Old Lei sat cross-legged, hovering in the air as he slowly explained, “Kid, do you know why I made you find a place with plenty of aether?”
“No,” Wun Fan answered honestly. “However, I believe it has something to do with my training. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have so firmly insisted that I come to the mountain at eleven in the night.”
Old Lei did not reply. He simply closed his eyes and meditated. His brows twitched slightly, as if he was preparing something. Wun Fan didn’t say anything. He simply activated the Wun Clan’s cultivation technique and continued his training, not wasting any spare time at all.
“Kid!” Old Lei suddenly shouted. Wun Fan opened his eyes and looked at him. A small flame suddenly separated from Old Lei’s body. He waved his hand, and the flame shot towards Wun Fan’s forehead.
“Ugh…” Another tremendous flood of information filled Wun Fan’s mind, inflicting unbearable pain on him. He gritted his teeth and punched the floor, trying his best to endure the pain.
His head had been hurting all day: first when he made the ring his in the morning, then when he had to deal with Siu Lan in the afternoon and now at night again. What did he do to deserve this?
Four phrases appeared in his consciousness.
The endless tears of rivers and mountains; the finite corners of heaven and earth.
The countless bounties hidden in the ring; the infinite aether of a castle beyond worlds!
It didn’t matter how large your body was, or how massive a mountain stood, the amount of aether that could be contained within would always be limited. Even heaven and earth, for all their space, could not compare to the Spiritstartler Ring, which contained an infinite abundance of aether.
As one of the Twenty-One Imperial Zeniths, the Spiritstartler Ring possessed startling power. Even the ancient clans only thought of the Spirstartler Ring as a magical ring that contained infinite holding space. However, the true function of the ring was to absorb any form of energy and purify it to provide its wielder with endless aether. In other words, as long as the wielder of the ring had sufficient physical conditioning, the ring would be able to inject aether directly into their body and allow them to break through their current martial realm.
Even members of those ancient clans had no idea that the Spiritstartler Ring could even freely take in and contain living creatures, provided its wielder was powerful enough. More importantly, the Spiritstartler Ring could compress aether and materialise it as powerful weapons far surpassing the might of Mortal Weapons and Earthly Weapons. These materialised weapons were comparable to Heavenly Weapons and, with sufficient practice and power, could be made to be as powerful as Sacred Weapons!
However, the only way that the Spiritstartler Ring could absorb aether currently was through its wielder. The wielder had to channel the aether through their own meridians into the ring. Wun Fan would have to reach the realms of Innate Martial Master for the Spiritstartler Ring to absorb aether of its own accord.
At this thought, Wun Fan immediately came up with two more appropriate ways to describe the Spiritstartler Ring.
It was an aether warehouse; he could draw aether from the ring where and when he needed it, as long as enough aether was stored up beforehand.
It was also a cheat for cultivation; any ordinary martial artist would first have to absorb the aether, then refine it over time before absorbing it once it had turned pure enough. The Spiritstartler Ring helped bypass this process entirely.
What surprised Wun Fan even further was the fact that plenty of valuable things had been sealed in the ring. There were a total of twenty-one floors within the ring. Old Lei’s soul was sealed on the first floor. He served as the guide of the Spiritstartler Ring and would help Wun Fan along his martial journey. It was at this moment that Wun Fan finally understood why Old Lei had so solemnly told him that he would help him.
He could finally put his last worries to rest and truly accept Old Lei as his mentor! From now on, he would be able to break the seals of the ring and obtain its treasures whenever he reached the corresponding level of power.
Wun Fan carefully organised the information in his mind. He then opened his eyes slowly and saw that Old Lei was vigilantly standing guard beside him. Gratitude filled his heart as he said, “Old Lei.”
“Hmm? You’re done?” Old Lei was relieved to see that Wun Fan had woken up without any problems, then explained what just happened. “What I just did earlier was soul transference. I stored information within my mental energy, which I then sent into your mind. Saves me a lot of time by not having to explain everything.”
“Thank you, Old Lei, sincerely.” Wun Fan gave Old Lei a deep bow. He was starting to understand what ridiculously powerful artefacts the Imperial Zeniths truly were after coming into contact with the Spiritstartler Ring. If news of him owning an Imperial Zenith were to get out, the Green Sea branch house of the Wun Clan would not live to see tomorrow’s evening.
Even the origin house in the capital would not dare to help them in any way.
Wun Fan couldn’t help but feel shivers run down his spine at the thought of this. He truly could not understand why the Spiritstartler Ring had ended up in his possession. He was only the young master of a small clan in a rural place; he did not have the qualifications to wield something so powerful.
“Kid, I won’t say anything more. Just remember, the owner of the Spiritstartler Ring will never be just an ordinary person. I hope you can understand that.” Old Lei’s eyes gleamed. He was incredibly satisfied with Wun Fan as the owner of the Ring. He had never seen someone with such immense innate mental energy. Moreover, Wun Fan’s personality made him certain that this kid would not be an ordinary person.
“Mm.” Wun Fan did not refute Old Lei’s assertion. Rather than wonder why the ring had chosen him, it was better to improve himself to make himself worthy to be its owner.
576Please respect copyright.PENANASYVAM4KOaN
It was the fourth day of the New Year. The Wun Clan was still a little dark as it was only approaching five in the morning. A cool morning breeze blew across the field, bringing with it the refreshing smell of fresh grass and dew.
Amongst the morning mist in the grass, dewdrops drip-drop on leaves, gently bending them.
“Focus on your vital points and guide your aether into the ring.”
