Jack remained calm, his ears only distracted by soft whistling sounds generated by the protective barrier. He pressed his lips together. So many crazy things had happened all of a sudden, and it looks like he was now trapped inside this place for two whole months. Hopefully, time really slowed down inside this place. He didn’t want to end up eternally f*cked.

He examined the scroll. The Heavenly Scripture of a Sovereign, a being who had ruled over humanity, the original owner of the heavenly dice. Jack could only imagine the disaster he would bring on himself if knowledge of this scroll were to leak out to the outside world. Thankfully, all heavenly scriptures looked the same regardless of rank, and there was no way for one to note the difference unless not personally witnessing the raw power of the scroll.

Deciding to postpone his worries about the scroll, he slowly assumed a meditation position. He wondered how the competition was progressing, and if the other Sky Water Sect’s disciples were doing fine. He did find three gemstones, though he doubted that they would make much difference towards the final score. He wanted to make himself more useful, but alas, the circumstances didn’t permit him.

The matter about the rainbow-coloured camellia remained one of his major concerns. Jack realised that once he got out of this place, he would only have at most three hours at his disposal. That damn Patriarch, couldn’t he have come up with a more straightforward test?

Jack let out a sigh, focusing instead on something even more critical than the herb, the severing of the 2nd essence. For the last few days, he actually had an inspiration of where to start. He knew that this severing was going to be much complicated than the first, not to mention that during the first severing he had the assistance of a relict.

He took out one of the Essence Attractor Pills. Apparently, these pills could be only used once per day, reducing the time needed for a cultivator to start comprehending a particular essence. He observed the pill for a moment, then threw it inside his mouth.

As he felt the pills energies dissolving inside his body, Jack started recalling a particular experience; the moment he had collapsed in the arena. He closed his eyes, focusing. Lost meditating, he finally managed to enter his inner world after a couple of hours.

This time he didn’t end up submerged inside his sea of qi, but instead he was crosslegged floating over it. His face was full of motivation as he glanced through the darkness towards the shining pine twig.

Jack had already decided that the second essence would have to do with the powers of this mysterious plant. He still couldn’t understand why such a thing was growing inside his inner core, or from where it had appeared. Back then in the Azure Realm, he had refused the inheritance of the flame as instructed by the Creature. Thus, he shouldn’t possess any additional powers inside him.

Jack grinned. “Growing inside my body without paying any rent, you sure are a leecher. Don’t you think you owe me some explanations? What exactly are you doing inside of me?”

The mysterious pine twig seemed to react, moving its leaves in a particular pattern. However, this type of communication was not something Jack could understand.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Do I look like a fricking plant to you?”

The twig’s golden leaves moved back and forth, radiating brilliance of different colours. Particles of fragrance materialised, meekly approaching Jack’s nostrils. This otherworldly aroma brought with it mixed emotions, feelings of familiarity, hope and love; and feelings of hatred, revenge and justice.

Jack remained encaptivated by these smells for quite a period of time before regaining his senses. He proceeded by laughing.

“Trying to bribe me, aren’t you? Well, I may consider you letting you living inside me if you let me use you as the catalyst for understanding my second essence. At least you can serve me as a purpose rather than only sucking and wasting my qi…”

Jack then closed his eyes, full of determination, meditating on the mysterious properties of this plant.

Days began passing by, Jack only interrupting himself daily to swallow the Essence Attractor Pill. He stopped doing this after seven days however, when he completely lost himself in a deep trance.

The process of severing the 2nd essence had officially started, and everything was now up to his potential and luck.

***

In a remote location inside the Counterbalance realm, a cultivator was fast travelling over the barren terrain, his eyes surveying anything of particular interest. He had already looted twenty gemstones, though that wasn’t his primary concern at the moment. His main objective was something more sinister.

Suddenly detecting a nearby presence, he quickly dropped down, hiding himself behind a large boulder. He threaded on his toes, careful not to alert the oblivious cultivator on the other side of the rock. He sneaked towards the edge, his left eye half showing as he peeked, trying to verify the identity of the cultivator on the other side.

