The Way of The Dao

After a while, they quickly arrived at the Celestial Spring Yin Lake.

"This is the place?" Xuanyuan Ling whispered as she looked at her surroundings and finally at the lake that looked somewhat ordinary.

There was nothing eye-catching or different to say that could tell that it could increase strength or be a cultivation paradise. The Lake is the only thing that caught her attention due to the fact that the water was very crystal clear and clean, plus it seemed to have reduced considerably.

But on Jiu Ming's side, her eyes flickered in surprise as she observed the lake before exclaiming, "Celestial Spring Yin Lake!"

She knew about this!

Xuanyuan Ling looked with surprise at Jiu Ming and then at Ling Tian as she wanted to know what was so great about this lake. The others also looked at Ling Tian.

"This is a lake that contain a mysterious but powerful energy inside. If you two cultivate, you will increase your cultivation but mainly build a stronger and more stable base; in case you have a high cultivation, the bases will still be strengthened and the cultivation capacity will increase, far surpassing all other cultivators. It also purifies your body and marrow completely, to the point of increasing your capability and potential to cultivate. It can even create a spirit root in you if you don't have one." Ling Tian commented on the benefits to be gained from cultivating within this lake.

"Will we be able to cultivate as well, Master?" Shin Wei became interested as he looked at the lake.

They most likely wouldn't be able to increase their cultivation, but the washing of the marrow and the entire body along with the increased ability to cultivate was something they couldn't pass up. If they had a qualitative change in their bodies, they would be able to cultivate faster in the future.

Ling Tian shook his head and said, "Only females can cultivate. If any of you tried to enter, you would be fiercely repelled to the point of getting serious injuries."

The men were discouraged by this and sighed with disappointment. Their gaze towards Xuanyuan Ling seemed to convey some envy at being able to gain great benefits from the lake.

"Little Zhentian raise a barrier around the lake." Ling Tian indicated and Hao Zhentian created the barrier without hesitation.

"You two go inside. When you feel some tingling in your meridians and a slight stabbing pain then you should come out." Ling Tian explained to them what they might feel once they entered and the right time to come out, "Don't worry, you can take almost more than 1 month inside, so I need you to concentrate and don't worry about the rest. I will stay here for anything, so you cultivate peacefully."

Ling Tian's gaze was especially on Xuanyuan Ling when he said the last. Jiu Ming did not need to be reminded, it was only Xuanyuan Ling who did not know about this and Ling Tian told her not to worry.

Both women entered and almost screamed as their clothes were torn to shreds by the surprisingly fierce energy that covered their bodies, especially Xuanyuan Ling who quickly tried to cover herself with her arms and almost made herself crouch. But then she let out a relief as she saw the barrier around them that prevented seeing to the other side, so she thanked Ling Tian as he knew what would happen.

Soon, both women entered the center of the lake and began to cultivate in peace.

"I think it might need one more person to cultivate inside... but I hope it will be enough with the two of them." Ling Tian murmured as he observed the amount of water in the lake. The amount seemed to be enough for both women and even gave the illusion that there would be room for one more.

If the energy and water on the side were completely consumed, Ling Tian would be able to access the natural treasure beneath it.

Essence of Dawn and Life!

This could be useful in repairing his damaged Dantian and meridians. But Ling Tian still had to check his body well.

* Purr! *

At this moment, the little white fox on his shoulder purred as it nuzzled its head against Ling Tian's.

In some strange way, Ling Tian could understand as if this creature was transmitting its thoughts to him and he turned to look at it and asked, "Can you also absorb the energy of this lake?"

Ling Tian felt that this little creature might know his thoughts and that there was one more space to drain the whole lake completely, therefore it wanted to help.

The little white fox nodded with a shake of its head before jumping down from Ling Tian's shoulder. Ling Tian said nothing and let this creature absorb the energy, maybe it could also increase its strength.

But curiously, the little white fox curled into a ball under the shade of a tree near the lake. That same place it had used before when the other women were cultivating at the lake.

Now, Ling Tian could observe that a slight part of the lake's energy was directed toward the little white fox.

"Now all we have left to do is wait." Ling Tian let out a sigh of relief and then asked, "Did you cover the whole world? Did you find anything else?"

"We didn't find any other cities or people." Hao Zhentian replied and added, "We also got rid of all the demonic beasts, so there are none left."

Ling Tian had told them to check the surroundings for demonic hordes and other more cultivators who had arrived but did not join the battlefield and instead escaped far away.

"Master..."

As Ling Tian was about to ask them more about them, Ying Chen's slightly worried voice was heard.

"What's wrong?" Ling Tian noticed that these guys' expressions changed and a bit of helplessness and sorrow could be noticed, as well as a hesitation to say something.

The atmosphere became a little gloomy before Hao Zhentian opened his mouth and said with some sorrow, "Master, we still haven't found any news of Ning Xiaoyi and Xi Fei..."

Ling Tian blinked in surprise before a soft smile came across his face and he patted Hao Zhentian's shoulder reassuringly.

That time when he returned to the continente from where he had been separated from both women, Ling Tian searched for them everywhere for a long time.

Ling Tian had sacrificed himself to save both of them when they encountered a demon cultivator who was stronger than them and they could not escape, therefore, Ling Tian did not think about it and sent both women away while he distracted the man.

But when Ling Tian thought he was far enough away, he saw that both women came back. Perhaps to help him since they had said they would not abandon him.

But before both women got close enough, Ling Tian and the demonic cultivator were swallowed up by a strange teleportation zone.

Unfortunately when Ling Tian was being covered by the teleportation light moments before disappearing, he noticed that two other demonic cultivators giving off the same dark aura like the man suddenly appeared and started attacking Ning Xiaoyi and Xi Fei, which they were taken by surprise and almost died if they didn't manage to react in time.

Clearly those demon cultivators were much stronger than both women.

Ling Tian somehow managed to survive and wandered for a long time in the place where he was transported. Then he managed to get out of that strange world and when he arrived at another cultivation continent, it was when he was aware of the relationship of Time in those worlds.

Once Ling Tian finally returned to the Heavenly Earth continent, Ling Tian searched for both women but found no trace of them. He couldn't even find their bodies...

Although Ling Tian knew deep down that he would never be able to see them anymore, he still did not want to throw away that little piece of hope he had in his heart to find them. Therefore, he began to adopt these boys and girls when they were very young; children that he could educate and influence in such a way that they would help him to search for these women.

Yes, Ling Tian was somewhat hypocritical back then. That was why when he found and took care of Hao Zhentian, the first official disciple, Ling Tian was not very affectionate and was only focused on finding those two women. He trained Hao Zhentian hard and only saw him as a disciple, nothing more.

But as time went on, when he found more children and trained them, making them stronger, that's when he realized what he was doing and how he was living back then.

Those children were the very ones who helped him to move forward, again feeling what it was like to have a real family and the bonds that were created when love and affection grew between them.

Ling Tian understood that somehow fate seemed to want to give him another kind of love and emotion; forming a family by taking care of those children that appeared in his life.

And thanks to all that love and joy of having those children as his little siblings, almost like his children, it was then that Ling Tian was able to overcome his Demon of the Heart and break the shackles so that he could ascend to the higher plane.

"I know." These were the only words that came out of Ling Tian's mouth. He was very grateful to these guys knowing that they still kept looking for news of Ning Xiaoyi and Xi Fei, even though he told them not to do so anymore before he left and ascended to the Immortal World.

Ling Tian now carries the memories of those two women in his heart, hoping that if both women were to be reborn and he could meet them again, even if they did not remember him, he would now protect them and let them live a happy life as the three of them had promised each other back then.