After returning from the expedition, Zhu Furong turned over the five high grade Spirit Crystals to the sect. For others it would be high grade but for Zhu Furong who has the real high grade Spirit Crystal, these black high grade Spirit Crystals are nothing but trash. But the credits he obtained from them are quite useful to exchange for some rare herbs.

He has been living in the sect for quite a long time, with all the challenges and tasks, he has climbed up the rank quite a bit.

Now he lives in a residence with his own private courtyard. Though it's way smaller compared to his residence in the Zhu manor, he is quite satisfied thanks to the high rising walls surrounding the perimeter of this new residence. It is built so the disciples staying can practice without being disturbed. His residence has shifted to the middle of the hill now. So he should be somewhere in the middle of the pavilion rankings.

In the morning, Zhu Furong is sitting in the courtyard sipping tea. His friend Tian Su is accompanying him. Surprisingly, Tian Su is his neighbor. He has also climbed up the ranks along with Zhu Furong. Both are quite young and talented. They are so talented that they have earned the title of 'Pride of the Commoners'. Though both come from a humble background, it's undeniable that they are geniuses.

"Good morning, Senior Brother."

"How are you, Senior?"

"Senior Brother, please help this Little Sister refining a short-sword. I will be quite grateful, hehe."

"It's quite unfortunate that we couldn't witness Senior Brother's glory with our own eyes during the Inter Sect Competition. I will definitely work hard so I can follow along next time."

"Senior Brother, you are so cool."

"Senior Brother, please marry me!"

"Senior Brother..."

"..."

With the atmosphere turning noisy outside of Zhu Furong's residence, a robust looking man, wearing yellow hanfu walked in with a smug face.

It's none other than Hao Bo.

Hao Bo elegantly opened the gate of Zhu Furong's residence and walked in with slow strides.

He took out a chair from his space ring and sat on one side of the tea table Zhu Furong and Tian Su were sitting at.

A crowd of people gathered in front of the gate chatting and peeping.

Hao Bo, cupped his fists in salute to them. "I appreciate all of your kindness. It makes me quite happy. But I have some important conversations with Junior Brother Zuo here, so I would appreciate it if you can leave us alone." With a gentle smile he added. "I will make sure to pay a visit to the other brothers and sisters later. We can exchange some pointers on Cultivation."

"Ah, no worries Senior Brother, please take your time, hehe."

"Senior Brother, you are so cool!"

"See you later Senior Brother, please don't forget to visit me. Ah, my name is Gu Ban."

"See you later Senior Brother, visit me also my name is..."

"..."

After praising Hao Bo a lot and sweet talking to him, the crowd dispersed.

Zhu Furong couldn't help but stare at this drama with his mouth agape. He couldn't make head or tail of what was going on.

On the other side Tian Su has a face full of disgust. And keeps making displeased looks.

"Are you not going to serve me tea? Well it's not like I care anyways." Hao Bo squinted at Zhu Furong while taking a seat. "You should know why I am here."

Zhu Furong took a sip of tea. "Why?"

"You don't know?" Hao Bo raised a brow.

"Should I know?" Zhu Furong made a puzzled look.

"Good, good. You really know how to get on others' nerves." Hao Bo nodded.

On the other hand, even though puzzled, Tian Su couldn't help but smile.

Hao Bo stood up and turned back towards the gate. "Good, good." He spoke softly before taking his leave.

Zhu Furong couldn't help but smirk.

After Hao Bo left, Tian Su closed in to Zhu Furong. "What was that about? What did you do to piss him that much? I have never seen Hao Bo acting like that. He is definitely outraged to the extreme. I am afraid he will come after your life." Tian Su frowned with worry.

Zhu Furong explained everything that had transpired outside of the Forest of Gehna. How Hao Bo's lackeys tried to harm Zhu Furong and how Zhu Furong took care of them. Though he made up some parts where he said that he used the Spiritual Beasts in the forest to get rid of the lackeys. He hid that he himself took care of the group.

