Thud.

  After analyzing his surroundings for a few short seconds, Mikael took his usual meditative position as thoughts flashed through his mind at lightning speed,

  ‘Now that I am in the Realm of Broken Skies, I have been teleported to a random location like it does to everybody that enters it, and as long as I or any other cultivators remain in this Secret Realm, our talismans just won’t work, and normally…’

  A glint of worry passed through his gaze, ‘This fact would make me worry for the girls, as without these talismans they wouldn’t have their “safety net” in case something goes wrong!’ he thought to himself, the worry in his heart unmistakable before he shook himself out of it.

  ‘Fortunately, with the “divination” I performed, they should… NO, will be safe!’ he thought as he tried to reassure himself with facts and logic, yet he didn’t fully succeed, for the heart was ignorant of the mind after all…

  Still, he knew that it was ‘useless’ to worry for them and that it would change nothing, and that he needed to focus himself on what he could do.

  So, after a moment to refocus himself, he continued with his train of thought, ‘Actually, the talismans being “off,” so to say, is actually good news to me, because while the realm is immense, the odds of stumbling upon another cultivator, while not high, aren’t non-existent.

  ‘So, if a conflict or something of the sort erupts between them and I, I wouldn’t be “disadvantaged” like usual, because with the talismans’ existence, somebody weaker than me could use the talismans’ borrowed power to escape, defend, overwhelm, or even kill me, and the only condition…’

  ‘The condition for that would be that their daddy or mommy are rich and strong and gave them a batch of talismans, and that alone can transform an instant kill into a hard fight!’

  ‘Up till now, I was “lucky,” as each time they were either too poor to have one or didn’t have a defensive talisman and were instantly killed before being able to use the other talismans—like that Young Master of the Flame Sovereign Sect… Qin Lei, was his name? I think?’

  ‘Anyway, the point is that with them “desactivated,” I can confidently say that I am one of the strongest or The strongest of our batch of cultivators!’ these thoughts passed through his mind like lightning before he began to use the Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate.

  Earlier, he had used it to divine the girls’ fate and ensure their safety, and because of that, he had suffered some backlash—one that still wasn’t fully healed even now. Earlier, he had merely acted as though he was at his 100%, when that wasn’t truly the case.

  Of course, it wasn’t that bad either, as while he had suffered backlash, now, a week later, he was once again in a relatively good condition and could use it once more, this time with the goal of divining his own fortune.

  After all, with the Realm of Broken Skies’ titanesque size, blindly searching for an opportunity would only be a matter of luck, but if he used the Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate…

  The difference was self-evident, and with it, he could be ‘sure’ to find what he searched for!

  On that note, he used the Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate, but not in the ‘normal way,’ as he pushed it to the highest limit he could endure without suffering too much backlash, something especially important considering that he was in a Secret Realm.

  That realm, while seemingly empty, still carried danger in the form of residual power left behind by Soul Phase cultivators—their inheritances, or similar trials he would need to overcome if he wanted to obtain the Soul Cultivation Method he sought—and that wasn’t even counting the presence of other cultivators or the many unpredictable things that could occur.

  Considering all of these factors, being injured and weakened would have been excessively stupid and dangerous, which was why he pushed his limit only to the point he could bear without suffering a large backlash, reaching the peak of the 2nd layer.

  A faint frown appeared on his visage as he turned to look toward the south.

  ‘Not enough, huh?’

  That was the thought that passed through his mind a few seconds later as he sensed the presence of a Soul Cultivation Method somewhere to the south, but it was still too vague to be of real use.

  Understanding that he needed the Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate to be stronger yet not wanting to injure himself, he performed a little trick to amplify the Cultivation Technique ‘without’ cost.

  That trick consisted of temporarily ‘forfeiting’ the calamity-sensing function of the Cultivation Art; by doing so, that part was momentarily turned off, but in counterbalance, the fortune-sensing ability was greatly amplified—without him having to endure a more powerful backlash!

  Rustle.

  Mikael’s head moved slightly; if previously he had only been facing the south, now he was facing something in the south. It was still vague, but at least he had a target he could follow—and that, that was enough!

  He remained in a meditative position atop a red hill in the middle of the devastated landscape for a few seconds longer, making absolutely sure of what he had sensed before stopping his Cultivation Technique.

  “Cough, cough!”

  The handsome man violently coughed into his hand, staining it with blood, a clear sign that the Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate’s use wasn’t as effortless as it appeared, yet Mikael maintained a calm and indifferent expression all along, even as he seemed about to cough out his lungs.

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  From his composure, it was obvious that this violent fit of coughing and the agony that coursed through his body weren’t important and weren’t worth paying attention to, as if his mind simply refused to register the pain as something that mattered.

  After all, while this situation looked severe, it really wasn’t, as this was only a ‘superficial’ backlash that wouldn’t affect his combat ability, so he ignored the pain without hesitation.

  He gave the surrounding devastated landscape one last careful once-over to make sure he hadn’t missed anything and—

  There was nothing; it was still as desolate and empty as before, so on that note Mikael lifted off from the ground and swiftly ascended higher into the sky.

  Fwoom.

