The silence that followed my breakthrough was deafening. Even the ambient death essence that had been pressing against us since we'd entered this realm seemed to pause, as if the Fallen Realm itself was taking stock of what had just happened.
"Well," I said, brushing dust off my robes and turning to face the group, "I guess that happened."
Wei Lin was the first to recover, his eyes bright with curiosity as he studied my new spiritual signature. "Pseudo-Elemental Realm," he said, shaking his head with a rueful smile. "Here I was feeling proud about reaching the tenth stage, and you go and break through to an entirely different realm."
"Hey, we're more or less in the same cultivation stage again," I replied with a grin. "Tenth stage Qi Condensation and Pseudo-Elemental Realm are pretty close in terms of power levels. Though I have to admit, this feels..." I paused, trying to find the right words. "More stable. Like my cultivation base finally has proper foundations instead of just being held together by luck and stubbornness."
Lin Mei had approached the spot where the massive tree had been standing, her brow furrowed in confusion. "What happened to that tree?" she asked, looking around at the empty space. "It was just here, and now there's nothing but a crater."
I glanced at the others. Wu Kangming was studying me with those pale, calculating eyes of his, while Luo Yichen looked somewhere between impressed and wary. Meng Haoran was just staring at the empty space where sixty feet of ancient wood had been standing, his mouth slightly open.
There wasn't really any point in hiding the information. After all, the whole sect was viewing this tournament through their monitoring arrays. Every elder, every outer disciple, probably half the inner disciples too – they'd all seen what had just happened. And the elders would definitely recognize what that tree had been, which meant soon, everybody else will too.
"It was a Realm Stabilizing Tree," I explained, keeping my voice casual despite the magnitude of what I'd just revealed. "They're... well, they're incredibly valuable cultivation resources. And I guess they form when someone fails while attempting certain high-level cultivation methods."
Wei Lin's eyebrows rose. "The World Tree Sutra," he said quietly, understanding immediately.
I nodded. "When someone attempts to cultivate it without the proper foundation or guidance, this is sometimes the result. They become an inferior product of what they were trying to cultivate instead of mastering it."
"And you just... absorbed an entire Realm Stabilizing Tree?" Luo Yichen asked, his voice carrying a mixture of awe and suspicion.
"Something like that," I replied.
Since the tree was now safely integrated into my inner world, it wasn't like anyone could forcefully take it away from me. The benefits were permanent, and honestly, explaining the basics wasn't going to give away any real tactical advantages.
Wu Kangming didn't seem surprised by any of this, I noticed. His expression remained perfectly neutral, though I caught the slightest nod of understanding. His mysterious mentor had probably told him about Realm Stabilizing Trees. In all the protagonist stories I'd read back on Earth, the old grandpa spirits always seemed to have encyclopedic knowledge about rare cultivation resources.
Wei Lin, on the other hand, looked lost in thought. I could practically see the gears turning in his head, probably wondering if he could create stalls in his spiritual marketplace for the red and blue sun energies he'd witnessed during my breakthrough.
That thought made my stomach clench with worry.
"Azure," I thought quickly, "Wei Lin's thinking about those energies, isn't he?"
"Most likely," Azure replied, his voice tinged with concern. "His marketplace method is designed to absorb and convert foreign energies. The red and blue sun power would be incredibly tempting to someone with his cultivation approach."
I needed to have a serious conversation with Wei Lin about that, and soon. The only reason I hadn't been driven completely insane by exposure to the red and blue sun energies was because the Genesis Seed filtered out their corrupting influences. If Wei Lin tried to absorb those energies directly through his marketplace...
Well, he'd either become a bloodthirsty monster like the Skybound cultivators, or a zealous fanatic like the Lightweavers.
Neither option was particularly appealing.
I made a mental note to pull him aside for a private chat once we were back at the sect. For now, though, we had more immediate concerns.
Taken from NovelBin, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The others also looked curious about the energies they'd witnessed, but nobody asked direct questions. It was an unspoken rule in the cultivation world; you didn't pry into someone's cultivation methods or trump cards.
Just like how none of us were asking Wu Kangming about that seal he'd unlocked earlier for his burst of power, or questioning Luo Yichen how he survived almost certain death and inherited long lost sword techniques.
Even if anyone did ask, I wasn't nearly dumb enough to explain the secrets of my cultivation while standing in the middle of a sect tournament that was being watched by every important figure in the Azure Sky Sect.
As we stood there processing the recent events, I noticed something that made my blood chill. The crimson number floating in the perpetual twilight above us had changed again.
Three slots remaining.
"We need to move," I said urgently, pointing skyward. "Other teams are advancing while we've been fighting that thing."
The mood shifted instantly. The brief moment of camaraderie and shared wonder evaporated as everyone remembered what was at stake. We resumed our journey toward the exit Wei Lin had sensed, but now there was a tension in the air that hadn't been there before.
