"Wake up."

"Heerrrrrrrrn"

"Wake up."

"Mmmmhmmm"

*sigh* "I leave this to you, he's drifting again."

Illus, semi-conscious heard these words in his groggy state, but before he could register them...

"Roooaaaaaaaaaaaar!"

"Ahhhh! Fuck!"

Illus bolted upward, only to come face to face with the perpetrator of his rude awakening, a massive bear. The bear stood on all four's and emitted a fearsome aura that would frighten any rational being. In that brief moment his eyes held panic, but as he registered his surroundings the panic vanished and was replaced by a dull sheen. His aura, once scratchy and tense as he opened his eyes, was replaced by laziness and carefree as he closed them yet again, unconsciously relaxing the beings that stood nearby.

Mae, the woman who had instructed the bear to give Illus the rude awakening, smiled. Though one who didn't know Illus would assume he was going back to sleep, she knew better. Illus rarely opened his eyes, claiming he couldn't be bothered, and it had reached a point where it made people uncomfortable when he opened his eyes, so he generally kept them closed. It didn't matter either way, Illus had incredibly good senses, on par or even better than some Spirit Beasts and had various techniques to perceive his surroundings.

Illus, who was sitting on the grass, turned his head towards the bear that stood in front of him. The spirit beast was fearsome, with a cultivation of 4th level Practitioner, that would frighten even the inner disciples of the Heavenly sect, but Illus didn't seem to care. A lazy smile spread across his face.

"Do you mind? I was cultivating?"

The bear just snorted. As a spirit beast he had intelligence similar to a human and though they couldn't communicate with words because the bear couldn't speak, the bear understood what Illus was saying. They both knew Illus didn't care.

Mae giggled and smiled, emitting a motherly aura. She stood off to the side, barefoot and her eyes reflected her almost overflowing mother-esque love. Mae had actually never had children, but she had raised many in her lifetime and though Illus wasn't her child in any sense, she had come to view him in a similar light over the past almost 6 months they had known each other.

"You really don't care for tradition, do you?" the kitsune commented.

Mae, stood in loose robes, with grass green flowing hair, and sky blue eyes. She had a large chest and wasn't vary tall, making her into the epitome of a nature milf. Behind her 9 fluffy tails swayed. Her fox ears perked up as her smile widened as Illus's reaction to her question.

Scrunching his closed eyes and rubbing his face on his head as if to wipe away the drowsiness, Illus shrugged.

"Tradition is for people with pride, I couldn't care less. Personally, I don't think you should either."

"Tell that to every cultivator ever."

"Nah, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, my only qualm is that they don't seem to understand that concept."

What Mae and Illus were referring too was Illus's unique way of cultivating. Tradition dictates the lotus position is required for cultivating, but Illus couldn't be bothered. It wasn't less efficient to cultivate laying down like he was sleeping so he just did that and basically combined the two. That was the reason he was so drowsy, for him sleeping and cultivating were indistinguishable and one of the few things he found pleasurable.

"Well, I would have let you 'sleep' the day away, but it's time." Mae commented.

"Damn, it's been 3 days already."

Contrary to his words, Mae could see the joy on his face. Illus loved losing track of time. It could be said his passion and reason for cultivating. Being able to 'sleep' forever, get stronger by doing it, and increase his lifespan meanwhile. Fucking deal. Ever since he had discovered about cultivating back in his mortal town, he couldn't wait to get started. His only worry was everyone else.

Behind Illus the bear nodded his head, confirming the information. Though Illus wasn't even facing the bear anymore, both Mae and Ost, the bear, knew Illus was aware.

Illus stood, facing Mae and nodded his head.

"Can I touch your tails."

Mae giggled and pointed into the distance towards Illus's appointment.

"Fuck no."

"Okay."

Illus stoically replied. This was something Mae appreciated about Illus. She wasn't sure about the human when he had first showed up in the valley 6 months ago, but over time she got a good view of his personality. Like every human she had met, he had wanted to touch her tails, but he never did so without asking permission and would never touch them if she said no. She knew that if she asked him to never ask her again, he would. He had respect for the opinion of others, a rarity in the cultivation world.

Illus left in the direction of Mae's finger. He already knew where he was supposed to go just based on his senses so it really didn't matter either way. Today was a good day, all things considered. Although Illus would prefer to be cultivating as he had done almost every second of every day for the past six months, even breaking through to 5th level Practitioner, at least he was spending this time lessening his worries. Illus did not like stress.

Illus walked through the woods, he was currently on the outer layer of the Depths walking further in. As he left the valley, the spirit energy lessened greatly. The valley was a bit unique and had a tendency to attract dangerous spirit beasts seeking to take over and increase their cultivation. It was the responsibility of spirit beasts like Ost who lived their peacefully to defend that area. Combined with the stealth provided by the spirit beasts Illus was going to meet with now, keeping the valley hidden from cultivators, normally they didn't have to worry.

However, every once in a while, a spirit beast would rampage in the outer layer of the Depths. Ost couldn't deal with it as he was stuck defending the borders of the valley, so they had to hunt them or strong cultivators would come to the Depths and most likely notice the valley. Originally, it was just the shadow cats hunting them, but Illus was asked to participate recently. This was because Illus only recently got strong. He had only recently started cultivating 6 months ago. Fortunately, he had decent talent and was cultivating almost nonstop in an area dense with energy. Not inclined to get noticed by the sect or lose his sleeping spot, Illus agreed.

Little did he know that this would cause his destiny to change and that, for better or worse, he would not be getting much sleep.