Ling Tian and Lian Qiu sat close to a bonfire in the darkness of the night as Ling Tian cooked a piece of meat. They had followed the river all day long and decided to rest the night. He salivated as he added spice and such to his meat and moved it back and forth to make sure it would be cooked well.
Meanwhile, Lian Qiu looked with reluctant eyes at his actions, his mouth however was also salivating. "Brother Ling, eating mortal food will harm you in the long run..."
Ling Tian didn't even glance at him as he replied with disdain, "I know that. I don't need to eat it but what's the point of life if I can't enjoy it and do what I want?"
Lian Qiu heard him say and slight desire filled his eyes. Ling Tian continued, "This is Gazelle meat! It is extremely delicious and I happen to be a master of cooking these types of exotic meals since I grew bored with regular food back in the days."
"Brother Ling, I understand that but one thing I am puzzled about, why did you make us wait so long before hunting it? We are cultivators you know..."
Ling Tian inspected the piece of meat as the delicious aroma filled the surroundings, "What kind of monster kills an animal why its drinking water from a river? It's not my fault it drank for a while."
Lian Qiu nodded with respect, "I see, You have taught me how to be noble while hunting. Thanks!"
Ling Tian nearly sweatdropped, 'What is he talking about? Whatever...'
"Can I have a little?" Lian Qiu asked longingly, the delicious smell had worked its charm. Ling Tian shrugged his shoulders and threw him the piece he had cooked.
"Here, I will cook another one for myself."
Lian Qiu seemed moved as he took a bite and opened his eyes wide, "This is so good! Brother, you are a righteous person who saved me, and now you gave me your food. You are a truly noble spirit and you are a divine cook as well. Ah, If I was a girl, I would have fallen for you..."
Ling Tian snorted, 'No homo! I will be colder with this guy from now on, the situation is getting a bit out of hand and awkward...'
He remained silent. He saw the meat was not enough so he turned his sights on the corpse to the far side and walked towards it. Lian Qiu seemed to be in his own little world enjoying the meal. Judging by his expression, he was going to start eating mortal food again.
Hidden in the bushes, the baby crocodile was watching them with hatred. its eyes grew especially angry when it gazed at Ling Tian's figure.
As Ling Tian vanished behind the trees to get more meat, it focused on Lian Qiu and thought, 'This bastard's friend is also my enemy! Just wait...' His thoughts were interrupted by a hand firmly holding on its head and lifting it up.
It looked up and saw Ling Tian looking at it with a sneer, "Hey, little Basta*d. It seems you have followed me here huh? Are you seeking revenge?"
Towards the end of his words, Ling Tian squeezed its head a little making its eyes bulge a bit. The crocodile cursed its stupidy as it tried to shake its head and opened its eyes wide, trying to act innocent and dumb.
Ling Tian laughed seeing its actions, "So you understand what I am saying. It seems you are no ordinary crocodile, you are a bit dumb though..."
The baby crocodile couldn't control its anger as it heard his words and began shaking fiercely as it looked at him with hatred.
Ling Tian noticed its actions and laughed even more, "Haha, you are so amusing... I can't have you following me so I will just stop you here."
He shouted toward Lian Qiu, "Hey, you have some rope?"
"Sure, here!" some rope was tossed toward him as he grasped it and looked at the crocodile with a smirk. Its eyes grew fearful...
A while later, He returned and began cooking his meat silently. Lian Qiu asked him with a puzzled face, "Why did you need rope?"
He didn't answer him, he only glanced in a certain direction and remained silent. Seeing he was ignored, Lian Qiu decided to enjoy the meal and forget the small details.
A while later, after they enjoyed the meal, they sat down in mediation.
Ling Tian opened his system screen, he saw he had roughly 90000EP left so he began adding points to upgrade his talent.
[Talent: Upgraded from Low-Earth to Mid-Earth. (-5000 EP)]
A mysterious force much superior to Qi moved in his body and changed his veins and his Spiritual roots in his Dantian. He felt his Qi move smoother and better as his grasp on it improved. He was more in tune with Qi and could control it a little better. Seeing the changes he entered the cultivation stage to see the changes there also. A minute passed...
[+25 EP]
'So I get 25 EP per minute now? It's worth it! Let's upgrade more...'
[Talent: Upgraded from Mid-Earth to High-Earth. (-10000 EP)]
He tried it...
[+50 EP]
[Talent: Upgraded from High-Earth to Peak-Earth. (-25000 EP)]
[+75 EP]
[Talent: Upgraded from Peak-Earth to Low-Heaven. (-50000 EP)]
[+100 EP]
He tried each level to see the difference and he was pleased.
