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Chapter 10 (Vol-2)

In the Great Wilderness, two haggard figures lay beside each other on top of their airship, contemplating their current fate as they stared blankly into the night sky.

"…..I am never going into the forbidden zone, ever again."

"….Agreed."

Yan Liehuo started crying in an ugly manner that would have repulsed his sister if not for her similarly exhausted and hollow look.

"So many Demonic Beasts! Why were there so many of them in there? Did some perverted master from the ancient time use that place for some twisted experience?"

Yan Xinyan shivered in terror and disgust as a particular memory rose to the front of her mind.

"….I don't know about that, but I do know that I don't want to become a plaything for a Dragon Turtle ever again."

"Same!"

The two siblings shivered in terror collectively as they remembered the days they spent being toyed around by a Dragon Turtle in the peak of the Void Refinement realm. A beast that stood at the pinnacle of Cultivation on this continent and ruled the Forbidden Zone of the Great Wilderness.

Thankfully, they somehow managed to escape it through sheer luck, allowing them to escape the nightmare-inducing area.

Suddenly, Yan Xinyan sat up with urgency and took out the tracking artifact which started to glow violently when she pointed it towards a certain direction.

"Found her!"

Yan Liehuo got to his feet in an instant and took control of the airship, taking off at full speed toward the direction of the girl they had been searching for such a long time.

"Finally! We are so close! Mistress will be very happy to know that we succeeded!"

"Don't celebrate too early, Liehuo. We need to see the girl with our eyes at least before we can confirm anything."

"don't be so cynical, especially when we are so close to completing our mission."

"I am not being cynical, I am being practical."

Yan Liehuo did not let his sister's words get to him as he happily drove the airship, already fantasizing about how happy his mistress would be at their success after such a long search across the continent.

We waited patiently as the current Emperor of the Baihu Empire, Baihu Hankai, gave a long and tiring speech about the history of the Empire, the various sects that were participating in this expedition, the rules to be followed inside, and various other things that I and probably everyone else present here knew beforehand.

Basically, there are a few rules that need to be followed when inside the secret realm, some that are enforced by the realm itself, others that are agreements on the part of the various forces.

It was basic rules, such as not resorting to lethal attacks on each other, not stealing each other's resources, and other such basic things. Things that I don't expect even the naïve children of the various forces to follow when inside the realm.

After all, the mortality rate of 50% within the realm is not solely attributed to the Demonic Beasts inside.

'Once we are inside, you need to head straight for the tallest mountain located in the north. Once there, I will guide you towards the cave entrance that leads beneath the mountain where our objective is.'

'Ok. But, what about the other things? When do we grab those things?'

'We will go for the other resources once a week has passed. From what I remember, the first week of the expedition is always the bloodiest time, when many sect disciples and students of various forces try to resolve their personal grudges using the lack of supervision within the realm to their advantage. We don't want to be caught in the crossfire no matter what happens. Especially since our cultivation will be heavily suppressed by the realm.'

'Makes sense. Let's do it your way.'

I was brought out of my conversation when I felt Yin Lingxi hold my hand and subtly gesture towards the side where a group of people were trying to be low-key.

"Da Wei, we need to avoid that group as much as possible."

I felt surprised at her words and concentrated my senses on identifying those people.

They must have been powerful experts since the group of three men that surrounded a person in the center immediately started scanning the area after being alerted by my probing.

Instead of relying on my Qi sensing, I used my Primal Qi to enhance my eyesight this time, allowing me to finally spot the person in the middle of the group, revealing a boy that was probably around Da Ling's age.

A boy that neither I nor Xiang recognized.

I got closer to Yin Lingxi and whispered in her ear.

"Who is that?'

"…That is the current crown prince of the Baihu Empire. Baihu Jianxiao. The biological son of Baihu Hankai. He attained that position after defeating the previous crown princess, Baihu Yuefeng, his half-sister, in a duel last year."