Wun Fan kept Old Lei’s advice in mind as he sat there with his legs crossed throughout the night. He put all his efforts into absorbing the aether around him without any excessive movements. He continued to send aether into the Spiritstartler Ring in this fashion. He was a simple labourer; all he had to do was breathe, absorb aether, and draw it into his body.
The process was incredibly boring and a test of Wun Fan’s temperament. Even an adult would not have been able to stay still but remain awake for an entire night doing such boring and repetitive work, let alone an eleven-year-old.
Yet, Wun Fan accomplished it.
“Kid, pay attention. Dawn’s trace of purple energy is coming,” Old Lei reminded Wun Fan promptly. What he wanted Wun Fan to capture wasn’t just the drifting aether all around them, but also all the aura and other forms of energy found in the world. The purple energy of dawn could be converted into a large amount of aether and was a far more efficient source than the naturally occurring aether in the surroundings.
Wun Fan immediately leapt to his feet when he heard this. He ignored the numbness in his feet from sitting so long and quickly set his sights on the tallest tree nearby. He used both his hands and feet, rapidly clambering onto a branch, before kicking and landing on the top of the tree like a monkey. He was barely able to stop himself from falling over.
A purple dawn came from the east. The first light of dawn contained a trace of purple energy, which contained a tremendous amount of energy. What Wun Fan had to do was to absorb as much of the purple energy as possible, which was why he chose to leap onto the top of a tree!
Night and day battled for supremacy, only to end in the night’s defeat. A trace of purple and red rose on the horizon, and a beam of purple energy shone on Wun Fan’s body. Purple energy wasn’t like ordinary aether, which would travel to his vital points through his body. Instead, the purple energy penetrated his skin and reached his vital points directly.
“Calm your mind and focus!” Old Lei shouted at Wun Fan. He was not nice when it came to teaching Wun Fan and guiding his training. He was a stern mentor!
Wun Fan couldn’t bother with maintaining his balance on the top of the tree any longer. He focused and used his mental energy to drag the purple energy towards the Point of Joining Valleys. The Spiritstartler Ring started to devour the purple energy like a hungry child. A few moments later, Wun Fan could not sense any purple energy left and finally stopped.
“Kid, stay focused and accept what the Spiritstartler Ring gives you in return.” Old Lei’s tone turned gentle for once. He immediately turned into a flash of light and returned to the ring upon saying this. Only he knew how to properly use the ring.
“Yes!”
Less than a second later, a surge of pure aether came from the Spiritstartler Ring, easily breaking past the Point of Joining Valleys. Wun Fan focused on his thumb and examined his vital point with his mental energy. He could see a stream of aether seeping out of a strange rune from the Spiritstartler Ring.
“This aether is so pure! I don’t think I could produce such pure aether even if I were to spend an entire night refining it!” Wun Fan marvelled at the ring’s abilities. It was truly a cheat. The pure aether quickly filled up Wun Fan’s first six vital points, assimilating the less pure aether and forcing out the impurities within them. The impurities were then expelled from Wun Fan’s body with an exhale.
“Seventh-level Martial Disciple.”
The pure aether quickly filled the Point of Joining Valleys. This almost made Wun Fan cry. He had never expected that he could finally break through the Point of Joining Valleys. That threshold that he had never been able to cross in three years was shattered in less than a moment before the Ring’s aether. It had been conquered in an instant!
“Eighth-level Martial Disciple!”
The aether continued along the meridians like a menacing army, quickly taking down the Inner Pass Point and marching towards the Curved Pond Point.
“Ninth-level Martial Disciple!”
Old Lei saw that Wun Fan had advanced three levels all at once and was prepared to warn him against going further when Wun Fan suppressed the aether of his own accord. He did not allow the aether to continue to the Wind Pond Point. Instead, he compressed the aether, guiding it toward the vital points in the lower half of his body. He was going to make the pure aether further excavate and temper his first nine vital points.
Wun Fan’s progress had been sealed for three years, and he had been robbed of any chance of improvement. The despair had driven him to find another path forward, which was the strengthening of his body itself, and that included his vital points. He discovered that if he continued to compress his aether, he could expand his vital points to great effect. This was why his body coordination and reaction times were superior to Wun Ping, a tenth-level Martial Disciple.
However, this all came at a cost. Excavating and tempering his vital points always came with tremendous agony that no ordinary person would be able to bear.
“It hurts!”
Wun Fan felt his nine vital points being filled up and expanded. Agony shot through his body. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so hard that his nails punctured his skin. His entire body trembled in pain, but he did not so much as let out a single sound. Old Lei couldn’t help but be impressed with the kid’s resilience.
The entire process lasted two hours before the vital points had been tempered as much as possible. Wun Fan’s body was soaked in sweat. He barely retained the last bits of consciousness when he asked Old Lei to stop the supply of aether from the Spiritstartler Ring. He didn’t want his meridians to burst apart from the endless stream of aether.
It was almost eight in the morning now. Wun Fan did not draw on the aether in his body any longer. Instead, he adjusted his breathing. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Old Lei looking at him with eyes filled with praise.
Those who hurry on their martial journey would not reach their destination. However, though many people understood this idea, not everyone had the self-discipline to stay patient. That was why Old Lei appreciated Wun Fan’s discipline so much. To think that a young man whose progress was stifled for three years would show such self-restraint!
The moon had fallen and the sun was rising. Yet another day had passed, and Wun Fan had changed completely; from the cripple of the Wun Clan to a little monster that had just advanced three levels in the space of a single night.576Please respect copyright.PENANA6jjVCNsTnM