'I didn't want to spend all my points but it's worth it since I can gain way more... By spending all 90000 EP my gain increased by 10 times. Is talent really that important? Someone with low-earth grade talent will cultivate 10 times slower than someone with low-heaven... It seems Wenhao's low talent may have had a hand in his tragic demise but I can't be sure before I thoroughly investigate. Let's cultivate till dawn and continue my journey then, this area is safe but we are gonna enter a dangerous forest tomorrow based on Lian Qiu's knowledge of the surroundings...'
As he entered cultivation state, a thought occurred to him, 'he was lost in a forest before so let's not trust him and just follow the river till I see that cliff...'
[+100 EP] [+100 EP] ...
The baby crocodile was tied tightly to a tree, tears fell from its eyes.
It thought, 'Ling Tian, you bastard, Just wait! I will bite your Dick off, AHH! I had a perfect life and I even found a sexy mature crocodile to mate with when I grew a bit bigger but you had to kill it! Ever since I saw you, my life has been misfortune after misfortune. This Emperor will make you pay!'
The sun rose as they both exited their Cultivation state and began walking along the river again. Ling Tian checked his points and seeing the 38000 points in his system put him in a good mood.
'It seems I have to upgrade talent all the way! hmm, I need 100,000 for the next upgrade, a bit expensive since I need the same amount for a breakthrough but it's fine, investing is also important since it equals the speed of my cultivation...'
They followed the path to a mountain range and climbed a mountain until the scenery was revealed. Ling Tian's eyes widened as he gazed at the scenery.
A humongous city with tall and big walls could be seen in the distance, in the middle of the city a great towered could be seen, it was at least a few miles high standing equal near the big mountains around and on its top, a massive lantern shone; its light illuminating a certain direction for a few dozen miles. The city's end couldn't be seen as it was massive, many buildings in many unique forms could be seen inside.
'At least 10 million people should be in there!'
He turned to look at the direction that the light was aimed at and saw a dead land; The trees had no leaves and the ground was barren and cracked, the ground's color a dark brown and black. He could see some active volcanoes in the distance, their ash, and smoke forming dark clouds that obscured the light of the sun.
What made his eyes widen, however, was a towering titan slowly walking away, it was miles tall and it held a sword the size of a small mountain in its hand. its body was made of black stone and covered in cracks, lava was beneath its skin that made the cracks shine a sinister red color. On its head, a pair of goat-like horns were visible, its eyes two pools of blazing fire. It wore black armor with spikes that only covered its lower parts and shoulders, leaving his upper body and legs visible.
It held the handle of the ginormous sword and dragged it behind him, leaving a new valley in its way. The sound of its movement didn't reach his ears strangely. He turned to look at Lian Qiu with confusion and shock.
Lian Qiu also looked at the being and answered grimly, "That is a Greater Demon. That land is the Devil Empire ruled by the Devil Emperor. That Greater Demon is a mere watchdog that keeps an eye out for possible attacks from us, its power is equal to a peak Heavenly Awakening Realm cultivator. The city here is a war city populated by Cultivators and soldiers of the Dao Empire. Its name is Holy Dao City and it's the center of the Dao Empire's force against the Devil Empire. You might be wondering why we don't hear the movement of that thing, well, it's because of the protective formation of the Empire. It was placed by many Immortal Ascension realm experts at the border of the Devil Empire and all the human Empires."
Hearing his explanation, he nodded.
'Existence of other races is expected but that thing is really huge... I wonder how strong a cultivator equal to it can be... I know above XianTian is the Inner Heaven Realm and after that, it is Heavenly Awakening realm; I heard him brag, during our conversation when climbing this mountain, that his father is a peak Divine Awakening realm expert so if that is the next realm then the realm after that would be Immortal Ascension... So It is like this; Body Refining or HouTian, Heavenly Transformation or XianTian, Inner Heaven, Heavenly Awakening, Divine Awakening, Immortal Ascension.'
Ling Tian thought about the points needed when he reached such high realms and looking at the 100000 points he needed at the moment.
He broke out in cold sweat, 'I don't even know the realms after those... I need to max out my talent!'
Lian Qiu pointed at the city, "We should ask there to see where this city you speak of is, on the other side of the holy Dao city is Xuan Empire, I am not looking forward to going into that particular land... I hope it's not there."
Ling Tian nodded, he turned to look at the river and saw it led to the mountains and disappeared among them, going around the city to reach the Xuan Empire.
"Okay, let's enter the city first!"