"What?!" Little Lin and Little Wu's eyes nearly popped out of their socket as they received one of the greatest shocks of their lives.

"How did it happen?"

​​

"Why didn't you call out to me, I would have pummelled the soul out of that person…"

Little Wu and Little Lin simultaneously fired questions at Min Hong who smiled warmly at their expressions before speaking;

"Firstly, your existence must be kept a secret from now on. The Empire we are currently laying low in, has a Peak Saint stage expert. Thus, he would most likely sense your existence the moment any of you step out of this dimension."

"Should that happen, how will I explain that, I, who has no cultivation happened to have two Magic beasts, a weapon at your level and the soul of an expert of his level?"

"If such an expert was a normal person, then he would just take both of you away, forcefully subdue my companions and most certainly silence I and my sister."

"So, do you both still think I should have called out to you, and doom not only myself, but endanger the lives of everyone else around me. Moreover, what do you think would happen, if the expert actually found the 'Eye of Infinite Dao'?"

"I would most certainly be dissected in search for several other treasures. That wouldn't be your intentions for me now, would they?"

Min Hong asked as he finished his explanation, stunning the Little Wu duo speechless.

It was until he explained, that they really imagine and realize the sort of danger that their existence posed not only to Min Hong's life, but that of his loved ones and many other lives should the 'Eye of Infinite Dao' and the third ranked Guardian weapon fall into someone else's hands.

"Everything still boils down to one's personal strength. even one's life wouldn't be under one's control, if one doesn't possess the ability to snatch it from the hands of those in power and protect it."

Little Wu sighed as he spoke with a downtrodden expression.

"True. But there is a more pressing matter at hand…"

Min Hong looked to the duo and spoke in a low voice, shocking both Little Wu and Little Lin that, there was still an even more pressing matter than what they had just heard, as several wild thoughts started to surge to their minds.

Min Hong who was connected to them on a mental level was at first stumped but then laughed slightly as he added;

"It's nothing too serious. It's just that I am about to go for a Sect's entry selection exam in about two months, and I need a cultivation base in the 5-Star Dan Formation stage to pass and be selected."

"But I have nothing at the moment and time is not on my side at all." Hearing this, Little Lin and Little Wu sighed in relief as Little Wu responded;

"That is no problem at all. I happen to cultivate the time Dao, but as I am limited by not having a physical body, I will only be able to speed up your time by two-fold. So, that would mean you have four months, which is even more than enough." Little Wu reassured Min Hong.

"True. I think there would even be some extra time for me to challenge the Pagoda of Ascension. That way, I would be able to consolidate my cultivation faster and familiarize myself with my Daos and their Divine Abilities."

"Moreover, I could also use that chance to merge all the previous martial arts I have learnt with my Daos, and coin a sublime fighting pattern."

Their conversation went on for about a minute before the great elder appeared once again, looking a little tired and ragged.

He was still trying to catch his breath, stunning the Min Hong trio who rushed towards him in concerned, but were halted by the great elder.

After about five minutes, the great elder finally calmed down as Min Hong asked.

"Old pops, what happened back there?" Min Hong was referring to where the great elder went.

"Nothing extraordinary. It's just that I don't have the qualifications to go there and thus the entity guarding that place gave me an ass whooping. But I wasn't planning on fighting it, that would be asking for my death."

"So, I just threw the formation into the place and I was lucky enough that it landed the right way, so I still achieved my aim."

"But it was only the intent of that guardian entity that reduced me to this state. I never knew its strength had risen to such a stage. I guess that is the greatest advantage of the Guardian Bloodlines."

"The power of the physical body and the level of comprehension of those who possess it can only be limited by their imagination" The great elder spoke.

"The Guardian bloodlines are top of the bloodline charts and your 'Dawn Sovereign' bloodline is the strongest of all Guardian bloodlines."

"So, I am the most psyched person who can't wait to see it in action. Since moving into this mirrored plane, you are the only one who had ever possessed the 'Dawn Sovereign' bloodline. So, don't tarnish its image." He added.

"You can go cultivate now. I have done all I can for now and remember to come back here when you reach the Peak of both the Body and Qi cultivation, so you can challenge the first and second level of the Pagoda of Ascension and receive its rewards."

The great elder sent all of them out with a wave of his arm, and the moment they were out of sight, his soul body flickered intensely as it dimmed slightly.

