Chapter 46: The Mysterious Cave

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue" 'Thoughts' -Author notes-

Chapter 46: The Mysterious Cave

A few days later, Naruto was making his way to a team meeting during the early hours of the morning.

They had been given a short period of time to rest after that difficult mission at Wave.

In fact, they were supposed to have three more days left, but their sensei, Kakashi, had sent them a message to meet earlier than expected.

He would have felt more annoyed by this, but his cultivation was progressing at a faster pace than he anticipated.

He was already approaching the peak of the Body Forging Stage. If this continues at this rate, he would be breaking into the Qi Refining State in less than a month.

From his previous experience, this usually took between six months and a year, depending on the person's talent and resources.

Naruto was sure that this fast pace was thanks in great part to the Golden Script. It had granted him the perfect cultivation method for his current body.

And it wasn't just the speed that impressed him. As he paid such close attention to his progress, Naruto could tell how solid his foundation was.

He lamented not having found this divine artifact earlier in his last life. Had he come across it before stepping into the Core Formation stage… things would have been much different then.

During his early years, he had no choice but to use the cultivation method provided by the sect.

However, the outer disciples like him were given the lowest rank manual they had available. They also received little guidance and resources, and this led to many disciples making serious mistakes during their cultivation.

No one really expected much from them, so the sect did not want to waste their limited stock of cultivation materials on people from low backgrounds or with subpar talent like them.

It was already good if one could break out of the Body Forging Stage in a year under those harsh conditions.

He did succeed in time and even became an inner disciple later on. But due to his lacking foundation, the mistakes he made during his early days would come to haunt him later in life, and he became stuck after reaching the Core Formation Stage.

This could already be considered very good. Most outer disciples wouldn't get past the second stage and had no choice but to work as simple guards for the sect or take their chances in the outside world as mercenaries or bodyguards.

He left the sect during his early thirties, once he finally accepted that if he stayed there, his future would not be very bright. At most, he could have become an instructor and spent his remaining days teaching some of the newer disciples.

He had wanted more than that… so he decided to leave. Everyone in the sect probably thought he would die in a decade or two...after all, the world was an extremely dangerous place for a rogue cultivator.

People would often kill each other to steal their resources. And a cultivator with no backing was an easy target since there was no danger of repercussions for the killer.

He had many close encounters with death until one day, the Heavens took pity on his poor luck.

Almost a decade after leaving the Blue Jade Sect, he came across a strange cave while seeking refuge from the weather.

It was inside this cave where he found the remnants of an ancient being...

It was the most bizarre encounter he ever had and he could still recall every single detail of it.

After taking a few steps inside the cave, he felt a wave of Qi energy washing over him like a wave.

Then… the inside of the cave became much brighter, and he saw her…

It took him a few moments to even realize she was dead.

In front of him was the most stunning woman he had ever seen.

She had long silver hair and wore some golden robes that still seemed to shine despite all the dust that had been deposited on top of them.

The woman was sitting in a lotus position and was not moving or even breathing.

At first, he thought she was a powerful cultivator in the middle of a long session of closed-door cultivation.

He had already heard tales about ancient powerful beings capable of remaining still for decades with no food or water.

If this was such an incredible individual, there was no chance he could just stumble upon her cave and go inside.

But he felt nothing while standing this close to her. There wasn't even an ounce of energy left in her. She was definitely dead, he had absolutely no doubts about that.

He did find it odd that her body looked so pristine despite being dead. By the dust on her, she must have passed away years ago… but she still looked completely perfect and there was no stench at all.

It was then, when he began to observe her more closely, that he saw it… she had both hands open with her palms up, and resting on top of them, was a small book with a golden leather cover.

The moment he saw it, he knew this was something very special. He felt an immediate connection with this book, and before he could even think about what he was doing… he reached for it.

When his hand touched the cover, he was suddenly blinded by an intense golden light emerging from the book.

He screamed in pain and tried to retreat while covering his eyes. In his desperation, he fell backward and hit his head against the walls of the cave.

It was the last thing he remembered of that day. When he woke up next, he found himself outside, with his back resting against a rocky wall. The cave was nowhere to be seen.

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