There was no way to resist the hand. The Timelady tried, she pushed her entire power, all her Grandmaster Time Energy, every drop of Spiritual Energy inside her at the enormous hand, but it was all for naught.

She didn't nudge the hand at all. It was as high as the tallest mountains, as wide as the largest lakes, as powerful as only pure Divine Energy — which it was made of — could be. The hand also touched Aaron, for it covered the entire region, yet it did no damage to him or the environment at large. It had a single target.

The Timelady was pushed into the ground. She didn't take any damage from that, for she was a Grandmaster, yet her defenses didn't hold. The enormous hand closed into a fist, and Aaron heard the sound of a bug being popped as she was turned into pulp.

And then she was gone.

It was no surprise when he felt an overwhelmingly powerful attention turning to him. To control Divine Energy in that amount and ease, the creator of the hand had to be at least an Immortal. A mere look of them affected reality, and when they looked at Aaron, they wanted to see all Aaron was.

So it happened.

Aaron felt everything inside him being inspected. From his cells to his spirit to his soul. But when the Immortal tried to pry his mind open, tried to find out all his secrets, tried to invade his last bastion of privacy, that's when Aaron drew a line. He might be a mere mortal, but his willpower was at the top of the world, and the Immortal's was no stronger.

Unfortunately, though he had no disadvantage in any clash of will, Divine Energy could break his mind and look at the remains easily enough. Fortunately, the Immortal didn't do that.

Their probe was shallow and retreated at the first sign of Aaron's resistance. There was a pause, a very long one, in which the very world trembled. The Immortal was considering whether to bring more destruction, and nature feared the results.

At last, the Immortal decided Aaron was to live. Their will disappeared, and so did the hand. Aaron was left alive.

He immediately fell to his knees. He was mostly in top condition and could fight if needed, but he was stressed. The tribulation hadn't been kind to any part of his being, especially not after he had already damaged his soul to cultivate sooner than he should. It didn't matter how close he was to the time to cultivate again, his soul had suffered for it. It had been twisted, almost torn apart, and was only now recovering — slowly.

Aaron could heal it, but he didn't. It was better for his soul to heal by itself, for that would leave no scars, unlike his current skills. He could do the same if he had access to Prime Energy, but his Champion Arcane Energy was nowhere close to doing that.

After everything, Aaron felt... frustrated. He had given his all to survive, he had even used his cheating healing that could only be used once before reaching the Immortal level, yet the Timelady had been killed by someone else. All his sacrifices, all his anticipation, the buildup of days of pursuit, all for naught. It felt too much as if he had been cucked by a divine fist.

On the other hand, he was glad to be alive. He was even gladder for having hidden his Spiritual Energy away. It was clear now that the Timelady had manipulated everything to give Aaron many messages, and the most important one was for him to stay away from Spiritual Energy until he could fight an Immortal.

Aaron had no doubt she had done it for him. If she could access a place to take Spiritual Energy from, it only made sense she had tried to use it before. She had survived the last time but had likely been given a warning of the consequences of trying it again. And now she just happened to cultivate Spiritual Energy in front of Aaron?

Maybe she had even been magically forbidden from talking about it, which explained why she had gone to such lengths to teach him that.

Some things weren't clear to him though. Why sacrifice the Timelords? Why kill herself like that? Couldn't she just push Spiritual Energy into someone else to show him the consequences? Why even tell forewarn him if he had no access to Spiritual Energy at all? Why help him to begin with?

He really hated dealing with damn diviners, especially the cryptic types.

Aaron sighed. The answers would come eventually. For now, he was thankful for her warning despite everything, for he would have cultivated Spiritual Energy if given the chance. He had done so, and only the strangeness of finding her not cultivating it had led him to locking it away.

His Spiritual Energy was beyond even his access; that was the only way of guaranteeing no one could find it. However, he was growing it and adapting his being for it. He would turn into a full-fledged Spiritual Energy cultivator at the Sage level.

He didn't feel confident in fighting an Immortal even at such a level, depending on their expertise, but he believed he could flee if needed. Then, he would know what path to tread to become an Immortal himself, an Immortal not bound by this world's energy configurations and rules.

That was for the far future though. For now, he had a Master to heal.

Bymor lay almost dead hundreds of feet away. A True Lightning bolt had destroyed a chunk of what remained of his body, yet he was a Master. He would die if his head, heart, or dantian were destroyed, if he were beheaded, or even if his lungs were punctured and he couldn't breathe for a few days, but he was still a strong cultivator. He wouldn't be killed like some random, common Inept.

Vital Healing Arts: Complete Recovery!

