Samuel was alone for the first time in about a year. Not very long considering he was over a century old at this point but still, it was a particular feeling. Eishath was supposed to be with him but she had yet to arrive. So he used the time to take stock of his situation.

Both of his disciples won their featured events, Elizabeth through her sheer brute force and Eishath with her godlike control. But these were but the taste.

They were still in the first week of the tournament, the opening act, the main event was going to start after the second-week mark when the bulk of the inner sect would turn their attention to prizes set by the sect master.

In fact, he was pretty sure there were also matches between elders. He never bothered participating, the prizes were almost always a heavenly treasure for one's cultivation and he had been a purist up to this point. Someone, who does not rely on outside sources and only relies on one's understanding of themselves to break through.

That time, however, was probably on its last legs. Elizabeth made him understand and eke out two more minor breakthroughs but the gargantuan wall that was the soul formation was still at hand.

Every stage grants someone a feature or two on top of their general increase in power.

Essence refining creates an essence that allows a channel of the essence and uses it without needing an outside source.

Foundation transforms your body to be more in line with your major essence/s giving it innate properties such as fire resistance for those who cultivate fire.

Essence condensation transforms your essence core into a more fluid state allowing for more acute control over your essence.

Golden core finishes this condensing process by turning into a solid and while it by itself does not give many new benefits, it enhances everything up to this point.

Origin spirit was a good stage of breakthrough creating the first fragments of a transcendent soul, it allowed one to see beyond their normal self(soul sight) and to move across the essence channels of the world(world step).

Nascent soul was where he was currently at, and at this point, your essence core merges with your soul and allows you to be removed from all bodily needs, as long as you have the essence. You also create your essence soul, which increases your essence generation substantially and grants you a pseudo-breakthrough destiny based on your essence types known as soul forms.

Then there was the coveted soul formation, which many regarded as the breaking point. Most cultivators will reach the nascent soul eventually if they stick to the path of cultivation. But only an exceptional few who had the talent or drive to reach the nascent soul with enough life span left could begin the horrifying climb to soul formation.

To put into perspective Samuel reached the nascent soul when was fifty, an impressive feat, but it had close to sixty years since then and he had quite recently pushed into the late nascent soul stage.

But the prize at the end is just as coveted, immunity to the ravages of time and the creation of one's own personal pocket realm. To many the ultimate prize of cultivation, to him a crucial step to his journey to ascendance. After all, post-soul formation, he would have theoretically infinite time to ascend the next three stages.

And he was heaven's chosen, so he would have the added benefit of another scaling breakthrough destiny. Not to mention that he had never seen the soul-formation grand elders of his sect ever display their power. If he really tried he could level a mountain flat, so he had to wonder just what a soul formation expert was capable of doing.

The enlightenment stage grants you the ability to create a small domain in a reality where you are near omnipotent in your essence types. If you have fire essence you gain a near-divine level of control with fire and most 'greater cultivation' and 'techniques' are derived from them.

Samuel had never bothered trying to find out the final two stages as they were close to a myth as they could be. After all, the only reborn master he knew of was the sect master and he had spent a lot of time reading. All he read were fantastical stories of their achievements but no academic study. Given their rarity and the general demeanor of the cultivation as a whole, he understood why.

His meditation was broken when he felt Eishath engulf him.

His eyes opened to see the woman who far outstripped even Elizabeth in her desire to be latched on to him, the number of normal conversations he had with his newest disciple he could count on one hand. Something he would need to change in the future but given that he still could not penetrate her soul with soul sight, he assumed that her power was very essence hungry and there were in the middle of an ongoing tournament so he would let things slide for now.