A white robed young man sat atop a tall pagoda watching the mortals below. He had deep black eyes like stars, fair skin, and long black hair fluttering in the wind, like a river in the night sky. He is Sheng Tian
It was snowing. Thick, white blankets covered the rooftops of various buildings though the cold was unable to affect him. He looked below him and saw regular mortals hanging out with families, exchanging gifts, and children running around having fun.
The wintery day didn't affect their mood and the air had a subtle warmth to it. Shen Tian smiled, such practices have pretty much disappeared from the cultivation world and the mood in the air is not easily replicated even by mighty immortals. Cultivators live on the edge, constant fighting, power struggles, and killing have made them more distant to others.
He thought about how if he didn't go to the sect, he would have spent his winters with his uncle and everyone else back at their village, though now it should be developing into a city.
His consciousness sensed fluctuations in the air and he turned his head. A rank 5 Snow Crane flew overhead. Atop it, were 2 women, one in light blue, one in red.
The one in blue looked like an aloof fairy that descended from the heavens with a cold face. The other wore a tight red dress that highlighted her curves and looked like a seductive demoness. Both were kingdom toppling level beauties and the 2 of them together radiated an allure that even Sheng Tian could not resist fully.
He stared and they stared back. It seems they both sensed that the other party was quite strong.
His master's voice spoke in his head "brat your luck with women isn't bad. Those 2 that just passed by both have rare constitutions. You see, back in the da-"
"You perverted old man. There shouldn't be any karma between us for we merely saw each other for a few moments" Sheng Tian retorted.
"Oh?" Wu Di said "No karma huh. Well maybe you missed the fact that the direction they are flying in is the Dark Lightning Valley. Perhaps when you go there you would see them. I have much more experience in these topics than you little boy. When you meet them once more they would probably say the words 'it's you?'"
Sheng Tian shook his head at his master's absurd words and stopped paying attention to him. If Wu Di's words are correct then he would act smug for a few days and annoy him to death.
He stood and leaped forward, his surroundings becoming a blur. Dark Lightning Valley is where he had to go to complete his sect mission. Supposedly it's also a burial ground for an expert though that has never been confirmed.
As he drew closer, he could see towering dark forests on the outskirts of the valley and a massive mountain range towered overhead.
The xiantian dao stone he bought happens to contain the dao of lightning. Within the Dark Lightning Valley his comprehension rate would skyrocket and once he swallows the dao seed it will form a law seed in his dantian and he would be able to wield the lightning he comprehended without any restrictions.
Sheng Tian's essence cultivation has reached the first level of mind tempering and his body and soul has both reached the 13th level of the 7th rank. He found that if he could not break through with his dantian then his core would not advance as well and the same goes for everything else.
His arm suddenly moved and his sword cut through a large spider the size of a fist. Just the outskirts of the Dark Lightning Valley is a danger zone that has claimed many lives but with his superior consciousness and mixed-blood status, it seemed like a walk in the park for him.
Sheng Tian withdrew his sword and the blood of the spider was sucked into the sword. This was the same sword he found a decade ago. Its name is Descending Dragon and Rising Phoenix Devouring Sword though he found it to be too long and decided to simply call it the Devouring Sword. During the 10 years he spent in the sect, Sheng Tian experimented with the sword and found that it can absorb the blood of magical beasts and its aura would grow stronger. Furthermore, he saw countless seals engraved on the blade of the sword and noticed one of them had cracks on it. This led him to believe that the sword can grow stronger by absorbing powerful beast blood.
"Activate your All Seeing Eyes so you can find beasts with high quality neidans and cores" Wu Di said.
Sheng Tian did so and to his surprise he could see countless auras and spots of light that symbolized a living thing. He didn't hesitate to rush towards the brighter lights, killing any magical beasts that dared to stop him and occasionally picking a few herbs.
Only two swift strikes were needed to kill a magical beast and extract its neidan and core. A normal beast would have a neidan which indicates its age though it would need great luck to condense a core. A core greatly increases the beasts qi reserves and strength and is divided into 9 ranks. Sheng Tian only took neidans over 500 years of age and cores above the 4th rank.
His spatial ring now contained several dozens of neidans that are at least 500 years old and a few dozen cores. If this information was leaked then every sect would send its core experts to extract his techniques, after all, even the lowest level cores are quite rare and would still go for a few spirit stones. Sheng Tian's ability to see them could earn him tons of wealth.
After a few hours of a one sided slaughter in the outskirts, Sheng Tian decided to enter the actual danger zone and hunt the rank 5 Lighting Panthers needed for his mission as well as see what lies in the deepest parts of the valley.