A hundred years...
That was a long time that the ladies of the Harem had mostly spent in dual cultivation with Hal while using cultivation techniques derived from Hal's infinite sovereign scripture which had seen them improve drastically...
The vast majority of them were now in the Cosmic Saint realm and that especially included Melinda, Rita, Emily, Marla, Karmen, Amelia, Arya, and Valerie.
Leading the charge in regards to the stars of Sainthood for those who had not yet reached the Saint realm at the start of the seclusion was Emily who was now at the seventh star and she was closely followed by Melinda who was at her sixth star and behind and the two were Rita and Arya who were both at the fifth star of the saint realm.
Arya had always found the time to dual cultivate with Hal all through the seclusion and had left the production of Nirvana pills to Alchemist Irma and her recruits but even then, she had still dedicated enough time in Alchemy to see a massive improvement in her Spiritual sense with it now being at the seventh rank.
Anyway, Amelia, Marla, and Karmen have at the second stars of the cosmic Saint realm while Valerie was at her fourth star.
Elsa was at the fourth star as well.
Every main member of the Harem was now a Saint and in a much wider and general scope, no one among them was lower in cultivation than the mid-stage of the Semi-Saint realm.
There were numerous obscure members of the Harem at the first star of Sainthood.
This phenomenon rang true with other members of Hal's force who were of course not part of the Harem and not one of them was lower than the mid-stage of the Semi-Saint realm. Many of them even broke through into the Cosmic Saint realm.
As for those who had been saints at the start of the seclusion; Isabella Dane advanced from six stars to Nine stars and Makena went from two to Six stars.
Anyway, they as well as everyone else in Sapphire City at the moment had their heads raised towards the sky where Hal, clad in simple blue robes was cross-legged in mid-air with his eyes closed... A powerful force was responsible for keeping him afloat.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWhat drew so much attention to Hal was the force he was radiating and not just his incredible looks that were surely worth gawking at.
Unlike his women, Hal had not advanced his cultivation and had rather focused his attention entirely on Infinity, and on this very day, which marked the end of the seclusion, the entire mass of people living in Sapphire city was treated to the sight of Hal pushing his development of Infinity from Infancy to Principle.
Levels of Infinity Development; Infancy, Principle, Conception, Incarnation, and then Paragon.
It had taken him a hundred years to reach this stage and would likely take him much longer to reach the next level (Conception) but he had at the very least succeeded in getting where he had gotten.
Being at the Principle level of Infinity granted Hal a wide range of abilities, part of which was the ability to use the insight level of every single Ordinance, and that included the abstract ordinances.
No longer was he only able to negate Ordinances...
Anyway, the moment he was done, Hal turned his attention to the part of his strength he had been ignoring for a hundred years: His cultivation.
He reached into the massive reservoir of essence that he had reaped with the multiple dual cultivation sessions with his women.
Every star Sainthood required a mental tribulation that translated into physical... It was a torturous and delicate situation in which the smallest deviation from going how it should go was rewarded with nerve-wracking sensations that either resulted in the total loss of cultivation or death.
This was a scary possibility that hardly ever actually happened due to how much care cultivators take while going through the steps... No one would be so foolish as to rush the process especially when they had spent a minimum of four hundred years accumulating the energy required for the breakthrough in the first place.
Every member of Hal's force had all cut down the time of their cultivation through techniques gotten from Hal but they still understood the importance of carefully following laid down steps and yet they all watched Hal create two cosmic Avatars in one minute...
... With one Avatar representing one Star.
Hal was not done though and in the space of five minutes, he went on to form three more Avatars which brought his tally up to five.
The Avatars surrounded him and had their legs crossed in mid-air with their eyes closed.
Ten minutes after that and three more followed which brought the numbers up to eight and this sparked a true reaction from all cultivators who realized just how much of a massive feat this was.
They wondered if Hal was just not experiencing tribulations on account of the ease with which he appeared to be moving through the Cosmic Saint realm.
Hal indeed met the tribulations as he advanced but he simply ignored them all... The tribulations were about testing the fortitude of mortals but Hal was no longer just a mortal, he was more than that... He was not yet a god but he was also not mortal.
With him achieving the Principle Level of Comprehension with Infinity, Hal had surpassed all the mortal laws and rules, to the point where they no applied to him.
He was now a being who had insight into every single Ordinance both Elemental and Abstract and that alone put him above it all.
The mental tribulation stages were for him just like a casual stroll with no worries as he was armed with Infinity and sovereignty.
It was for this reason that Hal had wanted an advancement infinity first.
The ninth and final Avatar formed but he just joined the others as well as the main body in mid-air with crossed legs and eyes shut in absolute seriousness...
"It's not over," Isabella said.
Now being at the ninth star of the saint realm, the Dane Patroness could peer off over the gorge that was the cultivational gap to at least know what was in store and she could guess that Hal was about to attempt further advancement.
He was about to try doing what would take any other Saint almost a millennia to complete.
'This is insane' she thought.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe was right.
Every tribulation Hal had so far ignored had also ignored him as a show of understanding how he was out of their league, however, the tribulation stopping advancement into the Demi-god realm decided to be interactive which Hal met with a nonchalant wave.
That single wave stopped whatever tribulation had planned to afflict him and then proceeded to swallow the tribulation into oblivion.
Hal then drove every last drop or essence he still had in his body while crazily absorbing cosmic energy around him to make for one final push.
The cosmic avatars became pure forms of energy that condensed to form a Halo of blue, black, and gold colors above Hal's head to signal the moment he had become a one-Haloed Demigod.
Hal's devil trident and Sovereign scepter appeared floating by his sides in mid-air and he reached out to grab the two while passively unleashing the pressure of his power and command.
The denizens of Sapphire City did not have to be prompted before they knew to fall fall over and worship the Sapphirine Prince's mighty magnificence and while they bowed, he waved his hand over them all and blessed them with strength... they were all filled with vigor and cosmic energy which sparked an advancement in a few of the weaker cultivation experts.
When they all dared raise their heads again, the Prince was gone from the sky... He was gone physically but his presence was still with them all.
City-wide worship and celebration began and it was very much organized by the Priestesses of the cult who were best at directing the worship of their lord.
While this was going on though, the main members of Harem went to the throne hall within the temple.
Hal was there seated on the throne and permitting himself an indulgence in the feel of his newly acquired Power and level of strength.
He had his eyes closed but was of course very aware of the arrival of the ladies and was in no way taken by surprise when Marla sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck in her fairly usual clingy fashion.
"Congratulations," Melinda said and Hal could tell she was smirking when she said it.
"You don't sound like you mean it," Hal said with a chuckle.
"Oh, I mean it. I just think it was all a bit of an ostentatious display" Melinda said.
"Agreed" Every one of the ladies, except Marla, chorused, and just when Hal was thinking she was on his side with her silence, she said,
"Yeah, you were definitely showing off"