As Li Wen stepped out of the underground chamber, his mind still processed the knowledge he had gained from the books. He emerged into the cool evening air, the dim light of the setting sun casting long shadows across the stone-built village.
Ursala stood nearby as if waiting for him. Seeing him emerge, she approached.
"Lord Li Wen, have you finished your reading?" she asked.
Li Wen nodded. "Prepare a room for me," he instructed.
Before Ursala could respond, a group of humans walked toward them. It was Wei Xuan and the others, their expressions filled with anticipation.
Wei Xuan took a step forward. "Lord Li Wen, we have a request."
Li Wen crossed his arms. "Speak."
Wei Xuan hesitated before continuing, "We need an escort to the Evil Lake. There, we hope to obtain a Bitter White Lotus."
Li Wen was about to refuse outright—he had no interest in helping humans on meaningless errands. However, before he could open his mouth, Ursala spoke up.
"Lord Li Wen, the Evil Lake is home to ferocious water beasts."
Li Wen's gaze flickered.
Ferocious beasts?
Earlier, when he had inquired about the locations of strong beasts, Ursala had mentioned them but never specified where. Now that he knew there were powerful creatures in the Evil Lake, this changed everything.
His priorities shifted instantly.
Instead of rejecting the humans, Li Wen nodded. "Fine. We leave at dawn tomorrow."
The humans exchanged glances, relief washing over their faces.
With the discussion settled, Li Wen turned back to Ursala. "Take me to my room."
She led him through the village, eventually stopping at a stone house. The interior was simple, yet sturdy and practical, much like the rest of the tribe's architecture.
Li Wen entered and, without another word, closed the door behind him.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, his thoughts turned inward.
"A cultivation method..."
Now that he had read the Barbarian Tribe's techniques, he needed to create his unique path—one that would allow him to refine and control his plague energy more efficiently.
His eyes gleamed in the dim candlelight.
"If I can perfect this, my power will reach even greater heights."
Li Wen sat in deep contemplation, his fingers lightly tapping against his knee as he meditated on the nature of his existence.
Unlike humans or the Stone Barbarians, demons did not possess flesh and blood bodies. They were beings of pure energy, their forms held together by their demon source—the very core of their existence.
Cultivating the demon's body was a complex matter.
It wasn't as simple as refining flesh and strengthening bones like humans did. The body of a demon was intrinsically tied to the demon source, and to improve one, he had to cultivate the other simultaneously. But demon sources could not be tempered through physical means; they could only be strengthened by comprehending the laws of the world.
That part, at least, he had already been doing—his grasp over the Plague Law had steadily increased.
That left him with only one other aspect to refine: his spirit.
The spirit was the key.
For that, he had to create a new cultivation method that focused on the spirit because the alchemist cultivation method that cultivated the spirit failed.
In the past, he had attempted to cultivate it through the methods of the other three worlds, but he had failed every time.
When he had first arrived in this world, he had tried the cultivation methods of three different realms: The Radiation World, The Star Immortal World, and The Alchemist World.
Yet, not a single one had worked for him.
That meant only one thing.
If no existing cultivation method could strengthen his spirit, then he would have to create one himself.
A method solely focused on fortifying the spirit.
As he delved deeper into thought, an idea began to take shape in his mind. His golden eyes flickered with intrigue.
"Let's see if this works."
Closing his eyes, he sank into deep meditation, his consciousness slipping into the depths of his spiritual space.
Inside, his awareness sharpened, observing the ebb and flow of spiritual thoughts—each one rising and fading like ripples in a vast ocean. Instead of letting them scatter aimlessly, he began gathering them, drawing in the fleeting, unfocused fragments of his mind.
Slowly, he pulled them together, concentrating them into a single point—a core of pure thought, undisturbed and unwavering.
Time lost its meaning.
For how long he remained in this state, he did not know.
A sudden knock on the door shattered the silence, pulling him back to reality.
Knock. Knock.
His eyes snapped open.
"Who?" he called out, his voice slightly hoarse from prolonged meditation.
Wei Xuan's voice came again from outside the door.
"I am Wei Xuan. Lord, you said to come to you at dawn."
Li Wen's gaze remained distant, still immersed in thought. "Wait for half an hour." He did not bother listening for a response.
Closing his eyes once more, he re-entered his spiritual space. His attention shifted to the dust-like pebble formed from his gathered distracting thoughts. Unlike fleeting thoughts that appeared and vanished in moments, this tiny cluster remained, held together by his spiritual power.
Yet, it was not enough.
If his method was to progress, these scattered thoughts needed to sustain themselves, merging into something greater—a seed. To achieve that, he required more thoughts, more fragments of awareness that would naturally arise over time.
For now, this was all he could do.
Li Wen exhaled lightly and stood from the bed, still maintaining the collection of his thoughts in his spiritual space. With effortless grace, he pushed open the door and stepped outside.
The humans were waiting.
His sharp gaze swept over them, evaluating their strength. He estimated it would take two days to reach the Evil Lake if he traveled with them. Too slow. He preferred efficiency.
"Which direction is the Evil Lake?" he asked.
One of the human girls immediately took out a map and unfolded it before him.
Li Wen's eyes flickered as he studied the map.
"I will go first and wait outside the lake," he announced.