"Ah! Right. I tend to forget that the Baihu Empire is a meritocracy"

"Hmm. It is better not to get involved with him or his group, which is probably made up of his personal bodyguards, since there is a high chance they would recognize me, even with my hair dyed black."

"Agreed."

"…Also, can you stop whispering in my ear?"

I felt startled as I realized that I had been continuously whispering in her ear since asking my question and pulled back in embarrassment.

Looking at Yin Lingxi, it is clear that she felt embarrassed as well if the way her cheeks were flushed was anything to go by.

How embarrassing. To think that I would forget proper decorum despite being an adult.

Shaking my head to suppress those thoughts, I turned back to the front and saw that the speech was already over, and the people belonging to the Royal Family and the Sects were already proceeding into the secret realm.

Once the people of the various major forces were gone, it was time for the rest of the gathered cultivators to enter the realm.

"Lingxi, once we are inside, do not leave my side for anything. We will be going straight for my objective and will be staying there for a week until things calm down. Then, we can search for anything that interests you."

Yin Lingxi nodded seriously at my words, making me feel happy at how seriously she takes my words most of the time.

Soon, it was our turn to enter.

The moment we stepped foot into the entrance, I felt space itself distort. My senses felt confused for a matter of few seconds just like when I used my Warp function on my Airship before they stabilized and I was faced with the inside of the Secret Realm.

A Realm of beautiful nature, floating landmasses, green pastures, clean-flowing rivers, and verdant forests. All of which were thickly covered in Pure Qi.

"…How beautiful."

I nodded at Yin Lingxi's words, but soon remembered Xiang's warning, making me focus back on the task.

Turning northward in accordance with the sun in the sky, I spotted a large mountain range with one peak being conspicuously huge.

Even without Xiang's knowledge, such a huge and conspicuous mountain would have definitely triggered my gamer instincts, making me head for that place and search it for any hidden 'loot'.

"Let's go."

With those words, we shot towards the mountain.

However, as we were heading towards the mountain, I could not help but notice that I felt no different from what I usually felt when outside, something that should not be possible since this realm should have been suppressing my cultivation to the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm.

'As expected, I can't hope for anything normal when it comes to you.'

'A mystery for later. For now, we have a destination to be and it would not do for us to look a gift horse in the mouth.'

'You and your mysterious sayings, fine. Tell me when you reach the mountain, in the meantime, I'll look into your spirit roots and cultivation to search for the reason for this new development.'

'Done,'

"HAHAHA! FASTER! GO FASTER!"

"YANG IS ALREADY GOING AS FAST AS HE CAN!!"

Yang, the Scorching Stallion, ran with all his might, running alongside the train that was moving on the path towards the mining village of Chief Xu.

Riding the Demonic Beast was none other than the master of the said beast, Da Ling, and her friend, Jin Ruiying, the little sister of Da Ling's 'junior brother' Jin Tianrui.

Ever since her father had left on a journey to find something for her Junior Brother, Da Ling had been feeling very bored, making her seek ways to entertain herself.

That was why, when Jin Ruiying proposed the idea of running alongside the train to see if Yang was faster than Da Wei's creation, She could not help but agree enthusiastically, much to the dread of her Dao Familiar who gave his master a pleading look.

Ever since he became Da Ling's Dao Familiar, he had led the most enjoyable time of his life, eating top-quality demonic beast meat, drinking Qi-rich water, and being fawned over by the girls in the village for his majestic mane and form.

In fact, he had been enjoying his life so much that he had become a Demonic Beast equivalent of a couch potato who refused to do any work.

However, this new task that his master set for him made him dread working up that much sweat, causing him to plead with his master in the only way he knew, by giving her a puppy dog look with a pitiful expression.

Unfortunately for the massive beast, he had failed to realize that thanks to his form, he could never hope to pull off such an expression, leading to its current misery.

Yang panted heavily as he ran with all his might alongside the stupidly fast train while the two girls atop him screamed in joy.

For the rest of the day, the poor Demonic Beast was put through hell, running beside the trains continuously until the girls finally got tired of the same activity.

