The Twilight Forest was calm, as if holding its breath, as its dappled light fell onto a small figure sitting in the lotus position on a small tree stump, her long dark hair rippling down to her waist.

Kira sat up straight as she took in deep breaths to focus her mind while she circulated her Soul Energy through her Soul Paths. She had been through the experience of learning a cultivation route once before but she couldn’t imagine how it would feel to change to a new one, let alone one as peculiar as this Flame Blossom Trail.

Seeing that everything was in order, she began.

Calling forth the information imprinted in her mind from fully absorbing the knowledge of the Flame Blossom Trail, Kira withdrew all the Soul Energy that was passively occupying her Soul Paths back into her small, marble-like blue Core.

As she did so, a sense of emptiness and vulnerability, one that she hadn’t experienced in a long time, filled her. Since coming to this world and learning about and cultivating Soul Energy, she hadn’t realised just how much she’d come rely on both it and the Life Energy that flowed through her body.

As the last droplets of the blue, liquid energy receded into her Core, she grasped onto the tail end of the stream of tranquil energy and began to slowly pull it through the route specified by the Flame Blossom Trail. She followed its progress with her inner eye as it passed through some of the major Soul Paths and into the minor Paths when…

‘What…is this?’

The fast-moving energy suddenly stopped and Kira, who was driving the energy flow, was hit with a mental whiplash.

In front of her inner vision was a dark mass that appeared to be writhing in her Soul Path and blocking anything from moving past it. As far as Kira knew, that mass wasn’t there when she first chose a cultivation route but, then again, she hadn’t passed through this area at that time.

She examined it closer, clearly aware of the energy building up behind her mental block, and realised that it was somewhat familiar. As a type of energy, it was extremely similar to the white natural energy that she absorbed and refined when cultivating but, instead of a clean and invigorating aura, the black mass gave off a feeling of wild maliciousness that threatened to destroy everything it touched. That’s when it dawned on her.

‘It must be the impurities that are stripped away when I refine Soul Energy. I thought that these impurities get expelled completely, so why are they here blocking my Soul Paths?’

Unknown to Kira, this was one of the side effects of using an inferior cultivation route, a note on which that was conveniently left out.

With poor quality cultivation routes, especially those of the type that focused on cultivation speed, for every benefit there was always some sort of cost. In this case, those Soul Paths that weren’t used by the cultivation route or not regularly kept open by circulating Quintessence near them for Weapon Skills were used as dump sites for those refinement impurities.

As a result, these hidden blockages were quite common for this cultivation route and, if recklessly broken through, the condensed impure energy would be directly inserted into the Core. This would have disastrous consequences not just on her cultivation but could threaten her life when the energy spread through her body, corrupting her entire Soul Energy system before spreading into her internal organs and corrupting her Life Energy as well. Assuming she lived, she would live a life forever in pain and susceptible to sickness unless she somehow managed to purify her entire Twin Energy system.

While useful to some extent, the old cultivation route she chose assumed that the user wouldn’t be changing cultivation routes or needed a fast-track to the next rank from the peak of the previous one. For these people, there wouldn’t be this problem she now faced.

‘Okay, if it’s still just an impurity, I need to deal with it like I would any other impurity.’

Ignoring the rapidly building Soul Energy that was causing her Soul Path to stretch painfully, Kira extracted threads of blood-red Life Energy from her muscles and wrapped it around that blocked area of her Soul Path while continuing to hold back the tide of blue Soul Energy.

The vigorous Life Energy began to pulsate as its temperature swiftly rose under Kira’s mental urging. Kira clenched her teeth as the pain of her burning Soul Path seeped into her and the black mass slowly disintegrated. She didn’t rush it though. She knew that if too much of the impurity broke off her Soul Path at once, that large chunk would cause her a world of problems.

Although the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as using Burning Soul the first time, Kira had gained better control over it so it didn’t hurt as much as that time. Now, however, no amount of control could lessen the pain she felt as her Soul Path was slow-roasted. The alternative was something she couldn’t let herself think about.

