Advanced Cultivation Civilization

ACC Chapter 6 Interlude; Hit Song of the Monster

20 YEARS EARLIER...

Millions of song concepts, lyrics and tracks, swirled within my mind as I sorted them, discarding each that I perused, scattering them back into the depths of the ether. They had only managed to exist for just a few microseconds, but that didn't faze me. 

Some even had the potential to become epic hits in today's society, but they weren't for me. All my songs, were exclusively tailored for me. Why would I sell or give to someone else? Besides, who would dare accept them? Many had already called me 'strange' because of the unusual alignment of my core. 

I could remember the words my father had shouted to me when I had just ascended to the Core Formation stage 200 years ago as if it were yesterday.

"Wentian?! What did you do? Did you just waste all the resources I have given you on that abomination? Elders, I am really sorry. I had thought that his love of music as a hobby..."

I banished the memory back into the depths of my mind. Even as I sifted through the songs in my mind, a chuckle almost escaped my lips.

My father was already dead and I had become the grand elder of the sect, proving every single person wrong.

But that wasn't important right now. I was in the middle of choosing a song for my scheduled cultivation session.

A song, wait, maybe I could create a playlist? I have never tried it.

With a thought, many other songs were generated within my mind, as if being birthed from the void itself. This simple activity of creating something new brought joy to me, especially music.

Then it happened, a beat I adored was born, coupled with lyrics that elevated it to the next level.

The song started playing within my mind before influencing my cellular structure, with the beat itself causing each cell to vibrate. Even my skeletal structure was influenced and it caused my very skin to ripple as the sound escaped, not from my mouth, but my body, spreading to the surroundings as if I had been turned into a speaker.

The changes didn't stop there as I willed my core, one attuned to sound spiritual energy, to start resonating with the sound, spreading the song like a disease, to infect the spiritual energy flowing within me, even the blood itself started to pulsate, with the heart itself joining in without disrupting my bodily functions.

With another thought, I willed a little of my sound attuned spiritual energy towards the surroundings. With my eyes closed, divine sense had become the only way to sense my surroundings, with the diameter of my information gathering being 10 km.

This was my private land, located in a secluded location, having only one tree, the one I was leaning on, with the flat earth carpeted by green grass.

The world had advanced, but since I was a man of the past, I preferred this serene scenery over the artificial steel jungles that had now become more prevalent. And it wasn't just me. Many of those who had been born in my era, or even further back, still loved the natural beauty of the past.

The sound-attuned spiritual energy from my body was released in the form of a pulse that started contaminating everything within this 10km diameter around me, changing their fundamental laws of existence, twisting them to suit my needs, from the air particles, the earth, the organisms, the tree, the grass, and many other things.

And then, just like me, they started releasing music, resonating with my body in way that made me feel as if I had become a single entity with everything within the scope my divine sense.

The tree's leaves danced in tandem with the grass, with the air adding some needed help. The ground added something to the beat that merged with the cacophony being made by the countless organisms within it, on it, and above it, creating a marvel that was simply miraculous. Spiritual energy was amazing! Only monsters like me would think like this. That's what made me and others like me who we were.

Even though the sound was loud within my pseudo domain, it didn't spill out of it. If someone stood outside, they would only see it as some peaceful scenery, but upon stepping inside it, would be my world. Though, short of Nascent Souls, no idiot would brave the dangers, as even Core Formations would die instantly.

After setting up all that, I allowed unattuned spiritual energy to enter my domain, upon which it was transmuted into sound-attuned before being absorbed into my body.

After all those arrangements, I entered the state between conscious and unconscious...

PRESENT DAY.

My semi-conscious state was broken when a divine sense made contact with my own, specifically the surface of my domain from the outside. With a thought, I split off a strand that slithered into the air, extending from my domain like a snake, towards a nearby spiritual tower, where I proceeded to download information.

20 years had passed, yet for me, it felt as if it had been an instant. The spiritual energy I had been absorbing hadn't been to increase my cultivation as I had already platued at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage countless years ago. I had absorbed it to replenish my reserves that couldn't have been supported by my core's generation alone. 

A nascent soul, the originator of the stage's name, is a quantum entity, capable of calculative power akin to the most powerful of quantum computers, allowing the simultaneous completion of many tasks. But even with a core's powerful nuclear fission capabilities, that kind of intense calculation can only be supported for a mere month!

A sigh escaped my lips, one of exasperation. Even with all this powerful computational power, coming up with another deity art was still not possible. All the permutations I had ran and the theories I had conjectured hadn't been able to give me the end result I wanted.

After perusing the information from the last 20 years, I found nothing of note. They were all minor things. Though, the prototype warp drive about to be tested was interesting.

Ah, I had almost forgotten about my guest. Splitting my attention towards the man, my eye sight caught onto the fact that he wasn't one of the elders of my sect. Instead, it was a guest, with a cultivation equal to mine.

Elder Ming of the Pipe Sect, a true old relic. If I wasn't mistaken, he was approaching the end of his lifespan. Yet here he was, still scurrying around, scheming with the zeal of a younger man. 

He was one of those many sect-grown idiots who still hadn't accepted the fact that the era of the Sects was over. And the blame was entirely upon them, having given the monster that was Taylor, time to grow. If they had been a bit more meticulous, this present would have been completely different.

