Chapter Fourteen: Three Years Later

At this moment, Li Xingyu stood at the mouth of the cave where he had once cultivated, gazing up at the starry sky. Though his expression appeared calm, the depths of his eyes betrayed a profound sorrow and longing. “It’s been more than three years since my ship crashed. By now, my mother must have recovered from the pain of losing me, at least somewhat. But from now on, she’ll have to live alone in solitude. Perhaps I should have listened to her back then—then she wouldn’t have to endure the agony of losing her son in her old age, not even able to see him one last time,” he thought, glancing at the timer on his MVP5.

Even after three years, thoughts of his mother still brought sharp pangs of grief. After dwelling on her, he found himself thinking of his girlfriend. Over three years had passed—she had likely forgotten him, perhaps fallen in love again, married, and maybe even become a mother herself. “If that’s the case, I won’t blame you. Looking back, perhaps I was too selfish. I rarely spent time with you, and my missions only brought you worry and fear. Maybe you’ll find more happiness with someone else.”

It had been three years since he began training here. After spending half a year breaking through the second stage of his technique, he started practicing the third stage, and to his surprise found the progress remarkably smooth. Only at the beginning did he struggle to control the energy within his body, but before long, everything proceeded naturally. Previously, when he’d grown frustrated at his inability to break through the second stage, he had attempted to skip ahead to the third. That experience had been fraught with instability; when he forced the energy to flow, it nearly ran amok, and though he stopped in time and did his utmost to guide the energy back to his dantian, his meridians were still injured. Fortunately, the medicines he’d brought from Earth aided in repairing the damage—otherwise, the consequences could have been dire.

After calming himself and redoubling his efforts to break through the second stage, he found himself greatly changed. His energy had suddenly doubled, his strength increased, and when he guided the energy to his hands, he even felt as if it could burst forth from his body. He imagined that, much like the internal force described in martial arts novels, this energy could be used to strengthen his hands or even be projected outward for attack. Lacking the proper techniques, however, he found himself unable to achieve this after several attempts, and so he set that idea aside and continued with his cultivation.

Unwittingly, three years passed in this manner. During that time, no living creature ever entered his cave, and when he ventured out in search of food or water, he found no signs of life within the entire mountain range. Thus, each time he hunted, he was forced to leave the mountains and seek prey on the more familiar grasslands, where he also gathered water and edible plants. Fortunately, the food he collected each time was enough for about half a year, otherwise the constant travel would have consumed much of his time. This was due in part to the technique he practiced: while cultivating, his need for food diminished greatly, and he could go ten days or even half a month without eating.

Over the course of these three years, he also revisited the place where he had once discovered the wooden hut. Though he never encountered any higher life forms native to the planet, he did find traces of their activity. In the last year, several more simple wooden huts appeared beside the original, suggesting that nomads might pass through and dwell here each year. But since he had already made plans for his future, he made no effort to seek out these advanced beings—he had no desire to make contact with them prematurely. Each time he finished hunting, he meticulously erased any traces, even those marking his passage into and out of the mountains, so that no higher life form could follow his tracks and find him during his cultivation.

Perhaps his caution had paid off, for he was never disturbed, though he also suspected there might be reasons unknown to him. After all, in three years, he had not seen a single living creature enter the mountains. This made him realize that the mountain range was far from ordinary; he considered leaving, but after much thought, decided to remain. He had lived here in peace for so long that he doubted there was any real danger, and in an unfamiliar environment, he had no way of knowing where might be safe or perilous.

Little did he know that this decision greatly benefited his cultivation. The spiritual energy on this planet was not abundant, and in ordinary places, reaching his current level would have taken at least ten years without special elixirs or pills. Yet the mountain range was a special place with relatively ample spiritual energy—comparable to the lower tier of an ordinary cultivation world. His rapid progress owed much to both his own talent and the technique he practiced. In a richer environment, he could have advanced even faster.

Over the past three years, he also repeatedly studied the two other items he’d obtained before leaving Earth, but his findings were scant. The beast hide inscribed with mysterious characters remained an enigma, and he was no closer to understanding it than before. Only the ring yielded slight progress. When his cultivation reached the late stage of the third formula, and he channeled energy into his hand while holding the ring, he felt the energy surge out of him and into the ring.

That first time, he’d been terrified and tried to fling the ring away, but it clung tightly to his hand and would not come off. When he tried to guide the energy back with his mind, it ceased draining away and returned to his dantian. However, the portion of energy already absorbed by the ring did not return—his reserves were noticeably depleted by about a fifth. Since he could control the flow, he felt reassured, and after his energy recovered through cultivation, he repeated the experiment several times with the same result. The ring was like a bottomless pit, absorbing as much energy as he could provide, but showing no other changes—likely because his current cultivation was still too shallow.

He made another discovery concerning the ring. Once, after injuring his right hand while hunting, he absentmindedly picked up the ring, and a drop of his blood fell onto it. The ring slowly absorbed the blood, emitted a faint white glow, and then returned to its inert state. From then on, no matter how much blood—his own or that of animals—he applied, the ring absorbed no more and showed no further reaction. Though these two discoveries disappointed him, as they offered no immediate benefit, they also made him more cautious with these two items.

By now, Li Xingyu had fully mastered the technique the old man had left him, and had reached the pinnacle of the late stage of energy refinement. With no further instructions, he was forced to halt his cultivation. Neither the old man’s message nor the technique itself provided any further information about its origins, but Li Xingyu was certain it was indeed a genuine cultivation method. If he could obtain the remaining portion, he might yet gain even greater power. Glancing again at the beast hide, he sensed that it contained a more complete version of the technique, and that what the old man had given him was merely a partial translation—a conclusion supported by the far greater volume of text on the hide.

At last, another chapter completed—may the Supreme Energy of the Crystal accompany you through a joyful New Year’s holiday. Happy reading, happy living—this has always been Crystal’s creed.

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