A slight grunt of agony escaped from the great elder's lips, as he quickly sat atop his mat and began to meditate.

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Min Hong's eye snapped open on his bed as he stood up. He looked to the side and saw Little Ming still somewhat asleep or probably cultivating.

He walked out of the room and as he was about to close the door, a shadow dashed into his sleeves as a voice rang through his mind;

"Where do you think you're going without me? Hmph!" Little Ming snorted.

Min Hong smiled faintly as he replied; "To take my bath…"

"…! So shameless, why didn't you say that earlier?" Little Ming instantly became flustered.

"Haha Ha! Did you ask me before tagging along? Never mind, I'm just messing with you. I am going to wake Min Qing; it is time to start cultivating."

Min Hong answered as he went to get Min Qing and Elder Yun from the room next to his. About five minutes later, they were all gathered on one part of their welcoming hall.

Min Hong lay down the stones in an octagonal manner.

Little Wu appeared within the room where Min Hong's soul futon was and extended his right arm. Then he touched Min Hong's soul on the shoulder from behind as he was instantly granted partial control over Min Hong's body.

Opening his eyes, he saw the trio in front of Min Hong and was instantly stunned as he thought;

"When were you planning on telling me about them?" Little Wu asked Min Hong.

"I am truly sorry, senior apprentice brother instructed me to tell you before he left, but I have never really had the time to tell you about it. The girl is my sister and she possesses the 'Genesis Yin' bloodline."

"The bird is our Min Family's guardian beast and she possesses a dominant bloodline of the 'Void Soul Owl' and a thin trace of the 'Quicksilver Eagle' bloodline."

"Then Lastly is the boa, she is a beast I just signed a loose contract with. She possesses the bloodline of the 'Azure Void Serpent'. That's pretty much everything and you're now up to date." Min Hong explained apologetically to Little Wu.

"You're so naïve. Firstly, your sister has two bloodlines within her. The first is the 'Genesis Yin' bloodline, but it doesn't belong to her, rather it belongs to that sleeping entity within her."

"But that's a good thing, because we can help her destroy that entity and completely assimilate the bloodline. I don't know what it is with you and having things or friends with spirits within them."

"She also has a 'Heavenly Trench Sirena' bloodline within her, but it is still dormant. This bloodline is ranked sixth in the Guardian bloodlines, and I have no glimmer of idea on how to awaken it.

"But most times, a Guardian bloodline could be awakened by another stronger Guardian bloodline." Little Wu explained.

"Furthermore, the higher the bloodline is on the rankings, the greater the chances of awakening her bloodline. But we will have to leave that as a last resort."

Little Wu's tone became very awkward when he explained up to this point.

"Why?" Min Hong asked as little Wu continued to use his hand to draw the runes required to double the time around within the formation.

The Min Qing trio were just looking on as Min Hong drew all these runes never felt the presence of Little Wu at all, not even in the slightest.

"It is because of the process required for this method of awakening…" Little Wu paused slightly before blurting out; "It requires dual cultivation." Then he quickly switched the topic.

"As for that beast you call a boa, she is not a serpent at all. As a matter of fact, she's no being and she's all beings. She has a very ancient and lost bloodline, even in the Ancient worlds. It is a very mysterious, dark and extremely fearsome bloodline; the 'Dark Mimic' bloodline."

"I have once read about it from one scroll in our clan's main library. It is recorded that they can possess up to five different bloodlines and wield every of its uniqueness and abilities like it was an innate part of them."

"They only have the chance to obtain a new bloodline when they reach the peak of Mortal, Spirit, Ancient, God and Autarch realms respectively."

"It's a pity that she has wasted the first chance by absorbing the core of an Azure Void Serpent. But she still has four more chances, so you have to make sure she obtains the best of the best beast bloodlines."

"When she reaches the Awakening stage, she would awaken her mimic abilities, which would enable her transform into anything she wishes.

"She would possess all the physical properties of anything she mimics, her aura and bloodline will also mimic that of whatever she transforms into. The only thing is, she wouldn't have the abilities and equivalent strength of that thing."

"You have many people and things with great potential around you and they are all still in the sprouting stage, so you should make sure to develop them to be the reach the best of their potentials."

