The instant the cold chime echoed across the arena—
The irresistible force of teleportation had already enveloped Mo Fan's colossal skeletal frame.
But in a life-or-death moment like this, instinct always moves faster than the brain.
CRUNCH!
Mo Fan paid the notification no mind whatsoever.
That massive maw didn't stop—if anything, it wolfed down harder...
Ripping a huge chunk of dense soul-essence clean off the turtle-shaped ancient beast's shell!
Then, without so much as chewing, he tilted his head back and swallowed it whole.
"Whimper——!"
Amid the black tortoise's aggrieved, furious, soundless shriek...
Mo Fan's form dissolved into scattered motes of starlight.
He was dragged out of the arena against his will, radiating profound reluctance and the deepest possible resentment at being torn away from his meal.
The scenery around him peeled away at high speed like a shattering mirror.
When Mo Fan regained consciousness, he found himself back in that boundless sea of white cloud, restored to his original human soul-form.
Only—compared to the wind-scatterable, semi-transparent state he'd been thrown in with...
His soul-body was now noticeably fuller, more solid, and more refined.
"Not bad. Actually survived the First Door. So there's some real substance to you after all. Come out."
From the outside, Lin Dong's voice—carrying a trace of surprise and approval—drifted leisurely through the cloud sea.
Before Mo Fan could properly savor the wonderful taste from moments ago, a massive suction force yanked his soul violently upward.
A dizzying blur. The world spun. Everything went dark.
The process of the soul being stuffed back into the physical body was profoundly unpleasant.
It was like an eagle that had grown accustomed to soaring free across the vast wilderness suddenly having its wings snapped...
Then being crammed into a cramped, suffocating little tin can.
The imprisonment of the flesh felt especially oppressive now that his soul had undergone such a tremendous elevation.
"Hurgh—HAH!"
Outside the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda, Mo Fan—sitting cross-legged on the ground...
Snapped his eyes open, gasping in huge lungfuls of air, his entire body soaked through with cold sweat.
He struggled to lift his head. Two starkly contrasting faces greeted him.
The plump elder who guarded the pagoda was staring at Mo Fan bug-eyed...
Those eyes normally squeezed into slits by fat now blown wide open—gaping at him like he'd just witnessed a ghost.
And beside him stood Lin Dong.
On that ancient face, normally as placid as a dry well, there was—for once in a blue moon—a distinct trace of smugness and pride.
"Well?"
Lin Dong stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down at Mo Fan from above, and spoke first.
"How was the pressure inside the First Door? I didn't misjudge you."
"With that will of yours, you pulled through, just as I expected."
Mo Fan's head was still buzzing.
Recalling the harrowing scene of being ganged up on by a pack of primordial beasts, a lingering chill of fear crawled through his heart.
If his soul intensity hadn't been so freakishly monstrous—if any ordinary disciple had walked in there...
That opening gale of mental force alone would have ended their life and severed their Dao on the spot!
He rubbed his throbbing temples and couldn't help but complain, his voice heavy with grievance:
"Elder, you call that a little test? That First Door was genuinely lethal—this disciple nearly didn't make it through! That Kun—"
But before the words "Kun Peng" could leave his mouth—
Lin Dong casually waved a hand and cut him off, an expression on his face that said I've been through it all, I understand.
"Indeed. That First Door is, by its very nature, an ultimate test of soul intensity."
Lin Dong stroked his gray-white beard, his tone turning reminiscent.
"Back in the day, when I entered at the Foundation Establishment stage, everything I encountered were the shades of Foundation Establishment demon beasts. I felt a genuine sense of peril myself."
At this point, he glanced at Mo Fan, self-satisfied.
"For you to hold out a full incense stick's time in there—with a mortal body, no spells to lean on—that is no small feat."
"I imagine, given your paltry cultivation, the things you encountered must have been mundane, ordinary beasts. Boars, wild dogs, mountain cats—that sort of thing, no?"
"But thanks to the [ Form-Intention Fist ] I taught you! In that space between life and death, you must have transitioned from Form to Intent—become a great ape, a savage wolf—and just barely held off the pouncing and biting of that pack of beasts, correct?"
"Oh—that's right, what were you saying just now? Kun-something?"
Lin Dong finished with an extremely satisfied nod, as if he could already picture, with his own eyes...
The inspirational scene of Mo Fan wrestling a pack of wild boars inside the mystic realm.
And in that very moment—
Hearing the words "Foundation Establishment demon beasts" and "mundane, ordinary beasts"...
Mo Fan, sitting on the ground, swallowed with great difficulty, his throat bobbing.
Cold sweat burst out across his forehead in an instant!
Gulp...
Mo Fan forced his hammering heart back down into his chest...
And—the words "Kun Peng" already at the tip of his tongue—wrenched them into a hard, awkward U-turn.
"Yes, yes, yes! Kun—Kun-chicken!"
