Inside the quiet forest cave, the black-robed figure let out a faint chuckle upon hearing Su Lin's question. A moment later, he replied in a calm voice.
"It isn't important who I am. What's important... is who you are." When Su Lin heard those words, despite how calm and pleasant the voice sounded, he felt a chill colder than the harshest winter seep into his bones. Before Su Lin could react, the black-robed figure vanished from his spot. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before Su Lin, seized him by the neck with one hand, and effortlessly lifted him into the air.
"Tell me... who are you, and why is Elder Su Hong's ring in your possession?"
When Su Lin heard the unknown man's words, he did not hesitate for even a moment. Ignoring the pain around his neck, he immediately replied.
"S-Su Hong... is my uncle. My name is Su Lin."
When the black-robed man heard those words, a faint spark flashed across his eyes. His grip unconsciously loosened.
Freed from his grasp, Su Lin stumbled back a step and clutched his neck, taking several deep breaths to steady himself. Even then, he did not dare lower his guard, keeping his gaze fixed on the mysterious man.
After regaining his composure, he looked at the black-robed figure and asked in a cautious voice.
"Who... who are you?"
"Who am I? Hahaha..., allow me to introduce myself, Su Lin. My name is Shan Yan... someone who once knew your uncle."
Hearing those words, Su Lin stared at the man without blinking, his mind sinking into deep thought.
Seeing Su Lin's expression, Shan Yan spoke in a gentle voice.
"What's with that expression? Tell me... where is Elder Su Hong?"
Hearing Shan Yan's question, the trace of liveliness on Su Lin's face gradually faded.
After a long silence, he began recounting everything that had happened.
He told Shan Yan about the day he met Feng Yin, how Uncle Hong had sacrificed himself, and how he had been brought to this unfamiliar place. He continued with his struggle to survive in the forest, his experiences within the Heaven's Dao Sect, and finally the series of misfortunes and humiliations that had led him to this cave.
When he finished, the cave fell into complete silence.
"So... you're telling me that someone as powerful as Elder Su Hong was killed by an unknown man named Feng Yin?" When Shan Yan finally broke the silence, Su Lin could clearly see the anger and anxiety reflected in his eyes. After some time, he looked at Shan yan and spoke in a much friendlier voice.
"Shan Yan, I don't know what your relationship with Uncle Hong is, but the day when he died, I made a promise to myself to become stronger and take my revenge." When Shan Yan heard Su Lin's words, he took a deep look at Su Lin and said to him.
"Okay, if that's the case, you will come with me from now on. I will teach you how to cultivate, and we will take your revenge together." Hearing those words, Su Lin couldn't control his emotions. He looked at his ring, then nodded in Shan Yan's direction.
"That's good. Then come with me, because if you're going to cultivate in this cave, you may reach the second layer of Qi Refining Stage in thirty years." When Su Lin heard Shan Yan's words and saw his leaving figure outside the cave, he took his things and went toward Shan Yan's direction.
When Su Lin came outside the cave, he saw Shan Yan taking care of a brown horse. Seeing Shan Yan's actions, a confused look came into his eyes.
"What are you doing standing there? We will travel by this horse." Hearing Shan Yan's words, Su Lin came out of his thinking state and stood beside Shan Yan. When Shan Yan and Su Lin both sat on the horse, Shan Yan guided the horse in one direction.
After some time later, Su Lin asked Shan Yan, "You are an immortal, then why are we using this horse to travel? Can't we fly in the air?"
Hearing Su Lin's words, Shan Yan laughed for some time, then replied to him,
"Su Lin, you don't know cultivation. That's why you are saying such words. When you start cultivating, you will understand. By the way, you mentioned a cultivation manual. Can you give it to me?"
After hearing Shan Yan's words, Su Lin gave the cultivation manual to him. When Shan Yan took the manual, he looked at it, then threw it away. Seeing his actions, Su Lin was stunned for a moment, then asked in a trembling voice,
"What have you done? Do you know how much humiliation I suffered just to get that?" When Shan Yan heard Su Lin's words, he looked at him and replied to him,
"It's just low-grade trash, and you haven't even awakened yet. How will you cultivate when you haven't awakened your dantian yet?"
