Chapter 16: Another Step
Back near the Soulless Garden, the parents or guardians of the talented youngsters were occasionally whispering to themselves. After that incident, Emperor Sheng Ju Long gave a fearful aura while both uncle and niece had dark faces. It was obvious that they probably offended their emperor.
Whispers were about what happened. For them to be alive after making the Emperor so mad, they couldn't imagine such a scenario.
Uncle Xiu still had cold sweat covering his body, his breathing ragged while sitting on a rock. The mere thought that seven Powerhouses were there was already overwhelming but to think that they offended one of them. If not because of Patriarch Yun's interference, not only Lei Mu but even he couldn't be alive at that moment. He blamed himself for being careless and also blamed his niece...
'Damn it! If only Lei Mu wasn't wandering around! Even if she didn't know that the Powerhouses were having a private meeting, she shouldn't be separating from the group!', his fist tightened.
On the side, Lei Mu was worriedly looking at her uncle. Her fingers keep fidgeting while her head tilted down, guilt filled her head.
It's been quite a while since her Uncle Xiu was like that that she decided to properly apologize and comfort her uncle.
"Ah.. Um.. Uncle X-!", before Lei Mu had said anything halfway, her hand was roughly grabbed, "Ah?", Lei Mu closed her hands as she expected to be scolded. For a brief second there, she felt an extremely uncomfortable aura emitted by Uncle Xiu.
"Lei Mu...", Uncle Xiu said in a deep voice as he lifted his head and looked at Lei Mu. His hand loosened its grip and continued, "Your uncle is very sorry."
Lei Mu was startled before opening her eyes and saw that her Uncle Xiu was now gently gazing at her, "Umm, but Lei Mu is the one who should be sorry!", she rebuked.
Uncle Xiu sighed and dropped his head, 'What was I doing? To think that I let a little girl blame herself and be worried while I whimper around. Brother Xue, sorry for being an incompetent little brother...'
"Little girl, are you saying I am not adult enough to be responsible for this?!", his voice was intentionally heavy.
"N-no...", Lei Mu panicked, 'I would never think that!'
"Hmph, then why do you blame yourself so much?! The only thing you need is to apologize and you can't even do that?"
"..."
"Then promise me, next time think about the consequences of your actions!", Uncle Xiu strongly whispered. He lowered his voice when he realized that people were still nearby, he suddenly became embarrassed but he didn't stop, "If you blame yourself then do it to correct yourself and not brood over it!"
Elder Min's shoulder was trembling due to suppressing his laughter but also, he felt at ease.
"Of course!", Lei Mu step forward and forced her pinky finger to Uncle Xiu's pinky finger.
Uncle Xiu was a bit embarrassed since he was aware that people were looking. Making pinky promises are just too much for him. As he thought of this, he retreated his hand. However, he just saw Lei Mu's swift hands and was startled only to realize that both of their fingers were already interlocked.
Uncle Xiu's eyes widened, 'My body is at the 4th Step of Earthly Realm for God's sake!', he dumbfoundedly looked at Lei Mu who had a serious expression. Even if she took her by surprise, there is still a whole four steps between them! How did Lei Mu achieve that?!
Unknown to Uncle Xiu, there is something different going inside Lei Mu's head:
'Uncle Xiu is really amazing! In just a second, he controlled his emotions! 4th Step of the Earthly Realm, amazing!', something is driving Lei Mu's energy to the extreme.
Normally, when something inspired you, your emotions are the one driving your will to do something that you want! Only Lei Mu had her emotions directly driving her energy to circulate and past the emulation of mere meditation! It was like she was being enlightened automatically.
Uncle Xiu was already surprised by Lei Mu's jump in power even though he doesn't know what was truly happening
At this moment, Lei Mu's state of energy was as if it was back to normal. No one would think that as if she had been continuously having enlightenment.
No matter how much time you spend on cultivation, there will be a time where you will bump into a bottleneck and nothing can help you break through it unless you have some great master, an expert, or an otherworldly item to help you. If you're not lucky enough to not have any of this which is the total norm, your only chance is to have enlightenment.
This enlightenment is circumstantial and is unpredictable. The enlightenment of one can not be understood by the others. You will never know where or when the kind of inspiration or realization will strike to the point of enlightenment.
However, many people got their enlightenment from pure meditation, contemplation, or in other words, deep thought.
That is why meditation is one of the basic necessity for cultivators.
The night quickly came. Since the shadow of the Sacrifice covered their area, it was not much different from earlier except that the sky was dark from orange.
Everyone took out their tents or sleeping bag out of their spatial ring, which is pretty convenient. Others that do not have spatial rings are being provided by their Elders. At this point, everyone was soundly asleep except for exceptional people, the seven Powerhouses.
They scattered around the forest but still maintained a short distance to the Soulless Garden, because of this, their position around the Soulless Garden became a circle in which probably the best.
People who achieved this kind of strength went through a lot of discipline to the point that they would meditate instead of sleeping at night. In a sense, they seemed to be awake 24/7 but after all, they still have limitations and occasionally sleep in a safe place.
However, this time, no one dared to rest this night. Even if they are confident that they will be awake before danger arrives, they still chose not to sleep. It will never be bad to be careful.
.....
Deep in the night, following the road of the forest into the massive volcanoes and volcano ranges, in the middle is the Sacrifice of the barren dry land. The Sacrifice's size cannot be compared to the volcanoes surrounding it. The peak of it may have already surpassed the troposphere.
These volcano-filled land that stretched for several tens of kilometers was strangely serene and calm. However, at the peak of the Sacrifice, a man calmly walked towards the crater.
At the top of a clear sky, the moon was seen as if it was just beside the man as the wind wildly howled. The man's black hair wildly fluttered along with it. With the edge of his mouth curved, his eyes were fixed onto a strange object floating in the middle of the crater of the Sacrifice, unmoving. His black eyes were filled with desire and longing.
Only after a long while before he looked down onto the crater were magma and molten rocks incessantly and relentlessly flow and burn, bubbles were frequently formed and explode.
A dissatisfied expression was revealed on the man's pale face but immediately returned back to excitement as his gaze were back towards the floating object again.
The man then continued to walk. In front of him was the edge of the mouth of the Sacrifice and into the crater but he continued to casually walk. When the ground ended and there is no place to step on, the man still continued to walk. But this time, as if it was a stable ground, he walked on the air itself as if nothing was wrong.
However, halfway of his path, the Sacrifice itself slightly trembled. The man stepping onto the air stopped as he looked down as beads of cold sweat traversed his cheeks and dropped onto the raging face with its mouth widely opened formed from the flowing magma and molten rocks.
The man paused before silently laughing, "Of course, of course, there should be something guarding this treasure.", his eyes looked at the object again with deep longing but with patience before he turned his back and walked back.
"I was just revived by my people, no need to carelessly throw my life just like that.", he comforted himself, "My body is still too weak.", he sighed as he stepped on the ground but not long after, his mouth formed a wicked smile, "But One of the Thirteen Guardian's body should be enough."
At the same time, the raging face formed from the flowing magma and molten rocks dissembled back to its former pieces, nowhere to be seen again.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone