14 Five Petal Blazing Flower

"Humph."

Nero coldly glared at the lightning Jaguar, reached out his hand, and grabbed the beast by its throat.

The lightning that wound around the lightning Jaguar spread to Nero, and like before, it didn't affect him. Nero tightened his grip and snapped the neck of the beast, it died. The lightning Jaguar didn't have the time nor the ability to inflict any damage. From the beginning, it was always pushed into a corner and now, it died miserably.

Many martial artists would thank their ancestors and offer a sacrifice to them for meeting such a beast and making it out with their lives. To hunt down a beast of this level required a lot of high-grade materials, to resist the lightning as well as attack in the process. This was not something that just any martial artist can accomplish on their own… or so we thought. Nero wasn't interested in the lightning Jaguar at the moment. He wanted to find out what was hidden in that dark cave; he would come back for the corpse later.

Arriving at the entrance to the cave, a strong lightning essence Qi surged outward like a tyrannical storm. But when they reached Nero, they were neutralized. Nero walked into a pile of bones; this was considered normal. His green eyes suddenly fell on a glowing flower. The light from the flower wasn't so bright, but it seemed to be the only source of light in this cave.

"Five petal blazing flower!" Nero said surprised. "I see…. It's the five petal blazing flower. That lightning Jaguar just has been protecting it which was why it didn't let me get close to the cave. From the looks of it, the lightning Jaguar must have obtained it from its natural habitat or from a martial artist it killed."

The five petal blazing flower can be considered a high-grade healing flower. It grows in extremely hot places filled with yang energy. Its medicinal essence can heal torn meridians and wounded internal organs… a perfect treasure for someone who happened to have many internal injuries.

"Since it's no longer in its natural habitat, its medical efficacy has reduced by almost a half. And I don't know how long it has been guarded by the lightning Jaguar, but the longer it stays idle, the more of its efficacy it loses."

Plants like the five petal blazing flower are commonly used by alchemists to refine potions. But there's always a problem they encounter. For instance, the five petal blazing flower has a rich medicinal essence. If it was freshly plucked, a certain percentage of its medicinal essence is lost the moment it is disconnected from its roots.

Likewise, it loses a certain percentage of its medicinal essence over time if not quickly refined into a potion. For this five petal blazing flower, its medicinal essence has been lost over a long period. Although it still maintained its glow, compared to when it was freshly acquired, it has lost more than half its medical essence.

"There's no need to let something like this go to waste. I'll have to refine it soon." Nero said and took the flower in hand. Suddenly he slammed his brows together, he felt the presence of someone… or maybe more than one.

"It seems someone has beat us to it, but it seems like those people are still in the cave." A voice suddenly echoed out. It wasn't loud, but in a place like this, it reverberated.

"Whoever is in there, do kindly to yourself and come out right this instant if you want to still keep your life!"

Such arrogance! Nero frowned. Just who would dare to be so arrogant!? He slowly walked out of the dark cave. As his figure appeared, his green eyes glistened in the dark like a pair of luminescent crystals that pierced through many layers of darkness. Nero finally emerged from the dark cave, and in front of him stood two big-built men putting on black robes and their swords hanging on their backs.

These men had a look of disdain as they sized up Nero. However, Nero on the other hand was slightly surprised. This was his first time seeing a martial artist since he arrived into this world and these two young men were martial artists at the Foundation Establishment Realm!

Humans and martial artists are ranked under 7 realms. The Mortal Realm, also known as the origin realm where one is born in their fragile form. Everything and everyone is born mortal before they start to evolve. The Qi essence gathering Realm is where mortals completely open all 106 minor meridians granting them the ability to absorb the Heaven and Earth Qi.

The Heaven and Earth Qi is then refined into Spirit Qi and starts to circulate through the meridians. The meridians start to enlarge and strengthen to a certain point where they connect and form the dantian. This is the Foundation Establishment Realm! As the dantian is formed, the Spirit Qi starts to flow more smoothly.

Qi makes its flow around the body till it develops to the point where it locates the weakness of every martial artist and forms what looks like a sea. This is a sign of stepping into the Divine Sea Realm. The weakness of every martial artist is their soul. The body might die but there's always hope when the soul is still intact.

After the divine Sea Realm is the Grand cultivation Realm. Stepping into the Grand cultivation Realm is when one starts to form bigger and more powerful meridians. These are known as major meridians and they are 12 in number. The 12 major meridians slowly form as one progresses through the realm.

When these 12 meridians fully form and connect, they release a powerful Qi force that directly shatters the dantian. Then, the residual Qi from the shattered dantian starts to gather till they form what looks to be a core. This is stepping into the Core Formation Realm. The minor and major meridians reconnect to the core and the flow of Qi advances by many leaps.

The core formed at this realm is called the Spirit core. The Heaven and Earth Qi easily rushes into the core and flows smoothly around the body, supplementing it with a more refined spirit Qi. After the core formation Realm lies the Nascent soul Formation Realm.

This is the realm where the soul is fully supplemented till it gains the ability to break through the shackles of the body and wander the open void. This ability can be helpful in a case whereby one faces a true life or death experience and isn't ready to perish completely. The soul breaks out from the body and escapes into the void.