4 Eyes

Deep inside Dark Mulberry Forest.

Inside a well-hidden cave, Alex was cultivating. Every day for the last nine months Alex had diligently cultivated inside the Dark Mulberry Forest. Every day he had the same routine where he would go out in the day to kill Qi Refining Beasts and then practice the Sword. In the late hours of the night, he would cultivate with a full heart.

He had diligently cultivated and achieved the Qi Condensation 9th Realm or Peak; he had also achieved intermediate mastery over the Whirlwind Sword that his father had given him. After the period of time in the Dark Mulberry Forest, he could be considered strong in the Nilfer village, but he knew this was not enough.

The realm that he had achieved was far too low to even compare to the other young masters or misses of Gildenburg City, his home. He had to try harder at least to catch up to the lower level talents of the city otherwise he would never have the opportunity to catch up to the others.

Alex cautiously checked his surroundings and started his preparation for the breakthrough to Core Formation Realm. This realm was the one where a major change took place in one's cultivation. The Qi that was usually spread out in one's meridians were slowly collected and condensed to form a ball like structure inside the dantain.

Over the period of Core Formation realm, the ball like structure then forms a special condensed Core where the Qi would be stored this was spread out in 9 stages of the realms. Now Alex was only going to start collecting the Qi and bring them to the dantain.

Alex took easy steps to complete the procedure and the Qi was collected inside the dantain, but something unexpected happened. The blood inside Alex started to pump harder and the surrounding Qi in the environment started to be absorbed rapidly, the Qi that was just taken out of the meridians were again getting filled up from the Qi from outside.

Alex could not make out the problem and started his procedure and for two to three hours continued the process due to the Qi being filled in his meridians instantly. By the time the outside Qi stopped flowing inside and he had finally achieved a breakthrough to Core Formation Realm, he could feel another problem. His dantain had condensed too much Qi inside and now it started to expand and pain due to the excessive amount of Qi inside it.

Alex thought in his mind- I have to continue cultivating to the upper realms otherwise my excessive Qi would not calm down and my dantain may explode.

After this, he starts his cultivation again.

*****

Dark Mulberry Forest.

It has been a month since Alex had a breakthrough and finally stabilized his cultivation at Core Formation 7th Stage. Since that day he had to decide he should wait for some more time and consolidate his cultivation with more practical training with wild beasts.

It had been 10 months since he had faced the deadly assassination and now it was time for his return home. Only one thought remained in his mind- I will be returning home after four years.

*****

Dark Mulberry Forest Outskirts at daybreak.

After his breakthrough and consolidation of cultivation, Alex started his journey towards Nilfer village. He had to first return to Nilfer village before he started his journey towards his home in Gildenburg city.

After 3 days of journey and slaughter of many beasts, he had reached the outskirts of the Dark Mulberry Forest and would finally arrive at Nilfer village the next day. In front of him was a stream which was probably one of the drinking sources of the wild beasts.

He decides to take a break and sits down above the branch of a tree just near the stream. He was taking rest when he noticed the tranquil scenery of the stream and the forest while the cool wind blows through it.

He was feeling refreshed by the feeling of the wind in his face, every inch of his face felt renewed. The slight moisture that he felt from the wind felt wonderful. Everything was cool and calm and he was resting while enjoying these feelings.

He sat there for some time in the same tranquil environment when suddenly he felt a change in the wind; the soothing wind that was blowing had turned stronger and was still growing strong.

Minutes after the wind changed he caught sight of a big bird that was flying. It was flying in such a way that it would eventually pass Alex from the front to the opposite side and the bird was flying at low altitudes which helped him know which bird it was.

But knowing the species did not help, instead, it made him more confused because the bird that was flapping its wings to generate wind was none other than a Phoenix. That was not all; he could even see people atop the Phoenix which made him more confused. All he knew about Phoenixes was that they were Sacred Beasts and usually only Immortals could use them as their mount.

This was why Alex was confused because he was living in Moon Dew Continent, which was quite far from the Central Continent where the Immortals and Sects resided. As far as his knowledge there were no Immortals or even Sects here at the Moon Dew Continent, which was the smallest of the six continents in the world.

He got curious and started looking at the people atop the Phoenix, as the beast got closer the more he could look at the people above it. There was a group consisting of four important people and some guards of them. This could be easily made out of their outfits and how the guards were standing.

The four important people consisted of two Old men donned in Pure White clothes that amplified their Aura which felt like gods. Both the men had exceptional features and bearing of higher beings made out to be probably Immortals.

Other than the two old men, there were two beautiful maidens who were standing behind them. One of the maidens could be said to be the servant of the other from her standing position which showed respect and her own lower standing while the other had adorned herself with beautiful red clothes.

She was as beautiful as the goddesses that Alex has heard of from his brother and cousins. He face was as beautiful as if God himself had made her with full concentration. Her figure was outstanding with her bosom being perfect sized to complement her figure.

Every feature from her lips to her nose to her eyebrows and chin all complemented each other and made her as beautiful as a goddess descending upon humans. But the most attractive of her qualities were of her eyes; her eyes were just out of this world. Her eyes resembled deer eyes, which are mostly slightly big but the black eyeballs just fit in with the white background so beautifully that anyone who looks at her eyes would definitely fall for her.

Even people who did not see her face but had just looked upon her eyes would surely fall head over heels for her. These were eyes plucked right of a Queen among goddesses and placed upon mortals.

Alex could even feel that the universe was darkened and the only thing that remained were the two eyes of the beauty. His blood was boiling which indicated that even the dragon's blood was reacting to the beauty but more than that Alex could feel his heart beating faster and calling for that maiden.

While Alex was stuck inside his world where only the maiden lived, a sudden pressure descended upon him and he started suffocating and his body was full of pain. When he looked again he found that one of the guards that were protecting the entourage had found him seeing the maiden and got angry that their fairy was being tarnished by a mortal of this lowly place.

He used his aura to pressurize him and this was the reason Alex jerked. But this was not the end, Alex found that the pressure had increased and he fell down from the branch and vomited blood outwards, a weakness spread to every one of his bones.

Two shadows which were at a distance from Alex quickly came to his rescue. But instead of doing anything to the entourage they kowtowed towards the people and spoke "Sire, we beg your forgiveness on behalf of our Young Master, he did not know who you were and angered you. Please forgive him for his mistake."

The maiden whom Alex had been admiring had also peeked at him and now that she saw his condition, she also felt that this was not required and ordered the guard who had taken action "Leave it be. You can stop now."

The guard withdrew his aura and replied courteously "Yes Miss."

Then the maiden took a last look at Alex and flew off on the Phoenix as quickly as they had arrived. During this Alex who was weakened and his injuries still looked in the maiden's direction and took an oath in his mind - 'I know you must be someone far from my reach. I know my weakness but I Alex in the name of Heaven promise that someday I will surely make you fall in love with me and make you my wife.'

This oath he had taken not just because he felt humiliated, but because he actually fell in love with her and could not help himself from reminiscing about those deer eyes.

A fire had lit up in the depth of Alex's usually unmotivated eyes without the notice of anyone. He, for the first time felt his weakness and an urge to get stronger as quickly as possible. Now was the time that he should start cultivating and learning with the full potential of his body and mind.