Five Star Vital Energy left Aaron to heal the man. Aaron couldn't create or expand bones at his level, he would need Champion Vital Energy for that, but he could make flesh and skin grow, and heal broken bones. One of the guardian's cut legs had been obliterated by True Lightning, but his other lost limbs were only damaged. Aaron reattached them and healed the man in no time.

He also rebuilt the man's missing leg, only with no bones. It was easier to find a healer or potion specialized in bones than in all aspects of healing. Then he woke Bymor up.

The man's eyes were lost, confused as to where he was or what had happened. They quickly came to focus though, and he looked astonished at Aaron.

"Did you Ascend?" he asked in awe.

"No," replied Aaron firmly. "I don't know what that is, but I know I did no such thing."

He didn't explain things to Bymor. Though perfecting oneself wasn't exactly a big secret, it was still a hidden step that prevented many cultivators from becoming Immortals. When knowledge could lead one to substantial power, one didn't just give it away for free. It was one thing to teach one to become a Grandmaster, but it was another to reveal the hidden step they had to take to reach Immortality — the first being simply cultivating, of course.

Bymor closed his agape mouth and thought for an instant before explaining, "When Grandmasters want to become Sages, they have to Ascend. The gods then test them using lightning to determine their worthiness. Few Ascend, but those that do are welcomed in the Higher Planes."

Aaron frowned. That sounded very much like bullshit. There were no Higher Planes or anything of the kind in this world, he had checked before coming. A hidden realm somewhere was possible though, since he hadn't investigated the world too deeply, and the gods had to live somewhere.

They also had to come from somewhere. Aaron guessed they either consumed the power of those who survived the tribulation or turned them into new gods. Why they only wanted "Ascended" Sages to become gods was beyond him.

Aaron had always expected the gods to be strong Sages, since he had found only a single Immortal in that world. The "Ascended" qualifier told him there was more to it than merely being a Sage though. Maybe there was some kind of half-step Sages and Immortals where the gods' power could be found.

"I passed their test," Aaron conceded. "But whatever else is involved in Ascending didn't happen to me. I'm certainly not in any Higher Planes."

Bymor nodded and tried to stand up, but failed to support himself on his boneless leg. A moment later, he took a potion that took care of it for him.

"Time to get my girlfriend, then get back to the crusade," Aaron said. "I have a feeling I'll have to kill many people."

To Aaron's pleasant surprise, Bymor nodded, understanding the issue at once. "We left a power vacuum and a good excuse for people to reach for it."

Bymor and he, the leadership, had run away after getting attacked, and most of the Champions had been hurt or killed on the same attack. Any Champion with a bit of ambition would act on it, especially any newcomer who hadn't been subjected to Aaron's iron rule yet. There was too much power to be had by controlling that army.

He took an inscribed Mind crystal out of his spatial ring. In this world, big clusters of energy near minerals naturally produced crystals of it. Those crystals could store that energy and be engraved with formations to accomplish related functions.

He focused on it, and a strand of Mind Energy left the crystal to connect with his mind. When he allowed it, he heard Lun's voice in his head. "Herald?"

"Yes. Where are you?"

"I'm back at the capital, but there's an issue."

"What issue?"

"The emperor is besieging us and has blocked teleportation from or into the city. We won't resist for long."

"How long?"

"Three days at most."

"How is the king?" Aaron didn't care for the king at all, but they had previously agreed to not talk about Lana in case their communication was intercepted. Even talking at all while the city was under siege already put Lun in danger of being assassinated.

"He's well." That meant she was safely hidden.

"Tell him I'm coming."

"Yes, herald."

Aaron looked at Bymor. "Change of plans. We're killing the power grabbers first. The Timelords are gone, so the Third Crusade has accomplished its purpose. It's time to start the fourth one."

Again, Bymor knew what Aaron was talking about. They had seen the Mark of Sin on the horizon previously.

"Finally," he said. "I have waited for this moment for a long time. If possible, allow me to kill the bastard."

"We'll see," Aaron said noncommittally.

Bymor wanted to leave immediately but was forced to rest first until he had recovered half his Space Energy. There should be no Master on the other side, but he wasn't impervious against damage from weaker cultivators either. The right tactics, items, formations, and traps could kill them easily.

That was the same reason Aaron didn't just fly to Illyria with Bymor and let the man deal with the siege. Aaron also took the opportunity to let his soul rest. It felt good to just sit down and meditate for a change.

A little after the sunrise, Bymor finally teleported them close to the place they had left the crusade. He had used portals previously because of how sensitive direct teleportation was to Time distortion, and they had been against an Entropomancer. However, now it was better to pop into existence out of thin air than warn whoever was on the other side that they were about to appear.

Not that it ended up making any difference in the end.