When the aura of both Su Han and Shi Rui rose to the late stage of Qi Condensation, everyone was shocked, including Ling Tian.
"I expected they were in the late stage of Qi Condensation, but believing and seeing are completely different things." Ling Tian thought calmly.
But not everyone was as calm as Ling Tian. Lu Yin was trembling with fear and screamed while pointing his finger at them: "This... this is impossible! Why would two people like you travel in such a caravan?"
The duo didn't answer him and began moving to capture his gang.
In fact, they didn't exert much effort—they simply appeared behind each person and knocked them unconscious with a strike to the neck, then moved to the next person.
Ling Tian watched them with looks mixing longing and sadness: "Look at them, they're younger than me but they're dealing with something that threatens my life as if it's a game. Strength... I need strength." Ling Tian thought while clenching his hand tightly.
But suddenly a thought occurred to Ling Tian: "But can I really reach their level of strength?" With this thought, Ling Tian fell silent and the flame of determination in his eyes began to diminish little by little until it disappeared, replaced by an empty look.
It took Shi Rui and Su Han three breaths to deal with Lu Yin and his gang. It would have been faster if they had taken it seriously, but mere humans without cultivation didn't really deserve any seriousness from them.
Shi Rui threw the antidote she found on Lu Yin's body to Qi Ji saying: "Well, I'll leave taking care of the rest to you, Caravan Leader Qi."
After Qi Ji drank the antidote, he bowed slightly saying: "Thank you, Miss, I will never forget your favor, yours and Master Su's."
Such is the cultivation world—only the strong are respected. After Qi Ji learned they were cultivators in the late stage of Qi Condensation, he no longer dared call them anything but Master and Miss.
Shi Rui didn't care about how Qi Ji changed his way of addressing her, and looked at Ling Tian saying: "Caravan Leader Qi, don't you think you forgot someone?"
Ling Tian understood her meaning immediately and answered before Qi Ji could say anything: "I don't need gratitude, I was just trying to escape with my life and left you all behind."
But Qi Ji stepped forward and said something that surprised Ling Tian: "You're wrong, Young Master Ling, you really helped me, because by poisoning them you allowed the Master and Miss to capture them all."
Ling Tian answered in confusion: "And what difference would it make if you captured them all or not?"
Qi Ji answered patiently: "Of course there's a difference. If we captured them all, the person who sent them won't know the truth of what happened, and here he'll suspect there are two strong cultivators in my caravan, which will buy me some time. But if they had their cultivation, perhaps one would have escaped, so I'm indebted to you, Young Master Ling."
Ling Tian understood his meaning but said with his eyes full of emptiness: "I was just trying to survive, don't worry about these trivial matters."
Qi Ji was surprised by Ling Tian's response but said with determination: "Trivial or not, that's for me to decide."
Ling Tian didn't care and said indifferently: "Do whatever you want." Then he went and sat by the fire.
Qi Ji said nothing more and began giving the antidote to caravan members.
After a while, all caravan members recovered and everything returned to normal almost, except that no one talked or interacted with Ling Tian.
He seemed ostracized, and the guards' looks were a mixture of respect and fear, but Ling Tian was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't care.
He remained absorbed in his thoughts for an unknown time, until Shi Rui came and sat in front of him saying: "You look a little lonely."
Ling Tian raised his head slightly then returned his gaze to the fire: "Well, that's how relationships are. If you let someone down once, everything you built before will end. The only reason you can sit with me and they can't is that you didn't trust me from the beginning."
Shi Rui thought a little then answered while resting her head on her hand: "Well, you're right. But I have a question: how did you know I was hiding my strength?"
This time Ling Tian didn't raise his head and said indifferently: "It's simple. When you two drank the water, I saw you looking at each other with a meaningful glance, so I guessed you were hiding your strength."
When Shi Rui heard that, her eyes gleamed a little, but when she saw the look in his eyes, she frowned and said: "Ling Tian, you shouldn't compare yourself to me and Su Han. Our circumstances are different. I'm sure you wouldn't be far behind me if you had the same resources as me."
