"Thought Or Telepathy"
"Character Communication"
"Loud Speaking"
"Emphasis 'On' A Word."
Madara: A New Journey
Dai slowly awakens after having his body exploded and then reformed miraculously, although he is completely unaware of that little fact. The first sense he detects is that familiar smell of iron, the smell of blood. During his sleep, he had that familiar dream about being the sun once again.
However, this time, the dream was a little more clear, like a fog has been lifted, although only a little. The figure still appears at the end, but this time, accompanied by seven ghastly screams of terror. The screams don't feel like a part of the dream, almost as if it came from outside his body.
After getting up and looking around, there is no one nearby. The man who he accepted as his master isn't anywhere in sight, but that didn't alarm him, someone as powerful as that can most definitely find him in an instant.
He looks down at himself and feels the power rushing through his body. "Nou Feng! I'd like to see what you'd say now!" No longer does he lack the talent for cultivation, even his spirit root has been replaced with a powerful talent and the foundation has already settled and become perfected.
"Now I have a powerful master and cultivation, I can finally stand up for myself!" Looking around, he wonders. "Where did master go? I don't even know his name yet. I owe him so much, yet still this killing..." He lets out a sigh. "That's his way, I can ignore it, but I'll have my own way!"
"I should complete the tests and meet up with my master!" He looks at the tokens still on the ground and reaches for them.
After killing those seven cultivators that showed up, Madara found it strange that they'd care for one person alone when he killed so many others, that too outsider eyes would be worth much more, considering how they had varying degrees of cultivation.
Finding Dai even more strange, he read one of the cultivator's memories with the Rinnegan, although not nearly as complete as absorbing the soul, it at least allows him to search for some details, like why Dai is so important, although he had a feeling it was this way. That's why he made Dai his pawn, to find out the truth.
With the memories, there isn't much about Dai. A very long time ago this cultivator received an order to watch over Dai and make sure he can't cultivate through reincarnation from his master before he died of old age, his task is to last until he himself dies or until he can pass it on to someone trustworthy.
Why is Dai so important that someone would want to ensure he couldn't cultivate even through reincarnation? This answer will come with time probably, especially now that he's given Dai cultivation. "That should bring out the concerned parties in the background, but who are they?" He ponders while travelling.
The memories are incredibly useful in other ways with information on how to use a bag of holding, which each of the seven cultivators had upon death, but once he opened them, he discovered that the treasures are all beneath him because they all belong to cultivators in the Nascent Soul realm.
Consequentially, he now knows the next two realms of cultivation: Core Formation and Nascent Soul. After refining the body with Foundation Establishment, one must condense spiritual energy into a core, once that core is formed, break it to birth the Nascent Soul, like an egg.
If he can form a Nascent Soul, then perhaps he can separate it from the infection and separate it entirely from his own soul, creating some sort of cultivation avatar. This is just his speculation, whether he can apply the theory in practice is another matter entirely, or if he can even reach that realm at all.
That aside, he first has to reach Foundation Establishment. After travelling for a while, he meets back up with Misaki and the rest, who have managed to collect many more tokens in his absence but still not enough to complete all their tokens. He hands the remaining tokens he collected earlier.
They complete their tokens and leave this test in a ray of light that goes to the sky. There are a few others over the next couple hours as he waits for the forest to clear out of all cultivators. When he detects no one, he takes out all the powerful cultivators he killed through his slaughter. There are hundreds and hundreds.
Many of them are at Foundation Establishment, one is at Core Formation, and seven are the Nascent Soul Cultivators he killed. As for the thousands of Qi Condensation cultivators, he simply removed their Qi into a storage scroll and didn't bother with the body.
He prepares himself mentally for whatever is about to come, but then an idea comes to him. "The first people I killed since coming from my world, I devoured, that was when my symptoms started, but now I think I understand what happened." A realisation dawns.
"I don't think that hunger I felt back then has anything to do with cultivation, that was a power completely separate from chakra and cultivation, but one of the people I devoured had a hidden talent for cultivation and had some small amount of Qi in his body. If that is the case, then the leaking of physical energy isn't the reason."
He removes his God Armor and white mist starts coming out of his body again, the infection appears. He looks at his arms for a moment. All over Slaughter Forest, the blood, flesh, and bone, from the countless conflicts, start to levitate and move. Flesh and bone turn into mush and into a liquid to join the blood on its journey.
