After leaving the meditation that had nearly caused him to reach nirvana, Fang Xing reflexively drew in a breath and the skies and earth quickly began to change. Dark clouds filled with thunderstorms and Qi gathered over the cave he’d chosen for his seclusion and stretched out over thousands of miles, and his single breath caused the Qi to funnel down towards the valley below.

　　After nearly two years of seclusion, Fang Xing’s body had nearly dried up and only a thin layer of skin over a skeleton had been left behind. His vitality had also nearly dried up, and the only reason he’d been able to stay alive was due to a bead in his Sea of Consciousness that released a faint watery shine from time to time. This bead was precisely the same Water-Avoiding Bead he’d swallowed before, and although it wasn’t known when it happened, it had quietly appeared in his Sea of Consciousness. It was fortunate he had this bead, or else he would have likely reached the state of nirvana—died, in other words—a long time ago.

　　The moment Fang Xing awoke, the bead quietly left and flew back into the foggy area within his Sea of Consciousness. This left Fang Xing rather speechless; what was so great about that area that it became something like a gathering for all the rare and strange treasures?

　　A mouthful of water entered Fang Xing’s body and his vitality started to return. Although he was still nothing more than a layer of skin over some bones and this couldn’t be recovered from in a short period of time, Qi started to flow and become plentiful. The first thing he did after waking up was observe his internals, and he was overjoyed to see his True Samadhi Fire. All of the flames had been collected, and this seclusion can now be considered as successfully completed.

　　Even more surprising to him was that the Tower of Dao within his body had already formed nine levels and had a very obvious purple aura surrounding it, floating in the air above his Sea of Consciousness. Furthermore, the Spirit Essence in his ninth meridian had completely disappeared, as though his body had shut itself from the outside world during his seclusion and circulated its own Qi. This was the same as nonstop cultivation practice, and the vast amount of Spirit Essence had all become part of his own cultivation.

　　The amount of Spirit Essence Fang Xing had before was unimaginable to others—enough to fill an entire spirit vein—and the fact this much was only enough to push him to the peak of late Foundation Stage left him utterly flabbergasted. The spirit veins of the Thousand Stream Seas were much more powerful and abundant than the vein at the Qing-Yun Sect so many years ago, yet a spirit vein that could nurture an entire sect for many years had been swallowed up by him in one go and had only amounted to full mastery of Foundation Stage. Just what was the reason for this? Fortunately, his full mastery of Foundation Stage also involved a purple foundation, which meant it could be said he had reached the absolute peak potential of Foundation Stage.

　　Fang Xing concentrated slightly and slowly stood up. He could hear the bones in his body cracking like cooked popcorn, and once he managed to stand up, strength began to come back to his body and he let out a satisfied yawn. His face felt a bit itchy, and he felt his long hair and facial hair when he moved his hand to touch it. “How long have I been in seclusion?” he muttered to himself in surprise. He naturally hadn’t felt the flow of time while he was meditating, but his facial hair and his body’s current condition served as a reminder.

　　Crack crack ….

　　Fang Xing opened the door to the cave estate and slowly walked out. The light on his eyes was harsh and unfamiliar, and before he even managed to put down the hand he was using to block out the sun, a giant tongue rolled forward and he was quickly covered in drool.

　　“Sh*t, why are you still here?” Fang Xing flinched and nearly ran back into his cave. When he looked again, however, he noticed the crazed dragon seemed to have lost some weight yet was still looking at him with great joy and excitement.

　　After seeing the dragon, Fang Xing recalled how he’d nearly reached nirvana and how the only reason he hadn’t was because this thing had woken him up—this guy had just saved his life. Reaching nirvana during meditation was known as “seated death” in the cultivation realm and was seen as an extremely blissful way to die, but Fang Xing didn’t care how much bliss it was said to bring. What did it matter if it was blissful or not if the person was dead? Bliss was something only the living could appreciate.

　　“Nn, you’ve been waiting for your little grandpa this entire time. Your performance is not bad; I shall officially take you in under my wing today to run my errands….” Fang Xing had been quite moved by this and he patted the dragon’s nose in satisfaction before pointing to the distant forests. “Go, go get a couple of wild hares. I want the fat ones, those with layers. Dammit, why am I so hungry I feel like I can eat a whole person?”

　　Fang Xing was likely the first and only person to treat a dragon like a pet dog, but the crazed dragon grew extremely excited by this and moved its head closer to Fang Xing’s body. It sniffed Fang Xing’s scent in an intimate manner before sneezing and rising up into the sky above to help hunt for the wild hares.

　　“I don’t know how long I’ve gone without a bath. I don’t smell that bad, right?” Fang Xing muttered with a smirk. He sensed around and caught a trace of water vapor, so he flew towards where the vapor had come from and found a green pond behind some bushes. It had many curves and was positioned in the center of some large, dark rocks, and the water itself was so clear even the bottom could be seen. It was extremely tempting, so Fang Xing quickly rushed over, lowered his cloud, stripped out of his clothes, and jumped right into the water.

　　Although his robe could avoid dust and dirt, a great deal of filth and impurities had oozed out from his body when he was completing his True Samadhi Fire and refining his foundation. His spirit robe was contaminated and could no longer be worn, so he tossed it aside.

