The Thorne of Destiny

Time passed by in a blur, and soon, a month had passed. On this day, Adrian was standing still in the middle of the courtyard. His routine hadn't changed over the past month as he continued to increase his cultivation and practice his alchemy skills.

Today, however, he was doing something different. One thing he realized during the fight with the granite crocodile was his lack of speed. Even though his enhanced body had increased his speed more than that of a normal cultivator, it still wasn't enough in the grand scheme of things. The granite crocodile was an amphibious beast yet its speed was something he couldn't match.

If it was a beast suited to land travel, then his end would have been certain.

The same thing occurred when he was fleeing from the members of the demonic faction. His lack of speed caused him to get caught, and if the blood star hadn't reacted when it did, he would be dead. He didn't know how many more times he would continue to get lucky and he certainly didn't want to find out.

Therefore, he decided to practice one of the techniques he found in the sage of slaughter's inheritance. This movement technique was known as 'Astral steps'.

He originally wanted to practice a different technique but while he was searching through the different techniques for his level, his consciousness was suddenly drawn to this particular technique. For some reason, he felt that this technique would be better.

When he started going through the technique, his shock became apparent.

Astral steps were a growth-type movement technique. That means it would be useful for the user at any level.

Such techniques were closely guarded secrets and he didn't even know if his family had one previously.

However, there was no such thing as a free lunch. The difficulty of this technique was evident. Even the sage of slaughter wasn't able to practice this technique to a high level. Of course, this stemmed from him practicing it at a later period of his life.

In order to start practicing this technique, Adrian had to make various preparations. He spent a week preparing various rank 2 healing pills and concealment pills.

The astral steps work on the concept of traversing through the void. Someone who practices the technique would be able to move freely through the void that exists between him and his target.

The void was a mysterious region that existed and covered all the regions. Only those with sufficient power would be able to interact with it normally. If those old powerhouses were to hear that Adrian was already planning to travel through it, who knows how they would react?

However, at his current level, moving through the void would only be a pipe dream. He couldn't even sense the boundary between the real world and the void, much less pass through it. He wasn't strong enough to break the boundary so he could only slip through it.

This was the essence of the astral steps.

He took a deep breath before swallowing one of the concealment pills. His aura faded as his presence became faint. He then started moving his feet slowly in a specific pattern. The concealment pill was necessary in order to hide his presence from the world so that he could bypass it. He was using it in order to get used to that feeling until he could eventually do it himself.

He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. The air was thin, yet it carried a purity that seemed to cleanse his lungs. He focused on trying to feel the space surrounding his body. Slowly, his heartbeat slowed, and the world around him faded.

His concentration deepened as he began muttering to himself.

"Feel the boundary between worlds. It is not a wall but a veil, thin and fragile. With every breath, push against it."

He continued moving rhythmically like this for almost two hours until he finally sensed something.

The sensation was disorienting, as if he were stretching an invisible thread between his body and the infinite. At first, there was resistance, like trying to move through water. But as he concentrated, the veil began to ripple, and for a fleeting moment, he felt weightless.

As soon as he grasped this sensation, he dashed into trying to pierce through it. However, a sharp pain wracked through his body as he crashed into 'a wall'. His body crumpled before he spat out a mouthful of blood. He had failed to pass through the void.

Adrian quickly took out a healing pill and swallowed it without hesitation. A warm sensation filled his body and started healing his injuries as he sat down to contemplate his hypothesis.

"I was too impatient. I can't sense the boundary properly, yet I was trying to pass through it. That was simply reckless."

He thought as he kept going over the sensation over and over again in his mind.

It was as if he was detaching himself from the whole world. To be honest, it spooked him a bit.

After healing his injuries, he looked up to the sky to see that the sun had already started setting. He decided not to continue training and headed inside at that point.

He continued this routine for about two weeks. Every time he tried to pass the boundary, he would crash into it and get injured every time. However, this did not deter him. With every failure, he found a new problem to fix.

This continued until one night. As Adrian practiced under the light of the crescent moon, something clicked. The hum of the cosmos grew louder, resonating within his very bones. His breaths became shallow, his heartbeat distant. The veil between worlds shimmered before him, tantalizingly close.

Without thinking, Adrian stepped forward.

The world shifted.

As he disappeared from his initial position, stars swirled around him, and for a brief, exhilarating moment, he could see their light painting the edges of his vision. He felt untethered, free of the constraints of flesh and bone. Then, with a surge of instinct, he reached out toward the plateau—and stumbled back into the physical world.

He appeared a dozen meters away from his previous position.

Adrian collapsed on the ground, his chest heaving. But a smile broke across his face. He had done it.