7 Chapter 7: Qi and Mana

Inside the cold cave, the insect demon was hiding in the corner inside a dimly-lit room. In the middle of that room, was the only light source, a red glowing core. He was thinking about he will torture Ling but at the back of his head, that terrifying aura he felt behind him a while ago. He began to bite his nails and shiver continuously.

"How can a human possess that kind of killing intent. It's different from the killing intent I know. It's even stronger than the Venerable Demon lord. I better report this to him. Maybe I can-"

A whisper interrupted his muttering. "Yeah... Maybe you can shut up and just die... You're useless anyway..."

The insect demon was frightened. He turned around and jumped off his back, creating distance between him and the one who whispered in his ear. The room was dim so he can't make up the appearance of the unknown man but he can tell his eyes were crimson red because it was glowing brightly than the light coming from the core.

A weird force rushed the body of the demon. He can tell that it came from the man. He was frozen stiff and cold sweat ran down his forehead. He tried to move his arm up but it was like those pair of eyes has taken control of his body and before he lost his consciousness, he asked the man: "What... are... you..." with his voice cracking.

Ling moved forward revealing his cold and calm face. He then picked the demon's body up and moved it near the core and the core began devouring his mana. Ling then went outside the room to get all the remaining demons before they wake up.

Meanwhile, Qing Shao woke up with a dumbfounded look on his face. He was still traumatized and was thinking he died and his soul was now in the afterlife. He pinched his cheeks and returned to reality.

"I'm still alive? How...?" he then stood up and a piece of cloth fell from his chest. He picked it up and read it. He was terrified.

"Do not tell anyone about what you saw and experienced. If you do, I will find you and take you back to the demon territory. That lady is also safe so don't you worry. If you want you can meet her. Also spread that the Hong Family's eldest son will be going to the city in 5 months."

It was written in blood and that made it look more like a threat than a condition. He stared at the letter for 30 seconds before completely making up his mind.

"If this was written by that white-haired guy, I will definitely die if I did not do these. I will never forget that pressure. It was like suffocating deep in the ocean. Maybe I should leave the city and hide in the capital..." he then shook his head to remove that thought inside his head. "He will just find me and torture me if I did that. It's better if I just listened to his demands..." he then let out a long deep sigh. "To think that I, the great Qing Shao will be obeying orders from an unknown man... Maybe I can tell the principal about that man and he can devise a plan to kill him. Yeah! Maybe I will do that." he smiled like he was an evil mastermind.

Qing Shao then walked towards the wood but he noticed something was wrong. The entrance to the cave was nowhere to be found but he ignored it and just continued to walk.

...

Deep inside the cave, Ling picked up the bodies then fed them to the core but when he was picking up the two demons by the throne room, he felt that something was wrong when he was near the throne when he was sitting on it earlier.

"I should feed these two first and come back here to check that weird qi flow underneath..."

He teleported by the entrance of the red room and threw the bodies at the core and immediately went back to the throne room. He appeared in front of the throne and looked at it trying to find something.

"There..." his eyes lit up with enthusiasm and quickly touched the top of the throne. He poured qi into it and the throne began moving backward. A mechanism can be heard moving below him and a container slowly moved up. Inside was a slot but it was protected by a formation.

"Hmm... Flame Prison formation... If I activate it, this whole place will blow up and create a flame prison." he thought. He then looked down and laughed. "Did he really want someone to just destroy his stuff? This is the most useless protective formation! Yes, it can protect important things but this is just used as a trap in Heaven's Lair that it can be considered an overused formation. I saw this so many times that I decided to rewrite the whole formation and improved it but that was back then." he then touched the formation and was surprised.

The qi that was used to make that formation was not pure enough so Ling studied it carefully. He tried to absorb that qi but instead of it filling his dantian, it was instead going somewhere. He tried to scan his body and he saw that a new core was in his body. The dantian was in his diaphragm and the new core was in his heart. New meridians sprouted in his body and this made his body contain two energies. The old meridians had the purest energy but the new meridians had half of the purity than the old meridians.

He was then deep in thought. If the 'qi' from his world is the same as the 'mana' in this world, then why was it stored in a different container. He then concluded that mana is inferior to qi because of the purity. The strength was also different. It was like heaven and earth. After that, he then proceeded to dispel the formation.

"Now let's see what that demon's been hiding..." he then reached inside the slot and picked up a bottle with red liquid inside. "I knew it... Dragon blood... The purest blood known to humans and beasts alike in Heaven's Lair. This should be of top quality considering the strong qi flow I felt a while ago." he then drank all the blood and quickly cultivated.

...

1 week later, Ling perfected his Heavenly Body Refining method and it made his body stronger than any metals and his senses were so sharp he can detect God state cultivators even if they hid with their qi. He also reached the Body Transformation state 1st rank.

He then studied mana and learned that the difference between his qi and mana was their composition. Qi is the source of life while the mana in his body was just an essence. It was not complete and it lacked the purity that qi had.

After he studied mana, he went to where the red core was and began to practice the Shadow Soul Reaping Technique for the remaining months. He did not eat nor sleep and just continued.

...

...

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Ling practiced for 4 months. Without food, water, and sleep, he just practiced and practiced until he fell, only to get back up again.

"Shadow Soul Reaping technique... 3 levels and now I completed the 1st... After this... Let's go out and exercise... I can't wait to see the situation outside..." Ling muttered with a grin on his face before completely falling asleep. A dozen pairs of glowing eyes were watching him sleep as if protecting him.