[I am already doing it! Now let us go back.]
While holding the ethereal dantian of the snake in his left hand, he moved near some bushes and trees close to him, to conceal or lay to rest the snake, however as he turned and left the dead animal on the ground, noises could be heard as before he could even take several steps, something took the dead snake inside the bushes faster than before he could turn and see, nonetheless, as he could register any danger from his surroundings, he proceeded to wash his bloody hands, with the water from the river.
Yet, while he moved following the reverse stream of the river, it did not take him a long walk before he could see the camp in the distance, although the sun in the sky was telling him that the day did not have much time left in it, as night was approaching faster.
“Huuuuu”
Though while looking at his left hand, he made a clenching action, to end the absorption of the small dantian, while exhaling a long breath.
[How was it? Any thoughts?]
[It takes me a lot to absorb it, and the quantity absorbed is about---, four-tenths of the whole dantian, still, this does not provide me with a lot of energy.]
[This is more than acceptable-, for the moment. This should be one-fourth, of one of your night training, right?]
[Yes.]
“Boy, what are you doing so far from the camp?”
“Hmm, eh?”
Though as he was closing onto the camp, he turned to the sudden voice that had come from his right, as he could see one of the 4 rank guards coming towards him, from the forest.
“A—, this, I got swept by the river, and I have been dragged till here, now I am turning back to the camp.”
“Then let us go back together. Hmm-, are you, not the one, that the captain has taken a liking to?”
“Yes, he--, had helped me a lot-, I guess because he is a good person.”
“Aaa, right—, he is a good person.”
Although as Levis was walking with the guard, he was taking fast and unnoticeable peeks, as he was inspecting the man next to him.
[Hmm-, he is stronger than Hubert, much stronger--, but I am getting closer, in five days maybe, I will reach where he is. But what is he doing in the forest? Toilet?]
Although, at the same time he was inspecting the man, the guard was looking at the boy, with a somewhat condescending air hidden, behind a relaxed appearance.
“It seems that your people will be busy building a new village from now on, though I still can not understand why they would want to live in this place.”
“Hmm? Yes, they will.”
“---Well kid, I will leave you here, as I have other things to attend to.”
However, as the man was walking away, Levis gave him a long look, as there was something that he did not like about his tone and words. Though, he could not say or do anything, while he was already in the near vicinity of the camp, while the man left on his own, towards a group of guards that were patrolling the outside of the camp.
[I do not like him, I feel that he is insulting us.]
[Yes, yes, yes, time to train, to the tent, and hand in the ground. No need to pay attention to small ants, unless they really want to die, or for you to desire their death, now proceed.]
[Ahhh-, alright.]
While losing no time, from Urger's repeated nagging, Levis walked inside the camp and went straight for the wife of the village chief, asking for food and water, as he returned inside his tent, and ate till he had his fill.
[Ahh—, good food, I can not eat anything else, and now–, training-, in the hole-, haaa---!]
[Go on, this time try to force your self little more, maybe this time you will go on automatically, and take some sleep.]
[I hope.]
While making a mental sigh, Levis moved to the ground mattress, and as he dropped face on, a hole in the ground on his right was visible, right next to himself, as he drove his right hand inside of it.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Though once his hand was belowground, the cells on his hand began their absorption, however at the same time, Levis's face contorted, in vexation and irritation, as he had the feeling that he was trying to squeeze water out of rocks.
[Continue, continue—.]
[------.]
[---.]
“--- Continue.”
However, as he persisted in his session of cultivating, at some point in the night, Levis’s consciousness fell into a deep slumber, while the cells of his hand's skin in the ground continued to absorb and steal, as much energy as they could, from the earth that was like a glue holding everything together
"---."
“Ahhhh—, it is already dawn! I fell asleep halfway thru the training, this time around—, nice achievement, me!”
[---When you stop congratulating yourself, check how much energy you possess at the moment.]
[Hm? I made some improvements!? I must be getting better at removing the energy from the ground.]
[Not enough, the pace has slowed quite a bit. You're still too weak to make full use of the energy that is piled and stuck to the earth.]
[Should I stay with the one in the air?]
[No. To risky. With the earth, you can hide any disturbance you might produce, and it is far harder to inspect the ground with one's consciousness, when compared with the air or the water, so it is better if you continue like this. You can use breathing exercises when you need, just to put out a show for everyone else.]
[I got it! ---At this rate, I should reach rank 4 in terms of energy-, in a few days, right?]
[Yes, you are now in between rank 3 and 4.]
[Hmmmm-, I am getting closer--, flying is just around the corner.]
