7 Chapter 7

Book1 - Chapter 7: Uncovering the hidden path by luck

'Twas by then that we noticed the foul creature from bellow, this aberration of nature had the lower and upper body of a giant bear, but the parts in between were that of a centipede, with countless legs that could pierce through rocks as if they were made of butter. Our fight was long-lasting, for our swords could barely scratch the surface of it's skin, we were lucky that an acolyte with a rare artifact was accompanying us that day, his green light filled us with energy and could even heal our injuries.

'It was only after hours, however, and after losing 10 Squires plus 2 knights that we somehow managed to deliver a lucky blow that killed the beast, it troubles me that we will never be able to send the bodies back to their families, but I couldn't possibly risk my life to retrieve those things covered in poison.'

It was an account of a knight, retrieved from the 'Compendium of beasts and monsters', that was sold in Valois.

"You only managed to find this?" Leylin frowned as he held the book in his hand under the dim candlelight.

George looked outside through the window and shook his head. "It seems that they went all out for the competition, I heard that they sacrificed a dozen of knights to confirm the possibility of a knight killing it by himself, since one of them managed after a few dozen of tries, it was considered a fitting challenge for squires."

"This looks more like a suicide mission, it's no wonder we have heard so many people discussing the deaths of the competition." Leylin sat on a couch and threw the book away as he leaned his back and looked towards the ceiling of the inn's public resting area. "If a knight managed to kill it though, I'm willing to give it a try, I have absolute confidence in my skills, no matter what, if I can't kill it, that doesn't mean the Devil Bear will be able to kill me."

"Hold on to this belief, we will need it tomorrow."

After a night of good rest, morning came, and with it, the first ray of light.

Leaving behind the inn, Leylin walked by himself through the streets that were now mostly devoid of life and filled with the fresh breeze of the morning.

Sucking a mouthful of air, he couldn't help but smile and stretch a little. He had wondered before why the city had such a fresh smell, it turned out that the ones responsible for this were the many cleaners hired by the Imperial family and the trees that were growing by the sides of the streets.

Although it was supposed to be a medieval city, he couldn't help but make comparisons with his hometown, if it wasn't for the rows of houses glued to each other, this place wouldn't be so different from where he came, of course, that was without mentioning the cars and all the technology.

Still, it felt good to visit a place that reminded him so much of his roots.

After some time walking around, he eventually arrived at a beautiful garden. Looking around he didn't manage to find any signs that pointed out the owner or if it was a public space.

"Hm... Should I enter?" Rubbing his brows he thought for a moment. This place felt so refreshing, there couldn't be any problem, right?

Shaking his head, he forgot all that and went inside.

This place was unlike any he had seen before, the paths were made of may white small and round stones that blanketed the ground, and at both sides of the paths were huge fields that extended for many meters, each one containing a great variety of flowers.

At some point he arrived before a great tree, the trunk was huge, enough to fit almost five of him side by side, and the branches went all the way up, making it reach almost 20 to 30 meters in size.

Looking at it, he suddenly felt a soothing sensation. Closing his eyes, he sat beneath the tree and practiced his cultivation technique.

While close to the tree, he felt like his whole body was enveloped in clouds of cotton, there was a slight warmth that wrapped all over him and even calmed his body and mind.

And there, for the first time in his life, he felt like the world had changed completely. Even with closed eyes, he felt like he could see everything around him, and that wasn't all, for Leylin it was like the world was made of many dots of lights and there were many different colors. Blue, Teal, aqua, green, yellow, red, etc. So long as he searched he could find whatever color he wanted and they were all in constant movement.

Curious he stretched his hand and touched a small ball of fiery red color, the ball seemingly came to life when he grabbed it and wriggled like a naughty creature trying to break free of his grasp.

Looking at it, he felt like he was mistaken for doing that, so he relaxed and opened his hands to let the ball free.

The Heavens and Earth were separated in their conception for a reason, their connection was not a matter of intent but of no intent at all. Life and death, hot and cold, day and night. They were different and yet sides of the same coin, he wasn't part of Heavens and Earth but he was a being born from it, to return to the origins is to abandon the sense of self and once more become part of Heavens and Earth.

At the moment that realization struck him, all those floating balls of light seemingly shuddered and slowly started to move. As if attracted by a magnet they started to gather around him, there wasn't a single color left out, and they all entered his body without difficulty as if he himself was the same as them.

A feeling arose from his belly button, like a flame that was ignited from a dry log of wood, the feeling slowly got stronger and made its way up, he could feel how the energy first stopped at eight different points, before stretching out and becoming thinner, where it stopped in twelve different places again, and the next time this happened, it stopped in twenty different places once more.

With each of those came a sense of recognition, as if he had better understood his own body, but that was only the beginning, he could feel it, those spots were like cores of energy, however, he had only scratched the surface, and couldn't keep going.

Opening his eyes, he drew a mouthful of air. When the air left his mouth, it formed an arrow-shaped cloud of white mist that rushed forth for a few meters before disappearing.

Standing up, he turned towards the tree and touched it for a moment. Taking it back he gathered his hands in a cupped fist and bowed. "Thank you, Elder, for granting me enlightenment. I'll be sure to repay this kindness in the future."

As if answering his words, the tree shook slightly as if strong winds had hit it. Leylin smiled and left, it seemed that his understanding of this world was still lacking, to think that he would find a tree that reached spiritual enlightenment in this place, and that rich energy coming from it, he was sure of it, it was Qi, a greater form of Qi that even he wasn't aware of.

This elder sure was naughty though, to pretend to be a harmless tree, haha! He wouldn't be surprised if it had seen the end of the ancient era, or maybe the moment itself when this island was separated from the main continent.

The important thing now though was...

[Congratulations on completing the hidden quest, the system will be updated into a better version in 24:00, no preview available.]

[Congratulation, the Elementary Cultivation Technique's proficiency was raised beyond the limit, a new level of proficiency was uncovered.]

[(Mortal) Elementary Cultivation Technique 100% -> (Earth) Elementary Cultivation Technique 1%]

Well, it seems that the path for fortune was truly one paved with luck, without the cultivation technique, I would probably have mistaken this tree for an ordinary one... I wonder what its real identity is...