Lu Qingshan walked until the moon replaced the sun. It was the dead of night when they finally managed to reach a point of interest in the silent sea of trees.

  A crystal clear lake sat in the middle of a clearing. Growing near the outskirts were a set of plants no one recognized. And in the middle of the lake was a small island, upon which a set of upright vines grew. They propped up three crystalline fruits.

  Common sense determined there had to be a guardian. But when Lu Qingshan tentatively drew close, his Insect Harmony Mantra picked up on a presence buried in the center of the vine. He didn’t try to cross the lake. Instead, he tugged on the newfound connection, and called the insect over to his side.

  A slight delay in the creature’s movements warned him early that he wasn’t in control. “Get away from here,” he whispered to his elders before returning to his chanting. Fortunately, they didn’t hesitate.

  It was a cicada cast out of crystal. Glittering dust fell from its beautiful wings as it drew closer. He ordered it to return to the vines, but it kept flying towards him. By now Lu Qingshan knew this was a powerful creature, one that he had no control over at all.

  This had never happened before. But he kept calm while the spiritual insect took a liking to the grass beside him. Lu Qingshan simply continued doing what he knew best, and that was to sing the Insect Harmony Mantra. Eventually, the insect seemed to fall asleep, no longer twitching its wings ever so slightly.

  Lu Qingshan wanted to pick it up. But he knew it wasn’t safe. On its flight path where its wing dust had fallen, crystal growths appeared on the grass. He didn’t know what effect it’d have on his skin but he was most definitely unwilling to try.

  Though he couldn’t directly control the critter or discover its abilities, Lu Qingshan found his Insect Harmony Mantra’s proficiency growing at a rapid pace. So he stayed there, calmly reciting the mantra. This was exactly his goal: to find insects that could quickly raise his technique’s proficiency.

  “Go,” he quietly signaled to his elders, once it was clear that the cicada was asleep. It made a noise akin to the clinking of coins in a hand.

  When the sun rose and light flooded the clearing, the crystal cicada seemed to have had its fill. The insect fluttered its wings and left behind a small chunk of crystal on the soil it had been sleeping on. Then it smoothly returned to the middle of the lake.

  Lu Qingshan continued chanting the Insect Harmony Mantra. His proficiency gain remained just as fast as the night before. At no point did it slow down. But he had no desire to annoy the creature into possibly attacking him. So he left — there were still things to do, and he could return later for more experience grinding.

  Following the Bloodsense Bug’s connection, Lu Qingshan reunited with his sect. They had discovered another point of interest with a patch of trees colored like blood.

  “Is it edible?” he asked.

  “Unfortunately not,” Qin Ye said, pulling out a piece of bark. There was nothing abnormal about these trees other than their color. They dug underneath the soil only to find blood-colored roots there as well.

  “Think anything’s down there?” Lu Qingshan asked. “Surely there’s a reason why they’re like this.” He sent the Bloodsense Bug to try and absorb the blood, but it refused. Apparently this meant the tree wasn’t actually made of blood. He couldn’t think of any other reason for this abnormality though.

  They started digging in between a pair of closely-growing trees. Meanwhile, Wu Ruoling continued scouting ahead with a few other elders as her aids. A deep hole emerged in the soil soon after they left.

  At this point, the spiritual earthworm suddenly perked up. It wriggled out of Lu Qingshan’s pocket and dropped into the newly-formed hole. Then it dug its own small tunnel while he tracked its movements through the earth.

  The earthworm took a while to return. Lu Qingshan continued chanting the mantra, but it actually managed to disappear from his spiritual senses. Like the Bloodseeker Flies he’d lost, the earthworm had either dug deep enough to be out of range or the soil helped block his spiritual connection.

  “We‘ll have to wait,” he said, getting back up from his crouched position. “There’s not much we can do otherwise.”