The two little girls enjoyed the day, but it was hell for the poor beast.

Chapter 11 (Vol-2)

"Da Wei, why are we moving through an unremarkable cave like this? I don't even feel any Qi within it. What do we hope to gain from here?"

"Lingxi, the fact that you can't feel any Qi from this cave should already tell you of its extraordinary nature. Think of it like this, everywhere in this secret realm is saturated with Pure Qi, yet, this cave has none, it is simply abnormal, is it not?"

Yin Lingxi felt startled as she realized the truth in her companion's words and pondered deeply on how she had missed such a simple thing.

As the two slowly descended deeper into the cave system that stretched deep under the mountain, they soon arrived at a colossal opening.

It was a cavern shaped like a dome stretching several Li in all directions. However, despite its impressive size, it felt no different from the rest of the cave system, completely devoid of any Qi.

However, Da Wei was not fooled and slowly started to walk toward the center of the cavern, where a withered tree sat quietly, looking just like any other dead tree one would find in the outside world.

The only issue was that it was the only intact thing within the barren cavern, which made it extremely suspicious.

As Da Wei started walking forward, he silently signaled Yin Lingxi to stay behind.

'Careful now.'

'Relax, we've gone over this fight countless times in our minds, I've got this.'

'I know, but it's better to be cautious.'

Da Wei did not reply to his future self and carefully crept forward while using his Primal Qi as camouflage and bait at the same time.

His target must have taken the bait as the Qi he was releasing into the atmosphere was suddenly being sucked towards the withered tree.

Suddenly, the tree shook and took on a vibrant hue. Its withered branches sprang with black leaves as its trunk shone with Yin and Wood Qi.

Then, its roots suddenly moved out of the earth, and the entire tree stood up on its roots.

However, Da Wei spotted a single root still buried in the earth.

'As Expected. A Natural Treasure is easy to deal with.'

'Indeed. It took me everything I had to defeat this damned thing in my timeline, causing this Primordial Yin Wood to be greatly damaged and reduced the lake of Netherworld Yin Spring to dry up rapidly, leaving behind just a few drops of the substance for my use.'

Da Wei continued his tactic of luring the Natural Treasure towards him, hoping to separate it from the Netherworld Yin Spring even if for just a moment so that he could defeat it without causing too much damage to both the items.

Unlike Heavenly Treasures, which take thousands of years to develop a consciousness, Natural Treasures are born sapient, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

As the tree, the Primordial Yin Wood, slowly followed Da Wei, unaware that the 'Pure Qi' it was trying to devour was bait for its demise, Da Wei waited patiently while filling his body to the brim with his Pure Qi, preparing for his attack.

The best way to defeat and preserve a Natural Treasure is to strike its core, flooding it with Qi in an instant to destroy its consciousness. However, it is easier said than done for most cultivators due to the unpredictable nature of the Natural Treasures.

As Treasures formed from the very essence of elemental and conceptual Qi, Natural Treasures have no fixed shape or anatomy from which humans could learn their weaknesses.

For example, the previous incarnation of the Primordial Yin Wood took on the form of a Wooden Puppet shaped like a serpent, while the Netherworld Yin Spring took on the form of a clear lake in the middle of a forest with its core hidden within the body of the Primordial Yin Wood.

Even before that, the Natural Treasures hid themselves within the spirit roots of a child, leading the child to suffer and extremely gruesome fate at the hands of the various forces.

And it is not just the Primordial Yin Wood and the Netherworld Yin Spring that use such methods to protect themselves. All the Natural Treasures are prone to take on new and completely different forms in each of their iterations, making it impossible for anyone to know their weak spots.

This was why it was nearly impossible for most people who discovered these Natural Treasures to take them intact, which fed into their scarcity and value since the majority of the material was destroyed during the attempt to defeat them.

Fortunately for Da Wei, he had a real-life cheat code in the form of his future self who fought this version of the Natural Treasures in his timeline, allowing Da Wei to know exactly where to strike.

