Lute didn’t know if his heart could take any more surprises. In a span of a little over twenty-four hours, he jumped off a cliff and somehow survived with near fatal injuries that should’ve killed him. He managed to obtain one of the top five treasures in the known universe and obtained a Master to guide him. But that still wasn’t the end. He practically got two inheritances of some of the strongest Immortals.

One of which gave him a bloodline that only he could have, and the other which gave a near impossible Art to cultivate and could only be taught to others at his own discretion. This wasn’t just luck at play anymore, there clearly had to be a detriment to all of this as recompense. And currently one strong scenario was making itself more plausible by the hour. That detriment was Isla’s soul.

Ever since she had transmitted the Primordial Gods Art to him, Isla hadn’t manifested in her spiritual form once. Even more so, through the connection Lute clearly felt that her "Existence" had weakened somewhat. It had become harder to read her emotions or sense her within his body. With just this much evidence alone, there was a pretty strong conclusion that there was a price for Isla’s actions.

She had done three things. First she shared her senses with me directly. She transmitted an Art directly from her soul to me. And she used her power to send the Spiritual Gods blood to me. She did all this while only being a soul. I’d be an idiot to think that she isn’t paying some price to do this.

She already mentioned that she had been using her soul strength. But does she have a way to replenish it? Perhaps she will sleep until she stabilizes with the remaining strength that she has left.

Arriving at such a conclusion, Lute stood up and began to make his way deeper into the cave. He had now come to the realization that he couldn’t rely on Isla to constantly give him a powerful Art or be there all the time to help him. No doubt there would be times where she would slumber, and who knows how long it would last each time. If he wanted to advance, he needed to do it without relying on the safety net that was Isla, for it could only hinder his growth if he relied on her all the time. With that thought, he moved forward on his own.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been smarter for Lute to simply return to the location he landed from his fall. Then it would be child’s play for the current him to climb up the chasm and to the surface. Even with his cultivation of a mere second level Foundational Qi practitioner.

However, whether he was simply crazy, or had a sixth sense, Lute felt as if he should travel deeper into the cavern in his attempt to leave. Perhaps there would be something else of unknown origin that he could obtain. The chances of such an occurrence, however, were quite close to none.

Advancing forward, there was nothing notable. The slight sounds of dripping water and the occasional insect were all that appeared. Other than that, for the most part, the cavern was exactly the same as any other. It was devoid of any light and on all sides it was simply rock.

The only reason Lute was able to see somewhat was thanks to the Spiritual Gods Blood. It changed his body down to the smallest units on a fundamental level. The easiest difference in his body to notice at the time of his change was naturally sight. Originally having a hard time even seeing his hand, after the change, it was easily visible. Just that much alone was helpful in this place without a shred of light.

For nearly half an hour Lute trudged on. All the while his body was still absorbing Qi without him having to. The Primordial God had certainly been right; this would be extremely painful under normal circumstances. But, he’d failed to notice his inheritor had also inherited from the Spiritual God –since it was a mere shred of his will that he left behind- so at the least, for now the pain was hardly noticeable in Lute’s meridians because they were already quite wide and durable as they originated from an Immortal.

The strength of the meridians were certainly on a completely different level compared to the cultivators of this era, but even in the Age of Immortals, having abnormally large and strong meridians was rare. The Primordial God could be said to be one of the few who had the strongest because the Divine Chronicle of the Primordial Way constantly expanded and strengthened them.

If Lute had any problem with them, it was the fact in comparison to the size of his meridians and the amount of Qi he had, it felt as if he had no Qi at all revolving through his body. It seemed almost nonexistent. At this rate, he had no idea how long it would take for him to completely fill his body with the power of Qi, because at the moment he felt like an empty vessel.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The concept of breaking through, at least in the Foundational Qi Realm, was to gather as much Qi as the body could hold in both the dantian and meridians. Eventually, the body would be forced to condense all of the Qi and compact it even more to allow more space for the body to hold Qi. This was the essence of breakthrough in the first small realm. The constant condensing of Qi, forcing it into a stronger form, albeit there being less of it, was the goal.