  ‘Oh? Gravity is increasing?’ As he left the ground and continued to fly upward, he quickly felt each of his movements grow heavier, the act of simply floating becoming far more difficult than usual.

  And the source of this was an invisible and seemingly all-encompassing pressure that acted almost like gravity and was pressing down on him.

  Just after the gravity word passed through his mind, he shook his head, ‘No, this isn’t gravity but… what is this?’

  His supernatural senses quickly caught up, as what made flying hard wasn’t gravity, but something that had a similar effect, yet no matter how much—a couple of seconds—time he spent thinking about it, he wasn’t able to find what it was…

  ‘Whatever,’ he quickly discarded the thought out of his mind, as now wasn’t the time to get lost in something interesting and begin to research it, as the opportunity he was sensing wasn’t that!

  Especially… considering that his time was limited!

  Fwwwwooooompp!!

  Without wasting any further precious seconds, he burst out with the highest long-distance speed he could sustain as he began making his way southward, flying a dozen meters above the ground.

  In this way, the ‘gravity’-like effects weren’t too strong, allowing him to benefit from the speed advantage that flight provided compared to running, while still avoiding the terrain’s obstacles and saving time by not having to make detours.

  As he continued his flight southward, his eyesight and a faint extension of his Divine Sense caught sight of several opportunities—things such as special minerals and rare Spiritual Plants that managed to grow even amidst the dreadful conditions of the war-torn battlefield.

  He even caught sight of what he thought to be some kind of inheritance or remnants of powerful—he didn’t give them much attention, but he sensed them to be at the Core Perfection Realm—cultivators!

  But he even ignored these and continued on his path, and this was linked to how his time was limited. It wasn’t in the sense that he was in danger, as he sensed nothing like that from his use of Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate.

  No, his time was limited in the sense that he knew—he didn’t know how or why—but he knew that if he stopped to grab or obtain any of these opportunities, he would irreversibly lose the one he was currently flying toward.

  Because of that, he ignored these tempting ‘treasures’ and continued on his path, the desolate landscape continuing to unfurl beneath him as he moved toward his goal.

  This fast flight through the Secret Realm continued for multiple hours without him meeting anyone or encountering anything of interest, which only served to show how incredibly vast it was.

  After all, any random 1st layer Core Formation Realm cultivator could make a round trip from Earth to the Moon in less than 2 hours, so for Mikael—with his far superior speed—coupled with the fact that it had already been more than 2 hours…

  This just made it clear how incredibly, horrifyingly large even this SMALL part of the original Dimension was—and this was normal, after all, for somewhere where a war between Soul Phase cultivators had taken place, because if the space had been too small, it simply wouldn’t have worked considering that even the weakest Soul Phase cultivators were capable of moving at the speed of light!

  On that note, and with nothing except the devastated landscape to accompany him, Mikael continued to fly southward for more than another day before he finally sensed a change.

  ‘Oh?’

  He raised an inquisitive eyebrow as he felt the ‘feeling’ of the location he was heading toward grow stronger and stronger, the intensity increasing with every passing moment—showing that he was now extremely close.

  Shffft!

  Mikael suddenly stopped moments later, as he felt that he had reached his target—like he was right above it, but—

  Mikael looked right, left, and all around him, but there was nothing special, only the same war-torn earth that he had seen everywhere before.

  For a moment, the smallest hint of a frown made its way onto his visage as he wondered if there was a problem with his Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate ‘sense’?

  But he quickly dispelled his doubts and chose to believe this metaphysical sense over his eyes, which could be far more easily deceived, so he closed his eyelids and slowly began to descend.

  Thud.

  His feet touched the ground with a small sound, but Mikael ignored it as all of his attention was on sensing his opportunity.

  Step, step, step.

  Letting himself be guided by what he felt, he took a step, and then another, and another; this didn’t stop until he had taken 7 steps in a straight line. Then he turned 90 degrees to the left and walked 5 steps in this direction before ultimately stopping.

  ‘Here, it’s right here!’

  He was sure and certain, his instincts were screaming that he was directly at his goal, right ON his opportunity, it… just missed a little something…

  Crouch.

  The handsome cultivator crouched before he approached his hand off the ground, but just as he was about to touch the red earth, he sensed something, and instinctively, his hand moved a dozen centimeters to the right.

  Click.

  The sound of a lock being unlocked resounded directly in Mikael’s mind, but before he had the time to analyze what was happening, an invisible pressure fell upon him as space began to warp, preparing to transport him to another location.

  This invisible pressure was clearly far out of Mikael’s league, to a point that he should have been entirely frozen, unable to move even a millimeter, but it was space-based—and Mikael had previously gained some insights into this Dao—so if he went all out, coupled with his new comprehension of the Space Dao, he might have been able to resist it…

  But of course, Mikael didn’t do so, because he was here for an opportunity, and when the opportunity came knocking, he wouldn’t be dumb enough to injure himself just to evade it.

  Ripple–Flash

  Space rippled before Mikael was ‘absorbed’ by it, leaving the desolate landscape in its usual state—empty and barren—the brief ‘life’ that had been brought by Mikael’s presence fading away as the world returned to its original stillness.