The night was as cool as water and a full moon hung high in the sky. The mountain air was cool at night, not to mention there was blood splattered all over the ground, along with the head of a monster. The wind caused the leaves to rustle loudly.

Zhao Jiuge’s neck became tense and he nervously looked around. He felt like the surroundings were a bit creepy, so he tightened his hold on his knife and rushed forward, borrowing the light from the moon to see in front of him.

Zhao Jiuge spent his days in the mountains like this. He had been in the mountains for a month. The deeper he went into the mountains, the more terrible the conditions became. It was more humid, the vegetation was more dense, and there were even more venomous snakes and insects hiding within them.

Absorbing the spiritual energy of the world into one’s body and converting it into spirit force was the first stage of cultivation, the Spirit Detecting Realm. After Zhao Jiuge’s battle against the beast a few days ago, along with his daily cultivation, he had entered the late stage of the Spirit Detecting Realm. His meridians were even wider and the spirit force in his body was even brighter. Now he could jump several meters into the air and run faster than a wild hare.

As he went deeper into the mountains, the path became more steep, the humidity increased, there were marshes of various sizes, and the entire path was covered in vegetation. Fog surrounded the area, so even with the sun high in the sky, sunlight could not shine through. Zhao Jiuge saw the white mist rise between the dark mountains and spotted poisonous snakes of various colors entangled on the tree branches.

There were constant sounds coming from his surroundings. Zhao Jiuge walked every step as if he was on thin ice, and his right hand tightly held the hunting knife that had been used to kill Wang Dazhuang. Spirit force constantly cycled inside his body. Although the surrounding snakes and insects were not far from him, they all instinctively avoided him. As he quickly traveled through the forest, some vegetation immediately caught his attention.

“Eh, the Scarlet Tree Fruit trees back in the village only grew to knee height and one fruit was the size of a thumb. This fruit is completely green, and not only do the children of the village like them, even wild snakes love them. The vegetation here is nourished by spiritual energy, so it grew up to the size of a small tree and the fruit is the size of a fist,” Zhao Jiuge muttered to himself as he walked up to pick the fruit.

When he was a few feet away from the fruit and hadn't even reached out yet, he heard the sound of something quickly crawling over from far away. There was a strong smell of blood that caused Zhao Jiuge’s heart to skip a beat. He secretly cursed at what could be happening this time.

Fortunately, after experiencing the encounter from last time, he didn’t panic, but he was still shocked. He quickly retreated a few steps only to see a snake head the size of a baby’s head poke out from the grass. Its eyes were cold and its body was thick, with a brown and black pattern. It was more than seven meters long.

The snake wiggled its tongue and its tail gently swayed back and forth as it stared closely at Zhao Jiuge’s every moment. It was very unhappy and vigilant against this outsider who had invaded its territory.

Zhao Jiuge’s lips were dry, his eyes were filled with fear, and cold sweat covered his forehead. The sweat dripped down from his forehead to his chin. He held the hunting knife tightly in his hand and was afraid to even wipe his sweat as he felt a powerful sense of danger in his heart.

The path of cultivation went against the heavens, and one who walked the path would naturally have a sense for danger. Although Zhao Jiuge hadn’t even taken the first step on this long road, he had at least opened the door. The person and the snake remained in a deadlock. Not much sunlight reached this place and it was surrounded by marshes. The damp and foggy air gave off a depressing aura. 

After a few minutes, Zhao Jiuge could not withstand this depressing atmosphere and licked his dried lips. He cycled all the spirit force in his body and used his full strength to run away. The big snake saw that intruder escaping but didn’t chase. It watched Zhao Jiuge’s figure disappear and then crawled back into the grass.

Zhao Jiuge ran for a while before he looked back, and after he was sure the big snake hadn’t followed him, he felt the lingering fear in his heart. Today was different from that night. If he hadn’t run when he could, then he would’ve been a fool.

