"The angle of your very first cut is important," Azure said when I had brought the black blade up over my chest. "The spiral of the trunk must go in deep enough to carry the energy, but not so deeply that the muscle underneath is disturbed."

  I took a deep breath. This was going to be very different work from what I did with Elder Molric's specialised tools. There would be no trial run, no safety device, only cold steel and my determination.

  "I don't suppose that you could magically know how deep to cut?" I asked, but I was well aware of what the answer would be.

  "Unfortunately not, Master. But I can guide you through it from the experiences of what we learned in the Two Suns world."

  "All right!" I pressed the knife to my skin, holding it at a certain angle. "Here goes nothing!"

  The first cut hurt me more than I expected. The knife was very sharp, and without the specialised resonance ink to guide the delivery of energy, I had to rely purely on physical precision. And what made it more difficult was that blood welled up immediately, making it more difficult to see the lines.

  "Too deep a cut," stated Azure. "Change your angle at about fifteen degrees for the spiral."

  I wiped off the blood with a cloth which I tore from my inner robe and then went on with the spiral.

  It was extremely important that every cut was perfect; this was not like working on the Meridian Lotus, where if there was a mistake made, we could just start over with a new plant.

  "The curve is going into the outer space," Azure pointed out. "Remember how the growth patterns flow in Nature."

  I hesitated a moment, looking carefully at what I had done to the point now. The start to the spiral was good, but Azure had a point; I was straying from the natural flow. The next part had to follow the Fibonacci series correctly or the whole pattern would be mislaid.

  "Perhaps we ought to have practised a bit with ordinary tattoos first," I murmured, wiping away more blood.

  "I think that would have defeated the purpose of saving time, Master."

  "Was that sarcasm?"

  "I am simply stating facts, Master."

  Despite the pain, I smiled at his comeback. "Let’s focus on getting this right. The main trunk must be finished before the blood loss starts to become a problem."

  Fortunately for me, the next set of cuts went more smoothly. I had found the right rhythm. Cut, wipe, pause for the correct angle, then continue. The spiral was taking shape slowly, each curve leading into the next naturally.

  "Now the first of the major branches," said Azure. "This junction is a very important one; it needs to split from the trunk without causing any disruption in the energy flow.”

  I nodded and adjusted my grip on the knife. This was the part which had caused us trouble even with Elder Molric’s tools. And without them, it would only be more difficult.

  The branch began well enough, but in the middle of the process, I realised that my hand was trembling slightly from the continuous precision work. This only led to the first line wavering.

  "Stop," commanded Azure. "Take a moment to rest and steady yourself."

  I breathed deeply, becoming aware of the blood which was running down my chest. The room’s privacy formation meant that no one could tell exactly what I was doing, but they did nothing to help with the actual task itself.

  "The pattern could be saved still," Azure assured me. "The natural variety might even help with the distribution of the energy."

  "Every cloud has a silver lining," I said dryly, and went on with the cut.

  The next hour was a study in focused precision. Each branch had to be the right length and a little differently put, and all the leaves had to fit into the pattern of the trunk beautifully. There were blood-soaked rags on the floor all around me because I had to repeatedly wipe away the blood to check the lines.

  At last, the final leaf pattern was complete.

  With a sigh of relief, I sat back. My head felt light-headed from the prolonged period of concentration.

  "Well?" I asked Azure. "How does it look?"

  There was a second's silence, while he analysed the pattern. "The execution is a little different from the practice versions, but the main structure itself is sound. The variations make for interesting points of resonance which may vary the flow of the energy."

  I looked critically at the bloody pattern which I had cut in my chest. It was beautiful, in a sort of primal way: a tree of life drawn in blood and pain. The trunk at the trunk spiraled out about two inches back of my heart, the branches curling upward and outwardly in curves of almost perfect beauty. Each branch finished with a beautiful leaf design, which looked naturally enough in spite of the fact that they were cut in flesh.

  "Time for the moment of truth," I remarked, reaching in for my inner world.

  The tiny red sun in the black sky seemed to become excited as I tapped its energy. I was careful to take a small amount, while the formations in the room would mask most of the energy signature, I still didn't want to risk anyone sensing the almost demonic energy borne of the red sun's power.

