The moment the altered Liferoot vanished from its altar, the entire land seemed to breathe for the first time in a while. Tyler pushed his divine sense as far as he could and saw that there wasn't a single sign of life. Shifting his focus inward, Tyler felt his inner world shake as the Root tried to absorb all of his Qi and sat down in a lotus position to focus on controlling it.

When Tyler had taken in the Liferoot, his soul avatar had been maintaining it in the air as its roots squiggled, looking for a ground to sink into, and he wasn't sure whether or not he should let it.

According to the book, the Liferoot tended to simultaneously expulse waves of all five elemental Qi, usually creating well, life, onto whatever it touched. This altered version, however, did the exact opposite as it tried to suck in every type of energy within Tyler's inner world.

The environment around the Liferoot would willingly give its nutrients, Qi, and essence because they always received more in return. From what Tyler could tell, the Deathroot—what he decided to call this variant Liferoot—forcefully took everything and ate it up to strengthen itself. One was a life-giver, and the other a life-taker. It was a delicate balance.

While he was all controlling in here, Tyler didn't know what would happen if the root was allowed to suck up everything on his island. It was a tier-three plant, after all. For now, Tyler sat there while controlling the plant high up in the skies, scanning every part of it, trying to understand.

A ton of information flooded his mind, and Tyler started sorting through it and categorizing it slowly. The first thing he noticed was the root's hunger for energy. It was like a black hole, relentlessly absorbing Qi from the atmosphere of his inner world. Yet, Tyler sensed a hidden pocket within the root as it consumed. That bit did not absorb anything.

Tyler observed the unique way in which the Deathroot absorbed energy. Unlike other plants that drew in energy uniformly, this root seemed to have a preference, focusing first on the most potent sources of Qi before moving to weaker ones. It was odd as Tyler slowly moved some differently-sized water blobs and noticed this phenomenon.

He noted that the energy absorbed by the root underwent a significant transformation as the water was corrupted with deathly energies. It wasn't just stored as is but was reinforced into a more potent, albeit darker, form of Qi that bordered on true essence before being stored in its leaves.

The internal structure of the Deathroot was fascinating. It had channels similar to human meridians, but they were twisted, forming patterns that resembled ancient runes. Tyler speculated that these channels could be rearranged to change the root's nature from Death to Life, almost like a formation. The tome on Essence Transformation supported his speculation exceptionally well, as it was one possible way to alter any energy's properties.

Amid the dark energy, Tyler detected faint traces of bright, warm energy hidden in that small pocket. This residual True Essence seemed to pulse weakly, almost as if it were fighting to surface.

The most profound discovery was the delicate balance between both energies within the root. Though currently skewed towards death, Tyler sensed that with careful manipulation, this balance could be shifted back towards Life with a lot of work and cautious energy control.

As Tyler continued his observation, he read through the Essence Transformation and Liferoot's book in more detail as he split his Divine Sense's focus into two. He had been forcing himself to do this since the Twelve Ghost Ridge, and while he had gotten better, he still couldn't maintain his Divine Sense on the outside world simultaneously as he did more than a single task within.

On the one hand, Tyler was holding the plant up high in the skies, and on the other, he was manipulating some Qi into formation lines as described in the book to see their effects on his own Qi.

In his inner world, where Tyler wielded control akin to that of a deity, he began the intricate task of creating a Qi formation designed to attune the Deathroot's absorbed energy toward life. This was his first attempt at such a complex undertaking, yet his unique environment gave him an unparalleled advantage.

Drawing upon the "Essence Transformation" Book and the Deathroot's intricate structure, Tyler sketched out a formation pattern. This was not just a physical design but a complex array of energetic pathways and nodes. Each line he drew with his Divine Sense was imbued to transform deathly Qi into life-giving energy.

The ley lines of the formation would usually require a medium to be carved into, but here, the world itself was the medium. A formation usually only needed one's Qi to be funneled into a specially made pen, but Tyler had no such instruments and drew free-hand. He began to channel these energies into the air, carefully modulating their flow to align with the life-attuned laws described in the book.

Even here, the formation kept dissipating into the atmosphere as Tyler's split focus constantly caused him to lose control over the Qi. The formation he was creating also wasn't doing its job, as all of the Qi he was passing through it did not change. Tyler's Qi kept the same law compositions and signature—Wind, thunder, Sword, and Water.

The energy expenditure from messing around with formations and maintaining the Deathroot afloat that was constantly feeding on the naturally ambient Qi was starting to be quite extreme. Tyler had to stop and meditate for a day in order to restore his Qi—the battle he just had, while simple, had exhausted about half his reserves.

