Chaoming had been lying down for less than ten minutes when another black snake darted up. Just like before, the bird snapped it up in its beak and swallowed it down.
Having eaten two snakes in a row, a gentle warmth surged through its body.
These snakes seemed to hold remarkably rich energy. At that moment, its mutated tissue felt as though it were soaking in a hot spring—it felt too lazy to move, yet curiously invigorated at the same time.
Instead of returning to the nest it had picked out earlier, it simply stayed put. From then on, more black snakes emerged continuously, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups of two or three cooperating in their attack.
In the past, Chen Chuan had deliberately trained its mutated tissue and combat abilities. Combined with its natural intelligence, Chaoming did not rely purely on brute force and animal instinct like ordinary creatures. It knew how to apply simple tactics and techniques, advancing and retreating with method and precision, never allowing a single black snake to slip past.
Over the next half-day, it devoured no fewer than forty snakes. At first, they had surged forward wave after wave, but later, as if finally sensing danger, their numbers dwindled. By nightfall, they stopped appearing altogether.
Chaoming still did not leave. It remained vigilantly on guard, determined to prevent anything from slipping in and disrupting Chen Chuan's cultivation.
Inside the fissure, Chen Chuan wanted to test how long he could maintain it in a single session, so he kept cultivating without pause.
He had entered around three in the afternoon, and it was not until dawn that the fissure began to show signs of contracting.
Sustaining it for at least seventeen hours in one go was a massive improvement over before.
In truth, he felt he could have pushed on for another ten or twenty minutes without issue.
Yet as his cultivation deepened, he no longer chased raw training duration for its own sake.
A certain amount of cultivation time was necessary, but absorbing energy on this side of the fissure imposed an extra mental burden. While his second self was able to withstand the taint, merely existing there subjected him to a degree of mental pressure from that other world.
Mental relaxation was therefore essential. This was a truth he had gradually come to understand over his recent days of practice.
Forging ahead was vital, but nurturing was equally important. Keeping his spirit properly adjusted made his efforts far more efficient. Furthermore, after drawing in sufficient energy, the growth of mutated tissue required time to settle—a principle that held increasingly true the higher one climbed.
With a thought, his spiritual visage dispersed into billows of mist. Stepping out from the fissure, he swept his blade to seal it shut, then checked the surrounding esoteric ritual.
What he saw surprised him. In a convergence zone—especially deep within one at night—erosion was exceptionally severe.
This time, he had not used Protector You's pivot stone, relying solely on high-grade ritual materials to hold the barrier. By all logic, the erosion should have been heavy enough to barely last a single night. Yet the ritual setup showed virtually no wear.
He turned the matter over in his mind. There was only one possible explanation—
Shifting his gaze toward another corner of the grotto, he saw Chaoming lying there, chirping softly at him.
Seeing Chaoming's bulging belly, Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow, knowing the bird had eaten a great deal.
Chaoming never ate carelessly; it only consumed things it judged beneficial to itself. Evidently, quite a bit had happened while he was cultivating.
Walking over to the cavern's edge, he watched as Chaoming lifted a talon to reveal a black snake beneath it, pecked and torn into segments.
Chen Chuan took a look. It was about three chi long and pitch-black all over—if hidden in shadow, it would be entirely imperceptible.
It must have crawled up from the pit below. There was indeed something unusual down there.
Glancing toward his luggage, he noticed that one of the scout bio-constructs he had released had returned. Shaped like a beetle, it lay there quietly with its legs and wings tucked in.
He walked over, picked it up, and placed it onto the custom boundary credential he had brought along. The creature immediately wrapped its legs tightly around the device.
A moment later, a scene appeared on the projection screen before him, replaying what the bio-construct had recorded.
The footage followed the creature's perspective as it descended into the depths. Its movement was not slow, but because it paused at every cavern pocket, watching the entire feed would take too long. Chen Chuan tapped the boundary credential to speed up playback. The footage accelerated sharply, though it did not hinder his observation.
Before long, the viewpoint reached the very bottom of the pit. Judging by the distance displayed on the screen, it had descended roughly seven to eight hundred meters.
That was about the height of this peak, meaning it had not only reached the mountain's base, but had penetrated deep underground.
As the bio-construct scouted further, an opening running parallel to the ground appeared. It ventured inside, but there the black snakes showed up, attacking and preying upon the scouting bio-constructs.
He had dispatched fifteen of these creatures in total, yet only this single one had made it back. The rest had been devoured along the way.
Even so, this last survivor had faithfully completed its mission, capturing clear details: vivid, colorful murals painted across the cavern walls. Their style bore distinct hallmarks of the pre-medieval era, and faint star-track charts were visible—unmistakably the patterns of an esoteric ritual.
