The sect master waved his hand and said “don't think anything of it elder Gui, to think a young man who could actually survive your test has appeared. Not only that but from what I saw he is an especially exceptionally talented young man. Ah, elder Gui, if you hadn't found him first I would also want this young man as my disciple. Alas, you found him first, and it would seem he responds to your training very well. I've seen the recordings now, every time you throw him into more intense training this little monster responds by gritting his teeth and doubling down.

His power rises every single time because he desperately struggles to pass and to survive. Not only that but he has the capacity to survive, it seems almost like he is blessed by the heavens themselves.”

Elder Gui smiled wider than if he were complimented himself and spoke up. “Yes sect master I have indeed found a genius little disciple, however, you are wrong about one point. I took this disciple, not because of his incredible martial talent and enduring physique. I took this young man as a disciple because he has access to his soul sea.

He is destined to be a soul master, I plan to teach him very thoroughly how to use his soul energy and push him to his limits. The reason I put him through this training is because I needed to test his will. If he was weak-willed or broke down halfway through he would not be able to walk very far along the path of a soul master. I was pleasantly surprised though that’s for sure, every time I raised the difficulty he'd only swear at me and push himself to prove my training was no big deal. After this, I will give him time to recuperate and give him a soul cultivation technique.”

The sect master nodded his head as he listened and said, “Ah I see why the other elders gave up on taking this young man as their own disciple then. In any case elder Gui, I see a great future for the sect when I look at this young man. Raise him properly and if you find yourself short on resources to do so, let me know directly.”

Elder Gui was stunned silly, it took him a full 10 seconds before he fell to a single knee and said “Many thanks to the sect master!”

The other eight elders had their mouths agape as they heard these words. This statement essentially said Naath had the full support of the sect in his development! The rune in Naath’s soul sea was also in stunned silence, after a moment he unleashed a string of curses at Naath’s heaven-defying luck.

The sect master took one last glance at Naath and then turned around and disappeared on the spot. With this the meeting was concluded and all of the elders left the ten thousand beast forest. He was soundly asleep and it seemed as if even the end of the world would not be able to wake him at all. Naath was in an odd space while he dreamt, he looked around and saw absolutely nothing. Everywhere around him was a hazy grey fog, it took him only a moment to realize what this hazy mist was. Naath jumped as he realized it was fog made of true void.

Naath thought aloud “where am I?” Surprisingly a voice answered him saying, “you are in the true void, a space of absolute nothingness.” Naath jumped and looked all around asking “who’s there?!” The voice came again, it sounded calm and neutral, it was a double voice that sounded half male, and half female. The voice said, “I am nothing, I am the consciousness birthed from absolute nothingness and I ruled over this space.” Naath asked “you “ruled” over this space? Then who is the ruler now if not yourself?” The voice answered, “You are, young master In the countless trillions of years since the first universe was born of nothing you alone have made contact with the true void.”

Naath was stunned for a moment and asked, “wait then you mean this is the space outside of all things? The space between realities? This is the true void I first drew true void energy from in order to form my first true void membrane?” The voice spoke up again saying, “yes this is indeed such a place, as infinite as you imagine and yet also as small as you can fathom. This is indeed the place you first drew true void energy from. Although this is quite odd, your consciousness should not be able to reach this place yet. You should need at least the 8th stage of your true void arts to do so when you condense your true void core.”

Naath nodded and said, “ah that I used all of my energy in an intense battle and passed out so my consciousness probably wandered to this space as I drew in more true void energy.” The voice seemed to understand and said, “ah so I see, well young master since you have come, I should give you a gift for being able to enter this space, after all being the only living thing to ever come to this space is worthy of reward.” After the voice spoke a blinding light appeared in front of Naath. He covered his eyes until the light began to dim, when he looked up he saw something odd. It was a small seed that was the same hazy grey as everything else around him with a vague outline constantly changing from black to white.

The voice said, “young master this is a true void seed. I can see from your memories you prefer to cultivate atop a tree stump. This seed will grow a true void tree, It will nurture itself off of your true void energy. It will recognise you as it’s master the instant you insert true void energy into it. It will make its home within one of your true void membranes like a high-grade treasure will merge with your body to nurture itself and your body. It can be summoned outside in the same manner as well, this tree has all the aspects of the true void, it is made of it.

It can do all the things your true void arts can, however, it will be under your complete control. Ah master it seems our time is up, you must go back I cannot explain anything further.” As the voice finished speaking Naath’s vision went completely black and he once more felt he was in his physical body. He felt his entire body was exhausted and so sore it didn't want to move. Naath managed to slowly open his eyes and look around, unlike what he had expected he did not see the sky directly above him. Instead, it was the roof of a building, and he could smell the air of mist and water nearby.

He had no idea where he was and his body's energy was completely drained. The rune in Naath’s soul sea freaked out asking “Naath, what the hell is this thing in your soul sea?! Why does it have such dense true void energy?! What the hell of this thing? It has yin and yang and… and THIS THING HAS PRIMAL CHAOS ENERGY?!!!” Naath felt a headache coming on and he went into his soul sea and right in the middle of it was a seed flashing between black and white. Naath jumped slightly and thought to himself “it wasn't a dream?” Naath took the seed out of his soul sea and into his hand in his physical body.

With the seed in the palm of his right hand, he circulated his true void arts and directed some of the energy into the seed. Instantly the seed sank into Naath’s hand and went into his true void membrane. It made its way through his body and into the true void membrane in the center of his chest. Once there it began to slowly absorb truevoid energy into itself. It was a negligible amount being absorbed and after that the seed had no further changes. Naath was curious and circulated his true void arts and tried to focus the true void energy on the seed.

However the seed did not take in any extra energy, it just steadily took the smallest possible amount of true void energy. Naath threw it to the back of his mind and sat up slowly from the bed he was laying on, after circulating his true void arts his body had enough energy to move around again. He thought of something and immediately took out his infinity gourd. He circulated his energy in it and let Brutus out, Brutus after being let out began to stretch and slowly adjust. Naath chuckled at his antics and the noise drew the attention of the nearby elder Gui.

Elder gui walked in and saw Naath sitting up and moving out and about, Naath dropped down kneeling and said, “disciple greets master.”