Cha Ming nodded. Then, after taking a deep, relaxing breath, he sat cross-legged and popped the pill in his mouth. It dissolved into several streams, one stream for each of the five elements. They meandered through his qi pathways before finally settling inside his Dantian and floating around his core. Only a small amount of medicinal potency began attaching itself to his fractured core and mending it. He needed time. Lots of it.
Teacher Sun, how much time acceleration can a mortal body handle? Cha Ming asked.
I’m really not sure, Sun Wukong said. Normally not too much, but you’re a body cultivator. You should at least be able to handle what the princess is handling.
Cha Ming nodded and walked into the time-contracted space around the Sea God Clock. He walked past where Gong Shuren was sitting while attuning to the Sea God Clock and closer to Mr. Mountain, who had grown to a respectable 330 feet. It was small for a mountain but rather large for a demon.
Cha Ming’s body began to twitch as he walked, and he soon realized why: He was existing in many different time-accelerated zones simultaneously, and the strain on his body was massive. In fact, it would be impossible for him to stand there without a very strong body. Thanking his lucky stars, Cha Ming proceeded closer and closer to Mr. Mountain. His body broke and rebuilt itself repeatedly, and when the strain seemed to be at the limits of what his core could handle, he stopped.
The multicolored medicinal mist in his Dantian continued its slow work; being in the time-accelerated zone didn’t change that. What could be changed was how time passed in the outside world. Cha Ming continued cultivating calmly and entered the longest period of cultivation he’d ever undergone in his life.
His first stretch of cultivation lasted a whole year before he couldn’t take the solitude.
“What, you can’t handle a little bit of closed-door seclusion?” Sun Wukong said, laughing. “That’s nothing. In the future, you’ll have to seclude yourself for thousands of years to make any progress. Think of this as a warmup. While you’re at it, you can think about things that have been bothering you and sort them out.”
Cha Ming reflected on this advice as he played a few games of Angels and Devils and socialized with Huxian and his friends. Then he returned to cultivating. This time, he cultivated for ten solid years. While he did so, he ruminated over his staff arts, his various techniques, and theorized several formations that might or might not work. Since he had a goal to work toward, time passed quickly. Still, only about half of the pill’s medicinal potency had been absorbed by his core after ten years. Many of the exterior cracks had visibly mended, but many imperfections still remained. Therefore, he repeated the process many times. Another ten years passed, and a quarter of the original medicinal potency remained. Then twelve and a half percent, then six and a quarter.
Soon, a hundred years had passed for Cha Ming. The medicinal absorption had slowed to a trickle, and while much of the damage had been healed, he could still see many important cracks remaining in his core. If his cultivation increased, the cracks would widen.
Despite the lack of progress, Cha Ming continued. He’d gained a sort of patience and unshakable focus in the process. While cultivating, he spent time deciding what he’d do for his rune carving. He also decided on his next course of action, assuming he managed to thwart Zhou Li’s plans for Haijing City.
Finally, on the 108th year since he started absorbing the Runic Nirvana Pill, Cha Ming noticed a change in his Dantian. A small gray flame appeared near a thin crack on his core. The flame moved along the crack, and as it did, the crack disappeared as though it had never existed. True to the name of the pill, his core was being reborn as fire destroyed its imperfections.
The process was much faster than the initial absorption of the medicine had been. In only three hours, most of the smaller cracks were eliminated. After three more, the larger ones also disappeared. Little by little, major holes that had appeared at the center of his core began to shrink until finally, only five small imperfections remained. They were infinitesimally small, but Cha Ming could clearly sense them. Still, he also sensed that they wouldn’t threaten this stage of his cultivation. His core could grow unimpeded and would survive rune carving. That was more than enough.
Cha Ming wept as the greatest burden on his heart was lifted. With this, he could cultivate normally and transcend this plane. Once he transcended, he would slowly cultivate until he became an immortal. Once he did, he would find Yu Wen again.
Excited, Cha Ming urged his qi and moved to break through. His qi circulated in his body and rushed to impact against his healed core.
“Stop!” Sun Wukong yelled.
Startled, Cha Ming reluctantly halted the breakthrough process and looked at the belligerent Monkey King.
“You can’t break through here. A time-accelerated area like this is great for absorbing medicinal efficiency and great for tempering your resistance to pain since your body can barely handle it, but if you try cultivating here, you’ll tear your meridians apart.”
Cha Ming looked at Sun Wukong doubtfully. “My meridians look fine. Why can’t I take the opportunity to break through to the peak of core formation while we’re here?”
Sun Wukong shook his head. “Always so greedy for a quick boost in strength. It doesn’t work that way. In fact, there’s a reason why your Clear Sky Brush can only support accelerating time by a multiple of five. That remained unchanged while you were in this field of contracted time.”
Cha Ming glanced inside the Clear Sky World and noticed that
