The demon brought the blood-drenched heart to its mouth. The notification it expected came its mind without fail.

Ding!

You have consumed a ‘Heart of Human’.

Congratulations!

You have gained +1 in all six basic attributes.

Yet, the demon wasn’t happy. It frowned. Due to the invasion of the demon army, everyone in the city was tense. Curfew was imposed. There were very few stray humans out in the night. Even if they were out, they were all in Core Formation Stage, which was something this newly born demon couldn’t handle. It was running out of prey.

If only I was in Core Formation Stage, it thought. Then, everything would be easy. It could easily devour those cultivators; at the same time, earn more stat points than it gained from eating the hearts of the Foundational Stage cultivators.

But before that, it needed to make a sacrifice to break through to Core Formation Stage. The thing was, the prey it had chosen for the sacrifice ritual was proving to be a tough nut to crack. There was no opening it could take advantage of. If it tried to attack recklessly, it was sure that it would be the one to end up dead.

It sighed. There was another path it could take, an alternative it had wanted to avoid it if it was possible. From the looks of things now, it could only take that path. The demon invasion was nigh; it was both a deadline and an opportunity for it.

I was in my . This was a skill that stubbornly refused to level up no matter what I did. At first, I thought it was because it was a skill that you could only begin to learn when you reached Core Formation Stage. But the more I thought, the more it didn’t make sense. The only difference between the first three cultivation realms, as far as I was concerned, was the difference in stats and the number of skill slots. With my stats, that were comparable to Nascent Stage cultivator, I shouldn’t be impeded like this.

I was analyzing . I had the feeling, the answer to combining the skills laid in there.

What is ?

The details of the skill went like this:

MINDSCAPE (Epic)

Level 1

Enables you to enter your subconscious realm. Protects your mind from outside influence.

Cost: 1 Qi per second

Realm. This was the key word here. This was also the reason why I didn’t rush to build a grand castle like the jade record directed me to. It was a world of its own in my subconscious mind, I couldn’t restrict its development with a simple castle, could I now?

What is ? I asked again.

It was a world inside me. And I was the owner of it. I could enter and leave it at will but that was it. Apart from that, I was not able to do anything much in it.

I stared at the vast land I created when I first learnt this skill. It was empty. I hadn’t figured out what to do with it yet. I didn’t want my hasty decisions to ruin everything. Maybe, that was the reason I was not able to level this skill up.

What should be there in my world?

Vegetation, that was the first thought. Whatever what kind of world it was, vegetation was necessary. I wondered if I would be able to create it in . Closing my eyes and closing my mind to everything, I imagined a plant sprouting from a seed. I could feel some kind of change happening.

Ding!

You have created something in your .

Congratulations!

Your skill has leveled up.

is now Level 2.

I opened my eyes to find a small plant in front of me. Success.

My confidence boosted, I went into creating more plants. My skill gained another level when I created another five plants. I continued creating more plants but I had to stop when the number reached twenty.

Ding!

Not enough soul.

Sorry! Unable to continue further creation.

Looks like this was my current limit. Also, I didn’t gain any new level in skill proficiency. But that was enough. I could already feel the effect of the two level ups. My mind was in an unprecedented clear state; I felt like I could analyze everything.

It was time to try combining the skills once again.

Closing my eyes once again, I delved into my mind. I brought the four movement skills I had yet to slot and tried to combine them in all sorts of ways. Each time I got the same notification window notifying me about my failure. The success felt very close, there was only a thin membrane that stood between us but that tiny barrier was like an unshakable mountain.

After countless tries, I could only give up in the end. I felt a bit frustrated but it wasn’t like I hadn’t gained anything from this session.

I exited and opened my eyes.

Xue’er was standing before me with a cup of tea. “Good work, young master,” she said.

“Thank you.” I took the cup and drank the tea. My throat felt parched after this training session of several hours, although, all I did physically was sit in meditation posture in my study room.

As I drank tea, a sudden thought occurred to me. “Xue’er how’s your soul stat?” I could always use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to check it but it seemed like prying without permission. As far as possible, I wanted to avoid doing that to people close to me.

“It’s forty-four, young master,” she said. “I broke through to Qi Gathering Layer 2 in the morning.”

I nodded. There was something I wanted to try.

“Xue’er, I am going to impart a skill to you. Come and sit.”

She nodded obediently. I made her sit in lotus position.

I said ‘skill impartation’ but it was more of passing my experience. Once your soul reached a certain realm, you could impart your knowledge. I was planning to teach her the process of creating . It was not possible to pass on what I acquired from jade record but I could pass on the process I used since I diverged from the way the jade record taught.

This was also the reason I was teaching this skill to Xue’er now. If it was a normal , her soul would be too weak to bear it. The one I was created had no such requirement. You could build small and slowly make it big. I wondered why the people in this world didn’t think of it.

“Close your eyes and clear your thoughts,” I told her.

“En.” She nodded and closed her eyes.

I touched her forehead with my index and will the information I wanted to pass onto her to move. I felt the world essence gather in my head and enter Xue’er’s head through my finger. It was my first time trying this. The books I read said that there was very low risk, still I felt a little worried.

She scrunched her forehead when the essence entered her head but it disappeared with the essence. She opened her eyes.

I heaved my chest, feeling relieved. “Did you get the process?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Now, follow the process I gave you. At the same when you are creating , remember, it is your world, envision how you would want your world to be,” I explained while Xue’er listened attentively. “But don’t forget, you don’t have soul equivalent to a Core Formation Stage cultivator, therefore, start small. I recommend you to start with a small land mass. Keep this in your mind, you will be constantly adding to your as you grow.”

