Cultivation is Creation Chapter 23 22: The Red Sun

I stared at the crimson sphere floating in my inner world, trying to process exactly what it ant to have a miniature version of a reality-warping alien sun inside . The kind of sun that, you know, typically drove people mad and turned them into crystalline monsters.

"You're sure it's stable?" I asked Azure for probably the fifth ti.

"As stable as a fragnt of reality-altering cosmic power can be," he replied cheerfully. "Though I should note that 'stable' is a relative term when discussing interdinsional phenona."

"That's... not actually reassuring."

The tiny sun pulsed gently, sending ripples of warmth through my inner world. My two-leafed seed seed to watch it curiously, if a taphysical construct of pure cultivation energy could be said to watch anything.

"We should probably test it," I said finally. "Better to find out what it does in controlled conditions rather than having it surprise us at an inconvenient mont."

"Maybe we should establish so safety paraters first? Given its origin, unexpected effects are likely."

I nodded, settling into a more comfortable ditation position. "Monitor everything. If anything looks dangerous—"

"I'll alert you imdiately," Azure promised. "Though defining 'dangerous' might be challenging when dealing with extra-dinsional energy sources."

Right. Because nothing about this situation was simple. I took a deep breath and reached out with my spiritual sense, gently prodding the miniature sun.

The response was imdiate and intense.

Crimson energy surged through my ridians like liquid fire. I watched in fascination as red lines traced themselves across my skin, following the paths of my spiritual channels. They weren't the horror-show tattoos of the Sun-Touched, but rather delicate patterns that pulsed in ti with my heartbeat.

"Fascinating!" Azure's voice held that special tone he reserved for particularly interesting phenona. "Your physical essence is increasing rapidly. Current reading shows... yes, a fifty-point increase in just seconds."

He was right – I could feel the power flooding my muscles, making feel like I could punch through walls.

Status Update:

Soul Essence: 60/450

Spiritual Essence: 350/350 (Stable)

Physical Essence: 400/400 (Enhanced!)

Special Features: Red sun active, ridian lines visible

Notes: Physical enhancent active, duration unknown

Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the effect faded. The red lines disappeared from my skin, and that surge of strength ebbed away like a receding tide.

Status Update:

Soul Essence: 60/450

Spiritual Essence: 350/350 (Unchanged)

Physical Essence: 350/350 (Returned to baseline)

Special Features: Red sun depleted (23% power remaining)

Notes: Enhancent duration approximately 10.4 seconds

"The miniature sun appears depleted," Azure reported.

I examined the crimson sphere. It definitely looked dimr now, more like a dying ember than the vibrant star it had been monts ago.

"So it can grant temporary power boosts," I mused. "But at what cost?"

"Unknown," Azure admitted. "Though the energy signature is remarkably similar to what we encountered in the Two Suns reality. "

"Yeah, that's... going to be a problem. I'm not exactly well-versed in this world's stance on demonic cultivation, but I know enough about cultivation worlds in general to be worried. So places kill demonic cultivators on sight."

"Maybe we should be... selective about when and where we utilize this ability."

I nodded grimly. "Definitely no using it in public unless absolutely necessary. The last thing I need is so righteous cultivator deciding I'm a heretic that needs to be cleansed. I don't fancy explaining that my demonic aura cos from an interdinsional sun fragnt rather than actual demon cultivation. That conversation would go great."

"Interesting," Azure mused, which imdiately made nervous. That tone usually ant he was about to complicate my life. "You know, our little crimson friend here. It's not just a power source – it's structured more like a cultivation core."

"So, it's basically a demonic core?"

"Perhaps more than that, what we just saw was its most basic function. There are multiple dormant stages I can detect, but accessing them..." He trailed off.

I groaned. "Let guess – we need to go back to Two Suns to figure out how to progress with it."

"We do need to study the source to really understand how to advance it."

"Wait, before we go making travel plans – you're monitoring my soul and ntal state, right? Demonic cores aren't exactly known for their gentle touch. Usually it's all 'unlimited power' followed by 'oops, now you're a cackling lunatic who decorates with human bones.'"

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"Your soul structure remains completely stable," Azure replied, a hint of amusent in his voice. "No signs of corruption or ntal degradation. Whatever this core is, it seems to affect only your physical essence at this stage. But I'll continue monitoring for any changes."

"Good. The last thing I need is to start thinking human sacrifices are a reasonable way to boost cultivation speed."

