Cultivation is Creation

I took a deep breath, trying to process what I'd just read.

The implications were staggering. An entity from beyond this world had infected the minds of ancient cultivators, driving them to madness until they desperately split their sun in a failed attempt to purge the corruption.

The red and blue suns weren't natural phenomena but the result of this catastrophic ritual, both carrying the same fundamental corruption in different forms.

"The boundaries of the world are being breached," I whispered, recalling what Kal had said during his battle with the Skybound elders. "What if the 'entity' Elder Vareyn mentioned is the same thing breaching the world's boundaries now? What if it's returning, just as she feared?"

Whatever this being was, it must be beyond anything I had ever encountered or even heard of. If it could manipulate and corrupt an entire world's cultivation system, if rank 8 or even rank 9 cultivators were merely pawns in its game, then its power was truly unfathomable.

"It seems you're not the only world walker, Master.”

I nodded slowly. "Not just a world walker. This entity... it seems capable of physically traveling between worlds, not just soul traversal like I'm doing. The scale of power required for that..." I trailed off, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Let's not worry about that for now. We need to focus on what's actionable."

Turning back to the journal, I continued reading. Elder Vareyn had included sections describing Skybound cultivation, the runic system I was already familiar with from my time at the Red Sun Academy. While her observations were insightful, they contained nothing I hadn't already learned firsthand.

Unfortunately, without understanding the Blue Sun cultivation method, much of her work remained incomprehensible to me. Equations, diagrams, and technical terms specific to Lightweaver practices filled several pages.

"Is there anything about Blue Sun cultivation methods?" I asked, flipping through the journal. "I need to understand their system before I can make sense of her dual cultivation experiments."

"Several pages ahead," Azure directed. "She begins with a comparative analysis of the two systems."

Following his guidance, I found the section he mentioned. Elder Vareyn had meticulously documented the fundamental differences between Red Sun and Blue Sun cultivation.

Unlike Skybound cultivation, which relies on runes to channel and shape the Red Sun's volatile energy, Lightweaver techniques focus on spiritual refinement and the manifestation of concepts through the Blue Sun's purer essence.

Where Skybound practitioners carve runes into physical surfaces, their bodies, weapons, or surroundings, Lightweavers draw using spiritual energy directly, breathing life into their constructs. The difference is fundamental: Skybound techniques fundamentally transform what already exists, while Lightweaver methods create what was not there before.

The passage continued, describing various Blue Sun cultivation methods in detail:

The primary methods include:

1. Painting (Brushwork Manifestation): Practitioners create images, landscapes, creatures, objects, that they then breathe life into using blue sun energy. The quality of the visualization and the artist's connection to the subject determine the power and duration of the manifestation. This is considered the most versatile and creative approach, though it requires exceptional mental clarity.

My mind immediately went to Kal, who I remembered using paintings in battle. Now I understood the basis of his techniques.

2. Song (Vibrational Resonance): Some Lightweavers channel their energy through vocal or instrumental music, creating effects that ripple outward through the environment. These techniques excel at area control and subtle manipulation of emotions and perceptions.

3. Sculpture (Material Harmonization): Practitioners shape the blue sun’s energy through their hands. The resulting sculptures can be animated, serving as guardians or extensions of the cultivator's will. These techniques last longer than other methods.

4. Calligraphy (Word Binding): Similar to painting but using written language as the medium. Practitioners inscribe words of power that manifest the concepts they represent. Highly precise but limited to effects that can be adequately described in written form.

"How convenient that Lady Vareyn included such a thorough primer on Lightweaver techniques," I murmured.

"She was writing for herself," Azure responded. "As someone with dual cultivation, she needed clear references to both systems to track her experiments properly."

I nodded, setting the journal down for a moment.

The path forward was clear, I would need to pick one of the methods she mentioned, and only after sufficient mastery in both Skybound and Lightweaver methods could I hope to attempt merging them, as Elder Vareyn had done.

"Ambitious," Azure commented, sensing my thoughts.

"Necessary," I corrected. "If what Elder Vareyn discovered is true, neither path alone leads to true power, only to different flavors of madness. Had it not been for the Genesis Seed, I would have lost my sanity long ago.”

“You’re right,” Azure agreed. “But remember, even the gold sun leads to madness.”

The curse.

I stared at my hands in the dim light of the pavilion, considering my position.

I had come to this world with a singular purpose—to grow stronger, to expand my cultivation techniques, to bring back knowledge that would elevate me in the main world.

While I didn't see myself as a villain, I had never particularly thought of myself as a hero either.

Yet...

Elder Molric's eccentric face appeared in my mind, his genuine excitement when teaching me, how devastated he seemed when I was killed. I thought of Yggy, my friend, while it did return with me to the Cultivation World, the Two Sun’s world was its home. And now Lady Laelyn, with her surprising integrity despite being raised in a system built on lies.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Could I really turn my back on an entire realm being harvested by some interdimensional parasite?

