Namoru was looking down at Jades unconscious form, she was submerged in a pool of mana infused water. Large Healing Runes were carved in the tiles of the bowl-shaped indent in the floor. Each and every rune was glowing a bright blue and vibrating intensely. He just made it in time to save her life. He thanked his predecessors once again for their forethought of placing the healing chamber as close to the teleportation room as possible.

He heard about some cultivators who are more receptive to the void. This was something else. He cast his self-doubt aside, there was no use to torment over what things he did wrong or should have done. All that mattered is that she was alive and would recover.

Yet he was not sure if she would recover. Looking at Jade now, she looked like a simple touch could shatter her. A massive web of black lines covered her entire body, there was not a single spot on her skin that did not show the pattern. The Void energy had broken her, yet she was alive and her body did not dissolve or break down.

This would be a first. No cultivator had ever truly taken void energy into their body. The energy was a big part of the later cultivation stages, but at that time you would use it to increase the inside of your core. Your Meridians and channels would already be strengthened by five Tiers of cultivation and even then, it was a risky proposition. He knew that from experience as he formed his inner world to advance into tier six. The raw power and destructive nature of void energy was something that caused a seasoned cultivator as himself immense pain.

She would need help, guidance, and comfort. But overall, what she needed was will. The determination of a cultivator to move forward no matter the situation, against all odds. To defy the heavens and to reach for the apex. If any were lacking Jade would never recover from it. She wouldn’t be the first to succumb to pain.

He replaced the mana crystals powering the pool and kept observing her condition. She would prevail. Namoru believed in his disciples resolve, she is not weak.

Everything she saw was black and everything she felt was pain. Jade wanted to scream but could not as she had no body, no lungs, and no voice. She could vaguely hear a comforting voice trying to reach her and drag her away from the pain.

Through the pain and past the voice she could feel something or someone fix their gaze upon her. The gaze felt warm and welcoming but also reluctant and worried. As quick as that feeling appeared as quick did it vanish.

“JADE! JADE, GET UP!”

Jade snapped to and her body righted itself. Her eyes popped open and she took in the white vista of the Mindspace she shared with Duyi. The old mans face was right in front of her, looking worried.

“Thank the heavens, you finally managed to manifest yourself.”

“What? Duyi what’s going on?”

“You almost died. You still are dying.”

Jade looked at her form, she looked whole and healthy. Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Duyi questioningly.

“I seem fine to me.”

Duyi hit her on the head.

“Because you are in our Mindspace. Your mind is still intact and created this form for you. Your body on the other hand is dying.”

“How? No wait the strange energy. Void energy the system called it. It burrowed itself through my body. But did I not make it part of my cultivation system?”

“Correct you did, it is why you are even alive at all. You managed to limit its path and channel it productively. But it was still ravaging your body before you did that. And the damage is extensive. You are currently inside a healing formation. Which is halting the further decay of your body.”

“Okay doesn’t that mean I will be fine. If it is a healing formation from my master’s sect it should be strong enough to heal me, right?”

Duyi sighed: “No it will not be enough to heal you. It is working at full capacity just to keep you alive.”

Jade finally understood that she was in deep shit right now and started to panic.

“What the fuck do I do then. I don’t want to die. Duyi, you pulled me in here. You must know of a way.”

Duyi gave her a long indiscernible look.

“Yes, there is one way.”

“Great! What is it old man? Out with it.”

“Calm down Jade. The method to survive this crisis is not easy. It is quite impossible really.”

Jade scrunched her nose up at Duyi.

“Do I even have a choice? Does it matter how hard it is? I want to live. Bring it old man.”

“Very well, the technique I am going to teach you is called [Heavens Will]. It uses your will to act upon the world. With it we can start to slowly manipulate your body in incremental steps; tempering your body.”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to think myself to recovery?”

Duyi gave her a wide grin.

“Yes, it is a technique you would normally start learning in Tier six.”

“Well fuck.”

“We have two advantages for our training. First you have me and a shared Mindspace. This will allow me to show you examples and even let you experience some of my memories. The second one I pain.”

“Pain?”

“Yes, Pain. We need to get your will to a level where you can make the minimum of changes necessary. The quickest way to this is pain. It is cruel and has a big chance of braking you.”

“Please explain, I do not feel any pain. I know there was pain before but not now. And how does pain help me develop my will.”

“Right now, I am shielding you from the pain that is going on in your body. To temper you I will let you go through the pain in intervals. Normally the amount of pain necessary for such a training requires so much damage that it would kill the host. I Think you can see why this is a unique situation.”

Jade frowned. And thought it over. She did not like pain, she liked dying even less. Once again she thought of Loren’s face. She could not picture it. Only a vague blur. She gritted her teeth.

“How long?”

Duyi’s face became grave.

“Years. It will take years of daily intervals of pain to get you to a level where you can make the smallest of changes.”

Jades face fell. Years. FUCKING YEARS OF PAIN. She was yelling in her head.

“Wait how can I even live that long? Can the healing formation keep me alive that long?”

“No, It can keep you alive at most a week. You body will simply give out at that point.”

“How the fuck am I to experience years of pain in a week Duyi. As much as I am determined to live I can not kid myself that I will come out intact on the other end of that.”

“That is something I can help with. In this space I can bend the subjective passage of time to a degree. We will have one year not one day more or less. IT gives us a chance to succeed.”

“So, a year of pain. FUCK. Duyi If I come out of this intact, I will do unspeakable things to you in revenge you get that, right?”

Duyi grinned: “Of course Jade. I would expect nothing less.”

“Well lets get started then. No pain like the present.”

“I think that pun hurt me more than your one year of torture will ever hurt you.”

“Good, that’s a start on my revenge. Be prepared for more.”

Jade settled down into a lotus position and started screaming immediately. It was almost to much to handle. It wreaked her body, every cell screamed in agony. She could feel her skin and muscles break open. Jade heard her bones crack. But it was just one sliver from turning her insane. An hour of agony on a knifes edge later she collapsed onto the floor.

“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!”

“DUYI I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU.”

But she could hardly move. She slumped down everything aching for a couple more seconds. Then blissful numbness. The pain was finally gone. A shudder ran down her spine when she heard Duyis cold and hard voice.

“You get 5 minutes of break. No more.”

Everything was pain once again. And again. It never ever stopped. With every hour the pain increased by a tiny sliver. After the third hour she was screaming. At the fifth she was crying. At the twelfth she was begging. After a full 24 hours she was silent.

It was only the first day.