It seemed the Xuan Cult predecessors who had come here in the past had left certain arrangements behind.
Chen Chuan considered this, but decided against exploring deeper for now. Whatever was down there did not matter as long as it caused him no trouble. For the moment, it posed no hindrance, and even if he wished to investigate, he could wait until he attained the realm of the Longevity View.
Instructing Chaoming to continue guarding the spot, he exited the grotto, washed up briefly by the hot spring waterfall, and headed out to hunt for food.
In barely ten minutes, he returned with a sturdy alpine ox. Though formidable convergence zone creatures roamed the surroundings, they posed no real threat to him, making hunting all the easier.
With an alpine ox, one generally only needed to eat the strip of loin along its back, which contained all its nutritional essence. While nothing fancy, the meat was hearty and satisfying when roasted, perfectly suited to his needs.
He started a fire, set the meat over the flames, and roasted it slowly. Rendered fat dripped into the fire with a soft sizzle, sending a rich aroma drifting through the air.
As he savored each bite of the roasted meat, the tension that had lingered in his mind gradually melted away amid the simple, savory warmth.
Chaoming had no appetite this time. It lay nearby watching, clearly stuffed from before.
After finishing the prime cuts, Chen Chuan tossed the rest outside. Within moments, tiny insects crawled out from beneath the soil, devouring the entire carcass clean in no time. Minutes later, slender, white, bead-like blossoms sprouted from the earth.
Looking closer, he recognized them as jade bamboo flowers—plants frequently cultivated outside Xuan Cult temples and shrines. Their presence strongly suggested that members of the Xuan Cult had once resided here for a prolonged period, confirming his earlier suspicions.
After eating, he sat on a stone stool and tapped on his boundary credential. He had loaded an abundance of reading material onto the custom device before leaving, giving him plenty to peruse at leisure.
When evening fell, he checked the esoteric ritual. Finding no issues, he resumed his cultivation. Repeating this routine day after day, half a month slipped by in a flash.
Aside from hunting each day to reward his palate, he spent his mornings and evenings in rigorous practice. Because he could clearly perceive his own progress, the days never felt dull; watching his strength grow step by step was thoroughly engrossing.
Moreover, because he discarded his leftover food outside every day, a dense expanse of jade bamboo flowers had bloomed there over the past ten-odd days. Swaying gently in the wind, they formed a picturesque view and gave off a delicate fragrance.
One day, returning from a hunt, Chen Chuan did not re-enter the grotto immediately. As he roasted an unfamiliar mountain pheasant, he looked out across the landscape. Numerous mountain springs and waterfalls tumbled down, most flowing into a meandering river below like a coiled jade dragon. The magnificent scenery concealed profound mysteries, and it was easy to see why the Xuan Cult predecessors had chosen this place to dwell—they had possessed a discerning eye.
He mused that it would be wonderful if a direct path ran from Center City to this spot.
Under normal circumstances, of course, that was impossible, unless...
He paused in thought, then shook his head. After finishing his meal, he tidied up and stood, walking back into the grotto. The moment he stepped inside, however, his footsteps halted.
A figure was sitting on the stone bed.
The man wore the robes of the Xuan Cult and held a horsetail whisk, dressed entirely like a Xuanist. Chen Chuan shifted his focus to his second self, but no signs of blurring or fading appeared.
Noticing Chen Chuan, the Xuanist looked him over for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Wrong, all wrong. You're practicing it incorrectly, completely incorrectly."
Chen Chuan looked at him. "What part is incorrect?"
"What you practiced before was our Xuan Cult's secret manual, the 'Taibai Contemplation,' was it not?" the Xuanist said. "When practiced to its depths, looking up and down upon the golden heavens and connecting the jade bridge is child's play. Yet the method you adopted later strayed onto another path, creating discord between the former and the latter."
Chen Chuan replied, "There is no error in this method."
The Xuanist nodded. "There may be no error, but it does not necessarily suit your body. With your exceptional talent, you ought to cultivate our cult's supreme secret manual. Anything less is merely squandering such a treasured vessel."
Chen Chuan thought for a brief moment, chuckled, and paid him no further mind. Walking over to the side, he picked up his boundary credential, intending to rest.
The Xuanist offered a faint smile. "I know you do not believe my words, but no matter. Let me share something with you first: at the foot of this mountain lies a liquid pool established by our cult. The vapor rising from its waters can boost your cultivation by thirty percent." He held up three fingers. "Act as I tell you, and you will see the truth with a single try."
Without waiting for Chen Chuan to question him, he recited a few brief instructions, hopped down from the stone bed, and unhurriedly strolled out of the cavern.
Chen Chuan turned his gaze outside, only to find that all trace of the man was already gone.
Chapter 1006