A drop of blood appears above the trees. Rivers of blood fly over, joining and condensing, just like it did in the past. It forms another bite-sized crimson orb that floats down in front of Madara a few moments later. He takes in a big breath. "A power separate from chakra and cultivation, what is it?"
The human body can do incredible things, at least when it's programmed to do those things. If humans were reengineered, they could regrow limbs, duplicate themselves, survive decapitation, and even be immortal. Certain animals have these functions programmed into them.
Chakra can produce some of these effects, like with Hashirama, speeding up the growth of cells and stimulating them to regenerate until the cell can no longer regenerate, thus sacrificing one's lifeforce for regenerative powers.
"A power related to physical energy, the body, the ability to manipulate the body." He's starting to understand. Chakra is comprised of two things, physical energy and mental energy. If he understands how Allheaven Abyss works, then it must have unlocked the potential in his physical energy.
However, to him. "What a dysfunctional power." With Six Path's Sage Mode and Allheaven Abyss, it's practically useless, in fact, it started leaking physical energy. Now that he knows what is happening, he can stop it. Closing his eyes, it only takes him a moment to sense microscopic pores all within his body.
A few more moments pass before he can grasp the mist in his mind and bring it to a complete stop, the infection disappears once again. He opens his eyes. "Interesting, my body is stronger and can resist the infection a little. I take it back, stronger body, more Qi! Let's use this to breakthrough."
He devours the crimson-orb. The physical energy explodes within him and integrates with his body. While doing that, he takes out a scroll and absorbs the Qi with, forcing his body to refine. He doesn't stop there. The bodies around him start to melt and streams of Qi flow out into his body.
He has to be quick. This infection adapts at a tremendous speed, it won't be long until his body will be destroyed, and he knows that. His body shakes violently and more and more black substance leaks out of his body, forming a growing puddle of sludge.
Soon his entire body is no longer visible, he's turned into a swamp-man-like creature. Everything the sludge touches rots away in the blink of an eye. Energy is continually sucked from the bodies even as they are submerged, not only that but the entire forest starts to lose its colour.
Trees and plants blacken and even creatures tire and never wake up. The sludge forms a chrysalis of sorts, hardening until completely solid, nothing can get through. Deep within, Madara's body is going through a shocking transformation.
His skin is flaking off and regrowing. The skeleton can clearly be seen as a rich light explodes from within his core and changes colours rapidly while the black substance tries to snuff it out. It can also be seen, like black snakes swimming in the light. He's under immense pain, but at this moment, he could care less.
He can feel it so clearly as the life-force and spiritual energy of this entire realm is pulled into his body. A vibrant light breaks through from the epicentre of the chrysalis. The aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator leaks out.
A star mark takes shape in the centre of the red Rinnegan-like pattern of his forehead. A unique aura replaces the other. This aura is entirely different from a cultivator. His body grows three sizes larger, shattering the cocoon before returning to its normal size.
He falls to the ground and vomits a large amount of black liquid. The infection on his body completely disappears, his complexion returns twice fold. He's reached Foundation Establishment, and not only that but the peak of it.
With the momentous feeling of overcoming the tribulations of the infection, he thinks of reaching Core Formation immediately, but a quick look around changes that idea. There isn't any sign of life anymore. The rich vibrant forest is gone, even the remaining wood looks like ash.
"How much did I absorb?!" He's shocked. In the state he was in during his transformation, he felt immense hunger for energy of all kinds, but he had no idea it would have been this much. He didn't notice his body growing larger, and he doesn't notice the star mark either.
It's not a big deal, he's already killed the overseers of this testing ground and people coming after Dai is what he wants. But, he certainly won't be able to reach Core Formation in this environment. He takes out his platinum token and crushes it in his hand. He disappears from this dead realm.
Madara reappears within a very large coliseum. There are around a hundred other people. Among them are the faces he's familiar with. Dai is the first to notice him as he nods in his direction, choosing to be subtle in this large crowd.
He nods back but makes a small gesture with his hand telling him to keep his distance for now.
There is definitely something big behind all this, and Dai is apart of it. If he can uncover that mystery, then finding a path to salvation will come naturally. One thing is for sure, the source of cultivation, its origin is not from this world. Something invaded this world, but for what purpose?
Everyone around is hardened and on-edge, most of the people here haven't encountered each other in the forest, but a few had, and their malice towards each other is felt in their gazes as they eye one another.
When he scans Hatsune, he sees a few young men talking to her and Misaki. These two young men look almost identical. Both look good-natured and are well dressed, a sharp contrast to everyone else, but in their eyes is a strange glint.
