Time passed by unceasingly. By the time Su Qingcheng had finished the absorption of the Electric Scale Dragon’s core, she felt that her lightning nascent soul had become even stronger than before. Snapping her fingers, she had managed to effortlessly loose a bolt of lightning from them. It was small and looked like a parlor trick, but Qin Fa, who was awake for god knows how long, looked at Su Qingcheng with an astonished expression. She quickly regained her composure. “You’re finally done. The night’s already passed. I’ve finished carving up the remains of the dragon. You can take everything.” Qin Fa pointed at the mass of bones and other bits and bobs of the dragon that could be used to refine equipment and elixirs. Su Qingcheng quietly thanked Qin Fa and pocketed them into her Dragon Hoard Ring.

“Let’s go.” Qin Fa urged Su Qingcheng to get up after she had stabilized herself. Void King had decided to take it upon herself to try and educate Su Qingcheng on the ways of the continent. She knew that as things stood now, Su Qingcheng was still ignorant about many things. Evidently, Su Ran had most likely not expected that her daughter could make such a meteoric rise, akin to a phoenix rising from the ashes of rebirth.

The two of them left the cave and continued on their way. Occasionally, more magic beasts that could fly were instantly killed by Su Qingcheng with either a single punch or by using lightning to strike them down. They composed of either wild birds or flying flood dragons that roamed the Tianzhan Mountain. Since they were still airborne, Su Qingcheng couldn’t grab the corpses even with the Star Vortex Fist as her cultivation level was too weak. Qin Fa cleared her throat as the two of them kept walking.

“Kid, do you know what you’re planning to do? The path of the Paragon is a lonely path. Even if you manage to forge strong bonds during your journey, and manage to make strong connections with people, you’re also bound to offend people just as strong as your friends.” Qin Fa said plainly.

Su Qingcheng didn’t answer, but it was clear that she had encountered many experts along the way who were clearly aware of her plans to try and become a Tianqi Paragon, one of the most godlike and legendary existences on the entire continent. In history, many people had come close to it but had never actually succeeded. In the most recent times, only Faceless seemed to have a chance to breakthrough, but until now she hadn’t succeeded.

The more Su Qingcheng thought about it, the more determined she became. The reason why Su Qingcheng was even walking on this lonely mountain path with yet another mentor was precisely because she knew the pursuit of power was lonesome. Nobody could understand the pain she felt when she was betrayed by her lover in her past life. Nobody in this world could understand how aggrieved she felt when the person she vowed to grow old with had casually murdered her in pursuit of profit.

Su Qingcheng was prepared to endure loneliness to gain the power to avoid that kind of suffering. To have the power to make the kinds of decisions that would allow her not only to protect herself, but to protect those worth protecting – her new family, and whoever Su Qingcheng could treat as a real friend, unlike the woman she loved back on Earth.

“I’m very much aware.” Su Qingcheng frowned. Her despondent voice caused Qin Fa to look back at Su Qingcheng as they walked. The Void King could see a distant but very clear look in those two brown eyes of this young fifteen year old. Despite the fact they were on very treacherous terrain on Tianzhan Mountain, Su Qingcheng’s outward demeanor betrayed the inner turmoil in her heart.

The more Qin Fa spoke, the more Su Qingcheng had thought about the very powerful words she had just mentioned. The Void King herself seemed to realize something and thought to herself that there was something about Su Qingcheng that seemed very mysterious and off. It was as if the kid was ruminating on experiences that she should not have had experienced in the past, but was rummaging through them as if she had clearly experienced them.

Qin Fa turned her gaze back forward as they continued to walk. Su Qingcheng vented the frustration and negative emotions in her heart by attempting to punch out the magical beasts that threatened to attack them without using any Tianqi. Qin Fa was startled; she was shocked by the decisiveness of Su Qingcheng to suddenly start to kill these magic beasts in such a barbaric manner.

“Auntie Qin Fa, you should be one of those in pursuit of true strength, right?” Su Qingcheng randomly asked out of the blue as she punched out a roaming magic beast wolf, causing its waist to cave in and shatter, killing it instantly.

“Your mother inspired me, in a way,” Qin Fa explained. “I was in pursuit of true power, or at least, what I believed was true power. I thought true power meant the ability to indiscriminately defeat anyone who stood in my way. I was thoroughly and utterly mistaken. I didn’t feel any sense of pride when I defeated Sis Ran.”

“…”

“I told your mother back then that if she were to battle me during her peak, the time when she had just been fresh off exterminating the Demon Flame Sect, she could kill me as easily as stepping on an ant. Her bloodline power was just too dominating. It was then I recalled, she had reached the peak of her strength through her desire to protect, and to avenge the wrongs done on those she cared for.”

Su Qingcheng remembered how her mother indiscriminately killed Lei Zetian and killed her so thoroughly she did not leave a corpse. It was done out of a mother’s love for her child, the desire to protect their offspring, to give them a sense of security. Su Qingcheng clenched her fists as she thought more on it.