As he meditated, Tyler realized that a brute-force approach probably wouldn't work. It was difficult to force one type of energy to transform into another like this. It was challenging to the point that even within his inner world, he couldn't do it. Especially when it was two energies at the opposite end of the spectrum, he speculated that changing Sword Qi into Saber Qi, for example, would be relatively straightforward as they were both incredibly similar.

Hell, even the Deathroot had hidden a portion of what Tyler assumed to be Life True Essence. On top of that, the ghosts had spent nearly a year performing the rituals, based on what Jake had told him, indicating that this process was challenging and unnatural.

As Tyler contemplated what to do with this peculiar plant, he decided just to go for broke and try to find the perfect balance and form something different—a Yin-Yang Root.

After all, Life and Death complemented each other and were connected in so many ways that it just made sense to Tyler. From his extensive readings on cultivation, Tyler recognized the strength of yin-yang as a concept and decided to give it a shot. All he had to lose was time and, worst case scenario, a tier 3 root that he needed to get rid of somehow.

When his resources were fully restored, Tyler got up and started walking out of this dark and grimy place. He maintained his focus on the plant and simultaneously started messing around with the balanced life-death formation. He had walked here without Divine Sense, so he would walk back without. Hopefully, everything would go smoothly during his travels.

The trip here had taken a few hours, but Tyler had been going at full speed and crossing over a hundred kilometers, so the walk back would be pretty long, but he didn't mind. Daredevil and Jake would take a week or so to travel back and forth to the Dancing Winds Sect, so he wasn't in a hurry. The hunter was a mortal, after all.

With a casual pace, this would take a day. Tyler would've loved to sleep at some point, as it was always highly comforting, even though he didn't really need it. Unfortunately, if he did, the Deathroot would probably fall to the ground and go to town, absorbing every single drop of Qi that it could, and it could maybe even endanger his inner world... Maybe. Tyler wasn't sure of anything, but he'd try to figure it out before this whole thing ended.

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Tyler finally stepped back into the outside world after what felt like an eternity of navigating and getting lost in the dark and gloomy halls. He relished the change in the atmosphere, finding solace in the simple pleasure of breathing fresh air after the confined, musty ambiance of the catacomb-like structure he had been in.

Exiting into the open, Tyler felt a renewed appreciation for the natural world. Although the surrounding lands had seen better days, the air remained pure and refreshing. This contrast highlighted the resilience of nature, an aspect often mirrored in cultivation paths.

As Tyler walked towards the village, his pace leisurely, he reflected on the day's events as he put his hands in his pockets. Focusing his Divine Sense so intensely was taxing, and this moment of respite was as much a part of his cultivation journey as the active manipulation of Qi.

Today, he had seen the unholy ritual taking place, followed the perpetrators to their base, and took care of the abominations. Then, Tyler looted the place clean of their books and cut off what he felt was the source of the village's troubles. Hopefully, by cutting out the source, the environment would do what it does best and heal itself.

The warm and soothing air was a gentle reminder of the world's inherent energy. Every element of the environment, from the air Tyler breathed to the ground he walked upon, was a source of inspiration and power for a cultivator.

Tyler's mind was active during his travels. He contemplated the next steps in his journey. The experience with the Deathroot had opened new avenues for him to explore. He would have to wait for Jake and Daredevil to return or for him to notice a change in the environment. Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the village on its own after promising Jake that he would do his best to resolve this situation.

A full day later, he saw the village in the distance, stopped his experimentations with formations in his inner world, and spread his divine sense. He didn't want to alarm the villagers with his aura. So far, Tyler hadn't noticed anything significantly different with the environment or the village, but when he could truly see everything, he smiled.

Tyler was greeted with a heartening sight. Once marred by decay and stagnation, the environment showed signs of healing. This change was subtle yet unmistakable. The air felt fresher, the earth richer, and even the faintest traces of green were returning to the lands. It was as if the land was slowly awakening from a long slumber.

Tyler backed off so the village would be at the edge of his divine sense so that none of the villagers would accidentally find him, climbed up a tree, and sat comfortably in a lotus position up there and meditated.

Even after a full day, he had made no progress, drained a large portion of his Qi again, and needed to address that. The following week, Tyler would alternate between messing around with the yin-yang formation and releasing a pulse of divine sense whenever the formation crumbled.

However, He was making progress as his Qi was slowly taking on different properties. Turns out, when you built formations, it wasn't just about tracing lines of Qi and hoping that you replicated the design you saw in the book!

Tyler always needed help with applying theory to practice. While books provided essential knowledge and guidelines, true mastery came from hands-on experience, or at least, it did for Tyler. Throughout his entire career, every course he was on was useless, as he would forget everything within a few days of finishing his classes.

Tyler recognized that the only way he would genuinely master his craft was through relentless repetition. He had to confront problems he had close to no prior knowledge of solving and then navigate through them, learning as he went along.