Once this couldn’t happen anymore, the Cultivator’s Dantian would be forced to adapt. This was when a breakthrough to the Nascent Qi Realm occurred. Now, not only does Qi have to constantly fill the body and then compress to a stronger form, each level of cultivation would start increasing the Dantian capacity to hold Qi. In essence there wasn’t a problem with this in the Mortal Realm or the Divine Realm. But Lute was beginning to realize the problem with this for his unique situation.

While being able to revolve larger amounts of Qi at once without a problem, doesn’t this mean that I will need far more Qi to breakthrough compared to other Cultivators? This will seriously slow down my ability to cultivate. As for how much, I’ll have to wait for Master. I don’t know how much larger my meridians are compared to a normal cultivator. The power of the Immortals is really something that eclipses all that we understand in this era. But even so, this empty feeling is really not something that I enjoy. I bet that other cultivators at my level certainly don’t feel starved like this.

Finally up ahead, Lute began to see a speck of light in the distance. Worrying about how fast he could actually cultivate had in actuality passed a lot of time. Nearly two hours had gone by since he trudged forward initially. As expected, he hadn’t found anything interesting, but he didn’t care.

Finally, not only will I be able to obtain some food, maybe I’ll even be able to craft some fur clothes as well. To think that instead of ending up in death, I will have a second chance.

Lute picked up his pace and began to jog towards the light. As he approached closer and closer, he began to feel a sense of foreboding, as for what it was, he had no idea. Once again he slowed down, only to be met with a grotesque sight. Directly in front of him was a nest of bones. They weren’t even randomly scattered, it seemed that this was made intentionally as a nest. There were bones, twigs and an assortment of grasses and leaves woven in. Whatever it was, something built this by slaughtering many animals and possibly people.

The closer Lute came to the nest, the greater his sense of danger felt towards the surroundings. Currently there was nothing here, but Lute felt certain that this was a nest of a vicious beast. Checking in all directions, he then sprinted as fast as he could to the entrance.

Blinding light enveloped Lutes vision. After about a minute his eyes finally adjusted to being in the light again compared to the darkness of before. Just based on his immediate surroundings, Lute began to feel a sense of dread.

"God damn it! Of all the places I could have ended up, why it would have to be here?!" Lute spat angrily.

This place, it was the forbidden zone that he’d set for himself the past two years. This portion of the Crimson Tide Mountain Range was the place that was fraught with Vicious Beasts only. The greatest problem now… Lute came to the realization that he didn’t actually know how to fight upfront. He’d only ever set traps for small animals or used the bow and arrows he previously had to shoot deer. Despite being a cultivator he didn’t actually know martial arts.

Shit! Master never actually taught me how to fight using Qi! I don’t even know how to fight in close combat…. I sincerely hope that having a strong body makes up for those deficiencies.

Not wanting to stay near this deathtrap of a cave any longer. Lute began to move away as quietly as possible. He didn’t want to alert anything in the vicinity through sound that he was nearby.

On the Crimson Tide Planet, for reasons unknown the sun was in a perpetual state of sunset. The only other time was night. But, thanks to this, Lute started heading towards the sun because through it being sunset at all times, he knew that it would head west. For now, heading in that direction didn’t seem any worse than another.

After traveling for roughly another hour, while taking care to avoid any areas that he felt had a high risk of danger. Lute finally heard a familiar sound.

Water! Finally, if I am careful, I should be able to make a shelter hidden from the sight of any Vicious Beasts that come around. However I must not be impatient, who knows what is around here.

True to his thoughts, Lute began to scan the surrounding area for anything that might pose a threat to his life. At the moment, there was nothing that he had noticed. It was eerily quiet but that was all. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

After looking around for a while, and based solely on his experience from the past, where Lute actually was had become apparent.

Hmm, so this is a small valley within the mountain range. Perhaps it’s so quiet because either most of the Vicious Beasts have not found this place. Or the more probable scenario would be that they were driven off, most likely by a few older, stronger beasts that have made this place their home.

The latter is probably the case, if so; a small shelter where their bodies can’t fit would be the safest. Small fires at the most, and finding out when anything is active. Those are the three keys to living here, if I don’t live in this way, I’ll probably die.

And so, Lutes survival in the unknown valley began. A time of uncertainty was all that the future showed. Such was the life of a cultivator. Nothing was ever guaranteed.