Chapter 5 Windfall

At one time, Evan did what Austin said, without hesitation.

And even though Evan was eager to stay and chat with Austin, he knew Austin wanted to resume cultivating.

So, in the end, Evan left the hut, giving Austin his privacy.

Austin silently prayed, 'God, grant me your blessing that I may still have a little vital energy.'

Then, he sat with his legs crossed, on the bed, and put his hands in front of him closer to his elixir field, palms facing but not touching each other. He closed eyes, quieted his mind as he prepared for his meditation.

A short time went by and suddenly, Austin felt an itch in his energy meridians, as though millions of ants were in there, crawling.

Convulsive shudders racked Austin, before the vital energy flowed through his body like before.

Austin felt he was lucky. At least he could feel the vital energy coursing through him, and that meant he'd be able to cultivate again. He sighed loudly, relieved.

As Austin felt the vital energy flowing within, he could tell from the richness that he had reached the second level in the Energy Gathering Realm.

Over the last three years, his level had fallen from the ninth to the second level within the Energy Gathering Realm.

A wry smile crept along Austin's mouth.

He didn't know if there was enough time to get back up to his original cultivation level before his enemies laid hands on him again.

After spending three days in a coma, every minute was precious to Austin, and that motivated him to get out of bed.

So, he'd begun cultivating, right away.

Before the coma, Austin had been practicing the Purple Yang Formula, which was a basic refinement method of the Sun Sect.

It was a refining technique to produce a relatively masculine energy.

Austin didn't just memorize the words for the Purple Yang Formula, but he also understood its spirit.

After that, he began practicing the technique.

As Austin's vital energy coursed through his body, it pulled in nature vital energy.

The amassing vital energy permeated Austin's body slowly, through his acupoints.

As the vital energy filled him, Austin became relaxed and comfortable and felt as though fresh spring air was reinvigorating him.

So much vital energy penetrated his body that it felt like his energy meridians would burst if they expanded further.

Based on his previous experiences, Austin knew this was a sign that he was making a breakthrough.

Because Austin had reached the ninth level in the Energy Gathering Realm once already, achieving the next level was easy enough for him, or so he thought.

After two hours of meditation, Austin's energy meridians had enlarged, opening fully.

Nevertheless, the breakthrough Austin longed for, hadn't happened, and the vital energy he'd been absorbing from his surroundings slowed dramatically.

Austin knew the vital energy absorption amount was at a crisis level.

Before going any further, he needed to refine the vital energy he'd already absorbed, and then he'd have room to integrate more vital energy.

The importance of practicing the Purple Yang Formula was in the steady, gradual building that ensured a solid foundation.

Austin discovered his strength was back to normal when he stopped his workout session to check his vitals.

Anyone with vital energy was much stronger, physically than an ordinary person.

Since he was at the second level in the Energy Gathering Realm, Austin could easily defeat six or seven men who were average and not vital energy refiners.

Jumping up from the bed, Austin shook out hands, and kicked his legs before he did some toe touches.

After doing a series of warm-up exercises that he knew, Austin felt satisfied that he was recovering quickly.

'Eh?' A rush came over Austin as his mind opened, and he attained a profound awareness of his surroundings.

More than that, Austin realized he could perceive everything that was in a six-hundred-foot radius, from the wildlife, to the plant life, insects and more.

He sensed birds as they landed on the ground, the wind racing over the grass and the throngs of ants as they fought in the bushes.

He was even able to feel the disciples that were passing his hut, as if he could see them with his eyes.

After reaching this deep meditative level of consciousness, it took Austin a while to return to his normal state.

'What's going on?' wondered Austin, 'Isn't my mind back to normal yet? Was I hallucinating just now?'

He started to feel panic welling in him and closed his eyes to see if he felt it again. After doing this for a while, Austin jumped up and rushed outside to look around.

After comparing what he saw outside with what he had sensed, Austin knew it hadn't been a hallucination!

'Am I.... unleashing a spiritual sense?' the incredible thought flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, he remembered what his refinement mentor had told him once. If a person reached the Mysterious Realm, that person would own the Soul Sea.

And he'd possess a special ability, a spiritual power of sensing. While unleashing this spiritual sense, he would be able to perceive his surroundings.

In this state, one could perceive everything, even with their eyes closed.

He recalled that it would be as if the person were omnipresent, able to see and feel everything, all at the same time.

Unleashing this spiritual sense was a characteristic all cultivators at the Mysterious Realm shared!

But, Austin was still so far from reaching the Mysterious Realm!?

Within the entire Sun Sect, it was rumored that only the sect leader had achieved the level of Mysterious Realm.

Even the sect elders as powerful as they were, merely refined at the Earth Realm.

And Austin was only in the second level of the Energy Gathering Realm!