But I didn't resent them as this era had the potential to be even more glorious than the one before.

With another thought, I activated one of my deity arts...

'SONG OF THE ALL SEEING!'

My nascent soul became brighter as I felt a strain as some of its energy diminished. Deity arts were like that. They didn't just consume spiritual energy, but even soul energy, and that was why they couldn't be maintained for long. Someone had already theorised that you'd need to be at the stage above to really excavate their potential.

The effects became instantaneous. All energy ripples, waves and everything released when a particle interacts with another was converted into sound within the scope of my domain.

This ability was one I was most proud of among my limited number of deity arts. It transformed me into an omniscient spy, one who could glean through everything!

My target was the elder of the Pipe Sect. Or was it the grand elder now...!? I hadn't kept track of those developments in a while. Anyway, I read the fluctuations from him that entered my divine sense domain, gleaning a fact about his emotional state.

All this was being read from the ripples caused when his soul aura interacted with spiritual energy.

He was enraged. My eyes were seeing an old man, stoic in nature, calmly waiting for me to withdraw my domain, yet my art was reading something else.

I searched through the data pertaining to the sect... 

Then I fell upon the reason, a headline that said the sect was going to perform some routine inspection and maintainance of all the pipes they have ever sold, a certain specific type. And it was all going to be for free!

I stifled the urge to laugh at that. It seems that the young upstart, Reed, had managed to get one over the man.

I deactivated the art, which had consumed almost 3% of my soul aura within the microseconds it had been running. 

"You can come closer." I spoke verbally, with my voice carrying over to the man.

His body blurred before appearing ten meters away from me. After taking in a large breath of air, I leaned against the tree stem and smirked when a frown of irritation appeared upon the man's face. 

These people were used to feigning politeness, even in front of their enemies, but I wasn't one for such things.

"Mr. Qin, I will get straight to the point. Is our deal from 20 years ago still ongoing?" 

Now, this was different. Ming was a man who loved to start with pointless small talk in every conversation. Seeing him bluntly leap into the main conversation was a surprise. That brat Mumaso Reed must have pissed him off greatly.

"...of course. But do know this, I haven't yet comprehended enough to reach the limit."

An ugly grimace crossed the elderly man's face as he plopped down opposite me, adopting the same cross legged posture as me.

"Why? Since the machine is about to be activated, that upstart Taylor must have reached the limit. Why haven't you?"

Irritation pulsed within me for a moment. I seriously considered stripping away his ability to produce sound for a few seconds, but ultimately gave up, with only a sigh escaping my lips.

"When the man was rising, why didn't you take action then? What were you doing? Indulging in useless and pointless luxuries. While that monster and I trained, you were resting on your laurels..."

A frown started forming upon the man's face courtesy of my harsh words, but I kept my gaze locked with his and continued...

"...the age of Sects is over. It will never return. You all rested on your laurels while Taylor was fighting, cultivating and collecting supporters. Even with the existence of a monster like me, you didn't use me well, instead shunning me because of my sound core. Ming, this is reality."

"Brat! Are you going to renege on the deal?!" 

With a thought, I brought down upon the man a pressure from my very soul, one which carried the aura of three deity arts, causing visible beads of sweat to appear on the man's brow. He had forgotten his place. Me and Taylor were monsters. I could crush him in an instant, just like many other Nascent Souls at the peak of the late stage.

I held Ming and those like him in contempt. How could he have lingered within the Nascent Soul stage for over a 1000 years without having cone up with a deity art of his own? Trash!

"As our deal goes, I will challenge the president. But make no mistake. Even if I win, I won't allow the destruction of the machine because of a flimsy reason like 'lacking the capability to breakthrough.'"

A crater formed below the man as he gritted his teeth, his gaze containing hatred.

"Why do you even still insist on scheming when you have a foot in the grave? Hmmm!? You should have just nurtured a Sect monster, capable of going toe to toe with us. Taylor has already upped you on that by one. He raised another monster with the name of Mumaso Reed! An early stage Nascent Soul who came up with a theoretical deity art at the peak of Core Formation! Now that he has reached the stage, it has been inscribed within his nascent soul!"

I withdrew my pressure, allowing the man to catch his breath. He looked like a fish out of the water.

"You may go back. I can see the embers of rage within you, but you even lack the guts to act upon them. Tsk! Tsk! What a weakling!"

After the man left, my thoughts were drawn to the most significant project in human history, one which would allow us to take a qualitative leap ahead. The Divinity Project.

Those imbeciles like scheming. They should have come up with many contingencies. And Ming isn't one to let things slide. He must have already set plans that would sabotage the machine. I can't let it be destroyed.

I played with the short stubble on my chin while contemplating wiping out the entire coalition of cultivators within Ming's faction. There were about five that had reached the peak. One had even managed to create one deity art. It would be troublesome but not impossible...

Though, I shouldn't jump into action right away. I should first observe...

With a small application of force within my palms, I leaped up from the ground.

"I wonder what advances in music have happened since my seclusion..."

With excitement bubbling in my heart, I set off, flying away from the sect to search for music. I should get myself a new hit single.