Ling Tian was lying inside a cave, slowly waking up.
"Where am I?" That was the first thought that crossed his mind as he regained consciousness.
He tried to open his eyes and succeeded with great difficulty. Soon, Ling Tian realized he was inside a cave behind a waterfall. The only sound he could hear now was the rushing water, and the cave was filled with the scent of damp earth.
It seemed the pill he had taken had some effect, as his injuries had stopped bleeding. However, with any movement, he felt as if his entire body was being pricked by countless needles.
Breathing laboriously, he looked around and saw the wolf lying some distance away. Sensing Ling Tian's gaze, it lifted its head and looked toward him.
It rose and came over to Ling Tian's side, howling a few times beside him with a somewhat angry expression.
But Ling Tian, despite his labored breathing, immediately understood what it meant.
It was saying: "Although I've become your subordinate, don't get the wrong idea. I don't consider myself to have lost to you."
Ling Tian looked at it and said mockingly, "You didn't lose to me? Then who was the one with a sword just inches from their neck?"
The wolf howled even louder this time. Ling Tian understood it was saying: "But your end wouldn't have been any different from mine, so how can you count that as a win?"
This time, Ling Tian didn't mock it. He just looked at the wolf and said with difficulty, "You're right about that. So, I won't consider you my subordinate, but my partner. What do you think, partner?"
When the wolf heard this, it seemed genuinely happy, and the sharpness in its gaze toward Ling Tian diminished greatly. Seeing how happy it was, Ling Tian was quite surprised. Even though he had said that, practically speaking, the wolf's life was still in his hands.
But then he realized something: "That's right, it's smarter than most spirit beasts at the Qi Condensation stage, but even the intelligence of a Foundation Building stage spirit beast doesn't exceed that of a ten-year-old child." Ling Tian pondered, gauging the wolf's mental level.
As Ling Tian was thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of a rumbling stomach.
Ling Tian looked at the wolf with a smile, then with difficulty, took out a boar leg he had hunted earlier.
When the wolf saw the boar leg, its tail started wagging rapidly.
Amused by the sight, Ling Tian began moving the leg left and right.
The wolf's eyes followed the leg with a greedy gaze, and drool actually began to drip from its mouth.
Ling Tian laughed, but his chest immediately ached from the motion. Once the pain subsided, he stopped teasing the wolf and threw the leg to it.
The wolf didn't waste a second, pouncing on its meal immediately. Watching the wolf eating without a care in the world, Ling Tian thought quietly, "This wolf really does have the mind of a child."
During this thought, he realized the wolf didn't have a name yet. So, he turned to it and said, "Since you don't have a name, why don't I give you one?"
Hearing Ling Tian's words, the wolf didn't let go of the meat. While chewing, it merely nodded its head and continued eating.
Ling Tian almost laughed at the wolf's behavior, but remembering the pain it caused, he restrained himself.
He began thinking of a suitable name: "Well, the family name Ling with a suitable given name, what should it be?"
After thinking for a moment, Ling Tian looked at the wolf and said, "How about Ling Yan?"
When Ling Yan heard his name, he stopped eating, lifted his head, and howled happily at Ling Tian, then returned to finish his food.
"It seems he likes it," Ling Tian thought, quietly watching Ling Yan.
A question had been circling in Ling Tian's mind since he discovered Ling Yan had been hiding his strength, but he waited for Ling Yan to finish eating before asking, as he suspected Ling Yan wouldn't answer anything in his current state.
After Ling Yan finished his meal, Ling Tian, leaning against the cave wall, said, "So, Ling Yan, how did you become so intelligent? You should know that you're much smarter compared to a beast of your same level."
When Ling Yan heard Ling Tian's words, he didn't answer. Instead, he turned and went to a rock on the other side of the cave, began moving it with his head, revealing a very narrow passage, so small Ling Tian could only pass through on his knees.
Ling Yan lifted his head proudly, as if saying, See how smart I am.
Ling Tian didn't know what to say, looking at Ling Yan strangely. "Is this really the same wolf that almost killed me?"
Ling Yan went into the passage, and Ling Tian followed, even though his whole body was screaming in pain. He wanted to know what was at the end of the passage.
After a few seconds, Ling Tian finally managed to stand. All he saw was an almost empty pond emitting spiritual energy. Above it was a small lotus, blue in color, and the ceiling was covered with plants hanging down.
Behind the pond was a strange gate with carvings whose meaning Ling Tian didn't know. Beside it, there seemed to be a place for something to be placed, but he didn't know what it was.
Ling Tian realized there was a secret behind this gate, but he ignored it for now because he had no idea what the carvings meant, and because he had identified the reason for Ling Yan's intelligence: the Tranquil Lotus Water.
It was water that greatly strengthens a person's mental powers. Even someone at the Foundation Building stage would feel a significant change in their mental energy.
Not to mention a wolf that had consumed all this amount. Ling Tian began to think Ling Yan was truly foolish. With this amount, even the biggest fool could become a sage.
But something puzzled Ling Tian, and he asked Ling Yan, "Why didn't you consume all the water here?"
Ling Yan replied that he had tried, but realized that drinking more of this water no longer benefited him.
Ling Tian understood this was realistic, as the effects of any spiritual item diminish with use. But having immunity to something that would make Foundation Building farmers fight each other was something Ling Tian didn't know how to react to.
Ling Tian stopped paying attention to Ling Yan, entered the pond, and began drinking everything.
After finishing, Ling Tian felt his mental energy had at least doubled. This greatly pleased Ling Tian, and he thought, "Now with this mental energy, I can easily become an alchemist and get rich."
Ling Tian was very happy and began imagining his days as an alchemist while lifting his head.
But when he lifted his head and saw the blue lotus, he stopped his daydreams and jumped up with difficulty to take the lotus.
"Although cutting off the source of treasure is detestable among cultivators, I won't benefit from leaving it, because refilling a pond full of Tranquil Lotus Water might take five hundred years, and I don't have that much time." Thinking this in mid-air, he plucked the lotus.
Upon landing, he began examining the Aquatic Blue Lotus carefully. It was a beautiful, sea-blue lotus with five petals. But what Ling Tian was really wondering about was how much Qi this five-hundred-year-old plant would give him.
"Although Qi isn't the most important feature of the Aquatic Blue Lotus, five hundred years for a rare flower like this still means a vast amount of Qi."
After consuming it, Qi began flowing through Ling Tian's body at an incredible speed, healing all his injuries. He sat cross-legged in meditation.
After a few hours of digesting the Qi from the Aquatic Blue Lotus, Ling Tian awoke, feeling extremely happy.
"After digesting the Qi from the lotus, I feel like I only need a few months to reach the second stage of Qi Condensation," Ling Tian thought happily.
Although it didn't increase Ling Tian's cultivation level, this was due to his technique and spiritual roots. If someone else were here, they might have immediately reached the fourth stage of Qi Condensation.
Ling Tian sat, carefully observing Ling Yan while thinking, "If I had killed him in a fit of rage, I'd probably be dead by now. But because I controlled my emotions, both my mental abilities and cultivation have improved, and I also gained a partner. This truly confirms what the clan elders said: a cultivator who cannot control their emotions is seeking death."