Encountering Peril

The lush, verdant forest was filled with nature's most primal aura.

The forest in the morning always made people feel exceptionally refreshed. Walking through it with one's eyes closed, one could feel every cell in the body as though it were intoxicated by the gentlest air in the world. Pure energy carrying a rich breath of life slowly seeped through the pores, then flowed throughout the body, bringing a tingling, refreshing coolness. That pleasure reaching deep into the soul made one unable to resist wanting to ＃＃＃.

At this moment, Chen Yun was experiencing that feeling firsthand.

He quietly sat cross-legged beside the pool, eyes closed, slowly breathing in and out through his nostrils. His breaths were long and even. This was Chen Yun's compulsory morning lesson every day.

As Old Ent had said, all things in the world were subject to the restrictions of this realm. Unseen, it was as though a pair of invisible hands were pushing the development of all things. This was the law of the world. Only by fully comprehending this law, or even mastering it, could one break free of the shackles of heaven and earth and take control of one's own destiny.

This was something that all cultivators above the fifth rank on the continent knew. It was also a form of cultivation known as meditation. When Chen Yun had first heard the term, he had been stunned. Wasn't this the meditation of mages described in the webnovels of his previous life? Yet this continent only had warriors; there were no mages.

Although warriors focused on their own combat power, once their strength reached a certain stage, things were far more complicated than simply increasing their battle qi. At that point, greater importance was placed on controlling the laws of heaven and earth. Mastering and using a portion of the laws of space was the mark of becoming a Battle Venerable Expert. Thus, Battle Venerable Experts gained the ability to break through the spatial restrictions of the continent, leave it, and travel to higher-level realms or other places.

Because living beings had limited lifespans and could not spend endless time comprehending the laws, and because they focused primarily on their own combat power in the early stages, meditation and comprehension generally only began after reaching the fifth level, the Battle Sect realm.

Chen Yun, however, was different. He possessed a powerful dragon-bloodline, and describing his talent as demonic would not be an exaggeration. One had to know that most people his age had not even reached the Battle Warrior realm. Therefore, Old Ent had decided to let him begin experiencing meditation and comprehension early, believing that it would help his future development.

This world had never lacked geniuses. Some had even reached the third or fourth level, such as Wright, whose talent was also astonishing. But that was only because he possessed the extremely precious Berserk Bloodline, which had awakened at an early age. Such cases were far too rare.

How difficult was it to comprehend and then use the laws of heaven and earth? Among the countless living beings on the continent, only a handful could reach that level, let alone master those laws. If someone could truly attain such a realm, they would genuinely be an existence akin to a god.

Of course, the god mentioned here did not refer to an expert at the War God level. War God was merely a name denoting a level of strength.

A true god was exceedingly powerful. Legends said that they possessed tremendous divine abilities: reviving the dead, traversing time and space, and even defying heaven to alter fate. It was said that among the so-called Gods of ancient times, only a few had reached such a realm. The others had merely been demigods.

Chen Yun sat there motionless like a fossil. This was his first time meditating, and he did not know how to comprehend the so-called heavens and earth. There was no special method for meditation and comprehension; it all depended on one's personal feelings. What one could comprehend depended entirely on one's destiny. Gaining anything was extremely difficult, and without astonishing talent and immense fortune, one could not reach that level.

It sounded as though it was of little use, but it would increase the sensitivity of one's soul perception. Although the efficiency of the improvement was negligible, everything had to be accumulated slowly.

At this moment, Chen Yun's mind was utterly clear, and his heart was completely tranquil. These were the most basic requirements for comprehending heaven and earth. The essential thing was the word "still." Stillness did not mean that the surroundings had to be quiet; it meant that one's own being had to be still. Every cell in one's body—though the people of this world did not yet know what cells were—as well as one's soul and state of mind, all had to be still. No matter how noisy the surroundings were, the myriad aspects of the world were all the "Dao" of heaven and earth. Drawing the Dao from within it was what cultivators had to do.

Time slowly passed. Although only a brief instant had gone by and nothing seemed to have changed on the surface, the changes hidden within were far from simple.

