John slowly opened his eyes, unaware of his surroundings. After a few moments of recalling the prior events, John quickly came to his wits and tried to stand up as fast as possible.
"Gah!" John cried out in pain. His bones felt as if they were shattered, and his muscles felt as if they were on fire. Had John not experienced the pain that came from the mysterious sphere, he undoubtedly would have passed out from this pain.
"How long was I out for?"
Realizing he could barely move, John carefully spent the next few minutes struggling to sit up. After managing to get into a seated position, John breathed out heavily and turned his head over to the side.
Ten yards in front of him was the Night Wolf, its head separated from the rest of his body. John stared at the wolf for a long time, his thoughts reliving the battle he had with the wolf over and over.
I got extremely lucky this time," thought John as he continued to think about the battle.
"Had I not had that surge of energy, I would have had no choice but to flee. And if the wolf hadn't underestimated me at the final moment, at best my scythe attack would have gravely injured it but not killed it."
John kept thinking about the battle, where he could have improved and where he faltered.
"After realizing the energy surge within me was leaving my body, I got distracted and almost died to the wolf's attack. I suppose getting distracted in battle, no matter the reason, is a sure way to die. I still have much to learn" thought John as a smile slowly crept on his face.
Although he had almost died, John was able to kill a Mist Creation level beast while at the Body Refinement realm. As far as John was aware, this feat was unheard of.
"Not only did I manage to kill the wolf, I also learned yet another valuable lesson regarding battle. This journey was definitely the right decision" thought John
"Just what is that energy though? I felt it when I almost died to the Dark Spotted Panther, and I felt it again during this fight. I've never heard of anything like this happening to any of the other clan members."
Every time his life was on the line, John felt a surge of energy overcome him, granting him with power beyond his current level. John continued to try to think of what the energy was, but was unable to come to a definite conclusion.
John took a Life Mist Healing Pill out of his storage ring and popped one into his mouth. He spent a full day focusing on healing his body before he fell asleep. Waking up the next morning, John once again popped another healing pill into his mouth and focused on recovering.
After another half day of healing, John was finally able to stand up. John walked over to the Night Wolf, admiring his foe before storing it in his storage ring, at which point he walked over to the Mist Essence Sunflower and sat in front of it.
Breathing in and out deeply, John could feel a stronger resonance with the surrounding Qi than he had ever felt before.
"Amazing" John exclaimed as he focused on drawing the surrounding Qi into his body. This process was at least several times faster than before. Not only that, the quality of Qi being drawn into his body was higher than before.
John slowly slipped into a meditative trance as he focused on cultivating. Two days passed by before…
"Boom!"
A slight muffled boom emanated from within John's body. John slowly opened his eyes, a look of pure excitement contained within them.
"Mist Creation!" exclaimed John in pure excitement.
"Hahaha, I'm finally a Mist Creation realm cultivator!" John couldn't stop shouting out in joy. He had finally stepped into the true realm of cultivators. While Body Refinement was considered a realm, one was only considered a true cultivator once they could control Qi.
Just as John was about to get up, he felt a surge of energy wash over him. This energy was unlike anything he had felt before. John felt as if the energy was from the heavens themselves; a holy energy that could not be defied or profaned.
The energy eventually coalesced in his brain, at which point it started to condense.
"Gah!" John let out a muffled grunt. He felt as if his head was splitting in half. Just as he thought he would pass out from the pain, the pain vanished, and the energy left him as if it was never there.
After a few seconds of confusion at what just happened, John thought back to what his father Barden had told him.
"Father said that when I break through to Mist Creation, the heavens will naturally form my nascent soul. I suppose that energy I felt just now was the heavens acknowledging me as a cultivator and creating my nascent soul."
John quickly sent his conscience inwards towards his brain, at which point he found himself in a wide open void. The void was pure white in every direction, and in the very center of the void floated a small figure. The figure looked just like John, only it was ethereal and white.
"This is my nascent soul" exclaimed John in excitement.
All living creatures had souls, but only upon getting approval from the heavens would the soul turn into something corporeal and real. As cultivators grew stronger, so would their soul. The soul was used for many things. Improving soul power would lead to increased comprehension speeds, stronger soul attacks, and farther divine sense ranges."
Thinking of his new found soul powers, John sent out his divine sense as naturally as if he was extending his own arm. Within ten yards in every direction, John could "see" every detail through his divine sense. From the smallest ant crawling on the ground to the Mist Essence Sunflower, John was aware of everything in the ten yard radius around him.
"Amazing" exclaimed John. He had never thought that divine sense would be so useful.
Standing up in excitement, John threw out a punch. The air rippled outwards from the force of the punch.
"My attacks are at least several times stronger than before. If I fought the Night Wolf like this from the start, I would have been completely fine" thought John as he continued to throw out attacks.
After throwing out dozens of punches and kicks, John took out his blue greatsword.
"Swish!"
John swung the sword around freely as if it weighed nothing. After executing a few sword moves, John put away the greatsword and took a deep breath. A black scythe suddenly appeared in his hands, at which point it started to sink downwards.
"Guh!"
After a second of struggling, John managed to stop the descent of the scythe and steady it in front of himself. His muscles were bulging as he struggled to wield the scythe. Gathering all his power, John swung the scythe out in front of him, the power of the attack shocking him.
"Wow, the power I can unleash with this weapon is unreal. It's at least twice as strong as the attacks with the Mist Creation greatsword, but it takes too much effort to wield this scythe right now. At most I can unleash one or two attacks before my arms can bear the weight no more" thought John as he put away the scythe.
For some reason, swinging the scythe made him feel content, as if it was a natural extension of himself.
John sat back down and digested everything that had just happened.
"All the struggling so far has been worth it" said John with an excited expression.
"Growl!"
A growl escaped from John's stomach as he realized he was starving.
"Man I'm hungry. Who knows how many days I was out for, and then on top of that, I didn't eat at all while cultivating. Im completely famished."
John took out a piece of cooked meat from his storage ring and bit out a large chunk. After eating for several minutes, John pulled out another piece of meat and devoured that as well. Only after eating enough for an entire family did John stop eating with a satisfied look on his face.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to take a look at my dantian. Now that I have divine sense, I can look internally into my body and inspect it with utmost clarity" thought John as he sent his divine sense towards his dantian.
Just as his divine sense washed over his dantian, a completely shocked expression appeared on John's face. Before he could react, John found himself floating in the misty void once more, a familiar majestic palace in front of him.