  The elders nodded, leaving to work on their own tasks. Liu Yingting and Wu Ruoling's focus was on experimenting with the nearby flora. Without any animals or insects in the area, their primary concern was whether or not these plants were poisonous. In an emergency, they could try eating tree bark, though this would serve as a last resort.

  Others worked on their martial techniques, forming groups to spar. Lu Qingshan also took this as an opportunity to finally practice his martial arts. He glanced at the stone slab.

  Lu Qingshan (28 years old)

  Lifespan Remaining: 36 years

  Cultivation: Mortal Shedding - Aperture Tempering

  Techniques: Hundred Beasts Refinement (Level 1, 11/10000), Insect Harmony Mantra (Level 6, 3891/10000), Blood Seas Inner Force (Limit), Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique (Level 2, 1251/10000), Giant Whale Breathing Method (Level 4, 5713/10000), Blood Pulse Technique (Level 2, 1943/10000), Dragon Spine Manual (Level 4, 1361/10000), Great Ape Breathing Method (Limit), Red Falcon Breathing Method (Limit), Tiger Fist (Limit), Deer Steps (Limit), Stoneskin Technique (Limit), Seven Steps Technique (Level 4, 1004/10000), Verdant Summer Inner Force (Level 2, 3167/10000), Black Fury Inner Force (Level 4, 971/10000), Raging Bear Breathing Method (Level 2, 3122/10000), Soaring Crane Breathing Method (Level 3, 3457/10000), Flowing Cloud Inner Force (Level 3, 3111/10000), Golden Shell Body (Level 2, 1298/10000), Roaming Tiger Breathing Method (Level 4, 8721/10000), Nimble Deer Breathing Method (Level 4, 6008/10000), Golden Drop Inner Force (Level 3, 7993/10000), Earthen Crust Inner Force (Level 2, 999/10000), Hidden Veil Technique (Level 4, 6299/10000), Turtle Breath Inner Force (Level 3, 7431/10000), Wave Motions Fist (Limit), Tiger Roar Technique (Limit), Crane Wings Technique (Limit), Iron Bear Technique (Limit), Viper Strike Technique (Limit), Silent Step Technique (Limit), Basic Hand-to-hand (Limit)

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  Mystic Jade Essence - Dao Fruit of Sublime Miracles - Condensing... 69%

  In less than half a year, this progress was quite fast — thanks to his breakthrough to the Innate realm. But without a concrete goal, his proficiency gain would spread itself too thin to make it within the three year timeline.

  Without the means to easily raise his proficiency in the Giant Whale Breathing Technique, Lu Qingshan decided to focus on something else, namely the Roaming Tiger and Nimble Deer Breathing Methods. After that, he considered his multitude of other animal breathing methods and inner force techniques that were at a relatively low level. As a Grandmaster, they didn’t provide him much help, but perhaps pushing each of them to a more significant level would greatly increase their combined power.

  Three years was almost certainly not enough to raise all of them to limit. It might not even be enough to raise half. Thus, Lu Qingshan determined it was still better to continue searching for powerful medicinal herbs instead of secluding himself just yet. The Giant Whale Breathing Method continued to be his priority, alongside with the Dragon Spine Manual. Once these two had reached the limit — quite feasible in three years assuming his previous pace, though strong tonics were still needed — he could attempt to fuse the two techniques with the Blood Seas Inner Force using the Mystic Jade Essence.

  Three powerful Aperture Tempering techniques fused at once was likely enough to reveal the second realm of the martial path. If it wasn’t, he’d have to adjust his plans. This was the most manageable choice for the next batch of Mystic Jade Essence. Otherwise, another ten years was going to be needed to gather enough essence for the ten-techniques fusion. Maybe even twenty years, in case one portion wasn’t enough.

  Then there was his next area of focus: the Insect Harmony Mantra. Fortunately, he’d already found the solution, though there were still some pitfalls to be managed.

