Close to midnight, Somad opened his eyes and let out a long breath. He could feel his body filled with energy. He turned and saw Mingliang was still meditating. He saw bottles of mineral water and packed food nearby. He felt hungry and thirsty. He stood and stretched his body, checking on the packed food, the smell worked on his appetite.

Looking back and forth, from the food to his teacher, finally, he decided to wait for his teacher.

He took the bronze medal and checked the energy in it. The medal seemed to glow now. It contained lots of energy. Feeling satisfied, Somad put it back into the array.

He began practicing to draw runes, with his new level of energy. Along with time, Somad learned to work with his new level of strength. He had learned several new runes as well. He could practice to his heart's content, with all the energy around him.

"That's good, you have improved a lot.", suddenly he heard his teacher spoke.

Somad turned and found Mingliang was standing and watching him practice, "Teacher, how about you? I can feel you become more... like... hmm... grow? Like... become bigger... stronger?"

"Hahaha..., yes you're right, I achieve something of significance today. Come let's eat something, and I'll explain it a bit.", Mingliang opened the packed food and shared it with Somad.

Mingliang explained the main principles in their sect's cultivation technique.

In principle, their technique was to use their body as the furnace to congeal a spiritual seed. He explained the interdependent existences of the physical body, mental disposition, and spiritual self. He explained how their cultivation technique tried to bring harmony between the different character of each existence.

Then working through cultivation to the physical body, they congealed the spiritual seed. Once a spiritual seed formed, they had to nurture it through certain technique and practice. The spiritual seed then grew matured and formed the spiritual self. In all of those process, the physical body became the medium, the mind became the moving force, and the final result was the spiritual self.

Only after they formed the spiritual self, they could start practicing spiritual techniques and skills.

During the practice, there would be many difficulties. One of them was the conflicting natural character of the physical body and the spiritual self. It would keep arising from time to time and became a stumble on their path.

Sometimes, due to a certain situation, a practitioner could reach a condition where all aspects in them were in harmony. It was an ideal condition for a cultivator.

Although through the various method of practice they tried to achieve such a condition. In reality, there was no sure way to achieve it. You just had to be at the right time and the right place. All the practice did, was to prepare you, that you wouldn't miss the chance.

"And teacher happened to get that chance?", Somad asked excitedly.

"Yes, it happened during the struggle against that demon. Sometimes, it is in the face of such struggle you grow. Don't seek for a fight, but don't run when you have to. Maybe you learn something out of it.", Mingliang calmly nodded.

"Teacher, so what happened earlier? I only felt you were struggling against something."

Mingliang then told him about the Colossus that forced him to submit. He told Somad all the detail of his experience and what enlightenment he gained from that experience, "I told you all this, so you can use it as a reference. Do not blindly follow my footsteps. Do you understand?"

Somad silently thought about it. It took a long time, "My life is different from yours. I'm different from you, so my path to my spiritual self would be different too."

Mingliang nodded his head, "That's it. A teacher could only share his experience with you. Teach you skills, techniques, and knowledges, but none of that is cultivation. Cultivation is about you, making a journey to find and define your self. No one can do it for you. You have to walk on your own."

"I understand.", Somad nodded his head confidently. He didn't survive the street, relying on someone's protection.

"Okay, now you go to sleep first.", Mingliang said, then he took his phone and gave it to Somad, "I have back to practice again. If Sari calls or sends a message, you handle it. Tell her where we are, in case she's on her way back."

Somad took the phone and nodded, "Got it."

Mingliang started meditating once more. Previously, he had completed the 2nd and 3rd layer of Xuan Wu body on both of his fist and wrist, which means now he had his lower legs and fists as his weapon.

It was still another 6-7 hours before morning came around. Mingliang decided to complete up to his lower back. If he managed to pull it off, his speed and attack would be improved greatly.

Somad went to sleep, with Mingliang's phone in his hand. He ignored the fact that he slept in a crime scene where the whole family just got murdered. He was mentally calm but physically dead tired. Less than a minute, the boy already slept soundly.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened that night. After about seven hours of practicing Xuan Wu body, Mingliang stopped his practice and opened his eyes. He could feel his whole body filled with vigor. His entire lower body had filled with runes. Each rune now was vigorously absorbed the energy around them.

The 1st layer of Xuan Wu body on his skin quickly filled to the brim with energy. His hands up to his wrists, also brimming with energy.

He watched his leg slowly filled with energy. He proudly examined each rune. They perfectly arranged and linked to each other. He didn't miss even the smallest detail. He slowly examined each part, all the way from his foot to his lower back.

'Yep, I miss nothing.', He was mentally blushing as he checked his private part.

'Don't want to get kicked in my balls.', He silently defended his decision.

He saw Somad was still sleeping. Carefully he took his phone from the boy's hand. He checked the time. It was 6:30 AM, he finished a bit earlier than his target.

There was a message from Sari. She sent it about an hour ago. She was on her way back. She probably would arrive around lunchtime. Mingliang started typing, explained to her the last situation. Everything progressed too fast, suddenly they would work with the police, and they also involved in something that bigger than their imagination.

Mingliang wanted to get a short nap. He just closed his eyes when his phone rang. He let it rang several times, hoping it would stop after a while. After he waited and the phone kept ringing, reluctantly he picked the phone and checked the caller. It was Sari who called him.

Quickly he accepted the call, "Hello, good morning."

"Do you got the police there?"

"No, we're alone here. Only me and Somad."

"Okay, so do they know about the body in the pond?"