"Wha... Something like that happened?" Tian Su made an amazed look. "To play with two peak Foundation Establishment rank Cultivators like that, you really are something brother." Tian Su patted Zhu Furong's shoulder hard.

Zhu Furong glared at Tian Su.

With a 'hehe' Tian Su ignored Zhu Furong's glare.

"By the way what was that going on earlier? I have never seen the disciples of the Martial Arts Pavilion butter up to Hao Bo like that." Zhu Furong asked.

"You don't know?" Tina Su looked surprised.

"Isn't that why I am asking?" Zhu Furong snorted.

"You know that the Inter Sect Competition was held this year right?" Tian Su asked.

Zhu Furong nodded.

"This year's competition was amazing. It was especially tough compared to the past." "So many weird things happened." Tian Su took a sip of tea.

"You know the Thousand Arms Sect?" "I heard they were the underdog of this year's competition." "That rank 9 sect surprisingly climbed up all the way to rank 4th, almost surpassing our Sunlight Sect. And the unbelievable thing is..." He took another sip of tea.

"I heard that the Thousand Arms Sect were missing quite a few of their elite disciples." "Also... It seems they are in cahoots with the Ghost Sect of the northern continent." Talking till there Tian Su gulped his tea and poured another cup.

"What does this have to do with Hao Bo getting so much attention? Unless..." Zhu Furong inquired.

"It's as you are thinking." "Our Sunlight Sect faced quite a peril in the Martial Arts competition." "If not for Senior Sister Chu, things would have gotten out of hand. Also, it seems that narcissist prince Xidi Junjie also played quite a vital role." "But the person who contributed the most is surprisingly Hao Bo. You won't believe me if I say he placed first in the Artifacts Refining competition." Tian Su spoke with surprise. "Thanks to him our Sunlight Sect climbed one rank and now is the 3rd greatest sect on this planet." Tian Su felt slightly proud.

"Seems like he has some talent. Even though his Cultivation seems to have been stuck at Peak Foundation Establishment rank, his Artifacts Refining skills are quite commendable." Zhu Furong clapped.

"That's true. After hearing the story, I even started to see him in a new light. Only if he can do something about his short temper..." "We are not something we should care about." Tian Su shrugged.

"Well I will take my leave now. What are your plans for today?" Tian Su asked while standing up.

"Hmm... I am thinking of taking some beast hunting tasks. Do you need something?" Zhu Furong asked.

"My cousin invited me to join her to visit an Auction House in Genko City. I was just thinking if you want to join us." Tian Su stretched lightly.

"Oh, no thanks. I don't want to play gooseberry." Zhu Furong nonchalantly denied.

Tian Su blushed hard. He gritted his teeth. "What do you mean by gooseberry, we are not like that." Flustered, he rushed at Zhu Furong with his fist.

"Not like that my ass! Look at your face all red from blushing." Zhu Furong ran inside his room, shutting the door.

"You bastard stop right there. Where did you even hear about it?" Tian Su slammed the closed door.

"Why do you care? Just go on your date. What do you need me there for? Are you trying to show off or something?" Zhu Furong yelled from inside.

"Fuck you! I was just asking you as a friend. I didn't expect you to be so ungrateful." "Watch if I don't break your ass the next time I see your face." Tian Su threatened jokingly.

"Yeh yeh, I am so scared." Zhu Furong mocked.

"Humph!" Tian Su kicked the door once before taking his leave. It went all quiet outside.

Zhu Furong opened the door and looked left and right. With a smirk on his face he walked towards the Mission Hall.

In the Mission Hall he picked a task to hunt beasts in the Forest of Gehna and after some preparations he went to the forest or more like to the Unknown Ruins.

Three days have passed since their last expedition. So no one is here in the ruins. The place is quiet with only a few howls of beasts from time to time.

Looking left and right, Zhu Furong took a sigh of relief. "Glad no one is here. They will probably send people again next week to make a final expedition. We have to get whatever is behind that wall before that." Zhu Furong murmured.