　　The cool spring water splashed against his skin, and it was so comfortable Fang Xing let out a soft moan. He’d originally intended to take a proper bath, but once he entered the water, he became so lazy he didn’t want to move anymore. His body was simply too tired after not having any food or drink for nearly two years and he didn’t even want to lift a finger. Eating and drinking was still necessary at his current cultivation level, and although Qi did have various uses beyond what was readily known, it couldn’t allow him to go completely without sustenance—he’d still have no energy or strength if he didn’t eat.

　　Fang Xing felt as though a flame had started burning inside his stomach while he floated around in the water, and he started criticizing that dragon for taking so long just to catch a couple of rabbits. What he didn’t know was the dragon was looking all over the mountains filled with peril beasts of various sizes, all for the sake of finding a poor wild hare to no avail….

　　Things might have been fine if he hadn’t thought about it, but now that Fang Xing’s mind was on his stomach, he felt so hungry he didn’t have any energy anymore.

　　“Qing Ge’er, please eat something first….”

　　Just as Fang Xing felt so starved he thought nothing else in the world would attract his interest, he overheard a voice. He hadn’t heard the voice of another human for so long, but his hunger left his brain so numb he didn’t really care; it wasn’t until the scent of roasted meat wafted past his nose that he suddenly became alert. He turned his head and noticed something a few dozen feet away peeking out from the foot of a mountain. ‘Someone’s roasting meat here?’ Fang Xing sniffed his nose, and he suddenly felt a trace of energy return to him before he swam over towards the edge of the pool towards the side of the mountain.

　　A group of a dozen or so people were at that side of the mountain, and a campfire had been set up with an unfamiliar specifies of flying animals currently roasting over the flames. The animals’ skin was golden and oil dripped temptingly down, yet the group of people had left the meat roasting and no one dared to move. Their backs were to the clear pond, and in front of them was a white-clothed young man with red lips, white teeth, and an extremely handsome appearance who was currently showing an ugly expression.

　　“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eat! I vowed in front of the clan master that I would most certainly capture a fourth-tier peril beast and bring it back for him to see, but the agreed-upon date is nearly here and we haven’t even caught a third-tier peril beast! How can I go back empty-handed? Am I going to go back with just a few Red Luan Birds ¹ ? If I do that, that girl will look at me like a laughingstock!”

　　A yellow-robed middle-aged man next to the young man gave a bitter smile. “Qing Ge’er, please do have mercy on these old bones. That fourth-tier peril beast is effectively the beast king of an area, and they’re extremely vicious and powerful enough to take on a Golden Core. It would be an extremely difficult task with just us alone. Although we have your Three Treasure Gourd here, I’m afraid we may lose at least half our men to succeed….”

　　The others in the group all nodded in agreement with the man’s words. They clearly wanted to persuade the white-robed youth against something, but the youth creased his brows and sneered. “Since you joined our Hentian Clan, not only do you have a safe place to go within the Guixu Ruins thanks to the protection of the clan, you are also able to obtain resources for cultivation. Your lives naturally belong to our Hentian Clan; if this young master wants you to capture a peril beast, you do it and don’t say a word against it.”

　　Everyone else became quiet when they heard this. They all looked to each other without daring to respond.

　　“Hurry and eat then,” the white-robed youth coldly commanded, “A fourth-tier Long-Armed Ape is not far from here. We will go catch it after eating!” His words allowed no room for argument, and everyone else appeared helpless as they sighed and got their food. They all understood their old lives were about to be put on the line.

　　“Young Master, do you…?” One of them took a piece of meat and offered it towards the white-robed youth with both hands.

　　The youth appeared annoyed and coldly replied, “I’m not hungry!” before he stood up and walked to the side of the clear pond. He kneeled to the side to wash his face, but before he even managed to scoop up some water, an extra person abruptly appeared in front of him and excitedly exclaimed, “Roast meat? Share some with me?”

　　When the white-robed youth looked up, he saw a naked teenage boy looking at him with a gluttonous expression. The viewing angle was just right so that all of Fang Xing’s body was clearly visible, and after a moment of surprise, the youth’s cold face abruptly flushed red with shame. The youth quickly stumbled backwards in a panic before falling on his rear, covering his eyes, and screaming.

　　“Eh? Oh, forgot to wear clothes….” Initially dumbstruck, Fang Xing suddenly realized his current appearance and leapt up to snatch a large leaf from a nearby coconut tree. After using the leaf to cover the important bits, he smiled and walked over to say, “We’re all men anyway; if you saw, you saw; it’s not a big deal anyway…. The roast meat you have, why not share some with me?”

　　Fang Xing didn’t really care that another man had seen him, and now that his bits were covered, he smiled and got out of the pond. Everyone looked at him in shock, but he continued to smile and gazed towards the roasted bird meat with gleaming eyes. He was starving at this point and this meat had become the most important thing in the world right now, so he reached over to grab some. At worst, he’d just eat it all first and apologize later.

　　Before Fang Xing’s hand had even touched the meat, a quivering voice suddenly rose up behind him, nearly on the verge of tears. “Kill… go and kill him….”