Without waiting for a response, his form dissolved into demon energy, transforming into a dark, ethereal mist. The wind carried him eastward, vanishing into the morning light.
By nightfall, he reformed into his human shape, settling on a thick tree branch, his back resting against the sturdy trunk. From his vantage point, he could see the Evil Lake below—its dark waters still and eerie, tangled with strange water plants. A dense mist of dark energy hovered over the surface, spreading an oppressive aura across the landscape.
Li Wen closed his eyes and resumed his practice.
When he opened them again, it was already noon the next day.
Within his spiritual space, the gathered distracting thoughts had grown, condensing into a large seed, yet it still relied on his spiritual power to remain stable. The thoughts had gathered together, but they had yet to merge into a true, independent entity.
Focusing on his will, he began applying pressure to the seed, compressing it from all sides. The strain built up until, suddenly, the fragmented thoughts fused, forming a brilliantly shining core within his spiritual space.
Yet, it was still bound to him by his spiritual power.
Li Wen frowned. "But is there any living thing that can sustain itself without external energy?"
Curious, he decided to test its independence. He carefully extracted the thought seed from his spiritual space. Though now outside of him, it remained tethered to his spiritual power.
Experimenting further, he let go, allowing the thought seed to drift downward like a weightless ember, sinking into a nearby stone.
The moment it merged with the stone, his spiritual thoughts instinctively began analyzing its structure.
With his spiritual energy currently at only the 1st level, his ability to cultivate his spirit was severely limited. At this level, most living beings' cultivation would halt at the mortal realm, with only a handful of geniuses managing to advance to the Enlightened Realm—and even they required massive resources to do so.
But Li Wen had no such resources now for spiritual cultivation.
This left him with only one viable path—to cultivate his spirit through comprehending the rules of the world.
However, his understanding was hindered by his plague law, which made it difficult to grasp other laws. So, instead of trying to comprehend an entirely new rule, he decided to analyze the material world itself.
The rules of existence were everywhere—woven into the smallest speck of dust, the vast oceans, the thunder in the sky, and even within the bodies of living beings. If he could understand the fundamental structure of matter, he might gain insight into the underlying order of the world.
And so, he resumed his experiment with the stone.
As he focused on analyzing its structure, faint voices reached his ears—humans speaking, their tone carrying exhaustion and relief.
A few hours before noon, he opened his eyes, leaped down from the tree, and picked up the stone containing his thought seed. He walked toward the voices, soon finding the group of humans. Their clothes were covered in dust and dirt, their bodies marred by bruises and cuts. Yet, despite their battered state, none had died.
Upon seeing him, the group halted.
Li Wen's gaze swept over them as he asked, "What happened?"
Wei Xuan sighed, "We were attacked by ferocious beasts."
Wei Hong added quickly, "Thank the heavens they weren't in the Source Realm—only the Enlightenment Realm."
Li Wen's expression remained indifferent. "Where the Bitter White Lotus can be found in the lake?"
Zhu Pan gestured toward the Evil Lake, explaining, "There's an island in the middle of the lake. A pond on that island is where the Bitter White Lotus grows."
Li Wen turned his gaze toward the lake, its waters shrouded in dark energy, making it impossible to see through the mist. Finding the island through ordinary means would be nearly impossible.
"We'll have to build a boat," he stated.
Zhu Pan nodded. "After we rest, we'll start working on it."
Li Wen added, "Make the bottom thick enough to withstand damage."
Zhu Pan nodded once more.
Without another word, Li Wen leaped back onto a tree branch, seated himself comfortably, and spoke in an even tone, "Call me when you're ready."
Closing his eyes, Li Wen once again immersed himself in analyzing the structure of the stone, resuming his spiritual cultivation experiment.
Nearby, Zhu Pan and the others were resting, their gazes occasionally drifting toward Li Wen as he practiced in silence.
Zhu Pan mused aloud, "I don't think God Lords practice like that."
Li Wen took every opportunity to cultivate—an unusual sight, even among the most dedicated practitioners.
Fang Xin nodded. "True. I've only seen newly ascended God Lords train with such intensity. But seeing this from an Innate Lord… that's rare."
Wei Xuan turned to him, curiosity in his voice. "How can you tell the difference between Innate and Acquired Lords?"
Zhu Pan answered thoughtfully, "It's in the way they carry themselves—their dignity. Innate beings never see acquired beings as their equals."
Fang Xin and Zhou Yi nodded in agreement.
Wei Hong, stretching his sore muscles, spoke up. "Brother Fang Xin, take out the body of the ferocious beast. Let's eat something before we start working again."
Fang Xin activated his space seal, and the corpse of a massive wolf appeared before them.
From his perch in the tree, Li Wen heard their conversation. His expression remained calm, but inwardly, he acknowledged that Zhu Pan was right—Innate beings rarely saw Acquired beings as their equals. He was no exception.
Before he had taken over this body, the previous Li Wen had been the same. He had treated Zhen Yuan Zi, his lover, not as an equal, but more like a cherished pet.
Even now, he understood why—Zhen Yuan Zi's life was but a fleeting moment in his immortal lifespan. No matter how much time they spent together, in the grand scheme of eternity, she would fade away.
Subconsciously, he had always kept his distance from her, maintaining a boundary that neither of them had ever truly crossed.