7 The Hidden bitterness

Sheng Tian was gazing at the water's reflection of the setting sun. The clear water in the stream is pristine and pure, unlike the polluted earth's water. Sheng Tian couldn't help but feel closer to nature and its marvellous creations.

As he raised his head, all he could see was mountains and mountains. The fresh streams in the landscape flourished the lands and the greenery of the ground bloomed creating a stunning vista.

Sheng Tian was not sure if he was being overly aesthetic, but he enjoyed watching the Sunset on the banks of the stream, eating some grilled fish and having a walk on the grass barefoot, sleeping under the blanket of stars in open grassland.

He loved every second of it. It's the closest he ever felt to the World and himself.

Thankfully, he spent his night in the safe region where there were no profound beasts. As the sun rose, he entered the prohibited land.

From here on, the beasts were no longer natural beasts, they were profound beasts, a creature which stepped on the path of cultivation, just like a cultivator.

The strength of a profound beast, in general, is higher than a human cultivator in the same realm.

As Sheng Tian entered the circle of mountain ranges, he saw a long stream flowing from a Snow Mountain. It reached all the way till the prohibited land and split into many smaller streams.

The tall green trees filled the area with a rich atmosphere, with the plants, flowers, and herbs growing in abundance.

The green grass on the land seems to be endless, swaying with the wind.

Sheng Tian stepped onto the green grass and wanted to have a selfie if he could. Alas, his thoughts train broke and he swiftlyjumped to the side.

*Hiss*

With a sharp hissing, a green light flashed at the place Sheng Tian just stood.

Sheng Tian got up and saw the creature- Profound Green Viper. A snake which has terrifying poison that can kill the cultivators at the same realm in a few breaths.

The snake was at least half meter long, with green scales. Its pointed tail had a green crystal. The crystal had a very faint yet fatal green glow.

Sheng Tian cursed his luck. This snake is at the 6th level of the Foundation Realm. It should have been easy, but he had no idea how to fight a snake, unlike a Human. The main problem was not its speed, but its agility.

The Profound Green Viper hissed and shot at Sheng Tian as it spat out a dark green venom at his eyes.

Sheng Tian ducked and brandished the sword.

Immediately, he slashed at the snake's head.

*Ssss* the snake nimbly moved it's head and dodged the attack while its tail pierced at Sheng Tian's crotch.

"Fuck. Even a Snake is so vicious." He cursed out loud after a narrow escape.

'This is so nostalgic.' He thought back to how he burst the Young Man's balls in the forest.

Perhaps, this was Karma, no?

He chuckled and threw many small, yet sharp stones at the snake.

The snake's agility was pushed to the limits.

The stone rain drowned it and its prowess in agility was of little help.

The Snake's scales were pierced through and its green blood started dripping out from the wounds.

Its eyes narrowed into sharp slits and its body was suddenly filled with profound energy. It bared its fangs and shot at his heart.

Sheng Tian twisted his body to the right and dodged the snake's bite, catching it by the tail.

The snake chuckled and instantly turned around to bite him.

It thought 'hehe, ignorant human. You don't know that you should not catch a Snake by its tail. Now, die under this Snake Aunt's fangs.'

It turned around with open fangs and almost bit his crotch. However, it felt its fangs coming into contact with something very hard.

The Snake thought 'What the fuck? This guy's rod is so hard! And why is he hard when he is fighting a snake?

This guy's snake is not into snakes, right?

I would rather die than violated by a human!'

The next second, its fangs were broken into pieces by the same sharp, hard object.

'Fuck! This guy's rod is insane! Just what did he see in me to get such a hard on?

You beastial pervert! This Aunt Snake shall fight it out with you.'

The Snake pitifully cried and looked at the Young Man's eyes whose eyes now had a wicked expression.

The Snake saw a sword in its mouth.

It almost cried out pitifully 'You Human bastard! I shall kill you and save my snake sisters! Don't try your tricks on this Aunty Snake! Wait till I grow new fangs.'

Sheng Tian chuckled seeing the indignation in the Snake's eyes. He said Kindly "You can't look at me like that. If I was slower, you would've killed me or at least made me an eunuch.

Little one, sorry to tell you this. But it goes the other way round as well."

That night, Sheng Tian was having a barbecue of snake meat, boar meat.

Today, he fought the Heavy Iron Boar along with a Winged Mountain Tiger.

It resulted in minor injuries with the Iron Boar fight and escaping death from the clutches of the Winged Mountain Tiger.