Slowly, the tree lumbered over to the limit of its reach, just within Da Wei's striking distance and close enough to absorb his Primal Qi.

The tree greedily sucked in Da Wei's Primal Qi, rapidly draining his overwhelmingly large reserves, explaining why the entire cave system was devoid of any Qi.

However, Da Wei did not retaliate, instead, he continued to wait for the tree to suck his Qi, much to the horror of Yin Lingxi who was watching the whole thing.

She felt the urge to rush forward and destroy the damned thing that was sucking her friend dry of his Qi, but she was forced to stay put as Da Wei signaled her to stand still.

Suddenly, the trunk of the tree started to loosen, revealing a small gap from which a gleaming black crystal was visible.

This was the core of the Primordial Yin Wood.

Despite having followed Da Wei's lure, the tree was always on guard, tightly guarding its core with its powerful body. Even when it started to suck the Primal Qi from Da Wei, it was still extremely cautious, looking out for any traps and carefully digesting the Qi a little bit at a time, worried about being poisoned by some unknown form of Qi.

However, as it continued absorbing the Qi and found nothing wrong, instead even feeling very refreshed thanks to the very potent Qi, it slowly started to relax, lowering its guard, which unconsciously caused its bark to part a little and reveal the spot where its core was.

'Even if it is born with a consciousness, it is still, in the end, just an object.'

'True. It's naivety will be its downfall.'

Da Wei waited some more, watching as the tree completely abandoned its caution and started to greedily suck his Qi.

By this point, it had already drained nearly half of Da Wei's absurdly large Qi reserves, an amount that is equal to nearly fifty peak Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

Finally, when he felt like the tree was completely free of any caution, he struck like a snake hiding in the grass.

With a swift blow, Da Wei unleashed his full cultivation of The Nascent Soul realm peak stage, directly shattering the bark of the tree and flooding the core of the tree with his Primal Qi.

However, the reaction to his blow was something that no one anticipated.

Da Wei had long since known about the regenerative properties of his Primal Qi. He even used it consciously when he tried to heal Jin Tianrui's mother and used it several times to recover his and his disciple's stamina during their training sessions.

However, he had never guessed that this property of his Qi would also work on Natural Treasures, just in a completely different manner than he had ever anticipated.

The tree screeched in pain as its core started to grow in size rapidly, becoming larger and larger, pushing through the body of the tree and breaking its shell.

Da Wei stood there with a dumbfounded expression, watching as the core continued to swell and cracks started to show on its surface.

'….Harvest the spring, and run. GO! NOW!!'

Xiang's voice brought Da Wei out of his mind, causing him to run towards the hole where the tree was located before.

Looking down the hole, he spotted black liquid that was already starting to boil and evaporate in response to the tree's damage.

Wasting no time, Da Wei took out a Heaven-Grade containment artifact he had prepared beforehand and drained as much of the fluid as he could into the container.

However, he was only able to harvest a few letters of the substance before it completely evaporated, leaving behind an empty hole.

Suddenly, his instincts screamed at him to run.

"Lingxi! Run!"

The princess shot out of the cave at his words just like he did, but not before grabbing hold of the tree's body and ripping out a chunk of its wood.

The moment the two people rushed out of the cavern, a bright light nearly blinded the duo, followed by a massive explosion, resulting from the tree's core exploding after being oversaturated with Da Wei's Primal Qi, which caused the cavern and surrounding cave structures to collapse.

Fortunately, Da Wei still had full access to his nascent soul realm cultivation, allowing him to pick up Yin Lingxi and shoot out of the cave system before it collapsed on them.

The moment the two arrived out of the caves and into the open air, the two fell to the ground in mental exhaustion at the rapid series of events.

"…..Don't ever do something like this again."

"..Agreed."

Da Wei smiled at the fuming look that Yin Lingxi directed at him.

For the first time in a long while, his life was truly in peril, and he loved every moment of it.

