Qin Hao wanted to fall to his knees but he managed to hold out, he realized he had actually been grandstanding in front of people above the Foundation Establishment level.
Feng Zhiming smirked, he overheard the conversation and figured out Qin Hao was actually trying to impress Zhu Li, he was feeling generous today so he decided to help him out.
After all when it came to women he was an expert, a self proclaimed expert.
"Little brother Qin, you remember me? We met at the sect gathering over at the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect, come talk to me over there."
Feng Zhiming put his arm around Qin Hao's neck as if they were old friends.
"I-" he tried to correct Feng Zhiming but was cut off.
"Nonsense, don't you remember when the matriarch praised your cultivation talent, I suspect being a Spiritual Awakener lies in your future. Speaking of which, some of the sisters in the sect are still waiting for you to reply to being their Dao companion."
He managed to drag Qin Hao away from Zhu Li and around the corner into an alley with a dead end.
"Senior, forgive me but I really don't remember you." Qin Hao said while kneeling and cupping his hands.
"Relax, I just helped you save face in front of you junior sister." Feng Zhiming waved his hand dismissively.
Qin Hao looked at him with a gaze of respect, this man was a true man among men.
Meanwhile, Zhu Li awkwardly stood beside Anissa, Anissa had almost no idea of how to make small talk, and Zhu Li felt intimidated standing next to someone so powerful.
"Please command this little brother he will do anything." Qin Hao felt that Feng Zhiming was a great person and really wanted to help him.
Feng Zhiming smiled, these were the type of people he loved running into, people who wore their heart on their sleeves were the easiest to read.
"Truthfully I am a disciple of the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect, I've come here with a mission from the second elder and need to speak with your sect leader."
Qin Hao gulped, the second elder of the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect actually personally sent a mission over here, a person who could command one of the strongest forces on the continent had actually sent a personal request over.
"Please allow me to escort you to the sect Senior brother." he replied enthusiastically.
…
A few days after the prior conversation Feng Zhiming was sitting at a campfire in the middle of a desert staring into the flame.
His eyes were getting lost in the chaos of the fire, chaos that beckoned him. It only burned, it did not care that it burned, it merely burned.
"If the fire burned something it was not evil, it was merely a fire burning. Yet people would demonize the flame." Feng Zhiming thought to himself, he had always found himself thinking about questions like this that had no answer.
A bad habit he had picked up from a fake cultivation manual, he retrieved it from his storage ring.
"Of Qi and of Quanta, by Zhishi Wu." he spoke to himself as he gazed upon the book, it was torn in various places and had no cover art, just the words.
Long ago he had stolen it, he was a child desperate to cultivate so he stole this book, unfortunately for him it was merely a book that didn't teach him anything about cultivation.
Just the ramblings of a man named Zhishi Wu, these ramblings had taught him all he knew about life and living, of philosophies and faiths, of people and of power. It had taught him what cultivators were and what it meant to be human.
He did not learn how to live because of the manual but he did learn what living was.
He shook his head and placed the book back in his storage ring, it was not time to reminisce about days gone.
Over the past few day it had been revealed that the Wildlands are not only extremely hot during the day to cultivators but also extremely cold at night.
Feng Zhiming and Anissa were nearly unaffected due to their high cultivation and spiritually inscribed robes but the two teenagers they traveled with really needed the flame.
"I really dislike this travel arrangement." Anissa sent a mental transmission over to Feng Zhiming.
Feng Zhiming ignored the message, it was like watching an introverted child being forced to socialize.
The entire time they had been traveling Anissa spoke one or two words, and the two children barely spoke to her. How would two Qi condensation cultivators dare to speak to someone so powerful without permission first.
"What do you think of the situation with the Sect?" Feng Zhiming sent a mental transmission back to Anissa, who was now slowly roasting sausages over the fire, it seemed like Feng Zhiming's foody side was affecting her.
He had learned From Qin Hao, the sect had a leader and two elders, the leader was at the condensed stage of spiritual awakening and the two elders were at the Quasi spiritual awakening stage.
"The Flowing river sect should be similar in strength, if a war does occur it's a complete victory since we're assisting the Hiding Demon Sect." she replied via mental transmission while focusing on roasting the sausage perfectly.
Feng Zhiming agreed with that notion and the deliberation ended.
Anissa ate her sausage while Feng Zhiming looked up at the moon, or more accurately a moon with an asteroid belt around it.
He stood up before walking up a small hill of sand, trying to get a better view of the moon, it was very different from the one in his home world.
This was living, the brush of wind, the luminosity of the moon, the darkness of the night, the presence of uncertainty, human interaction and even the coarse sand beneath his feet.
He realized that he could not hold back his breakthrough anymore, he had been suppressing it since arriving to this world but now it was overflowing.
"This was what he meant, to be alive." he said quietly as he took a deep breath in, his Ethereal Core which had been hazy like a cloud now condensed into solid a medium sized bead, signifying his breakthrough.
It glowed like a small sun, however it was not purely a glowing orb, it also had minuscule black dots scattered around it.
"Congratulations." Anissa arrived beside him quickly after noticing his breakthrough.
Feng Zhiming felt himself getting closer and closer to some sort of great breakthrough, but at the same time the closer he came to Spiritual Awakening the more he felt like something was changing inside him.
"If you were walking down a path and didn't know what the ending would be, what would you do?"
He asked Anissa while holding his hands behind his back, deep in thought.
"I would walk the path regardless, my father often told me, a path not traveled is a path that could go beyond any other."
She replied with no hesitation.
"The conviction of a swordsman, I suppose." Feng Zhiming nodded as he spoke.
[Assembly wide announcement to all Ethereal Core Participants]
[The Creature of the Wildlands is a worthy opponent, No one has managed to hunt it yet. The quality of the reward has been raised.]
[The reward has been determined to be ….]