“Yes, young master, Xue’er understands.” She gave a reassuring nod.

I rubbed her head. This girl was too obedient and adorable. “Now, try to create your . Tell me if you encounter any problems.”

I watched as she closed her eyes and sank into her subconscious mind.

She shouldn’t have any problems. I climbed the stairs to see what the two troublemakers were up to. They had been unusually quiet today. As soon as I opened the door to our bedroom, I came upon an unusual sight.

Byakko was fast asleep on the bed, giving light snores. One of his paws was hugging the ball that I bought him from the auction. Meanwhile, Ling was nestled on the Glaze Yang Flower with her eyes closed. I could, now and then, hear her mumble, “Ling! Comfortable!”

I was speechless. There was only one explanation for these hyperactive two fellows to be this tired. They played too much!

I sighed.

I went down; back to the study, storefront or whatever you want to call it. Xue’er was still meditating. I sat a little further away from her and took out the five metals. I hadn’t consumed them yet.

I stuffed the first one into my mouth. Then another. Then another. Before long, I had consumed all five of the metals. I was not able to catch their name as no notification window came up after I consumed them one after another. I gained +5 Physique, +5 Strength and +5 Soul after I ate them. The stats gain could be considered okay.

Also, there was no upgrade to [Metal Bow]. I guess they weren’t as potent as the meteorite metal I ate in the forest. It made sense. Meteorite metal shaved off lifeforce as soon as I neared it; compared to it, the energies these metals gave off were mellow.

It meant only one thing. If I wanted to upgrade or evolve [Metal Bow] in future, I could either consume a huge amount of them or consume ones containing tremendous amount of energy.

Xue’er opened her eyes. She jumped with a happy and excited smile when she saw me. “Young master, Xue’er did it! Xue’er constructed her .”

I got up and went to where she was. I patted her head. “Xue’er did a good job. Xue’er is a really good girl.”

She went “Ehehehe!” smiling brightly.

After that, I explained to her about how traits had egos. If she didn’t want to have troubles in future, she needed to take care of them as soon as possible. would assist her to do it. She listened to my explanation like an attentive student. I felt pleased about it.

“Remember this, only attempt this after you think you can take on the ego of your trait in one fell swoop. Did you get, Xue’er?”

“Xue’er got it! Xue’er will listen to young master.”

I nodded, rubbing her head. She was really an obedient child.

Or so I thought.

A sudden chill in the atmosphere woke me in the middle of the night. I looked around. Xue’er was not where she was supposed to be. I was hit by a sense of déjà vu. I remembered the bedwetting incident when I first brought her here.

Looking around, I found her figure shivering in one corner of the room.

“What happened, Xue’er?” I asked, moving towards her.

“Xu-Xue’er…” She was unable to form proper words due to the cold. Her teeth were clattering too much.

I touched her hand. Cold. Freezing cold.

I sent a stream of Pure Yang Qi into her body.

It wasn’t difficult to guess what happened. She had gone into her and attempted to subdue the ego of her trait.

“Xue’er… Xue’er is sorry, young master,” she said. “That ice bird… that ice bird was too strong.” And apparently, she had failed. It was a good thing that nothing untoward had happened to her. I checked with my [Kaleidoscope Eye] to make sure.

I hugged her. “It’s okay, Xue’er,” I told her. “But next time, tell me before you attempt it, alright?”

She nodded, meekly.

Looking at her like this, I found no will to scold her. It was partly my fault. I had overestimated her mental age. Due to how obedient and matured she behaved, I had forgotten that she was just a ten-year-old kid with very little life experience. I made a mental note to take extra care in future.

“Let’s go and sleep,” I told her once she was warm enough.

“En!” she replied.

Su Ren’s status:

GENERAL

Name

Su Ren

Age

11 years old

Cultivation Method

Heart’s Yearning

Realm

Foundational 1

(1234/2000 Essence)

Lifeforce

7060/7060 (Regeneration: 30% per second)

Qi

7040/7040 (Regeneration: 30% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

684

Physique

718

Movement

702

Control

703

Soul

716

Comprehension

718

Charm

81

Fate

47

INNATE TRAITS

Innards of a God

Kaleidoscope Eye

Pure Yang Body

Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)

############

Divine Yang Butterfly

Metal Bow

Living Grimoire

Aroma

TRANSFORMATION

Chimera Transformation

Bond:

Byakko (White Tiger)

QI SKILL LIST

Slot

Skill Name

Rating

Level

1.

Qi Arrow

Unranked

8/10

2.

Earth Steps

Epic

8/10

3.

Heart Force

Unranked

5/10

4.

Spiritual Sense

Unranked

3/10

5.

Mindscape

Epic

3/10

6.

7.

Xue’er’s status:

GENERAL

Name

Xue’er

Age

10 years old

Cultivation Method

Heart’s Yearning

Realm

Qi Gathering 2

(2/300 Essence)

Lifeforce

335/340 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

Qi

440/440 (Regeneration: 1% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

34

Physique

34

Movement

34

Control

34

Soul

44

Comprehension

49

Charm

52

Fate

108

INNATE TRAITS

Divine Tongue

Nine Yin Body (Locked)

Divine Ice Phoenix

Moon Eye (Locked)

Death Inscription (Locked)

Shadow Travel (Locked)

AILMENT

Touch of Death

QI SKILL LIST

Slot

Skill Name

Rating

Level

1.

Mindscape

Epic

1/10

2.

3.