It reminded him of the times from before his awakening when he used to truly love fighting others and was obsessed with power.

He may no longer be that kind of a man, but there is no denying the thrill of adventure he felt at this moment.

Da Wei closed his eyes and lay silently on the ground, relaxing his racing heart.

'With this, we have both the Primordial Yin Wood and the Netherworld Yin Spring, even if the quantity is only a fraction of what we truly wanted.'

'Indeed. Where to next?'

'Home.'

Author Notes;

A smaller chapter this time since it was mostly action and explaining the nature of the treasures.

Read 6 chapters ahead on Patreon.

Support my work through Patreon by buying Book 1 through the Patreon Shop.

Chapter 12 (Vol-2)

Within the Secret Realm, just like Xiang said, it was a scene of absolute chaos and bloodshed.

Many cultivators belonging to various rivaling forces fought among each other, killing others for past grievances and resources.

Rogue cultivators, without any backing, used this opportunity to strike at unprepared targets, such as the young masters and ladies of various clans and sects to steal their resources.

One such scene was taking place right now as a group of three people and one teenager who was probably around twelve or thirteen years old were surrounded by a dozen rogue cultivators.

"Hand over everything you have, and maybe we will give you a quick death."

The sheer arrogance in the tone of the rogue cultivator was enough to ignite the fury of the three adults, but they held their tongues as their master had not permitted them to take any action.

The teenager in question stared at the large group with amusement.

"And what if we don't?"

"Then, you will suffer a lot before you die."

"Is that so? Why don't you show me?"

The teenager's dismissive words greatly angered this group of rogue cultivators.

In the outside world, rogue cultivators like these people would never be able to even look at descendants of powerful clans and disciples of the sects due to the sheer difference in status.

This caused most of the rogue cultivators in the world to harbor hatred and jealousy towards those born into such positions or those born with talent.

They believed that should they have the same resources as these people do, they too would be just as powerful, if not more. A thought that was based on pure fantasy and not facts but one that everyone harbored due to their inferiority.

As such, opportunities like these, where the proud young masters and ladies of the clans and sects are on the same playing field as them, were rarely passed up by many rogue cultivators who took out their hatred and sick thoughts on these members of the upper echelon of their society.

Of course, this matter was known by everyone on the continent, including the leaders of these powerful forces. Then, why don't they do anything about it? The answer is very simple.

If their heirs and chosen successors can't even overcome something as inferior as rogue cultivators with barely passable martial arts, techniques, and resources, how could they lead their forces in the future?

Such is the thought process shared by every leader of the various forces on the continent.

Again these thoughts are also well known to the rogue cultivators, fueling their anger even more.

Ironically, this way of doing things had been the downfall of many young masters and ladies of various forces in the past. In fact, this particular group of rogue cultivators had recently committed various heinous acts toward a group of disciples from a well-known sect of the empire. Their men were tortured to death while the women faced and even worse fate.

The teenager sniffed the air for a bit before his face twisted into a feral expression, causing his bodyguards to stiffen in fright and quickly move away from their master, knowing that there was going to be a serious bloodbath.

"All of you give off a substantial amount of resentment. I smell the blood Qi of hundreds of curses on you. You must have killed and humiliated a lot of people recently, right?"

The blood Qi is a type of Qi that is different from Demonic Qi or elemental Qi. It is a type of Qi that is formed from the resentment of the victim of a murder. A type of curse that is born from the very Heavens due to unjustly killing people, especially mortals.

Most of the time, this type of Qi can be easily ignored by everyone since every cultivator in existence has killed someone without reason at some point. It also does not help that the blood Qi can only linger for a few years at most before natural dissipation.

However, most orthodox cultivators of famous forces don't like others to know just how much blood Qi clings to their bodies. They hate it when their clean image is tainted by exposing the quantity of needless murders they cause. It is also the reason why artifacts that suppress and hide the blood Qi of cultivators are so popular across the continent.

