Kynan
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Chapter 378: Sacrifice
🕑 Added 2025-05-31 20:03:02 +0000 UTCThe spiritual pressure rolling off Wu Kangming was qualitatively different from what I'd sensed earlier. Previously, when he'd unlocked that mysterious seal, his power had increased significantly but remained within the bounds of the Qi Condensation Realm. This was something else entirely.
This was genuine Pseudo Elemental Realm cultivation, the same level I'd recently achieved myself. Whatever he'd done to save Meng Haoran, it had pushed his power to an entirely new stage.
"Azure," I thought grimly, "this just got a lot more complicated."
"Indeed," Azure replied, his voice tight with concern. "His spiritual signature is now comparable to yours. And given his superior combat techniques..."
I frowned, running quick calculations in my head. Things had definitely gone from bad to worse. Now that we were both at the same cultivation stage, and Wu Kangming had observed several of my runes in action, this battle would become exponentially more difficult.
I wasn't sure I could get past a full-power Wu Kangming to reach Meng Haoran anymore. And who even knew if this was final form Wu Kangming. His mysterious mentor had probably loaded him up with enough secret techniques to make a Civilization Realm cultivator jealous.
My eyes narrowed as I studied the standoff.
Time was running out.
Every second we spent in this confrontation was another second closer to both teams being eliminated. Other cultivators were probably reaching exits right now, claiming the final advancement slots while we were busy trying to murder each other.
It was time to use the Overclock rune and end this quickly, regardless of the consequences.
I was just reaching for the energy required to activate my most dangerous enhancement when Lin Mei's voice cut through the tension like a knife.
"Stop fighting!"
Both Wu Kangming and I froze, our gazes locked on each other but our peripheral vision shifting toward the sound. Lin Mei stood between Wei Lin and the edge of the clearing, her hands raised in a placating gesture.
"This isn't working," she continued, her voice carrying across the battlefield with surprising authority. "Our teams are too evenly matched. If we continue like this, both groups will be eliminated while we're busy trying to kill each other."
She took a step forward, and I could see the determination in her eyes despite the fear that had to be coursing through her veins. At sixth stage Qi Condensation, she was the most vulnerable person in this clearing, surrounded by cultivators who could eliminate her with a casual gesture.
"I'm only a sixth stage cultivator," Lin Mei said, her voice steady despite the circumstances. "Even if I made it through to the individual battles, it wouldn't matter. I'd be eliminated in my first match against any of the inner sect disciples."
"Lin Mei, that's not necessarily true," Wei Lin protested, taking a step toward her. "Your water techniques are incredibly refined, and your formation knowledge—"
"Wei Lin, stop," she interrupted gently, holding up a hand. "We both know what my chances would be in single combat against cultivators two or three stages above me."
She looked around the clearing, taking in the destruction we'd caused in just a few minutes of fighting. Craters marked where my explosive seeds had detonated, the bone-white tree Wu Kangming had crashed into was split nearly in half, and the rocky ground was carved with furrows from our various techniques.
"I'm grateful I could make it this far," Lin Mei continued, a small smile crossing her face. "Honestly, I didn't have high expectations when we entered this tournament. Making it through the first stage is already more than I hoped for."
She turned toward Wu Kangming's team, bowing formally. "Wu Kangming, Luo Yichen, Meng Haoran – your team should enter the portal first. Wei Lin and Ke Yin, you should follow them in."
A part of me wanted to argue, to protest that we weren't giving up on her, that there had to be another way. But as I looked at the situation objectively, I realized she was absolutely right.
Her logic was flawless. Any second now, both remaining slots could be taken while we were busy trying to eliminate each other. And while death wasn't permanent in the Fallen Realm thanks to the Mark of Return, we had no guarantee that the same protection would apply to the individual battles back at the sect.
With her cultivation level, surviving even the first round of one-on-one combat would be nearly impossible. She'd be alone facing seventh stage cultivators, eighth stage cultivators. And these weren’t just regular disciples, they were outer disciples who have been training for years longer than any one of us.
It would be safer for her to pullout now.
