Then just like that, Min Hong finally understood, the reason why enlightenment couldn't be sought after but only wished for…

Putting oneself in life and death situations might make you break boundaries and surpass your limits, but it can never guarantee that one would receive a bout of enlightenment.

​​

Min Hong could now thread through space because the limits of the [Chaotic Shadow Steps] have been exceeded, but what he got an enlightenment on wasn't the movement technique itself but rather a much more mysterious and powerful ability;

SPEED!

Min Hong who had been meditating on his enlightenment finally opened his eyes for the first time in twelve days, he smiled slightly and rose to his feet leaving an after image still sitting cross-legged.

Then he waited for what seemed to be about ten minutes before the afterimage finally dispersed as he thought to himself…

"What is speed?" Then he began to pace around as he began to mumble everything he had learnt to himself…

"Speed cuts across many Daos, since it can only be measured by the amount of Time it takes someone to move from one point in Space to another…"

"Thus, we can also say, speed is the only thing that links the Space Dao and the Time Dao together…"

The moment this statement was made by Min Hong, a mysterious and sovereign rule was triggered within this ancient realm as a vortex of mental and soul energy appeared over Min Hong's head.

Then Min Hong stood in place and opened up his mind and soul to this ancient energy, and after about an hour of bathing within the energy, Min Hong smiled in satisfaction as a feeling of pure joy surged through his entire body…

Though his soul and mental energy only increased by one level to the Mid-grade Silver Rank level, Min Hong was still overall pleased with it since it came as a topping on top of the ice cream of benefits he had reaped from the fifth level trial.

Then Min Hong looked to the side and moved –

(as he was gaining insights from enlightenment, Daniel King didn't interrupt Min Hong, rather he allowed him to regain control of his lower body) -

as the space around Min Hong rippled like water, before it shrunk the point Min Hong was trying to reach closer to Min Hong's current position.

Thus, a distance that would naturally take Min Hong about five to seven steps to traverse, shrunk into one that he could cover with one step…

Thus, to the naked eye, it would be like Min Hong teleported from one point to the other with just one step…

Min Hong repeated this action multiple times again, and just like how his grandfather taught him how to use the sword, Min Hong continued to repeat the same movement as his grandfather's words rang within his head;

"If you practice the stabbing move one million times, it will naturally become a part of you…"

Thus Min Hong continued repeating the same simple moving from one point to the other by threading through space, and before long, the time it took Min Hong to repeat this simple movement reduced gradually until there were over a hundred thousand Min Hong's within the rewards room of the fifth level…

This meant that Min Hong had repeated the same one-step movement, one hundred thousand times over again…

Then he stopped and after about an hour, the last afterimage disappeared as Daniel King finally asked;

"Since you already understood what speed was, why did you still needed to repeat the same move so many times?"

Daniel King could utterly understand if Min Hong had repeated the movement a hundred times or a thousand times, that would be getting familiar with one's new speed limits, but to repeat it a hundred thousand times…

No matter how he thought about it, his earthly logic couldn't just come to a logical answer…

After all, according to earthly concepts, one only needed to do learn one thing for ten thousand hours to become a master in such a thing…

"I already grasped my new speed limits, I was just trying to merge the teleportation part into the [Chaotic Shadow Steps]…" Min Hong replied.

"Moreover, whilst I was doing that, I managed to touch upon the Space Dao…"

He added as Daniel King went silent seemingly confirming Min Hong's statement, and when he reached the depths of his soul where the Primus Dao Tree stood tall and strong like the guardian of the entire living realm, Daniel King truly saw a one-foot-long bulge on the tree where a new Dao branch was supposed to grow…

Moreover, the space around this bump or bulge was also rippling like a light breeze brushing past the window curtain…

Then he realized that Min Hong might truly not be as useless as he initially thought because this bulge in front of him, was truly the immature Space Dao branch…

"So what do we do now?" Daniel King asked after making his confirmation.

"Should we check out the rewards for clearing the fifth level?" he added…

"We will eventually come to that, but first, let's see what the entire fifth level trial realm was going bonkers over this mote of light for…"

Min Hong responded as he brought out the white mote of light he took from the bony sword wielding skeleton he beheaded during the fifth level trial…

Min Hong then began to scrutinize the nature of this mote of white light that gave no sensation to the touch, so he used his mental sense to scan it for danger and when he found none, he planted it within his forehead as it appeared in the depths of his soul.

Then when it eventually came into proximity with the Primus Dao Tree, Min Hong finally saw a reaction from it, as the mote of light surged out gentle waves after waves of ripples…

Then one of the most shocking thing happened, the Chaos Dao branch responded to the rippled by streaking out a thread of Chaos Qi towards the mote of light…

But before it could latch onto it, the Oblivion Dao branch sent out a faster thread of Oblivion Qi in a bid to get there before the Chaos Qi, and as they were about to touch this mote of light, the space behind the mote of light rippled and swallowed it.

Initially, the Chaos and Oblivion Qi froze in shock at the sight of what just happened.

Then they abruptly turned towards the immature Space Dao branch and bolted for it.

Min Hong panicked a bit as he was scared that, these two Daos might end up destroying the tiny bit of Space Dao he just comprehended, but before he could move, the Primus Dao Tree sent out ripples of Primus aura.