Aside from exposing the nature of a cultivator, blood Qi causes little other effects other than making the tribulations of a cultivator stronger should they try to break through while their blood Qi still exists on their bodies. This is why most people won't care much about its existence.

However, this particular teenager is not just an ordinary Orthodox cultivator.

The words of the teenager caused the rogue cultivators to become even more resentful.

"Just for those words, you will be the first to-"

The leader of the rogue cultivators could even complete his words before the roar of a tiger resounded in the area filled with Metal Qi, heavily disorienting the rogue cultivators as their weapons started to shatter under the frequency of the sound waves that were modified with Metal Qi which attuned the sound waves to the specific frequency of the different metals that made up the various weapons.

An awe-inspiring feat.

However, the rogue cultivators only felt terror as they instantly recognized the move.

The teenager did not give them time to respond as his body flashed gold with Metal Qi before he disappeared with a burst of speed.

While the speed was not that impressive in reality, the hypnotizing movements and postures that mimicked a stalking tiger caused the cultivator's heart to chill in instinctual fear.

"The Steel Prowl? And that roar, the Metallic Roar? Y-You! You belong to the Royal Family!!"

The teenager smirked at those words.

"Correct. I am Baihu Jianxiao, the crown prince of The Baihu Empire."

The reveal of his identity caused the rogue cultivators to go pale as they directly kneeled in front of him.

"Y-Your Highness!! Please spare us-"

"No"

The cold words uttered by the child caused the rogue cultivators to feel a chill as they saw his cold gaze move across their forms.

With his identity revealed, they knew for a fact that even if they were to combine all of their powers and try to attack, they would all die tragically.

The tale of the crown prince attaining his position through a brutal duel with his half-sister despite being a major realm lower than her in cultivation was something that everyone had heard at some point in the last year.

With that said, there was only one thing they could do at this point.

"Run!"

The group instantly scattered in the four directions, hoping to confuse the teenager long enough to escape with their lives. Praying to the Heavens that they would not be the ones to be targeted by this monster in human form.

Unfortunately, the teenager had foreseen their actions.

He simply nodded toward his subordinates who shot forward at his signal, easily surpassing the speed of these rogue cultivators with their superior techniques and rounding up the closest rogue cultivators.

As for those who escaped, Baihu Jianxiao gave a bored expression before shooting forward with another one of the Royal Family's techniques, The Golden Tiger's Hunt, which allowed him to use the Metal Qi to cut through the air, lowering his body's air resistance and increasing his speed.

Within minutes, he hunted down and killed all the rogue cultivators with his own hands.

"Your Highness, take this."

One of his subordinates handed him an artifact to wash away the blood from his clothes which the prince took and cleaned himself, yet, his expressions were still held in a frown.

"These people must have been truly despicable if the Heavens only pushed a day or two's worth of blood Qi onto my body despite killing more than a dozen of these people."

His bodyguards did not say anything as they too agreed with their master's words.

The intensity of blood Qi and the duration that it clings to a person is directly proportional to the number of unjust killings performed by the cultivator. However, just like everything else in existence, the Heavens balances these acts of killing in its own way.

Cultivators who perform unjust killings towards other cultivators gain a large amount of blood Qi that lasts for at least a year. Those who kill mortals without reason end up gaining blood Qi that lasts for at least a decade.

Since people like these don't care much about this blood Qi, the Heavens made it so that anyone who kills such people with potent blood Qi on their bodies would not be affected much and would not gain much blood Qi.

Effectively, the Heavens promoted the act of killing those with excess blood Qi, turning it into a sport. This is also one of the many reasons why the various cultivators of the continent don't like others to know the amount of blood Qi in their bodies.

It is also the reason why these cultivators don't dare to show themselves to the Royal Family of the Baihu Empire.

The Baihu Empire's Royal Family practices a Heaven-Grade Cultivation Technique known as The Golden Tiger's Dominion Art. A cultivation art with the elemental affinity of Metal.