"I can't say for sure. The detective hinted that he knows I'm keeping some secret from him."

"And...?"

"He said he believed that I'm not involved in the serial killing, and that's enough for him."

"That's not so assuring."

"Yeah I know, but I don't think they would have time for anything else. I told you, this case is a disaster. No one would even remember about that guy in the pond, once this case fully erupt.", Mingliang was sure he wasn't exaggerating.

There was a moment of silence, "Okay, I'll be there around lunchtime. Should I go to see you or lay low?"

"Call me once you're in town. We have to work together.", after some hesitation, Mingliang added, "I need you."

Hundreds of kilometers away from Mingliang, Sari blushed when she heard it. She felt her heart beat louder than usual. She put her phone away and cleared her throat, "Okay, I'll call you later. See you."

"Okay, take care. Don't speed, safe drive."

"Humm... thanks. You too.", she still held the phone, until the call ended.

She reluctantly put the phone down and murmured, "Shouldn't he say something? Like yea, be careful. Miss you. You ended the call first. No, you first."

She was unconsciously humming a song, as she drove back.

Meanwhile, Mingliang already fell dead asleep. Both him and Somad slept on the hard floor. But they still slept soundly. They didn't wake up when Jim and Anton entered the room with 4 cups of hot coffee and burgers. That was about 9 AM in the morning.

Anton glanced at Jim, "Cap, you sure pick some treasure. I mean, sleeping in a room like this? Could you believe that?"

Jim observed the two who slept soundly and sighed, "Let's wait for a while."

He walked to the chairs nearby and sat on one of them. Unpacked one of the burgers and ate it. Anton followed his example. He looked at his burger, hesitated, and at the end, he preferred to take a sip out of his coffee rather than ate the burger.

Anton stole a glance at Jim. He was taking a big bite from his burger, obviously enjoying it.

Anton secretly thought, 'Well, you sure think they're normal.'

They didn't have wait for too long. About 30 minutes later, when Jim got a call, Mingliang woke up. In his dream, he dreamed about Jim telling him something vague. He tried to concentrate on Jim, but still couldn't understand a word. Slowly his consciousness returned. Mingliang faintly heard Jim talking in the phone, and realized it was just a dream.

He just slept for about 3 hours, on a hard cold floor, with the smell of blood and rotten meat around him. But still, it was better than nothing. He slowly got up and stretched his stiff back.

Doing a bit physical exercise to warm his stiff muscles, he greeted the two detectives, "Good morning detectives."

Jim turned to him and ended his call, "I'll call you later. That's all I can say for now."

"Yes, later okay.", he hung up the phone and slipped it on his pocket.

As usual, there was no run around with Jim, "The one you recommended to me, he refused to cooperate with the police. He wanted to see you though."

"He said that?", Mingliang wrinkled his eyebrows.

"Yes, so we're here to get you there.", Jim curtly replied.

Mingliang turned and saw Somad also already got up and stretching his body with all his might. He turned back to Jim, "At least take us to our place first, we need some shower and change clothes."

Jim didn't object at all, "Sure."

He turned to Anton and made a gesture, "Come on."

Anton stood up and handed the coffee and burgers to Mingliang. Grinning the young detective winked, "Here, your breakfast. Having a nice dream last night?"

Mingliang took the coffee and cleaned it in a few gulps, "Yeah... you bet. Hahaha, but telling you honestly, this place a trove of treasure for a cultivator. The energy is abundant. I progress a hundred times faster than usual."

"You do?", Anton asked in disbelief.

He still remembered how Mingliang almost looked like a saint or angel yesterday. Now, he looked normal. Seemed like whatever he gained yesterday, was lost in a night. He didn't know that now, Mingliang had control over his energy and restrained it all, no longer blazingly radiating it like yesterday.

Mingliang didn't know what Anton thought, "Yes, I do. Somad too."

Anton looked at Somad in disbelief. Somad grinned back, "I can blow you away in less than a second."

Anton snorted and took it as a joke.

On their way to Mingliang's place, they cleaned up all the burgers and coffee. Somad ended up drank a cup of coffee too.

Mingliang watched the boy drank the coffee and said, "If Sari here, she would nag about it to no end."

Somad laughed, "Well, let's keep it a secret then."

"Who's Sari?", Anton asked from the front seat.

"Teacher's girlfriend."

"My friend."

Somad and Mingliang replied at the same time.

"Stop joking.", Mingliang scolded the naughty boy beside him.

Anton exchange a glance with Somad and grinned from ear to ear, "Oh... sure it's fun to be young."

All the way, they spent throwing jokes to each other, while Jim was staying quiet as usual. Quickly Mingliang and Somad become friend with Anton. The young detective was outgoing and open-minded. He asked many questions about their practice. Sometimes he openly showed his disbelief, but he was non-judgmental and no one offended by his way to show it.

When they arrived at their destination, Mingliang checked the time. It was close to lunchtime.

He watched Jim pushed the bell button on the intercom. Mingliang stood awkwardly there. He preferred to avoid the meeting, but he had no choice. He remembered seeing this person once when he was a kid, and it wasn't a pleasant memory.

"Who's that?", the intercom made a sound.

"Detective Jim, we met early this morning.", Jim talked to the intercom.

"Oh, you. Hee hee hee, do you bring that boy with you?"

Jim turned and looked at Mingliang. Mingliang shrugged his shoulder and nodded.

"Yeah, I bring him with me here."

A few seconds later, with a buzzing sound of an electric motor, the gate opened automatically.