Did she really want to pursue the peak of existence to vindicate herself for her past life’s pathetic death, under the hands of someone who she thought she loved with all her heart, but ended up being betrayed by her? Or did she find a new reason to fight in this new life of her’s? Suffering an injustice under Xiao Tie many months ago, Su Qingcheng began to re-evaluate herself as the pair of her and Qin Fa continued to walk endlessly along the mountain path.

She didn’t even realize that Qin Fa and she had already reached the summit of one of the mountain range peaks. Qin Fa sat on a rock as Su Qingcheng stood motionless. The child’s head hung low. The Fruit of Desire… Su Qingcheng desperately needed this fruit to help Yao Meiyue create the medicinal elixir to help her undergo the Single-Colored Tribulation and gain her first Mark of the Paragon. But the more Su Qingcheng thought about it, the more she wondered…

Why?

“What are you thinking about, kid?” Qin Fa asked as she looked at Su Qingcheng who stood motionless as if in a daze.

“There are indeed still a lot of things I don’t know in this world,” Su Qingcheng suddenly spoke, as she looked ahead. The mountain trail meandered downwards and seemingly stretched into the distance. On the peak of one of the mountains further away, Su Qingcheng saw a giant tree which she was confident was where the Fruit of Desire grew. “I was raised in the Bailing Empire, and I received a new lease on life the moment my Tianqi paths were rebuilt. I was reborn again, essentially gaining a third life. When I think about it, I want to ask myself – why do I pursue power? Is it for the same reason as you, Auntie Qin? Do I want the power to dominate those who seek to oppress others?”

Qin Fa was speechless, but didn’t dare to interrupt. She got the feeling Su Qingcheng was trying to release and pour out her feelings, and also got another feeling that Su Qingcheng didn’t even say this to her own mother.

“Do I want to protect those close to me, my family, my flesh and blood, and my loved ones? Or am I simply seeking a way to avenge my past lives, to vindicate myself and to bring myself back from an abyss of humiliation?” Su Qingcheng sighed. “I have so many questions, but they cannot be answered right now. All I know is that I seek power, because right now, power is the only thing that matters on the Liandou Continent. Everything I have seen and witnessed and experienced points to one thing – you mean nothing without power.”

Su Qingcheng recalled the monstrous existences on the Tianqi Ranking Board. Void King, Nature’s Warlock, Flametongue, the family doctor, her own mother… All these tyrannical existences served as goalposts for Su Qingcheng to temper herself and become stronger. She would stand by their side… No, she would surpass them. Right now, she couldn’t figure out a compelling reason to do so. All she knew was that in the future, she would amount to nothing without that kind of tyrannical strength.

Yao Meiyue, being a spiritual existence, was very much aware of the turmoil and pain inside Su Qingcheng’s heart. Yet she did not say anything. She only knew that Su Qingcheng herself seemed really strange. Everything she was mentioning seemed wildly out of character for the fifteen year old before her, who had never said anything this profound before. It was as if Su Qingcheng was waxing melancholy about some out of world experiences. How could anyone guess that Su Qingcheng was confused because of the wild differences between this world and Earth?

“Like the very mountain peak we stand on now, reason means nothing once we are at the top. We look down at the nothingness below us – if we fall, we are doomed to die, perhaps in obscurity. As long as we have the power, we can make our own paths. We can decide how to do things in our own way, since nobody could stop us.” Su Qingcheng sighed. “Right now, my strength is insufficient. I am willing to walk forward on my lonesome in pursuit of power not merely because I want the strength to fight, but it is because I have to have strength in this world to accomplish anything. The big families, the Imperial Court… They are where they stand today because of the immense power they wield. Wealth can be earned, power must be fought for, either through training or through conquest.” Su Qingcheng continued on, almost lamenting the current circumstances.

Back on Earth, power wasn’t accrued like in those cultivation stories, or even on the Liandou Continent where she lived. Back on Earth, wealth meant much more than raw strength. Back on Earth, Su Qingcheng earned her wealth through books, but she lacked the power to protect herself from the very person she thought she could trust the most. Su Qingcheng did not want that to happen again, and it was very convenient that the law that prevailed most on the Liandou Continent was the law of the jungle.

“For example, you, Sister Qin. And my mother. Both of you gained the power you wield today through countless experiences, suffering through many trials and tribulations, yet managing to encounter many fortuitous experiences also. I must do the same thing if I am to amount to anything in the future. The laws of the world make justification secondary.”

Qin Fa and Yao Meiyue were both speechless. Were these words really spoken by a fifteen year old?

“I…”

“Say no more, Auntie. I have vented a good deal of my inner turmoil and demons. We must hurry, the Fruit of Desire, it’s over there, right?” Su Qingcheng pointed at the giant tree on one of the mountain peaks.

“Yeah, that’s right. The Fruit of Desire grows on that tree. It’s said that it only ripens every one hundred years. If we are lucky, we might find a couple.”

“Then, let’s get going.” Su Qingcheng then continued on forward, leaving Qin Fa in a daze. She sighed to herself and followed her.

“This kid is really complicated…” Qin Fa sighed as she rushed over to be in the leading position.

Little did the two of them know that two figures were pursuing them from behind…