Cheng Hao furrowed his brows in confusion.

Highest potential? Why would that be?

Then, the truth of the matter hit him like a boulder. If having only one blessing of the mountain gave a Spirit a second chance at life if killed and, also, a powerful Dogma to aid him in his intent…

What would happen if one were to be blessed twice? Would one gain one more life? Or another Dogma? Sure, that could happen, but what were extra techniques and multiple lives in front of infinite power?

In front of being able to fully harness the power of the Mountain?

Cheng Hao pondered out aloud in a dreamy state of excitement and happiness:

“The limiter… even if the Mountain imposed that limiter upon us, and only gave us a part of the key, what would happen if a single person were to be in possession of two such parts at once?”

Xu Ling nodded:

“Indeed. It is unknown the exact reason for this, but together with the gift of enormous power within the reach of our fingertips, a limiter had also been imposed on us, stopping us from displaying such might.

“We can access the might of the Mountain, at the same time however we can only harness a ridiculously small amount. Whether it was because it deemed us too lowly to harness such power or it was simply unable to, this loophole throws all those reasons down the drain.

“The reason is… because, by creating a second lineage, the Mountain bestowed upon us followers a second shard of they key to lifting the limits! If you were to gather both shards, from the old Spirits and the new ones, you would become the Spirit with the highest ever potential to have ever existed!

“You have already received the blessing from one of these two lineages. That’s a nice amount of the limiter removed. This blessing was from the ‘New Spirits’. That was the easy part.” Xu Ling pointed at Cheng Hao’s forehead, where a glowing mark appeared.

It was Ling. Soul and spirit.

“And as for the other lineage of Spirits, that would have been hard had it been any other…” the girl chuckled, pointing at herself:

“I believe that you might have a good chance with this old geezer. Don’t worry about that one: my part of the key will definitely be yours!”

“Uh? You can give it to me?” Cheng Hao furrowed his brows. From what he had been told earlier, this senior of his could not pass down his Dogma or even carry out the awakening, as he was merely an illusion, a shade of his former self.

As expected, Xu Ling shook her head:

“Unfortunately, not. The rules did not change: I am an illusion, and this process is not something that can be carried out by a mere fake. Still, you’ll only have to track down my real self back in the real world and ask him.

“Once you are able to harness your Dogma well enough, that should become a piece of cake. He already branded you with his aura when he possessed your body as a child. When you grow accustomed to sensing the aura of the Mountain, you will find him.”

“After all…” Xu Ling curled her lips into an amused smile and raised one of her eyebrows:

“ ‘Alive in some form or another as long as he does not awaken another Spirit and pass his knowledge on’. He didn’t pass on his lineage, did he?”

Cheng Hao widened his eyes and then chuckled:

“Yeah… that’s right. Should have thought about that from the very start.”

Xu Ling shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly:

“Wisdom. Comes with time. You may have knowledge but aren’t able to think outside the box that much. A person that has performed the same strike a million times will be much more fearsome than a man that has performed a million different strikes a single time. You are smart and cunning. One day, you will grow a nice white beard and become wise, you don’t have to worry about that too much yet.”

Cheng Hao chuckled:

“If that is all I’ll need to become wiser, then I will be sure not to trim it when the time comes.”

The child in an adult’s body smiled excitedly as he looked out of the window.

Cheng Hao was ecstatic: so many gifts had rained down from the Heavens, and it had happened so fast that he had not even found a chance to gape at it.

It was as if, after witnessing so many of his hardships and pitying his countless struggles as he faced the whole world, a benevolent god had decided to ignore the rules of the universe and simply carve him a path to victory himself!

He suddenly felt his shoulders growing ever so light; the worries and fears that had been weighing him down, holding him back, suddenly disappeared: from that moment forward, he had a path to follow. A path he knew would not suddenly collapse under his feet!

His gaze fell on Xu Ling’s body. The girl was also smiling, like a parent looking at his son after successfully applying to his first job at an illustrious company.