His eyes immediately enlarged. He quickly took a couple of steps in reverse, rubbing his hands with surprise and expectations. Barely unable to suppress his joy, he proceeded by extending his arms and raising his face towards the heavens, even though what greeted him was a large mass of land.

Tears oozed over his cheeks, unable to contain his excitement any longer. He dropped, kowtowing and kissing the ground multiple times. He didn’t seem to mind the dust that remained stuck onto his lips, he was too happy to care about that.

“Heavens! Heavens! I thought you had abandoned me! Have you finally shown mercy to this poor little guy?” His trembling smile soon transformed into a devilish grin. “Just wait for me Wang Guo! Why did you have to beat me to that extent?! I am not someone useless as you think! I am a proud warrior of the Desert Tribes!”

He burst out in mad laughter. He didn’t care any longer about concealing his identity. So what if he the other presence detected him? The heavens were finally showing him mercy, and everything was under his control.

Like a little kid about to bully another kid, the Desert Tribe’s cultivator was all smiles as he revealed himself. “Surprise… surprise… look who we have here.”

His feet lumbered ahead, his mocking eyes affixed on the grey robbed cultivator. He extended his arms. “Aw, is something wrong little kid? Has my presence scared you shitless? I know that you cultivators of the Divinities Alliance lack valour, but I never thought it would be at this level.”

He summoned his weapon, a blade with a silver hilt in the form of a dragon. He then pointed it towards his prey. “I am quite a generous person, so I am giving you a choice. I have over one thousand ways to kill you. Which one of these do you prefer? Come on, don’t be shy. I am all ears.”

The grey robbed cultivator had yet to show any type of reaction, however. Fear, surprise, hatred, vigilance, emotions typical of such situations were all missing. This bizarre reaction confused the Desert Tribes cultivator for a moment, before proclaiming in a loud voice.

“Who are you trying to fool by pretending kid? Everyone knows who you are, the joke of this year’s festival!” As soon as he finished, the aura of an 8th Qi Seeking Cultivator pressured out. “I was planning to play with you for a bit, but you are clearly no fun. Duh, it doesn’t matter. That head of yours, I’m taking it.”

It was then that the grey robbed cultivator finally showed a reaction. He raised his hand, slowly, very slowly, as if he was trying to lift the entire sky with it. He paused his palm facing the sky, remaining firm in that position without any further movements.

The grin on the Desert Tribe Cultivator began dissipating, gradually replaced by feelings of an impending disaster, a sensation that a terrible calamity was about to descend over him. However, he seemed to recover himself just before he broke down in despair, his breathing increasing a bit.

“You… you almost fooled me… so this is the power of your essence, intimidating others… Sorry to burst the bubble for you, such a petty trick isn’t going to work on me! Now—”

CRACK ~ CRACK~

Loud cracking sounds similar to lightning suddenly formed around the grey robbed cultivator. The air over his palm started compressing on itself, soon developing into an arrow made of solidifying essence. It appeared made of glass, but it wasn’t transparent. It was pure white, with white smoke emerging from it.

The Desert Tribe Cultivator didn’t understand. This cultivator was only a 5th Qi Seeking Realm Cultivator. Why did he suddenly perceive a feeling of dread? Why was his body telling him to flee as far as he could?

Undecided what to do he took a step backwards. And that was the last thing he did.

The arrow flashed forward, generating ripples of lights as it cut through the winds. It slammed straight into the Desert Tribe Cultivator’s forehead, sending him flying straight against the boulder.

Large cracks appeared as the boulder partially collapsed. As for the poor soul, his dead body slid slowly in a sitting position, his dead eyes expressing a myriad of negative emotions and astonishment. His mind didn’t even have the time to process the exact way he had died.

The grey robbed cultivator remained immobile, staring indifferently at the corpse before him. His eyes radiating bone-chilling terror, he soon took flight, his silhouette disappearing over the horizon.