  If he continuously chanted the Insect Harmony Mantra with the crystal cicada nearby, his proficiency gain drastically increased to the point where a year and a half would be more than enough. The problem was that it would render him entirely unable to explore this place. With all the unknowns present, his sect would likely fall into danger multiple times. He needed to figure out a method to get the spiritual insect to willingly come with him in order to help keep his sect elders safe.

  Lu Qingshan settled down, having determined his cultivation plan for the next three years. He chanted the Insect Harmony Mantra while pushing his fist forwards. The Tiger Fist came naturally, attuning his breathing with the Roaming Tiger in an instant. His proficiency points began to surge.

  Two days went by before Wu Ruoling’s group finally returned during nighttime. The spiritual earthworm had not yet resurfaced, but she had brought vital information about their next course of action.

  “I saw a mountain peak in the distance,” Wu Ruoling said. “It’s very far away though. At least a day of travel to where we spotted it, and another few days to reach the base of the mountain.”

  “Did you manage to find any sources of food or water?”

  They shook their heads no. That meant this journey would become a risk — if it led to nothing yet again, their supplies would start running low. A mountain peak would allow them to see more points of interest, but that might not help if they didn’t have the energy or time.

  “Let’s wait until the earthworm returns,” Lu Qingshan said. “It’s found something buried deep beneath the earth. I cannot tell what it sensed.”

  But before the earthworm could resurface, Lu Qingshan saw through his flies that a group had finally emerged from the mist. He studied their profiles. Led by the person he had focused on the most, a young man in his early twenties, and the first to leave for the forest, this group consisted of one immortal cultivator and six martial artists. They were from the Jade Sparrow Group, a famed security group known for their boisterous demeanours and reckless endeavours.

  Song Lin was his name. Lu Qingshan didn’t know if he had any relations with the Song family back in Great Wind City. But now, the man was all alone, with only a tenth of the martial artists he had initially recruited.

  Another group appeared in front of Song Lin just as Lu Qingshan was thinking about what to do next. But this one was much more at odds with one another. The martial artists stood at one side, clearly shouting at the other, where a single man stood alone in the face of aggressive gestures.

  Song Lin kept control over his group of men, but the other male cultivator was shoved backwards. There was a woman in the group that tried to stop the conflict, but—

  A fireball blasted one of the aggressors into chunks right as they took their last step towards the male cultivator. Pieces of flesh splattered onto the faces of his companions and they paled in an instant. The forest became silent at once.

  The woman sighed. She stepped out of the group and walked besides the man. Lu Qingshan honestly had to admit he was shocked to see this. The male cultivator had an arrogant look on his face whenever he looked at martial artists. But when facing her, his eyes softened, and there was clear respect in his actions.

  So, there weren’t just five cultivators here. There were some who had hidden themselves among the martial artists as well. It reminded Lu Qingshan that there wasn’t an easy way to detect them, unless they grew lax and forgot the walls had eyes.

  Lu Qingshan watched the two cultivators drive their martial artists into submission while Song Lin’s group eyed them warily. It seemed Song Lin was kind — his group of six didn’t look surprised at seeing a spell in action. He must’ve actively used his powers to help them escape.

  There was still some time before they reached the crystalline lake. His sect needed to come to a decision on how to treat these immortal cultivators going forward. Before they entered the fog, slaughter and competition was a good choice, but now with their dwindling supplies of food and water…

  Lu Qingshan’s thoughts turned to another possibility. These immortal cultivators must know some information about this place from the confidence they displayed. Perhaps they knew how to get supplies. It was time to consider a way to cooperate with them, instead of avoiding them or making them enemies.

  There was no way around it. Their lacking knowledge made them too susceptible to risks in this place. Finding no food or water on the mountain peak would almost certainly be life-threatening for most of his sect.

  He glanced at the hole where the spiritual earthworm had gone. “Stay here and watch our things,” Lu Qingshan instructed Liu Yingting and Li Fanghua. “It’s time to consider cooperation with those immortal cultivators.”