The wind cut like blades against Kyrian's face, but for him, who was used to the frequent winds of the sect, it was nothing.

Three whole days had passed since Kyrian had left the Green Sword Sect.

Traveling on the eagle, which seemed not to know fatigue, he had needed only a few stops for it to rest during that time.

The sky changed color with each sunset and was reborn the next morning, but the burning sensation inside the palm of his right hand remained.

No, more than that, the burning grew. With each day, each hour, each moment.

The small mark pulsed stronger, pointing the direction he should follow.

At first, it was only an annoyance. A light warmth on the skin. On the second day, the small mark felt like a constant flame. On the third, the burning had not worsened much, but it was still an irritation that made Kyrian furrow his brows.

He wondered if he should finally cut off that connection. Somehow, he felt that if he wanted, he could, relying on his eyes. But curiosity made him unwilling to do so for now.

The mark wanted to show him something.

The eagle roared at intervals, its wings ripping through the wind, and Kyrian remained motionless on its back. His eyes always fixed on the horizon.

He slept little, only a few hours at a time, and stopped to eat while the eagle rested.

On the morning of the fourth day, when the sun had not yet fully broken the line of the horizon, something changed.

Kyrian felt his eyes vibrate faintly. And then, as though an invisible prison had shattered inside him, the limit disappeared.

The limit that kept him from continuing cultivation, that forced him to wait patiently, vanished far faster than he could have imagined.

His eyes opened, the green eyes with irises shaped like swords reflecting the rising sun.

"Finally." He murmured, and a rare smile curved on his lips.

Without hesitation, he leaned forward and gave the eagle a command.

"Descend!"

The beast obeyed, diving like an arrow until it found an isolated clearing in the midst of the dense forest. The impact of its wings sent leaves scattering, and Kyrian leapt down to the moss-covered ground.

He looked around, perceiving the area to be clear. The eagle positioned itself at the edge of the clearing, watchful, its wild gaze scanning the surroundings to keep any other beasts from approaching.

Kyrian walked to the center and raised his palm.

Suddenly, an immense pile of spirit stones appeared, crashing heavily onto the ground. Their glow faintly illuminated the surrounding vegetation.

He took a deep breath, feeling his heart beat a little faster.

It was time.

At last, he would enter another realm.

Kyrian closed his eyes for a moment.

Recalling what he had read in cultivation techniques, both Wei Feng's and those of the Green Sword Sect itself, once shown by Feng Yuan. Also, the knowledge he had gathered until now.

The moment one reached the Realm of Qi Liberation, the body and dantian underwent an inevitable transformation.

Two paths emerged.

If the natural affinity with some element was immense, no matter the cultivation technique, the Qi would transform into elemental Qi of that affinity. Be it water, fire, wind, thunder, blood… among countless others impossible to name them all. Some unknown to anyone.

It was like the essence of the world engraved in the cultivator's body.

But if the affinity was weak, the Qi would mold according to the cultivation technique practiced, taking the form determined by the path of the technique.

Like the blood path of Wei Feng's technique or the sword path of the various cultivation techniques of the Green Sword Sect.

And there were still the unfortunate ones. Those without talent, who, even with high-level techniques, could not transform their Qi into anything beyond common energy upon breaking through.

People destined to remain trapped forever and die in the Realm of Qi Liberation.

Kyrian, however, had no technique at all. His eyes were his only means of cultivation.

He did not know what would happen. There was no book, manual, or master capable of giving him the answer.

A trace of rare anxiety ran through his chest.

"Let's see… I'll only know by trying." Kyrian murmured calmly.

He lifted the first spirit stone and pressed it against his left eye.

In an instant, it crumbled to dust, its glow sucked directly inside. The Qi entered the infinite channels within his eyes, purifying and expanding his dantians. Like drops of water falling into a lake.

He grabbed another.

Then another, and another.

Stones turned to dust quickly, one after the other. The Qi flooded his eyes, flowing like rivers. The space in his dantians expanded and spread, forcing the limits.

Hours passed.

The stones diminished, but his will did not yield.

Until suddenly, the limit was reached. His body seemed to tremble. A silent implosion shook his eyes briefly.

Kyrian drew a deep breath, and then it happened.

His eyes snapped open, and something unexpected erupted.

Something like a hurricane burst from his sockets. The force sucked the air from the entire clearing, bent the trees, and made the ground at his feet quiver lightly.

The remaining spirit stones, hundreds of them, were sucked at once, reduced to dust in the next instant, and devoured by the darkness in his eyes.

The Qi in the surroundings was ripped away forcefully, as though the Qi of an entire vast distance was unable to resist that call.

The air before his eyes vibrated. The eagle, sensing it, retreated a few steps, emitting a warning sound, but did not dare approach further.

A slight pain came next, his eyes burning as though changing from the inside out. Veins seemed to appear in the whites of his pupils, but Kyrian did not close his eyes. He did not blink. He only endured.

A silent roar echoed in his mind as the two dantians, one in each eye, twisted under the pressure.

Then… suddenly, everything changed.

The stored Qi, compressed to the limit, transformed.

It was not fire. It was not water. It was not wind. It was a sharp Qi. A Qi that cut by existing, that wounded by being present.

His dantians expanded again, taken by that new energy. Each particle was like an invisible blade, ready to cut whatever it touched.

In that moment, sudden comprehension was born in his mind. It was not something learned but something revealed. As if it had always been there, in his eyes. But locked behind a barrier that was now shattered.

Kyrian smiled. Not an ordinary smile. But a glint showed in his teeth. Something truly rare. His eyes now reflected the slightly devastated clearing.

All he thought about now was that he wanted to fight.

He wanted to test. He wanted to see what his eyes were now capable of.

But then he sighed, controlling his impulse. It was not the time.

The sensation of becoming stronger was present in every fiber of his eyes. Though it was not as described, that the whole body would change, Kyrian was satisfied.

Because, unlike other cultivators, who upon entering the Realm of Qi Liberation merely gained the ability to manipulate Qi outside the body with techniques and weapons, Kyrian had always been able to do that.

The change in his eyes was something beyond. Something he had not known to exist until today.

He mounted the eagle again, which lowered its head in recognition and obedience.

With a leap, the beast took flight, slicing through the skies once more.

Kyrian narrowed his eyes, feeling the mark in his hand burn even more fiercely. The calling seemed to have intensified.

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