As soon as Jack walked in, several spiralling energies encircled him, casting flickering shadows all over his face. He felt like he had stepped into his natural home, even though wave after wave of unwelcoming pulses rushed out from the Spectre.

If Jack were still his older self, he would have been kicked out again. But thanks to his now activated medallion, the Spectre's powers could not reach him.

“What’s up with this cocky attitude brat? Just because you experienced a breakthrough that doesn’t mean I am obliged to give you any face! In my eyes, you are still an insect of the first Qi Seeking stage!”

The Spectre appeared irritated as he levitated like a godly existence. Its body shone with dazzling light, seemingly trying to pass an indirect message that in this place it was the absolute authority. However, he quickly realised that he was now powerless to stop Jack, and all he could do was looking down on him.

Jack didn’t seem impressed by this little show – much to the Spectre annoyance – and instead found a comfortable spot and immersed himself in meditation.

The inside of the monastery provided the perfect place where he could further strengthen his inner core. The amount of qi present in this place had already exceeded his expectations, and his eyes flickered with anticipation.

He definitely couldn’t skip such an amazing opportunity.

As Jack circulated his energies, he began sucking the swirling qi like a magnet. His internal core expanded rapidly, and the word justice glowed with even more intensity. He could clearly feel that in sharp contrast from the qi present outside, this qi was much denser and pure.

It seemed that farming qi not only wasn’t a boring and tedious process for him but had clearly become his new hobby.

If the other cultivators were here observing this scene, their hearts would skip a couple of heartbeats, and their minds would go blank.

Even the Spectre was surprised by how fast Jack was farming qi. He was aware that his younger real self wouldn’t have been able to accumulate such a tremendous amount of qi in such a short time. It was simply ridiculous!

The Spectre was trying hard to find a reason to explain the weird phenomenon before his eyes. “Could be the case where his body was starved for a long period of time and is now thirsting for qi. But there must be a limit soon…and adverse effects…”

In fact, right now, Jack’s body seemed like an endless abyss as the qi rotated with accelerating speed, transforming into a funnel that propelled straight into his core.

After seven days, the energies inside the monastery were almost depleted, and the vortex of qi began fading away.

It was then that his body shivered, momentary reaching a bottleneck. His cultivating core was glowing with qi as it started stabilising itself. Then with a bang, it expanded outwards!

As of now, Jack could feel that his core had doubled in size.

The Spectre instantly furrowed his eyebrows, and his expression turned solemn. That’s because he had realised that Jack had broken through the 1st stage of the Qi Seeking Realm and stepped directly into the 2nd stage!

As per observed practices, young cultivators would usually spend an entire year just to break through from the 1st to the 2nd stage of the Qi seeking Realm. On the other hand, talented cultivators usually could breakthrough after six months. Only the very geniuses were capable of breaching through within one month.

But here was Jack, a simple mortal with no background at all, breaking to the 2nd stage after seven days! If this news had to spread out, it would not only send shockwaves throughout the Sky Water Sect but all over the realm! Such a thing might be even considered unprecedented!

The Spectre suddenly felt mixed emotions. “Actually… I think you are not a useless person as I initially thought… maybe this amazing Patriarch… can make a generous concession…”

Jack glanced over the Spectre for a moment, then coolly replied, “even if I had to die and be reincarnated nine times, I still wouldn’t ask for your guidance.” Then he closed his eyes and continued meditating.

These words infuriated the Spectre; the miniscule feeling of guilt was quickly replaced by a mountain of rage as he commenced a bombardment of insults like a mad dog. Regardless of a person’s potential, his pride would never allow anyone to insult him like this!

Jack disregarded the Spectre’s comments as he extended his aura. He searched for more qi, but no matter where he explored, he couldn’t sense anything. He soon expressed disappointment as he realised that this place was now utterly devoid of qi.

Just when he was about to give up, he suddenly detected a glimpse of strange qi.