One of the side effects of using this technique is the ability to smell the various types of Qi present around the user. The higher the proficiency of the user in the technique, the larger the radius that the user can smell and the wider the range of Qi that they can detect in the form of smells.

Baihu Jianxiao shook his head in amusement and turned towards his bodyguards.

"Let's go."

With those words, the group started heading deeper into the secret realm, intent on completing the mission assigned to the prince by his father.

And just maybe, find the man with the purest smelling Qi that the prince had ever seen. The man who had secretly tried to probe his group before entering the realm. Unfortunately, he did a poor job of hiding his intent from the sharp senses of the Prince, resulting in the prince spotting him as they entered the realm and accidentally catching a whiff of his Qi.

The Prince grinned in anticipation as his hands itched with his urge to fight.

He wanted to see just how it was possible for someone to have such pure Qi, free of any taint or ill intent. He wanted to understand how such a person led his life.

And most importantly, he wanted to fight such a person to see how he stacked up compared to someone so unique in terms of power.

Chapter 13 (Vol-2)

A secret realm is, most of the time, a separate domain that exists in the real world but is separated into a dimension that overlaps reality to some extent. However, despite this separation, it still falls under the rule of the Heavens to some extent.

And since it falls under the rule of the Heavens, it is also normal for many types of Heavenly Treasures to form in them, albeit at an accelerated and in exaggerated quantity due to the very nature of the secret realms.

This along with a few other reasons is why Cultivators of various factions compete so much to gain ownership of a secret realm, no matter how small, and why fierce battles and blood bath takes place every time an expedition is carried out into such realms.

Why am I thinking about all of this general knowledge?

It is because we are currently going against this common sense and treating this highly coveted place as a vacation spot.

I turned to the side a little and saw that Yin Lingxi was still in deep sleep. The moonlight illuminated her body which was sprawled out on the recliners that I always carry around with me in my space ring. It was truly gratifying for me that she trusted me so much to leave herself completely defenseless like this.

After the disaster with the Natural Treasures under the mountainous area of the realm, we decided to explore the secret realm for a bit to see if we can't find something that would interest us. However, all we found were the heavenly treasures that we already had with us.

Gradually, we slowly lost interest in finding treasures and decided to explore the realm. Finding hidden waterfalls filled with life, gentle glades that stretched as far as the eye can see, verdant hills full of life, and beautiful flowers. This place is truly a paradise when one stops looking for treasures and just starts to explore the place.

That is why, we decided to plop down on one such hill with flowers surrounding us as far as we can see and relax. Cleansing all of the stress that was accumulated in the few days we spent inside this place.

The flowers themselves are a type of heavenly treasures of Mortal-Rank, the lowest possible rank, known as the Midnight Moonflowers, a type of flower that is rich in Yin Qi and only blooms under the full moon. The rich and mesmerizing fragrance it gives off makes it a very popular treasure for female cultivators and makes for a very good gift.

'Perhaps, it really is not a bad idea to relax like this once in a while. Especially for you since you have been drowning yourself in work these days.'

'You are talking about relaxing? That's a first. Don't you always push me to cultivate harder?'

'I do that because I don't want you to die a dog's death, no matter how small the chance of that happening is. Especially with what is about to come in the next few decades.'

'….The Invasion of the Continent?'

'The invasion of the continent. Last time, I survived that disaster through sheer luck as a Core Formation realm cultivator. In the end, it took the combined might of all four Holy Lands to repel the invaders. Even then, the loss of life was immense during those times. While you are not like me and have already reached the threshold of the Soul Transformation realm, it would still be prudent of you to prepare for it.'

'True. But that event is still a decade or two away so I guess I can afford to relax a little bit.'

'Correct. Speaking of, your lover is awake.'

'She is not my lover!'

'….I truly pity that girl. Just how oblivious can you be?'

'….I am not talking about those things right now.'

'Fine. Do whatever you want.'

I ignored those words and suppressed the chaotic emotions that swirled into existence at his words.

I am not a fool. I have long since picked up on her hints, and I have also recently realized the significance of her actions in recent days.