At this moment, Chen Yun suddenly sensed something vague, as though a membrane lay across the space between them. With a light poke, he would be able to glimpse the truth. Yet this exceedingly thin membrane happened to block Chen Yun, making it difficult for him to see through. For a time, Chen Yun was utterly lost, and his soul continued to ripple within his sea of consciousness.

Though meditation and comprehension appeared simple, they were actually extremely dangerous. After all, the path of cultivation was never smooth. If one's soul became severely lost during the process of comprehension and one failed to awaken in time, then after a long while, the soul would disperse into the world and transform into energy of heaven and earth.

It sounded truly horrifying, but that was the reality. Of course, danger and opportunity existed side by side. Such a situation often occurred because one's opportunity had arrived. Yet gaining anything was truly difficult. With the slightest carelessness, one would become lost in the vast Heavenly Dao and never find the way back.

Who would have thought that Chen Yun would encounter such a situation the moment he began comprehending? No one knew whether it was his fortune or his sorrow.

Chen Yun's body remained motionless as he sat cross-legged, but the aura of life around him was gradually weakening. If things continued like this, and no one woke him or he regained consciousness himself, Chen Yun would likely die without realizing it. Moreover, Old Ent was not beside him now. It could be said that Chen Yun's condition was extremely critical.

At this moment, Chen Yun's soul was fluctuating more and more violently. The invisible azure membrane on its surface was growing thinner and thinner, while specks of golden light spread across the soul. If an unparalleled expert had probed him with divine sense, they would certainly have been so shocked that their jaws would have dropped.

Souls were generally azure. Only after reaching the Battle Venerable realm would a soul undergo earth-shaking changes and evolve into a golden soul. Yet Chen Yun possessed merely fourth-level strength, and his soul was already golden. It was truly astonishing! Clearly, Chen Yun's soul had been golden from the beginning; it had merely been concealed by that mysterious azure membrane.

But the worst still happened. At this moment, the golden soul was slowly becoming thinner.

Suddenly, Chen Yun's entire body convulsed, and his face displayed an expression of utter agony, as though he were experiencing some terrifying scene.

Indeed, Chen Yun's mind was filled with the painful experiences of his past and present lives. Ultimately, he had not yet broken free of his identity from his previous life and integrated himself into this world. Moreover, the experiences of both lives had carved indelible marks into his soul.

Just as he had been comprehending a moment ago, he suddenly entered a wondrous state. But then familiar scenes came charging in like wolves and tigers, disrupting that wondrous state and plunging his soul into a world of darkness. Within it were endless unbearable memories of the past. Endless ridicule, fierce as a flood or wild beasts, pounced viciously upon him and battered his soul again and again. That was why his entire body suddenly convulsed.

Just as the aura of life throughout Chen Yun's body fell to a level that was almost imperceptible, a faint dragon's cry suddenly rang out from within him.

Immediately afterward, that nearly lifeless body suddenly erupted with dazzling golden light. A dense aura of life shot upward and strengthened continuously as if riding a rocket. At this moment, Chen Yun's Soul Sea was filled with stormy waves, golden tides surging without end.

Above the Soul Sea, a small dragon with a completely golden body circled and writhed. Azure light radiated between its scales, and waves of dragon roars issued from its mouth. Ripples of sound spread outward in every direction. The strange black gas surrounding the Soul Sea immediately fled in panic as though it had encountered its natural enemy, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Chen Yun's soul was completely clear now. Just when he had nearly been unable to hold on, an unusual fluctuation had suddenly emerged from the depths of his soul, followed by a high-pitched dragon's cry that instantly freed his soul.

After a long while, the golden light around Chen Yun gradually subsided. His eyes slowly opened, and two foot-long streaks of frightening golden light shot from them before returning to normal in an instant.

His cultivation had not improved. Everything seemed as though it had never happened. Yet if one looked carefully, one would discover that his eyes had grown deeper, as profound as the stars of the universe. After one glance, it felt as though one's soul might be drawn out.

Chen Yun twisted his neck and stretched his body. A series of crackling sounds immediately rang out, leaving him astonished.

Chen Yun slowly rose to his feet. At that moment, a sound of something tearing through the air came from the forest.

(Dearest readers, if you think Tian Mu is still writing well after reading this update, please cast a recommendation vote! Tian Mu definitely won't disappoint you! Thank you!)