With the seed for his foundation completed, Sage had devoted his full attention to gathering and refining more energy. The sudden interruption nearly disrupted the flow of energy, something that could cause massive damage or even a deviation in his cultivation if it wasn’t properly controlled. These concerns prevented Sage from doing anything to stop the sudden internal disturbance, let alone determine its source. A few seconds later he finally got to see the source of the problem.

From above a bright green light pierced into his dantian and flew down towards the sea of qi. At first it was moving too fast appearing only as an emerald green light, but when it stopped Sage finally got a good look at it. It was a fist sized brown seed, giving off light and floating in front of the many layered white seed that Sage had just painstakingly finished creating. The brown seed was quite familiar to Sage, but it still took far too long to recognize it.

The Seed of Life!

While he was still wondering what had inspired it to move out of his spiritual sea, Sage was suddenly forced to redouble his efforts. He had no opportunity to investigate, let alone intervene in what was happening. Stuck in the backseat and watching as that little white seed that would lead him into the Foundation Building stage was forcibly drawn into the Seed of Life.

All my work down the drain!

Not even having time to sigh in misery, the seed that was to grow his foundation had been completely consumed. The Seed of Life floated there motionlessly, acting like a victorious hunter and earning Sage’s ire. At the same time, the energy that the small white seed had been consuming immediately doubled, this time the energy was rapidly being absorbed by the Seed of Life and Sage was suddenly reminded of the time he had tried to take the Eye of the World and had only been able to stop it by forcibly merging with the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent.

That only worked because of the Serpent being innately resistant to the Eye of the World, what am I going to do now?

He had no idea what was going on, let alone having a way to stop his energy from draining down to nothing. The only thing he could do was feed it more energy and hope it would be enough. Sage quickly pulled out a pill bottle from his Storage Ring and downed the dozen pills inside. Then he pulled out a handful of spirit stones and even a few spirit jades, drawing on every source of energy he could think of to try and combat the fearsome draining power of the Seed of Life. The sudden influx of energy became more difficult to control, but he felt it was his only choice. If he were to recklessly absorb energy it could damage his meridians or pollute his Qi Sea, but the alternative was completely unknown. For all he knew, the Seed of Life would stop its draining as soon as his Qi was expended. On the other hand, and far more likely, was that it would just instantly kill him. He had no way of knowing and not enough time to seek any help from others.

The small white seed had completely disappeared, completely and utterly absorbed by the Seed of Life. Even if he had a way to stop it before, it was too late now. All he could do was try and ride this calamity to its conclusion. More and more energy was rapidly drained from the Sea of Qi, that once mighty looking ocean shrinking till it started to look more like a lake. The precipice of life and death drove Connecting Heaven and Earth to the limit, not just countering the drain from the Sunfire Pagoda, but actually pulling in the energy that saturated the whole floor. All the energy that was drawn out of the Cultivators and left on this floor was now serving as fuel for Sage’s frenzied cultivation. The once endless sea continued to be absorbed, every last drop of it was sucked up by the Seed of Life. That emerald green light leaving no stone unturned as it scoured Sage’s dantian clean.

I guess this is it.

He’d done all he could to resist and it was now the moment he had feared. The final drop of liquid qi within him disappeared and it time to see what would happen. Sage felt a ravenous force echo through his body, the human seal cancelling itself of its own accord. The seal itself was suddenly torn from his forehead and dragged into his dantian, just as he also felt like his very blood was being wrung dry. The Seed of Life was treating him like a wet towel, squeezing every last drop of energy he had within him. Not even his spiritual sea was spared, that huge ocean started to dry up just like the sea within his dantian had. At this moment there was another disturbance, another strange force rippling through his body.

Not again… what is it this time?

Long ago, Sage had been forced to merge with the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent to protect himself from the Eye of the World. He’d even contemplated something similar to save him from this calamity, but he didn’t have the time to even attempt it, let alone find a suitable being to use. At that time, once he’d saved himself from the Eye of the World, it had been left sitting inert within the space nearby his dantian. It was the area that was created by the hive body technique and the eye was usually sitting there harmlessly next to his linked insect. The upheaval in his body had awakened it once again, the eye charged into his dantian and floated up towards the Seed of Life. The eyelid slowly cracked open and a drop of dark water dripped out. An immense amount of energy was contained within that tiny tear, Sage had once seen a single drop of those dark tears completely transform an animal’s soul from a bare wisp into a beast spirit. Perhaps his karma was good, as these two heavenly materials seemed to have reversed roles.

The Seed of Life had never harmed him in the past, but at this moment it was draining him of everything he had. It was the opposite of the Eye of the World. At that time it had also done something similar, seeking far more from him than he could offer, but right now it was actually serving to bridge the gap, providing the energy that the Seed of Life seemed to need. Just when he felt he was almost out of the woods, there was another strange pulse of energy. This time it came from Sage’s Storage Ring. Somehow the Seed of Life had even interfered with his ring and before he could stop it, the ring appeared within his dantian and started spewing out materials.

Thousands of spirit stones, spirit plants, special ores, pills and elixirs were unleashed into Sage’s dantian against his will. Each of them seemed like they were boiling, dissolving into their purest energy forms and getting drawn into the Seed of Life. The Eye of the World had opened wider and was hovering above the Seed, but things only got stranger. A few of the items Sage had collected that were still mysterious to him suddenly separated from the mass of dissolving materials and floated over next to the Seed of Life.

The first was the easily recognizable cyan sphere that he had recently obtained when dealing with the Cult of the Woodlord. The yellow light it gave off shone brighter and illuminated the Seed of Life.

The second item that flew towards the Seed was the Dawn Pillar. The blindingly bright orb mounted on top of an array covered pillar separated itself from the pillar. The pillar fell away, inert, while the glowing orb seemed to brighten in intensity before suddenly shattering. The light got brighter and brighter to a point where Sage was sure if he was viewing this scene with his eyes he would have been struck blind. A few moments later the light suddenly dimmed, drawn in by the Seed of Life. The source of the light was finally revealed, there was a small white ember, a glowing seed of flame hovering to the side of the Seed of Life.

The last unusual item was a small jade box. It was one of the items he’d found hidden in the alchemical laboratory at the Soul Taming Abode. The lid of the jade box slid off and a small stone flew out of it. It was called the ‘Stormstone’ and was a relic left behind to improve the power of Divine Breath. Once Sage was strong enough he was supposed to incorporate it into his lungs using a special technique described in the Divine Breath manual. The small porous stone started to suddenly vibrate. The slate colored rock started to dissolve just like the other materials, transforming into motes of energy. The stone covering it suddenly cracked apart and Sage heard the rush of wind.