He felt a tinge of guilt inside: just a few moments before he had been pointing his finger at her face, shouting venomous words and scolding her harshly. And now that he finally realized that her every single word had been the truth, or at least not a lie, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about his previous behavior.

Cheng Hao hesitated for a bit but then embraced the young girl and hugged her tightly, his voice breaking as he whispered:

“I apologize for my actions. Thank you for keeping up with me despite my behavior earlier.”

Xu Ling blinked twice and laughed, patting Cheng Hao’s back:

“Sure thing kid!”

At the same time however, despite her looking all happy and carefree, the Spirit was also sighing in relief inside: fortunately, she had been able to clear at least a few of those misunderstandings up.

She had many more things to tell the youth, but she could almost feel the invisible hands of fate clasping down on her throat: telling too much would not only interfere with fate, but with the child’s growth as well.

For that reason, she had decided from the very beginning not to give away too much information. Still, she had one last thing to tell Cheng Hao before she left.

“Kid… by any chance, have you ever seen or heard about people with blue eyes just as beautiful and bright as these?” Xu Ling pointed at her face and asked.

Cheng Hao, still smiling stupidly and refraining from fist pumping, nodded distractedly:

“Yeah! Of course, they were not as beautiful as yours, or more accurately mine, but they were pretty similar. He used some kind of haze to hide his appearance and let only his eyes show. I believe he called himself the ‘Worker’.”

Xu Ling paled and shot to her feet, trembling in terror:

“What… did you say?”

Cheng Hao woke up from his trance and looked at the frightened girl with puzzlement:

“What’s wrong?”

“How do you know him?”

“I met him back in my world, why?”

“Does he… know of your existence?”

“Yes. We have met quite a few times.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?” Xu Ling’s eyes widened and her pupils shrunk. A hurricane broke loose in the small room and forced Cheng Hao to rotate his cultivation to resist.

He looked up and saw Xu Ling’s face overwhelmed by countless emotions: confusion, fear, horror… and, most of all, anger. Then, the girl flashed all over the room, pulling her hair as she panicked:

“This… why did you not tell me this sooner! You cannot stay here any longer! You have to escape! If Worker comes around and finds you…”

Cheng Hao gaped and then tilted his head in confusion:

“What? Would that be a problem?”

Xu Ling scoffed:

“Problem? It would be the end of everything! This is bad… this is really bad! You need to leave this place, now! We can’t wait any longer; I’ll send you to my real self immediately. Maybe he will be able to protect you!”

Cheng Hao opened his mouth to speak, but was unable to under the dense barrage.

“Where could he be? The ocean of the Stone Sages? No, too close to this Planary System… or maybe in the northern plains of the Azure Specters? Sea of souls at the ninth level of the Yellow Springs? Damn, no, they are too predictable! If I can think of it, it cannot be it! Shit, why now! Why must I be an illusion? If only I could sense him…”

Xu Ling turned to look at Cheng Hao while fiercely biting his own index finger due to the stress.

“Alright, let’s stop panicking. As long as he does not know yet you have been here, I might be able to cover any and all tracks of your passage once you leave-”

“-That’ what I was about to say!” Cheng Hao finally shouted, startling the panicking girl. Xu Ling looked at him: she breathed in and out a few times and the panic in her eyes gradually faded.

After a while she seemed to have calmed down a bit and she bowed her head:

“Sorry about that unsightly behavior of mine. What was it that you wanted to tell me?”

Cheng Hao smiled bitterly and massaged his neck:

“Well, I do not understand why you panicked just then, but judging from your reaction, I think if I were to tell you this you might actually grow crazy. Still, I would like you to keep calm… do you think you can do this?”

Xu Ling furrowed her brows, puzzled:

“I… I guess I’ll try. What is it?”

“Well the thing is…” Cheng Hao looked down. He sighed, swallowing nervously, and then looked up:

“You see, he not only knows me. He knows exactly where I am... it was actually him who brought me here.”