After experiencing the strange world of cultivation, even though it was just the tip of the iceberg, he couldn’t help but complain about that cheap teacher, Ye Wuyou. Not only was he not around to guide him, he hadn’t even left any practical items for him.

One item was the Sanskrit Heart Sutra, which was the main cultivation method, and the other was the Sanskrit Divine Body, which he could not learn until he reached the Blood Movement Realm. No method of attack had been given to him. Although he was at the late stage of the Spirit Detecting Realm, all he had was empty strength with no method of using it.

The first realm was to detect the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Cultivate to absorb that spiritual energy into your body and convert it to spirit force—that was the Spirit Detecting Realm.

The second realm was when the spirit force inside one’s body became dense enough to spread from the dantian to the blood. Once the body has fused with the spirit force, one’s body would be reborn and they would enter the Blood Movement Realm.

The third realm was when the body finished transforming in the late stage of the Blood Movement. At this point, even the limbs would be fused with spirit force. Then the spirit force inside the body would be able to be released outside the body to attack—that was the Spirit Transformation Realm.

“Teacher, ah, Teacher, you just left me like this and you want me to go to the far away Carefree Valley to fulfill your unfinished wish. I’m afraid that I’ll be sent to accompany you before I even make it out of these mountains,” Zhao Jiuge complained as he worried about all the dangers.

After walking for half a day, he gradually made it out of this marsh. The sun shone on the back of the youth. Compared to the mountain, he was still very small and weak.

The gentle breeze blew away the dampness in the air and the wariness in the youth’s heart. He gradually calmed down and caught a glimpse of the sun hiding behind the clouds, slowly emerging. He reached out his hands and said, “Maybe you are out of my reach now, but one day you will definitely be in my hands!”

The youth’s shadow was stretched out by the sun as he completely left the swamp. Zhao Jiuge found a place to rest and check his body. His desire for strength was stronger than ever. When he reached the late stage of the Spirit Detecting Realm, he had to check his body and find a way to quickly break into the Blood Movement Realm.

Even if one had a famous teacher, one still had to mostly rely on themselves on the path of cultivation. Even a famous teacher wouldn’t know the subtle details of their student’s body, but with a teacher, you would take a lot less detours.

However, after reaching a certain realm, you would have to rely on your own comprehension and hard work. Even if two people cultivated the same method, they would still not travel the same path. This was because of one's own qualifications, environment, opportunities, and other factors due to one’s own fate. Later on, every step was life or death, and no one walked the same path. Cultivation was like someone swimming in the dark with their eyes closed, slowly searching for the rocks to cross the river. Every moment was filled with danger and each step was more difficult than the last.

He focused his mind and his spirit force moved smoothly. Even when he was traveling throughout the day, his body had absorbed spiritual energy on its down. The color around his dantian wouldn’t glow any more, so how could he break into the Blood Movement Realm?

Zhao Jiuge had tried to fuse his spirit force with his blood, but it was quickly forced back out. When his spirit force extended to his limbs, his body became extremely powerful, but the moment he stopped cycling his spirit force, it would all withdraw back into his dantian. Although he was troubled by this matter, he would slowly explore his options whenever he had time during the day.

However, he could not find a solution to this problem. Although he desired power, he knew that cultivation was a long road he would have to take step by step and that he could not become impatient or greedy. After another failed attempt, the youth sighed gently and lowered his head in frustration.

He stood up and found that there was a valley not far away. The entrance was not wide and it was sandwiched between two mountains. He stood at the mouth of the valley and looked inside but saw nothing.

The mountain was covered in dense trees and eagles flew high in the sky. Zhao Jiuge looked at the sky. The sun was going down, so he decided to stay here for the night to figure out how to break into the Blood Movement Realm. Then, knowing what kinds of poisonous snakes and strange bugs would be out during the night, he would go deeper into the valley early in the morning.

The big snake he had seen had left a scar on his heart.