Cultivation Through Artifacts

Khal remained motionless, while his eyes moved from side to side to detect any movements. But luckily, his fear was short-lived, as even after five minutes, nothing seemed to appear to kill him.

[Just relax. As I said, you have only entered their territories it's not like they will try to attack you. Or at least until if you don't try to go any deeper than this.]

"Their? You have already said this before, so can you please tell me just who's territory did I enter?" Khal asked calmly even though he had an idea.

[They are beasts that succeeded to surpass the Ninth Stage without surpassing their Realm, known as Realm Beasts. They are creatures above the Ninth Cultivation Stage, they are on the Tenth Stage!]

'...'

Khal remained silent as it seemed his hunch became reality.

The book he got from the old lady talked about creatures with a terrifying power that surpassed even those on the Ninth Cultivation Stage, but as he was yet to hear about such a creature much less meet with one and see if it truly existed or not, he thought it was only theory.

But it seemed it was not a theory and such creatures indeed existed!

"Are these creatures... Exist in the first Realm too?" Khal asked Nova, curious to find out the answer.

[Yes, they indeed exist, but they are so few you can easily count their numbers on your hands.]

"I see... That's a relief." Khal sighed with relief.

Sometime later, Khal looked around and asked, "So should I retreat? I have yet to find any Soul Flowers."

[This place is large enough for you to search in other directions so go and try another way. Though, remember... Time here flows differently, so try not to waste your time.]

Khal nodded and without hesitation turned around and decided to go and search for Soul Flowers in another area.

However, not even after a few minutes later, he felt as his body turned numb again, indicating he entered another beast's territory. Thus, he quickly changed directions before continuing his way forward with quick strides.

Khal ran with insane speed without using any Secret Arts, while changing directions almost every three or five miles.

After another hour, when things seemed he will fail to find any Soul Flower, Khal was just about to stop searching and leave the Zero Realm when suddenly his eyes caught a glimpse of something in the distance which immediately caused his eyes to brighten like stars.

"Soul Flower! And what's more, it has not one or two, but 7 petals!" Khal felt extremely happy and went to pick it up without hesitation.

Once he held it in his hand, he inspected it before tearing off five petals and throwing them inside his mouth.

Immediately as he did that, he suddenly felt the urge to sit down and start cultivating, hence he did just like that. 

Once he was sitting in a lotus position, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the mysterious power in his body that emerged out of nowhere.

Another hour passed in a blink of an eye, and soon Khal felt as something in his body exploded, causing his Cultivation Base to skyrocket in a flash!

BAM!

[Congratulations, you have successfully consumed five Soul Petals.]

[Your Soul Strength increased by 6!]

Khal opened his eyes once he heard Nova's voice and was surprised to see that everything in his eyes became much clearer and calmer than ever before.

"Amazing. It feels like I am watching the world from a completely different angle." Khal mumbled as he stood up and glanced around.

And indeed, wherever he looked at seemed to be different before he consumed the five Soul Petals.

After a while later, Khal glanced down at the Soul Flower that still had two petals on it, but knowing he should get out of this place because of the lurking danger and the fact that time flowed differently there, he didn't hesitate but grabbed the Realm Key from his spatial ring and poured a bit if his Essence into it.

Tremble!!

Once the gate appeared, Khal took a quick glance around him to see if there were any Soul Flowers or not, and only after making sure that there were none did step through it.

Once he was back in the dark canyon, Khal put the Realm Key away and began to climb back to the surface which was a piece of cake for him thanks to his enhanced physical strength.

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Days passed quickly, and Khal did nothing but increase his cultivation base and do quests, which further improved his strength. Just under a week, he surpassed the Seventh Cultivation Stage and became an Eight Stage Cultivator, known as a Divine Cultivator. 

The speed he was cultivating frightened even Khal himself, but deep inside he was more than happy to see this.

He also made sure to unlock one sealed Essence Paths per day, which was child's play with his strengthened Soul and Mental Strength. However after a week, for some strange reason, he hit a bottleneck which made him unable to unseal his twenty-first path.

"Argh! I failed again!"

Khal groaned with irritation as he opened his eyes, staring into thin air with a rather angered complexion.

"No matter what I try to do, something keeps me away from comprehending the meaning behind the sealed path. What should I do?" Khal asked Nova.

[You can't unseal the path because it needs exterior help. Trying to comprehend its meaning alone will lead you nowhere, so try and think what could help you.]

"Think about what? My current path is about this strange maze that is only made out of mirrors and if my reflection is broken, I will die too. What could possibly help... Me... Wait a second."

Khal remained silent and after a while, suddenly his eyes brightened up, and quickly took out the thick book from his spatial ring and opened it.

"Yeah, this could definitely help me." Khal smiled happily.