William Hexwill sat in a meditative posture beside the spirit spring, his consciousness busy within his divine aperture, siphoning the liquid natural spiritual energy from the spring into it.
However, after hours and hours nonstop, his divine aperture became saturated. Saturated in a way that it could not expand for even another inch, nor take in new natural spiritual energy. Even the existing natural spiritual energy had already been transformed into soul energy, spirituality, and raw body energy.
He sized up his divine aperture. Now over 70 m², it made him inadvertently realize that he was on the 7th level of the Awakened Realm. It was strange to him. In the first few minor breakthroughs, the increase in volume of his divine aperture had been very irregular. In the first few, it had even increased by more than 15 m² each time. Over time, however, he even noticed that he could achieve a breakthrough just by refining natural spiritual energy into the three energies of soul, spirit, and raw body energy.
"It seems the average expansion of the divine aperture is 100 m² before reaching the Awakened Master Realm, he mused. I also realize that although the refined energy takes the form of three different energies, the ratios are quite different. And that I can only use spirituality at the moment. Although spirituality seems abundant, doesn't that mean I can only use at least a third of the energy refined in the divine aperture?
Wait, how did I even break through? I don't even have any skill to circulate and refine spiritual energy!"
But what had he been doing all this time? He himself didn't know; he had been doing it subconsciously.
He tried again, this time eager to notice how he had refined natural spiritual energy into the three energies. The answer? Deficit and energy differentiation.
"It seems I unlocked a skill without even knowing. Hehehehe! A blessing in disguise indeed. All that torture was not for nothing."
He recalled his will from the divine aperture. Stretching left and right, his naked body shifting against the cool stone floor, he sighed with expiration.
"It seems my understanding of differentiation and energy concentration has reached its limit. I should explore this world a bit, maybe even gain enlightenment from traveling."
He crept out of the cave, ready to face whatever came his way with youthful vigor. In his mind, who else could have already reached the 7th level with just two days since the first culling?
"I bet most are still confused with what is happening!"
How wrong he was. All who made it to the second culling were elites of will and ambition. How could they still be disoriented after all that time? Just wishful thinking on his part. And as fate would have it…
Boom!
A rain of flesh and blood descended from the mountaintop. William froze in his spot, his eyes instinctively reaching out toward the cause of the anomaly.
It seemed his cliff was just at the base of the mountain compared to what he now saw. Its peak broke through the clouds, the concentration of energy wildly reckoning and flaring like a fuming volcano. Distant roars and furious, effortless screams wound their way into his ears.
Without any notice, he decisively turned toward the opposite direction and simply ran. He wanted nothing to do with whatever was happening at the mountain peak. His confidence took a massive hit as he saw tens of awakened beasts, all in a frenzy, heading toward the distant peak.
"No thank you!"
***
"That should be the last of them. Come, help me arrange these cores into a sacrificial formation. I'll need to use my expression energy, so you should take a good look. Maybe you will gain enlightenment."
Titus beckoned to Norlan, who was cleaving a mantis behemoth with his bare hands. The creature's segmented limbs lay scattered around him like broken timber, its chitinous shell cracked and oozing viscous green ichor.
Norlan wiped the blood from his hands, a green core gleaming in his palm as he made his way toward Titus. As he walked, he circulated spirituality around his clothes, working wonders as the blood stains and patches washed themselves free like a washing machine. The crimson streaks slid off with minimal ease, prompting Norlan to take his haori long coat from a boulder to put on. The fabric settled across his shoulders, crisp and unblemished once more.
He walked with purpose, his gaze curious about the formation of beast blood and cores scattered all around. The ground was a mosaic of gore and scattered crystal—a battlefield rendered into raw materials.
Titus drew on the ground: a circle within a circle, triangles within triangles. At the edges of this enormous composition, at least ten beast cores were embedded at what seemed to be the formation eyes. The lines glowed faintly as he worked, each stroke deliberate, charged with intent.