When that blockade of impurities was finally grilled into a fine black powder, she let out a mental sigh of relief as she gradually released her mental grip on the surging Soul Energy that was threatening to break free of her control, allowing it to flow at a steady pace that she could keep track of as she drew it through the route it needed to go.

The territory she now entered could be called a ‘dark zone’ in terms of her Soul Paths. This was an area seldom used directly and never saw the light of Quintessence. This meant that every centimetre that she drew the energy through required an exponentially greater effort as that soothing, blue energy slowly revitalised those cold and dormant Soul Paths. Despite every little bit of distance covered being a struggle, Kira could feel a warm and comforting feeling as these Soul Paths came to life, as if her body had realised it was even more expansive than it had previously believed and began to flex its new ‘muscles’.

Many metres of Soul Paths and several dark-energy blockages later, the next vital step approached.

‘I’m almost there. Once I get there, my biggest test so far is going to begin.’

Kira thought as, up ahead, was an 8-way crossroads...

The Flame Blossom Trail was an extensive and complex cultivation route that incorporated every single Soul Path in the body. As the cultivation route for a Burning Soul inheritor, it was important that every Soul Path was used in order to maximise Burning Soul’s potential. At the same time, to awaken these dormant Soul Paths simultaneously, the amount of focus and mental strength required was equally as demanding as the Burning Soul technique itself, if not greater.

As Kira began to mentally split the energy into the different pathways, her mental strength began pushing again. Each of the eight paths followed an independent route but, when the energy converged into a central meridian again, it was important for this first time that it did so to be simultaneously, to ensure an even flow of energy.

The catch was that each of the eight paths had a different length and, due to the side-effect of her previous inferior cultivation route, there could be any number of impurity blockages along the way in one or more of the eight paths. If it wasn’t for that side-effect, this process would’ve still been difficult but gone much more smoothly. Now, in the worst case scenario, her concentration would have to be split sixteen ways, eight for Soul Energy control and eight for Life Energy. Kira knew that should that situation arise, there would be little hope for her. The only option was to plan ahead and avoid it at all costs.

Instead of completely dividing up the energy, she first sent small rivulets down each of the paths. As they meandered down their respective routes, Kira waited with bated breath.

‘One…two…five!’

Kira couldn’t help the relief from filling her. At the very least, she wouldn’t face that dreaded impossible scenario, although that still didn’t mean that her trial would be easy.

Two of the impure energy blockades were quite close to the crossroads while the other three were noticeably further on. Drawing on strands of Life Energy, she repeated the same process as before while drawing the Soul Energy to split fully now between the eight paths. Those paths without any blockages she made sure went at a slower pace while the rest she drove at speeds appropriate to their length, factoring in the time to clear the impurities.

The burning sensation of her Soul Paths being roasted was one she was mentally prepared for but still drew a grimace from her as she withstood the pain of those five areas suffering that intense heat at once. She carefully controlled the energies while enduring the searing pain until those impurities were completely disintegrated. Then she continued to draw the Soul Energy on through the unblocked Soul Paths, trying to co-ordinate the timing so that they would converge at once.

Just as the energy in the eight paths were nearing the converging meridian, she felt a dark presence between her Soul Paths. Before she could react, what appeared to be a python wrapped itself tightly around one of her Soul Paths, blocking the energy flow. It was pitch-black in colour and appeared to be made of the same impure energy as the blockages in her Soul Paths.

‘What’s going on? What is this thing?’

What didn’t make sense to her was that, somehow, the impure energy didn’t appear to be restricted to her Soul Paths and was instead free to move around her body. Not only that but the energy had taken on a kind of primal instinct, if not sentience. It seemed to be looking towards her mental ‘eyes’ as it hissed at her almost as if to demand to know who dared to wake it from its slumber.

‘Whatever it is, it must’ve been awakened when I cleared away those other impurities. I need to get rid of it quickly otherwise the convergence will fail and who knows what the consequences of that would be.’