As the horse moved faster, cutting through the wind with its speed, Su Lin asked many questions, but Shan Yan didn't pay any attention to him.
By evening, when the sun was giving signs of setting, Su Lin and Shan Yan were resting their tired bodies at their camp. Right now, both of them were preparing dinner.
"Su Lin, you asked me what dantian awakening is. Then listen."
When Su Lin heard Shan Yan's words, he looked at him, gave a nod, and started listening to his words with great focus.
As Shan Yan said to Su Lin, he told him how much dantian awakening matters to a cultivator. When a mortal wants to cultivate the energy of Heaven and Earth, he needs a sufficient foundation. But when a human is born, they don't possess such foundation, so this so-called awakening is just to open the path in your dantian in order to allow the flow of spiritual energy.
When we open the path to our dantian and circulate spiritual energy through our body and dantian, it is called our foundation. But why is there a need to cultivate? Because every living being in this world is not perfect. Everyone has their own flaws. To get rid of them and achieve perfection, we created cultivation and their cultivation realms.
From the immemorial times, humans made many ways of cultivation, but most of them gradually disappeared in the river of time. Nowadays, everyone uses one cultivation standard. In this standard, they first reach the Qi Refining Stage. In this stage, they don't use many divine abilities. They basically cultivate spiritual energy and stabilize the foundation structure. In the Qi Refining Stage, they need to complete their nine circles to break through to the next stage. The first five circles represent the five elements. After that, they represent Heaven, Earth, and Human. The last circle represents Life. And when they achieve the Circle of Life, they break through to the next stage, which is the Foundation Establishment Stage.
As time passed, Shan Yan told many things regarding cultivation to Su Lin. Hearing those words, a much deeper understanding came to his mind.
"Shan Yan, then what is the Soul Formation Stage, and when will I get there?" Hearing Su Lin's words, Shan Yan gave a smile toward him and started looking at the stars of the coming night.
"It is a long journey, but first we need to awaken your dantian. Then we need sufficient resources to get stronger. As I said, right now I am just in the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, and you are just a mortal. It is impossible for us to take revenge."
Hearing Shan Yan's words, Su Lin started thinking about the day when Feng Yin killed Uncle Hong so easily without much effort. That day, he did not know much about the power gap between him and Feng Yin, but now, when he listened to Shan Yan's words, he understood that in Feng Yin's eyes, he was really an insignificant bug that could be killed at any time.
"Then how will we get stronger?"
When Shan Yan heard Su Lin's words, he looked at him and said in a frustrated voice.
"I just told you how to cultivate, and now you are asking me this. Save this curiosity for later, and now sleep. Tomorrow we will head to a place where we can awaken your dantian."
Hearing those words, Su Lin gave a smile to Shan Yan, lay down on the rock, and started looking at the stars. While looking at them, he recalled everything Shan Yan had said to him, but some time later, he remembered that he had not mentioned one thing. Realizing this, he looked in Shan Yan's direction and said to him.
"Shan Yan, you did not tell me about cultivation talent."
"It is just the potential of your body, how fast you can cultivate, and it is decided by your dantian, by how many paths you can open." Shan Yan said with no hurry and with no expression.
"Then can you check my talent?" Su Lin knew that he had no cultivation talent, but he wanted to know whether what Sima Tai had said was the whole truth or not.
Some time later, Shan Yan placed his hand on Su Lin's dantian and closed his eyes. After some time, he opened them and looked at Su Lin.
"Oh, that's why they said you didn't have talent. Don't worry, you can open three paths at most, and it's sufficient to cultivate. Also, a person can open thirteen paths at most. Now don't bother me."
Hearing Shan Yan's words that he could cultivate, a drop of tear came to his eyes. It was small, but it was there. Right now, it's not important that he has low potential. The important thing is that he can cultivate.
"By the way, how many paths did you open?"
When Shan Yan heard Su Lin's question, his lips curved into a faint smile, but he didn't reply to him.