Shards of the Broken Heart

For the next six months, I isolated myself and cultivated assiduously. I had already broken through into the 4th stage of River Consolidation.

As the Turquoise Realm was going to be opened, there were no more exams after the last yearly ranking examination. So, I prepared myself for the realm exploration. There were many objectives which I had to accomplish in the Turquoise Realm.

First, I had to find and collect many herbs, especially the Tetraspine plants, preferably many. It would be good that the Luna sisters get their share, but if not, they would have to look for other treatment for their grandfather. I hoped it didn’t come to us fighting for that.

Second, I would want to fight against the high-level Ferocious Beasts or low-level Blood Beasts. They would have the same cultivation level as me or higher. It would make for good practice. The beasts in the wilderness are innately stronger than humans, with a higher cultivation since birth. They are divided into three categories.

Ferocious Beasts: Cultivation from 1st to 5th stage of River Consolidation

Blood Beasts: Cultivation from 6th to 10th stage of River Consolidation. They can activate their bloodline power.

Spirit Beasts: Cultivation of Star Formation, the realm higher than River Consolidation. They gain intelligence and can speak in human language.

The third objective was to eliminate Callum Regin. Although he had not taken any action against me or Alice for the past six months, I was pretty sure that this ‘leech’ would not leave us alone. I even felt his venomous glare when I brought Alice on the platform for the ‘proposal’.

After this exploration of this realm, there would be no more need for us to stay in the sect. Mother had given us some transportation talismans that could bring us back to the valley by crushing them. So, even if the Regins wanted to find fault with us, we would have already vanished.’

After doing a final check, I left the courtyard in which I lived for the past year. I walked towards the sect’s main assembly hall. To explore Turquoise Realm, the top ten disciples of each stage in Body Tempering and the top five disciples of each stage in River Consolidation were chosen.

The Turquoise Realm had an entry restricted only to the cultivation with the 5th stage of River Consolidation and below. There were a total of 65 disciples ranging from 7th stage Body Tempering to 5th stage River Consolidation.

Alice had also broken through into the 5th stage of River Consolidation. But her surface cultivation was 2nd stage of River Consolidation. The Luna sisters were also part of the exploration team with their cultivation at 1st stage of River Consolidation.

Five sect elders guided us to a grotto located in the inner sanctum of the sect. Most of the disciples were prohibited from entering this grotto. Only the core disciples of the grand elders and sect head were allowed to cultivate here.

This grotto had an abundance of both mortal energy and stellar energy. There may have been an origin vein that resulted in this phenomenon.

(Mother had explained that the places where cosmic entities such as meteorites have struck the planets later turn into origin-veins. They nourish the surroundings with stellar energy. Sometimes, the mortal energy also mixes with the stellar energy. But the bigger and purer the meteorite is, the more they repel the mortal energy. Hence, big organisations and sects always covet the places with origin-veins.)

The elders guided us deep into the grotto, and we came across a large double-door gate at its end. A large formation was inscribed on the floor and the walls surrounding the gate, with the large gate as the centre of the formation.

I could sense that something beyond this gate was the reason for this grotto to become a holy cultivation ground. Also, the doors were vibrating a little as if they wanted to open themselves. The elders took their respective positions on the formation of a pentagram etched on the floor.

They transmitted their energy into the formation. Little by little, the whole formation, including the walls and the doors, lit up. The doors opened slowly, and there was a portal behind them. One of the elders ordered us in a weary and weak voice. The formations might have sucked them dry of their energy.

“You have one month to exit the realm. The gate will remain open till then. So, you should have completed your exploration and exited the realm by then. If not, you will remain in that realm for the next 500 years. For your safety, forming small teams and exploring the realm is advisable. If you want to brave this unknown realm alone, that is your decision. That’s all. Now enter.”

Getting his permission, the disciples set off to enter the Turquoise Realm. After entering the portal, I found myself standing on a sandy beach with a lush green forest in front.

I could see a towering mountain growing up from the forest. Looking back, I found a vast body of turquoise water. And the sun was peaking out from the surface, creating a beautiful painting on the turquoise canvas. And the portal to our way back was at the edge of the beach, botched up this masterpiece. There were small waves on the water’s surface. So, I deduced it was a sea or an ocean.

I looked for Alice and the Luna sisters and found them walking towards me. In the meanwhile, I studied the place where we were. By the looks of it, it looked like we were on an island surrounded by turquoise water from all sides. After coming close, Alice clasped my hands and shook them excitedly with a light giggle.

“Aren’t you excited, Lucas? This is the first time we are at a beach. If not for being in an unknown realm, we could have swum and played in the water.”

Alice’s bubbly personality seemed to influence the Luna sisters, as they were also excited about the prospect of playing in the water. Seline showed her enthusiasm by nodding her head firmly at Alice’s words while the strict and composed Elfie was smiling. Seemingly getting infected by them, I smiled and spoke.

“I also would like to play with you all. But let us first focus on our priorities. After getting our things done, we can check if it is safe to play in the water. And if it is safe, we can play to our heart’s content.”

After saying this, my smile faded, and my tone became graver.

“Elfie and Seline, we know you want the Tetraspine plant for your grandfather. But as Alice has mentioned to you beforehand, so do we. So, we will try to collect as many as these herbs are available. We will also collect the other rare herbs but leave the more common ones to others. We don’t know how large this realm is, so every second is precious. Also, be wary of others. They may try to snatch our collected herbs or attack us for any reason. Especially be careful of Callum.”

Hearing my words, their jovial mood vaporised, and they became very alert.

By that time, most of the disciples had gone their separate ways. Only a few were present there, and the one who caught my eye was obviously Callum Regin. Giving him no extra glances, we entered the forest.