Master, Where Are You?

"Ah, I really miss Master right now..." Er Dongsheng sat cross-legged beside the campfire, thinking troubledly.

Er Dongsheng's master had been quite an extraordinary man. In his youth, he had followed their grandmaster across the land, gone to war, fought the Japanese, and gunned down no small number of Russians. Not only had his internal and external martial arts been monstrously formidable, but he was also highly proficient in all kinds of fist techniques, including Xingyi Boxing, joint-locking techniques, Drunken Fist, and more.

Before Er Dongsheng came here, the old man had already been over a hundred years old, yet his body remained remarkably robust. Even in the depths of winter, he wore nothing but a thin undershirt without showing the slightest sign of cold.

Truth be told, Er Dongsheng's master cultivated more along the lines of the Daoist School. His alchemy and mystical arts were even more formidable than his cultivation of internal and external martial arts.

During the years Er Dongsheng had trained under his master, all sorts of important figures often came to ask the old man to perform rituals, drive away evil, or assess feng shui.

Back then, modern people were restless at heart, their minds filled with distracting thoughts. Once one's mind became impure, it was easy to attract certain filthy things to cling to one's body. Don't dismiss it as superstition—ordinary commoners found it difficult to come into contact with such things, because the aura around normal people held little attraction for them. But the aura of families blessed with immense wealth and status was much more vigorous, making them the favorite prey of ghosts and monsters.

Still, the old man had his principles. He would not help the rich who lacked benevolence, nor would he concern himself with officials. There was a reason for that—if the aura of office on an official's body could not suppress evil qi, then that official, heh, must have done quite a fine job indeed. So if you ever saw an official's family encountering something filthy, that official was definitely rotten to the core.

That was beside the point. Right now, Er Dongsheng simply missed his master terribly. Why was that?

"Refining Essence into Qi first requires refining essence. With the help of abyssal aura and all these nourishing ingredients, I completed that step in merely two years. But how am I supposed to transform it into qi?"

Transforming it into qi, transforming it into qi—it meant storing and vaporizing the refined essence. In his previous life, once he reached this step, he would begin observing his dantian internally, locate its position, blast open the dantian gate, and then store his essence qi within it.

After all, the capacity of the human body's cells, sinews, and bones was limited. Once the flesh had been filled with essence qi, another storage point had to be opened up. That point was the dantian.

"My foundation is now incomparably solid. It could be said that none came before me and none will come after. I have so much essence qi that it is practically overflowing, but where is the dantian in this demon body?"

Er Dongsheng was deeply troubled. A demon's body differed greatly from a human body. It might not have been apparent during the early stages of cultivation, but now the problem had emerged.

Where was the dantian? Or did he simply not have one at all?

"Ah, why hadn't I brought Master along when I transmigrated... With his vast learning and talent, he would definitely have had a solution at a time like this!..."

At present, he could only vaguely sense some sort of energy response around his chest. He guessed that this was where the essence of his demon body resided, much like that Abyss Snake, whose essence had been hidden in its gallbladder.

Every abyssal species contained its own essence. It was like the magic cores found in novels, except its functions were far more powerful. Apart from cultivating and absorbing abyssal aura, abyssal species could also advance by slaughtering one another and devouring each other's essence. This method was even more widespread, since not every abyssal species knew how to cultivate.

Essence was the most important thing for every abyssal species. It was where energy would be stored for future advancement and where one's true name would be engraved. More remarkably, essence did not follow a fixed pattern. Upon reaching level one, the Great Cosmic Will would shape a unique personal essence core for each abyssal species according to its soul, memories, energy, and so on, while granting it a powerful innate ability.

Take note: this was bestowed by the Great Cosmic Will, not the Abyssal Will. The Great Cosmic Will encompassed the wills of countless planes. It was the One, the beginning, and eternity. The Abyssal Will was merely one of the more powerful among countless plane wills. None of these wills possessed thoughts or emotions; they were merely collections of rules.

As for why demons breaking through to level one were not rewarded by the Abyssal Will, but instead granted power by the Great Cosmic Will, the likely reason was that the Great Cosmic Will was compensating the creatures of the Abyss. After all, while it was difficult for creatures of other planes to travel to other planes, it could still be done. But Abyss creatures, for some unknown reason, had been locked forever within this cosmic prison. To leave, one would have to become powerful enough to break open the absurdly formidable crystal walls of the planes oneself—like the demon monarchs.

Setting that aside, Er Dongsheng's level was too low at the moment for him to understand most of these issues. What troubled him most now was that his essence core did not react to essence qi at all. It only accepted abyssal aura without refusing any that came its way.

"Fine. It looks like I can only absorb abyssal aura first!"

Adjusting his posture, he calmed his mind and diligently circulated his internal cultivation method. Essence qi surged through his entire body like rolling tides, and a faint white mist began to rise around him. The dull gray scales covering his body started to redden. This was what happened when an internal cultivation method was pushed to its limit: blood qi rising like a pillar.

At this moment, Er Dongsheng could clearly sense streams of essence qi and abyssal aura circulating through his body and slowly being refined. But after the essence qi completed a cycle, there was nowhere to store it, so it drifted out of his body and dispersed. The abyssal aura, however, vanished after circulating to his heart. It had been absorbed.

Feeling the essence qi dissipating outside his body, Er Dongsheng bared his teeth, his heart aching terribly.

"If martial artists from my previous life saw this, wouldn't they be angered to death on the spot?"

*

Time trickled away with the patter of rain. The Abyss rain outside began to lessen, and Er Dongsheng, who had cultivated for four or five hours, finally woke.

He rubbed his stomach. He was hungry.

"There are some good things on the menu today. Just thinking about them makes my mouth water." As he spoke, a string of drool fell from his mouth.

He could not be blamed. It had been far too long since he had eaten something this good.