The Martial Unity

"ARGRHRGRHRHHHHRAGHARHHH!!!" Rui's screams melted into incoherent wails of agony.

Blood began trickling from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose from the sheer stress that it caused within his body. If not for the Elder Tree, which promptly used the remarkable medical prowess it came to develop from the knowledge and skill it inherited from the Divine Doctor and its own powerful capabilities, Rui would have died very soon.

Yet, nobody who saw his current state could, in good faith, insist that the Elder Tree was doing him any favors.

Death was mercy in comparison to what Rui was being subjected to.

"AAAARGRHRGHRRGWHAGRGAHHHHHRHRHRHGHGGHRRR!!!!!"

A soul-wrenching guttural screech of pure agony erupted from within him even as he processed the information that was thrust into him.

The Elder Tree almost stopped prematurely at several points when it felt like Rui was on the verge of snapping from the sheer information overload. It was extremely cautious and attentive to his mental state, harboring a dim hope that it would be able to stop at the right moment if Rui ever snapped.

Yet, much to its surprise, scream and struggle as he did; his mind never shattered. Even at certain points when any other Senior in his position would have long been turned into a vegetable, Rui gritted his teeth and forged on.

"Rrrrggghhghegrhrhr!!!" His eyes were fierce with pain and determination.

Despair stared him in the eye.

It waited for him to fall to it.

There were very few times that he had come this close to breaking down in despair and misery.

Not even the Squire evolution process was so soul-wrenching.

It was one of pure physical pain.

It certainly tested mental fortitude. Martial Artists who had managed to retain their senses and sanity from it were undoubtedly cut from those who had suffered permanent mental anguish or the Martial Apprentices who chickened out.

Yet, it didn't even hold a candle to what Rui had subjected himself.

Mental pain was different.

It was not an experiential sensation.

It was suffering.

It was pure, unadulterated, condensed suffering.

weather even the hardest of

the flow

agony that he felt from the

was

stretch out

"AAAAAAAAARGRHRGRHRGARGAHRGRGHRG!!!"

had lost

surprised he had managed to last as long as he

species crashed into

The Boiling Boar species.

The Roaring Dragon species.

The Killing Kirin species.

amidst the horrors of the mental agony he experienced,

species, and more importantly, world

received immense environmental data on how the optimal for each species ought to be, and he instantly stored it in the Mind Palace even as his

should have

this priceless intelligence was exactly what he had sought

chosen

An incoherent guttural bellow of suffering escaped him as fires within his

of fear began overcoming

rate spiked,

agony overran every ounce of

consciousness dimming, dimming as if it was eroded by the many waves of information that churned away at

easy

It was almost tempting.

could let himself go to the comfort of the

The pain only grew.

The suffering only grew.

Species upon species.

World after world.

them, one after

It was torture.

easy to let

came closer to letting

FLASH

sight of an anomaly within the oceans of

that called

FLASH