Thankfully, he didn't enter the central area yet. If not, only god knows how he would have ended up!

Three days passed since Sheng Tian ate the Aunt Snake's barbecue.

Now, Sheng Tian is fighting a twelve-legged giant spider, which is at the 3rd Stage of the Profound Realm.

Sheng Tian was being overwhelmed by the Energy attacks of the Spider.

A cultivator can use their Profound Energy attacks once they reach the Profound Realm.

In the Elementary Realm, one only connects all the profound veins and has an increased strength due to the profound energy present in their body.

In the Foundation Realm, one connects their profound veins and dantian one by one and this leads to the increase in the circulation channels of Profound Energy, thus increase the Strength of a Cultivator significantly.

And from Profound Realm, with the whole circuit of profound energy connected, a Cultivator can project their profound energy outside their body, which was impossible till then.

This gives an almost unbeatable advantage for a Profound Realm Cultivator over the ones below.

Sheng Tian was not able to escape from the clutches of the Spider due to its Spider Silk. It is very resilient, filled with Profound energy and the Spider used it to trap him from leaving.

Sheng Tian looked at the gigantic spider in front of him. It was over 8 feet tall and 6 feet long.

Sheng Tian gripped his Sword and slashed at the spider.

*Clatter* The sword broke as the Spider used its Spider Silk to form a shield.

Sheng Tian's lips twitched. This Spider is damn overpowered for its level!

He dodged the incoming long spider silk, which blasted the Stone boulder behind him to pieces.

Gulping his saliva in fear, Sheng Tian used all his strength and punched the spider after evading its attacks with much difficulty.

"Screech" the spider shouted in pain.

Sheng Tian quickly tried to dodge the silk thread attacks. But this time, the spider was furious and used all its powers without holding back.

Sheng Tian was pinned to the ground, his left shoulder and stomach pierced.

He groaned in pain.

Sheng Tian struggled to get up but was held back by the sturdy spider silks.

His blood started forming a pool on the grass dying it red.

The spider came over him, its twelve eyes looking into his sky blue eyes. It swiftly swung down its fangs at him.

Sheng Tian's mind instantly became clear at that moment, there was no fear, no nervousness, no thoughts. All he could see was himself at the ground. He was powerless to struggle against someone or something.

This sheer thought gave birth to a burning sensation in his dantian and suddenly the seed in his dantian started a terrifying vortex as all the profound energy in the surrounding 500 meters was directed into his body.

Instantly, all the energy was refined and sent to his profound veins.

Like a wall was burst, Sheng Tian instantly felt his strength surge and he broke through to the third stage of the Foundation Realm.

He swiftly broke his bindings and caught the fangs of the spider.

The spider, astonished at his sudden increase in strength shot sharp needle-like spider silks.

Sheng Tian evaded them all with little effort and smashed the head of the Spider with full force.

*Bam*

The spider's face was blown to pieces as its body collapsed without strength.

Sheng Tian heaved a sigh of relief.

He had a bath and changed to a new set of robes. He didn't battle any more profound beasts afterward.

At night, he chooses a relatively safe place and laid down on the grass and gazed at the vast sky.

Looking at the sea of stars, Sheng Tian's eyes showed hidden loneliness he wished to hide.

What is the use of standing at the peak with no one to share the joy with?

If freedom is one thing he pursued, loneliness is the one thing that he dreaded the most.

But the irony, he spent almost all his life on Earth in loneliness after his 'mother's' death, and he always thrived for freedom.

Immersed in the sea of loneliness, he both longed and dreaded companionship.

Because only those who are close to you can hurt you deeply, they become your strength and weakness.

When he was in a life and death situation earlier, he felt that he had no one important in his life, no one worth remembering, no one worth missing.

This made his heart feel sour. But he quickly pushed it back.

Sheng Tian tried to hide these bitter feelings behind his carefree smile as he started to talk out loud as if to alleviate the pain. It can't be helped.

"Where is my Spirit Adviser? I don't want an Old geezer. Come, my Divine Young Lady! Teach me Cultivation and I will teach you sharing warmth of our bodies."

Usually, any Protagonist would find his Master right after the start of the story, but why did his Master not come yet? It seems like he had to make efforts to find the beauty since she did not come looking for him.

But he is not angry. As he is a magnanimous person, he will let her teach him all the best techniques and repay her with his body.

What else could she possibly say when he is being so

generous?

Sheng Tian felt that he was being too kind.

He thought humbly as he achieved a breakthrough in his shamelessness.