I had saved Starhaven in my previous adventure, though that had been partially self-interest. This... this would be different. This would be choosing to fight an entity powerful enough to corrupt an entire world's cultivation system, a being that treated Rank 9 cultivators as mere crops to be harvested.

I wasn't a hero. But I wasn't a monster either.

If I could gain enough power through mastering both cultivation methods perhaps, I could at least disrupt whatever this entity had planned. Not out of some grand heroic impulse, but because... because I wanted to save those I cared about.

"When did I become so sentimental?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head.

The realist in me knew this was likely beyond my capabilities.

What chance did I have against an entity that had manipulated an entire world for thousands of years?

I closed my eyes, centering myself.

First things first. Learn the blue sun methods. Master them as I had the red. Then explore the integration. Only then could I even consider confronting whatever lurked beyond the boundaries of this world.

One step at a time. That was how I had survived this long. That was how I would continue.

"I've completed memorization of the journal's contents," Azure announced, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Every page, diagram, and notation has been preserved."

I closed the journal, weighing it in my hand. "Then we need to destroy this. Immediately."

"Agreed," Azure said. "Its physical presence is a liability we can no longer afford."

I considered my options.

Destroying the journal needed to be done cleanly and completely, leaving no evidence behind.

Using blue sun energy would be ideal, since we were in the heart of Lightweaver territory, but I had no idea how to channel that energy for destructive purposes yet, my understanding was purely theoretical at this point.

Red sun energy was out of the question. Even with the pavilion's privacy formations, unleashing Skybound techniques here would be like lighting a beacon for every Lightweaver in the Academy. It would be an announcement of my true nature, signed in crimson fire.

That left only one option: my original cultivation method. Qi wasn't tied to either sun, making it virtually undetectable to those looking specifically for red or blue energy signatures.

"Basic qi combustion," I murmured. "Subtle, controlled, and complete."

I sat cross-legged on the meditation platform, holding the journal in both hands.

Closing my eyes, I circulated my qi through my body, condensing it in my palms until they grew warm. My palms began to glow with a faint amber light as the qi concentrated there.

Not quite fire, I wasn't a fire element practitioner, but heat, pure and intense. I pressed my hands firmly against the journal's cover, focusing the energy inward.

At first, nothing happened.

The leather binding was resistant, likely enhanced with protective formations designed to preserve the book from ordinary damage. I increased the qi flow, pushing against these protections, feeling them bend but not break under the pressure.

"The formations are designed to resist magical assaults," Azure observed. "But they're keyed specifically to red and blue energies. Your qi is... outside their parameters."

I nodded, adjusting my approach. Rather than a frontal assault on the journal's protections, I began to work around them, seeking the gaps in their coverage. All formations had weaknesses, points where energy could slip through their defenses.

There, a slight give in the binding near the spine. I focused my qi there, threading it through like a needle through fabric. The leather began to smoke faintly, a tiny curl of gray rising from where my fingertip pressed against it.

Once I had this opening, I worked methodically, channeling heat through the breach and into the journal's pages. The paper inside began to blacken and curl, the process accelerating as more of the protective formations failed. Soon, the entire journal was smoldering between my palms, the parchment turning to ash.

I was careful to contain the process, ensuring no smoke escaped to trigger any alarm systems. The incineration was complete but controlled, reducing Lady Vareyn's years of research to nothing but fine gray powder cupped in my hands.

Now came the part that would seem excessive to most, but in a world of magical practitioners who could potentially reconstruct information from ashes, excessive was prudent.

I brought the ash to my lips and began to consume it, handful by handful. The taste was bitter and acrid, making me grimace with each swallow, but I persisted until every speck was gone. Only then did I allow myself to breathe normally again.

"An unusual precaution," Azure commented, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I don't know what techniques the Lightweavers possess," I explained, washing the ashen taste from my mouth with water from the pitcher beside my bed. "Perhaps they have methods to reconstruct documents from remnants. Better to be paranoid than exposed."

"A wise philosophy in your position," Azure agreed. "Though I imagine consuming forbidden knowledge has never been quite so literal before."

I smiled despite myself. "Knowledge should be internalized, as the scholars say."

"I doubt this is what they mean," Azure replied dryly.

I was about to respond when a sharp knock at the door interrupted our conversation. I quickly wiped my hands and mouth, ensuring no traces of ash remained before calling out, "Enter."

The door slid open to reveal a young acolyte in pale blue robes, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old. He bowed formally. "Honorable Candidate Tomas, your master requests your presence for your first lesson. I am to escort you immediately."

I blinked in confusion. "My... master?"