Xiao Yan had fallen asleep on a rock not far away from the hut while cultivating. The commotion on the beach had woke him up.

*Yawn*

‘What’s going on? Master? Mistress?’

Luckily, he didn’t speak his thoughts out loud. Otherwise, Xiao Yan would surely become a victim of Xue’er as well.

Xue’er pretended to be angry with a puff and turned away from Shen.

“Sorry Xue’er, haha. You’re just way too cute!”

“Hmph, Big Brother Shen you bully!”

Shen chuckled some more. Xue’er went inside the hut intending to hide from Shen since she was embarrassed.

“Ok, I’m going to practice the Gale Sword!” Shen sat down once more at the table in front of the hut and took out the book for the next sword art.

After reading it a few times over, Shen stood up and walked into the air and stood a few tens of feet above the ground.

He stood still and tried to sense the wind element around him as indicated in the book.

The Gale Sword was actually a supportive sword skill for physical type offensive magic arts. It could actually be used for all kinds of weapons other than swords. It relied on manipulating the wind elements in the environment to assist in increasing the speed and sharpness of the attacks.

This was a great way to improve the power of the Foundation Sword Manual’s moves. But Shen still didn’t have a dedicated sword art that was developed for attacking.

‘Oh well, maybe I should’ve read the introduction before choosing the books at the auction house.’

Being one with the universe was basically cheat mode since it only took a few minutes before green coloured wind elements in the surrounding air started rotating around Shen.

The book mainly introduced various ways to use the wind elements in attacks as well as the way to sense them.

Shen started practising the moves from Foundation Sword Manual. This time, wind elements accompanied the sword strokes with a light green glow on the sword itself.

Over time, the sharpness of the attacks increased and the wind elements became much more natural with each stroke.

Shen’s attacks were now easily able to reach over eighty feet away with the help of the Gale Sword art.

After some time, Shen decided that he had no more need to practise any further since it would not bring great improvements.

“Xue’er! I’m going to cultivate! I’ll be back in couple of hours.”

Xue’er was still feeling shy so she only responded with a light ‘Um’.

“Master! Are you going back to the island? Take me with you if that’s the case!”

Xiao Yan jumped on Shen’s shoulder.

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“Alright, let’s go Xiao Yan!”

***

Shen sat down comfortably on the beach of the small island. Xiao Yan had run off to the volcano at the island centre. The temperature was a bit lower than last time since the birth of Xiao Yan had influenced the magma.

Shen started revolving his homemade cultivation technique in his sitting position. The spiritual energy in the surrounding tens of thousands of miles’ radius was drawn in towards the small island at a ridiculous rate.

It only took a mere three hours for Shen to reach late Nascent Soul stage. The temperature of the island lowered by a small amount while Shen was cultivating. Shen had ended up falling asleep on the beach while absorbing spiritual power.

“Master!”

Xiao Yan had come back after a breakthrough. The little Qilin had also benefited from Shen’s unbelievable cultivation method. With the help of the volcano as well as the abundant spiritual power, he had reached mid Core Formation in one go.

Shen got up and rubbed his eyes, stopping his cultivation session. Xiao Yan jumped on Shen’s shoulder and assumed his usual position.

“I better ask Xue’er how to reach Soul Formation. It won’t take much longer at this rate.”

“Master, look! I’m now mid Core Formation! It won’t be long before I overtake that darned fox!”

Shen chuckled at the boasting figure of Xiao Yan.

One man and spirit beast once again stepped across space to arrive back in front of the little hut.

Xue’er was half laying on the table with her hands supporting her head. Little White sat on the table nibbling on some snacks they had bought in the city.

“Big Brother Shen, you’re back!”

The white glanced up and muttered in surprise. “Oh? Late Nascent Soul! Impressive.”

“…I’m here too you know…I also had a breakthrough you know…” Xiao Yan muttered under his breath to which no one responded to his sorrow.

Shen walked up and sat at the table next to Xue’er. He held Xue’er’s hands and asked. “Xue’er, I’m sorry about teasing you earlier. Are you feeling better now?” The chaos beast certainly resembled a smooth playboy right at this moment.

“B-Big Brother Shen!” Xue’er was flustered from the sudden move and didn’t know what to do.

“I’m ok! Big Brother Shen, are you hungry? I’ll cook something!” She very bluntly tried to change topics which brought a small laugh from Shen.

“No need to cook Xue’er. Let’s have the meals we bought.” Shen assumed his straight face, not wanting to tease the beauty further.

After the meal.

“Xue’er, what’s Soul Formation stage? How do I break through?”

“Big Brother Shen, you want to reach Soul Formation so soon?”

“Yes, I want to catch up to Xue’er after all.”

Little White was on the verge of vomiting sugar as she listened. ‘Ha…Looks like Sister Xue’er has fallen to the enemy.’

“Big Brother Shen!” Xue’er once more entered shy mode.

After a while, she regained her composure and proceeded to explain.

Soul Formation is in fact very similar to Nascent Soul stage. One forms a Soul Avatar once more but this time in the sea of consciousness. This process can only be completed when one had reached the limit on strengthening the Soul Avatar within the dantian.

The Soul Avatar in the dantian would not be able to hold any more Spiritual energy. One would have to guide a large amount of spiritual energy to help the formation of the Soul Avatar within the sea of consciousness.

The Soul Avatar of the sea of consciousness is a miniature version one’s fleshy body, condensed purely with Divine Sense. This allows one to escape with the Soul Avatar upon destruction of one’s fleshy body.

The fleshy body is no more powerful than it was in Nascent Soul stage but the Divine Sense gets substantially stronger with the formation of the Soul Avatar. However, the cultivation would be lost and the soul cannot exist independently for a long time.

Soul Formation stage is a very crucial step on the road of cultivation and it marks one’s true start as a cultivator.

Shen took in the information and went into a thinking posture. His sea of consciousness was different from a normal cultivator. He already had an absurd Divine Sense. He was merely limiting it to the equivalent of a Nascent Soul stage expert.

‘Well, whatever. I’ll know what happens when I try.’

Xue’er sat in silence next to Shen like a good wife. It was the very picture of harmony.

Shen looked into his dantian. A large silvery flame burned silently. It was a far cry from the once small grey flame. The flame contained his cultivation of Late Nascent Soul stage. It still had room for growing as Shen could sense it from the flame.

“Xue’er, let’s stay here one more day. I still have some time before I reach the peak of Nascent Soul. I’ll attempt to reach Soul Formation after that.”

“I’m going to hunt for spirit herbs in the forest!” Xiao Yan ran off as soon as he heard that they were staying longer.

“Sister Xue’er, I’m going back to sleep. Wake me up before we leave.”