The Way of The Dao

A figure flew over a huge forest. A subtle but powerful spirit sense covered from every leaf to every giant tree, scanning each place completely.

"I've covered a large portion, but I have yet to discover some trace of strange energy..." Ling Tian pursed his lips and sighed.

Several days had passed and he had scanned every area and place he passed by.

"This bad presentiment is getting stronger and stronger as time goes by as well..."

The premonition that a disaster would occur continued to gradually increase, expressing to him to be prepared and, above all, that his current strength would not be enough yet.

* Purr *

The little white fox on his shoulder purred, nuzzling against his head, as if she really sensed his worry.

Ling Tian smiled at her and stroked her soft head.

Roar!

A fierce roar was heard, attracting Ling Tian's attention.

* Slash! *

Ling Tian sent out a heavenly sword and easily cleaved the demonic beast in half.

"There are still some left that hid or are far away from the city."

Demonic beasts between the Chi Gathering stage and the Foundation Establishment stage could be rarely encountered between each zone. Some small hordes might even be encountered.

"Also, I hope to find another teleportation zone. Although the one in Star City might be the only one, I hope there could be one more. If not, the only option would be to return back to that other world again..."

The teleportation circle he had seen in the sect of the other world had similar patterns to those found in the teleportation zones in the Cultivation Worlds, therefore, Ling Tian was certain that such a formation could take him back to one of the Cultivation Worlds.

The only drawback would be that he might enter an unknown Cultivation World.

* Click *

A sound was heard as the jade in his robe lit up, taking it in his hand and pouring out his spirit sense.

"Qingwu?"

The signal came from the jade he had given Shan Qingwu. This was the first time he had received a signal from any of them, so she should have found something important.

"I feel that it's not too far from here..." Ling Tian soon found the location where the signal had come from.

The small world was not large compared to the Cultivation Worlds, so in a few months he could completely check the entire world, but Ling Tian decided to ask everyone for help to shorten the time.

Ling Tian quickly headed towards the place where Shan Qingwu was located.

Tele transporting calmly, it took him a few breaths to get to where she was.

"Senior Brother!" Shan Qingwu shouted once she saw Ling Tian arrive.

Ling Tian nodded and asked, "What was it you found?"

"There!" Shan Qingwu pointed towards an area in front of her, causing Ling Tian to look in such a direction.

"That's..." Ling Tian was a bit surprised when he looked in the direction where Shan Qingwu was pointing.

The place where Shan Qingwu was pointing, was a strange little wasteland that at its center had a strange tree, with its brightly colored leaves that seemed to be created with sunlight but at the same time looked like they were dying.

Patterns of small flowers surrounded the strange tree in the middle of the wasteland, with a strange feeling filling the atmosphere.

It even looked like this tree was in the middle of what was a large space where before it might have been a large lake or part of a river...

"When I passed by here, this place was drier and didn't look so good, so I felt sorry for it, so I conjured up a water spell to water these flowers and trees. But when I was casting the spell some of my energy was drawn into the tree and it immediately glowed for a moment, making its leaves grow and shine in such a way, while the plants around it also grew a little more..."

Shan Qingwu explained what she had done in the last few moments.

When she passed by, she was a little saddened by the landscape being so dry, so without hesitation, she wanted to revive it a little by using a water spell. But this caused a strange occurrence to manifest and some of her energy was absorbed into this area.

With this strange occurrence, she decided to notify that she had found something strange. Although she did not know if this could be the core Ling Tian had said, it could still be a sign or something important to discover.

Ling Tian approached towards the tree and soon encountered a weak barrier while at the same time receiving a feeling to move away from the place.

With this in mind, a smile was drawn on his face.

This was a part of the core of the world!

* Purr! *

Even the little white fox purred, wanting to express to him that this place was very strange.

"You are very lucky." After a while, Ling Tian smiled happily and said, "This undoubtedly is the core of this world, or at least it is the connection to the true core..."

Sometimes, a core would be in a different space-time in the same world, so it is impossible that it would ever be found. But there are special paths or domains where a part of the core could be reached, resulting in being almost in the presence of the true core.

But in a small world on a lower plane, the core could be easily found by anyone sometimes.

Shan Qingwu was surprised and immediately smiled happily that she was able to find what Ling Tian had asked for.

Ling Tian soon poured his power into the jade, warning everyone to stop searching and go to where the two of them were.

"It will take a long time for the others to come, for now let's concentrate on what we have to do..."

Shan Qingwu nodded and observed the place in detail, wondering if that strange tree really was the core of the world.

Ling Tian found a way to be able to heal the small world, so after a while, he took out all the materials he had, as well as his cauldron and the jade pieces.

A slight frown appeared on his face before he took out some space rings from his Little World and then refined them with some other materials.

After a short while, an exquisite and delicate storage ring fell into Ling Tian's palm.

"It has the same space as the girls', so it's fine." He nodded in satisfaction.

"Qingwu." Turning to look at Shan Qingwu, Ling Tian handed her the spatial ring and said, "This is your storage ring, I refined it and increased the space inside, so you should be able to store many things. You just need to use your spirit sense to be able to store and extract things."

"Thank you, Senior Brother!" Shan Qingwu smiled happily and with much appreciation, placing the amazing and legendary storage ring on one of her fingers.

Shan Qingwu soon stored the middle-grade spirit sword she carried hanging on the side of her waist, wearing this amazing item in fascination.

Ling Tian smiled softly before throwing all the materials he had in the cauldron and pouring his power into it, creating a powerful fire and starting to refine all the items.

"To make an array and attract spiritual energy to heal a world, it would need high level materials and a lot of power. But with a simpler, lower grade version, you could still get the same result, but in the long run..."

The fire expanded, increasing the temperature coming out of the cauldron while refining the items inside. Shan Qingwu paid attention to every move made by Ling Tian, being amazed by everything he could do.

Yun Mengxin arrived first and nodded to Shan Qingwu, standing to the side of Ling Tian as she watched him refine and waited for him so as not to disturb him.

Ling Tian calmly took his time to refine while waiting for the others.

By the time Ling Tian finished refining the materials, everyone had arrived. More than a day had passed.

They had all learned that the place they were at was the possible core of this world.

"Fine, you're all here now."

"Did you finish what you needed?" Zhang Xinya asked when she saw Ling Tian take out various things from the cauldron.

"Uhm, I'll build a spiritual energy gathering formation..." Ling Tian looked at the jade slips in his hands, pursing his lips as he thought of a remote possibility.

Tang Wanying noticed Ling Tian's expression and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I don't want to get ahead of myself and worry you, I will first place this array to gather spiritual energy." Ling Tian shook his head and flew to the tree in the middle.

Hm?

Ling Tian encountered a subtle resistance that grew slightly stronger with every second, conveying a feeling that he shouldn't approach.

* Boom! *

A burst of spiritual energy sent Ling Tian flying back.

"What happened?!"

Everyone was shocked to see Ling Tian suddenly being blown away.

Ling Tian had an expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he looked at the tree in the middle of the place.

"I didn't think this world could actually develop a spirit..." Ling Tian stretched his body, causing the slight numbness to disappear.

"Spirit?"

Everyone wondered what Ling Tian meant by this.

Then, they watched Ling Tian slowly walk to what seemed to be the division of the wasteland towards the tree.

"I just want to help you so that you can recover without any trouble, your World Laws and Principles are slowly degrading..."