[Mmm---, aha--, yes-, you are close, continue, continue.]
[ [Close to nothing, he is. But I guess a bit of optimism is good for him.] ]
[ [---] ]
[ [Why are you expressing nothing?] ]
[ [I am annoyed, as there has been nothing truly good to satisfy me, about this kid.] ]
[ [Hmm, well, when your fate intersects many fates, is then that you will be thrown into the river of human life.] ]
[ [Keep that line to yourself, I am waiting, for the real shift to begin.]
[ [Well we both are waiting for the same thing, so let us wait then. Hell and its suffering is always coming late in one's life.] ]
[Now what I need to do, is to visit senior Wan. I will give to the village chief and the rest, the two energy shards, and ask for more, to sustain them as after I am gone, they need to grow fast since they can not cultivate as I do.]
Unfurling the entrance of his tent, Levis walked outside, to look at the villager of his village. As this, will likely be the last time he could take a good look at them since he did not know how much time would pass before he would come back to see them.
However, he did not stay for long, as he begin to walk, towards Rowen's tent, in search of senior Wan. But as he was moving towards the center of the camp, the shadow or the black attire of the old man flashed in his eyes, while moving around the tents, while immediately giving chase to the figure that was moving at a leisurely pace, through quite fast for a man that showed the appearance of being in his sixties.
“Levis! Why are you following me? Is there something that you need?”
“Senior Wan—, “huff”, I wanted to ask you about—.”
"---."
“---Ah yes, I have already provided them with resources for future cultivation, subtracting from the part that you have, so you do not have to worry.”
“Then all is good then.”
“Anything else?”
“No, that is all I wanted to ask.”
“Then I suggest you prepare yourself, as tomorrow we will leave at first light.”
With a nod from the boy, the old man nodded as well, as he resumed his routine of a quick walk thru the camp.
While watching senior Wan, Levis was having a hard time understanding how he was walking, as, from his point of view, there was no difference from any normal step.
[He is partially gliding over, and pushing himself with a bit more power than a normal human would do while walking.]
[What?]
[The white hair boy, that's what he is doing, if you want to know.]
[Ahhh, thank you.]
[Do you want to do it?]
[Yes, but not now.]
Though, as he was speaking with Urger that was strangely forthcoming for once. Levis was already moving towards the tent, that the village Chief was using to recoup.
“Village Chief!”
“Come in.”
With the permission to enter, Levis found the man on his bed, relaxing, while he was looking at him with a light smile on his face.
“You came again. I guess this is the last time we might be able to speak like this.”
“The last time like this. The next time, I will be bigger and stronger. With me, no one will be able to touch the village again, and once I will be back, we can go back to the village. And I will help aunty and the rest to cultivate, this way you will all be healthy.”
“Eh! You better not do that, otherwise, you might not feel your bottom after my wife will thrash you”
Although the man was listening to him, at the mention of the word "help", his eyes twitched, as he begin to imagine Levis, slapping the whole village.
“Ah–, yes—, I might need to do it differently this time, maybe the pain is not good.”
“You—!!!”
But while the boy was speaking, and enunciating another method without the pain, the man nearly rose to slap the brat, as he was still suffering from headaches, while the memory was akin, to a moment of torture in hell.
“Ahhh—. Boy, I do not understand what cultivators are, and this might be the power that I desire to protect the village---. However, I can not protect you, in fact, I might need you to protect me. Nor can I force you to move away from your path of vengeance. But from what I have heard from senior Wan, cultivators live longer lives than normal humans, so I do not know when I will see you again. All I can say to you. are the words from my father-, though I think he heard them from your grandpa. Aham “ There is no shame in running away. True winners live to see the ensuing day. Run like hell today, and fight like a man tomorrow.”. I think I got the words right, what do you think.”
With a smile on his face, the man looked at the boy that seemed to be in a pondering position as he was trying to remember something.
“What is it? Were the words hard to understand?”
“Ah, no, but I think that this is similar to what he had said about fighting, “If you punch them, then run, and if they come after you, punch them and run again, if you think you can not win, just run like hell.”.”
“Ah---, this sounds like something uncle Ato might say. Well, go and see the rest as they might forget your face by the time you return.”
"This might be a problem. But how can you forget someone so inspiring as myself."
"If you could have taken more of uncle's stubbornness, it would have been better, rather than his self-boosting remarks. Now go!"
"I will come back later."
While leaving the man alone, Levis was unaware, of the silent sigh that seemed to take a year-worth of time, from the man's overall impression, as he appeared emotionally drained and fatigued, while watching the boy leave.