Three slots.
Two teams.
The mathematics were getting uncomfortably tight.
***
We traveled in formation through the bone-white forest, both teams maintaining a careful distance from each other. The alliance had been convenient when we were fighting realm creatures, but everyone could feel the tension building now that we were actually competing for the same limited spots.
The landscape gradually shifted as we approached the exit. The oppressive death essence that had saturated the air throughout our time in the realm was noticeably lighter here, though it still made every breath feel like swallowing poison. The bone-white trees gave way to something that almost looked normal, if you ignored the way the bark pulsed with a faint, sickly rhythm.
"The death qi is definitely weaker," Wei Lin confirmed, pausing to extend his spiritual sense. "We're close."
We emerged from the treeline into a small clearing where the sickly twilight actually seemed a few shades brighter. Through a gap between distant hills, I could see our destination, a shimmering distortion in the air that could only be the exit portal.
And floating above it in the crimson light was now the number 2.
"Well," I said, studying the portal that stood maybe hundred yards away, "this is…awkward."
That was a gross understatement.
Both teams had stopped moving, positioning ourselves on opposite sides of the clearing with the portal roughly equidistant between us.
Wu Kangming's hand drifted toward his sword hilt, the movement casual but unmistakable. "Indeed. I had hoped we might all advance together."
"So had I," I replied honestly. "Fighting each other seems like a waste when we worked so well as a team."
But even as I said it, I knew the words were mostly meaningless. Both teams understood the reality of the situation.
"The rules were clear," Wu Kangming said, confirming my thoughts. "The final team to reach the exit will face an elimination. Only two of the three members of that team can advance."
Meng Haoran looked like he was about to be sick. "But we've come this far together..."
"The sect doesn't care about our feelings," Luo Yichen replied grimly, his hand moving to rest on his Mirrorwater Blade. "This is a competition, not a friendship tournament."
We all stood in tense silence, watching each other and occasionally glancing up at that ominous number 2 floating above the portal. We all knew that fighting each other here was risky, if we took too long, another team might leave from a different portal and claim one of the remaining slots while we were busy trying to kill each other.
But neither team was willing to back down.
I studied the opposing team's formation. Luo Yichen had lost some of his earlier confidence and arrogance. Seeing what had happened to the shapeshifter, and witnessing my breakthrough to the Pseudo Elemental Realm, had clearly made him more cautious. There was even a hint of fear in his eyes when he looked at me.
Even Wu Kangming seemed less certain than usual, which I didn't blame him for. The revelation of my red and blue sun abilities, combined with my new cultivation level, had definitely shifted the power balance.
Meng Haoran was obviously the weak link at seventh stage Qi Condensation, but Wu Kangming and Luo Yichen had positioned themselves to protect him: Wu Kangming in front, Meng Haoran in the middle, and Luo Yichen guarding the rear.
"Azure," I thought, "tactical assessment?"
"The formation is sound for protecting their weakest member," Azure replied. "But it also creates an opportunity. If you can create a distraction or opening, Meng Haoran would be vulnerable to a single decisive strike."
That was exactly what I'd been thinking. The problem was getting past Wu Kangming and Luo Yichen to reach him.
But if I could see their formation's weakness, they could undoubtedly see ours. My eyes drifted to where Wei Lin stood protectively beside Lin Mei, his body angled slightly to shield her from potential attacks.
They were probably thinking the same thing about Lin Mei.
At sixth stage Qi Condensation, she was our team's vulnerable point, just as Meng Haoran was theirs. Wu Kangming had already noted our positioning, and I could practically see him calculating distances and attack vectors. Luo Yichen's grip on his Mirrorwater Blade had tightened, and his gaze kept flicking toward Lin Mei with predatory interest.
This was going to be a race.
Who could eliminate the opposing team's weak link first?
Meng Haoran or Lin Mei?
Wu Kangming suddenly moved, his sword flashing in a wide arc. I tensed, thinking he was attacking, but instead I watched as the blade release a cutting wave that swept across the rocky ground around his team's position. Every piece of plant matter within a twenty-foot radius of the portal disintegrated - grass, moss, even the small fungi growing on nearby rocks.
"Clever," I murmured, understanding his strategy immediately.
He was trying to prevent me from using Verduring Step by eliminating all the vegetation I could use as anchor points. And now that he believed he had protected his team's position and cut off any chance of me getting to Meng Haoran, it meant in the next second, he would strike.
The problem was, Wu Kangming had made one critical miscalculation, he'd assumed that Verduring Step was my only method of covering distance rapidly.
But now that my abilities had been exposed to the entire sect anyway, there was no reason to hold back my other trump cards.
I could finally fight at full strength.