Her Ambition

Opening her eyes, Shen Zhengqiu felt relaxed enough from bathing in the hot spring. Feeling a heavy weight on her right side, she turns to see Lu Chunhua fast asleep holding on her arm. A warm feeling arose in her heart, just like how Lu Chunhua uses her as a tree to protect herself from the sun, Lu Chunhua is like an oasis in a desert for her. Over the time of using each other, they have grown a friendship similar to a sister's bond.

One thing about Lu Chunhua was that she is also quite a rare talent in cultivation and had reached the Gold Martial Artist level after following the [Yin Martial Arts]. When she received the [Heavenly Lotus Manual], she also got the [Yin Martial Arts] which is a version more suited to women without awakening a Spirit Demon bloodline. Although it isn't a full cultivation technique and just a set of Martial Arts, Chunhua had benefited greatly, even if she cannot reach Master level with these Martial Arts on her own. A set of techniques can bring a person to Gold level, but due to the attainment of Inner Qi at the Master level, it needs more than just a set of techniques.

She continued staring at her best friend who is like a sister to her and scanned her body without any sense of shame. Her friend really was lucky, although she is still quite chubby but she is growing out of it and filling in other areas. Wondering how to wake her up, a thought flashes in her mind and a grin filled with mischievousness crept onto her face.

-

Inside Lu Chunhua's head she was having quite a nice dream, one where she was soaring through the skies and the clouds. She had a dream since she was little like any youth and she really wanted to fly, it was a simple dream but flying is every human's fantasy. Who wouldn't like feeling the breeze rustling through your hair whilst you soar through the skies akin to a majestic bird?

She was only in a light state of sleep at the moment though, so when disturbed she would easily wake up. Feeling a tingling on her ears and a soft breath tickling her neck and also something kneading her immature peaks, she woke up feeling quite flustered. Turning her head to see Shen Zhengqiu's face right up against hers, her big watery eyes sparkled and she pouted whilst reprimanding her friend, "You could at least wake me up like a normal person"

Shen Zhengqiu saw her friend pouting but the playfulness in her friend's eyes couldn't be covered. "I couldn't just let you sleep in the spring, it's dangerous and I couldn't help it" she replied and gazed at her friend again and muttered under her breath "It's there for a reason"

For the next several minutes, giggling and splashing could be heard from the hot spring. In the innocence of youth, even the most unfeeling people would appreciate the beauty it could bring.

-

Lying down on her bed, Shen Zhengqiu was busy reading a book she got from that hidden room. This book was especially intriguing to her as it was about cultivation levels, and what astounded her was the Grandmaster level was only a stepping stone into the world of cultivation. It also wasn't even called Grandmaster as the stage it is at isn't worthy enough for a title like that.

Grandmaster was actually the 5th stage in the Foundational Base Realm, which means the previous stages correspond respectively to the other levels. The Sage level that was assumed to be a legend was an actual level, but that was rather insignificant compared to everything else. It was in the Dantian Stage of the Building Qi realm, which contained the previously mentioned Dantian Stage, then the Meridian Stage and finally the Condensing Qi Stage. The Building Qi realm's goal was to strengthen the body so you could use more stronger Qi even faster.

After this realm is the Cleansing Body Realm which is actually mostly optional. This realm does not have any specific stages but the end goal is to cleanse the body of all impurities, obviously the more pure a body is will lead to a greater progression in cultivation. Then the next realm is the Core Formation Realm where the Dantian and Qi is merged completely together to create Spiritual Core. An obstacle in this realm is when forming the core for the first time, the cultivator would be targeted by the heavens in the form of lightning tribulations, many cultivators had fallen at this point. Either they die or survive with severe injuries and digression in their cultivation.

The next realms are the Nascent Realm and Divine Transformation realm but there wasn't anymore information about them or the Realms after it. Only a small amount of information about the Nascent Realm was there but it only said that it had something to do with the soul and 3 different stages.

Flipping to to the last page, a piece of paper fell out and scattered falling on to her lap. Opening the paper, it appeared to be a map of a few places of interest outside groups of mountains. Reading the title, she got quite excited, 'Soaring Heavens Mountain Range and how to join a sect'. It showed her current position, the Bandit Mountain, which was actually a branch base of the Heavenly Moon Palace. The city that was there held a Martial Arts competition and the top talents would be selected by the various sects, and the city was aptly called Martial City. The competition happens every 10 years and judging from the information provided and the current date that she knows, there is only 3 years till the next competition and the travel would be around a year on foot.

She had never travelled properly since she was alive, but from how long it takes to travel she can tell that the world is much bigger than she can imagine. The only predicament that she has is that she is stuck in this Bandit Mountain and she would be able to easily escape if it weren't for Grandmaster Zhen.

From the map, there is a town around 3 days travel from where she is. Considering the amount of money that Grandmaster Zhen has, she should be able to get a ride on a carriage from the Yellow Grass Town and continue her journey to the Martial City by boarding different carriages along the way.

Putting the things back into the space in her marking on her forehead, she raised her arm and clenched her fists whilst her eyes shone with determination. She was going to go to Martial City so she must get stronger to be able to escape this place with Chunhua first!

She completely forgot about that flower within the space.