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He also learnt a brand-new way of fighting from them. Who knew dropping stones could be so effective? What was the point of having techniques? At least, it was now clear that he did not need to fear anything that moved solely on the ground.

He could fly. And so, his entire way of fighting could no longer be the same. He needed a new perspective. And this little skirmish did give him this opportunity to reorganize his thoughts. There wasn't really that much to ponder. It was more of being enlightened. He never considered the advantage it brought to be a bird. He hadn't even realized that he could fight from up in his sky… As a bird, he had no reasons to go down to fight!

He became aware of the beast core's value to a spiritual beast and, at the same time, learnt of his natural advantage. This brought him a lot of benefits. Still, he had no plans to go out hunting bigger preys. For one thing, he still didn't know where this forest was. If it was just a random forest in a random country, it might be fine as there are really strong beasts in those. The countries try to regulate their growth so that the mortals never face calamities.

After all, while cultivators didn't mingle with mortals, they did need them as a workforce. And as such, it was important to protect them. They were nothing more than a resource but it was a resource that could be used long-term. As such, the ecosystem surrounding mortals was mostly being monitored by the cultivators ruling the areas.

On the other hand, if it was a forest outside of such territories, there might be incredibly powerful spiritual beasts. And if that was the case, the place was dangerous.

Until now, the strongest being he saw was the big owl but he did not believe that this was the strongest entity in the forest. For one thing, he had overtaken it in pure might after only around two months. What more of beasts who had lived dozens of years? He didn't want to risk his feathers too soon.

He would rather wait until he has reached the spiritual accumulation stage before going out hunting for large preys. As soon as he reached the spiritual accumulation realm, he would become able to manipulate his own spiritual energy and use it to fight. Even if he remained at the first stage of that realm, he was confident he could escape if it came to that. After all, he once reached a higher stage and knew how to use spiritual energy. He had quite a few escape techniques in his sleeves too.

And so, he went back inside his hole and continued to cultivate.

After another two weeks, he reached the required amount of energy in his core. He could attempt the breakthrough any time. However, he did not go for it right away. The passage from those two realms would force him to face his inner demon.

The step between the two realms was what determined a true cultivator from an apprentice. It was the moment one faced oneself and went beyond his existence. He would begin to start understanding the world and elevate himself.

And the wall to cross over was the inner demon. He managed to defeat his inner demon in his previous life quite easily since he had been rather young and inexperienced with life. This time might be a little trickier. After all, he had the memories of an entire lifetime…

He decided to find a different place to breakthrough, one in which he would without doubt remain undisturbed. He flew away from his own nest in search of that place and settled for a different tree a few hundred meters away. Rarely would the owls go this far from the giant tree that was their home. It took him the night to enlarge the hole in the trunk that he found. He picked this tree precisely due to a hole already half-formed.

Once he was done with that, he slept and the next morning, he went on to hunt for quite a lot. He wanted to make sure he could have food after the breakthrough as it might exhaust him. Once done with his rations, he began to seal the entrance by stacking little pieces of wood. It would hide him while not stopping air from coming in.

He looked around and admired his job after finishing. It was nothing more than a half-closed hole in a random tree. But it felt like a secret and safe place to him. And that was more than enough. It was time for him to attempt a breakthrough.

The passage from the fifth stage of body strengthening to spiritual accumulation was rather simple. One only had to overflow his core like he previously did. The only difference was that this time, the energy wouldn't be able to diffuse in the body as it had already reached its peak. As such, the energy would condense inside the core. The core who was previously nothing more than a container filled with dots would become something else. It would all harden and turn into something that would seem solid while not being solid.

What would happen though was that all dots and lines would turn into a single entity: a pyramid. One that was filled to the brim. It would be a solid core and the basis upon which one could start one's path in the next realm.

There were restrictions of course as the core wouldn't just become one. As if the heavens themselves were testing a candidate, one would have to face himself before anything happened.

The inner demon would appear…

Having experienced it a few times due to breaking through a few middle-realms, he didn't fear it. Instead, he was curious as to what it would show him this time.

Not long after settling in a comfy area of the hole, he focused on his soul sea. He willed the last dots of light to enter his core and as he 'closed the door', the pyramid overflew. It was the usual feeling of energy being released throughout his body. However, it didn't feel like it settled anywhere and instead, it came back towards the core raging ferociously like a tidal wave. As it entered the core, he felt his consciousness drift away, the sign of being forced into the inner realm by his inner demon…

When he opened his eyes, he was standing on a plain. He knew the location alright. That's where he died and judging by how he was still in the camp, it was before it happened. Was he going to relive his death? Maybe he would get to see who killed him this time.

He began to walk forward. He wasn't the one controlling his body though. He was only a passenger in it. That was the work of the inner demon. It made you experience things. Possibilities. Alternative scenarios that could break your will. That was the first inner demon a cultivator would face on his road.

It was also the easiest to face though around 20% of those trying end up failing to overcome it.

He looked around as he moved. He remembered this moment. It was when he was being given the order to go fight with his men. To go die. Was there something here that could break him? What was the goal of the demon by having experience this moment again?

As he arrived in the command tent, he saw many cultivators with medals and shining ornaments seated. He picked a seat as well. His was quite at the end of the table. He didn't amount to much after all. If he did, they wouldn't have sacrificed him like that.

Anyways, everything was flowing as it did back then. Until he was being given the order. This time, he protested the order. To the very end. He ended up being detained in jail and executed as a traitor a few hours later.

Then, he opened his eyes once again. He was back at the beginning of this very scenario once more. It played exactly the same way except this time he didn't reject the order. As he left the tent, he went to his quarters. He picked his stuff. Then, he waited for night to fall. And he escaped in the darkness.

He was found not long later by stronger cultivators from a more powerful division. Once again, jailed and executed.

And it repeated. Again, and again. With numerous possibilities. And he always died. He would either die on the battlefield or murdered by his own countrymen.