"This formation is one from the Balance Dominion, one of the celestial gods' dominions. Although the Balance Celestial God holds dominion over this sovereign law, the goddess Aurelia can also mimic its functions using her own dominion of blood—turning it into a formation, a formation from one of the high arts of equivalent exchange."
Norlan looked at the old man with vindictiveness, his face clearly showing his ignorance in matters of sovereign laws and mysteries of dominion. Though he had once boasted that he knew more than Titus, that had only constituted universal secrets Aurelia had told him for context of his mission.
"Ahhh, it's nothing to fret about, my lord. You will understand over time. All you have to know is that this formation will use all these blood patterns to allow equivalent exchange by exchanging these beast cores for information." Titus consoled.
"Why just information? Does that mean you can only exchange for information?" Norlan couldn't help but voice out. If that was all, the whole mimicking of another god's dominion didn't seem that impressive.
But thinking about it for another breath, it was very impressive. If one could use beast cores for any kind of information, didn't that mean there was no need for espionage? If one wanted to know his enemies' movements, wouldn't one just pay an equivalent price for that? And if one could pay with external materials, wouldn't it render spies useless?
"Whatever you're thinking about, it's best you stop. The Celestial Tower of Providence has no loopholes. Its runes and rules are clear and all-encompassing.
"Take this formation for instance. Do you think these patterns are just for show? Hell no! Look here, these circles all represent geography. As in, I intend to exchange geographical information in exchange for all these beast cores. Where do you think these beast cores go? Who do you think handles the exchange?" Titus asked, testing Norlan's way of thinking. His intention was clear as day. He was merely pointing in the right direction while waiting for Norlan to make his own inference.
"The Celestial Tower of Providence!" Norlan whispered.
"Yes. Apart from the Balance Celestial God, none can wield equivalent exchange without a primer, a middleman—which, in our case, is the Celestial Tower of Providence.
"Let's say, for example, that the information I wanted involves a person. Do you really think the formation patterns would be the same? No, no, no. It's never that simple. Every request has its own formation. And each is very hard to master. It's no wonder formations are part of the hundred arts of cultivation. They require both time and finesse." Titus seemed to talk to himself at the last point, his gaze lingering on the intricate web of lines as if seeing centuries of study etched into their curves.
"Anyway, move about a hundred meters from here. I am about to use a minor high art. I have limited knowledge on formations, so you might want to take a few steps back."
Norlan hurriedly jolted back. He understood what a minor high art was. He knew Titus was prepared to use his expression energy to activate the formation—an energy that balanced the three energies of being: the soul, spirit, and raw body energy.
Norlan activated his energy contradiction skill to its maximum. Normally a passive skill, but when he willed it, his perception skyrocketed to its peak. That is why he concentrated to activate this maximum.
He gazed straight into Titus's aura, his expression energy leaking toward the formation. The air around the old man shimmered, warping light like heat rising off scorched earth.
Magnificent! Norlan thought, his enhanced perception drinking in every nuance.
"His expression clearly leans on the raw body energy, but it's still balanced. The concentration of the three energies and ratios is balanced. Still, the raw body energy is superior while the spirit and soul energy take equal measure to amplify and constrain the raw body energy simultaneously."
Beautifully structured, rationed to perfection. These energy ratios, no matter how irregular, still manage to keep the expression energy whole as one energy structure. The laws are in perfect symphony.
"So this is an expression. No wonder, no wonder I can't even compare with all my advantages. No wonder."
A dark crimson aura elevated Titus above the formation. His expression energy enveloped the beast cores to fuel the formation as a whole. The visual was striking and domineering, like an immortal god activating his ultimate art. The cores hummed, vibrating in their sockets as light bled from them, feeding the hungry lines carved into the earth.
Titus increased the flow rate of his expression energy; the formation eyes and cores were all covered with it. The air grew heavy, charged with a pressure that pressed down on Norlan's shoulders like the weight of a coming storm.
Then, with an almost imperceptible whisper, he uttered:
High Art Expression — Equivalent Exchange!