He was still

far from refining at the Earth Realm level, let alone the Mysterious Realm.

He thought, 'Is this all a delusion? Am I still struggling to recover?'

Unable to explain how he could unleash the spiritual sense, Austin was perplexed and he rubbed his throbbing temples.

In the midst of his confusion, Austin decided to close his eyes again and carefully assess what he experienced.

Immediately, Austin was feeling everything that was happening two hundred meters away.

He felt a bird jumping up and down on a branch in a tree behind the hut, as it hunted insects.

And he could feel a grunt disciple walking past carrying his heavy load of fresh-picked cabbages on his way to the pantry grumbling, "What an ass Cohn Zhang is! Just because his brother is an outer disciple, doesn't give him the right to bully me all the time. Oh my God! Why should I be doing this damned menial chore anyway?"

Austin knew right away that it was Tim Liu, who was the lowly disciple, and that he was bullied frequently by others.

There was no longer any doubt in Austin's mind. He knew that he had gained the spiritual sense ability.

This exciting discovery was a momentous occasion.

His face and neck both became hot, and he was dizzy with excitement, like a poor, beggar who had gone without food for days and was suddenly facing a sumptuous feast.

In his excitement, the scene Austin had seen where the ten large lightning balls that devoured eight smaller ones, popped into his mind.

It was believed that every human soul could be divided into multiple categories. There were three spiritual and seven animal parts to each soul. Austin wondered whether or not those ten lightning balls could be pieces of his soul, and the smaller eight had been part of the original Austin in the Prime Martial World.

Now, since there were only eight in total at the time, Austin guessed the original Austin had developed dementia when he lost two parts of his soul.

And when the ten bigger balls swallowed the eight little ones, perhaps that was Austin gaining eight more than the average person.

That made his soul power much stronger than others and enabled him to project his spiritual sense out of his body.

After pondering the idea for a while, Austin felt reasonably sure he had discerned the reason.

This special ability basically gave Austin a second set of eyes.

There was no doubt Austin could reap tremendous benefits in battles, and he anticipated that he would be able to comprehend and improve his refining, quickly.

After the initial joy over his newfound abilities dissipated, Austin became dissatisfied with his refinement level. Only the second level of the Energy Gathering Realm!

Austin believed this cultivation level was simply too low!

Vital energy levels were a cultivator basic tool, so, Austin had to produce a lot more vital energy, and soon!

Over two days, Austin was immersed in practicing the Purple Yang Formula and Evan sent meals regularly to the hut.

Since Austin felt like he was close to a breakthrough in his cultivation level, he did his best to seize this opportunity.

The next evening while he was practicing, Austin felt like he was absorbing the vital energy from the surrounding area faster.

And his energy meridians were expanding at a significantly quicker pace.

From the moment he understood his perceptions, he could sense even the slightest cracks from his body.

Finally, he heard a dull sound, and his energy meridians capacity doubled.

The vital energy surrounding him streamed into all three hundred and sixty acupoints simultaneously. The sensation was intoxicating.

'Yes! I have it!' thought Austin.

It took a while, however, when all his energy meridians were full of vital energy, and the absorption speed slowed.

Austin directed the vital energy to run through his body for a while to consolidate the realm he reached, and then he stopped.

When he opened his eyes, Austin felt relaxed and flexible.

He checked his state and was sure that he was at the third level of the Energy Gathering Realm!

He beamed with a satisfied smile.

He was thrilled with the progress two days of practicing hard brought him.

And it seemed that he remained a talented refiner.

Considering his amazing cultivation speed, it looked like Austin would be back at the ninth level of the Energy Gathering Realm, very soon.

Austin swelled with confidence.

Austin had fallen into a state of unconsciousness for three days, and then he worked on his refining abilities for two days.

It dawned on Austin that he hadn't left the hut in five days.

So, Austin decided to go for a walk. It was a bright night with the moon shining above as he stepped across the threshold and a breath of fresh air rushed up into his nostrils.

Millions of stars filled the night sky, and while Austin was wandering under the moonlight, his thin body cast a long shadow over the ground.

Grunt disciples usually shared a house with four people. When Austin contracted dementia and was sent to live with other grunt disciples, no one wanted to live with him. Thus, he had to live in the abandoned hut.

Austin went by a house and his spiritual sense enveloped it, and in his mind's eye, Austin saw Evan sleeping on a bed. He saw Evan snoring and drooling out of the corner of his slightly parted lips. An old quilt was on the ground beside the bed.

Austin felt Evan's sleeping position was funny.

Evan suddenly turned over and muttered, "Austin, you finally recover. I'm so happy." Then Austin heard Evan's snoring get deeper.

Austin was very moved. Three years ago, during his illness, Evan had been looking after him. As one proverb went — a friend in need is a friend indeed. Austin swore he and Evan would be great buddies forever.