Chapter 680 - Gold and Glitter (VIII) (Patreon)

Long Tao had been contemplating breaking through into the Void Transformation Realm for a while now, but kept delaying it simply because something didn't feel right. Since his foundation has been stabilized, and his Heart-Poison has been perfectly tempered even if not cured, 'breezing' through these earlier realms would be easy. Still, it was also the truth that this was where the vast majority of cultivators picked up the most flaws.

Perfection was the aspiration of all, but achieved by none; nonetheless, in pursuit of that perfection, the fewer flaws one had, the better the ultimate outcome. Reaching Imperial Realm was a culmination of everything rather than just another step of the journey. In his past life, though his foundation was solid, and he was shorn of Heart Demons, there were still well over a thousand tiny flaws--on their own, they harmed him very little. However, in totality, they were like needles poking him from inside.

There were four ways to break into the Void Transformation Realm, though, realistically, there were really on three. In his past life, when he was achieving this breakthrough, he wasn't even aware of the fourth; he'd only learned about it once he perused some historic records in the Upper Realm. The fourth path, supposedly, had only been achieved once before, by the first Emperor of the Mankind. How true that was, Long Tao had his doubts. Nonetheless, he had no aspirations for it.

And despite being able to break through using the best method of the remining three just about now, he still... held back. There was on reason for it: that strange Master of his. Neither had spoken about the Master's breakthrough back in the phoenix cocoon, but there was something esoteric about his Master that Long Tao couldn't quite pin.

As such, he elected to climb the mountain and visit the strange man, hoping for... something. He wasn't even sure what.

However, as soon as he stepped up and entered the pavilion, and just before he called the man out, he stopped. That strange Master of his was doing something... strange. For some reason, he was repeatedly conjuring up small, apple-sized pockets of space. It was clear that he was deep in thought as he didn't even notice Long Tao arrive despite the latter not really concealing it, but what wasn't clear was the exact reason why he was playing around with the pockets of space.

Master was still in Manifest Void phase, and to enter a Create Void phase, one simply had to 'inverse' space, as it were. It was something that most cultivators would get hung up on, but if one had a Master to guide them, it was, at most, a day long 'difficulty'. Naturally, Masters would let their Disciples struggle for a while before telling them the exact way to do it, which was also why Long Tao didn't say anything to the man in front of him.

The way to create a 'pocket', and thus 'create void', was simply to 'pinch' space to a point--in the most literal sense, actually. Like taking a piece of cloth and pinching it toward the center. It was called 'inversing space' colloquially, though it wasn't quite right of an expression.

Then again, there was another way.

And when Long Tao saw the small pocket of space not collapsing, his lips inadvertently parted into an expression of shock. Master remained impassive for a moment longer before his expression changed to a joyous one. He'd broken through into Manifest Void phase... by actually conjuring up a pocket dimension.

It wasn't stable, per se, in that putting a finger into it would make one fingerless, but it wasn't collapsing either, which was... no, even calling it a 'miracle' wouldn't do it any justice.

The first time Long Tao managed to conjure an indefinite pocket of space externally was in the Demigod Realm. And he was one of the faster ones, to boot. And yet, his Master, shorn of cultivation talent--no, even that wasn't right any longer. The man has reforged his body completely, and now his talent hardly lagged behind any of the kids'.

Long Tao frowned, thinking back through everything.

... the man basically never cultivated. Long Tao could count the number of times he saw the man in a meditative state, cultivating, on one hand. Maybe two if he included those quick three-second 'No, not doing it' ones. He also rarely, if ever, actually studied the arts and methods.

So... how was he keeping up? No, he was still ahead of everyone. Despite the talent that barely even qualified him as 'having the ability to cultivate'. Just exactly... how? And now, he was doing something that even Long Tao wasn't able to do.

--no.

Long Tao stopped himself immediately. He'd already decided to just 'accept' his Master, as well as all his oddities. If he opened that box, he'd also have to start asking questions such as, 'Where did he get a literal Living Mountain from?', and 'Where did he get a Divine-tier art this early?', and just about a thousand more. Whatever the answer, it didn't matter. Despite all these changes, the man was largely the same as he was on the day the two met, when he made an impromptu decision to take a supposedly worthless, pathetic Elder as his Master.

"... Master, did you just break through?" he broke the silence.

"Indeed," the man said, beaming with pride. "Your Master has officially stepped into the Create Void Phase. Heh, impressive, isn't it?"

Impressive? Long Tao mused inwardly that it was indeed impressive.

"Hm. Impressive," he just barely held back. "Impressive, impressive, impressive."

"Er, is, is everything alright?"

"No, everything is great," Long Tao said, walking up and sitting down opposite of him. "Congratulations, Master."

"T-thank you," the man stuttered, still seeming certain that everything wasn't alright. "Uh, why did you come? Do you need anything?"

"I do, actually."

"Oh? What is it?" the man perked up immediately.

"I need advice."

"... from me?"

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"Less so with each question."

"Er, right, right. So, what do you need advice on?" he asked.

"Breaking through into the Void Transformation Realm," Long Tao said. "I was going to do it now with the others, but--"

"--no, no, don't do it yet!" the man suddenly exclaimed, startling him. "Ah, Tao'er; I've been making preparations for that for months. There's a place here, on the island, with perfect set of circumstances for the fourth path. Ah, you may not know--there are four ways to break through into the Void Transformation Realm. But, as my First Disciple, I won't tolerate any other path but the best. As I said, there's a suitable place here, too. I've already prepared most of the things you'll need, so just have a bit of patience."

"..." Long Tao all but had to use Qi to maintain his indifferent, larger-than-life expression.

It was getting harder and harder, he reckoned, to 'ignore' Master's words. He thought it'd be the opposite; the longer he was exposed to the slew of nonsense his Master conjured, verbally and literally, the higher his tolerance would be. But no. The sheer scale of that 'nonsense' was just getting bigger and bigger.

"Is that so? I'll wait, then."

"Hm, good," the man smiled. "Come on, while you're here already--have a celebratory drink with Master." he procured a gourd of wine and two bowls, pouring them both quite quickly. "He he~"

"You seem more happy over this minor breakthrough than you were when you broke through into the Void Transformation Realm," Long Tao said as the two raised the bowls towards each other and emptied them.

"Because I am," the man said, exhaling. "I... don't have a lot of faith in myself. No, I mean, I know I'm the greatest Master in the whole universe, no doubt."

"Right."

"But as a cultivator," he added. "All else aside, I don't have much confidence in myself. I mean, how could I?" he chuckled somewhat bitterly. "From day one, I've been surrounded by nothing but monsters who completely shatter common sense." You shatter it more than all of the rest of us combined, though? "It's hard, when your only point of comparison are the best of the best. But, today, I did something of my own. I've been at it for months, and I finally did it. With no help." And that is why you shatter it more than all of the rest of us combined. "How can I not be happy? It tells me that, in the far off future, when you've all conquered all there is to conquer, I may yet have the ability to bear witness to it with my own eyes, rather than hear about in the stories.

"Anyway, enough of that. Another," he poured the two bowls full yet again. "Today, I want to see what drunk Tao'er looks like, ha ha ha!"

Long Tao smiled invisibly and shook his head. Indeed, he cannot, ever, open that box. He might just go insane, like he almost did when he first caught glimpse of those two black holes. Except, this time, there would be no 'almost'. Just... insanity.