One day, the monks in charge of exploring the further reaches of the secret forest, came back with a discovery of a new underground dwelling that seemed to be like an ancient ruin. They came back immediately to report & did not enter the ruins. Grandpa Shen, Sr Wong & Old Man Ji along with a few others, went to explore the ruins. After a few days they came back empty handed, as the ruins seemed to be filled with powerful restrictions & force fields as one entered the deeper parts of them. It is likely that these ruins were a secret path to a connecting land mass. This path was blocked by a powerful formation with strange symbols floating in it, one can only enter it if they have the unsealing sequence.

As Long Shen heard the news of the restrictions in the ruins, he somehow thought about the inheritance left by Jiang Chen. He immediately took out the black book & enquired regarding any location that is similar to the ruins discovered. The Old book revealed that there indeed is a place like that which is constructed on the orders of Jiang Chen during the demon disaster to act as a safe haven for the citizens.

The book flashed an unsealing sequence in LS consciousness, the artifact spirit communicates, through consciousness. It suggested LS to remember it. LS remembered the unsealing sequence firmly in his memory. But as a precaution this sequence will only work once & then the formation will not open again for a few years even after using the correct sequence. There might be some demon worshippers (during that time) who could have stolen the formation key, so even if they have the correct sequence, the demons who might come after the refugees will not be able to open the formation. A fool proof plan.

Long Shen gained a trump card that can protect him & his family of monks whenever a disaster strikes. From the recent circumstances, that seemed to be inevitable. The beast tide became more intense rather than reducing & they became more violent according to the reports. There are also instances of powerful beasts invading their new caves in search of prey. Recently a peak Qi accumulation level beast, more ferocious than the last one attacked them.These led to the monks exploring further reaches leading to the discovery of the secret ruins.

As days passed LS spent some time learning Pill dao to increase his comprehension. Pill dao is different from martial arts; it depends on the soul power and how well one can control the pill fire and extract the medicinal properties of herbs. Martial arts is much more direct the more one spends time in combat the better one’s comprehension and the faster the breakthroughs.

One morning Sr.Shen and Old man Ji visited LS to observe his progress. Just as they approached the room a small cloud appeared in the sky around Long Shen’s room, it progressively became violent and thunder and lightning appeared, the bolts of lightning started bombarding LS’s place and after a few minutes a large boom originated at the center of LS’s place and collapsed the surrounding structures. Long Shen slowly opened his eyes and stood up, the dust was still clearing and a silhouette of LS with Sparks of lightning coming out of his body baffled the monks. It seems that Long Shen withstood the lightning and there was a lightning orb the size of a small pellet on his palm.

Both the Old monks rushed to check if LS was okay. As they examined LS they understood that LS stepped into the Body cultivation stage. The sparks dispersed and there was a small crystal clear pellet in LS’s palm. Sr.Shen immediately recognised it as the Level 1 Mid Rank pill which would require a pill apprentice to practice for many years. (Pill slaves are typically the lowest level and they are considered Level 0 - i.e, they can only produce trash/ Defective low grade pills). The level of alchemists in the outskirts of the empire is typically Level 1 Low rank (Alchemists who are capable of producing Level 1 Low rank pills) there are a few masters who can produce level 1 Mid rank pills (These masters were considered as treasures and typically lured in by major factions in the outskirts (like mercenary groups etc.,) with money, position and women / Men) and there was no one who could produce a Level 1 high rank pills in the outskirts.

Surprisingly LS could produce a Level 1 Medium grade pill. But this seemed odd as LS could only produce Level 1 Low grade pills till now, Did his breakthrough increase his pill refining capabilities? What is the cloud phenomenon that occurred earlier? He had too many questions, looking at Sr. Shen’s expression Old Man Ji offered to clarify all his doubts later and instructed LS to take rest as the breakthrough might have been tiresome. LS slowly left for the lake to clean up & eat his favorite fish roast with the spices he has collected and has been experimenting. (A martial artist should know how to cook food so that he can always stay strong no matter where he is - this is what Sr. Shen always emphasises).

All 3 old men (Sr. Wong, Sr Shen & Old Man Ji) sat in the corner having their evening tea when Old Man Ji started to narrate a story of God Long when he was still very young. It was told that when God Long broke through to the Body Cultivation stage a cloud of lightning surrounded him & the lightning rays baptised God Long and tempered his body and soul. Lightning element is the bane of demon souls, lightning helps in purifying the inner demons that are yet to fully take form, which is beneficial to the martial artist as the demons will be purified before they even get a chance to develop. Only after hearing the story did both the old men felt relief. They were worried that the lightning would have damaged LS’s body and soul.

