Jack looked at Faith, who was still young; she was exactly the same as he remembered her.
"Faith, perform the master disciple ceremony one more time!" Jack said.
Faith looked doubtful; she had already performed the ceremony long ago. But, as it was an order from her master, she didn’t ask any questions. She sat on her knees and started kowtowing nine times.
"Temporary task completed! Claim your reward," the system prompted.
Jack tapped "claim reward" and then looked at the interface.
This time, another temporary task appeared immediately.
* Name: Jack
* Cultivation level: Divine Soul Realm – First Stage.
* Main mission: conquer the world.
* Side mission: Calculate the Substance Soul Chapter of Heaven's Way cultivation technique – reward: 2,000 years of cultivation practice.
* Temporary task: Become a Grand Master: reward 50 years of cultivation practice.
* Grandpa's current level: Soul Substance Realm - 8th stage - usable for 1 hour/day.
* Grandpa's max level: Soul Transformation - 10th stage.
* Reserves: 8,189 years of cultivation practice.
"Grandmaster? What does it mean?" Jack thought for a moment and nodded to himself.
Looking at Faith, he said, "Faith, it’s time for you to accept a disciple. Go back to the sect and accept a talented youth as your disciple; after you do so, come back here and work with me."
A Grandmaster is probably like a grandfather; the previous task was to become a master, like a father, while the new task was to become a grandmaster, like a grandfather.
"A disciple? But Master, I already have so many disciples; can I bring one of them with me?" asked Faith. She is not young now and is at the 5th stage of Nascent Soul; of course, she has accepted many disciples already.
"You can; just remember that like we did now, you have to perform the master-disciple ceremony again," he said.
Faith didn’t understand why but said, "Yes, Master."
"Go!" said Jack.
…
Faith returned to the Heaven's Way Sect and did exactly as Jack ordered.
At the same time, Jack's system prompted, "Temporary task completed – claim your reward."
He looked at the system interface again; the temporary task slot displayed 'none,' meaning there were no other temporary tasks for now.
With temporary tasks over for now, he waited for Faith and her disciple to return, then started another round of closed-door research. He wouldn't come out unless he calculated the Substance Soul Chapter of Heaven's Way or something urgent happened.
…
A normal person may feel bored flying over the ocean for months, but Mike wasn’t normal; he was enjoying his lonely time a lot lately.
Nascent Soul cultivators can teleport, but Mike wasn’t teleporting; he was just traveling in the air on a small air cruiser. The reason is that while the Nascent Soul itself can teleport a long distance with very little consumption, carrying the body along with the Nascent Soul would greatly reduce the reach. He would have been exhausted after crossing a relatively short distance if he tried teleporting.
At the Nascent Soul stage, teleportation is less a way of traveling and more a way of escaping.
The magic treasures given to him by Master Stormy were capable of fast travel, but they had extremely high consumption; she only gave him enough fuel for about an hour, so he didn’t intend to use them.
There was no need to worry; his master, Jack, was peacefully sitting in the lab calculating the Soul Substance Realm of Heaven's Way. There was no danger, so he had no reason to rush.
His mission this time was to go to a specific area, an ancient ruin on an island.
Usually, the endless oceans are dangerous, but Jack gave him a map that he got from the Brown Dynasty, which marked a specific route. Following this route, Mike could pass safely.
The world is not only populated by humans; there are many magical beasts—dragons, phoenixes, snakes, tigers, lions, cats, dogs, etc. Each of the magical beasts can increase their power through cultivation.
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Some magical beasts have special blood and reach a certain cultivation level by their adulthood, even if they don’t cultivate at all. For example, pureblood dragons, even if they don’t cultivate at all, reach the Soul Substance Realm by their adulthood.
However, magical beasts with ordinary blood, such as tigers, snakes, cats, dogs, etc., can only become stronger through special cultivation methods.
There are many special-blooded magical beasts in the sea, such as Krakens, sirens, sea dragons, and hydras. There are also ordinary blood sharks, sea turtles, crabs, jellyfish, and sponges.
Special-blood sea magical beasts reach a certain cultivation level by their adulthood. For example, Krakens reaches the Multiple Soul Realm by adulthood, sirens reach the Nascent Soul Realm by adulthood, and hydras reach the Divine Soul Realm by adulthood.
Strong magical beasts all have territories. The Brown Dynasty has spent unimaginable resources mapping these territories, using loopholes and blind spots between magical beasts' territories to discover safe routes through the ocean; the ocean is even safe for soul transformation cultivators if they travel blindly, so mapping is necessary.
