Chapter 46 - He is Back!

Hengsheng now found himself on the edge of the endless forest. It had been three days since he killed the abomination monster—three days since he passed out from depleted Qi—and during that time, Yunsu had dragged him through the forest for an entire day before he finally regained his senses. The hardship had taken its toll, and now Yunsu seemed angry with him.

"I'm sorry! How about I find something that tastes good for you later?" he offered sheepishly.

Perched on his right shoulder, Yunsu turned her face away, her ears twitching slightly at his words, yet she maintained her resolve to ignore him.

"Since you are silent, then I shall assume that means yes," Hengsheng continued.

"Meowww!!" came the sharp retort as she slapped him in the face for his shameless claim.

As one human and one spirit beast travel across the forest terrain, Hengsheng tries to observe the surroundings. He still does not see any demon beasts anywhere other than the ones that gather at the divine tree’s aura, and he is also looking out to see if the abomination monster is not the only one in the forest. But after traveling for so long, he does not find a sign of another abomination monster, which does give him relief; he also doesn't want to face something that his logic can't comprehend.

Soon he arrives at the end of the endless forest. In front of him is a rocky mountain terrain where the Lan Clan base is hidden somewhere up there. Hengsheng is excited a little bit—once he almost reaches his destination, he can focus on advancing his cultivation realm and attend to the many things waiting for him to do. Without any more hesitation, he continues his footsteps.

But there was something wrong here. Hengsheng frowned; he had the same feeling as when he was in the endless forest—the demon beasts were gone. Hengsheng quickly rushed to his Lan Clan base at high speed. On the way, he saw the fighting trace—a familiar scene from the endless forest—and Hengsheng is now anxious, thinking that something bad is bound to happen.

Not long after, he arrived at the Mountain Wall. It seemed to be nothing special, but it was in fact the formation array to hide the entrance of the cave. Hengsheng did not wait; he quickly stepped into the solid mountain wall, but he did not find any resistance. Then he appeared on the other side, where he saw his two clan members guarding the cave. Their faces seemed excited to see him.

"Brother Hengsheng! You finally come back!"

"Welcome back, Brother Hengsheng!"

Hengsheng relives the sight of his clanmates alive in his mind—they had all already been killed by the abomination monster. Hengsheng gestures for them to be silent before he asks a question.

"What happened outside? Why did the demon beasts around here all disappear?"

Hearing his question, two of them seemed to turn pale and one replied.

"Brother Hengsheng, you won't believe it. While I was guarding the entrance, I saw a strange demon beast—very strong, with a most unusual appearance. It seemed to hunt everything in its path, but luckily, it could not see through our hidden formation; otherwise, we might have become its next meal." His voice trembled as he recalled the events.

It was as if Hengsheng had already guessed in his mind that the one who wiped out all the demon beasts around here was truly the abomination monster—and he wondered, do they have more than the one he found? He continued his questioning, "When did it happen and where has it gone now?"

Two of them recalled the events and answered, that it seemed was the same one that had appeared in the endless forest—appearing here a year ago hunting without stop after it had finished off every demon beast in the area, then went into the forest and never appearing around the rocky mountain again.

Hengsheng nodded and felt relieved that there was no immediate threat. He pointed at one of them and said, "You have led me to the best cultivation cave; I will cultivate here."

"Yes, Brother Hengsheng!" came the reply.

Not long after that, he arrived at the cave, its interior filled with dense spiritual Qi. Satisfied, he nodded, then took out two green leaves and handed them to his clanmate, saying, "This is a Divine-grade treasure. Go share it with the one at the gate, and don't let anyone disturb me. You may go now."

The clanmate’s eyes widened and nearly popped out of his sockets upon hearing that it was Divine-grade treasure. Before regaining his senses, he quickly stepped outside and bowed to him.

"I will do my best, Brother Hengsheng!"

Seeing him leave, Hengsheng moved the stone door to close his cultivation cave, then walked over to the stone bed. He took out his soft bed from his space ring, placed it on the stone bed, and lay on it. For the first time in a year, Hengsheng felt safe, and he immediately began the first task of his cultivation session—which was to have a very good nice rest…

Hengsheng woke up the next day as a cultivator; although he really didn’t need to rush, this method of speeding his recovery proved to be a great way to refresh, and he intended to keep doing it even as he grew stronger in the future. At his side, he saw Yunsu with her eyes closed as if in deep sleep, now floating gracefully as spiritual Qi gathered around her and wove together into a delicate, continuous thread—a pattern that led him to assume she was in the process of breaking through Rank 2 of the Spirit Beast cultivation realm and would soon ascend to Rank 3.

He, too, had challenges ahead of him, but after experiencing Samuel’s life, he changed his mind; he had not known that one could alter the very nature of cultivation to such an extent that it became a completely different direction. His new plan was to refine his current cultivation system—a system commonly known among all cultivators in this realm as The Path of Dao Attainment.

It begins with the creation of a Spirit Body at the Body Awakening Realm; then, in the Qi Gathering Realm, a cultivator must gather spiritual Qi to refine and fill the spirit core while opening at least 64 Qi meridians. Following that, the next realm is the Spiritual Foundation, for if Qi Gathering is considered the true cultivator, then the Spiritual Foundation is the first step on the Dao path, creating the very foundation of the cultivator’s Dao Heart—Spiritual Symbol.

To breakthrough from the Qi Gathering Realm into the Spiritual foundation realm, one must open the Upper Dantian and form a Spiritual Symbol within; thereafter, the Heavenly Dao sends a mind tribulation to test the strength of this Spiritual Symbol—if it proves too weak it will be destroyed, the cultivator will fail, and their Upper Dantian will be severely damaged, making future breakthroughs increasingly difficult.

But Hengsheng already possessed his Dao Heart, so he was confident that he would have an easy time forging a solid and strong Spiritual Symbol; yet that was not enough for him—he yearned for more, determined to push beyond the norm.

Hengsheng entered the mind space to assess the full capability of his mind and to begin crafting his new cultivation technique. He did not intend to change the cultivation system—it was already too late for that. Besides, when comparing Samuel's cultivation system, which focuses purely on human genetics, with this continent's system, he recognized that the latter was stronger and more refined in its foundation. This system nurtures all aspects of a cultivator—mind, body, and soul—in a balanced way, resulting in a robust foundation that prepares one for Dao attainment and eventual immortality.

All cultivation techniques have different methods depending on the path the cultivator chooses, yet the final destination remains the same. In the case of the Spiritual Foundation Realm, the goal is to open the Upper Dantian and form a Spiritual Symbol. To open the Upper Dantian, one must first open the initial 64 Qi meridians, which serve as the pathways for spiritual Qi within the Lower Dantian—the spiritual core responsible for channeling Qi to the Upper Dantian in the brain. Opening the Upper Dantian requires a significantly higher quality and quantity of spiritual Qi than merely opening the Qi meridians.

The next step is to condense a Spiritual Symbol, representing the cultivator’s chosen path and philosophy. The method for doing so varies according to the specific cultivation technique practiced; the symbol can take any shape or form. In this continent, where sword cultivation is especially popular, many techniques lead the cultivator to condense a Spiritual Symbol in the form of a Qi Sword, thereby increasing their talent and affinity for the Sword Dao more than if the symbol were formed in another shape.

Hengsheng, who had already set his path to become the system maker, now had to forge his own path by himself!