I nodded slowly, feeling the weight of the decision settle on my shoulders. "Okay," I said quietly, my voice rougher than I'd intended. "Lin Mei... thank you. I know this isn't easy."
"It's the right choice," Lin Mei replied, though I could see her hands trembling slightly. "We all know it is."
Wei Lin's face was a mask of conflicting emotions – pride in her selfless decision warring with obvious reluctance to leave her behind. His jaw worked silently for several moments before he finally spoke.
"Lin Mei, I can't just... we've been through so much together. The three of us, as a team." His voice cracked slightly. "This feels like abandoning you."
"You're not abandoning me," she said firmly, stepping closer to him. "You're honoring my choice. There's a difference." She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently.
"We thank you as well," Wu Kangming said, his enhanced aura already beginning to fade as he released whatever technique he'd used to reach the Pseudo Elemental Realm. His voice carried a note of genuine respect that I'd never heard from him before.
Luo Yichen stepped forward, bowing formally to Lin Mei. "I misjudged you earlier. I thought you were just the weak link in a strong team. But what you're doing now... it takes real strength."
Meng Haoran was practically weeping with relief, though I suspected it had less to do with gratitude and more to do with the fact that he wouldn't be getting attacked for the next thirty seconds.
Still, he managed to speak through his tears. "I'll never forget this. If there's ever anything I can do to repay this debt—"
"Just make it count," Lin Mei said simply. "All of you. Don't waste the opportunity."
Wu Kangming looked back at me, and for the first time since I'd known him, his lips curved into what looked like a genuine smile.
"I'm looking forward to finishing this battle later," he said. "In proper conditions, without distractions or time pressure. You fight... differently than I expected."
"Likewise," I returned his smile with one of my own, though mine felt bittersweet given the circumstances. "It should be interesting."
"Try not to lose before then," Wu Kangming added with what might have been a hint of dry humor. "I'd hate for the finals to be anticlimactic."
"Same to you," I replied. "Though given what I just saw, I'm not sure who should be more worried."
With a final nod to our team, Wu Kangming gathered his teammates, all three of them joining hands to satisfy the portal's entry requirements. As they approached the shimmering distortion in the air, Luo Yichen called back over his shoulder.
"We'll see you two in the arena!"
I watched as they stepped through the portal together, their forms dissolving into light. The moment they disappeared completely, the crimson number floating overhead shifted from 2 to 1.
One slot remaining.
Wei Lin moved to stand beside me, placing his hand on my shoulder in preparation for our own transit. We both turned toward Lin Mei, who stood at the edge of the clearing with tears in her eyes but her chin held high.
"Take care of yourself," I called out to her. "And don't let anyone tell you that you're not strong enough. What you just did took more courage than any technique I know."
"Ke Yin, I want to see you fight Wu Kangming properly," she replied, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
"And Wei Lin?" she added, fixing her boyfriend with a stern look that was undermined by her tear-streaked face. "Don't you dare do anything stupid in the individual matches just to avenge my elimination. I'll never forgive you if you get yourself killed over a simple tournament."
"I won't, but I will win" he promised quietly. "For both of us. And when this is all over, we're going to celebrate together. All three of us."
She nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now go, before some other team claims that last slot while we're all standing here crying."
Wei Lin squeezed my shoulder, and together we approached the portal. The shimmering distortion grew larger as we neared it, reality warping around the edges in ways that would make a mortal’s eyes water.
I took one last look back at Lin Mei, memorizing her brave smile, then stepped forward into the portal with Wei Lin beside me.
The world dissolved into white light, and I felt the familiar sensation of dimensional transition wash over me.
"We made it," I whispered as the light began to fade, though the words felt hollow without the third member of our team beside us.
A/N
Hello everyone!
It's been almost six months since I began releasing Cultivation is Creation, and it has been an incredible experience.
There's still so much more to share - the rest of the tournament arc, how Ke Yin's life changes now that the 'prophecy' in the synopsis has been fulfilled ("And finally, the elders at the Azure Peak Sect are asking why his soul realm contains both demonic cultivation and holy arts? Must be a natural talent."), and exciting new arcs exploring the higher cultivation stages and secrets of the World Tree Sutra.