What really caught his attention though, was not its tiny size, but its impressive purity. If the qi he had absorbed earlier was the size of a palace condensed inside a single room, then this qi was the size of a mountain suppressed into a seed!

An exciting look flashed on Jack’s face. He immediately activated his circulation as he tried absorbing this energy.

“Pwee…Pwee….”

Shortly after, the silence was broken as a thread of qi emerged, straight out of the Spectre!

The Spectre’s ghostly eyes instantly bulged out. “Impossible! My Qi!! You can sense my Qi?!”

His expression was one of shock as he watched the several strands of qi emerge from his body and rushing like serpents towards Jack!

“You!! What are you doing?! I am the spiritual clone of the 3rd Patriarch! I am the memory of your ancestor!” The Spectre tried severing Jack’s qi connection, but no matter how much he struggled, he wasn’t able to.

But not like Jack had heard him. This new energy made Jack descend into a cultivating trance, shutting down his external senses.

The Spectre cried miserable roars for several days. With every passing hour, his body shrank, becoming less opaque and duller.

But just when the now palm-sized Spectre was about to be annihilated, Jack felt like a lightning bolt had hit him and coughed out a lot of blood.

He writhed on the ground with pain as blood oozed out from his eyes, nose and ears. The agonising pain had spread to every organ of his body while his face had turned ashen as if he had just lost a couple of years of longevity.

This sudden event released the Spectre from Jack’s binding. He immediately retreated to the farthest corner, trembling with terror. The Monastery used to be the safest place for him, but for the past few days, he felt like he was trapped in a cage together with a torturing demon.

As for Jack, his qi circulation was in disarray, and his qi absorbing ability wholly severed. If he didn’t feel his inner core still intact, he would have believed that he had become a mortal again.

Jack took a long time to recover from the trauma. Afterwards, he decided to go out for a stroll and calm himself from the earlier shock.

“Leave and never return!” The tiny Spectre roared.

Jack seemed that he had momentary forgotten about his shocking experience as he wryly smiled.

“You look so cute now… just like a little fairy.”

These words were like daggers stabbing into the remaining Spectre’s soul as he remembered his introductory words.

“You!! You actually dared to torment this old one’s dignity! Not even one hundred deaths would be enough to absolve you from your crime!”

Not only Jack didn’t mind these threats, he actually shrugged them off with the most cheery and carefree smile that existed, then coolly replied.

“Always remember this you old fart! The cultivating world is surely not a bed of roses! You know, terrible things can happen all the time! So many cultivators throw away their lives stupidly because they underestimate the lingering shadows of the cultivation world! Ah, such an immoral world… certainly not for the weak hearted!”

If the Spectre had the power of the original self, he would have already turned the entire Azure Realm into dust by now. But when faced with Jack’s statements, all he could was shedding ghostly tears.

These tears made him look even more adorable as he watched Jack exiting the Monastery, much to his relief.

Jack enjoyed the feeling of fresh air once again as his dull aching eyes adjusted to daylight. He was still confused as to what had happened, and he already decided to stay safe inside the shield and wait for the realm to close. He had obtained what he came for anyway.

“Being impatient will lead to undesirable consequences,” a deep voice echoed inside his ears. “You may have a tough body human, but acting greedily will just lead to your early demise!”

Jack’s constricted his pupils as he raised his guard. He surveyed his surroundings, but he couldn’t detect any presence, suddenly feeling annoyed at the expectation of meeting another spectre.

It was then that he realised that his hands were trembling. As he inspected, he noticed that it wasn’t just his hands that were shaking, but the very lands!

He remained to observe as powerful quakes spread throughout the entire realm. However, his vision was soon blinded when the numerous moons in the sky increased in luminosity as if they had just turned into brilliant stars!

“Clang… Plink… Clang… Plink…”

Sounds similar to rattling chains reverberated as the moons started orbiting erratically, causing shocking gravitational transformations to befall on all over the realm. The lands trembled as hills collapsed and cavities rose up to replace them. The winds roared with fury amidst the occasional cries of the beasts caught inside the storms.