When Ling Tian heard her words, he began laughing loudly, then turned to her and said with a little anger in his voice: "I have five spiritual roots! Never mind the same resources, even if I got double the resources I wouldn't reach your level. So please leave me alone, you don't know how I feel."
Shi Rui was shocked by Ling Tian's words and didn't know what to say, so she remained silent looking at the fire with Ling Tian.
Then after an unknown time, she raised her head and said: "You're right, I don't know how you feel. But have you heard of the legend of Sword Saint Jiang?"
Ling Tian raised his head and answered in confusion: "No."
Shi Rui wasn't surprised and said: "Well, it's not a widespread legend. Sword Saint was a person like you, with five spiritual roots, but he didn't give up and kept working hard to reach the middle stage of Qi Condensation. Many people advised him to give up. Do you know what he told them?"
"What did he say?" Ling Tian asked.
Shi Rui answered with a smile: "He told them: Go to hell, I won't give up! So what if Heaven abandoned me? I don't care because I will never abandon myself, and I'll keep trying until death."
Ling Tian began muttering and a strong light began shining in his eyes: "If Heaven abandoned me, I won't abandon myself."
Shi Rui didn't mind Ling Tian's muttering and continued: "Well, the surprise is that he succeeded! He didn't despair and kept trying hard until he succeeded. But do you know that after he overcame that obstacle, he slowly ascended and became the strongest person in the Eastern Continent? Some even said he went to the Central Continent and ascended from there."
Ling Tian returned from his muttering and said: "But it's a legend, it's not certain if it's true or not."
Shi Rui smiled and said: "Does it really matter if it's true or not?"
Ling Tian was surprised by her words and said: "What do you mean?"
Shi Rui said calmly: "Do you know what's the best thing about legends? You decide whether you want to believe in them or not. So Ling Tian, do you want to live believing you'll reach your goal someday or not?"
Ling Tian was shocked by Shi Rui's words and his eyes began regaining their light, then after some time he said: "Thank you, I feel better now."
Then he stood up and said: "Well, I should go train. See you later."
"See you." Shi Rui waved her hand to Ling Tian while smiling, but suddenly she heard a voice behind her: "Why did you lie to him?"
Shi Rui turned to the voice's owner and answered with a smile while pretending to be naive: "What do you mean, Su Han?"
Su Han paid no attention to her and said: "Although the legend exists, Sword Saint didn't succeed through hard work, but because he was lucky and found Heavenly Lotus Water that extracted the other roots except the water root."
Shi Rui sighed a little then said: "I lied because he needed hope. Humans can't live without hope. Isn't the reason you follow me because I gave you hope?"
Ling Tian continued deeper into the forest until he found a suitable place for cultivation near the river.
Ling Tian sat in a cross-legged position and began trying to draw qi into his body.
After a period of starting training, Ling Tian realized something that made him jump with joy.
He realized that the elements had begun responding to him and started heading toward his body.
Ling Tian didn't know the reason for this change—perhaps because he talked with Shi Rui, which refined his spirit a little, or perhaps this was the right moment after two years of training.
Ling Tian didn't care much about this matter and began drawing elements into his body.
The qi was entering Ling Tian's body and heading to the dantian, from there it spread to the rest of his body then returned to the dantian. It was an infinite cycle.
At first, the amount of qi entering Ling Tian's body was small, but with time passing he began absorbing qi in large quantities.
It was so fast he resembled a black hole swallowing all the qi near him.
After a while, Ling Tian finally succeeded in reaching the first stage of Qi Condensation.
Ling Tian exhaled a little hot air while opening his eyes and looking at his hand.
"So this is how it feels to be a cultivator... it's really a nice feeling," Ling Tian thought while examining himself.
After examining himself, Ling Tian realized that his five senses had doubled in power. Now he could see ants from ten meters away, even in darkness, with all their details.
"Amazing, this is really amazing!" Ling Tian thought with enthusiasm.
Then after that he was silent for some time, then raised his head and looked at the stars before declaring: "I succeeded! I became a cultivator! I... became a cultivator!"
His words were quiet at first, but by the end of his statement, he was shouting toward the heavens.