I then stared at the dimd sphere floating in my inner world. If this really was so kind of core, maybe I could sense those dormant stages Azure ntioned. I reached out with my spiritual sense, probing deeper than I had during the first test. This ti, though, sothing different happened.

Instead of that surge of physical power, I felt a familiar pulling sensation – the sa one that preceded my unwanted reality hops. But this was... gentler sohow. More controlled.

I imdiately pulled back, not quite ready to test if I could actually trigger a world-walk voluntarily.

"Azure? Please tell you saw that."

"I did!" His voice practically vibrated with excitent. "The dinsional resonance patterns were nearly identical to those generated by Worldwalker's Sojourn. But the amplitude was much lower, suggesting a more controlled connection. It appears you may now have the ability to return to Two Suns at will."

I sat back, eyes wide. "You're saying I could just... pop over there whenever I want?"

"In theory. Though given what we know about that reality, perhaps 'whenever we want' should be carefully considered."

He had a point. Two Suns wasn't exactly a vacation destination, what with all the murderous raiders, reality-warping celestial bodies, and that terrifying Skybound that had turned my borrowed body into a monster.

Speaking of which...

"Azure, about what happened when we went back..." I frowned, trying to organize my thoughts. "Everything was exactly the sa. Not just similar – exactly the sa. Sa people, sa words, sa events..."

"A ti loop," Azure mused. "Though one could argue for parallel universes—"

"I don't know about that," I interrupted. "Every word, every gesture... it wasn't just similar, it was identical. I'm thinking it's so kind of loop."

"The evidence does suggest a temporal cycle rather than parallel iterations," Azure agreed. "Though the chanics of how such a loop maintains stability—"

"Don't get started," I groaned, rembering all those late-night browsing sessions from Earth. "You should see how people argue about ti loops on YouTube. Half the comnts are quoting Einstein out of context, like throwing around 'ti is relative' sohow explains everything. Then you've got the quantum physics experts who watched one video about the double-slit experint and now think they understand the universe."

My favorites were the endless debates about whether changing the past creates new tilines or if you're just fulfilling what already happened. Three hundred comnts of 'Actually, according to quantum chanics...' followed by the most confident wrong explanations I've ever seen. At least cultivation is honest about not making sense - we just call everything 'profound mysteries' and move on."

"Would you like to compile a proper theoretical frawork for temporal—"

"Let's not go down that rabbit hole right now," I cut him off. "I've got enough to worry about with reaching Third Stage Qi Condensation."

That was the real issue at hand. Breaking through ant I needed to choose a primary cultivation thod – the basic techniques that had carried this far wouldn't be enough anymore. And with this new... complication in my inner world, I needed sothing flexible.

"The sect archives do have an extensive collection," Azure noted. "Though access to the better thods requires either significant contribution points or special recomndations."

I glanced at my ager collection of spirit stones and contribution points. Not exactly impressive. But maybe...

"Wei Lin might be able to help," I said thoughtfully. "He's been in closed-door cultivation these past few days – probably working on his own breakthrough. And he knows more about cultivation thods than anyone else in the outer disciples."

"Assuming he's finished his cultivation session," Azure reminded . "Interrupting a breakthrough attempt would be... unwise."

I winced, rembering the last ti soone had disturbed Wei Lin during cultivation. They'd finally managed to get all the scrolls out of the lotus pond, but so of the koi still had a peculiar glow to them.

"We'll wait until he's done," I decided. "I need his actual advice, not just his sales pitch. With this thing in my inner world..." I glanced at the dimd red sun. "I need a cultivation thod that can handle so unusual situations."

The miniature sun pulsed weakly, as if acknowledging its questionable status. My two-leafed seed continued its serene rotation, maintaining a careful distance from its new neighbor.

"One step at a ti," I muttered. "First, wait for Wei Lin to finish his breakthrough. Then find a cultivation thod that won't explode when mixed with interdinsional solar fragnts. Then... maybe figure out what to do about the ti loop in the Two Suns world."

"A straightforward plan," Azure said. "Though perhaps we should add 'don't get transford into a crystalline horror' to the list?"

"That's less of a plan and more of a general life goal."

But those were problems for later. Right now, I just had to wait for Wei Lin to finish his cultivation session and hope he was in a mood to offer friendly advice rather than just trying to sell premium techniques.

And maybe start thinking about what I was going to do next ti I ended up in that loop. Because there would be a next ti – I was sure of that now. The only question was whether I'd be better prepared when it happened.