“Ommmm–,” rumbling sounds hummed from the very depths as several giant stone hands arose, forming a slanting pathway with their palms, commencing from before the Monastery and heading straight towards the burning azure flame!

“Human, the path is yours to follow. This ancient one has an important matter that he wishes to discuss with you.”

The paralysed Jack wasn’t convinced, and a hint of uneasiness was visible on his face. “Who’s there? Why should I trust you?”

The mysterious voice didn’t look like it was offended as it calmly replied. “This pathway is a secret mechanism left over by the founder of this sect. Don’t be afraid human, my intentions are sincere. Even if I wanted to harm you, the countermeasures left by the first Patriarch would protect you.”

Jack appeared uncertain at first. After his several experiences, how could he easily trust an unknown existence that had such cast control over the natural forces? However, after he considered the lack of hostility in the greeting message, he decided to trail along with extreme caution. Besides, the instinct inside him was telling him that there was nothing to fear.

The pathway was a long one, yet also a short one thanks to his newly found powers. Albeit he couldn’t yet fly, his running speed had shockingly increased.

As Jack neared the flame, he could feel the heat almost incinerating his face, and his body was about to burst out in flames. Just when he thought that he should stop advancing and retreat back, a giant hand in the form of a fist descended from the sky, suppressing the flame while the moons began losing their brightness, causing darkness to spread all over the realm.

This development allowed Jack to proceed, finally arriving just before the azure blaze, now the same size of a human being. From this close, Jack could now see several smaller flames dancing inside the exterior flame, but there was no hint of any other creature or ghostly beings.

Jack was on alert as he rotated his cultivating power. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“Acting impatient again? Have you already ignored my sound advice?” The mysterious voice lamented. “You are actually the first disciple from this sect that I ever bothered to contact.”

The flame paused momentarily as it flickered, casting little shadows over Jack’s face.

“In the past, I was a powerful Divinity. With my tail, I killed countless experts, and with my claws, I was able to destroy entire sects! The lands always trembled in my wake, and only a few existences would have dared to glance straight into my eyes!

“But two thousand years ago, I was ambushed by the Ancestral Divinity and the founding Patriarch. In the end, I was utterly beaten… completely humiliated! And as if that wasn’t bad enough, my defeated body was brought into this lower realm and sealed herein!

“As for what remains of me, it’s just a shred of my original will. When the founder created this alternate dimension, he severed a piece of my soul and transformed it into the very flame you are now facing. His real intentions I am unaware, but if I had to make a rough presumption, I would infer that he wanted me to instruct his future disciples. Talk about being a shameless bastard!”

“Grrr…,” The shred of will whined with resentment.

“So, you want me to undo the seal?” Jack was quite direct with his approach.

“Undo the seal? No, nothing of that sort. I am too weak to desire freedom… that is not the reason why I bothered you.”

“Jack, your memories are like an open book to me, and I can tell that both you and me are connected, in more ways than you can envisage… meeting you here is also proof of our destinies!”

Jack appeared confused and utterly shocked at this revelation. He was shocked that this tiny shred of will was able to pierce through his memories, and even more shocked when imagining the kind of monstrous existence its original self was.

“Jack listen carefully, I only have but one request, though I will not force you to accept it. If you do accept, we will end up tied in a strong karmic relationship, and a heavy burden beyond anything you can imagine will be placed upon you. But at the same time, you will gain powerful abilities that will aid you in the future!

“As for my request, I only have but one desire; for the name of the azure light to be carried out again to the stars! I want the bright azure lights to illuminate the skies, and their mere presence to quench all the other lights present in the heavens!

“I implore you! You need to show my siblings that I wasn’t a failure, that they made a big mistake in looking down on me, just because I was born with a different natural element!

“Jack, please accept my inheritance!”