If any high level cultivators were to comment on him, all of them would probably think of a term, which was ‘Dan Dao’. Dan Dao was a form of completion – by completing Dan, one could pursue the Dao above and beyond.
Shen Lian was looking at the howling wolves. He could hear the howls, but the howls did not impact his feeling. It was as if a Buddha had just passed through a pack of animals without being damaged even a single bit.
Before dawn, he had entered the city – the capital of the Hanhai Kingdom.
The people of Hanhai envied the color black. The city was full of people who were dressed in black, from swordsman, to travelling merchants. The environment was not particularly noisy or lack of discipline. It seemed that the people did not suffer even though the country was strict.
Shen Lian could tell that everyone here was rather strong. At the very least they would have known some basic breathing method. Due to that, all of them looked rather balanced.
There was a reason why people here liked the color black. Black represented water, and the Kingdom of Hanhai lacked water. Due to the demand for water, stemmed the admiration towards the color black.
Shen Lian sat in a restaurant, which was the only restaurant in the Kingdom of Hanhai. Whoever that was dining there must either be from the noble family or someone wealthy, as all the dishes were extremely expensive.
It was not an everyday place even for the rich and powerful. As a result, the place was never full. Recently however, it seemed to be attracting more foreigners. Shen Lian was rather inconspicuous, but people paid the most attention to him.
He had rather good looking features, but due to his subtly mysterious situation, he looked unique.
His uniqueness might not be spotted out easily by the common men. They would merely feel that he was particularly good looking, but it would be difficult for them to remember how he looked like.
It was similar to the reflection of the moon in the water. When you were looking at it, it was beautiful; but when you were asked to recall how it looked like, it would be difficult to describe the beauty of it in detail.
When the others were evaluating him, Shen Lian was also observing the people around him. He did not need to make use of his eyes or ears. There was nobody in the inn who had reached the stage of Huandan. If there was one, the person would be so powerful that Shen Lian would not be able to compete with him.
Some of these cultivators belonged to the authentic Xuanmen, and some of them were from somewhere not as authentic. Some of them looked as though they were wilting and near the end of their lives.
One of them caught Shen Lian’s attention. When Shen Lian first detected him, he almost ignored him, until he felt the sudden treble of the fire within the Xuande sword. He turned cautious and glanced at the direction of the person.
The person had an average look. He was dressed in a robe that seemingly had been worn for a long time. The black sword on the table looked like it had some sort of evil power.
These little observations were not sufficient to make Shen Lian cautious. Primarily, the person had a unique glance. If one was full of confidence, he had particularly clear eyes. If wisdom was part of the package, the eyes would look deeper. These descriptions were rather generic, but they fitted most profiles well.
What Shen Lian realized about this person was the lack of luster in his eyes. They gave out the feeling that there was only a shell left.
A more suitable description would be a walking corpse.
You would not be able to understand what he was thinking or would be doing, and this made him extremely dangerous. Shen Lian was not afraid of danger or this type of person, and hence he was still eating and drinking leisurely.
When the person was eating, it felt like he was extremely hungry. He went through the food quickly and he did not seem like he was afraid of getting choked.
For most cultivators, once they passed the stage of Tongmai, they would be able to make use of the Qi of vitality. As a result, they did not need to eat anymore. They would still eat occasionally to satisfy their appetite.
Regardless of the speed of eating, whether it was fast or slow would not affect their body. This was because once the food entered the body, they would be transformed into Qi to improve their vigor.
This type of digestion was extremely speedy. According to the ancient legends, some cultivators on earth could stand not eating or drink for a month. When they started eating again, they could eat a few cows, and yet their stomach would not be bloated. This was because the food was all transformed to Qi.
When the person finished eating, he picked up the sword.
When he picked up the sword, he became different. He started having luster in his eyes.
While Shen Lian was paying attention to him, he was not sure if the person was doing the same. He looked extremely focused, and his body started to generate some spiritual vibrations.
The spiritual vibrations were reflected in Shen Lian’s heart. There were indestructible gold, or form-changing water or vital wood.
There was not any symptom of the utilization of the Qi before the activation of a spell.
The interchanging and varying spiritual opportunity could only be felt by Shen Lian.
There was a treble in the void. A sword flashed by and all the remaining cultivators were shocked. There was a cut in the middle of everyone’s brows.
The person killed all the cultivators except for Shen Lian. He was not extremely powerful, but he was fast.
None of the cultivators managed to do anything before being exterminated. All of their Qi were raid.
The man with the black sword glanced at Shen Lian again, and left. He disappeared in the clouds. One could almost see the blood trace in the sky among the clouds.
Shen Lian still did not know who that person was, but he could tell that the cultivation method was cruel and evil.
He did not attempt to follow as the person was too fast.
It was a special shifting method. For most methods, there would be a period of acceleration, but it seemed that the person went from zero to maximum real quick.
It was similar to his speed of attack, which left nobody a chance to protect themselves.
There were lots of secret or mysterious techniques that were unknown in the world. It was not surprising that he did not know some of them. The only thing Shen Lian felt was out of place was the glance. He wondered when the person had met him before to have that complicated expression on his face.
He did not think too much about it. If there was something between them, they would meet again.
Shen Lian was also not afraid of him. Regardless of how much he wanted to prove that he was seeking the path to longevity to enjoy being alive, he became more and more indifferent.
Part of it was due to his increasing mastery of the Mastery of Senses. Another reason was that the more he cultivated, the less he fitted in to the world.
It was natural, akin to flood. If one did not allow the water to flow, it would affect other places.
Shen Lian would be at the capital of the Hanhai Kingdom until October fifteenth. He had seen a lot of cultivators, and some demon kings who blended in to the human world. He had heard a lot of interesting stories. That night, when there was a full moon, it would be the time when Chen Jianmei and Monk Baoguang conducted the Dao discussion in deity vanquishing.
The time was suggested by Monk Baoguang and the location was decided by Chen Jianmei.
It would be at Hanhai which was fifty miles away from the capital.