Vision

Cedric returned the teapot to its place and took the tall vessel. He gave it to Damian as he said, "smell the fragrance".

Damian complied and smell the vessel. A calm aromatic fragrance assaulted his senses, and the smell was calming. Damian felt from the simple smell of the tea the Qi inside his dantian stir.

Then Cedric held the tea bowl with one hand below and another hand on top of the tea bowl. He handed it to Damian as he said, "The tea is a gift from my Lambert clan to show our thanks for the gift provided. There is a second gift. One gift from myself to you is to show gratitude and hope for a long-lasting alliance. However, I trust this second gift will remain only between us. "

Damian gave Cedric a nod and said. "Of course, Elder Cedric, the generosity of your clan touches my heart. Your generosity touches my soul. No word from this shall ever leave my lips."

Damian then took the tea bowl, then Cedric poured a tea bowl to himself.

Damian began slowly sipping his tea. As soon as he did so, a profound sense of calm permeated throughout his body. A weight he hadn't noticed he had been constantly lifting fell apart. The concerns for his and his family's future were simply gone, if only by a brief moment. His mind felt a sense of clearness he hadn't felt outside of when he had reached enlightenment while breaking through the ten layer of the Qi condensation realm. Even if the clearness was subpar to what he had felt during his breakthrough, it was clearly still there.

As Damian was absorbed in his semi-enlightened state. The Qi contained in the tea went straight to his dantian. Damian felt the Qi of the tea had already rushed towards his dantian, increasing slightly his cultivation. This was the result of a single sip of tea.

Damian continued to sip on the tea fully immersed in the enlightenment state. He began to feel how his comprehension of cultivation and towards the techniques he practiced increased ever so slowly. At a certain point, Damian's consciousness began to drift away until, unknown to him, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

When Damian opened his eyes, he was not in his body. It was like he was the wind himself, hovering just above the city. He found he could not move. He tried but to no avail. No matter what he did, he could not move.

Then he felt a pull to the west. Towards the forest. He traveled for what felt like hours. Damian passed the marks he had put on the trees marking one hundred miles deep. He went beyond that. Damian felt no fear. He was one with the wind and the wind was one with him. He saw wondrous and horrific demonic beasts alike, some that were weaker than him, some stronger.

The wind that was Damian continued onward for what felt like hours. Then stronger and stronger demonic beasts could be spotted all of them in the later stages of the Golden Core realm. Soon he even spotted one beast that could squat him but with a thought, most likely it was a Nascent Soul beast, although it appeared to be sleeping. Damian continued forward until he saw a large chasm in front of him. As he got closer, he suddenly was pushed towards the chasm. He tried to change route, but he was unable to; he was still not able to decide where to move.

Damian went straight inside the chasm for like what felt like minutes until it reached the bottom of the chasm. Once there, he continued to be pulled towards a cave. Nothing seemed extraordinary about the cave except the pulling force. That was until he entered the cave. Once inside, he was astonished by the heat inside and the hyper concentration of Qi. Although, the cave was inside the devoid of light chasm. Inside the cave, small sparks of white fire hovered, providing a light source. The concentration of Qi was greater than in the quartz room of the Lambert clan.

Damian continued to be pulled deeper into the cave. He came to a larger chamber, this one full of white light and indescribable heat. The concentration of Qi was almost as concentrated as the place Tian Long had kept them for three years, a heaven-trove of cultivation.

Damian knew that if the cultivated here, he could reach the peak of the Golden Core before the year-end.

At the center of the chamber, a head-sized white flame fluttered. Damian continued to be pulled towards the white flame, the heat irresistible.

Damian observed something close to the white flame he had not noticed before. Close to the flame, he and Cedric were cultivating the flame. He saw himself, now on the eighth layer of the Golden Core and Cedric on the seventh layer. Distributed at the entrance of the main chamber, Damian now saw Christine and Nathan, as well as one man and one woman of the Lambert clan. All of them cultivating. All of them were in the middle stages of the Golden Core realm.

Then Damian touched the white flame, and the vision ended, and he returned to himself. He quickly opened his eyes. He was still in the tearoom and Cedric was still in front of him, quietly enjoying his tea.

Damian was in utter shock.

Just what had happened?!! asked Damian as he stood up.

Cedric calmly put the teacup to rest on the table, then he looked at Damian and said," That was the second gift, the hidden gift I told you about. It is a vision of opportunity to increase your strength."

Damian was shocked. He only managed to say, "How was that possible? I was here sipping tea."

Cedric continued, seeing the face of disbelief on Damian. "I have a special ability. One I can only use it every so often. I can induce a vision of a possible future in the tea I brew. I can somewhat direct what kind of future I wish to show. In this case, I choose a cultivation opportunity for you."

Trying to regain his composure as best as he could, "I see, then what I see actually exists?"

Cedric answered, "It does indeed. Just remember Elder Damian that you promised to keep this vision a secret," as he continued to sip on his tea.

Damian was now somewhat more composed. " I will keep my word. In the vision, I saw not only an opportunity for me but also for you, Elder Cedric. We should go together towards it. After we made proper preparations, as the place where an opportunity is usually danger lurks," he told Cedric what he had seen in his vision. After all, even if he was not a trusting person by nature, he trusted Cedric. He didn't yet understand where that trust came from. But so far his gut hadn't failed him, and his gut told him to trust Cedric.

Cedric was a little taken aback as he said, "I was also included in the vision? how very strange…". Cedric pondered for a few minutes.