Unity of Heaven and Man

The northern part of the White Tiger Duke Mansion.

A wooden sign stood fifty kilometers from the Star Dou Forest.

A short walk back, there was a shallow stream teeming with fish.

The information was so sparse that two years ago, before Ning Huan ordered the search to begin, he had already prepared himself for a long campaign.

But after the Hidden Guards conducted a thorough, fifteen-day search,

they found only two or three places with terrain like this along the southern edge of the Star Dou Forest.

That made no sense by any normal standard!

When he first received the firsthand report, he had suspected for a while that those subordinates of his were deliberately slacking off.

The intelligence they had provided might have come from a few random spots near the edge of the Star Dou Forest.

But on second thought, that seemed unlikely.

After all, Ning Hao had given orders, and the punishments for those who obeyed in appearance but defied them in practice were exceptionally harsh.

Minor offenses earned confinement and a whipping; serious ones meant having one's cultivation crippled.

The severity of it had reached even him, though he rarely left his home.

Yet the intelligence was riddled with oddities, making it hard to believe.

In the end, with the future in mind, he had no choice but to scratch his head and ask Wind Douluo for help.

However, the old man went out for three days and came back with the same answer as the Hidden Guards.

It left Ning Huan feeling that the whole thing was absurd.

So for a long time afterward, he kept a third of his manpower stationed in the Star Dou Forest.

Only recently, when restlessness stirred in him, did he withdraw most of them.

"Sigh, well, this saves me from testing every place one by one."

After muttering a few words to console himself, Ning Huan composed himself and wiped the confusion from his face.

Then he guided the Flying Soul Tool down into the dense ancient forest below.

There was no helping it.

Flying through the air was certainly convenient, but it also made him conspicuous and left him vulnerable.

He could only fly with the help of external tools, and he was nowhere near capable of handling an aerial battle with certainty.

Besides, with a Spirit Body at his disposal, there was no need for him to handle the scouting and searching himself.

But what he wanted and what happened in reality were often two very different things.

Just like now: Ning Huan had landed smoothly and was about to summon the Emerald Spirit Bird when he suddenly froze in place.

It seemed...

Maybe...

That wouldn't work...

Though the Emerald Spirit Bird had only been around a thousand years old before becoming a Spirit Body,

it still had the bloodline of an apex predator.

Even the Wind Baboons, known as "Godslayers," would probably have to steer clear of it.

If he accidentally scared them off, how would he find out where the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was?

With no other choice, he withdrew all the Soul Power spilling from his body.

Only after disguising himself as an ordinary person as best he could did he follow the map's markings, carefully making his way toward the predicted location.

His cautious movements made it obvious that he was worried about frightening away the weaker Soul Beasts.

Fortunately, Ning Huan was no greenhorn.

Having lived through an information explosion, he knew how to make good use of the resources already at his disposal.

So even though he couldn't pinpoint the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's exact location, the two of them weren't all that far apart.

Even on foot, he wouldn't need long to reach it.

He walked for over an hour.

The sun finally sank below the horizon, and darkness began to fall before Ning Huan at last reached the destination he had in mind.

A clearing, perhaps twenty or thirty square meters across...

Towering ancient trees that blocked out the sky...

And, according to his senses, dozens of Wind Baboons!

Unless something went wrong, one of his goals for this trip—the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm—

was lurking in the earth beneath his feet!

I'm here... There might be similar places deeper in, but Huo Yuhao would never be able to make it that far at his current level.

Ning Huan murmured inwardly as he surveyed his surroundings, taking in the familiar, unchanging scenery.

His expression was as calm as ever.

But his heart, pounding wildly in his chest, showed that he was far from as composed as he looked.

Phew... Relax... This is the last step...

Forcing down his irrepressible excitement, Ning Huan didn't act right away.

Instead, just like any Soul Master who had come to the Star Dou Forest to hunt for a Soul Ring,

he kept watch for the slightest rustle while taking out various supplies from his Soul Tool and setting traps.

He made a point of acting easy and natural.

Anyone who saw him would think he was just an ordinary Soul King out on a trial.

If he still scared the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm into staying hidden, then there was nothing else he could do.

A short while later, Ning Huan finished setting his traps and found a clear patch of ground.

He lit a campfire, replenished his strength, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to focus.

As he circulated the Soul Power in his body, his mental power—comparable to that of a high-ranked Soul Emperor—spread in every direction.

Birds took flight and beasts cowered. In an instant, silence fell for a thousand meters around him.

This was the only solution he could think of that gave both sides a choice.

No matter how much the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was maligned, it was still the only million-year Soul Beast on the continent.

Even if it couldn't match an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in combat, it would still have no trouble dealing with a Soul King.

So Ning Huan didn't dare risk his life by calling out the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's name.

Leaving the choice in its hands and "forcing" it to "have no choice but" to pick him was the most prudent course.

Of course, since Ning Huan had made up his mind to do this, there was no need to question his confidence.

In terms of talent and strength, he was stronger than Huo Yuhao at this stage.

As for mental power, the Spirit Bestowal Platform might not be a pure mental-type Martial Soul,

but after his many Spirit Bodies had continually nourished it, his mental power was no weaker than that of a Soul Master with a pure mental-type Martial Soul.

As for luck, which he certainly couldn't compete with...

He didn't remember the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm having any way to perceive a person's luck.

Time slipped by, and the stars shone bright in the night sky.

Ning Huan had lost himself in the world around him and had long since lost track of how long he had been sitting.

From calm patience at first, to anxious frustration when nothing came of it, and finally to accepting the outcome and no longer deliberately seeking anything—

The many changes in his state of mind gradually brought him into harmony with nature.

A feeling that had once been vague began to grow clear.

It was the rhythm of life, the echo of nature, and the beginning of communicating with all things in the world.

In technical terms, it was...

Unity of Heaven and Man!

Ning Huan, immersed in his newfound understanding, had never imagined he might one day reach such a state.

He knew his heart wasn't still.

He had nothing like Huo Yuhao's obsession, nor Long Aotian's relentless pursuit of power.

It had seemed that Unity of Heaven and Man was beyond his reach from the moment he began cultivating.

Who could have guessed that one failure would unexpectedly bring him to its threshold?

Life was truly unpredictable.

The past cannot be reclaimed, and the future cannot be awaited. Everything that came before is but a passing cloud, destined to scatter on the wind.

Let go of the past and live in the present. That is the right path.

The moment that thought arose, Ning Huan felt his heart grow completely clear, as though every shackle had fallen away.

His mental power burst forth, then swiftly withdrew, as lightly as a breeze.

Then he slowly opened his eyes. His clear pupils seemed to see straight into his heart, free of every distracting thought.

"I've gained a great deal from this trip!"

"Wahhh! I finally met a human who specializes in mental power! Too bad I can't cry, or I'd be bawling my eyes out."

Ning Huan: "..."

What was this supposed to be?

A double blessing?