Always Respectful

Han De woke up among deafening roars and thunders. He pinched his hand. Sure enough, there was no pain. Memories of his inner tribulations came back. Immediately he looked around for the cronenberg chef.

Flashes from the tribulations revealed that this place was very similar to the desert he visited. Endless dunes in every direction. Above him were dark clouds getting illuminated from lightning strikes. Occasionally, large snake-like shadows were appearing. There was no sign of the cronenberg chef.

'I'm not sure if I should be relieved or be even more vigilant…'

She was a wild card, and he wouldn't be surprised if she got dragged into the tribulation. Han De forced himself to calm down, and assess his situation.

'No lightning strikes are coming to me so far, but that's just so far. There are bigger and easier targets from the perspective of the tribulation clou-'

An earthquake caused Han De to lose his balance. Sands started rolling down the hills. Han De immediately pulled out his balanced sword and hopped up. A giant wall rose up far away on his left.

'That's… Sand?'

It was already very far away, the irregular lighting from the tribulation made it even worse. However, that giant wall seemed to be slowly coming down, and it looked somewhat transparent.

'Coupled with the spiritual fluctuations coming from that side… Did a leviathan fall just now?'

Han De noticed the difference in the leviathan's aura, but there was no way of knowing their current numbers trough that alone. The shadows that they cast at the clouds were only a few and very irregular, counting was also impossible.

'Calm people live, tense people die. Calm people live, tense people die...'

Han De clenched his fists to stop them from shaking. The strange state of mind he was in during the inner demon tribulations apparently didn't carry over to the real world.

'My body didn't heal at all, but there is no point in worrying about that if I can't get out of here.'

'Disperse my core, somehow disperse the seed, then hope for the best. I guess that is better than nothing...'

Han De jumped down and immediately made five attempts at dispersing his core, but each time he stopped at the last second. The cultivation idiot had worked his whole life to form this core. He even had to resort to a cheat item that eventually caused his death. It was a perfect golden core. Not something weird and MC like, but a good, normal, and safe core.

'Ning Bi has the cheat item, I should be able to form another core with that pretty quickly, right? Right?...'

A deep breath and several agonizing moments later, Han De used his spiritual power to crush his golden core. He didn't stop this time, but still, nothing happened to the golden core.

'It's actually sturdier than I thought.'

Another attempt, and another, more and more attempts. Han De was deeply grateful that he couldn't feel pain right now. He probably would've passed out if that wasn't the case.

'I don't want to prolong it, but this damn thing is just too tough. F#$%'

A few more tries later, finally, a crack formed on the surface of the core. Han De sighed complex emotions, but he made one final push. His core completely shattered. If this was back in his world, this would've caused heavenly phenomena. Naturally, nothing happened during this tribulation.

Watching the pieces of his core disperse, Han De's feelings become jumbled. The only silver lining was, just like the miss inner demon said, some of the heavenly pressure on him had disappeared. He didn't have the ability, nor the heart to gauge the extent of it.

'What would go against Heaven Defying and Tyrannical essences… Submission I guess? How do I submit, should I just kowtow and say I'm sorry?'

Han De's anger instantly flared up at the thought of submission. He ended up having to destroy his own hard-earned core, why should he submit? Wasn't it better to die with dignity?!

'...'

'What am I thinking? When did I become this stupid?'

Han De ignored his anger and decisively began his attempt. Just like the Xianxia novels, he slammed his head to the ground while kowtowing.

"I SUBMIT!"

"..."

Sound of thunder didn't stop. Han De couldn't sense any difference in the heavenly pressure either. He stood there in the kowtow position and waited. What did he do wrong? Should he stay like that? Kowtow again? The master-disciple ceremony required multiple kowtows, how many kowtows are required to disperse a seed?

The uncertainty caused his anger to grow even more, but Han De successfully ignored it. By now, he was fully aware that this anger came from either the seed or something related to the seed. Either way, it was useless. If he hadn't kept dwelling on his anger, perhaps he might have successfully ran away without getting involved in tribulations.

The illusory Dao Seed within Han De started shaking, a moment later it disappeared. No fireworks, it just disappeared, along with a large portion of the heavenly pressure.

"Aaaah, I'm tired. I should've spent more time eating… Those rolls were pretty good…"

Han De sat on the ground. Unfortunately, he didn't store any food in his main storage ring, and he gave the reserve ones to Ning Bi. Thunders kept rolling in the background. Han De looked at the sky. There were no stars, he couldn't divine anything.

"I guess my divinations were correct. If they stayed with me, the tribulation might've pulled them too. Maybe the cronenberg chef already died…"

*Crack*

*Crack*

*Crack*

Series of powerful lightning strikes were stopped in mid-air.

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

Something broke down, but the lightning kept striking. It was a little closer this time. A few seconds later, another huge breaking sound. Several seconds later, another one. There was a minor earthquake each time it happened.

'Those leviathans created a formation? Wait, this seems like multiple formations, actually.'

Under normal circumstances, he would've congratulated leviathans for being able to pull off this many layers of formations, but each broken formation was causing Han De to tense up.

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

With the breaking of this formation, Han De felt a sense of finality. This was it. He closed his eyes and waited.

* * *

"Ugh…"

"..."

"..."

Han De opened his eyes. He was buried around a pile of snow. He shook his head and shakily stood up. A valley filled with trees and snow was in front of him.

"..."

"... I feel like I walked right into that Imperial ambush…"

The place he was 'resting' looked like a small crater.