The significance of having her hair done up in a bun, which is part of the Baihu Empire's culture, signifies that a woman is either married or taken. This is something that I only recently came to know after going through the history and culture of the Baihu empire, thanks to a particularly talkative bar owner in the capital.

The significance of having a Jade hairpin placed in her hair by my hands instead of wearing the normal hairpins made of spiritual materials and shaped like flowers that she used to wear, which is another indication of an ongoing relationship.

The embroidered sashes, the complex sleeves, the wider collar in her dress, the list went on and on, each and every one of which clearly displayed her intent as far as it could be socially acceptable for a woman to show her interest so blatantly.

And, as much as I fear to admit it, I feel untold amounts of pride and happiness with these gestures of hers.

However, a small but extremely loud part of my mind is terrified. Terrified of the unknown territory that I had never ventured into, and the prospect of all of this being a misunderstanding on my part and all of her actions being nothing more than ignorance due to being a princess.

I know this is stupid and that there is no way she does not know the significance of her actions since she must have received a great deal of education about the culture and traditions of both her own empire and that of her rival empire.

But the heart is rarely rational and so are emotions.

This is why, I have yet to act upon her hints. To try and probe her intentions and to confirm our relationship.

Besides, I also need to think about the current situation between the Yin Long Empire and the Baihu Empire.

As cultivators, we have a long life ahead of us. So, I believe it is prudent to wait until this issue is solved and our home is truly at peace before we step into this chaotic mess of emotions.

"You are losing yourself in your thoughts, again. Seriously, why can't you just enjoy yourself for once?"

Her exasperated but fond voice brought me out of my thoughts as I looked at her.

For a moment, I lost myself in the image that I saw.

The gentle light of the moon illuminated her beautiful silver hair, the dye having long since been washed out during our travels in the realm. Her golden eyes gave a gentle gaze. Her perfect form lying lazily in the chair and her full lips pulled up in a small smile.

The rapid rise in my heartbeat brought me back to reality as I once again suppressed my emotions.

Indeed, it is too dangerous to indulge in these emotions right now. But, when the opportunity arises in the future, I will have to confront her directly.

I am truly terrified, that what I feel now is just a one-sided affair, that I am getting my hopes up fruitlessly. But, I will not allow that fear to ruin what could be. Not again, never again. I swore to myself that I would live this life without regrets on my mother's grave, and I will not go back on that promise.

I felt my lips pull into a smile as I reaffirmed myself.

"I am enjoying myself, aren't I? I am surrounded by beautiful flowers, a full moon, and an even more beautiful maiden by my side. What more can a man ask for?"

A furious blush exploded onto her face as she glared playfully at me before swatting my shoulder.

"Look at you, such a sweet talker. I bet you used the same words on many girls before in your sect."

"Haha! Not really. Back in those days, the only thing I ever cared about was strength."

"I don't believe you.'

I laughed as she turned away from me, probably to hide her embarrassed expression.

Yes, I will not allow my life to be filled with regrets again like I did in my previous one.

What use is having money, Power, Social status, And every other form of material gain in the world if you don't have anyone to share it with?

They used to say, that money can't buy happiness. A notion that I used to look down on in my youth back on Earth. I used to think that whoever came up with that notion must have been a fool and a poor bastard since money clearly could buy happiness, at least for me.

A successful man with millions of dollars worth of assets and money. A beautiful house, a large array of various types of cars. All the time in the world to indulge in my hobbies without having to worry about my day-to-day life ever again. Isn't such a life the peak of happiness?

But, as I grew older, I realized the true meaning of that statement.

It's not that money can't buy happiness, it's just that happiness gained through material means is only temporary. True happiness, is something that can only be gained through family.

Looking up at the full moon, I felt something within me change as I continued reflecting on what once was and would never be again if I had any say about it.

It felt like some weight that had been pressing down on my heart was finally lifted.

With those chaotic feelings, I closed my eyes and rested in the comfortable silence.