Eighteen's voice came from behind him. "Kid, come back alive. I'm still waiting to see you fight Nine again."
Li Bufan said nothing, merely raising a hand and waving.
After leaving the valley, he did not take the path through the dense forest. Instead, he headed uphill through the sparse woods along the valley's northern side and found the stone steps leading to the summit.
The summit remained empty. The gray-white sky pressed down overhead, and the stone surface beneath his feet was as smooth as a mirror.
Standing in the center of the platform, Li Bufan glanced down at his reflection in the stone, then leaped.
His body became weightless, and his vision went black.
In the blink of an eye, his feet landed on solid ground again.
He had returned to that platform. The power of divine will permeated the air, and the numbers on his Heaven Rewards Diligence fate trait were still ticking faintly upward.
The entrances leading into the dense forest stood silently, dark and deep.
Li Bufan stood in the center of the platform, turning Nine's words over and over in his mind.
The stronger his divine will, the more soul bodies there would be.
For now, he could still handle the soul bodies he had encountered in the forest.
He could make his way through it without paying too steep a price.
As long as his strength grew faster than the number of soul bodies in the forest, he would be safe.
Having made up his mind, he returned to the center of the platform, sat cross-legged, and began honing his martial techniques and divine wills.
He began the Moonflare Divine Fist, silvery-white moonlight gathering over his fists.
He slowly executed each move, his fist intent drawing upon the power of divine will between