Hatsune catches something in the corner of her eyes. One of the young men notices her expression change from unimpressed to excited as she runs off without giving them the time of day. Misaki smiles at them before leaving as well.
When Hatsune reaches Madara, she takes his arm into her bosom and stands at his side, tightly clinching to him. He lets out a long annoyed sigh. Before he can say anything in defence, Misaki takes his other arm and does the same thing, whispering in his ear. "They're a little too persistent."
His thoughts exactly at this moment, but the intentions are clear, stake a claim to avoid the pestering. Of course, this invites trouble for him. From a little aways, Dai watches in slight shock and wide eyes. "I guess master is popular." He snickers under his breath.
"How long have you been here?" Madara looks up at the rows of seats in the coliseum.
"A couple of hours maybe?" Misaki guesses on a gut feeling. Expanding out his senses, he can see many other identical coliseums, adjacent to this one. In each one is a growing number of people, with this one holding about a hundred, one holding a couple hundred, another holding a thousand, and one with a couple thousand.
It seems like they are separations of the ranks that were acquired in Slaughter Forest. With each ascending coliseum rank, the people thin out due to the lack of talent in the last trial. Which means, this is either another trial or the selection of the sects.
There are five majestic thrones in the rows of the coliseum, along with many other seats just below these. Before everyone, twelve people - varying in appearance rather drastically - walk out and take their seats. After a moment, five more people, dressed in grand retire, take the five thrones.
The centreman speaks up. "Congratulations on obtaining a platinum token! I am the message of the Glacier Fate Alliance and these four beside me are Elders of the various platinum rank sects that will be offering sect invitations to the various youths present."
"Let me note that not all of you will receive invitations, it's up to the discretion of the elders present and your talent." The messenger gestures to the lower seats. "However, below me are Elders of high ranking Gold Sects that will likely be eager to give out invitations afterwards in hopes of receiving platinum level disciples."
Many cold and hardened face turn excited and proud. Reaching the Platinum rank isn't easy, one has to steal or kill from many cultivators of a similar level, you have to be smart, cold, tactical, strong, and unique. Each individual here is exceptional and joining a Platinum sect in the Glacier Fate Alliance is a fortune for them.
Talk and whispers start between some of the individuals both in the crowd and in the seats. The people above are inspecting the people below with scrutinising gazes. One of the men in the five thrones clears his throat. "I, Elder and representative of Two-Child Sect, offer an outer disciple position for that man."
The man points towards a fair looking man with an evil complexion. "I accept!" The man quickly clasps his hands and bows. A light shrouds over him and he disappears from the spot.
The same Elder points towards a young girl. "I will offer an inner disciple position to that girl!" An uproar starts in the stands, receiving an inner position from a platinum sect is practically unheard of during a selection such as this, only extraordinary talents have a slight possibility.
Madara looks at the girl the man pointed at. Ruby looks back at him. This is a good opportunity, her talent is certainly high compared to the others. He nods in her direction but she still hesitates before speaking. "Senior, I can only accept if my family is given an offer as well."
The man frowns while looking at her with a disappointed expression. Before he can say anything, someone comes up to him in a rushed walk, leaning in his ear to whisper something. His expression turns quizzical. "Gone?! What do you mean they're gone?" He says this only loud enough for Madara to hear.
"What's wrong Elder Two-Child?" The messenger leans over to ask.
"The overseers, they're missing and the forest has been destroyed!" Elder Two-Child looks back at the person who told him this information while the messenger leans back into his chair, surprised at this news, and slightly nervous. "I don't want to inform him..." He says in a low distraught whisper.
He wouldn't be so alarmed if he took more care of this matter. When he was told to watch over someone, he handed the jade with the details to his overseers. The other elders and messenger are also on edge for the same reason.
All five are elders for platinum sects and subsequently elders for the Glacier Fate Alliance, and the ones responsible for dealing with the upper realm.
If they incur the wrath of the upper realm cultivators, it will be their head one way or another, but it's a trap, the jade with the details has been destroyed as is typical and the only one who knows the contents are missing, presumably dead if the condition of the forest is anything to go by.
They could contact the upper realm cultivators to repeat the order. "No, no, the idea of that is haunting." The messenger replies. If they do that, it will be no different than announcing their negligence, besides, the upper realm cultivators are short-tempered with even the head elder of the alliance, supposedly the founder as well.
