To himself, Argus' daily life couldn't be more satisfying than it currently is.
Every morning, before he proceeds with his practice, there's this duel with his father, a swordsman who, despite not even stepping into the path of cultivation, has an extremely high insight and comprehension of the way of the sword, allowing even him, who once stood at the very peak of cultivation, to glean onto some insights quite unfamiliar to him every now and then.
That, and the practice with the sword while acclimating his body to his new strength from the breakthrough, is something that consumes his entire day, allowing him to progress quite significantly even without pushing his cultivation further.
Of course, it's not all just sunshine and rainbows, and if there's one thing that is ruining the great flow of daily life that he is experiencing right now, it is exactly the thing that he is trying to deal with currently.
"What's the problem?"
He mutters to himself as he woke up in the middle of the night once again, the great amount of spirit energy being absorbed by his body being refined, purified, and condensed by his own meridian even without his cultivation technique's guidance, further improving his entirety with each passing moment.
It sounds like the ideal state of cultivation, having small, yet continuous, unending progress, but this is also the greatest problem that the young man has realized lately.
'It's like the improved Pure Heaven True Circulation Art barely has any effect at all.'
The young man thought to himself as he massaged his forehead, feeling a bit troubled by such phenomena, as he felt like he hit some sort of barrier, something that he never experienced during his time of cultivation in the previous timeline.
What he thought is even worse than this is the fact that the improved version of the Pure Heaven True Circulation Art, the one that he pushed to the limits, is also the very same cultivation manual that he had been using even when he already reached the highest level, the domain of the supreme, and it is even the very same manual that he is using to maintain some semblance of strength even after fighting endless wave of cultivators at the same realm as him back then.
"Is using 'that' really the only way?"
Feeling like it shouldn't be the case, given that his improvements of the Pure Heaven True Circulation Art almost feel like it is tailor-made for the Three Purities Origin Meridian, the young man couldn't help but think to himself, feeling a bit hesitant as he thought of that one solution that might be able to fix his current situation.
Indeed, it wasn't as if there's no way that he can bring the previous effects of his cultivation manual back to its highest performance, but the concept in his mind is something that he had only dare to think of, not practice, back when he was at his peak due to the danger it poses, not to mention right now that he doesn't even have a millionth, perhaps even a billionth, of his previous strength.
'Augmented Circulation…'
Recalling those words, he couldn't help but tremble, both from fear and excitement as he had come to realize that one of the most absurd ideas that he had created back then, will come to bite him in the back, becoming the very first person to ever practice in such manner after failing to find one who will be brave enough to attempt such stunt.
It was a few centuries before the start of that battle that ended the lives of most, if not all, of the supreme in all of entirety, peaceful days where he lived with some companions as they enjoyed exploring the grandness of the cosmos, all while he never forgot to find a way to further improve himself.
Perhaps it was due to the deep-seated idea of challenging not only oneself, but the very nature and reality as well, planted by his first teacher in his path of cultivation, but what that genius, Argus, known in this martial world as Xing Yuandao, came up with is one of the most absurd thing that one can possibly think of, to the point that even his companions, who put all their trust in him, refuses to let him go ahead and try his own method on himself no matter what.
What sort of close companion wouldn't stop him from doing so? After all, this augmented circulation is something even more of a mad idea than that time's legendary fool, Qing Tian, and his concept of meridian cleansing, as, instead of just adding one extra realm of cultivation, a practitioner of this augmented circulation instead has to circulate spirit energy based on two different cultivation manuals, simultaneously at that.
'Well, there's the problem of extreme difficulty in control, and of course, a single pathway won't be able to accommodate two different flows of spirit energy…'
The young man muttered to himself as he felt like he is working his mind in an overtime, making him feel a little bit frustrated as he realized that he already have the greatest treasure, the Three Purities Origine Meridian, and yet he right now, he just couldn't find a proper way to utilize it to its full potential, making him feel like a man dying of thirst, with the entire ocean surrounding him in all directions, unable to drink this saline water.
As he keeps on second guessing whether to proceed with this though, his mind flashes of multiple things that he doesn't want to recall anymore, bodies, laid cold and dead all around him, faces that still smile at his direction even after experiencing such tragedy, scenes like this repeating time and time again, the Kyrios Empire the true friends he made here despite his lacking abilities back then.
Beyond even that tragedy, the loss of his mentors, the old teacher, Qing Tian, among others, his companions, lives taken due to the power and wealth he hold, power and wealth that should've been meant to protect them, and the very last one, that fleeting moment of supremacy as he slashes with his treasured sword for one final time, that feeling of standing above everything else, even the heavens itself, making him feel like that kind of power is what he needs to defend all that is important to him.
"Ha.. haha… Hahaha!! What am I even hesitating about??"
Only now noticing that he is in a downward spiral of questioning himself, Argus couldn't help but laugh, not a mocking one, but an amused, loud laughter after feeling a bit refreshed, gone were the questions and hesitations in his mind as he pushed them to the corners of his mind, and in place of it, a single one, completely different from before.
'I've been given such a great chance to start over, why shouldn't I try my best?'
He thought to himself, confidence brimming inside him even without any experience regarding this method of cultivation, a faint smile on his face, wondering why he even think of not going through this process he created all by himself for himself, pushing even this wondering to the back of his mind as he already recalled the manual he made for augmenting specifically just the Body Refining Realm alone.