Chapter 10 - Breakthrough!

To the Ark Elder, Tian Longmeng was basically a barren desert receiving rain for the first time in forever. He smiled and folded his arms as he watched Tian Longmeng. "Oh well, might as well enjoy the scene."

Tian Longmeng was relishing the sensation; however, he knew that the time had come to get down to business. Tian Longmeng mustered all his might into absorbing the essence of the pond.

At first, nothing happened, but as he focused, essence seemed to gravitate towards him. A lot of essence in fact. There was so much essence flowing into Tian Longmeng that it looked like a milk whirlpool with him at the center.

Outside the pond, all the scratches and markings on the wall shone and the entire atmosphere of the cave went awry. It was like chaos was birthing in the cave. The Ark Elder looked at all of this and sighed softly.

"I should have expected that this would happen when you try to defy what is bound to the heavens. I hope I was not wrong, Milord, Milady." With that, he noticed the Ark of the Majesty levitating towards the center of the pond. The Ark Elder sighed once more and reentered the Ark quietly.

After the Ark Elder returned to the Ark, it was finally fixed above the exact location of Tian Longmeng. Thereafter, the Ark illuminated the cave with a blinding, golden light that later became a beam that shot down at Tian Longmeng.

"Aaaahh!!!" Then came the excruciating pain that mauled Tian Longmeng's muscles and bones to shreds. Tian Longmeng in this state could not possibly know that the cause of this sudden pain was the Ark of the Majesty; he would not care either.

All Tian Longmeng cared about was seizing this last hope ticket of his dreams before him. Tian Longmeng gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so hard that blood began to seep through his fingernails. He endured this pain for almost an hour before his mind and body reached the tipping point.

Tian Longmeng immediately released his curled up form and had his entire limbs outstretched as he bellowed to the heavens. Of course, this did not have any physical phenomenon like the shaking of mountains or advent of heavenly lightning; but to Tian Longmeng himself, this was a monumental change.

This torn muscles and fractured bones began regenerating at speeds visible to the human eye, and not only that, but they were being filled with essence from the surrounding environment. The incoming essence began wrapping itself around Tian Longmeng's skin; and for a moment, Tian Longmeng's skin began glowing with obscure blue lines.

These were the same lines found in the Ark of the Majesty!

.....

"Ah, what happened- Ahhh!!"

Tian Longmeng woke up and tried to move his body to rise off the ground, however it was like a thousand beasts bit down on his body in unison. Tian Longmeng instantly dropped his head back to the ground and did not budge an inch further.

It seemed as if he somehow drifted to the shore of the pond while he was unconscious for an unknown period of time. Judging by his still-damp clothes it seems like he was not out for very long.

Tian Longmeng deduced that with that level of pain, his body would not be able to move for quite some time so he decided to just resign himself and get some rest. That would have been the case if Tian Longmeng was not suddenly being poked in the face literally five seconds after closing his eyes.

"Aah! Could you please stop that already?!" Tian Longmeng's patience quickly ran out and he exploded on that person.

"Haha, I knew you would not ride the yellow springs* just yet, boy!" Unsurprisingly, it was the Ark Elder that was found leaning over him with a broad grin on his face.

Tian Longmeng had already had it with this elder. At first, he thought that the Ark Elder was mystical due to the solemn aura emitted from him and the serious tone he gave. Now, all of that disappeared and all that was left was a conniving demon.

Tian Longmeng wanted nothing more but to shove the Ark Elder's face into a wall, but with his body's condition, he would not even be able to budge for now.

The Ark Elder looked at Tian Longmeng lazing around on the floor and waved his hand impatiently. "What are waiting for? Get up already."

Tian Longmeng glared at the Ark Elder with eyes that could kill. "Oh wait, you mean to tell me that you are so badly injured you can't get up," the Ark Elder said sarcastically. "Injuries of that feeble level could be healed by infusing a bit of essence."

Tian Longmeng was not amused. Infuse essence? Infuse what! Does he plan to poke that one weakness forever? Tian Longmeng glared at the Ark Elder as if he wanted to personally rip him apart, piece by soul piece.

The Ark Elder looked glanced at Tian Longmeng's expression and sighed before speaking up once more. "Why did you go through all of that tribulation just to give up on trying and then resign to being normal?"

"If I say infuse then do not question me and infuse!" The Ark Elder's sudden roar surprised Tian Longmeng and he quickly tried to infuse essence. To Tian Longmeng's surprise, essence began flowing into his body and all the discomfort faded away.

As the Ark Elder saw Tian Longmeng rise to one knee, he was about to tease him about doubting himself. However, that quickly changed when teardrops were evident on the floor of the cave.

Tian Longmeng turned up his head to the Ark Elder. His face was contorted with his tears, snot, and drool mixing with one another and his voice, hoarse as he wailed. All he cared about was the cultivation.

His goal of defying his parents' instruction to train ardently every day, his reason behind staying up all night listening to his father's stories of martial arts and cultivators, the reason behind risking his life to jump in a very risky pond of water; it was all for grasping a chance at cultivating.

However, Tian Longmeng was not such a fool to his verdict. He was destined to be talentless. It was what the heavens designed for him. As a 7-year-old, he was forced to face that deadly reality when he almost died to the mysterious grey wolf that could use essence.

What did it matter when he reached his limits of mortal strength and peak at about 1200 jins of force. If he even bounced past a baby blessed with cultivation, he would be destroyed. This was the destiny of mortals.

However, now he was able to play on the same field as everybody. He could soar in the skies and move mountains just like everyone else. He could even be able to crush a planet with his thoughts one day, just like the Ark Elder said.

The Ark Elder stood over the crying Tian Longmeng and smiled. Not a devious, sinister one like before, but a heart-warming smile, like that of a parent to their child.

*Yellow springs is a river in Chinese folklore that represents the road to the underworld.