'I somehow crash-landed into this mountain? Is this my previous world?'

[Sync point confirmed and verified]

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (+3) 379-> 382]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 12]

[Issuing 115 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 9]

[Issuing 85 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 10]

[Issuing 95 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 11]

[Issuing 105 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 13]

[Issuing 125 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 12]

[Issuing 115 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 13]

[Issuing 125 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Profound Points: (+765) 96-> 861 ]

'... Wait, how long was I gone?'

Both Jin Shu and Yao Qing suspiciously stopped at the 13th level. Han De's immediate thoughts were that he might've spent years on that tribulation instead of the minutes from his perspective.

There were many unknowns in the system. There might be some required rituals to continue farming Profound Points after a disciple increases their realm. There must also be some cut-off point after spending so much time away from their master.

Although Han De was worried about losing his disciples due to an arbitrary time expiration rule that he invented inside his head, the thought of them taking on new masters didn't even occur to him.

He immediately checked the disciples panel.

[Core Disciples: 0/1]

[Requirements: 32 Points Minimum]

-------------------------------------------

-

[Inner Disciples: 2/2]

[Requirements: 30 Points Minimum]

-------------------------------------------

[Yao Qing (30)]

[Jin Shu (30)]

[Outer Disciples: 0/4]

[Requirements: 28 Points Minimum]

-------------------------------------------

-

[Suspended]

-------------------------------------------

[Ning Bi (35)]

Han De sighed in relief. The disciples panel was largely useless, but at least it showed that his disciples were still his disciples. Next was his own status.

[Name: Han De]

[Race: Human (100%)]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 27]

[Roots: Light (Damaged - 4%)]

[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment - Early Stage (0/100000)]

[Body Cultivation: Qi Condensation - 11st Stage (5125/12000)]

[Constitutions]

-------------------------------------------

[Luminescent Body (Mutated)]

[Progress: Suspended]

[Power: Average]

[Bloodlines]

-------------------------------------------

[Primordial Void Dragon (Unawakened)]

[Concentration: 0.03%]

[Power: Extremely High]

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: 382]

[Sect: Starfall Mountain Sect (Pending)]

[Martial Arts Methods]

[Expand to view more...]

[Utility Methods]

[Expand to view more...]

[Spells]

[Expand to view more...]

[Skills]

None

[Fate]

[Calamity Attractor]

[Privilege Level: 2]

[Profound Points: 861]

[Inventory]

[Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token] [x200]

[Derive Cultivation Method Token] [x5]

[Spiritual Roots Cleansing Token] [x4]

[Spiritual Roots Seed Token] [x5]

[Random Constitution Token] [x1]

[Random Bloodline Token] [x1]

[Potential Point Upgrade Token] [x1]

[Bloodline Removal Token] [x4]

Han De's mouth dropped. He knew destroying his core would damage his cultivation, but he didn't expect his roots to be nearly destroyed.

'I guess this is the reason why no one destroys their core if they are about to die from tribulation. It would cripple everyone else if my perfect roots were almost destroyed.'

From Han De's perspective, there wasn't any need to worry. He could use a repair token, then a cleansing token to get back his 100% perfect roots. As long as he had those prayer beads, he would be able to get back to the Core Formation realm in no time. Staying alive was more important!

'The state of my body is far more worrisome...'

Due to falling a full realm, and because of his damaged roots, Han De's spiritual sense was transported back into the stone age. His level was barely any better than a 13th stage Qi Condensation disciple. Which meant that he couldn't check his condition.

Han De tried to get his sword from his storage ring, but he realized his balance, and speed based swords were missing. He almost scolded himself for not getting any Foundation Establishment flying swords, but he realized in horror that only Core Formation experts could use flying swords.

'F#$%...'

'Wait, now's not the time for panicking. The first priority is to inform the family and the sect.'

Han De removed an ornate communication jade from his storage ring. Thankfully, his spiritual sense was enough to imprint a message on it. He imbued it and sent the message.

'Second priority is to find a shelter, and gobble up all the healing pills whether they work or not.'

Most of Han De's stuff was given to Ning Bi, but Han De always kept an adequate amount of resources in his main ring. His 8 reserve rings were about storing the sheer numbers, and the 9th one was a bait that looked like it had valuables, but in reality, it was useless.

Han De had lost the ability to use a flying sword, but he still had many escape items. The crash site was the most dangerous place. If this was his old world, the Starfall Mountain sect and the Han family had many enemies. Han De himself had many enemies as well. It was better to get away quickly and misdirect his assumed pursuers.

He used many different escape items in quick succession. First he teleported away, then came back by using a limited flying item. Then he used another item to phase into the rock to carve an ad hoc immortal cave. He placed a small hill of spiritual stones inside just to attract attention. He did this process 2 more times, then left without looking back.

Once he was far away, he switched to a glider that didn't use any spiritual power and chose his direction with divination. An hour later, he landed on the plains. A few more divinations later, he chose to open up an immortal cave below the river by using another phasing item.

Making an immortal cave under a riverbed was a stupid idea, but Han De had more than a dozen mini-bunker formation kits that he could rely on. He could hide the cave's presence, protect it from collapsing, provide breathable air, and heating inside.

Setting up everything took an hour, but Han De was satisfied. He nodded to himself and put out all of his healing pills. He didn't even count them, he mindlessly started eating them. The only other thing he paid attention to was his jade communicator. It wouldn't be long before he received a message.

"I feel like I'm missing something. Something is weird..."