Zhu Furong looked at the cave walls where the laws of wind are printed. He gently swept his hand over the runes. He closed his eyes for a moment then started running without making any noise. It's as if he is flowing along with the wind, though not perfect he is still somewhat carried by the winds.

After taking notes of the laws of wind from this cave. Zhu Furong practiced the first part of the Steps of God maneuver technique in the past three days. The first step, Wind Steps needs one to become one with the wind. Rather than resisting the wind, you have to flow with it. It is definitely not as easy as it sounds, but not that hard to get started. Though mastering it is quite difficult.

For now Zhu Furong has somewhat understood how he should move his body to minimize the resistance with the wind. He has taken a tiny step in this maneuver technique.

Reaching the terminal of the cave tunnel, Zhu Furong stroked the limestone wall. He spread his Divine Sense to inspect the depth of this wall.

"That fucking Ming Zen, how did he erect such a solid wall here. It is about 10 meters thick. It would take me days to make such a wall." Zhu Furong cussed.

"Why do you care? It's not like you have to do the same. You are here to dig the wall, not construct a new one." Zhu Xingzuo mocked.

Zhu Furong snorted. He took out a large chisel and a heavy hammer and started to get to work. The years of experience in his past life came in handy. It didn't even take him half a day to make a path for himself through this solid wall.

Knocking the last limestone wall to dust Zhu Furong entered a wide spherical area. According to Zhu Xingzuo this should be the head of the dead White Tiger.

About 1000 cubic feet of an area is covered with white fog and this fog becomes denser as you walk towards the center. Surprisingly the fog contains Spiritual Qi so it's hard to look through it with Divine Sense. 

Flailing his hands around, with careful steps Zhu Furong walked towards the center. The fog was so dense that he couldn't even see his own fingers. He walked like a blind man until...

"Splash!" With a soft sound, Zhu Furong's leading leg plunged into water.

As he got disbalanced, Zhu Furong almost fell on his face, but he quickly took control of his body. But he couldn't help but stare with his eyes and mouth open.

By reaching this small puddle of water he has come out of the fog or more like this puddle is surrounded with thick white fog with the puddle area being all clear.

At the center of the puddle is a shining white lotus covered in a gentle halo of light. Few strands of white smoke could be seen escaping from the petals mixing with the surrounding fog.

"Oh my god! It's a Soul Lotus." Zhu Xingzuo yelped.

The mesmerized Zhu Furong came back to his senses. This mysterious Soul Lotus seems to have some sort of enchanting effect on the people who see it.

"Jump back fast!" Suddenly Zhu Xingzuo yelled in a hurry.

Without asking any questions Zhu Furong jumped back into the fog. Before his vision was blurred by the fog, he saw something scary.

From the other side of the fog, a murky brown, giant crocodile maw appeared and took a bite of the place Zhu Furong stood a while ago. The clapping sound of the maw reverberated throughout the cave. It was quite a huge force. From the size of the maw, the beast seems to be at least 11 meters in length.

"Treasures like these are always protected by some sort of spiritual beast. That's a rank 7 Cave Crocodile." "Big Brother, you only have one chance. You have to grab the Soul Lotus and run like there's no other day. With your current strength, you can only fight a rank 4 Spiritual Beast head on. A rank 7 Spiritual Beast like this... It will be over in a flash." "Fortunately, Cave Crocodiles are quite slow. So if you run at your full speed you can somehow make it out." Zhu Xingzuo spoke seriously.

Zhu Furong hesitated, he could help but weigh the pros and cons and he doesn't know much about this Soul Lotus. Is it really worth it?

Zhu Xingzuo could understand what Zhu Furong was thinking. "We don't have much time. Be quick before the beast launches its next attack. The Soul Lotus is quite important for you. Go!" Zhu Xingzuo rushed Zhu Furong.

Without hesitating any more, Zhu Furong leaped forward. With a splash he jumped into the center of the puddle, grabbed the Soul Lotus and rushed towards the way he came from at full speed.

