Chapter 44: Ch 44 New realm.

"Huff!"

Wan Ling exhaled deeply as he opened his eyes to a cave frozen solid.

The walls were encased in thick layers of ice, the spiked ceiling completely icicled, with the droplets of water at its tips frozen.

The ground too was not spared, but it wasn’t covered in ice, but rather snow, a lot of snow.

Snow slightly tainted black with impurities.

"The stench isn’t as bad as before!" Wan Ling muttered, a bit relieved before rising up.

He was a bit confused about what to do.

For starters, he didn’t know how long he had been cultivating.

He knew it was more than a week because of the several times he had stopped in-between stages, but his breakthrough had been longer, hence he was a bit clueless.

Even so, it didn’t matter. He could just ask.

Right now, though, he felt rather proud.

For a whole decade, he had remained useless, but now he was allowed to grow.

"The first fragment has formed!" he muttered and tapped the area around his heart.

Cultivators before the Core Formation Stage, also known as the Golden Core Stage, didn’t have a core to store their Qi in.

Rather, they could keep a little amount within their body or draw from the world.

The world, as many had learnt, wasn’t always reliable, but when one reached the Golden Core Stage and successfully formed a core, they essentially had their own portable storage of Qi.

Which allowed faster and better manipulation of Qi.

Right now, Wan Ling was in the Qi Tempering Stage. He needed to advance once more into the Qi Refinement Stage, then the next breakthrough would lead him directly into the Core Formation Stage.

The journey seemed rather tedious and would very much be long, but at least he had it far easier than most.

"When will I finally be ready to kill that man?" he muttered as his gaze went up at the ceiling filled with sharp icicles.

His uncle was a powerhouse, so it served to say he too needed to become a powerhouse.

Sighing at that thought, he rose and, with the slight movement of his hands, the surrounding ice crumbled into a mist.

Wan Ling moved through the mist and arrived at the entrance of the cave, shrouded by a waterfall.

Walking through it, the water beat heavily against his shoulder, but he didn’t even feel an ounce of pain.

It was akin to the punches made by the tiny knuckles of an infant.

Remaining indifferent, Wan Ling stripped himself of his robes and discarded them onto the large boulder that had formed underneath the waterfall.

He then cascaded down and gently sunk into the flowing river that ended the waterfall.

As he swam, the locks of his hair, now ashen, parted across the surface of the river, oozing a gentle chill that threatened to freeze the lake over.

Wan Ling, meanwhile, leaned against the water current, everything below his shoulder submerged into the river as he gazed up and looked at the distant moon.

It was evening, and everything felt serene.

Even since he grew stronger, Wan Ling had felt himself grow calmer.

Underneath, he still hated his uncle and thought that was what still drove him in life, but he didn’t feel controlled by it.

"This is good!" he sighed and lowered his gaze to glance down at his reflection on the surface of the river.

He had grown much more handsome.

His jawline was sharper, his face devoid of unnecessary flesh, and his eyes colder and more imposing.

The most noticeable of all was his complexion.

He was fairer than most, with skin coloured like pure snow.

"I can’t hide it for long," he remarked as he raised a hand from the water.

It emerged, and he clenched his fist.

The Qi within flickered on, turning into a foggy mist which was soon dispersed away.

He tried retreating back onto the water, and yet approaching noises killed the serenity he enjoyed.

From the noises, he assumed they were female disciples here for a bath.

So he grabbed his clothing and slipped away.

---

That night, when Wan Ling arrived home, he was greeted by an individual he hadn’t expected he would be meeting so soon.

"Sis!" he muttered as his eyes were drawn to the black-haired woman calmly seated on his bed.

She was a slender, young-looking maiden dressed in blue silk robes that elegantly framed her body.

Her hair, neatly trimmed, was held in a high ponytail using an obsidian pin with a pointy tip.

Upon his arrival, she turned swiftly, her violet eyes landing on Wan Ling before softening.

"Little brother... you look well," she remarked with an affectionate smile.

Wan Ling, very nervous in her presence, rubbed the back of his head with a smile.

"Yeah... I guess the past few days have been kind to me."

"That is good to hear." She also laughed and rose off his bed.

"I just returned from the assignment I was given, and I wanted to check how you were doing," she explained, to which Wan Ling nodded in understanding.

"When exactly did you return, might I ask?"

"A month ago."

"I see..."

"You weren’t around."

"..."

"So I waited here an entire month till you returned."

"Sorry!" He apologized.

His sister, Wan Mei, smiled kindly and leaned closer.

"It’s alright, though the frequent outburst from a rude disciple left me irritated."

"What happened?"

"He told me you had something of his."

"That is a lie." Wan Ling denied, already guessing whom it was.

"I knew. My brother is many things; a thief he is not. So I crippled his Cultivation for such accusations. After that, peace returned."

Wan Ling didn’t know how to feel about how casually she told him that.

Crippling someone’s Cultivation was the cruelest thing any cultivator could be subjected to, and here his sister was, having done that just because...

"You know what? That idiot deserved it. Now he won’t go around wanting inheritances that aren’t his," he mused and glanced at Wan Mei once more.

"Thank you for believing in me."

"No need. I simply did what any loving sibling would do." She shrugged and moved a hand to pat his head.

Given she was shorter, she had to tip her toes a bit, which was quite comical to look at, but Wan Ling didn’t laugh and accepted her affectionate gesture, given how rare it was.