And now onto the announcement!
I've been hesitant to write this because I didn't want to let you all down, but I need to make a change to the release schedule.
The current daily double posting is pretty demanding. I don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity, and I'm also concerned about maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Writing has been consuming almost all my time; I rarely leave the house, exercise, or even cook decent meals.
To address this, I'll be taking weekends off from posting while maintaining the same daily double chapter output during weekdays.
So, you'll still get 2 chapters per day, but only Monday through Friday. This will give me the weekends off to focus on my health, edit book 1 (needs lots of editing), and recharge for better quality writing.
I hope you continue to enjoy the story despite its many flaws.
Thank you!
We’ll return on Monday with the next 2 chapters!
TLDR: New Release Schedule: 2 chapters daily, Monday through Friday, weekends off
Comments
Brandon Holt
Take care of yourself, man. First and foremost. After all, what good are you to us and this story, which has utterly dominated my life over these past couple of weeks, if you can't keep up with this masterpiece of literature, imagination and creativity(which I'm seriously envious of, I'm an analytical, not a creative - much to my chagrin), if either your quality suffers or good forbid you burn yourself out. Lol. Not even mentioning the emotional depth and the intense draw you're wordsmithing elicits in this most humble fan of yours. I'm truly in awe of what you're not only capable of but also willing to share with us. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. In all seriousness though, you and one other are literally my favorite authors. I just can't get enough. You have a very serious, legit talent, my friend. Quality over quantity. Always. I hope you're well. Very sincerely yours, Brandon P.S. you are the ONLY writer I've ever paid for like this, excepting, ofc, the mountain of actual books I've bought over the years. $10 a month is but pittance compared to what you provided. Again, you have deepest gratitude.
Carter Swafford
I only ended up subscribing after you already changed the schedule and I see no problems with someone having a couple days off a week from their job. A couple extra days to come up with ideas, or write ahead, or otherwise just go out into the world to experience it and rejuvenate the mind seems like a good idea.
Inirlan
Take care of yourself. 10 chapters a week is still lots of content.
wayoutofsight
Thanks for the chapter. I know Lin Mei will probably take a backseat during all the tournament arc shenanigans, but I hope our girl gets something in return for her sacrifice later on. Just a few ideas. Getting one of the water fish that Ke Yin got from the blood cultivator when they start breeding, maybe chinampas, it could work well for her inner world when it gets more complex, something with lotus motif, something that combines her interest in herbs with her affinity for water. You are doing a great job, take your time to rest a bit in the new release schedule, having healthy worklife balance it's important to keep the creativity flowing and avoid burnout
Christopher Johns
Hell yeah! You take care of yourself, man. Also, lemme know if you want help editing. I’d be happy to throw in on it.
Eric Rasputin
Zogarth does this and it's pretty fine. I think if the chaps are long enough, people wouldn't care.
Zero Wrath
Honestly wouldn’t mind even 1/day for weekdays. No reason to burn yourself out and it gives you more time to think over the chapters you write. Pretty crazy that you’ve even managed to keep up this release schedule for so long 😅
Bennet Sheckells
Sir, while I admit your writing has flaws, I would say that all writing is perceived by their writers to have many more flaws than they think it does. This is mainly due to the perception of the public, AKA reviews of writing, being made up of a lot of people (maybe half) who simply aren’t the target audience, and who’s tastes differ from yours. Almost everything that someone writes is something for people with the same tastes as them, so I would say that how well you express what you want to express as elegantly as you do it is the real measure of quality writing for most people. In this way, if at least 80% of reviews of your writing are good, then I think you can assume you have made the people who like the kind of book you want to write happy, and are writing something of true quality. And your writing has MUCH more than an 80% approval rate, I’ve seen like 2 negative comments here total from reading the whole thing and one of those was just expressing suspicion at wether your choice of having some of Ke Yin’s secrets revealed was a good one, not even an actual negative opinion on it just a ‘will this make the story better or worse?’ Which will no doubt be assuaged soon enough. And even if he later decides he dislikes it, that’s still just like 2 negative comments total!
