Trapped

After about an hour of cultivating, using the energy produced to heal his wounds, Li Zhu stood up. He was now close to recovering, but he wanted to exit the cave for the time being, to avoid the risk of the Frost-Steel wolf coming back.

He was currently very close to the central area of Solitude Peak, where many core consolidating realm spirit beasts lived, occasionally wandering about.

As he walked towards the exit of the vast cave, Blue and Buddy followed him, with the small bird resting on top of the black dog, who angrily tried to shake it away, to no avail.

Buddy was limping, clearly not having fully recovered from the death of his body. Currently, he could probably only exhibit the power of a second stage qi gathering realm beast, another reason why Li Zhu had chosen to retreat. That said, with time Buddy would recover, and he would eventually return to his former strength.

As they neared the exit of the cave, Li Zhu noticed something strange, 'It seems to be darker this time around. Maybe it is night-time?'

When they had initially entered the cave, although it was a bit dark, he could still walk without needing to use heavenly energy as a light source. Then, when they had gotten farther into the cave, Yin ponds and lakes illuminated the environment, so creating lights was once again not necessary.

This time around, it was almost pitch black, and Li Zhu was forced to illuminate the path himself, to avoid running into a wall.

As he finally reached where the entrance had been, though, a surprising sight appeared in front of them: there was no exit!

He was facing a wall of ice and spirit stones, though they did not form an even wall.

'Did the ceiling cave in?' was Li Zhu's first thought, seeing the large rocks randomly piled on top of each other, forming a sturdy barrier.

As he observed the scene more closely, though, Li Zhu felt that something was amiss. The ceiling of the cave had been nowhere near to caving in when he had entered, and the ice that covered it was strong enough to block an attack from a core consolidating realm expert, let alone naturally breaking.

Li Zhu looked at the ceiling, examining the damage that had made it cave in.

"That's a sword mark!" he suddenly exclaimed, noticing a small engraving, which emanated an aura of sharpness.

He had been a talented swordsman as the crown prince, so he could recognize sword intent immediately.

'This is the act of a human! But who? The power contained in that simple strike is at the limit of the core consolidating realm!' thought Li Zhu, confused.

Someone powerful wanted him to die, but he could not remember making such enemies. He did not even suspect the elder who had gotten him sent to Solitude peak, for two reasons. Firstly, he had never sensed killing intent from that elder, only anger. As a trained fighter, Li Zhu could easily differentiate between the two, and the absence of killing intent signified that the elder really did not intend for him to die, rather he was just arrogant, and thought disciples were beneath him.

Secondly, the sword strike, though powerful, had not yet reached the level of golden core realm, which excluded all elders from the list of suspects. Although cultivators could limit the strength of their attacks, the strikes would still carry the energy of their cultivation, which was distinctly different from realm to realm.

For example, the energy that a golden core realm expert could use was much purer than that of someone at the core consolidating realm, and although they could make a strike of theirs weaker, it would simply contain less energy, but at the same level of purity.

'Can I get trough this rubble with shadow lurk?' wondered Li Zhu, though he had the nagging feeling that this barricade was not that simple.

The only option he had, Li Zhu fused with Buddy, who was currently very weak. They had already repeated the contract, with Buddy having been more than willing, this time. Although being the summon of a human reduced freedom, Buddy had not actually been restricted that much, and Li Zhu was his only chance to further awaken his bloodline. Furthermore, Buddy had grown accustomed to the presence of Li Zhu, and his other option would be to live out his life as a weak, qi gathering realm spirit beast, at the bottom of the food chain.

Having fused with Buddy, Li Zhu felt a wave of exhaustion crash into him, partially inheriting the current strength of the dog. Though he was not at his strongest state, Li Zhu went along with his plan, trying to move through the barricade of ice and spirit stones, the materials that the cave walls were made of.

If he managed to get across, he would still need to find a way to rescue Blue, who could not use shadow lurk.

This did not matter, though, as Li Zhu was instantly thrown back, the moment he touched the barricade.

'As I thought! Whoever did this also set up a defensive formation! Who would care so much about my death?!' a formation had been placed together with the barricade, probably meant to block him from somehow destroying the ice, and getting out of the cave. At the same time, though, it also did not allow him to use shadow lurk, since heavenly energy in formations did not contain shadows, which the skill required to function.

Li Zhu stood there, the feeling of helplessness invading him. He could not destroy a formation set up by a peak core consolidating realm expert, so he was stuck in this cave, until someone discovered his absence, which could be never, since he did not know many people in the sect.

'Since I cannot get out of here, I might as well take the opportunity to get stronger, and eventually I will be able to break through this barrier!' Li Zhu quickly changed his attitude on the current situation, his resilience made clear.

In the past month, he had gone through many hardships, which were constantly hardening his willpower, the most useful trait of a cultivator.

'I can also test my theory, and if I am right, my cultivation will skyrocket!' Li Zhu thought, becoming excited just at the thought of it.

When he had almost died it he Yin lake, he had used the transformation with Blue to absorb the Yin energies invading his body, which had boosted his cultivation greatly. Li Zhu now wanted to replicate what he had accidentally discovered, albeit in a less risky manner.

His plan was to enter the shallow part of the lake, in the transformed state, and take in as much Yin energy as his body could handle, before getting out of the lake and slowly refining the energies into his own.

It was a risky way of cultivating, since if he stayed in the lake too long the violent energies could either tear of freeze his meridians, both undesirable results. That said, the Yin energy was simply too pure, and was a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise his cultivation. Since he was now stuck in the cave, the rewards outweighed the risk, so Li Zhu was willing to try the method.

Li Zhu, having decided the best course of actions, gestured Buddy and Blue to follow him, as he returned to the room with the large Yin lake, still unoccupied by any spirit beasts. Buddy would be the guard while Li Zhu cultivated, making sure no spirit beasts entered this part of the cave while he was at his weakest, dealing with Yin energies.

That said, Buddy was still quite weak himself, so his job was mostly limited to warning Li Zhu about any spirit beasts that were nearing their location.

Li Zhu stared at the Yin lake, determination etched on his face.

'With risk comes reward, and at the moment I need strength! As a cultivator, I need to push myself near the point of death to grow!' thought Li Zhu, trying to convince himself that suffering pain for strength was the way of a cultivator.

Jumping into the shallow area, having already fused with Blue, Li Zhu thought, 'Give me some time, and that barrier will be destroyed by my fist! These people think they can so easily defy me, but they will learn the consequences of their actions.'

This time Li Zhu had really been pushed over his limits, and although he did not particularly enjoy taking revenge, people needed to understand that he was not so easily bullied.

Furthermore, the person who had trapped him in the cave was someone he did not know, which confused Li Zhu, who could not see through the motive of this person's actions.