I did have some connections to the Xyon Front, but those could be sorted out in time.

The most important thing now was figuring out my next steps. Consumption would only wreck my cultivation more with little benefit. I could only say another silent thanks to Hissk for his help pushing me the final distance to immortality. In the end he was the best teammate I could have asked for.

I needed to fix my foundation first, before worrying about increasing my strength. I also needed to learn more about how immortals would increase their strength. That could come later, but I would keep my ears and eyes open. Also, my new energy sense, since I was still adjusting to this new form of perception it hadn’t crossed my mind immediately.

Bringing my sword up once more, I looked upwards. While it was dark, the motion of my body was familiar to me. That was something I would have to correct to not reveal where I was paying attention. It had taken three swings to get this deep. The heat was already increasing, and the ceiling was sagging slightly.

“One Swing To Accomplish Anything,” I said out loud and swung my blade. I noticed that my words were carried with the energy that was emitted when I moved. Those words added to the energy of my technique. It was subtle with most of the help coming from my focus, but verbal statements impacted the use of techniques. Something I kind of knew, but I had always thought it helped with focus more than anything.

My slash surged upwards, the metal above me was separated apart. Forming a tall, narrow canyon. I flew upwards through the newly formed hole. Rising from the newly formed hole I looked up at the star. The energy of this place was…intense. That was the best word I could use to describe the what I was picking up. Like a breeze, I could feel the intensity wafting around this place.

There were no vultures attacking me, but that didn’t mean anything. Even with my heightened energy sensing, it wouldn’t be impossible to hide. One just needed to suppress all emissions of energy. They didn’t need to suppress them all depending on the sensory ability of who they were trying to hide from.

I looked back up at the star and the hidden citadel. It was tempting to try and fly up, but I could already feel the spatial suppression impacting my flight. There were also the defenses to consider. I wouldn’t be launching an assault any time soon after seeing the last one fail so dramatically. The demonic cultivator wasn’t messing about.

What I didn’t want to become was a table person, waiting for something to happen. I got this far by being proactive and seizing everything I could. Even if it was distasteful, I kept moving forward. The question, which direction was forward, when I was stuck on the interior of a sphere and couldn’t go up or down.

While some might consider it a philosophical question, it was an actual question I was faced with at the moment. Honing my techniques would be the best way forward. Using my sword to manipulate space and energy was a way I could progress since I was going to avoid consumption going forward and I wasn’t sure about other methods of gaining strength as an immortal.

Fighting other beings to practice just seemed like asking for trouble. No wonder why immortals just sat around waiting. If the conditions weren’t favorable they would wait until the last moment to act. It was understandable, but also frustrating.

Looking up at the star again, I really wanted to fly up there, but that was a death sentence. I wasn’t going to just throw my life away after coming so far. What I needed to do was to work on my speed. I had some sense of what Hissk had done to manipulate space and my sword training had given me some more insights.

Practicing would draw attention, but I needed to elevate my techniques. I couldn’t go back either. It would take too long to cross through the solid metal and the ocean of blood. I was no Hissk that could just zip on through and my reserve of metal plates was quite low.

Carving out a cave in the barrier sphere might work, but looking down at the molten metal, it was getting thicker and thicker. Also, if there was another major event I wanted to witness it. I could still feel a small tendril of chaos in my energy. It was well hidden, but a long term threat I would need to rid myself of. Something I would need to deal with in the future along with the rest of my unstable energy.