Like the flowing of a stream from the top of the mountain, he allowed the True Qi inside him to circulate as they pleased. He put the cultivation methods that he learned out of his mind and forgot who he was. He imagined himself as a leaf that floated along with the flow of the water. His imagination was so vivid that he could even see carps swimming in the river.

He imagined himself as the breeze in the mountains, where he could see a camellia growing by the cliff dancing in the wind.

Gradually, he entered an unprecedented mysterious state in which he seemed to have become one with nature—heaven and earth themselves. He no longer existed in this world, and yet he was everywhere and anywhere in this world. He could be a pine tree towering over a cliff; he could also be a b.u.t.terfly perching on a camellia…

It was as if he was the world itself, and the world was within him. It was as if the twelve Earth Spiritual Meridians were the twelve Spiritual Meridians that he had cultivated.

Could this be the "being one with heaven and earth, heaven and earth being one with me" state that his Master told him about? He had never experienced such a strange and wonderful sensation even when he truly attained the Nascent Soul Realm thousands of years ago.

He tried his utmost to maintain this state of mind. His world was no longer confined to the Xianyong Sect alone. To unite his Divine Sense with nature, his mind slowly made its return to the East Continent, where the Jade Qing Sect was. He saw Li Muxue playing the zither under a tree and Moxuan Zi perusing a scroll inside a pavilion.

Then he was back at the Teal Jade Sect. After the Skygale Sect ruined the sect, a group of mountain bandits had occupied the s.p.a.ce for themselves. He could see the bandits relis.h.i.+ng in their meat and wine in the former main hall of the sect. Seeing this nearly shocked him out of this mysterious state.

Next, he went to the imperial palace of Zhou State, where he saw Princess Xianyue releasing a pigeon into the air. Twenty miles away, someone intercepted the pigeon.

He then made his way to the Heartless Palace in the Falling Flowers Valley. When he saw Huangfu Xin'er sitting cross-legged in a secluded area, he was surprised to see that she seemed to have become a different person entirely. Her gaze was cold and stern, her lips were as red as blood, and her nails were long and sharp. She looked like she was using a nefarious cultivation method.

"Who is it?!" Huangfu Xin'er abruptly turned her head, glaring daggers in his direction.

Xiao Chen's heart leaped in fright. Was she able to detect his probing? He hastily exited the place. This encounter nearly expelled him from the mysterious state.

His last stop was the wild mountains tucked away thousands of miles away from Wu Province that no one knew of. It was where the ruins of the Mystic Cyan Sect were located. This time, he kept a tight leash on his emotions. Otherwise, he would instantly be kicked out of the sensation of Unity of Nature and Human.

He made a round around the Mystic Cyan Mountain. The seven peaks of the mountain stood tall in the past, but the bottom of the mountain seemed to have sunk a fair bit, causing the peaks to mesh into one another.

However, he had a nagging feeling that something was off. He could even detect a strange fluctuation of aura in this place. It seemed to have originated from the depths of the buried cliff.

He slowly incorporated the entire mountain with his Divine Sense. He didn't know how long he spent reaching far beneath the mountain, but in the darkness, he noticed a tall, gigantic silhouette of a Devil. The Devil was eight feet tall, with messy hair that cascaded down his shoulders and closed eyes. Countless seals formed out of mystic arts swirled around his body.

He could distinctly hear the Devil's heavy breathing. Similarly, he could sense the terrifying Devil Qi coming from the Devil. He couldn't help feeling a deep fear. Why was such a ghastly devil imprisoned under the Mystic Cyan Mountain?

It was at this moment that the Devil suddenly opened his eyes. His blood-red eyes emanated frighteningly cold glints.

"Have you returned…?"

Xiao Chen was alarmed. The Devil was using the lingua franca of thousands of years ago.

Suddenly, his surroundings began to blur until it shattered entirely. Xiao Chen had broken away from the mysterious sensation of Unity of Nature and Human. His eyelids abruptly flew open. His back was drenched in sweat.

He took large, gasping breaths as he nailed everything he had seen earlier into his memory. It felt so wonderfully vivid that it was as if he was truly physically there.

"Brother Xiao Chen? What's wrong? I've been trying to wake you up for ages! Did you have a nightmare?"

He didn't notice when Murong Xian'er had come to his side. She blinked her large eyes as she stared at him.

"I fell asleep? Nightmare?"

Xiao Chen looked up at the sky. Four hours must have pa.s.sed since, and yet that state seemed to have lasted just moments. Had he truly just fallen asleep earlier?

That didn't seem right. That state earlier was anything but a dream. It felt like the "Unity of Nature and Human" state that his Master had once told him about. It was the most mysterious realm in cultivation. Not even Grand Completion Realm cultivators were able to achieve this without a fortuitous chance.

These were all beside the point. If everything that he saw was real, didn't that mean that the Great Devil imprisoned under the Mystic Cyan Mountain truly existed?

The fact that a Great Devil was subdued under the Mystic Cyan Mountain was too shocking for him to accept. Did this have something to do with the downfall of the Mystic Cyan Sect thousands of years ago?

He recalled what he saw of Huangfu Xin'er earlier. She was an absolute fright to look at, looking as if she had taken up the Devil's Practice. She was no longer the person he once knew.

He couldn't help remembering the times they spent as "master-disciple" in the Skygale Sect of the Human World. Suddenly, he felt pain piercing his heart. The Heartless Curse that Huashang inflicted him with was acting up.

He shook his head, unwilling to pursue this line of thought. Gradually, he began to retrace that mysterious feeling earlier. However, try as he might, he couldn't recreate it.

Reaching Unity of Nature and Human Realm meant that he could unlock the Nascent Soul of the Violet Manor and cultivate his personal world. Even though he couldn't understand why he could experience the Unity of Nature and Human despite being in the Core Forming Realm, he was certain that he could immediately cultivate his Nascent Soul of the Violet Manor upon entering the Nascent Soul Realm. Compared to others, he was far luckier.

Another pleasant surprise was discovering a huge leap in his cultivation after entering that mysterious state. His perception of the world around him seemed to have sharpened; every stalk of flower and blade of gra.s.s became impossibly clear to him.

This came as a great joy to him as this improved his chances in winning against his powerful enemies.

That night, he went very late to bed. He kept circulating large amounts of energy into the meridians all over his body in an attempt to break out of the Core Forming Realm and enter the quasi-Nascent Soul Realm. After all, the Annihilation Times were close and powerful cultivators were everywhere. It was only by strengthening himself that he could carve out a spot for himself in this world and not end up as cannon fodder.

However, cultivation wasn't that simple. Even with his fortuitous chance during the day, it was still a herculean task to break out of the Core Forming Realm at such short notice.

He had a strange dream that night. In his dream, he saw the Great Devil imprisoned under the Mystic Cyan Mountain telling him something strange. When he woke up, he was covered in cold sweat. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember what the Devil told him.

This put him at great unease. He had the feeling that something major would happen soon.

He got off the bed and washed up. He decided that he would meet Xiaoyue at the Elegant Fragrance Pavilion. After all, enemies had him cornered on all sides right now. Like what Xiaoyue said, the power of one was nonetheless limited.

The Elegant Fragrance Pavilion was located west of Xianyong City. It wasn't a restaurant or brothel, but a secret meeting ground for VIPs.

Outside the pavilion, Xiao Chen was about to step in when his expression suddenly turned somber. He stopped in his tracks.