  I drew the energy into the carved pattern. For a moment nothing happened, then the cuts began to shine with a deep crimson light. The blood which continued to ooze from the cuts seemed to grow hot, as the energy suffused the pattern of the carving.

  The glow grew stronger, until it became almost blinding in its intensity. I could feel the energy of the little red sun surging through the rune, testing every line and curve, probing for weak spots which would cause the rune to fail.

  Then suddenly the glow faded away. The bloody cuts were replaced by a silvery pattern which seemed to come alive beneath my skin. The tree design almost looked like it was growing there naturally, with its lines both perfect and in natural harmony with the rest of the surface of my body.

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  My status screen flickeered up before me:

  Cultivation: Qi Condensation Stage 4

  Inner World: Radius of 40 meters

  Soul Essence: 113

  Spiritual Essence: 40

  Physical Essence: 25

  Skybound Cultivation: Rank 1

  Fundamental Rune

  Type: Wood-Based Fibonacci Spiral Tree Pattern

  Core: Red Sun

  Resonance Point: Heart

  "Congratulations, Master," Azure smiled. "Your Physical Essence has now broken through to what amounts to a 5th Stage Qi Condensation cultivator."

  I nodded, then shook my head. "Well, I've just gone into the lower part of the 5th stage for physical essence and I expect Chen Wu to be higher than this."

  Not being able to control my smile at the upward and onward progress of my Skybound cultivation, I said: "Well now that I have unlocked my Skybound cultivation in this world, I can begin to add my physical and elemental runes. With all of these runes combined with my immortal cultivation..." I let out a slight laugh: "It would be more surprising to me if I didn't win."

  I had hardly got a chance to enjoy my progress when the exhaustion hit me hard.

  My vision became dim, and I almost fell down on the bloody mat.

  "Master," Azure’s voice called out but it sounded like it was coming from an incredibly long distance, "the transformation of your physical body has been exhausting, just like it did in the Two Suns world. Your body demands rest."

  With a desperate effort as consciousness was about to leave me, I desperately reached for the blue sun in my inner world. This time the little celestial quickly answered my call by sending its energising force through my body. My eyes flashed azure in their brilliant light, and the exhaustion vanished within a few seconds.

  After I had taken an opportunity to get my bearings again, I sighed. "If it had not been for the blue sun, I suppose I would have been out for three full days, and I would have missed the battle entirely. Now that would have been embarrassing."

  "Actually," corrected Azure, "Thomas's body required three days for the change because he was mortal in essence. With your cultivator body, you’d only sleep deeply for a day.”

  "Yup," I agreed, "but still a day of training lost."

  "What now, Master?"

  "Now?" I smiled. "Now I will recover my entire Skybound cultivation."

  I got to my feet to survey the bloody mess around me. The meditation pad was probably ruined, the place was full of bloodied cloths, and it was only going to get worse. The Wei family servants would have their hands full with interesting questions in the morning.

  I gathered up the evidence of my work, making a note of how to dispose of it properly later. For the moment, however, I had more runes to inscribe. The Fundamental Rune was just the beginning. I needed to remake my entire collection of combat and utility runes before trying to tackle Chen Wu.

  The knife felt lighter in my hand now, almost as if it had some expectation of its work. Or perhaps the blue sun energy was still lingering, and everything was more vivid. Either way there was work to be done.

  "The Worldroot Conduit next," I murmured, examining the silvery tree pattern on my chest. "There's no sense in adding combat runes if we can't power them properly."

  "Agreed," said Azure. "Though connecting it to the Fundamental Rune will be... delicate."

  I grimaced at the understatement. The Worldroot Conduit was more than another rune. It was the base for all elemental manipulation. A single mistake in the connections from it to the Fundamental Rune could spell disaster for the whole system.

  “At least we had plenty of experience in the Two Suns world,” I said, taking the knife to start at the feet of the tree spiral. “Though they did have those nice specialized tools…”

  The first cut was different from the Fundamental Rune. Where that pattern had taken the lines of natural growth. With the Worldroot Conduit, it was all to do with flow and interlinking. The knife traced an arc that would form part of the endless knot.

