Chapter 16 - Domain and Epiphany

It took Mo Xie two full days to get back to the cave where Xiao Hei was. He was worried throughout the trip, wondering if the cave had been discovered. When he arrived and saw the untouched arrays, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It was night when Mo Xie quickly deactivated the arrays and entered the cave, finding Xiao Hei sleeping in his nest. As he was also tired, he decided to take a bath in the small lake and rested beside Xiao Hei after eating something and reactivating the arrays at the entrance to the cave.

Only the next day he woke up to Xiao Hei's movements lying in his lap.

"Little boy, did you miss me?" Mo Xie asked gently before rubbing his head.

*Purr* Xiao Hei purred happily and snuggled even closer to Mo Xie.

Mo Xie smiled and rested for a while longer before preparing to leave the Star Dou Forest.

"It's time Xiao Hei, we can go back another time, but we need to leave now." Mo Xie told Xiao Hei that was reluctant to leave the cave. It looked like he was remembering his mother.

He let out a sad little growl before walking into Mo Xie's arms and hiding in his clothes.

Mo Xie comforted him a bit before retrieving all the arrays installed in the cave and running towards the forest exit. With his new breakthrough, his speed was even faster, avoiding all the spirit beasts along the way and reaching the forest entrance at noon.

Mo Xie rested for a while in the river near the entrance before continuing his journey. Destination: Shrek City!

Shrek City was considered the best city on the Douluo continent. The commerce in it was abundant and it was the only city on the continent that had no affiliation with any of the continent's empires. The city was founded by the prestigious Shrek Academy, the academy with the best spiritual masters across the continent and was located at the intersection of the three empires.

The city could be accessed from all directions, be they north, south, east or west. However, although the city can be accessed from all directions, the east gate is exclusively for Shrek Academy members.

It took Mo Xie a full month to get to Shrek City.

Calculating the time remaining for recruiting new Shrek Academy students, he deduced that it would take at least 9 months. It would also be the day he turned 11 years old.

"My priority now is to find a place to stay for the next 9 months… I also need some time to focus on my training." Mo Xie muttered.

Mo Xie had money to live alone for a long time, so he rented a relatively large yard with a training area to himself. This would be his home for the rest of the year and the place where he would be immersed in his training. Mo Xie installed several arrays of concealment, alarm and protection in the training area to avoid prying eyes, but he would be defenseless to the eyes of experts. Especially now that he was in Shrek City, where spiritual masters from across the continent met frequently.

But he still didn't worry too much, as the city's security was extremely good and these experts wouldn't dare spy on other people in a city full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

With that stone removed from his heart, Mo Xie could focus on his training without any worries. His plan was as follows: Train his Heavenly Eyes at dawn and dusk, his combat and movement techniques in the morning, train with his sword in the afternoon, and meditate at night. Not a second would be lost during the next 9 months.

His intuition told him that he would make a breakthrough in his sword technique during this period. He was currently at the peak of the intent realm and the next step was to create an Intent Domain. The domain could be divided into several levels, namely: Basic, Small Success, Great Success, Mastery, Perfection and Divine. After creating a domain of sword intent, Mo Xie should upgrade it step by step until perfecting it to the Divine-level Sword Domain.

His Yin-Yang Sword technique had hints on how to create a divine-level domain, but self-understanding was the basis for creating a unique domain for the swordsman. And Mo Xie also yearned to create a divine-level domain for himself. Although he already had a domain granted by his Mystic Heavenly Wolf, he still wasn't strong enough to use it, so his desire for a domain burned in his heart.

So he trained hard every day with his eyes burning in anticipation.

Five months passed quickly.

It was noon and Mo Xie could be seen in his courtyard swinging his sword at various angles. During his training over the past few months, he had finally understood the Man and Sword Unity and now moved in sync with his sword as if it were just another member of his body.

He had come close to this state a few years ago, but he lacked the understanding of it, but while training, he managed to harmonize his spirit and body with his sword making the power of his sword attacks more than double.

Mo Xie moved around the courtyard gracefully and each attack with his sword released a powerful sword intent. His spiritual, mental, and physical power blended seamlessly with his sword intent and created a completely gray area where he passed.

Suddenly, with Mo Xie at the center, a gray color spread through the surroundings and reached a total of 30 meters in all directions. Domain! Mo Xie had finally created his domain.

Within that Domain, sword intent beams could occasionally be seen as Mo Xie's momentum began to rise tyrannically. Any attacks that Mo Xie made with his sword within that domain would be amplified by 50% while his opponents' abilities were reduced by 30%. His attacks also carried mental coercion and dull his opponents' senses by breaking their mindset. This was very similar to Elder Mu's Sovereign Descent.

Mo Xie didn't stop moving and continued to slash with his sword into the domain. At some point, he condensed swords of spiritual and mental power merged with sword intent and they appeared around his body and danced along with his strokes. The number of condensed swords continued to increase until it stopped at 20.

At that moment, Mo Xie slowly stopped his movements. Sitting cross-legged, he began to meditate and comprehend his new domain while using his cultivation method and madly absorbing the natural energy of the surroundings. In this state, Mo Xie went into profound meditation and forgot about everything else beyond his domain. There are two types of known meditations. Normal Meditation, where although a person is cultivating, the person is still aware of his surroundings and can wake up from his condition as he pleases.

However, in Profound Meditation, a person forgets about all the insignificant things and cannot see what is happening around him. In this condition, it is possible to absorb much more spiritual power than meditating normally and your comprehension will be much stronger as well.

Mo Xie was currently at the peak of Rank 34, but in that miraculous condition he broke easily and his power grew to Rank 35 and began to stabilize. Although he was still at some distance away from breaking again, it would be much faster now.

Not being aware of his surroundings, Mo Xie did not notice a figure sitting on his yard wall looking at him with interest. From time to time this figure would take a piece of fried chicken and a gourd of wine to his mouth.

This person took a token and a letter from his clothes and left it in front of Mo Xie and quietly left the courtyard with a smile. His thoughts were unknown.

Five hours later, Mo Xie awoke from his state and his domain slowly retracted. Silence permeated the courtyard and only Mo Xie's calm breathing could be heard.

He didn't say anything, but he was extremely happy with his success, and at the next moment he noticed the token and letter laid out on the floor in front of him.

"Has anyone come in here?" The thought of someone approaching him while he was helpless startled him.

'Glad the other party didn't seem to have any malicious thoughts…' Mo Xie sighed in relief before picking up the items and analyzing them.

The token was made of pure gold with some ornaments and the word 'Shrek' was engraved on it. He opened the letter and saw that it was a recommendation for the freshman recruitment that would be happening in 4 months. With this token and letter, he wouldn't have to go through all the recruiting procedures and could register directly at the academy and receive his freshman uniform and ID.

"Looks like someone in the school administration has seen me comprehend my sword domain and wants me to go to the academy…" Mo Xie muttered. The person who spied him must be at least a Soul Sage to be able to see through his arrays.

"But that's good too!" This would allow him to be more relaxed during this period and not have to worry about the tedious process of recruiting.

Mo Xie was also eager to fight Shrek's geniuses. When he thought about testing his Domain against them, Mo Xie could barely calm his excitement. He wanted to know how much stronger he got now.

However, the most important thing now was to continue improving his newly created domain and elevating it to Small Success. Although unlikely, he wanted to achieve small success before entering Shrek. He looked up at the night sky and began to absorb the essence of the moon to complete the training of his Heavenly Eyes.

When he was done, a smile spread across his face and he went back to his room.

"Things are getting more and more interesting." Smiling, Mo Xie finished his daily training.