Looking at the picture, he felt no more grief. No more sadness. He only felt a melancholic happiness as he remembered the past when he had interacted with her.
He took a deep breath and knew deep inside that he had done it. He had let go of Hannah completely.
"Who is she?" the deer's voice drifted into his mind.
"My sister— my cousin," he quickly answered.
"Why is the image of your cousin that is smiling so widely, giving such an aura of extreme sadness?" the deer asked.
"Because she is very much likely dead now," he said. "This is my way of dealing with the grief early on."
"Do you not know if she is dead or not?" the Deer asked.
"Not really," Alex said.
"Then why do you grief? When you should be hoping," the Deer said.
"Because it was interfering with my breakthrough," he said. "My hope had ended up becoming my Inner Demon."
"I see," the deer said. "So you can break through now?"
"I am confident," Alex said.
"Good luck!" the Deer said.
Alex smiled widely and looked back at the deer. "Thank you." He picked up the brush and the painting of Hannah and placed it into his storage ring. Even as he did, the teleportation aura had already surrounded him.
He let it grab onto him and then disappeared out of the trial hall.
He arrived outside surrounded by white light once again. This time, he didn't wait for the soldiers to come to him. He left on his own.
Even as he walked away, he could hear the crowd that had seemingly lost all sense of understanding of what was happening.
Once was a miracle.
Twice was unthinkable.
But what was thrice? How were they to feel when someone completed three different trials, where passing even one was difficult enough to only have a person or two every few decades?
Even the Gold King was sufficiently shocked to the point that he forgot to go greet Alex altogether. It was only when his subordinates reminded him that he moved. However, by that point Alex had already arrived outside the hotel and entered it.
He tried contacting Alex in the hotel, but the two elders stopped him.
"Our apologies, your Majesty. But our King had commanded us to not let anyone inside," Yao Ning spoke up.
"Even if it's me?" the Gold King asked.
"Even if it's the Azure Dragon himself," Yao Ning answered.
The Gold King was shocked. "His Majesty must be tired then," he said. "I can't imagine what it would require out of someone to complete 3 different trials that are otherwise known as being impossible for most people. He must be completely drained."
The two elders nodded.
"Do you know when I should return?" the Gold King asked.
"I'm sure Your Majesty can make the judgment when he sees the signs," the two elders said. They left, leaving the Gold King out there alone.
"Signs?" he thought to himself. "What signs?" He had wanted to ask that, but the two elders had left before he could.
He returned back to where he was staying and told his subordinates what he was told. "Signs? What signs?" one of the men from the Head Legion who was his subordinate asked.
"I don't know," the Gold King said. "But that is what they said. Surely the King of the Southern Continent isn't trying to not see me by making these excuses, right?"
His subordinates said nothing. The Gold King felt a bit down. He was a new king, he knew that, but he was trying his best. What more could he do? He hoped his status as a new king wasn't what was driving away Alex.
"Ughh… I shouldn't have acted so close. That was probably why he wanted to not see me," he thought and couldn't help but swallow a sigh that was forming in him. "Were they truthful about the sign?"
"The subordinates said nothing.
"Make the judgment when you see the sign," the Gold King repeated to himself what the elders had told him. "What could they have meant by that? Are they going to throw up some colors in the sky or—"
A strange sensation passed through the King, stopping his thought at once. His eyes narrowed a bit and he turned his head to look in a certain direction. His subordinates did the same.
"Is that…"
"Someone is breaking through."
The King looked in surprise. "I have never sensed such a strong sensation when a Saint breaks through," he said. "Not even when my master broke through to the Saint Transformation realm did he produce such a strong result," he said.
"Well, from what I understand, the sensation is strong between each major realm as well as how strong one's knowledge of Dao is," one of the men said.
"And that direction… isn't that where the Southern Continent's monarch resides?" another one asked.
"Is it? Oh, it is," the Gold King realized. "Ah! Was this the sign they were talking about?" he thought. 'That must have been why? He was hurrying to break through. He wasn't running away from me.' That gave him a bit of a relief.
"I see," he spoke to himself. "It seems the King of the Southern Continent is breaking through to the Saint Soul realm.
* * * * *
Alex was surprised when he opened his eyes again and found out that nothing had gone wrong. But then again, maybe he shouldn't have been surprised. Everything he did before was in preparation for this after all.
With so much preparation, the Inner Demon had nothing to use on him anymore. That obstacle had been quite easy to pass this time around.
Alex felt glad, but everything wasn't over yet. He had only passed the Inner Demon's assault. The real breakthrough had yet to happen.
The most important one in a long time as well.
At the start of the Saint Core realm, everything inside Alex's Dantian, aside from the two Yang and Yin sources, hand turned into a golden sphere known as his Golden Core.
Throughout the Saint Core realm, the Golden Core had improved and enlarged in size, growing stronger and bigger with time, giving him more and more cultivation. However, that wasn't all it had done.
At the same time, it had also made a connection with his Spiritual sea, slowly forming a Spirit that would then house it. Now, the spirit had fully formed.
And it was time for the spirit to come out like a bird breaking through its egg to come out to the outer world.
As Alex continued, the Golden Core slowly melted inside the Dantian, dripping gold as it did. With each drip, Alex could feel his cultivation base improving, growing bigger and stronger.
He could feel the Saint Soul realm that he was stepping on.
The more it dripped, the more the spirit managed to show itself. After half of it was melted and turned into Qi once more, the spirit could finally be seen.
Alex saw the spirit inside of his Dantian, and then saw his body through the spirit's eyes. They were both the same. He couldn't help but smile at the sight and feel somewhat proud.
He now had his own Nascent Soul.
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