Seeing the nervous expressions taking over and alarming everyone else, another elder, Elder Wrath, clears his throat and speaks up. "Well, this matter doesn't need to be rushed, let's us continue with the selection and decide what action needs be taken."
Elder Two-child nods his head and looks back at Ruby. "You will accept if I offer your family the same as you? Point them out."
Ruby smiles and runs to grab her two brothers, pulling them to Madara and his two arm-weights. "I'll accept if you take them as well!"
The old man leans into his chair, trying to hide a certain excitement. Although not all of them are gifted, most of the people the girl pointed out are exceptional, especially the man with the greyish red hair. A powerful Peak Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even he feels a mysterious air about him.
The family seems eager and excited in the eyes of Two-Child, although the redhead looks rather disinterested. His excitement doesn't go unnoticed and the other two lock in on the family, making similar observations to him. "Elder Two-Child, how could I let you take such talent for yourself." Elder Wrath smiles wryly.
Wrath leans forward. "I will make you my personal disciple girl, and give inner disciple positions to your entire family." Another uproar starts in the crowds.
"Absurd." The Messanger lightly slams his hand on his armrest. "What angle are you playing, brother? It's clear that the gentleman is a better talent!" He looks at the family. "These two are elders of Glacier Fate, but I am a messenger, the status is night and day. I offer to make both you and that man my personal disciple."
The other two elders snort and look away while the other two that haven't spoken so far lightly smile. Ruby pauses and is about to look at the other two elders but stops when the same voice continues. "Careful girl, we may compete against each other for fun but no one else will make us compete further."
Ruby nods her head. "I accept if it's okay with my family." She looks back at everyone, and everyone nods back, even Madara has a slight smile. A prideful feeling fills her. Today she has impressed everyone.
Ignoring the warning and pointing at Dai, Madara says loudly with an air of a celestial. "There's one thing I require, I want that cultivator there to be included."
The Messanger ponders for a second while the surprised looks fade. "I'll give him an outer disciple position." He says after looking at the excited and nervous Dai for a moment.
Madara nods his head. "That's acceptable." Ruby and the rest disappear. The nervous glint in the eyes of the elders never leaving as they continue on with the selection before leaving the rest to the gold sects.
In a simply elegant but small wooden room, a flash of light shines before leaving to reveal Madara. A rich and powerful spiritual energy exists here, something Madara notices immediately. He sits down to cultivate after sensing out everyone else in their own rooms and discovering that he's back in the main world.
In the centre of the room is a container holding a jade with information presumably, but he doesn't even bother looking at it. With the rich Qi, reaching core formation is his priority. Sitting down, he starts absorbing and condensing the spiritual energy in the air and in his body to his abdomen.
Because he's already reached Peak Formation Establishment, a small golden bead the size of a rice grain forms within his dantian and keeps growing. He's already reached Core Formation in a matter of seconds.
This cultivation speed is unparalleled. Some cultivators all throughout Glacier Fate City and even beyond can feel the spiritual energy in the air grow weaker.
This is even more noticeable to the cultivators within the Glacier Fate Sect. Some elders open their eyes from long closed-door cultivation sessions, although spiritual energy is useless to most of them, they can still feel the difference. Spiritual energy replenishes with time, but this consumption isn't very normal.
Cracks form on the small golden core within Madara's dantian. A strained expression makes its way on his face as a black ooze starts to come from the cracks. He tries to push past it, but it repairs the core entirely. He falls down to his hands, breathing heavily.
He thought that maybe the infection would only attack the body, now that he broke past that part it should be easy for him, but it's adapted and preventing him from shattering the core to reach the nascent soul stage.
Forcing the breakthrough into Foundation Establishment already took thousands of times the cultivation required to actually breakthrough. In order to break through into nascent soul, the requirement will be unimaginable. "If I absorb the spiritual energy from this entire planet, maybe then I could advance."
That requirement is too high, even for him, it would likely destroy all life on the planet. There must be some other way. "Those overseers... there was some information about a place called the upper realm in their memories. Perhaps this 'upper realm' is the key. Maybe they have some avatar technique."
If there really is a place like the upper realm, then he's willing to wager that it's closer to the source origin of cultivation. If cultivation has come from another universe as guessed, then perhaps that door is still open. He has no plans of entering it, but it would prove the existence of a completely different universe.
There is a chance he could even learn to enter other universes. He stays seated. Ideas wonder in his mind and he realises that the answer is rather simple. He needs to go to the upper realm in order to advance his cultivation and to learn the more about the source of cultivation.
