923 Mental Obstacle
The moment Alex's dantian freed up, a wave of Qi escaped from it, rising directly through his body.
It stopped once near his heart before continuing on its way up to the brain. When it reached the brain, it stopped once more, quickly enriching his mind.
As it did, Alex felt his spiritual sense quickly improve.
This was the point when one's Spiritual sea would open up. However, since Alex had already opened it, the energy instead enriched it, making his spiritual sea far stronger.
Bit by bit, Alex felt his spiritual sense spread throughout the mountain. He could only focus on it partly as the majority of it was still focused on his breakthrough.
His spiritual sense slowly grew from the 900-ish meter range he had managed to get it to in the last year and a half, and quickly reached the 1-kilometer mark.
However, it didn't stop there. It continued growing further and further.
1100 meters, 1200 meters, 1300 meters, and so on.
Not having to open his spiritual sense made it so that Alex's spiritual sea grew since the moment he entered the breakthrough process.
It continued growing more and more, reaching 1700, then 1800, and 1900.
It continued on and reached 2000 meters, twice as large as any newly ascended Saint realm cultivator would, but it grew further.
2200 meters, 2400 meters, 2600 meters.
Alex felt his heart skip a beat out of excitement when his spiritual sense reached 3000 meters, and yet it kept on going.
3500, 4000, 4500.
Alex's spiritual sense finally stopped expanding when it reached close to 5000 meters.
5 kilometers, that was his spiritual sense settled on in the end. By now, he could see Pearl and Whisker, waiting far away for him to break through.
Pearl didn't even notice when Alex's spiritual sense passed through him. Alex's sense was so much stronger now that Pearl simply didn't even realize it was there.
Once Alex felt the energy slow down and the Qi recede back, he quickly poured all his focus back on his breakthrough.
The breakthrough itself was almost over. All Alex had to do now was make sure that the Saint Qi that was condensed would remain condensed, putting his at the 1st realm of the Saint Condensation realm.
For that, he had to use his cultivation technique for one last time to send the Qi into a cycle and continue it until he reached the next realm.
Alex started doing just that, and as he progressed, the world around him darkened, and he soon fell into a trance where all sounds faded but one.
His Inner Demon.
"You're alone. All alone," the voice said. "You found your mother, but you lost her once again. Those Saints back in the Western continent will kill her for the offense you did."
"Her blood is in your hand."
Alex heard the voice of his inner demon speak to him. He didn't know he was listening to an inner demon. At this moment, he was in such a trance that he didn't even know what an inner demon was.
This dream-esque world was a reality for him, and his reality was horrifying at the moment.
The voice spoke of endless things. It spoke about his mother being dead, it spoke about the Jaguar being dead. It spoke of how sorrowful Yao Jia most likely was.
It spoke of how he could never return back to the Western Continent. How the people here would never let him leave after what he had shown them.
It spoke of his achievement and how well he was doing, and as a result how much further he was increasing the distance between him and his friends.
He was trying to enter the Saint realm while others struggled to go through the True realms. Sooner or later, the gap would be so big that they would stop seeing him as their friend.
Perhaps the harshest words the voice spoke were when they accused Alex of slowing down Pearl's cultivation.
He spent months on the Ancient Battlefield, learning all these laws and improving his Intent, and yet he didn't give Pearl the same chance.
He made Pearl sit in his beast space while he improved himself alone. And for that, he had increased the gap between him and Pearl in a way that Pearl could never catch up ever again.
The voice went on and on, accusing Alex of every little thing that would sooner or later cause problems for himself and the people around him.
It spoke in the harshest of tones and berated him all around.
However, no matter how much the voice spoke, Alex's heart didn't budge in the slightest.
Sure, the words the voice spoke were harsh, and sometimes true, but that didn't mean Alex would be affected by them. His will was simply too strong to be affected by such little accusation.
His will was forged in ice and fire over a hundred different deaths. A simple voice in his head wasn't going to stop him from advancing on his journey. It would never stop him from taking the next step and moving forward.
If he hurt people in the process, he would heal them. If he strained any relationships, he would mend them. If he made a gap between himself and his friends and families, he would help them cultivate faster.
For if he continued to grow stronger, he could do whatever the hell he wanted.
The voice tried to speak some more, but even it knew Alex wouldn't be moved by it. So, in the end, the voice disappeared, and Alex returned back to himself in the midst of thunderous noises.
He woke up from the dream-esque world where heaven accused him of things he knew in his heart he accused himself of. However, his will had grown so much now that they didn't cause him any problems.
Alex felt his cultivation base grow significantly stronger than it was when he fell into the trance. Even when he was in the dream, his body had continued to cultivate and condensed the Qi further.
Alex continued that cultivation and made the Qi even denser. He was close now, just a little more.
He continued the cultivation, sending Qi through his meridians, helping them get used to the much condensed Qi.
It slowly reached a point where he was a hair's breadth away from entering the Saint realm. But, that hair's breadth of difference stopped him from entering it.
To cross that difference, he had to overcome the obstacle put forth in his path by the heavens itself.
He had overcome the mental obstacle of the breakthrough, gaining victory over his Inner Demon.
Now, he needed to gain victory over the physical obstacle.
Alex heard the roaring sound of thunder, threatening him, for he was the one that brought this tribulation.
Alex slowly stood up from his sitting position as he got ready for the final phase of his breakthrough.
He heard the sky roar louder at him, and he knew this was it. The lightning was going to come down any second now.
So, he slowly reached for his mask and took it off, and he used his newly forged eyes to stare back at the heavens.
He was ready to fight it.