Following Lin Dong's lead, Mo Fan nodded frantically, his face full of terror, and cried out:
"Back in my hometown, we like to call the especially ferocious wild pheasants up in the mountains 'Kun-chickens'!"
"This disciple ran into a whole flock of them in there—half a man tall, viciously savage! Those claws, those beaks—they nearly pecked me into next week!"
"Thankfully, in that hopeless moment, I grasped a fraction of the true meaning of the Form-Intention Fist you taught me, transformed into a fierce tiger, bit a few of them to death, and just barely scraped through!"
To make it more convincing, Mo Fan even patted his chest with lingering fear, putting on the face of a man who'd nearly been driven to tears by chickens.
"HAHAHA! Excellent! A fierce tiger pouncing on chickens—magnificent!"
Lin Dong didn't doubt it for a second—he burst out laughing, his eyes full of approval.
He turned his head and shot a smug glance at the still-stupefied plump elder beside him, as if showing off the fruits of his teaching.
Then Lin Dong turned back and continued expounding on the wonders of this [ Cloud Summit Mystic Realm ] for Mo Fan's benefit:
"This First Stage, [ First Cry of Soul Taming ], is nothing but an appetizer. When an ordinary cultivator enters, they typically encounter demon beasts of their own realm."
"But if a Nascent Soul or Soul Formation great power were to enter—they'd likely face the remnant souls of ancient demon beasts."
Mo Fan nodded along from below, while internally mopping frantic sweat.
That was close. That was so close—he'd nearly gotten his soul dissected for research just now.
"As for the later floors—those are even more profound and mysterious."
Lin Dong stood with his hands behind his back and began, unhurried:
"The Second Stage is called [ Hundred Phases of Shape Transformation ]. Within it, you must take the shape of three beasts, experience the rich diversity of the souls of all living things, and comprehend the creation of Heaven and Earth."
"The Third Stage—[ Severing Thoughts Without Traces ]. There are no demon beasts there. Only your own heart-demons."
"You must sever your heart-demons, letting the thoughts of the past pass like wind leaving no trace—only then can your soul achieve clarity."
"The Fourth Stage—[ Forging Soul into Foundation ]. Within a soul-storm, you carve your own totem, and forge an unshakable bedrock for your soul."
"As for the final Fifth Stage—[ Asking the Heart in the Mortal World ]..."
At this point, a trace of indescribable awe entered Lin Dong's voice.
"You enter the mortal world to temper yourself, and question your own original heart in reverse."
"Those who can reach this step, in all of Heaven and Earth, are the rarest few of the supreme great powers."
Listening to the description of these five levels of the Heart-Tempering Arena—
Mo Fan's eyes, without him even noticing, grew brighter and brighter.
After all—just those primordial remnant souls in the First Stage alone had sent his soul intensity surging up by an enormous margin!
If he could clear all the later stages too...
Wouldn't that be a straight-up takeoff? Ascending to godhood on the spot?!
Gulp.
Mo Fan couldn't help but swallow down a big mouthful of greedy drool.
But just as his thoughts were racing, his mind full of beautiful plans for the future—
Pat.
Lin Dong reached out with his withered, bony hand and clapped Mo Fan heavily on the shoulder, shattering his daydream.
"Today's business is concluded."
Lin Dong looked at Mo Fan, his tone carrying a measure of satisfaction—but also a hint of finality:
"Your progress these past days, in both body and will, has been passable. I'm gratified."
"However, I've had a certain realization recently, and there is a matter of great importance that requires me to leave the mountain for a trip."
"For now, return and cultivate the Form-Intention Fist on your own. When I return to the peak, we shall resume."
"Huh?"
The wild joy on Mo Fan's face froze instantly.
Before he could even open his mouth to try to keep him—
"Let's go!"
Lin Dong swept his sleeve, and a blade of light instantly enveloped them both.
A blinding streak of light, an overwhelming sensation of weightlessness—
SWISH!
When Mo Fan came back to himself, he found himself standing alone before the desolate, dilapidated gate of the canyon courtyard on Hundred Forging Peak.
And high in the sky, that cyan sword-glow belonging to Lin Dong—without even sparing a single extra glance...
Transformed directly into a long rainbow piercing the horizon, flying out through the great formation of Azure Cloud Sect without so much as a backward look, vanishing into the boundless sea of clouds.
The wind whistled bleak and cold.
It stirred up a few withered yellow leaves, spinning them around at Mo Fan's feet.
Mo Fan stood alone before his cave dwelling, his head tilted back, watching the receding figure of Lin Dong disappear.
In this moment—
For the first time in his entire life, he felt toward this elder an extremely intense, sincere, gut-wrenchingly heartfelt sense of reluctance to part.
"What the hell..."
He clutched his head with both hands and howled at the sky, a wretched, aggrieved wail—laced with a touch of impotent rage—tearing loose from somewhere deep inside him:
"Damn you, don't LEAVE!!!"
"I'm not even Level 20 yet, GODDAMMIT!!!"