Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 340: Intense Cultivation 3

When Lucas finally opened his eyes after what felt like the longest, heaviest sleep of his life, his entire body reacted before his mind even caught up. A powerful rush of warmth surged through his limbs at the same time, like a tide that did not belong to any mortal realm. He sucked in a sharp breath as he pushed himself up from the floor, and instantly he could tell something was different. No, not just different. Something was overwhelmingly stronger inside him.

He clenched his fists slowly, feeling the strength coil under his skin. His muscles felt denser and firmer. His body felt as though it could tear through mountains and still have energy left to spare. There was a strange clarity in his senses too. Every breath of air tasted cleaner, the sounds in the room echoed more crisply and his sight caught every detail as if the world itself had sharpened for his sake.

He reached inward immediately, checking his meridians and his core, expecting to find something wrong because the sensation was far too intense to be normal. Instead, what he discovered made his heart almost burst out of his chest.

His cultivation... was completely different.

His eyes widened slowly as he sensed the truth.

He had actually stepped into the Sage Rank. Not the initial stage. Not barely crossing the threshold. He had leapt straight into the second stage of the Sage Rank, and the realization stunned him so deeply that he nearly choked on his own breath.

That was impossible. That was beyond absurd. No one progressed this fast, and definitely not while being unconscious on the floor.

"This is insane..." he muttered under his breath without even meaning to speak. His voice trembled with disbelief as he looked down at his own hands again as if they would offer answers.

He shut his eyes and focused harder this time, diving deeper into his core, and that was when he sensed it. It was faint but unmistakable. A refined, deeply potent strand of celestial essence was intertwined with his own Qi, connected all the way from his meridians to his dantian. His entire being had been transformed by it. That single realization made his pulse jump. Celestial essence was something mortals were not supposed to have in their bodies, at least not without paying a horrifying price. Yet here it was, flowing through him smoothly as if it belonged to him all along.

He swallowed hard and continued checking himself. His fire affinity felt hotter, sharper and more controlled than ever before. His ice affinity had transformed completely as if someone had taken the raw foundation he had and reshaped it into something beautiful, lethal and refined. He could feel it in his fingertips. The energies responded to his will immediately and without resistance, as though they had been waiting for him.

He exhaled slowly, his mind filled with questions he had no answers to. Everything he was feeling made no sense. He remembered only flashes before he passed out and nothing afterward. He looked around carefully and finally glanced toward the center of the room.

The empress was still seated in the exact same position he had seen her in before he passed out. Her posture was unwavering and her aura remained fierce and concentrated around her. She was clearly still attempting her breakthrough, and the effort was visible even across the room. He could practically feel the intense pressure radiating from her cultivation state.

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself immediately. She was in an extremely delicate stage. Interrupting her would be disastrous.

He stayed completely silent.

He steadied his breathing and forced his shock down as best as he could. His mind was still racing, but he refused to allow his aura to disturb her cultivation. All the questions he had were folded neatly and pushed aside for later. Whatever happened to him could wait.

For now he simply remained very still, staring at his hands again, feeling the immense power that now coursed through his body and trying to wrap his head around the insane transformation he had undergone.

Everything was unbelievable. Everything was overwhelming.

Lucas tried to steady himself, but the more he examined the changes within him, the more impossible everything felt. He had never experienced anything so clean, so precise, so utterly flawless in all his years of cultivating. Even with all the unpredictable things that had happened in his life, nothing compared to this.

There was no imbalance in his meridians. No instability in his core. No strain in his dantian. Not even the slightest ache or backlash. Instead, everything flowed with a fluidity and harmony so perfect that he almost felt frightened. Cultivation never advanced like this. Power never entered the body without demanding some kind of price. And yet... he felt nothing but pure elevation, a smooth and effortless ascension that defied every rule he knew.

He placed his palm over his chest and inhaled deeply again, trying to sense any hidden flaw he might have missed, but there was none. His body was in perfect equilibrium, as if someone had spent decades refining and tempering him with exquisite care.

"How...?" he whispered to himself, turning the question over in his mind for what felt like the hundredth time. But no matter how hard he thought about it, no logical answer came. He simply could not fathom how such an impossible transformation had occurred while he was unconscious and vulnerable.

Yet the strangest part of all was how right everything felt. Not even a tiny fragment of discomfort lurked anywhere within him. His energies sat perfectly balanced, his affinities hummed in harmony, and the celestial essence nestled within him felt warm instead of painful. It was as though his entire cultivation foundation had been rebuilt into a flawless form overnight.

Slowly he lifted his gaze toward the center of the room.

The empress sat there in absolute stillness, her expression serene yet fierce with concentration. Her breathing was slow, controlled and incredibly deep. Her aura had grown vastly stronger than before, so potent that even in its restrained state he could feel it rumbling through the air like a storm held tightly in place.

Lucas’s eyes widened slightly as he watched her.

He had known she was close to reaching the threshold of transcendence, but now... now he could feel it clearly. She was much closer than he had ever imagined. The air around her shimmered subtly and the strands of celestial Qi she released pulsated in a rhythm that only cultivators near the edge of immortality could possess. Her body radiated heat in one moment and divine cold in the next, a sign that her mortal shell was struggling to transition into something far greater.

"She’s really pushing for it..." he murmured under his breath, careful to keep his voice soft and contained.

His mind raced again, though this time with awe instead of confusion. Whatever had happened between them had not only reshaped him beyond reason, but it had also brought the empress frighteningly close to ascension. The barrier separating her mortal form from an immortal one was trembling, wavering like thin glass under pressure.