  “Slower on the curves,” Azure advised. “The lines have to be perfectly smooth for the proper flow of energy through them.”

  I slowed my pace down, watching as the pattern began to emerge. Not like the upward poking arms of the tree, here the lines had a convoluted feel, flowing into each other in perfect sequence like roots probing for water. The total effect was hypnotic; even half-finished and drawn in blood, it seemed to shift and move as if was alive.

  “Now comes the tricky part,” Azure said as I neared the point of connection with the Fundamental Rune. “The patterns must merge seamlessly.”

  I wiped away the blood, studying how the shivering silver lines of the tree pattern pulsed softly. The lines of the Worldroot Conduit had to interweave with the others, thus creating the lines through which the elemental energy could flow, while also maintaining the original flow.

  “Like grafting branches,” I said to myself. “The graft must be perfect, or it will not take.”

  The next few cuts required absolute precision. Each line of the endless knot had to connect at exactly the right angle, creating a seamless transition between the two patterns. One wrong move could disrupt the entire energy system.

  “Master,” Azure warned me just when I hesitated over one particular cut, “the energy of the blue sun is fading away.”

  I suddenly awoke to the fact that such was very much the case. The divine energy which had been helping me to blunt the sensations of pain and exhaustion was falling. But instead of calling for more, I let it fade, I needed to feel exactly what I was doing for these final cuts.

  The pain returned to me slowly, each slice of the knife sent fresh blood trickling down my best, but I barely noticed. My attention was completely focused on the emerging pattern. At last, the last curve was traced, and I could see the end product.

  The Worldroot Conduit radiated below the tree-like pattern, like the roots of a vast oak tree, and the pattern of infinite knots created paths for energy to flow and transform.

  “The connection points are all stable,” Azure confirmed, bringing a smile to my face. “You can now activate it.”

  I reached for the energy of the red sun again, but this time sent it in a different direction. Instead of filling the entire pattern at once, I sent it through the Fundamental Rune first, and then allowed it to sink and absorb into the new pathways of the system.

  The infinite knots began to glow, and where the two patterns interlaced, the glow pulsated and shifted as though testing out the connections.

  For a moment, nothing seemed to happen.

  Then the whole pattern blazed into crimson light as the energies synchronised. And when it faded, the Worldroot Conduit had become the same silver line as the tree above, the two patterns were now perfectly integrated.

  I let out a breath which I had not known I was holding. “Well, that's the difficult bit done.”

  “Excellent work, master,” Azure said.

  I nodded, already feeling the way the new rune changed my energy flow. Before I had only been able to store pure red sun energy, but now I could feel it being converted into wood essence as it passed through the Worldroot Conduit.

  “Now, we can add in the combat runes,” I said, picking up the knife again. “Should we begin with a physical enhancement or elemental rune?”

  “I think perhaps we begin with the Woodweave Seal,” Azure suggested. “In case something does happen to go wrong with the others.”

  “Always thinking ahead. All right then, healing rune first.”

  As I positioned the knife for the first cut for the Woodweave Seal, I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of my situation. Here I was voluntarily carving mystical symbols into my own flesh, with a knife, in a merchant's house, in order to prepare for a duel which was really just an elaborate test of character.

  Wei Ye probably thought he was being very clever in setting me this challenge to test both my combat ability but also my determination. He couldn't know that compared to being vaporised in likely what was some sort of cursed world, this was practically a vacation for me.

  The knife bit into my flesh again, beginning the terribly complicated pattern which would enable me to weave wood essence into healing seals.

  The evening stretched away as I worked, and by the time the day for the battle arrived, I would be read.

  Chen Wu might be expecting to face a talented but inexperienced sect disciple, but instead he would find himself facing someone who had literally died to perfect their art. The poor man wouldn’t know what hit him!

  Anyways, I had more runes to carve, and the night wasn’t getting any younger.

  I adjusted my grip on the knife and began the next pattern.

  Fortunately for me, this time I had proper painkillers, even though they came in the form of divine energy from a miniature blue sun. While the false priests may have been insane, they certainly knew how to make things hurt less.

  Now, if only they hadn't been quite so zealous about trying to convert everyone into pure light...