In reality, Kira knew what the cost of failure was, the Flame Blossom Trail was the most complete cultivation route she had ever seen and the entirety of it was stored in her mind after all, but she couldn’t allow herself to think about it.

This strange, dark-energy python was actually the result of the years that Kira had been using that inferior cultivation route. The ‘dark zone’ of her Soul Paths had quickly become filled with impurities from refining which had become so dense that the energy began to seep through her Soul Paths into the space between, slowly coalescing into the sleeping energy beast which she now faced.

She would have been fine if she kept using the same cultivation route or one that was one or two ranks higher and cleared only a few blockages but, perhaps unfortunately, the Flame Blossom Trail was an all-inclusive cultivation route. What this meant was that there wasn’t room in her body for both the Flame Blossom Trail to do its job and the dark-energy python to sleep.

As Kira and the python stared each other down, Kira tried her best to halt the progress of the other seven Soul Energy streams as she gathered her Life Energy to fight this beast. Sensing the movement of energy nearby, the python sprang into action.

Opening its maw, the python spat out a dense, black fog, that filled the empty space and obscured Kira’s mental vision. Clamping down its maw, it bit down hard on the Soul Path that it was wrapped around, puncturing it with its fangs. The built-up pressure caused the Soul Energy to race through the openings and into its dark fangs.

As a relatively tranquil energy, the Soul Energy put up no resistance as it was greedily absorbed by the dark-energy python which started expanding to fill the empty space, its shadowy body beginning to glow blue from the inside.

Kira could feel what was happening and, of course, couldn’t let it be and quickly evaluated her options. While the first thought that unwillingly came to her mind was to use Burning Soul, she could feel that with the amount of concentration needed to use it, she wouldn’t be able to continue holding back those seven other streams of Soul Energy. That only left the only tool that had served her well so far in terms of energy issues, Life Energy.

The Life Energy she’d previously called on was outside that black fog and ready to be used. Enclosing the area in a shell of Life Energy as she had done before, she gradually raised its temperature and watched as the fog quickly dissipated. However, the sight before her eyes caused her to be shaken.

That python that was only four times as thick as a minor Soul Path was now almost as large as the entire ‘dark zone’. Its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth mockingly while its body gently pulsated with an aqua colour.

Not allowing her surprise to cause her too much pause, Kira quickly retracted the Life Energy sphere and sliced the energy into several sharp, red, energy lances. Increasing their temperature as much as she dared, Kira launched the volley of lances straight towards the black-and-blue python.

Sensing the heat from the lances, the python moved swiftly, faster than Kira had anticipated, through the gaps in Kira’s attack. Kira had to act swiftly to prevent the lances from overshooting and damaging her internal organs but the heat still caused her some discomfort.

Having released the pressure in one of the eight Soul Paths, the python gave a swish of its tail before launching itself towards another of the seven Soul Paths that were brimming with built-up energy which Kira was just about holding in check.

‘This isn’t good. If it manages to consume enough energy, I won’t be able to stop it anymore.’

As it was almost upon the Soul Path, the python opened its maw greedily and was about to clamp down before it stopped suddenly. The reason it stopped was, right in front of it, ready to pierce through its maw, was one of the burning, Life Energy lances. It swerved its head to one side and then to the other as the lance followed its movements. Hissing in anger, it twisted 180 degrees and launched itself at another Soul Path. However, to its intense frustration, another lance was blocking its path. This dance continued up and down the ‘dark zone’ and, while the python only seemed to be getting angrier, Kira was getting more and more fatigued.

‘Thankfully, this dark-energy snake isn’t that smart. Otherwise, from dodging my attack earlier, it would know that I can’t hit it if I don’t know where it’s going to go. That still doesn’t solve the problem of how I’m going to get rid of it though. Soon, I really won’t be able to keep up with it.’

While Kira could manipulate one energy lance with enough control to track the snake’s movement toward one of her Soul Paths, energy control was still her weak point. To try and use all the lances at once to try and corral the python where she wanted it to go was still far beyond her ability.

‘Alright, snake, I’ll let you get what you want. There’s no reward without risk right?’