When this wave of Primus aura washed over these two Dao Qi's, they jolted backwards like an earthworm which mistakenly barged into a salty environment.

Min Hong released a deep sigh as a familiar voice rang out beside him;

"Is this how everything you own always tries to kill you?"

Daniel King asked Min Hong who smiled bitterly before responding;

"Welcome to my world… But you are also one to talk, didn't you just almost frustrated me to death earlier today?"

"Oh, I have no issues with you or whatever you do with your cultivation or body…" Daniel King responded.

"But you can't expect me to allow you hoard her all to yourself…" He added as Min Hong glanced at this black-robed version of himself in surprise as he thought;

"So this dude was only pestering my life because I am protective of Qing'er…"

Then he laughed lightly at the thought as he replied;

"Qing'er is still too innocent to be hanging out around you…"

"I don't think she would be able to stomach her experiences with you…"

"Moreover, wouldn't it be improper if you are looking at someone her age with such intent, when you, on the other hand, is over double her age?" Min Hong counter-pressed.

"You-" Daniel King wanted to refute, but there was no point he could use to do so.

Firstly, it was true that Min Qing is still too innocent to experience the kind of life he lives and secondly, he was truly more than double Min Qing's age…

Seeing that he had been cornered by this version of Min Hong who was supposed to be stupid, Daniel King had nothing else to say other than;

"It is my word against yours, no one else will ever know the truth if I tell them you're lying." He smiled at his smart logic…

Then a massive spatial ripple from the Space Dao branch jolted them out of their argument as the Min Hong duo saw a tiny fruit begin to grow out of the Space Dao branch causing Min Hong and the black-robed Daniel King to look at each other in surprise.

But after seeing the apprehensive look in each other's eyes they both smiled as Daniel King spoke first;

"So, that motes of light was a technique or art… you are truly one lucky b*astard!"

He said as he patted Min Hong on his shoulders before Min Hong replied;

"But it is still in its infancy and will still take a while to ripen… But I guess it would even be better once the Space Dao has merged itself into it…"

"This is indeed a technique or art worth anticipating." Min Hong added…

"Alright, enough with all this… Let's get the reward and leave…"

Daniel King urged but Min Hong easily understood why he was in such a hurry, so he responded with a smirk;

"You are really eager to test out our new speed, unh?"

Min Hong revealed as the black-robed Daniel King simply responded flatly; "Whatever… Just hurry up."

"Ha-ha ha... Alright, let's go!"

Min Hong vanished from his soul realm without further ado as they reappeared within the rewards room.

Min Hong then walked over and saw that this time, there were actually not two, but three pulpits with some extremely familiar rewards and others he was just seeing for the first time...

Then once again, the masculine mechanized voice spoke;

"Congratulations on passing the fifth level trial of the 'Pagoda of Ascension', as a motivation for you to do more, you are allowed to choose-"

Min Hong who had heard the same statement for the fifth time now had moved over to the pulpit to read the tags of the rewards when he froze in his steps when he heard the last part of the mechanized voice's statement;

"Furthermore, to celebrate you reaching the Peak of the Mortal Realm, you have been granted an extra picking slot. Choose wisely, your presence is anticipated in the sixth level's rewards room…"

The mechanical voice then grinded to a halt, as Min Hong began to blink all over the rewards room in pure joy, like a little kid who just saw Santa.

Then he moved over to the pulpit on the right and without even reading its tag, he picked it up and stowed it in his storage ring before he then moved over to the one in the middle, this was where the options of his congratulatory rewards were.

Then he glanced at the tag beneath the first one, which was a snow-white beast core with five purple lines shimmering all over it, the tag read;

"Beast Core – Snow Furred Ape King – 5000 Years Old – Purple Spirit Ring…"

Min Hong was a bit shocked and moved about such a spirit ring which possessed abilities more suited for the physical body and close quarters combat.

Though, it was a very tempting choice but not what he lacked at the moment.

After all, his physical bod is already being amplified by his Daos, Qi and Bloodline. Thus, if he chose this core, it would be rendered useless sooner rather than later as his physical body cultivation increased.

Arriving at a logical answer concerning the 'Snow Furred Ape King' beast core, Min Hong moved onto the only other core left on the pulpit.

It was a bright green beast core with a similar five purple colored lines shimmering on it.

Then he looked down at its tag that read; "Beast Core – Deep Forest Mamba – 5000 Years Old – Purple Spirit Ring…"

At this point, Min Hong sighed in disappointment, any of these two cores were valuable enough to start a war amongst Kingdoms and even spark up a genocide like the case of the Min Family, but to the current Min Hong, he wasn't really lacking in any of these two perspective.

This green beast core according to the beast it came from would only boost his speed and agility which the newly evolved [Chaotic Shadow Steps] have already surpassed and left in the dust.

Thus, he went to the third pulpit that contained another set of familiar rewards and paused a bit before speaking into the empty air;

"Can I swap a higher tiered reward for lower tiered ones?"

Then after three breaths he heard a rumbling before a scale balance descended from the roof of the rewards room, then the mechanized voice spoke once again…