"After all, their strength is also part of your strength, and you could always use your 'Righteous Bestowal' ability on them and receive one of their abilities also."

"The potential of your squad is limitless, so where they reach will depend on you and how much sacrifices you can make for them. Lastly, you should at least keep me updates on everything that happens or that you come across."

"I am not telling you to spill your secrets, but some matters such as this might pose a great opportunity that you might miss, if you are not careful."

"So, that's pretty much everything and you are now up to date. Furthermore, I have completed the temporal accelerator rune and I have linked it to share the same power source as this formation. So, let's begin your cultivation."

Min Hong looked to the ground and notice that everything had been truly prepared as he thought to himself;

"So, it was because of this temporal accelerator rune that Little Wu had been paying attention to Old Pops the whole time he was building this formation… He had thought ahead and made preparations for me. So, he is this dedicated unh?" Min Hong smiled at this realization.

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"Are you all ready?" Min Hong looked to the Min Qing trio and asked.

"Begin already. This suspense is killing me little by little." Little Ming spoke as the rest nodded in acknowledgement.

Min Hong smiled in response as he called out to Little Lin who appeared beside him with a leaf in hand.

It was one of the leaves within the garden of the great elder and had been absorbing a ton of the ancient aura within the dimension for a long time.

So, Min Hong was going use it as the starting energy for the formation.

Without standing on unnecessary ceremony, Min Hong dropped the leaf on the first runed rock.

The leaf instantly began to lose its vitality and started turning brown as the runes on the formation rocks began to light up one after the other until they all came alive and then;

Fsssshhh!

The formation opened and ancient aura began to leak into the surroundings but was quickly sucked up by the formation.

When it had received enough aura, the runes on the stones began to squirm and elongate until they completely fell off the stones, splitting into two different streams of runes; one spreading outwards and the other converging inwards.

Each individual rune then began to spread outwards until they covered an area of about two metres in diameter and then etched themselves to the ground, whilst the ones converging inwards got to the centre of the formation.

It continued to converge until it formed an ancient character.

Then a temporal ripple began to pulsate outwards with increasing intensity.

The outer ring of runes increased in brightness and when it got to its peak, an energy barrier began to appear and converge until it covered the entire two metre diameter.

The energy barrier looked like an inverted bowl with a two-meter height.

When the energy barrier formed completely, all the runes etched on the ground vanished along with the energy barrier.

From outside the barrier, anyone who came to visit won't see or sense anything wrong with that corner as everything looked and felt normal.

Furthermore, nothing can leak out from inside this barrier out. But from within the energy barrier, Min Hong and the rest would be able to see and hear everything happening outside.

Min Hong had already notified the Elder Long Jun, Long Sha, all the maids and guards that his group will be entering cultivation seclusion for these two months and will only exit seclusion three days before the Desert Sun Sect's entry selection examination.

So, they were not to be disturbed, while Long Sha also did the same and Elder Long Jun kept watch on the mansion.

Min Hong had Little Lin stand guard within the welcoming hall whilst they cultivated.

The moment everything was in place, the formation had spun into full effect by then.

Then the ancient character at the centre of the formation continued to absorb the ancient aura until it pulsed to its peak and then a squirmy water-like energy surged and encapsulated all of them.

Then the time within the formation sped up two-fold, taking the Min Qing trio by surprise.

But after a few minutes of readjusting themselves to the new environment, they shut their eyes and began to cultivate.

Then the amount of ancient aura surging out from the formation stopped.

Then thick and potent ancient Qi began to surge into the formation drowning everyone within.

After ensuring that everyone had begun to cultivate and were deep into it, Little Wu finally floated out of Min Hong's body as he glided around freely for a while before coming to a stop in front of Min Hong and spoke;

"Sorry for that. It has been too long since I last roamed the outside world, so I got a little caught up in the feeling. Let's get back to business."

"We will begin with the [Kingmaker Codex]. The reason why I prefer you begin with body cultivation is because, a warrior stage body will absorb more natural energy for cultivation. This means if you begin cultivation with a warrior stage body and meridians, your cultivation will be the strongest." Little Wu explained his concept as Min Hong listened attentively.

"Alright. How do I begin?" Min Hong sat cross-legged as he prepared to recover his lost cultivation. He had been a mortal for too long and his hunger to return to the cultivation path was being stoked at the moment.