It has been almost 3 months now since Su Lin started cultivating in the eastern Himalayan ranges.
Luther was jogging across his usual path with tremendous ease, without having the slightest of concern for the slippery rocks or the uneven path.
His sharp European pitch-black eyes darted around the forest until it casually landed on a plain woman meditating in peace and silence.
The strange woman was once again present today, sitting in her usual pose and oblivious to her surroundings...
She had been in fact doing this every single day and night for almost 3 months now.
Luther couldn't help but feel curious about her and her background.
Rather than his curiosity, Luther was more concerned about Monkey and his steadily increasing antics.
Since they were currently in the middle of a forest, Su Lin by no fault of her own had somehow managed to garner quite a bit of attention from the members in his organization, and Luther could barely keep them in check any longer.
Especially Monkey, who was bursting at the seems to run out and introduce himself to Su Lin.
Luther crossed the usual spot and watched the woman getting drenched. "She is going to catch a cold." He murmured, but the woman didn't seem to be bothered by it at all.
Smiling at the totally lost and oblivious woman, he was just about to take another step, when Su Lin suddenly opened her eyes and looked right at him.
There were several trees and shrubs between them. So Su Lin couldn't exactly see him but she sensed the presence of another human being.
Surprised and shocked, Luther suddenly stumbled and almost fell down.
The next instant, Su Lin went back to her closed eyes meditative pose again, leaving behind a perplexed man.
Luther shook it off and continued with his workout, just a bit confused. What the hell?
After he was a good distance away, Su Lin slowly opened her eyes with a smile on her face. She was finally done! She did it.
It was unbelievable and she had completely given up on the thought of it, but now she did it! Stage one soul core completely healed and stabilized.
With this she will be able to extend her soul sense like a blanket and scan everything. Only experts at a higher stage than her will be able to hide their presence or conceal any poison.
But oh wait?! She was the highest tier expert here!
With a smug and satisfied expression, Su Lin got up from her place and prepared to go back down for good.
There was still some amount of spiritual energy left in the mountain, but it was at a much higher elevation.
With her current condition, it was not possible for her to scale this humongous mountain range to absorb every last bit of spiritual energy present.
And moreover, it was better to let the stage one soul core stabilize for a while.
Considering these limitations, she decided to return to the city for now.
With her current strength, she felt confident in dealing with dangerous situations and her ability to understand the herbs in this world better.
So Su Lin did not have any reservations about returning to the same old city and she climbed down the hazardous slopes slowly humming a happy little tune.
She was almost out of the third mountain layer when suddenly she sensed a huge disturbance at a few miles distance away from her.
Her centuries-long sharply honed senses immediately detected danger, and Su Lin hurriedly quickened her steps.
She rushed in the opposite direction and quickly climbed down. Climbing down was relatively easier and she slid and skidded for most parts of it.
Though the wet and slippery rain didn't help at all, Su Lin somehow managed to put a good distance between herself and the scene of commotion, when a familiar figure entered her field of vision.
The man had high cheekbones which perfectly complemented his face. His long black hair was casually flipping about in the wind, and fresh red blood was decorated his body. He was god's most outstanding creation.
But he was lying currently sprawled against a rock in front of her, heaving injured, and barely breathing. His body had more scars and wounds, than the last time she had seen him.
Su Lin now possessed the power of a complete stage 1 soul core, so she could immediately sense that the man in front of her was in mortal danger.
She hesitated, but couldn't help stopping for a moment. Her heart raced. She was in great peril, but the man in front of her would surely die without her help.
Did she really need to get involved? She asked herself, but before her brain could answer the question, she found her hand reaching for the devilishly handsome man's chest.
No matter how selfish she was determined to be in this lifetime, she just couldn't bring herself to let someone die and keep walking, especially knowing that she had the power to change his fate.