He took pride in his ability to absorb and retain information quickly, especially after dedicating hours to figuring out solutions to challenges that arose. He also embraced the fact that he wasn't afraid to seek assistance when he found himself uncertain, a trait that not everyone shared. In the military, asking for help was often frowned upon, but Tyler didn't care. The mission came first. His ego was far down the line of priorities.

Throughout this process of constantly failing to build a stable yin-yang formation, Tyler became more attuned to his limits. Despite the slow pace of progress, Tyler remained persistent. He understood that cultivation was often a slow journey. His dedication to experimenting, learning from failures, and adapting techniques was a testament to his commitment to his cultivation path.

This went on for a whole week, and even after all this time, there was no sign of Daredevil and Jake.

***

A week ago, Jake had left his village, belly full and filled with emotions. He left the village with the promise that when he returned, his home would be allowed to flourish once more and, if his mission here was successful, find his sister.

Jake had walked side by side with the chatty panther that kept on growling and making various noises. He swore he could understand a few words every now and then, but this was a beast, so surely he was imagining things. Surely, this spirit beast couldn't be talking about foxes and firetails, right?

Their trip had been very slow and more eventful than before, as Daredevil had to intervene multiple times and put down over a dozen spirit beasts who wanted to eat either him or the panther. Eventually, though, they reached the cultivation cave of the Master Cultivator and rested for the day.

The following day, the Panther had signaled for Jake to get up on his back, which was a bit awkward. Jake was a grown man afterward, and even though Daredevil was a spirit beast, he was still young and had grown to the size of a Great Dane. He was much more muscular than the dog, but still, it was an odd sight.

At first, Jake was hesitant, but after declining a few times, Daredevil jaws caught the hem of his clothes, and he found himself lying across its back. Sighing, he relented. "Fine! I did not want to soil your magnificent fur or diminish your greatness by carrying around a mortal." Jake bowed his head. "I apologize."

What came back was a few growls, and Jake firmly gripped the thick fur and neck muscles. He wasn't riding the panther as much as he was hanging on for dear life. The moment he had gotten a good grip, the panther had leaped up a dozen feet to test a few things. Then, Daredevil took off running, ensuring the human was solidly in place and wouldn't fall off.

At first, Jake was scared out of his mind, but soon, he was excited. When he saw how easily the spirit beast climbed up one of the most enormous trees he had seen in his entire life, it was like a veil was lifted from his eyes. Jake was on the back of a mighty spirit beast, overlooking the whole forest, and all he could see for as far as the eye could see was greenery. Far into the distance, he could spot a few mountains accompanied by waterfalls, and he shed a tear.

The furthest he had ever gone his entire life was to this Master Cultivator's cave. Before that, he had never gone so far from the village, and the first time he did, he met a cultivator who offered to solve all of his problems, and he was now overlooking the world like those heroes from legend.

The spirit beast who carried him up the tree growled, pointed its paw forward toward the mountain with the waterfalls, and seemed to say another few incomprehensible words. From the context, however, Jake understood. That was most likely the direction they had to take in order to get to the Dancing Winds Sect.

The forest over here was thick and vibrant with life, and from what he could tell, Daredevil had asked him to hop on his back for his own protection. After being shown the direction they were heading in, Jake had expected to go back down to the ground, but oh boy, was he wrong.

Daredevil was flexing his powers as a spirit beast as he stayed high in the trees, jumping from branch to branch. Sometimes, Jake would be covered by layers of mists as he felt the spirit beast jump in mid-air and land safely on a nearby tree.

Funnily enough, though, they had yet to encounter a single spirit beast this time despite being in foreign territory. Daredevil had stayed in the trees for a reason. After all, from what the Master Cultivator had said, the panther had been to the Dancing Winds Sect before, so it would make sense that it had a good understanding of the route and dangers it could pose.

Although this method of transportation was much faster than if Jake had walked, the trip still took a few days. It was primarily due to his needing to eat at least once or twice a day and that he required sleep. Otherwise, Jake was confident that the trip would be done and the sect would've been in sight.

But it took three days before Daredevil climbed to the ground and signaled for him to get down. Then, the panther roared. It roared so loud that Jake shook from head to toe, shaken by the Qi contained within that roar. It didn't injure him, but it had surprised him.

He knew the spirit beast was strong, but to this day, he had no real idea how strong. Sure, he had seen it take down a few other beasts, but it had done so with so much ease that it assumed they were all low-tier monsters. The reality would've frightened him as all those beasts were late tier-two spirit beasts.

A few moments after that roar, a single old man in cultivator robes flew in from a distant mountain and knelt before them. "I greet the Wandering Cultivator's spirit beast and his guest!"

The panther growled and bowed its head back, and Jake did the same, intimidated. This person had just been flying in the skies! A true Immortal!