?Wu Long sat in the hot spring with two exhausted but satisfied women in his arms, smiling as they put their heads on his shoulders.

“Hmm, this Arcane Spring sure is a good place. It is a shame it is too young for it to be truly effective”

Wu Long chuckled, causing Lian Zhiqiu to wryly smile at what he considered young.

Because the Peak of Unity was located right at the Eye of the Dragon Vein of the Spiritual Land, its very heart, cultivation here was far more effective than in other places.

And the hot spring they were currently in was what was commonly called the “Arcane Spring”, which root was embedded in the very center of that heart.

Not every Spiritual Land’s Dragon Vein had an Arcane Spring, so it was quite precious, but this Spiritual Land was only about 10000 years old, likely coming into existence when the Dragon Vein was exposed by the Great Calamity, so the Spring has not accumulated enough potency.

Not to mention that Arcane Springs were hidden until unlocked from the earth in most cases, which was why Lian Zhiqiu could take such a precious location for herself without much encroachment from other sects or aspiring sect founders.

The reason Hua Ziyan could dual cultivate not so long after such an intense cultivation session in their seclusion that would have usually taken far more to recover from, and Lian Zhiqiu who had spent almost all of her Yin Qi the night before could do the same was precisely because of this hot spring. Though they have used quite a bit of its efficacy for that to happen.

As Wu Long sat in the hot water with two beauties and felt the peacefulness and bliss of the moment while basking in the effects of the Arcane Spring, enjoying the beauty of nature around as well as lightly contemplating his ideas in the back of his head, the Water Rune coursing through his veins started emitting formless ripples and his gaze became unfocused as if in a daze.

“..?… this is…!?”

Lian Zhiqiu felt something and as she looked up at him, Hua Ziyan instantly received a Sound Transmission telling her not to move.

The two of them felt Wu Long’s presence slightly change, becoming vague and indistinct, as if blending into the world around as his eyes looked forward in a light daze.

Droplets of water started rising around him and the surface of the water had ripples spread through it with him at the center while the steam rising from the spring started moving in beautiful patterns and streams.

‘A sudden enlightenment…’

Lian Zhiqiu could not believe what she was witnessing but then again now that she knew his identity there was no possibility she could outright exclude anymore.

It was a spontaneous, unpredictable, ephemeral, profound and incredibly mysterious event that was not rooted in talent, skill or comprehension, and could not be traced to any other trait or circumstance despite the near infinite and thorough attempts to understand the phenomenon.

Not only the conditions of getting into that state were unclear, but even the results seemed completely random, as someone of meager talent could gain great achievements from it while someone talented could only gain something mediocre, with every other possible result occurring at random throughout the Seven Boundless Worlds, and there was no way to tell why.

Both Lian Zhiqiu and Hua Ziyan soon could hear very indistinct and barely hearable chanting of voices, which seemed like hundreds and yet one at the same time, both male and female while the droplets of water thar rose into the air around Wu Long started to vibrate, sending formless ripples through the air as both of them widened their eyes even further in disbelief as this defied descriptions of what constituted sudden enlightenment, but then their eyes became dazed as well as they froze.

—

An ordinary looking woman stepped on a mountain peak, her plain white robes flattering softly around her as she seemingly floated down just now to land on the rocky cliff.

“Haa~ all that ruckus because of that slug… I must have missed so much because of that useless farce, what a was-… hm?” .

She heavily sighed with annoyance and spoke with lament, but stopped mid-word as her attention was drawn to something happening on a distant mountain peak with a tree blooming out of season and a hot spring that emitted steam into the chilly night air.

“This is… the Voice of the Grand Dao…!? How… !?” .

Her eyes widened in shock as her ears picked up indistinct chanting of an unknown number of voices. Her eyes flashed gold as mysterious and profound patterns appeared in them, and then her face showed an expression of pure and unmasked bewilderment.

“D-Dao Runes?!?!”

She half-whispered half-exclaimed with astonishment as her eyes became glued to a sight of a handsome man.

“… haha, hahahaha! I was right, this young man really is too interesting to miss seeing… hahaha”

After a long period of looking into that direction her facial features and figure started changing as her appearance became that of a goddess untainted by the mundane world, her lips curled up in a bewitching smile as she started somewhat exasperatingly laughing, shaking her head, delight appearing in her eyes alongside the apparent shock and rapidly surfacing curiosity.

The features that seemed to have frozen in time becoming lively and excited, making her surreal beauty a little more human-like, and yet at the same time even more mesmerizing.

As she looked she then noticed a resonance as the entire Dragon Vein was pulsating with energy. Such phenomena were felt by cultivators all around the Three Continents as all Spiritual Lands were pulsating with Spiritual Qi.

Her eyes widened once more as she looked to the other direction, where the Central Sea was covered in a storm of chaotic space as the whole of the fractured world shook intensely with a series of earthquakes.

“It awakened~…? … No… but it is close…

What happened while I was away?…

Damn that filthy maggot!!! It’s his fault I missed the most interesting parts!

Next time even if it lands me in trouble I’ll not only threaten him for sure…”

As her glowing gold-colored eyes were filling with wonder and infinite curiosity born from the previous all-consuming and dreadful boredom, her facial expression suddenly shifted to a dark and sinister one as she clenched her delicate-looking fists, the world around her changing in color as she isolated herself and the ripple created by that action, which would have torn through the entire continent, just in time so that it only blasted a sizable layer of rock beneath her feet with no resistance whatsoever so it simply dissipated into nothingness, and did not spread any further.

The last earthquake settled after some time, but there was no longer any sight of the beauty on the half-disappeared mountain peak.

—

Lian Zhiqiu was the first to awaken from the dazed state, her eyes flashing with a profound light, as she immediately closed her eyes in a half-meditative state.

Hua Ziyan woke up not very long after, ripples spreading from her as she reached the 3rd level of Core Formation Realm, following her master and closing her eyes as well.

The water droplets around them slowly started turning into steam and flow into the stream of it that rose from the hot spring.

And then, a profound ripple of Spiritual Qi spread from Wu Long, contained by the formation of the Peak of Unity that Lian Zhiqiu activated as soon as she sensed his state, not being mistaken in her judgement as the strength and intensity of the ripple was far too conspicuous.

His eyes regained focus and a mysterious light shone in the depths as he his surroundings reverberated with palpable sensation of an invisible and incorporeal, ethereal force.

He closed his eyes alongside his ladies, and time quietly passed as they all looked like they peacefully fell asleep in the hot spring.

As their eyes opened, Lian Zhiqiu smiled toward him and shook her head in disbelief.

“You really are unfathomable… haha, congratulations on reaching the Foundation Building Realm, Wu Long”

𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