These maps are usually top secret, but Jack got a copy; he is now a valuable chess piece for Daoist Stormy.
Daoist Stormy has been extremely impressed with Heaven's Dao; she has put down everything and prioritized Heaven's Dao above all else.
The first supreme elder of the Brown Dynasty is trying to reach the Perfection Realm; if he succeeds, he may overrule Stormy's decision over Heaven's Way, but that is unlikely. The likely scenario is that he would increase Jack's resources even further.
As one advances in one's cultivation, one notices the value of Heaven's Way more and more.
Mike saw an island far away, covered in a black cloud, not looking friendly for human habitation.
"That’s the one!" He recalled the description and nodded.
The Dark Island, as Jack called it, is strange. Only special people can see it, so it has remained undiscovered throughout the years.
Jack had given him a piece of charcoal, which Mike kept in his secret pocket; as long as he had this piece, he could see and enter the island.
This piece of charcoal was the remaining body of Oliver, the fake protagonist from whom Jack stole his system. This island is reserved for protagonists; Mike uses this piece of Oliver as a link to enter the island. The consequences would be unimaginable if he lost this piece of charcoal while inside.
So, he kept it tightly in his right hand and flew toward the island.
After twenty days, he finally reached his destination; the entire island was wrapped around a dark cloud.
To experiment, Mike put the piece of charcoal on a flying sword, tightly secured it, and flew it far away. As it went further and further, the island flickered and disappeared.
Mike went forward and felt nothing; it was as if the island was completely gone.
He got a bit away from the island and pulled the sword to his side again; the island appeared flickeringly.
"It is probably in another dimension; if I lose the charcoal while inside, I would be lost in that dimension for an unknown amount of time." Mike steeled himself, kept the charcoal tightly, and stepped in.
…
Telling Mike about this island was borderline using his outside knowledge to his advantage, so Jack was forced to talk in uncertain terms, trying to tiptoe around the line. For that reason, he couldn’t straight-up tell everything about it; Mike had to discover it himself.
While on the island, Mike looked around. Everything was quite dark, but he could see things without issue. The island was covered in mountains, which were covered with dark brown trees. The ground was cracked, and there was barely any water, even though the island was in the middle of the ocean.
Thinking of Jack's description, Mike felt like he was solving a puzzle.
"According to Master, the treasure is where the red flower grows up, but this place doesn’t seem to have any flowers, let alone red flowers," Mike thought. Still, it was Jack's words, so he took them seriously and started flying around, looking for clues.
…
10 years later.
"There is nothing red on this whole island!" Mike thought disappointingly; he had one beautiful colorless flower, some rare blue flowers, and even a dark green flower, but not a red one.
"What to do?" He thought for a long time and decided to experiment. If there were no red flowers, he would have to plant red flower seeds and make them grow.
Fortunately, by now, he had a spiritual ring; in it, he brought everything that could conceivably be useful, including red flowers and their seeds.
Taking out a few seeds, he planted them on the most fertile soil he found on the island.
He watered them every day and even shined sunlight on them, using a spell, but none grew at all; it was as if the soil here was poisonous.
He couldn’t help; he took out fertile soil from his spatial ring and dumped it in a flower pot. The flower pot was completely covered, so the outside couldn’t affect it.
He planted red flower seeds in the flower pot and smiled; if everything went well, they would grow shortly.
After a few months, the flowers sprouted, but to Mike's astonishment, they turned out colorless; they were not red. He was sure the seeds should have produced red flowers, but they failed to do so.
"This place doesn’t allow the color red!" Mike was astonished; he made a cut on his hand and watched as colorless blood bled out of his wound.
"As I thought, this place simply doesn’t allow anything red. Then how am I supposed to find the red flower?" He felt troubled; the information his master provided was too little.
During these years, he looked everywhere—the sky, the ground, underground, etc., but nothing was red.
"Wait!" Something exploded in his mind; he looked at his blood, then at the supposed red flowers, which, for some reason, were colorless.
"In this place, red turns colorless. Does it mean that the beautiful colorless flower I found was actually a red flower?" He thought with happiness; this is probably the answer.
Quickly flying to it, he looked at it and cut a small piece. Then, he turned around, holding the charcoal tightly, and left the island.
...
Outside the island ...
Looking at the red flower in his hand, which used to be colorless, Mike laughed; finally, after years, he discovered where the red flower was.
Entering again, he returned to where the colorless flower was.
"The treasure is where the red flower grows; does it mean I should dig the ground?" Mike asked himself; he had already scanned underground, so he knew for sure there was nothing valuable there.
Thinking of many possibilities, he started digging.