The Abandoned

Gaofeng was used to traversing heavily populated cities, as he had lived in the Royal Long City, the capitol of the Long Empire, for most of his life. He had initially thought that his journey through the tenth valley would be simple, and that only yin specters would stand between himself and the Blood Ocean, however this was a nice change of pace. Naturally, he couldn't just barge in without any information, so he decided to mingle with the crowd and find someone to ask some of his burning questions.

He looked at the crowd at a distance before choosing the people he wanted to integrate with. There were a variety of merchants and otherwise inconspicuous citizens standing in line, but it would be troublesome to directly skip the line and go towards the front, so Gaofeng would have to choose someone further back. After considering a dozen different merchant groups, he decided on one in particular which carried a nearly white leaf, with only a tinge of green, on their banners. The reason he chose this group was because although they seemed to garner respect from their competitors, they weren't extravagantly dressed, nor did they have especially pleasant looks on their faces. From their tense expressions and stiff movements, Gaofeng gathered that either this group was transporting something of great value, or they were currently down on their luck. Either way, Gaofeng thought that such a situation would make it easier for him to gain their confidence.

When approaching the group, he simply gave them a bright smile and a slight wave. They looked at each other with confounded expressions before again turning to Gaofeng. A young man looking quite somber, dressed in light leather armor, approached Gaofeng and pulled a blade two inches above its hilt to display that if Gaofeng was here to cause trouble, he would be cut down in an instant. The young man had dirty blonde hair, and his stature reached what Gaofeng approximated to be around 6 feet. To gauge the relative strength in this place, Gaofeng utilized his powerful soul to sense the young man's cultivation realm. When Gaofeng saw that this young man, whose age seemed to be no more than 20, had the cultivation realm of the first level of the Divine Core realm, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. When he sensed this guard's cultivation, however, he had also realized that the guard didn't seem to have cultivated any normal qi, but instead the guard gave off a demonic feeling. Thinking back to the initial instance which caused this valley to become abandoned by the outside world, Gaofeng realized that these points were likely connected. Perhaps these people were remnant demonic cultivators or perhaps they had been similarly affected by the great changes in the valley and were thus required to cultivate demonic qi to survive. No matter what, to have the cultivation realm of Divine Core at the age of twenty, one would have to be a monstrous genius.

Naturally, Gaofeng would be able to easily achieve this, but there truly weren't many who could be compared to him. However, even the crown princes and princesses Gaofeng had met in the Holy Temple only had a cultivation realm of the peak of the qi-refining realm. Although these young crown princes and princesses were a few years younger than this young man in front of him, they were still talented enough to enter the 10th peak due to this talent, in addition to having access to great resources from a young age. Naturally, not all of the crown princes and princesses were talented enough to enter the 10th peak, and thus there were only five of these heirs which Gaofeng met during his stay at the 10th peak, while Gaofeng had deduced that the rest of the heirs could only enter the 9th peak or lower and thus weren't even qualified to compete for the Divine Enlightenment fruit.

Gaofeng gave the youth in front of him a wry smile, and completely disregarding his threatening action, he instead walked straight up to the youth before he could react and put his arm around his shoulder while utilizing his other hand to gently hold the hand that was resting on the blade. "There is no need for violence, brother. I merely wish to help you dealing with your current situation. If you just ask your higher ups to hear me out, I'm sure we can come to an amicable agreement. What do you say?" Gaofeng put a warm smile on his face as he said this in a tone which inspired confidence. The young guard hesitated with answering, but in the end he realized that simply asking to meet the higher ups couldn't hurt, and since he knew that they were in a difficult situation any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Hence, he gave Gaofeng a small nod before saying "That doesn't seem too unreasonable. I will make quick inquiry for you brother. Since you know we are dealing with a situation, I ask that you show some discretion and don't wander about as I inquire, alright?" Gaofeng smiled wider at that statement and simply said, "Naturally, I'll stay right here and wait for your good news."

Since Gaofeng had to stay here while waiting, he naturally wouldn't waste his time. He quickly found a seat nearby on a mat which he was able to borrow by one of the other members of the guard's party. After which he quietly sat on the mat while considering the intricacies of Shimmer. He realized while in the White Forest that Shimmer seemed to be extremely effective not only against plant lifeforms, but especially against Yin-aligned lifeforms. Thus, he quickly decided that against the Yin-Specters this would be his greatest tool. If it could ward them off like the trees, that would be for the best, but if not he still felt that it would be able to do great damage to them in a fight.

After actually utilizing Shimmer in a real fight, although it ended rather quickly, Gaofeng felt like he could possibly make another breakthrough. This also had to do with the extended period of time he utilized the ability to run through the forest. A critical realization came upon Gaofeng: the quickest way to progress his abilities wasn't to simply meditate on them all day, but instead to actively utilize them in unpredictable and dangerous situations. Gaofeng continued pondering the way in which he utilized Shimmer to his utmost ability while fleeing, and how he had nearly instinctively maintained it throughout the entire duration, only stopping after completely leaving the white forest. Even this forbidden valley couldn't escape the sun's merciless and scorching eye, so Gaofeng absorbed this sunlight according to Shimmer in greater and greater amounts, until it almost seemed like he was being defied. A halo had formed all around his body, as all of the surrounding light-qi was devoured by Gaofeng. This sight caused the merchant party Gaofeng had approached to exclaim and discuss amongst themselves as their curiosity had been peaked. When this information was relayed to the higher-ups in the guild, they decided to hear Gaofeng out. They had already leaned towards hearing him out, as he seemed immensely confident, but this kind of performance led them to believe that this youth might be hiding some great strength and that it was possible that he could turn around their current situation.

Gaofeng was already completing his breakthrough while the elders of the guild had made their decision. He had absorbed immense amounts of qi from the sunlight, and felt that the star within his dantian was growing rapidly. It kept increasing in size until it reached a size ten times larger than its previous one before it finally stopped growing. Gaofeng let out a satisfied "Ah" as he stood up from his meditation session and looked around at the guild he had approached. Their faces were filled with curiosity at the great power the youth had absorbed. Gaofeng was unknowingly continuously releasing a bright golden glow which made the surrounding people feel stifled, as if they were staring into the sun itself. When Gaofeng had a look at his own body, he understood their reactions, and he quickly stopped emitting such blinding light. He couldn't help but chuckle inwardly though, as he was thinking that his power had truly grown a lot from before he arrived at the Holy Temple.