Netherhunter945
you are acting like we would want you to suffer for our sake i dont care if you make one a week this story is too good
Jayden Shannon
Wanna the most dedicated authors I’ve seen 🫡
David
10 chapters a week is still a huge amount. It's definitely ok to prioritize work life balance.
adrien
Take care of yourself we don't want you to burn out
Jade Composer
Always take care of yourself
lilcapt
Will our intrepid hero get a chance to look over his realm before having to fight in the tournament
Aidan Coleman
Is the realm stabilizing tree in his inner world or did it get converted by the genesis seed? Also when he goes back to the two suns world is the saint parasite thing going to disappear or can he absorb it again? because it seemed to have around yggy’s sapience
Phoenixdrop
I can’t wait to see how it goes from here we are finally getting into the full on tournament arc and they finally saw his sun energies but yeah we are finally getting close to the second realm breakthrough and that is going to be fun but yeah ke’s inner world is absolutely insane compared with other people at his cultivation level but yeah the knowledge that all realm stabilizing trees used to be world tree sutra users with the level they reached before failing determining the quality of tree they turn into honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if most if not all sects have some sections of the technique in some capacity just so their elders can occasionally get a decent quality realm tree so they can try and break into the civilization realm and well I imagine many a world sutra user has reached a bottle neck they can’t get through only to call their best disciple in so if they fail a breakthrough the disciple can get a immensely high quality realm tree for their inner world if they fail as a final gift and I imagine they then go on to become quite the talent throughout the lands with such a tree boosting their cultivation and stabilizing their inner world
Lenora
You’re absolutely spoiling us by even keeping up the double posts on weekdays. Take care of yourself first!
Unlucky Lancer
Thanks for the chap and yeah man always take care your health great chapter as always
Jakob
Thanks for the chapters! Small correction, when Ke Yin is activating his blink step at one point it says 30 metres and then 30 feet.
E
Another awesome chapter. Still an awesome release schedule. Love the slight cliff protection with the double releases lol
Brandon Lydick
Absolutely amazing fight, everything I hope for and more from a fight between those two. Also do what you need to to stay healthy man
Alex Galaitsis
Whatever release schedule lets you sustain your enjoyment of writing, just do that.
Vincent Mason
That's a fairly reasonable change, so I'm cool with it.
LordRhyolith
Thank you for the chapter and the excellent quality so far. I was honestly surprised you managed to handle it for so long. Uploading 2 chapters every day is massive. Taking the weekends off is quite right. Some of my favorite stories I'm reading for years update a chapter a week or one a month. If the story is this good, it is worth it. I'd rather have a healthy and happy author than a stressed one who might lose his muse.
Codered999
Take as many breaks you need, thanks for all your hard work and I look forward to the future of this work.
Alex Han
Same I'm really confused about what's going on. I thought the reason they were fighting was to eliminate one team member so that the entire trio is out.
Caleb Gilbreath
Thanks for the story.
Mat
This chapter confuses me I thought their whole team had to go through the pass that if they could’ve done this from the beginning they didn’t have to fight
Albadia
I like many people can’t believe you’ve lasted this long. I also can’t believe it’s only been 6mo since i picked this one up, we’ve gone so far. Thanks for a great story, take a nap and maybe make some dinner and then… MORE KE YIN
Isaac Boyles
Lin Mei once again showing herself to be a great member of their team
Via
I think this is a fine change. Honestly considering the amount you’ve been putting out it’s genuinely extremely impressive that you haven’t completely burned out yet. 10 chapters a week is plenty enough if you ask me, hopefully this change will be good for you author!
Starfall20
See you on monday then. Taking care of your health is much more important.
Woodsy
So your human after all. its fine to take the weekend off like any normal person lol.
Druid
Honestly I've been surprised you've been able to maintain this release schedule. If you need to dial it back a bit to maintain your sanity then by all means you should do so.
Sagarius
Thanks for the chapter and its great that you are taking a break - i was more worried that you were pushing yourself too hard with all the chapters and have seen too many authors break down as a result. 10 chapters a week is still alot