Thump! Thump! Thump!... With heavy footsteps the Cave Crocodile followed behind.

It didn't take much time for Zhu Furong to reach the thick limestone wall, but unfortunately he ended up in a different spot.

Sweating with fear he swept his hands all over the wall running left and right to look for the dugout hole. It took about 5 minutes to find the hole. As soon as he entered the hole he heard a hard clap behind his ears.

Running at full speed ahead he got out of the 10 meter hole. Standings till, he took deep breaths and swept his hands behind his head. He could feel the uneven length of his long hair.

He wiped his forehead. "Phew! Saved by a margin."

Roar! Grrr! Boom! Boom!...

He could hear the Cave Corocodile slamming and scratching the hole.

Crumble! Crumble! Screech!...

"What are you standing here for you idiot? Run! Cave Crocodiles are good at digging." Zhu Xingzuo shouted with urgency.

"Fuck! You should have said so earlier." "That fucking Ming Zen, why is such a Spiritual Beast guarding a tiny lotus. Why didn't you kill it? Fuck fuck fuck!" Zhu Furong ran while cursing. The Cave Crocodile has also gotten out of the hole and is chasing after Zhu Furong.

"A prince of an Empire must have a lot of followers. An Open Ascension rank Cultivator can easily suppress a rank 7 Spiritual Beast." Zhu Xingzuo reminded.

"Ah fuck it! Why is this crocodile so fast? Did you lie to your Big Brother? Are you rebelling?" Zhu Furong complained with a face ready to cry.

He used whatever maneuver skills he had to the maximum of his capabilities but still couldn't shake off the Cave Crocodile. The Cave Crocodile followed him like a tarsal maggot.

"Hey, is this lotus really worth it? Look at that Spiritual Beast, it looks like I have stolen its wife." "Can't we give it back?" Zhu Furong asked.

"A Soul Lotus is a one in a million treasure. If you consume it before forming a Nascent Soul, it will be of huge benefit." "You just need to consume it raw. The energy from the Soul Lotus will fuse with your soul and slowly keep purifying your Soul Energy throughout your life. You don't understand how incredible this effect is." "Even I am surprised to see something like this in the Lower Realm. Things like these can cause a war in the Upper Realm." Zhu Xingzuo explained.

"Listen you little piece of shit!" Zhu Furong cussed with gritted teeth. "Don't I already have a Nascent Soul? Then what's the use of this?"

"Your Nascent Soul is imperfect, you know? I have told you before." "You never Cultivated to Open Ascension rank, your Nascent Soul was formed thanks to the Nirvana Life Seal, there's no way that it won't be imperfect." "Everything in the path of Cultivation has a proper step. You can't expect to achieve perfection if you skip through even a single step." "This Soul Lotus will still work on you." Zhu Xingzuo snorted.

Zhu Furong rolled his eyes. Shaking his head with disappointment he kept running towards the cave entrance.

After running a short while, he put the Soul Lotus in his mouth, chewing a few times and gulping it down.

A cool sensation started rising from his abdomen reaching his head. Zhu Furong instantly felt relaxed. He almost stopped running to savor the feeling, but was startled by the roar of the Cave Crocodile. Tripping over a few times, he picked up his pace again, almost entering the maw of the crocodile.

"Well, it won't hurt you in any way, but you sure are impatient."  "It was a bad move." Zhu Xingzuo grunted.

"It's better to consume it now. Maybe that beast will stop following me now, as the treasure has disappeared?" Zhu Furong retorted.

"Nice joke!" Zhu Xingzuo mocked.

Roar! Thump! Thump! Bang! Bang!

Unexpected to Zhu Furong, it seems his act of eating the Soul Lotus has further enraged the Cave Crocodile. Its chasing speed increased significantly.

"Mommy!" With an exclamation, Zhu Furong too ran faster. He couldn't help but shed tears. He cursed himself for his own stupidity.

This time the Cave Crocodile seems to have firmed its resolution to chase Zhu Furong to the end of the earth.