“The chaotic nature of cultivation is the true enemy of the Immortal Dao. One has neither eternal friends nor foes, only benefits.”

Three years had gone by fast.

In that span of years, Qai only managed to achieve the peak of level 4 in the Qi Condensation stage.

Aside from that, he had already been living in one of the peaks of the lower mountains within the inner ring—an idea that he borrowed from Old Bu. His place had richer spiritual Qi energy which greatly helped him to achieve his current level.

But according to the old cultivator, his attainment wouldn't amount much if he compared himself with the true geniuses of sects and clans who at his age might already be in the great circle of Qi Condensation stage—not to mention that those who were even more talented might already be attempting to make it to Foundation Establishment stage.

Obviously, those words did not help Qai at all because it appeared that he had met his first bottleneck.

Unfortunately, Old Bu had long been out of Qi Condensation Pills. In fact, the ones he gave out before were the only pills in his hands.

Qai by now had already turned 15.

And since he was already in the fourth level of the Qi Condensation stage, he also attained an understanding of the basic movement skill provided in the ‘Transcending Autumn Arts.’

And to enhance it further, Qai gained an enlightenment from the shadow movements of his Ant Colony.

Eventually, he named his own movement skill ‘Shadow Steps.’

As for ‘Nightfall’ and ‘Dance of Death,’ it was very discouraging that Qai still lacked the proper object of comprehension necessary to modify them.

He was even inclined at times to preserve the two skills that way so he could have a set of knight skills on the one hand, and a set of cultivator skills on the other.

Also, in order to broaden the range of techniques in his arsenal, he discretely trained his Ant Colony with some of his army formations.

But then, of course, he could only make use of the Ant General and the dozen Ant Soldiers. As for the Ant Workers, he would just use them for surveillance purposes since they have lesser fighting capabilities.

Obviously, these giant Ants were his trump card.

They were agile and had hard carapace and strong mandibles—plus their levels were still unfathomable in Qai’s standards.

Of course, Qai was very careful whenever he summoned his giant Ants.

In his understanding, Old Bu was still unaware of the existence of his beast companion—or more exactly, his beast army.

For three years, he also gained bits of knowledge about cultivation from Old Bu.

As always, the old cultivator was more than stingy whenever he responded. As a matter of fact, Qai was sometimes more confident with the things he personally learned than with Old Bu’s advice.

Qai learned from the old cultivator that the island was known from the people in the continent as Kamaria Island and the sect that once existed in the Evercloud mountains was known as Soaring Sky Sect.

But the current sect that uses this island as Trial by Fire for its disciples was called Precious Tree Sect.

At least those general information felt true although not too useful.

One day, Old Bu dropped by his abode.

‘It’s not yet time for collection of beast cores. I wonder what business does Old Bu have with me.’

“Boy, I need you to help me with something.”

The old cultivator unexpectedly came without the usual sarcastic pleasantries.

“Senior, how may I help?”

“Come, come. No questions asked.”

All of a sudden, Old Bu grabbed his robe’s collar and lifted him as the old cultivator attempted to fly on his sword.

Soon, a streak of light beamed in the sky.

Qai held his breath as he screamed in his heart.

Indeed, he wanted to one day fly, but definitely not in that manner. It would have been better if Old Bu allowed him to step onto the flying sword as well but that was not the case.

He had been held in the collar all throughout the flight.

When they reached the destination, Qai swallowed a mouthful of blood as soon as he landed on the ground.

‘What a bully!’

However, when he calmed down, he realized that they were at Old Bu’s mountain peak. And what surprised him was that he could not find anything but green scenery.

“Senior, where are we?”

“We’re in front of my immortal cave, of course.”

‘Cave!?’

Even after blinking twice, Qai could not find any sign of a cave.

However, it was then that Old Bu, waved his hand and the mist surrounding the area suddenly blurred.

When it cleared, the entire scenery changed and a fissure suddenly appeared right before his very eyes.

Qai was shocked.

Old Bu chuckled as he saw Qai’s astonished face.

“That’s what you called illusion array formation.”

Old Bu then dragged Qai in.

Inside, a spacious area immediately bared before them which had a stone chair in the middle and another one beside a wall.

When Old Bu took a seat on the chair by the wall, Qai assumed that the one in the middle was for him—so he took a seat though hesitantly.

It was then that the old cultivator began to narrate his story.

“Let me be honest with you, boy. I know you are already aware that I am the protector of this island. The truth is, it was a mission I received from the sect in exchange for something called Contribution Points.”

‘Old Bu is a member of a sect!?’

“I belong to the Precious Tree Sect, the same sect whose disciples come here every hundred years. Perhaps you’ve been wondering about my level, I am in the late Foundation Establishment stage but still far from great circle.”

Qai did not move a muscle. He just kept silent and was intent on further listening.

“As I told you, Foundation Establishment stage cultivators could live a maximum of 5 60-year cycles. That’s a total of 300 years. But it is believed that one has to breakthrough to the Core Formation stage before 200 years, otherwise there will be no other chance to do so. Of course, we cannot discount that there are other mysterious ways to miraculously achieve something impossible.”

However, to be considered a ‘genius,’ a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator must reach the Core Formation stage before 2 60-year life cycles end.

“And this is where I would need your help. I am nearing the end of the 300-year period, so it appears that I have no other choice but to wait for my death. The truth is, I accepted the mission in the hope that I would stumble upon my luck here in this island before other disciples could. After all, a once mighty sect existed here and there are plenty of unknown treasures here. In a year's time, the inner disciples would appear for the Trail by Fire. And true enough, I once crossed the core ring and discovered an abandoned immortal cave in the periphery of the mountains. My decision to come here early did not go to waste.”

“Senior, did you find a treasure to help you breakthrough to the Core Formation stage?”

“No. I only found a cultivation method that would add another 60-year cycle in my lifespan. It's not the fortune I was hoping for, but at least I would have more years to look for it!”

As Old Bu said that he suddenly looked at Qai menacingly as if he wanted to devour his servant.

There was a vague dark look in Old Bu's eyes.

He didn't know why but Qai somehow felt that something was amiss so he maximized his senses and put on his guard but pretended to be calm and clueless.

“Senior, I am very much indebted to you for helping me cultivate. So, how can I be of help then?"

“Haha, good boy! The method I spoke of requires me to refine a body of a cultivator.”

‘What!?’

Qai was stunned.

A sensation of crisis immediately welled up in him as he instinctively understood where were the words of Old Bu leading to.

Besides the two of them, there was no other cultivator around.