In the meantime, his cultivation cannot progress any further in the meantime. But, his chakra will continue to grow as he absorbs the Nature Energy of the world.
The mysterious power that his body gained could possibly be furthered by absorbing physical energy and perhaps his mental energy will obtain its own power given time. Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Nature. All these different types of energy are different but similar at the same time.
Physical and Mental energy is used to create chakra. Nature Energy can be mixed in to enhance chakra to a new level. Chakra certainly has an interesting background, one that he doesn't have any clue about.
The divine tree is the source of chakra on this planet, but what created the divine tree? The Otsutsuki Clan brought the tree here and Kaguya was here to guard the tree but ends up merging with it instead and betraying her clan. The founder of the Otsutsuki Clan would know more, that is for another time, however.
If he were to his internal Qi with Six Path's Sage Chakra, the outcome might be incredible, but there is a chance that is could be disastrous. Qi and Chakra potentially originate from two separate universes entirely, they could react rather violently.
Considering the risks, he makes the decision to try. Expanding his God Armor into a bubble to prevent external damage, he holds out two open palms. One forms a tiny speck of chakra, the other forms an equal speck of Qi.
His hands slowly draw near. The two tiny and harmless specks of energy connect without issue. He observes the slightly larger speck, bubble, combine, and change colours like a chemical reaction. It takes an hour for the energy to settle and fully merge. A strong ethereal light shines from it.
He needs to test its power before daring to absorb it into his body. He looks at the barrier around him. He shakes his head and drops the barrier. He gets up and leaves the room, leaves Glacier Fate City by flying into the sky, and leaves the planet, disappearing into the stars.
This is the first time in his life he's ever left the planet. His destination is a very large planet, hundreds of times larger than the one he just left. It's a gas giant, devoid of water and life. The raging winds blow against his clothing as he penetrates the atmosphere with a silent boom suppressed by the thunder and wind.
He lands on a mountain range so large it's easily twice the size of some planets. His hair flutters behind him in singular strands. He opens his palm and looks at the energy barely visible amongst the dust storm. With a flick of his wrist, the energy is sent out of sight.
Silence prevails even over the storm as he waits for it to finish travelling. Suddenly a tremor shakes the mountain he's on, followed by a massive shockwave that pushes away the dust and the storm entirely. A rocky landscape is revealed for the first time in billions of years.
A red light peaks over the horizon and the sky turns red. He doesn't dally on the surface of the planet and quickly flies away. From space, he can get a much better view of the damage. An orb, about a tenth the size of the planet, sits on the top of the gas giant. His eyes widen. That wasn't the explosion he felt earlier!
The planet cracks like an eggshell and large continents fall off like an orange being peeled. The orbs grow wider by one fold before releasing an intense light and exploding. The planet is vaporised instantly, but the explosion continues towards Madara.
The explosion is far to slow for Madara to get caught in it. He retreats back millions of kilometres. The moons around the planet are also vaporised before the explosion dissipates into residual energy. He breathes a sigh of relief.
"Just a tiny speck of energy and it's already that powerful! If I combined them on a large scale and cultivated it within my body, I could destroy the whole solar system with a single punch..." However, it's doubtful his body can contain that much of this violent energy.
He can still combine the two energies on the outside and use it that way, but with how long it takes to form, he'll need to prepare it ahead of time. "My body can only handle twice that much." He combines more energy while floating in empty space.
During the next couple of hours, the residual energy forms a small nebula-like pattern in front of him. Madara opens his eyes after absorbing the energy and storing it within himself. Taking a last look at the planet he destroyed, he returns to the door of the wooden room he left in an instant.
The first thing he sees is the towering buildings around him that belong to the greatest sect in the alliance. He sees a few people wondering. All of them are looking at the night sky. Looking up himself, he can see the explosion and nebula spreading out amongst the background of other nebulae.
The night sky has been forever changed and Madara has gained yet another powerful weapon. He slides open the bamboo door and goes inside. He grabs the jade on the pedestal lazily, pressing it to his forehead to read the content.
There is going to be a ceremony for the newly announced inner disciples tomorrow. This will correspond with nominations of outer disciples through their own ranking system to become inner disciples. Each inner disciple will have the opportunity to gain a fortune, but from what is not detailed.
"I think I'll be attending." A smile creeps its way on his face. "Let's see what this fortune is..."
Madara: A New Journey