When the snake rushed towards its next target, it was surprised to find that the burning heat produced by the energy lances was absent and no lance was anywhere to be seen. It paused for a moment, suspicious, before its instincts overrode its meagre intelligence and it bit down on the Soul Path.

Forcing herself to ignore the pain, Kira put her plan into motion. As the python greedily sucked away at the blue Soul Energy, it didn’t notice the thread of red entering its system and mixing in with the blue glow of its body. As it released its vice, satisfied, and revelled in the sense of power, that thread of red energy began to glow brightly within its body as it fought to escape from inside the python.

Compared to the tranquil Soul Energy, the nature of Life Energy was much more violent and, although it was removed from Kira’s direct control, it refused to be trapped and struggled to escape, becoming hotter and hotter as it did so.

The dark-energy python slowly became aware of a discomfort within its body that gradually grew into a piercing pain. It hissed in agony as the bright, red light coming from its belly grew even brighter until it took on a bright golden colour. The golden light spread from its belly down towards its tail and up towards its head until golden light spurted out from his eyes.

Kira silently endured the pain as the python thrashed about inside her, carelessly slamming into various Soul Paths and organs as it slowly and painfully approached its demise. With one last piercing hiss-scream that dark python exploded into flecks of golden light.

Kira was breathing heavily as she gathered up the flecks of Quintessence into one place and kept them there. Compared to the high-energy Quintessence she fought to use up previously, this Quintessence had used up most of its energy in breaking out of the python and wasn’t inclined to go anywhere but still had to be used up later.

Returning her attention to those 8 minor Soul Paths, Kira carefully guided the energy in them to converge once more in the central meridian. With minimal effort, she directed that flow of energy through the last few twists and turns of the Flame Blossom Trail and back into her glowing Core. As the energy approached her Core, she noticed some distinct differences in it compared to the stored energy.

In terms of quality, the refined energy was both denser and purer, almost five times more potent than before. Not only that, as Kira almost thoughtlessly wove the energy into various shapes, she realised that her control over it was much greater than before, as if the energy was now truly a part of her and not just a tool to be used.

While its appearance was mostly the same, a deep blue, now, if you kept a close eye on it, sometimes you would see a warm burst of orange would flash through it. Also, Kira noticed it had a peculiar heat.

‘This warmth, it looks like I’ve succeeded in refining this bit of energy.’

Kira thought with elation as she continued to draw the rest of her Soul Energy from her Core through the Flame Blossom Trail. Unlike her struggle earlier, the rest of the energy rushed through her Soul Paths like wildfire, igniting her body and filling her with warmth that brought her a feeling of extreme comfort and happiness.

When the refining was finished, a feeling of strength filled her as she felt her Soul Energy gently circulating through each and every single one of her Soul Paths. It also felt as if her senses had sharpened, likely due to the influence of the Soul Energy revitalising those dormant Soul Paths. Kira sat for a while, enjoying the sensations, before slowly opening her eyes.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes, leaning against a tree and with long pipe in hand, was her Uncle Tetsuya.

“Seems like it worked out in the end, huh kiddo? Nice work.”

“Yes Uncle. It was challenging but I succeeded.”

“Any weird side-effects? Can’t have you suddenly passing out in the middle of training or anything.”

“Now that Uncle mentions it…”

Kira did notice something off. Although her overall strength had increased by a lot, she felt as if something was missing, as if she had lost something important. On closer inspection, she realised what it was.

“…I don’t feel that sensation in my Core anymore.”

She had always been vaguely aware of it, but never really noticed it until her Uncle’s inspection, that faint feeling of a consciousness within her Core. Although, at that point, it was little more than a shred of instinct.

“That makes sense. By changing cultivation routes, you’ve basically replaced all the Soul Energy in your body. That energy didn’t occur naturally in the first place but from your use of Burning Soul so it was probably chucked out. No need to worry though, you’ll get it back soon enough.

Because you should know, everything these last few days was just to test your baseline. The real training starts now.”