The terror of devouring nature's spiritual Qi far exceeded his imagination and it immediately brought him back to reality.
But he pushed through because he knew this amount of Qi could build a never-before-seen foundation. Such a stable foundation would guarantee a smoother and easier path of cultivation.
He knew that much since even in his past, and even though the cultivation energy and methods differed, the basics were all the same no matter the world.
Foundation was what mattered the most.
He couldn't count the people who wished to go back to their younger days and take their cultivation with much care and ease.
They regretted speeding up their training and not building a solid foundation slowly and steadily.
Even Yone wasn't different from them, which was one of the main reasons he was unable to get past the seventh realm back in his days, stuck like all the other old monsters, waiting for a fortuitous opportunity to change his life.
Time passed one second at a time for two long hours. as Yone gnashed his teeth and sweat poured from him like a river...
He only loosened his jaw on the eleventh hour, when the qi, and after roaming his body hundreds of times, gathered in his dantian and settled in the form of a red lake.
He slowly opened his eyes and released a long breath. The insects around him grew in number, indicating that night had already fallen.
"It's night? Ha-ha-ha, I didn't expect that entering the foundation establishment realm would take almost a whole day."
Yone shook his head and examined his body.
Bang!
A loud sound echoed and a rock next to him crumbled under his frail punch.
Yone nodded in satisfaction. The Qi he absorbed refined his body and improved it greatly. Based on his body strength alone, he could tell that he wasn't any weaker than a 3rd layer foundation establishment realm.
It should be known that he just started cultivating and all he did was step into the first realm, yet his strength could already rival the guard that spent decades in this realm.
It was simply unheard of for any cultivator around the Elinar kingdom to jump realms in strength from the memories he received.
His strength could only be described as heaven-defying for someone of his same realm.
Next, he proceeded to inspect his cultivation.
The look into his realm scared the living daylight out of him. His calm attitude was nowhere to be seen but was instead replaced by shock mixed with excitement.
His cultivation, which he thought was only at the 1st layer of the first realm, wasn't the case. Not only had his cultivation reached the 2nd layer of the first realm, but the purity of his Qi was a hundred times greater than that of the guard.
"Man, this Thousands-Arms cultivation technique is simply out of this world." Yone couldn't help smacking his lips, being secretly delighted.
Seeing that he had broken through to 2nd layer in half a day, a thought crossed his mind.
"What if I just enter seclusion right here and now and only go out when I hit a bottleneck?"
At first, his plan was to enter seclusion for a few months or years, depending on his speed. But that was before he knew his speed would be this heaven-defying.
He couldn't help but entertain the thought of staying inside this secret path for years until he hit a bottleneck.
In the next moment, with a solemn expression, he shook his head, "The idea is good, but for someone my age, the countless resources and benefits I would receive for displaying my talent in front of a sect far outweigh the benefits of cultivating in seclusion."
Not only that, from the memories Yone digested, he could tell that no one would ever enter seclusion for years unless in higher realms.
Which was only for a simple reason that many kids would look down upon the first time they heard it.
Experience!
Indeed!
The only reason cultivators in this world don't enter seclusion for extended periods, especially the youngsters between them is experience.
From what he saw, a cultivator who doesn't go out on missions to roam the world or visit different places to seek or obtain fortuitous encounters will grow much weaker than their peers.
The mental difference alone would triumph over the kids who had never had adventures before, not to mention the fighting experience and life-and-death situations that would further hone their skills.
Taking a deep breath, Yone calmed himself down once again.
He just recalled something and he couldn't help but ridicule his train of thought.
"Seclusion? And how will I be able to use this Amber Extraction System if I do that," Yone bitterly laughed," Just an amber was enough to help obtain some knowledge about a certain key lock formation and aid me a bit in my cultivation, much less high cultivators whose knowledge were beyond a mere guard."
Yone smiled as he imagined the harvests he would be gaining in the future.
Not to mention, without the guard's knowledge, he would have never been able to find this secret path and even comprehend how to step into the first realm.
Right then, Yone couldn't fathom how anyone would be able to compete with him in the future.
***
In the death of the night, even the moon's radiance was snuffed out by the black clouds. The colorful stars covering the sky as a blanket fail to display their brilliance to the world.
In a courtyard filled with trees and beautiful plants, an old man with a long white mustache could be seen sitting on a chair as he sipped some of his tea, his eyes locked into the clouds obscuring his vision from the stunning view of the night sky.
"I wish I could cover the entire Elinar Kingdom with my palm, exactly like these clouds." The old man muttered in expectation.
He then called out to the empty air behind him.
"Shadow,"
Right after, a silhouette clad in black appeared out of thin air, right behind the old man.
"Your orders master,"
"Did the guard finish his mission? And where did he bury the body,"
Daniel the head of stream village spoke like it was a matter of fact that the mission was completed, no trace of worry nor doubt shown in his tone.
"Master, about that..."