Meanwhile LS took a swim in the lake and started roasting the marinated fishes in a small fire. The smell of the spices mixed with the melting fat of fishes made LS’s stomach growl. He summoned snowy and both of them started gulping down the delicious fish roast. LS noticed that Snowy seemed to be bigger and more powerful than before. Snowy also stepped into the Body Cultivation stage during the tribulation. Just as both of them were enjoying their dinner. A loud Sinister roar reverberated the entire cave dwellings. LS and snowy immediately started sprinting towards the direction of the caves.

In a few breaths of time they reached the entrance of the forest where the monks were gathered together. A 100 meters in front of them was a sinister looking spider Wild beast with a Mid level body cultivation stage. There were many Low level body cultivation stage wild beasts surrounding the spider. On top of the spider was a woman dressed in black; She wore tight revealing clothes that complemented her voluptuous figure and her eyes were pitch black. “Demon kind” whispered the monks behind. Pitch black eyes and a sinister aura are the hallmarks of the demon kind. They are extremely cunning and equally seductive, no mortal can escape their manipulation once fully subjugated. The woman seemed to be at peak level Body cultivation stage. There was never an instance of demon kind being spotted for the past several hundreds of years. This baffled the monks and indicated the changing times, why the beast tide never settled down and why they were aggressive and restless. It seems that the demon has instigated the beast tide this time.

The demon lady pointed her finger and said “You worthless old bones which year is it? Who is the current demon king of this land?”

Old man Ji quickly cupped his hands and spoke as he bowed down. “My dear lady, this is year 6428 of the great Emo clan. The current demon king is the great Dan Qi.”

“6428? I was imprisoned in the temporal rift for 4000 years!? Father, Mother and everyone I know would be dead…. Where should I go now? I still did not recover from my injuries and left with only a fragment of my power. Jaing Chen!! You will pay for the misery I had to go through!! Even if you are dead I will kill your human kind to vent my anger…” said the woman grinding her teeth.

Hearing the word Jiang Chen LS suddenly realized that if the woman knew he was the successor of Jiang Chen’s legacy then he will be tortured for the next 4000 years!! The thought itself sent shivers down his spine. He slowly sneaked to the middle of the crowd to hide from her.

“I need to gather my strength as quickly as possible, your worthless lives will be my food to gather my strength..” said the demon woman looking at the monks like a wolf ready to devour a flock of sheep.

“Bring them to me my minions….” ordered the demon.

All the Low level body cultivation beasts started attacking the monks. The fight became fierce and there were casualties on both sides. The spider and the demon did not attack and let the minions take care of the monks first. The monks captured by the minions were delivered to the demon and the demon extracted the life force out of them by making seals on her palms. After some time only the spider, demon and the monks were left in the battlefield.

The woman slowly extended her right hand and snapped her fingers. The spider roared loud and started attacking the monks using its web. Some unfortunate monks were trapped in the web and quickly lost their life force after it was extracted by the demon.

The monks started attacking the spider from multiple directions simultaneously, if someone is caught in the web the surrounding monks broke the web immediately to rescue their fellow brothers. As the fight progressed the monks were getting tired but the demon lady who is busy absorbing life force is yet to fight. It is clear who will have the advantage if the time progresses.

LS realized this and immediately remembered the ancient ruins that were constructed by Jiang Chen for the safety of the citizens during the demon invasion. He shouted “ Everyone fall back to the ancient ruins. I have found a safe place to take shelter.” Even though LS is still a child everyone understands he will not be joking at this grave hour and he must really have discovered a safe place, But they were hesitant to leave as it will be a deadend if they can't find a safe place. Then there will be no place to escape.

Sr. Shen and Sr. Wong always believed in LS hence both of them supported LS’s statement and urged their brothers to fall back. After hearing the reassurance, the monks slowly retreated into the woods and started sprinting towards the ruins. LS was the first to reach the ruins with the help of an old map in his memory which was implanted by the black book.

He undid the seal and the ruins opened a portal to another place. All the monks entered the portal except the 3 Old men and Long Shen.

To be continued...