When Sage’s mind cleared, he found everything to be blurry. At the same time he saw a whole kaleidoscope of colors surrounding him from every direction. It was like the Sea Locust’s eyes, except in a full sphere and out of focus. His shock was short lived as he suddenly startled to wakefulness upon the Inner World. Reaching the new stage had caused havoc with his Soul Clone. Reaching the 7th rank had put the Soul Clone into a comatose state while Sage was fusing his body and soul. When he finally awakened, the Soul Clone was still in its comatose state which was somewhat jarring as he’d grown used to using the Soul Clone as his main mind because of the time acceleration.

While he began to grow accustomed to the world of different sensations that came from having the body of a tree, which he just realized was the case, he felt the transformative energies of the tribulation passing from his body and into his core. Contrary to the last major change that happened to the Inner World, there was no worldwide disaster this time. The world actually changed for the better. The tribulation energy washed over the world, imbuing not just the world, but everything in it with an unusual power. The power spread through their bodies, minds, and souls, changing everyone and everything. With Sage’s advancement, the world contained within him also advanced.

After saturating the world, there was a shift in the concentration of energy, flowing towards the comatose Soul Clone. Sage felt the change and a longtime question of his was finally answered. The Soul Clone mirrored his own advancement, breaking through to the 7th rank just as his original body had just finished doing. As the tribulation’s energy spread to the Inner World he could slowly feel the changes taking place. The ‘energy of the heavens and earth’ within the Inner World grew more rich, getting closer to the authentic energies in the outside world. He could feel a subtle difference in the law energy, increasing in depth and breadth. With his new rank and the rising law energies, he felt that the limit of power for those on the Inner World had increased along with him. He’d theorized this was the case in the past, but there was no proof. Now that he had advanced he could just feel that his assumption was correct. No being in the Inner World could be stronger than he was. They could not use laws greater than their world contained, which was limited by the body it was within.

Along with the increasing limits, Sage also found that the improved limits and more complex laws were also altering the flora and fauna. With the Soul Clone still in stasis the changes to the Inner World happened rapidly. Sage was no longer thinking in the same time frame as the Inner World so he could see months passing by in minutes. Random beasts and plants throughout the Inner World started to mutate at more rapid rates, creating unique species that had never been seen before. Such things were already happening before, but these new species could reach new heights of power. In the past, the Natural Treasures and strength of the Demonic Beasts could not reach the same height as that which could be found on the outside world. With this new change, rarer and more powerful types of plants and Demonic Beasts started to appear. More amazingly, he found deeper changes as some of the minerals within the ground of the Inner World had also started to change, creating more metals and other resources that previously didn’t exist.

The diversity of the Inner World was based not just upon the number of Heavenly Materials he collected, but also his own power. The sharp jump from crossing into a new rank, combined with his more powerful senses, made the changes far more apparent, allowing him to confirm these theories. The Soul Clone took a few days to finish its transformation, time which was measured on the scale of the outside world and not that of the Inner World. When the clone finally awakened it was also at the seventh rank, but of a quality much lesser than Sage’s true body. The trick he’d done to excise all his flesh didn’t carry over to the clone. Instead, it seemed like the Clone changed using only the lowest concentration tribulation energy that had washed over the whole of the Inner World. It was somewhat disappointing, but also not that vital. Sage wasn’t sure if the Soul Clone’s weaker result was due to the way he cheated the tribulation, or because it was his clone. On the plus side, he was happy to not have to face another tribulation with his clone, and it wasn’t that big a weakness considering the Soul Clone always stayed on the Inner World.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In the outside world, Sage’s true body remained in the shape of a tree, his body and soul fusing together and taking the shape he’s assumed while he advanced. He’d been in this form for the last few days, and likely more before that, while the Soul Clone finished advancing. Of course, he wasn’t stuck with the body of a tree. The Master Seal had merged together with him after all, and he could take any of the forms that his leaves represented, or anything in between as well. The reason he hadn’t done so was simple: he wasn’t alone. After the tribulation cloud had cleared up, people came from Stormport City to investigate what happened. Xiong Xiong Xiong and Guan Zhenyan already knew what was going on, and Sage was pretty sure Bear Three did something to keep the powerful people from poking around. Yet, that didn’t stop the weaker Cultivators in the city from trying to find an opportunity. Most wouldn’t know what a tribulation was, but they did know that unusual occurrences could sometimes lead to miraculous encounters.

Sage wasn’t really concerned about these second and third ranked Cultivators wandering around the burnt clearing he was standing in the center of, but there were so many of them in the jungle around that it would make quite a stir if a tree were to take human form. He wasn’t really worried about them harming him, but they might take him for a Demonic Plant or something else even odder and start spreading rumors. He preferred to just wait a few days rather than murder the more than a hundred low level Cultivators scouring the area. Worse yet, they weren’t all complete idiots. Upon finding the burned clearing radiating ‘evil energy’ and with a lone tree standing in the center of it, that single tree became their main target.

The remaining energy in the Parasitic Roots was enough to keep these low level Cultivators away so far, but it was only a matter of time till one of them started to get ideas and tried something drastic. He’d thought about getting rid of them with poison, but like the Parasitic Roots the danger might just make them think this ‘treasure’ was even more valuable. The same would happen with many of his other methods. He’d end up killing them all to prevent rumors or just make them more eager to get to the ‘tree’ if he tried to intimidate them. There was also the option of just waiting for Bear Three or Guan Zhenyan to check on him, but that could take weeks or months and he’d look like a fool for letting such weaklings delay him. Sage didn’t really care about the latter issue, but he didn’t want to wait for an unknown amount of time before getting to test his new capabilities.

Sage chose the least harmful option that didn’t leave him sitting around. Using his Heavenly Materials to scare the Cultivators away probably wouldn’t work, but the unusual effect of one of them could be useful here. It might also cause many of them to never wake up. An orange flame spread out from his branches, sending a wisp of flame out to each of the Cultivators nearby. He hadn’t just been observing his Soul Clone the last few days and was also spending time training his senses to get used to the body of a plant. Not that he planned on staying as one for very long, but in case he ever had to, it would be best if he wasn’t completely disoriented and confused. Using his Spirit Sense as a map and Spirit Power to guide the flames, he sent a wisp towards everyone in the immediate vicinity.

The Samsara Flame could be both a blessing and a curse. It would ignite the soul, consuming it as fuel in order to send the target on a journey through other lives. Sage decided to give these people what they wanted, giving them the risk and reward they craved for. They would live out other lives, and if they were lucky they could learn many things that could help them advance. If they were really lucky they might be like the Dragoon that broke through to the seventh rank just like Sage just had. On the other hand, the majority of them would get nothing from it but nostalgic memories of other lives that were soon over. Those who were unlucky could have their whole soul burned away, living out those other lives, never to return to this one.