Shi Lang spent two days inside the medical pod. When he woke up, he found that he was still not recovered. He sighed and walked out of the spaceship. He exited the hatch door and found the team meditating in a semi-circle.
The growth of the veterans was slow, but he could sense that the cultivation of the rookies was climbing steadily. Looking around, the young man could not locate the sword spirit. He was about to say something when Unity appeared beside him and asked, “Your soul is still weak.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “It is. However, lying there will not help me. You know that I need spirit energy to heal from this ailment.”
Unity tilted her head and said, “Can you solve this taxation by absorbing more spirit energy? It will do you no good. You need natural treasures to heal yourself.”
Shi Lang clicked his tongue and asked, “Where will I find those in this place? My spirit sense has been hindered. It will not be able to sense anything ten meters away from me.”
Unity sighed and said, “I wish to smack the back of your head so you can be sensible for a bit. Do you have any idea how much this will hinder you?”
Shi Lang did not present her with any explanation as he knew it would not help him. Instead, he thought briefly and said, “The best bet we have for finding those treasures is to look around the mining trail.”
After looking around once, Unity shook her head and said in a low voice, “You seem to have forgotten what you are, old man. The best treasure you need is the core crystal. You do understand what that is and where you might find it. Right?”
Shi Lang opened his eyes wide in surprise. He calmed quickly and said, “If not for the fact that you will kill me and I am married. I would have kissed you for this suggestion.”
Unity was stunned, and then she snorted at him in disdain before Shi Lang rushed back inside the ship to check the map he had acquired. Unity followed him and asked, “What do you intend to find here?”
The young terran replied, “I intend to find an opening here to enter the branch connected to the mine core.”
Unity looked at the map and said, “They were stupid to leave so many mines unguarded. I bet there are beast colonies down there.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Good, I will train myself. You can handle the young ones.”
Unity nodded and said, “Do not forget to create a jade plate so that I will know if you died in there or will come back alive.”
Shi Lang smiled faintly and said, “Thank you for your concern.”
Unity clicked her tongue and vanished from the spot. Shi Lang sighed and said, “I must fight hard this time.”
How can he not understand what sort of threat Unity was talking about? The beasts living in those mine shafts must have gone through terrible changes in strength and wisdom. It would be a problem for him to deal with them if they had awakened their higher spirit.
He prepared his gear accordingly and headed out of the ship only to find the entire team awake and going at Unity. Amelia had just caught Eline using some forcefield when she spotted Shi Lang walking out of the ship dressed in tactical gear with a long knife tied to his thigh.𝑜𝑣𝑳xt.𝑪𝒪𝐦
Amelia said, “Stop.”
The training stopped, and the lady looked at Shi Lang and asked, “Where are you heading to?”
Shi Lang replied, “You have your training; I have mine.”
Amelia replied, “Fair enough, but how long?”
Shi Lang wanted to reply, but Unity beat him to it, “He needs to find a cure for his situation. Also, you veterans need to go and explore this world and master the essence of your cultivation sutras. These rookies are mine to handle.”
The people were surprised by this sudden change, and Allandale said, “Boss, don’t leave us with Senior Unity. She is…”
Unity glared at him, and the boy froze. Then, she turned back to look at others and said, “Shi Lang also has another reason to go alone: to heal his injured soul.”
All eyes landed on Shi Lang, who shrugged and said, “You can pick a direction different than me and look for an open mine. Then survive in that shaft while heading towards the core. My strength has dropped to the peak core condensation realm. I need to work hard to recover to the peak.”
The people did not know how to react, so, finally, after a few minutes, Unity said, “What are you all standing for? Go get moving.”
The people nodded and sprung into action. Amelia managed to walk some distance with Shi Lang, asking him if he had his gear in place. The young man recited everything he was carrying to her, and only when she felt relieved did the girl let him leave.
Shi Lang kissed her lips, and then he rushed away. Amelia waited until he was out of sight and picked up the opposite direction to go and train. The other two also scattered, and Unity began to whip the youngsters into shape.
…
Shi Lang covered half distance with his current speed before he had to rest under the stars. The young man cultivated and channeled his spirit energy throughout the body before concentrating on his soul sea. The exhaustion was not physical but related to his soul. As he worked to alleviate his fatigue, he chanted the shura sutra’s core.
At this moment, he could not recall the scene when Unity told him and the others to master the essence of their cultivation sutras. Instead, the young man began to think about the meaning of this sutra that made him so strong. That gave him a second chance to chase after his goals with quick strides.
‘What is Shura?’ he asked himself.
‘Shura is the one that kills everything that stands in his path. It was a philosophy of the strong, philosophy of life.’ thought Shi Lang.
Suddenly, he stopped and asked, ‘Philosophy of life? How can I think of this? This sutra gives everyone death. When I am under the effect of this sutra, I am almost unable to stop myself from killing everyone with negative thoughts. But, wait, does not that means I avoid those who do not project emotions? What if someone attacked me with an indifferent mind? Will I not be just a fish on the chopping board?’
As Shi Lang dwelled deeper in his thoughts, the clearer the meaning of this all became. He concluded that he needed to learn how to master his mood swings. He could not stay indifferent and only focus on the ones to kill. This was not going to help him.
However, that was all. He could not think more extensively because the more he understood, the more his cultivation sutra would blend with his soul. His soul will not be able to bear this burden. At least, not before he healed it completely.
The young man focused on resting as much as he could before the sun came up.
After a few hours, the sun shone, painting the sky amber, and Shi Lang stood up from the ground. He stretched his limbs and mumbled, “Time to hustle, boy.”
Then he ran in the direction of his targetted location. After another day of sweating and heaving deep breaths, Shi Lang finally located the mine opening and sent a message to the team about his arrival.
The others had already located their shafts; he was the last one. After a short rest, he surveyed the terrain around the mine shaft opening, and then he sent in scanning probes to find if there were beasts inside the shaft.
Much to his vexation, he discovered a vast clutter of ant-like creatures living inside to greet him. The animals were too disgusting and were all as big as a tiger. Shi Lang held his forehead and thought about how to deal with these bugs. They were not simple ants. Instead, they were all akin to spirit beasts. This was a hassle that Shi Lang did not want to deal with, but he had no way around it.
These low-level beasts had a few skills, as his probe was detected; thankfully, it was a nano-bot, so it did not get caught. He performed a small experiment to gather more data about these beasts. He covered a small drone with his spirit energy and sent it inside the mine shaft and boy was he right. The place seemed to have become alive.
Shi Lang did not know if he should cry or directly beat himself. The drone did not last three seconds before it received a severe pulsation attack and things ended. He began to think how to deal with the ants, when he recalled a method from the past and he smiled, “Unity was correct, I have forgotten what I am.”